Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 177 Outrageous Orders

The fiery flames ignited the clouds, and below, thousands of hellish soldiers gathered in the valley, silently gazing at the ravaged carcasses and mangled flesh.

Hell units love brutality and slaughter, provided that the dead are the enemy. Having four or five hundred of their own men piled up on the ground like this is a disgrace.

The false commander roared, shouting that he would make the enemy pay for their crimes in blood, but Karl glared at him and he fell silent.

Karl walked to the very center of the battlefield, staring expressionlessly at the dismembered Belon, showing no trace of sorrow.

To him, all the heroes who came to his aid were nothing more than tools; if they were useful, he would use them longer; if not, he would discard them. To be slaughtered by the enemy like this was indeed a loss of face.

Karl quickly suppressed his anger. Hell heroes often act impulsively, controlled by their brutal rage, and do foolish things. He was different. Having transformed from a human into a demon, coupled with his advanced persuasive diplomacy, he had a greater ability to control himself.

He had originally thought that by amassing a force of over a thousand and routing the northern legions, he could establish a foothold here. However, today, Su Mu's men, sent from such a distance, dealt him a major blow, making him realize that the gap between him and Cangmu City was still quite significant.

For now, it's best not to antagonize powerful forces, especially not to fight Su Mu. That guy is incredibly cunning; not only is he formidable, but his subordinates are also all unique. It's better to bully weaker groups like Saliman and the Wilderness Settlement, and slowly build up our strength first.

Karl used his demonic hand to grasp Belon's shattered skull, activated a special spell, and saw the battlefield through the remaining flames.

"The Nameless One, Evasion, the Void Assassin; Ivan, Defense, the Fearless Swordsman."

Ivan is much stronger than before, a complete transformation, but his main strength remains defensive magic. Meanwhile, the Void Cult warriors' abilities are primarily focused on evasion and high-speed ambushes. Both sides have a weakness against his Magor, so a clash on the battlefield would be a truly difficult situation.

He waved his hand, ordering the Mara army to unleash fireballs, setting the entire valley ablaze.

It seems that the devil cultivated by diplomacy needs to be more targeted, at least to establish an advantage over a certain power. He needs to think this through carefully.

……

Ivan led his army of griffins into the sky, and from the clouds he saw a large number of hellish soldiers pouring into the valley, numbering as many as a thousand.

As the lord said, Karl may seem like he only knows how to run away, but he can always raise an army after each defeat. He fights again and again, and now he has such a large army. He does have some strengths.

He had fought fiercely against the Void Ones and Belon. If he were surrounded by Karl, he would likely run out of magic and eventually be worn down by ranged or special units.

However, he wasn't stubborn. He thought that as long as he launched a surprise attack in front of someone's city and achieved his goal, he would be satisfied. Did he really want to be surrounded and killed?

Ivan touched the gold bag; the heavy package was extremely weighty, arousing a desire to possess it.

He shook his head, knowing it was a spell of bewitching power. He hadn't expected a level 3 treasure to have such a strong attraction; it truly lived up to its reputation as a resource-type treasure.

The appearance of the golden bag indicates that this treasure is not far from going out of control. It must be delivered to Maggie as soon as possible to suppress it using the special magical power of the Dream Realm.

At the commander's signal, the griffins sped up and rushed into the clouds, flying towards Kuraki with all their might, quickly leaving the valley behind.

About a day later, Ivan arrived at Bearhold. He was very satisfied with the Gale Griffins; their high-speed movement was incredibly useful. Whether for surprise attacks or dealing with ranged units, the Gale Griffins were capable of overwhelming Tier 3 units.

Even if Isildur later enters the North, possessing the Gale Griffin will grant him air superiority, which will be extremely effective against the Silver Pegasus.

When Ivan entered the council chamber, Maggie was already waiting inside. She took the golden bag and felt the powerful magic within, as if she could glimpse a mountain of gold through it. She could obtain an endless stream of gold coins whenever she wanted.

[Golden Pack (Tier 3 Treasure): Provides 500 (4000) Spell Power Coins daily.]

With the advanced Dream Finance skill boosted by the Governance skill, Maggie can earn 4000 gold coins per day by wearing the Gold Bag, which is comparable to building a parliament, which is truly insane.

With this treasure, Kuraki's tight financial situation was finally alleviated to some extent.

"You've done a great service this time, Su Mu should reward you with some treasures!"

Maggie's words were very true. Currently, Su Mu doesn't have many capable commanders; Ivan is arguably the most outstanding. This time, crossing the northern border to seize treasures from the Void God Cult and the demons is crucial in relieving their immediate crisis.

"No matter how many treasures there are, they can't compare to the place Bear Castle holds in my heart!"

Su Mu led his troops to relieve the siege of Bear Fort and rescued Ivan's brother and father. He was extremely grateful, but Ivan didn't say it out loud. This rescue was a way of repaying the lord.

