Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 152 The Undead Shield and the Vampire Count (Objective Completed, Thank You)
[Undead Shield (Tier 2 Treasure): Increases defense by 3 when equipped by a hero. One of the four components of the Cursed Armor combination treasure.]

Evaluation: The altar in the temple suddenly cracked open, revealing a shield with a human head. You punched the skull, showing it who the true master was.

Su Mu has been waiting for the final piece of the Cursed Armor for far too long.

They originally intended to obtain it from the royal treasury, but unexpectedly, such evil treasures were not distributed.

There's no other way but to defeat the evil hero to obtain the evil treasure, and Su Mu promises to use it for good.

There is only one final obstacle ahead. Once we eliminate this self-deceiving lich, we can acquire the Undead Shield.

Su Mu glanced at the lich's other hand, which was a special treasure unlike any he had ever seen before, and it was probably related to the zombies that had been baptized by the elements.

He used his aura-gazing technique to observe carefully and finally obtained detailed information about it.

[Plague Bone Casket (Tier 3 Treasure): When wielded by a hero, Cursed Power increases by 4. It can unleash a special Plague Evolution Necromancy spell, transforming all skeletons into blood-poisoned zombies, but causing the hero to lose control of them. It is linked to the special building Tower of Deception; the more creatures infected, the more Oblivion Power the building gains. It can be upgraded.]

This is yet another treasure related to architecture, and it's a special building belonging to the Necropolis clan. No wonder those blood-poison zombies were roaming White Stone City; it turns out the lich couldn't control them at all.

Come to think of it, if thousands of blood-poison zombies had flooded into the city lord's mansion, Soya would have been defeated long ago. How could he have held on until now?
This erosion process must have lasted a long time, and the lich only managed to capture Soya with his core forces after releasing the plague.

Su Mu still couldn't understand why a lich could possess such powerful magical abilities. He didn't deny that the lich itself was a strong hero, but to have mastered three advanced elemental magic spells was still far too monstrous.

Shaking his head, Su Mu decided not to dwell on it since he couldn't figure it out. Each faction had its own unique skills, and the Cemetery faction was no weaker than the Castle faction. There was no need to get hung up on it; the important thing was to secure victory.

"Thunder Swordsman, launch an attack!"

Since the enemy still has troops, they should be eliminated as well. Ivan has already led his soldiers to surround the lich and fight against the undead lurking behind it.

Just then, pairs of blood-red, hungry eyes appeared in the darkness, transforming into bat forms and launching an attack on the Thunder Swordsman.

Attacked by these ghostly figures, the Thunder Swordsman instantly became dizzy and disoriented. He tried to raise his sword to fight back, but found that his hands were numb and he could not move at all.

【Vampire Count (Graveyard Tier 4 Super Tier Unit): Attack 13, Defense 13, Damage 5-10, Health 50, Speed ​​9, Size Medium to Large】

Element: None; Undead flying creature.

Bloodborne Poison: Enemies attacked by the Vampire Count lose the ability to retaliate for a certain period of time and have their speed reduced by 2.

Bloodlust: Damage inflicted by vampires can directly restore their health. Excess blood can resurrect a dead count. If the limit is exceeded, a blood shield (30% of maximum health) will be formed.

Noble Earl: When attacking enemies below level 5, forcibly deduct 10% of their maximum health (takes 20% less damage from dark magic).

Assessment: The higher a vampire's rank, the more concentrated the progenitor's blood they possess, and their fangs harbor a deadly virus.

It was a vampire count! The moment Su Mu saw the enemy, he felt a sense of unease. He hadn't expected that there would be such a high-level unit in the ruins.

However, the world is vast, and everyone has their own secrets. Ancient ruins may indeed possess terrifying and unique structures over the years.

The enemy has high health and speed, and the most troublesome thing is that a single bite will cause you to lose the maximum amount of health, making it a perfect counter to defensive techniques.

Su Mu even suspected that someone from the Angry Bear Clan might have leaked information about Ivan's characteristics, otherwise how could the enemy's heroes and units be so effective against him?
"Damn it! I'll kill you all!"

Surrounded by the vampire count, the lich finally caught his breath and unleashed Blood River Erosion, attempting to replicate his previous tactics.

In fact, if he hadn't been so overconfident and used a barrage of fireballs to evaporate the Blood River, allowing the Thunder Swordsman to briefly escape from it, Su Mu would have had a real difficulty casting spells.

Now, with the protection of the anti-magic spell, at least the Thunder Swordsman can be guaranteed to be free from magical interference until the next dispel. Su Mu carefully observed the lich's spellcasting; the speed and intensity of the fireballs the lich was casting had decreased, likely to the level of intermediate fire elemental mastery.

It seems the other party cannot maintain this level of memory indefinitely. With each failed plan, the lich's confidence will definitely be shaken.

"You still call yourself the Grand Duke of the Dead? Is this all the power the dignified Duke of Stuart has?"

I've met him in person; you're nowhere near that level!

"Those who blaspheme the family name will not be forgiven!"

The lich unleashed a furious attack, and before the Blood River could descend, it had already unleashed a barrage of fireballs. As expected, they were all blocked by the anti-magic spell.

Taking advantage of the opponent's confusion, Su Mu activated a magical buff.

[Fast Acceleration]

【God of Luck (Level 2 Magic, Air Element): Increases the luck of the selected friendly unit by 1 point. Duration is affected by spell power.

Advanced Air Element Mastery: Increases the Luck of all allied units by 2 points. Duration is affected by spell power.

Before the battle, Su Mu switched from Logistics to Ouling's Advanced Air Element Mastery.

Swift Acceleration dispels all low-level slowdowns, while Fortune grants Thunder Swordsman the strongest burst damage. Combined with the Advanced Leadership skill applied by Su Mu as a secondary hero, Thunder Swordsman recovers from his weakness and displays high morale.

They charged forward, unleashing massive sword swings and combos, triggering a lucky strike (double damage). Before the counts could react, the swordsmen, full of fighting spirit, repeated their attacks, landing another lucky strike.

Although it might sound a bit verbose, the vampire count didn't see it that way; all they felt was deep fear. They had even lost their fear, for the bats had been hacked to pieces, their poisonous blood splattering all over the walls.

Four swords cleaved everything in two; that's how domineering it was.

Su Mu didn't bother with defensive techniques or magic resistance spells at all. Did they really think the Thunder Swordsman had no attacks?
If you want to fight a protracted war by sucking blood, go suck your own blood!

Until all the vampire counts were dead, and even their shields were shattered, the lich hadn't had a chance to unleash his Blood River.

Seeing this, the lich lost all will to fight. He used his skeletal hand to embrace the Soul Box, detached from his massive body, and retreated into the darkness amidst the chaos.

How could Su Mu let him escape so easily? A bolt of lightning struck down, hitting the lich's soul box squarely and causing its body to fall out.

"Squeak!"

A gigantic undead rat monster with four heads, each head wearing a mask, was facing them—the Duke of the Bone.

"So it was just an undead rat, yet it dared to call itself a duke."

Stuart himself is a pariah, yet he's so fond of a ghost like you—what a perfect match!

"Squeak!"

The undead rat was badly injured, but still tried to run away. Ivan cornered it against the wall with his sword, and it couldn't move.

Su Mu walked over, raised the Undead Shield, and shouted.

Inspired by their lord, the Thunder Swordsmen were in high spirits and fell into another kind of frenzy.

(End of this chapter)