Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 149 Summoning the Soul

Sumu rode the fierce wind, while Ivan rode on the back of a wild griffin, leading the army toward White Rock City.

During the Month of Calamity, heavy snow blocks the roads, making travel extremely difficult. Without pathfinding spells, the entire legion's speed will be reduced by half, which is why shieldbearers were not brought.

Originally, it would have been best to bring only the Wild Griffins, but Su Mu was worried that White Stone City might encounter a situation that was difficult to deal with, so he brought the most elite troops at present.

He took advantage of the unique features of the Eight Kings' Palace in the Prison to acquire the basic logistics skills of the ruling Wein, increasing his mobility by 40%, which barely compensated for the slow speed of marching in the snow.

Three days later, the two finally arrived outside White Stone City, but did not rush into the city.

The White Stone City before them was very strange. The city walls were extremely dark and gray, and the south gate was wide open, but no one appeared. Inside the gate, the bones of hundreds of people were piled up.

Dark clouds loomed, and the air was deathly still and desolate.

"The aura of the undead! It seems things aren't looking good in Whitestone City."

Even from several kilometers away, Su Mu could feel the aura of decay and decay. Judging from the current situation, White Stone City had likely been conquered by the undead and turned into a dead city.

From the moment Soya sent a message to Ivan asking for help, their use of family bloodlines to transmit the message took almost no time. By the time the two arrived with a large force, only three days had passed, and they were already in such a miserable state.

"It seems that a wizard or lich has infiltrated this city, otherwise the aura of the dead wouldn't be so strong."

Ivan was immediately worried, but it was precisely at times like these that he couldn't afford to alert the enemy. He could only hope that his brother and his guards could hold out for a little longer.

"Let me use my Earth-Seeing Eye to take a look and see what's going on inside the city."

This is a common scouting skill used by earth elementals; it was used to discover the tunnel during the attack on Kayle. It's especially effective for seeing through the earth for the undead buried underground.

As Su Mu closed his eyes, a huge, earth-yellow eyeball appeared above his head, gazing at everything in the distance.

Although there were some dark clouds inside the city, they did not form a dark curtain, and the city's underground could be clearly observed through the ground.

The more Su Mu looked, the stranger it seemed. There were quite a few new tombs underground, but no skeletons or zombies, and even the old corpses had disappeared.

The only thing that surprised him was that the tunnel still existed, which could be put to use.

He ordered the griffins to put down the food and prepare for battle.

“There’s something strange at the city gate. We’ll quickly enter the city through the tunnel.”

Ivan glanced at the city gate, which was indeed very strange. Although the gate was wide open, no one appeared, only piles of corpses. Coupled with the accumulated curse power and the pervasive yin energy, it was very likely that it was hiding corpses that had exploded and rotted, somewhat similar to the bone field protecting the cemetery.

"Alright, let me lead the Thunder Swordsmen into the tunnels, and you and the Griffins will cross the city walls from the sky!"

With Ivan present during this battle, Su Mu did not inherit the defensive techniques. Instead, Ivan led the team to the front lines, while Su Mu provided support with magical restrictions. This was the best way to fight.

Su Mu patted him on the shoulder: "Be careful, don't rush in headfirst."

Ivan nodded. He naturally wouldn't be too reckless; this White Stone City clearly harbored treacherous schemes.

Su Mu rode the fierce wind and slowly rose into the air. Before the battle began, he first cast an anti-magic spell on all the soldiers to guard against the enemy's sudden magical attack.

The Cemetery is one of the few factions with mastery of magic; their death magic rivals that of the Tower of Alchemy. It's always good to have multiple safeguards.

As the wild griffins soared into the sky, the entire panorama of White Rock City unfolded before our eyes.

There were no human guards on the city walls, only fallen skeletons everywhere. Although they seemed incapable of fighting, if anyone approached, these skeletons would ignite their soul fire and launch a deadly attack.

Skeleton (Graveyard Tier 1 Unit): Attack 5, Defense 4, Damage 1-3, Health 6, Speed ​​4, Slightly weak.

Element: None.

The Necropolis's lowest-tier unit is also the core of swarm tactics. All Necropolis heroes possess the Necromancy spell; once this sorcery skill reaches a certain level, it can unleash a swarm of undead. [Necromancy: 10% of enemy units killed in battle are transformed into friendly skeletons.]

