Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 477 Deadly Fire Theft
When the crimson army pressed forward in full force, the situation instantly turned dire.

Even after being repeatedly worn down by Murak and Liliana, the Scarlet Rebels still have more than 2 core troops, of which only one-third are thugs and crossbowmen, meaning they have 3 units of level 3 or higher. Combined with the Scarlet Authority, their combat power is extremely formidable.

Fortunately, the Arcane Prayer's attribute bonuses are very strong, so even when they are in close combat, ordinary units have difficulty harming them. In addition, under the high spell power of Cedros, healing magic is also very powerful and can restore the Prayer's health.

The first to pounce on the cliff were the crimson griffon army, forcing the Arcane Prayer to engage in melee combat. However, the griffon force was far from breaking through the defenses; their only purpose was to limit the Arcane Prayer's ranged attacks, allowing higher-level units to rush up from the rear.

When choosing defensive terrain, Sederos deliberately selected a snow-capped peak with a steep cliff on one side and a gentle slope on the other. This type of cliff offered no way out, demonstrating Sederos's determination.

When the enemy attacks, the steep side can only rely on air units to strike, while the gentle slope cannot deploy large numbers of troops and can only launch attacks in waves.

If the Arcane Prayer units were to maintain their firepower, the Scarlet Rebels, no matter how many troops they had, would be unable to break through. But now, the flying units have changed the situation.

The ranged attacks suppressed the skeletons and thugs below the mountain, giving the Crimson Griffin an opportunity.

As the Crimson Griffins are sacrificed, the Arcane Prayer casts magical buffs on themselves while fighting. Their Prayer Echoes grant the hero's Water Elemental Mastery bonus, and with Holy Spirit's Blessing and Prayer combined, their combat power is instantly boosted.

Seeing that the Arcane Prayer was not only powerful but had also accumulated a lot of status spells, the Crimson Rebels became anxious and wanted to dispel the status effects.

Watching the enemy's water elemental master hero cast a spell, Sederos remained calm. He gathered magical power in his hands, and a large number of eagle feathers swirled around him, turning into points of light that flowed into his eyes, making his eyes instantly as sharp as an eagle's.

[Basic Eagle Eye Insight (Special Magic): Casting this magic grants the hero the ability to see through enemy magic weaknesses, causing a 30% chance for the enemy to fail to cast buff spells and costing 8 mana (can only target one spell at a time, can be dispelled)]

In his eyes, the enemy's spellcasting speed became extremely slow, and every step was clearly visible and full of loopholes.

Low-level magic is not instantaneous either. Even high-level heroes need a certain amount of time to prepare before casting spells. However, in the chaos of the battlefield, this time is negligible. Unless someone gets close to the hero, it is difficult to stop them from casting spells.

As the level of magic increases, the difficulty also increases, and powerful level 6 magic requires a long preparation time.

However, having discovered that Eagle Eye is the nemesis of chanting magic, Cedros had already chosen it before the exorcism spell was cast, analyzed its rules, and interfered with it.

As the Crimson Marshal waved his hands, the water was about to spread, but instead, a muffled sound rang out, and a large amount of water drenched the hero. He stared at his hands in disbelief, filled with doubt.

"Is it a magic mirror? No, there's no reflection. This is pure interference."

Gunter immediately realized the problem. If it really was the Magic Mirror, the exorcism spell would be reflected onto an entire unit, and the advanced dispel would still work on everyone. However, Cedros's magic directly interfered with the caster's casting.

Apart from the exorcism spell, the other spells did not seem to be targeted and were still cast normally.

He then personally released the dispel, and a large mist spread out, dissolving the states of the Scarlet Legion and the Arcane Prayer.

"It seems the probability of resistance is not very high. Just keep using it, there's no need to be afraid of him!"

A 30% probability is indeed average, but most status spells are countered by exorcism spells. It has a certain chance to interfere with the dispelling, so it's a kind of mutual restraint, which is already quite remarkable.

