Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 184 The Spirit of Deception
The Treant army besieged Frost Fortress, and the soldiers of the North stood ready, with all the Frost Ballistae in place.

The anticipated fierce siege did not occur. The tree people only launched probing attacks. The hero unleashed several earth-shattering attacks, but seeing that the city walls were impregnable, he left behind dozens of corpses and made no further moves.

Instead, the dwarves got busy assembling catapults at the front lines and aiming them at the defensive towers on the mountain peaks, bombarding them one by one.

The arrow towers naturally retaliated, commanded by the artillery hero, destroying more than a dozen catapults and even freezing the dwarves guarding the area into ice sculptures, demonstrating their immense destructive power.

Isildur was clearly well-prepared for the siege. Even after a large number of catapults were destroyed, he remained calm and had dwarven craftsmen continue to repair and manufacture them. He even brought out more sophisticated magical war weapons.

【Tree Sap Dropper (Tier 3 Siege Machine): The tree sap dropper attacks city walls and arrow towers during siege battles, dealing area damage to enemies near the city walls. Affected by tree sap slime, the maximum damage of counterattacks from arrow towers and city walls (including magic circles) is reduced by 30%.

1500 resistance value, attack 16, defense 16, damage is (hero attack + 1) × 2 + 5, base ammo 44.

Ammunition can be replenished with tree sap, and attack power is affected by ballistics skills.

Intermediate Ballistics Enhancement: Control a small number of falling log carts and attack twice consecutively; the chance of hitting the defensive tower decreases after 800 meters.

These catapults were specially designed by Isildur and, when used with magic sap, can effectively limit the defensive towers of giant cities and special destructive magic arrays.

If the town's defensive magic circle still uses Frostbite, its destructive effect will be greatly reduced, but it can still weaken the power of the Frost Ballista.

The ballista's launch trajectory is a straight ascent, only curving slightly in the air. After reaching sufficient height, it descends at an angle, exploding inside just before hitting the defensive tower. It scatters into dozens of small wooden spikes, which land on the defensive arrow towers or city walls. These spikes contain a large amount of magically potent sap that adheres to boulders, blocking the ballista's openings and limiting their effectiveness. Some bolts are even stuck together with the sap, rendering them unable to fire.

Faced with the attack of the wood-sap-laden carts, human heroes within the city naturally used exorcism magic to dispel the cursed wood sap.

However, the continuous barrage of falling logs, releasing wood sap onto the city walls and arrow towers, was too much to handle. The water-type hero only managed a few waves before stopping, as his mana was needed elsewhere.

The North did retaliate, though. The artillery hero commanded the Frost Ballista, targeting the log-dropping carts and launching a fierce attack. With concentrated fire, they destroyed one cart and wrecked the remaining ones, requiring repairs before they could be used again.

Overall, both sides probed each other and engaged in a long-range offensive and defensive battle, but the intensity was not high.

"What's going on with Isildur? Such a grand mobilization, all bark and no bite?"

Veteran knights like Marquis Carson possess extensive combat experience and understand the intricacies of siege warfare. If Levin Farrell truly intended to besiege the city, he would at least need to organize several intense initial engagements to cripple the walls before allowing a large ground force to penetrate. Even with a divine ability like teleportation, he would need to be within a certain range to use it; his current reliance on falling logs suggests a protracted war aimed at exhausting the Northern Frontier's defensive capabilities.

"Great! Leven has discovered that Frost Fortress is impregnable and he dares not launch a large-scale attack. We can just hold it like this. It doesn't matter if we lose some defensive towers, as long as we can hold the main city."

Rhodes laughed heartily, displaying an optimistic spirit in front of the generals. He felt that his courage could inspire them and make them forget their fear.

In fact, the Northern generals were somewhat speechless. It wasn't like they had suffered repeated defeats and their morale was low. The enemy had clearly not even seriously attacked the city yet, and Rhodes was already thinking about just holding on, without even considering what kind of conspiracy the enemy might have.

Rhodes even had time to visit Medea's magic circle and tell her to keep a close eye on Isildur's soldiers, and to be careful that Leven might teleport in.

Why would a nun from the Void God Cult need such instructions? Besides, their plan was simply to let a portion of the people in first, so they weren't afraid of the other side striking first.

After Rhodes left, the Nameless One reappeared, looking rather puzzled: "What exactly is Levin Farrell planning? His tens of thousands of troops can't just be playing house with Rhodes at Frost Fortress; there must be some conspiracy he's hiding."