Intermediate: 20%; Advanced: 30%. For each Summoning Tower, the Summoning effect is increased by 10%.

Look at the skeletal soldiers on the city wall; there are easily over a hundred of them. Some are soldiers, and some are farmers. Although non-supernatural units have lower magical power characteristics, resulting in a reduced conversion effect, they might still slaughter civilians to recruit soldiers if they encounter a ruthless wizard or death knight.

The Cemetery faction is arguably the easiest to snowball; once it appears, it is often besieged and attacked by the surrounding major factions.

Su Mu had the Wild Griffin capture some wild monsters and leave them near the city gate, wanting to verify his guess.

The wolves had barely landed when their fur stood on end. They ran towards the city gate, but collapsed after only a few steps, their bodies rotting and dying. A few managed to reach the gate, but that triggered an explosion of the skulls beneath the ground, instantly shattering them into pieces.

Seeing this, he roughly understood that the magical arrangements in front of the city gate were indeed similar to those of the cemetery city defenses.

The closer they flew to the center of White Rock City, the more people appeared on the streets. They walked around as usual, hawking their wares, working hard to earn money, and then returning to their houses.

If it weren't for the blood-stained clothes and the stench of rotting flesh, one would really think it was a city of order.

The people on the street had been dead for several days, their eyes were white, and their flesh was rotting, yet they unconsciously continued the behavior they had before they died, as if they were still alive.

"Something's wrong with these zombies!"

Su Mu did not allow the griffin army to land. He used the high-speed maneuverability of the gale to swoop down and snatch a zombie. With a slight movement of his claws, the corpse exploded.

Gale used its broad wings to protect Su Mu, keeping out the filthy, mangled pieces of flesh. Surprisingly, the blood from the exploding body parts was extremely corrosive, and even Gale's defenses couldn't completely withstand it. Fortunately, the protective shield of the anti-magic spell appeared in time, otherwise Su Mu would have been burned through several holes.

Su Mu used his Qi Observation Technique to examine the zombie again carefully, and only then did he discover the clue.

【Blood Poison Zombie (Graveyard Tier 2, Elemental Baptism): Attack 5, Defense 5, Damage 2-3, Health 25, Speed ​​4, Medium Size】

Element: Water (Zombie remains are more corrosive, and their blood is more polluting); Undead creatures.

Infected: When attacking, there is a chance to reduce the enemy's attack and defense by 3. After triggering, there is a chance to dispel the enemy's buff magic effects (low-level exorcism effect).

Blood Poison Contamination (equivalent to Level 2 Flesh Magic): When a zombie is killed, it explodes, dealing damage equal to 20% of the zombie's maximum health.

This is actually a graveyard unit baptized by elements; ordinary necromancy doesn't have this characteristic and can't directly summon zombies. However, if combined with special graveyard buildings or heroes possessing special skills, it's highly likely that corpses can be transformed into even more powerful undead.

Fortunately, Su Mu had the foresight to use the anti-demon technique in advance; otherwise, even with complete physical immunity, being trapped in the sea of ​​corpses would have resulted in heavy casualties.

The streets are mostly populated by these blood-poison zombies, probably numbering close to a thousand. White Stone City has become a ghost town.

After gaining a preliminary understanding of the enemy's troop types, Su Mu became even more puzzled. These zombies seemed to have no hero to lead them, and were all unconsciously repeating the actions they had taken in life.

This situation reminded him of the wandering poet of the past, who forgot the truth of his own death and even deceived the Soulfire, managing to appear before everyone in a human body, a deception that even heroes could not detect.

It seems to be an ancient relic's method. The opponent must possess a treasure that can deceive the rules, with an extremely high level, perhaps even comparable to a combined treasure. We must be cautious in our battle against the undead army.

Su Mu circled in the sky several times, but Ivan never emerged from the tunnel.

Logically speaking, given the speed of the Thunder Swordsman, he should have already appeared in the city.

He looked into the tunnel and saw that mindless zombies were approaching the exit. The gate of the city lord's mansion suddenly exploded, and a viscous river of blood surged and rushed down into the ground.

Corpses floated in the river of blood, emanating extremely strong magical energy and a nauseatingly pungent stench of blood.

"Advanced witchcraft corruption!"

"Oh no, Ivan is in danger!"

(End of this chapter)