Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 189 Arrived First

In the mountainous region west of Bear Fort, the night sky was shrouded in darkness, and the snow was littered with the skeletons of the marching army.

Frost filled their ribs, and they walked forward silently, each carrying a bone spur.

Amidst the blizzard, the skeletons were not particularly fast, but their sheer number was overwhelming, a dark mass of nearly ten thousand.

Relying on Isildur's intelligence, after attacking the forces in Cold Night City, the undead army went to the human settlements and raised an extraordinary force.

Their orders were to head south and attack Bear Fortress.

Nothing is better suited for sieges than skeletons. No matter how strong the city is, arrows will eventually run out. They have no fear, and they will never die again.

The leader of the undead is Katherine, who is skilled in necromancy and has the skeleton specialty. Although these are only the lowest-level unit specialties, they are well-suited to necromancy, making him a well-known figure in the ancient ruins.

"Ullr chased a group of thieves and failed to kill them. He dares to call himself the number one Death Knight? It's laughable."

Although undead heroes don't have a wide range of emotions, they do have their own obsessions and desires, inheriting some of their traits from their previous lives.

Ullr was arrogant and looked down on everyone, which drew many opponents. However, the Grand Duke of the Undead trusted him so much that no one dared to oppose him.

Katherine, however, was not afraid of his opponent. In terms of the undead's swarm tactics, his status was much higher than that of ordinary heroes.

He had overheard the Grand Duke of the Dead describing the enemy, and although he knew they would be difficult to deal with, he also felt that it was quite a large-scale operation.

The ancient ruins have been sealed for many years, accumulating countless amounts of death energy, and contain a corrupted transcendent artifact. Rather than saying they are controlled by the Grand Duke of the Dead, it would be more accurate to say they are controlled by that mysterious treasure.

The souls of the dead have awakened from their slumber, and their purpose is not limited to the human kingdom before them. The beacon tower is just one of the tools used to collect the souls of the dead; their goals are far greater.

They should have planned this secretly, without causing too much of a commotion. Now they're making a huge fuss about destroying Bear Fortress; it's too conspicuous.

However, Katherine didn't care about that. The Undead Grand Duke was the direct commander, and since he had no way to deal with Su Mu, he had no choice but to launch a direct attack, which Katherine was quite happy to do.

These weak humans are food for the undead. Katherine only wants to create carnage and recreate the undead scourge; nothing else is within his consideration.

Isildur and Elton, the fiercer the fight, the better; the more dead people, the more skeletons.

"Claim more of the surrounding villages to make the skeleton army even stronger!"

Following Katherine's orders, several pale blue skeleton commanders descended to the battlefield, continuing their slaughter and using necromancy to gather their forces.

【Frosty Night Skeleton (Graveyard Tier 1 Super Tier Unit, Water Elemental Baptism): Attack 7, Defense 6, Damage 3-4, Health 8, Speed ​​5, Slightly Weak Size.

Element: Water (Can march in snowy or underwater environments, unaffected by terrain, and can be protected by water-based magic).

Nightfall: When Nightfall Skeleton suffers fatal damage, it immediately freezes itself, retaining 1 health point (can only be cast once per short period; the cast count resets upon resurrection), and inflicts (maximum health - current health) as frost damage.

The Night Skeleton is Katherine's signature unit, but having just awakened from the ruins, its skills have not yet reached their peak, and it cannot be transformed on a large scale.

If all these tens of thousands of skeleton soldiers were to transform into Night Skeletons, that would be a true catastrophe of the undead. That's why he didn't take the small Bear Fortress seriously.

After assigning his men to tasks, he suddenly glanced at the distant mountain ridge and saw that an avalanche had occurred.

How could an avalanche occur for no reason when no living beings are passing by?
He used his magical powers to observe carefully and discovered that a bird had fallen to the mountaintop and stepped on a small stone, causing the fall.

The environment of snow-capped mountains is often so fragile that even a small event can trigger an avalanche. The road is somewhat impassable, and it seems that the march will take longer. At this moment, Katherine is even more determined to transform the Frost Night Skeleton as soon as possible.

On a snow-capped mountaintop several kilometers away, a team of ranged shooters held their breath and moved slowly and quietly across the icy landscape.

After using a small force to create a diversion, Orling immediately led the main army back to Bear Fortress. His invisibility was crucial; as long as he didn't encounter heroes with scouting abilities, he could deceive everyone.

But when you actually encounter tens of thousands of undead skeletons, covering the entire mountainside in a dark mass, the psychological pressure is still quite great.

The enemy hero is different from the previous ones; he seems to be a skeleton specialist and even brings his own unique elemental baptism unit.

Although Orling is not afraid of his opponent, if a battle breaks out and they get entangled here, and no victor can be determined in a short time, Bear Fortress will fall.

The key now is to buy time for Su Mu and his men to return to defend. Bear Fort cannot be breached immediately, otherwise their retreat route will be cut off.

Orling has already sent a message to the lord, so Sumu must have realized Isildur's trap and the threat of the undead.

He must garrison Bear Keep before the undead army from the east arrives.

If the enemy marches quickly, the number of troops attacking the city will definitely be small, and they will most likely be troops baptized by air element. He only needs to stop this vanguard.

Using his advanced mastery of air elements, Orling cast a swift acceleration spell on his army, allowing them to march at breakneck speed. They silently passed by Katherine's skeleton army and finally arrived at Bear Keep at dawn.

"Quickly, open the city gate! It's me, Ouling!"

Ivan has taken over the garrison at Bear Fort, and Kuraki's men have replaced him in key positions. With the military token given to Kuraki by Orin, he has gained control of the city.

"Shieldbearers in position, archers in place, no more worrying about that, bring all the ballistae to the city wall, I need to use them!"

Although Bear Fortress had some garrison, their numbers were small, only a few hundred men. All Oling could currently use were his archers, so after much deliberation, he ordered all the ballistae to be moved to the city walls, hoping to use his artillery skills to hold off an initial wave.

Bear Keep was attacked by the undead last time, and many of the city walls had just been repaired and were not very strong, so their defensive capabilities were limited.

"My lord, a large number of ghosts and vampires have appeared in the eastern region and are rushing towards this place at top speed!"

Oling looked out from the castle, watching the dark clouds drift in from the snow, a serious expression on his face.

Fighting undead forces is troublesome because it's impossible to determine their strength and unit type. Special buildings with shadow canopies make it difficult to observe even regular units.

However, based on his experience, the enemy's flying units must number at least several hundred.

This is the vanguard of the undead, unaffected by the snowy terrain and baptized by air elements, which is why they were sent to attack the city.

"Fortunately, it's not the worst-case scenario."

"Soldiers defending the city, take your positions! Earthbow and Arcane Prayer, enter stealth mode! Attack on my command!"

The city walls, which were packed with soldiers, vanished in an instant, leaving only a few scattered guards.

The enemy probably doesn't know he's back yet and wants to send air force units to launch a surprise attack. In that case, he's going to put on a grand archery feast!

(End of this chapter)