Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 174: Fake Person
The border region of the North, formerly a no-man's-land, has now become a bustling market.

Merchants hawked their wares, selling the latest goods: human skulls, dwarven hammers, alchemical cores of stone golems, and vampire coffins—a diverse array of items. The most popular were naturally sulfur and fire-elemental materials, attracting numerous buyers.

Once an order is received, the demon merchant pours the materials into the fiery furnace and disappears instantly, teleporting to another location through a mysterious subspace.

Karl excavated a hellish city in this area, and the first thing he built was the Abyss Market, where he could trade all the resources he had acquired in the surrounding area with nearby hellish cities.

Although the cost was high, he was always able to provide things that other cities didn't have.

Karl smiled with satisfaction as he watched the cruel three-headed hounds escort hordes of savages into the market.

This area is indeed not a good place to develop; it's basically sandwiched between castles and towers, making it impossible to expand further. But Karl doesn't intend to develop this city either; he's merely following the orders of the demon lord of hell to create chaos and obtain materials.

Once the objective is achieved, he can travel through the castle gates to another demon city.

So far, his performance has been satisfactory. A large number of monsters and Magogs, as well as packs of three-headed hounds and demons, have become his minions, capturing humans in the lava-irrigated lands.

This place must have been a connecting point long ago. The demon lord seems to be searching for something, which is why he entrusted him with this important task. But Karl has his own ambitions. He uses manipulation to amass a large army, and once he has enough manpower, he plans to wreak havoc in the underworld.

Recent news suggests that a resource-type treasure, primarily producing gold coins, has been discovered in a valley to the south, which has greatly appealed to him.

Although he possesses advanced persuasive diplomacy skills, recruiting and converting still costs money. Currently, he is barely surviving on this level 2 town, and most of his wealth comes from plunder, which is still insufficient to meet his needs.

If one could possess a treasure that produces gold coins, it would be like adding wings to a tiger.

"Beron, take your men and go check it out. Don't let this get out of hand. Kill anyone who knows anything!"

With a single glance, Belon immediately understood his lord's intentions. He slapped the messenger who had come to report the news and claim the reward to pieces, and then led a team of horned demons and three-headed hounds into action.

This place is not far from the lava field, making it ideal for Hell forces to march.

Belon is a heretic newly corrupted by Karl. Originally a highly skilled sorcerer, he frequently researched forbidden magic and was wanted multiple times by the Arcane Empire. After wandering to the borderlands, he simply joined Karl's forces and continued his research into evil magic.

The magic of the Hell forces was no less sophisticated than that of the Tower, and they possessed unique magical specializations. Belon was greatly inspired by them and acquired many fire magic spells.

Their current combat capabilities are average, but through missionary work and evil magic, they have gradually gained a foothold in this area.

Many foolish people, deluding themselves into wanting to gain power quickly, are seduced by heretics and become new demonic soldiers.

【False Human (Hell Level 4 Special Unit): Attack 8, Defense 8, Damage 6-7, Health 35, Speed ​​7, Medium Size】

Element: Flesh and blood.

Flesh Mutation: Gain 1 point of health for each creature killed or devoured (maximum 10 points, advance after reaching the maximum).

Priest Evolution: Each evolution grants 2 points of attack and defense, an additional 2 points of fire damage, 10 points of health, 1 point of speed, and a 10% chance of not being countered (maximum 5 evolutions; ultimate evolution grants the heterochromatic eye trait).
**Mind Disguise:** Harmless and evil thoughts collide in the soul; manic ramblings will influence your decisions, and attacks have a 50% chance of not being countered. **Heterochromatic Eyes:** After attacking, there is a chance to blind enemies with lower health than yourself, up to a maximum of 4 enemies simultaneously.

Belon led a large number of fake humans to slaughter along the border, cultivating powerful ultimate fake humans who became the trump card of Castlevania.

This type of unit is a new combat force formed by the synergy of Karl's advanced persuasive diplomacy and advanced fire elemental mastery. Karl directly uses flesh magic to baptize surrendered soldiers, corrupting them into rudimentary pseudo-humans who gradually advance through slaughter.

It must be said that the advanced persuasive diplomacy technique has many synergistic capabilities, and coupled with the evil flesh magic that can grant units more variations, Karl may be able to recruit even more monstrous units in the future.

This is also why Veron was willing to play for Karl.

But he had also heard that Lord Karl had been driven from his homeland by the human lords of the Shilin Plains and had ended up here. It was intriguing to wonder what kind of powerful hero could make Karl so fearful.

……

Ivan led a large flock of griffons from Bearhold, flying over vast swathes of the North and gradually approaching the borderlands.

Based on the combined advice of all the heroes, the baptism of the griffins was finally decided to be based on the air element. They all believed that the high-speed gale griffins possessed air superiority, and with the boost of rapid acceleration, they could interfere with the enemy's ranged firepower, making them a more suitable unit for the Kuraki tactical system.

While the Frost Griffin is powerful, Ivan and Sumu are not lacking in melee combat ability. Moreover, if they are not facing heroes who are proficient in water elementals, the Frost Griffin's characteristics will be greatly diminished.

In the end, the Gale Griffins were more popular. After two weeks, more than 200 Gale Griffins were gathered, and Ivan took them directly to the North to practice.

Based on the information provided by the merchant, Wayne sent thieves to investigate and collect information, and it is highly likely that it is a level 3 treasure, with an estimated production of 500 gold coins per day.

If Maggie could wear this treasure, it would bring enormous wealth to the Marquisate, so Ivan was determined to acquire it during his visit.

However, it is said that the Void God Cult in the North is also making moves, coveting this treasure, and has sent a large number of special troops to try to seize it.

For safety's sake, Ivan also gathered 120 fearless swordsmen, who then rode in the griffin unit towards the demon's territory.

Several kilometers from their destination, Ivan could smell the strong odor of sulfur in the air. Frozen mountains were covered in lava, and in the far distance, a volcano was erupting, sending large amounts of ash onto the land and causing intense erosion.

Ivan had been to this place when he was a child. It was originally a barren land, which neither the Arcane Empire nor the Kingdom of Elton wanted to govern, and it was home to a large number of wicked and wicked people. However, back then it was human territory, but now it has been invaded by the forces of Hell.

Before leaving, Su Mu specifically instructed him not to be careless.

Despite Karl's repeated defeats, his ability to survive demonstrates his exceptionally keen intuition and keen perception of danger and opportunity. Now that his diplomacy skills are advanced, he can easily combine them with other abilities to recruit special units, potentially including subordinates with elemental damage capabilities.

While defensive techniques are strong, they are not invincible. If countered by the enemy's tactics, they can be subjected to powerful magical attacks at any time, especially from forces like Hell that use strong spell attacks.

Ivan immediately calmed his arrogance and began to carefully investigate the enemy's movements, preparing to use the information gap provided by Wayne to launch a final attack.

(End of this chapter)