Although Sederlos has intermediate water elemental mastery, he did not cast large-scale buffs. At this time, the Arcane Prayer is a better spellcaster. As long as he makes good use of the Eye of True Sight, he can have the greatest impact on the battle.

"Exorcism Spell, Holy Spirit's Blessing, Weak and Powerless, Instant Teleportation!"

He discovered that the high-level hero had mastered teleportation, and the Scarlet Crusade under his command was stealthily approaching, seemingly trying to steal the credit.

The Arcane Prayerers, who were originally attacking indiscriminately, have now deliberately avoided that force, giving them a chance to get close and teleport.

The Arcane Prayer has barely lost any lives. Even if the Scarlet Crusade comes up, it's not much different from the Gryphon. But it can consume the high-water hero's mana, so why not?
Sure enough, upon seeing his core legion approaching, the Scarlet Marshal activated teleportation, but immediately engaged the bare-chested prayers in battle. After the Crusaders occupied the cliff, the griffons could only circle in the air.

However, their good fortune didn't last long. Although the Crusaders had powerful attacks, they were only slightly better than the Blood Gryphons. Even with the buff from prayers, they were no match for the Prayers and were crippled by a single counterattack.

Having just unleashed Instant Teleportation, he needed a moment to catch his breath, and only Gaunt could dispel the effect.

"Useless! Stop applying status effects, it's completely useless. Just stick close to them and wear them down, and prevent them from using ranged attacks!"

By now, Gaunt had basically figured it out: even if he applied buffs, he couldn't fight the opponent head-on and would have to dispel the enemy's buffs, so it was better not to waste magic.

After this entanglement, only a very small number of Arcane Prayers can still fire spell cannons, and the Skeleton Soldiers have also climbed the mountain. Now it's up to Katherine to decide what to do next.

The Crimson Rebels still had too many troops, and their ranks were spread out. The Arcane Prayer was not a ranged unit with area-of-effect or multi-shot capabilities, so even with high damage output, it could only kill about 1000 approaching enemies in a single wave, making it difficult to stop the ever-increasing number of troops.

Cedros began to observe Gaunt with his eagle eyes and finally deciphered the eldest prince's unique skills and magic.

"Parasite curse, lich altar!"

No wonder he has so many liches; it's a terrifyingly powerful chosen skill!

After the Arcane Prayer was entangled with the Crimson Army, the Lich King immediately arrived at the front line, preparing to launch an attack on the Arcane Prayer.

Although there are only a few hundred mutated lich kings, there are more than 5000 ordinary liches, which are overwhelming. Combined with Gaunt's Lich God Chosen, it is simply terrifying.

As the liches brandished their bone staffs, the entire sky was shrouded in dark clouds of death.

Even if the optimal firing range hadn't been reached, Gaunt wasn't going to wait any longer; he had to suppress the Arcane Prayer.

Before facing the ultimate attack, Cedros did not cast any additional spells, because he had fixed the Atmosphere Shield (a special effect of advanced astrologers) before the battle began, which could not be dispelled, in order to fight the Lich Legion. Otherwise, even with high defense, it would be difficult to withstand.

Surprisingly, when the first 1000 liches launched their attack, the main army behind them fell into chaos. A swift cavalry force burst forth from the dream, sweeping across the battlefield like a hurricane. Each cavalryman could take away more than 10 liches, and they were unstoppable.

Most importantly, the cavalry's entry disrupted the lich's formation, and their crisscrossing charges prevented the enemy from launching their long-range attacks.

"Good! It's Knight Commander Good!"

"The lich's nightmare is about to begin!"

At the same time, a violent roar resounded on the snow-capped peaks, with an astonishingly large explosion range that almost covered several mountain peaks. Gaunt's chosen lich was indeed extraordinary.

However, 1000 liches were not enough to destroy the Arcane Prayer, and only 60 Arcane Prayer were killed.

After releasing a massive cloud of black smoke, which resulted in only this much damage, Gaunt couldn't hold back any longer.