Ivan had his own pride; he would only demonstrate his worth through actions. Maggie shook her head, speechless at these men, who were clearly grateful but stubbornly clung to their pride.

However, Su Mu was indeed tolerant of his subordinates and willing to genuinely help them. For someone like Ivan, Su Mu was willing to risk a war against the Undead to help him rescue his father and brother.

I treat people with sincerity, and they reciprocate with sincerity; this is the best way to govern.

Intrigue and scheming, the nobles' self-righteous methods, seemed utterly ridiculous in an era of war and strife. Sadly, they indulged in them, forgetting the original, powerful essence of the land where Bai Yu was born.

Besides the gold bag, Ivan also brought back another treasure.

[Magic Amulet: Heroes recover 2 extra mana points daily and increase magic damage by 10%. One of the three components of the Magic Source combination item.]

Evaluation: The amulet is imbued with magic, allowing you to feel the power of its spell.

This treasure was somewhat useless to Ivan, since he wasn't a hero known for his magic. However, it was somewhat useful for restoring mana. After some thought, he decided to have Maggie take it back and let Su Mu make arrangements for it.

When Maggie returned to Longlet Castle, she was about to share the good news with everyone, but found the atmosphere somewhat somber.

"What's going on? Has Isildur's army invaded?"

Forrest unfolded a parchment, revealing the text inside, with the royal seal affixed at the bottom.

Maggie frowned immediately after reading it: "What? The kingdom is going to replace the Grand Marshal now? And they want us to cooperate with the Northern forces in their counterattack against Isildur?"

After the deed is done, will the Salman family provide resources and a large number of boundary stones?

This truly amused Maggie. The North was in a terrible state; Salimman was failing in his defenses and had already abandoned many resource-rich territories. Isildur had committed a massive force to the north, and his advance was unstoppable.

Putting aside whether they could win or not, if Kuraki helps the Northern Territory reclaim its lands, would he just give them some resources to appease them? This is probably a proposal put forward by the Northern nobles.

As for the idea of ​​changing the coach at the last minute, it's practically suicidal. Wasn't it said that the King had stabilized Congress and would continue to support Raven? Why is he doing this now?
As the heir to a marquess, Maggie possessed a certain political acumen, and she quickly guessed that there might be deeper reasons behind it.

Intelligence chief Wayne explained, "The kingdom has reached an alliance with the western nations to marry a princess to the Emerald Lands, in exchange for the fortress's assistance. However, Marshal Raven has a grudge against the heroes of the swamps from his previous campaign in the southern wilderness."

Their condition for sending troops was that the kingdom change its general; otherwise, they wouldn't help us.

"The mages in the north are quite opposed to waging war that consumes manpower and resources. If the kingdom does not provide more resources, they will stop pressuring and wait and see. Without the Arcane Empire's restraint in the north, Isildur could even withdraw the soldiers from the northern frontier, making the situation even more dire."

Therefore, the King and Parliament had no choice but to accept the suggestion to change the general.

The new appointment has not yet been issued; Marshal Raven will remain in command until the very end.

Hearing such an absurd reason, Maggie was so angry she could barely stand, but she was powerless to do anything about it.

Raven was indeed capable, maintaining the situation with minimal forces, yet favoring a defensive counter-attacking strategy. However, Congress desired a more powerful hero to drive Isildur out of the border. Perhaps these victories had misled the noble lords of Congress into believing Elton's troops were exceptionally strong, leading to this radical approach.

Su Mu sat motionless in his chair, pondering the changing situation.

If history had unfolded as it did, Elton would have been severely defeated in the early stages, almost to the point of defending the capital, and naturally wouldn't have encountered so many unexpected problems. It was only after his rise on the plains that he thwarted Isabel and Ivo's surprise attack, partially altering history.

Of course, the assistance from Western countries came much earlier than expected, which was somewhat inconsistent with what Su Mu knew. Perhaps there was something unknown driving this.

Both fortresses and towers require conditional membership. Isildur's defeat has emboldened its invasion efforts, and coupled with the kingdom's foolish decisions, it could very well lead to irreparable damage.

Su Mu has been trying his best to save the kingdom, but it seems that the general trend will not change easily, and the kingdom will still face this calamity.

Since that's the case, let things get chaotic. He'd rather save himself the trouble of playing mind games with these nobles and let Isildur's army teach him a lesson. That way, he'd know his place.

As for the North wanting Congress to boss him around? Dream on!
If they manage to launch a counterattack, Salman won't have the final say anymore.

"Reply to Congress, saying that I am willing to assist the Duke of the North in his counterattack, but it will take some time to build up our forces. If the enemy advances into the vicinity of Bear Fortress, Kuraki Castle guarantees to launch an attack from the south!"

(End of this chapter)