Medea also fell into deep thought: "Liven is definitely going to attack the North. He is unwilling to attack the city now, and is only wearing down the defensive equipment. Part of the reason is that he is wary of the fortress's defenses, but that is not the main reason. There must be something else holding him back. Or his purpose is not here."

After a moment of silence, the nameless man suddenly asked, "Is Levin planning to besiege the enemy's stronghold and then eliminate the reinforcements from Bear Fortress in the south?"

He had fought Ivan before and knew the abilities of the Bearhold generals. He had heard that Isildur's Silver Pegasus Star had chased the Bearhold raiding party for hundreds of miles but failed to catch up. Presumably, Levin was still wary of Bearhold.

Medea had suffered several defeats at Sumu's hands and dared not underestimate the forces of Bearhold. However, she felt that Leven would not hesitate to attack the city simply because of Bearhold's intimidation. Otherwise, why would the enemy have gone to such lengths to pave a road all the way to the North? They might as well return to Isildur as soon as possible. "I don't think it's that simple. Let Rhodes decide for himself."

These were all their speculations. The battle situation was unpredictable, and no one dared to determine Levin's intentions. Besides, they were only providing support; this was a battle for the human kingdoms, and the outcome was irrelevant.

Several heroes of Winterfell also raised questions, suggesting that Rhodes postpone his request for reinforcements to avoid being ambushed.

Rhodes disagreed, believing that Frosthold was more crucial, as the enemy's army was concentrated there and could not be divided.

At this point, no one tried to persuade them any further. After all, the pressure from Isildur was too great, and they weren't confident they could hold out with their limited forces. If the enemy launched a full-scale attack, it would immediately turn into a bloody battle.

If the surrounding troops can draw some fire, that would be ideal.

……

The Corman and Cox families of the North are relatively independent noble families in the central region, though nominally still under the Duke's jurisdiction.

Therefore, upon receiving Rhodes's plea for help, each of them brought more than 2000 elite troops and headed towards Frost Fortress.

The troops currently guarding the fortress are mainly composed of noble legions fleeing from the east and the private army of the Salman family. Although other nobles have expressed their support, they still retain control of the army. Once the great war truly begins, the nobles will rise up one after another to support the battlefield.

The North is known as the region with the greatest potential for war. If the nobles were to wage war, they could raise an army of at least 20000 men, making it a tough nut to crack.

Now that both sides' forces are locked in a battle at the central fortress, the two families have decided to split up and take a detour to support the Frost Fortress, based on their respective locations.

Leven had deployed a large army in the south to defend Bearhold, while Coldnight was located further west, so it wouldn't encounter any blocking forces. Cox, however, continued his rapid advance, navigating the snowy mountain paths and marching swiftly through the snow.

However, just after crossing the snow-capped mountain, they were surrounded by an endless army of skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and vampires. This group of undead resurrected from the icy wilderness and were waiting for Cox on his inevitable path.

A fierce battle erupted between the two sides instantly.

Coincidentally, the Koman family, leading a large army of griffins and swordsmen, rushed to the aid. Just as they crossed the snow-capped volcano, they were attacked by a barrage of fireballs and forced to land on the ground.

Deep within the snow-capped mountains and valleys, a large group of hellish soldiers gathered. Magog, wielding flesh-and-blood explosives, drooling hellhounds, and ferocious demons with two horns on their heads, all stared at the human legion that had fallen into their clutches, revealing bloodthirsty expressions.

……

In the Isildur Northern Command Camp, a group of rangers were busy compiling the latest battle reports. With the help of the hero Liven Farrell, a master of advanced reconnaissance, and the Sentinels of Nature, they were able to obtain much information in advance.

As soon as the Coman and Cox families set out, the camp learned of their movements and immediately sent orders to the troops on the north and south flanks to prevent a surprise attack.

Leven also arranged for reserves to deal with these enemy reinforcements and to keep track of the overall situation.

When a ranger threw the sealed scroll into the magical flames, several new paths inexplicably appeared on the transmission route. However, with the great battle at hand, no one paid attention to this detail.

After delivering the message, the wanderer revealed a sinister smile. Upon closer inspection, purplish-black patches appeared on the skin below his neck, resembling the lividity of a dead person. His eyes were sometimes cloudy and sometimes clear, and his pupils could even rotate 360 ​​degrees, making him exceptionally eerie.

Unbeknownst to many, the undead had infiltrated Isildur's core secrets and were stealing crucial battle reports from the North.

(End of this chapter)