He roared at the shadows in the darkness, "Rhodes, if you don't make a move soon, I'm really leaving!"

There was no sound in the darkness. The Wind Erosion Knights continued their slaughter. After the first wave of charges killed over a thousand Lich Kings, Goode led his cavalry in a furious attack on the Lich King. Unlike the priests, whose melee combat was remarkably effective, the Lich Kings performed terribly in close combat. Moreover, no one expected a powerful cavalry force to descend from the sky. Wasn't Su Mu supposed to be intercepted at a distance? How did Goode arrive ahead of time?

If Sumu breaks free from the entanglement and approaches the border of the snow mountain, then this battle is likely to be lost.

Katherine, who was commanding the skeleton army, was clearly a little scared. The Night Skeletons that surrounded him did not emerge from the snowdrifts to provide support; instead, they were observing the situation so that he could escape at the first sign of trouble.

These undead heroes have no sense of unity whatsoever; they are only willing to betray their teammates and let their companions die first, abandoning them without any psychological burden.

There was no other way; Su Mu's reputation was simply too great. No one was confident of winning after the enemy's main force attacked. Even losing some troops was better than losing their lives.

As for killing Cedros and Goode first, then concentrating forces to fight Su Mu, don't they understand? Are they even worse than a newbie hero?
It's really dangerous. If you get entangled in a fierce battle and then the enemy sends reinforcements, you're really doomed.

Su Mu used this method to annihilate even more powerful enemies on several occasions.

Cedros was clearly bait, and they naturally realized that. Gaunt wanted to take the bait by force, but the other two were somewhat wary, which led to the current situation.

Gunter was furious at the main camp; if he weren't already a skeleton, his face would have turned purple.

"At such a critical moment, they are still hesitating. They are hopeless."

Goode clearly used the cavalry's high speed and mobility to arrive at lightning speed. If we don't deal with him now, are we going to wait for Su Mu's main force to arrive before attacking?"

Gunter was truly at his wit's end; with the Wind Erosion Knight disrupting his formation, he couldn't unleash his strongest abilities.

He had no choice but to raise his sword and fight himself.

As Gunter approached the cavalry regiment, a chaotic tide of thought began to erode the land, freezing the ground and igniting ghostly flames, as the Frost Curse gradually spread.

A mad magic spread among the Lich King, and all, friend and foe alike, were controlled by his evil intent.

Although the Wind Erosion Cavalry were powerful, they could not ignore mind magic, while the undead were immune to this type of control. Suddenly, some knights began to kill indiscriminately, friend or foe.

However, Goode was prepared. Each knight was spread out widely. He originally intended to disrupt the battle formation of thousands of liches, but with just over a hundred cavalrymen, they had to disperse. Even if they were subjected to ruthless control, they would only kill the enemies around them, and with layers upon layers of liches surrounding them, they would not miss.

This was supposed to be the Lich's best chance—dozens of them ganging up on a single cavalryman. However, the Wind Erosion Knight paired with the Crimson Dream Beast was simply too tanky. Not only did they have extra health, but they were also protected by a dream shield, making it impossible for the Lich to do any damage.

The only downside is that the attack-based life steal has no effect on these skeletons; otherwise, even if we put the cavalry here to be attacked, there would be absolutely no chance of winning.

Just as Sederlos was about to cast an exorcism spell to dispel the abnormal status of the cavalry, he realized that it was completely unnecessary.

Cavalry is cavalry; the only downside of high-end cavalry is its high price, but its combat effectiveness is exceptionally outstanding.

In just a short while, over 500 more liches were killed, and the cloud of death failed to gather. With the pressure gone, the Arcane Prayers seized the initiative, repelling the Crimson Legion and seemingly poised to launch another ranged attack.

Cedros did not launch a major counterattack; his goal was to hold the line. Rumor had it that Xin'ouling had already arrived with ballistae, and Forrest had even transported the demon-hunting griffins to Silvertop City ahead of time, soon to reach Snow Peak. Once Kuraki's army arrived, victory was assured.

