Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 176 Chaotic Battle for Treasure
Ivan had hoped to reap the benefits without lifting a finger, but clearly his stealth skills were insufficient. Not only did Belon discover him, but the Nameless One was also prepared.

The reason the enemy didn't reveal Ivan's location was that they planned to defeat him one by one, and even after killing Belon and obtaining the gold bag, the Void Cult could use a special stargate to escape directly.

Ivan's main purpose in coming to the border region was to acquire treasures, not to engage in fierce combat. Therefore, he didn't bring the War Shackles, which indeed couldn't restrain the Void Assassins. Even if he did, he wouldn't know how to use them. This region is very close to Hell City, and both Ivan and the Void Cult want a quick victory. If they were surrounded by reinforcements, it would be difficult to fight them.

Upon seeing the large number of griffins and fearless swordsmen appear, the Nameless One questioned, "What, is the human legion going to help the forces of hell? Why don't we join forces to take down Belon first, and as for the treasure, we'll each rely on our own abilities?"

This is indeed a good suggestion. No one has a good impression of infidels, and the most dangerous place is Belon. If Karl is summoned, with his advanced diplomacy skills, he will have at least a thousand troops, which will be difficult to deal with.

Belon was startled and hurriedly said, "Don't believe him. The Void Cult has a special escape method. Once they get the golden bag, they'll escape using the star gate, and you won't get the treasure at all. Cooperate with me and take down the Void Assassins, and I'll give you the treasure!"

Ivan first cast a bloodlust spell on his troops, and the fearless swordsmen leaped from the griffins, causing the earth to tremble. They raised their broadswords and formed ranks, ready to charge at any moment.

"Give me the gold bag, and I'll wipe out these cowardly bastards for you!"

Peron could only give an awkward smile. How could he possibly hand over something that could save his life? If Ivan went back on his word, he would be doomed.

Taking advantage of the chaos, he had secretly used his abilities within the blood-contaminated river to send out the message. Lord Karl would arrive with his troops within half an hour. Even if Ivan and the Nameless One were strong, they only had a small force and couldn't withstand the attrition of a large army. His only task was to stall them, ideally exploiting their mutual distrust to incite conflict.

Just as Belon was about to speak, he discovered that the fearless swordsman had already launched a charge, a bolt of lightning slashing in, an indiscriminate area attack engulfing the entire valley.

Furthermore, four terrifying debuff spells covered the battlefield, greatly reducing the speed and capabilities of both units.

With a series of slashes and the swing of the greatsword, the sword energy covered enemies within a nearly kilometer radius, sweeping across the battlefield with indiscriminate sword energy as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.

The Void Assassins were indeed formidable, possessing unparalleled agility, and nearly 70% of them successfully dodged the attack. However, the remaining assassins were utterly unable to withstand the onslaught and all perished, their corpses turning to dust along with their black robes, their flesh and blood crushed into powder.

The fake people were on the edge of the circular attack and were not the main target, but even so, nearly 20 of them were killed.

Ivan inherited the attack attribute, and with the addition of offensive techniques and the fearless swordsman's ability to ignore 50% of defense, he was simply unstoppable, capable of slaying gods and saints.

What was this talk of teaming up to take down the assassins? Ivan's idea was simple: quickly get rid of them all, bring the gold bag back to Kuraki, whether Belon gave it to him or not was unimportant, and he didn't intend to ask him anything; he would just kill them.

This completely stunned Belon and the Void Assassin. They had considered that the Fearless Swordsmen were Kuraki's elite, and they had prepared themselves mentally, after all, weren't the Pseudo-Man and the Void Assassin special trump cards? But actually facing them in battle and seeing so many of them killed in an instant was quite a shock.

Ivan's attack power is not as high as that of the Voidwalker, but the Thunder Swordsman is too powerful. Ignoring 50% of defense, he can still deal 1.3 times the damage, making him the nemesis of high-defense characters.

The Void Assassin has high evasion but low health; taking a few hits will surely kill them. Furthermore, Void Evasion has a cost; this is already the third evasion, and further reductions will render it largely ineffective. They can only rely on skills and the Assassin's talents to dodge, which will only increase their losses.

At this point, the only option was to fight fire with fire. The Void Assassin used Blink to launch a backstab, ambushing Ivan's Fearless Swordsman.

However, the Fearless Swordsman's armor was as hard as a rock, and the poisoned blade couldn't penetrate it at all. It could only weaken the swordsman's defense, and the Fearless Swordsman used the counterattack to kill several more people.