"Rhodes, Katherine, help me kill Kuraki, and I will share the treasures of the Cloud City ruins afterward!"

Gaunt activated the altar and obtained exclusive clues to the ruins of the Shattered Cloud City. He continued to develop the Crimson Rebellion in the heartland, not only to harass the kingdom, but also to search for the true treasure.

That's why he was so surprised when the sacred bone appeared in Horeng Town.

Divinity can be a tremendous boost to light, or it can be a boost to an evil god. Stealing the divinity of other Tier 7 units, or stealing Tier 7 barracks to replace them in completing the final step, is one way for a fraudster to become legendary.

Previously, Gaunt kept his mouth shut and didn't tell anyone, but Rhodes and Katherine, as God's chosen ones, vaguely sensed some clues.

Gaunt had been in the heartland for so long, and he had sent his Crimson Rebels to plunder treasures from all over the land. He also possessed a divine artifact like the Prophet's Sword. No one would believe he hadn't made any gains.

Since he's willing to share the treasure, I can certainly lend a hand.

A large number of Night Skeletons teleported out of the snow and arrived beside the Arcane Prayer, unleashing the Bone-Eating Blade.

Katherine had already upgraded the Bone-Eating Blade to the intermediate level. He was already one step away from advancing to the next level, and he secretly crossed the bottleneck during the previous peripheral battles.

【Intermediate Bone-Eating Blade (Deceitful Chosen): Applies a special magical status to skeletons, allowing them to steal a certain amount of the enemy unit's attack and defense for a short period of time.

Intermediate effect bonus: Maximum 12 points of attack and defense, moderate duration, can be dispelled (but requires two dispels, and the lost attributes cannot be regained), 25% is converted into the user's own effect.

Compared to the beginner level, the intermediate level of Bone-Eating Blade has higher attack and defense stealing capabilities. If this skill is used against a hero with low attributes, the opponent will have almost no chance of survival.

Even more terrifying is that the magical status needs to be dispelled twice and has a 25% conversion efficiency, which is equivalent to 3 points of attack and defense. This is an epic buff for skeleton soldiers.

As the Night Skeletons swarmed in amidst the chaos, the Arcane Prayer instantly felt a drain of power, becoming quite weak. Of course, the opponent didn't gain 12 points of attack and defense all at once; against an elite force like the Arcane Prayer, the effect was essentially halved, granting only 6 points of attack and defense.

However, the Night Skeletons could withstand one attack, allowing them to attack at least twice. In addition, the large number of skeletons made it easier for them to accumulate damage. As a result, the Arcane Prayer was quickly weakened by 12 attack and defense in the battle.

In other words, the Astrologer's skills are too overpowered after taking power. If a hero with other troop specializations were in this situation, they would probably only have a pitiful dozen points of defense left.

Although the Arcane Prayers are still engaged in fierce fighting, their casualties have clearly increased.

However, this was not the most fatal blow. Rhodes finally made his move, still hiding in the shadows, waiting for the right opportunity to steal fire from Goode.

[Stolen Flame (Temporary Skill): For every 14 attribute points a hero has, cavalry (including upgraded units) gain 1 point of attack and defense, 1 point of damage, a Dream Shield equal to 2% of their health, and the special magic Nightmare Whirlwind.]

The Death Knight was enveloped in a crimson hue, becoming increasingly eerie.

Wind Erosion Knights cease to spawn after their shields are depleted, and their attack and defense are significantly weakened.

"It's a high-ranking Crimson Knight! Oh no!"

Rhodes's buffs may be mediocre, but weakening the Wind Erosion Cavalry is the best effect.

The Death Knights began their charge, advancing towards the Wind Erosion Cavalry Regiment.

Gunter also raised the darkened Prophet's Sword, aiming it at Goode, preparing to unleash the curse.

The situation on the battlefield reversed instantly; this theft of fire was extremely deadly!
(End of this chapter)