The Void One reacted quickly, immediately recognizing Ivan's exceptionally strong physical defense, which was practically immune to physical attacks. He instantly changed tactics, having the Void Assassin use Stealth Strike to unleash a void damage attack—a physical-driven magical attack that the defense could not resist.

But during this lull in the attack and defense, Ivan cast the Fiery Shield. When the Void Assassin got close to attack, he was automatically burned by the surrounding flames. This time, he couldn't dodge and could only take the damage from the fire shield.

The Voidwalker's attacks were indeed powerful, and combined with the assassin's high burst damage, the Fearless Swordsman began to suffer damage; basically, two people could assassinate one Fearless Swordsman. However, the results were not optimistic. The moment they made their move, they were burned by the fire shield, and part of their attack effect was converted into flames, burning the assassin to ashes.

With the bonus from the Flame Armor, the Fiery Shield achieves near-total reflection and inflicts magic damage. Basically, once the assassins strike, regardless of whether the Dauntless Swordsmen survive, they are doomed. Void Assassins are already a very valuable unit, and besides, it's not advisable to bring a large force for treasure hunting; there were only about seventy of them in total, and these two waves have resulted in the loss of nearly half. Now, they are caught in a dilemma—fighting is risky, and not fighting is also not an option.

The Nameless Ones did have a countermeasure: they used an exorcism spell to make the Fearless Swordsmen's fire shields disappear. However, during this brief interval in their spellcasting, the swordsmen launched another attack, covering all the Void Assassins and dealing even more damage than before.

The Void Assassins are now down to just over a dozen people, completely incapable of attacking.

At this moment, the Gale Griffins that were flanking from the rear also flew out and swooped down from the sky to attack, covering the Void Assassins from all directions. No matter how well the assassins could dodge, a dozen against one would always hit them.

Seeing that the battle had become irreversible, the Void Star Gate flickered again, and a group of Void Archmages arrived on the battlefield. This was a backup plan prepared by the Void Named Ones, who originally intended for the Void Archmages to finish off the remaining enemies when the fighting was nearly over, but now that was clearly impossible.

"Evacuate!"

The stargate had barely opened when the Nameless One, along with the remaining assassins, used Blink to retreat to the other side. The Void Archmage, who had been stretching out his body, preparing to unleash his power, was forced to turn back as soon as he stepped out.

However, with their assistance, a large number of fearless swordsmen can be contained, buying time for teammates.

Although there were nearly a hundred Void Archmages, Void Names were not a mage's specialty, so they couldn't unleash their full power. He could see clearly that with the combination of these Fearless Swordsmen and Wild Griffins, plus Ivan's support, it would take at least a thousand troops to defeat them.

If he had enough Void Assassins, he might still have a chance to fight back. But now he has suffered heavy losses and lost any chance to turn the tide. Let the forces of Hell and Ivan get entangled!

As the stargate activated and flickered, a noticeable fluctuation of magical power emanated from the sky. Unable to seize the treasure, the Nameless One ceased his concealment. Given the distance from Hell City, the anomaly here would definitely be felt, and someone would arrive within half an hour.

As the Void Archmage departed through the Star Gate, the banished swordsmen returned to the battlefield.

Ivan ignored the fleeing Void Cult; his only goal was to obtain the golden pouch. Therefore, the swordsmen moved forward again, surrounding Belon and launching an attack.

Seeing that only the Fearless Swordsmen remained, Belon's eyes turned bloodshot. He had naturally noticed their overwhelming attack power, but the dummy was surprisingly effective against such high-attack units. After all, the Fearless Swordsmen only had high defense, not that they were unhittable.

However, the scenario he envisioned did not materialize; the pseudo-human's heterochromatic eyes had no effect on the fearless swordsman, and the blinding effect failed to take effect.

Belon was stunned, still wondering if Ivan had cast an anti-magic spell, when the fearless swordsmen had already chopped up all the fake humans and surrounded him.

He relied on his remaining troops for a final stand, attempting to unleash fire magic to attack the fearless swordsmen. However, Ivan beat him to it, using a fire-controlling technique that made him almost immune to fire elemental damage.

With no other option, Perón could only beg for mercy.

"Spare me! I was only acting under Karl's orders. Take the treasure, I won't stop you!"

As he spoke, he glanced at the sky behind him and vaguely saw a red cloud rapidly approaching.

How could Ivan possibly believe his nonsense? He ordered the fearless swordsmen and griffins to charge forward, tear Belon to shreds, and steal the golden bag and another treasure.

The swordsman, with his health nearly depleted, rode the Gale Griffin and quickly retreated south.

(End of this chapter)