Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 191 Intermediate Spirit Spell Artillery
[Having experienced an exhilarating archery battle, you have become more familiar with artillery skills. +1 Spell Power, learn Intermediate Spell Artillery.]

[Intermediate Spirit Spell Artillery: Proficiently control higher-level ballistae (up to level 5) to attack targets, greatly increasing the number of attacks and damage (2 attacks, 75% chance of double damage), and can add spirit spell abilities (Soul Arrow can be added to ballistae), and simultaneously control multiple ballistae (number = spell power/2)]

Oling's long-awaited Spirit Spell Artillery skill has finally received another upgrade, allowing him to control multiple ballistae for attacks simultaneously.

Unfortunately, his attributes are mainly focused on offense and defense, while his magical power is relatively weak. Without any treasures, he can only command two cannons.

"Quickly, send a message back to Kuraki and tell Forrest to prepare another crystal ballista for me. I want two ballistae flying at once!"

Oling, beaming with pride, lifted Tullion out of the pit with one hand and walked into the city.

This vampire duke was covered in arrows, pierced like a hedgehog, but his vitality was indeed tenacious, surviving despite being attacked by so many people.

Upon closer inspection, a layer of blood film was visible around Tullion's body. The liquid blood had congealed into a hard armor, protecting his vital parts in the critical moment, which is why he did not die.

Activating this life-saving skill, the blood is different from the usual bright red blood; it is a strange silver-purple source blood with extremely powerful curse energy fluctuations.

"Uller is about to attack. With your small force, you can't possibly defend Bear Fortress!"

"A portion of my soul fire remains within the ruins; you cannot kill me!"

"Once the army of terrifying knights has slaughtered you all, I want to see you reduced to skeletons in the ruins, howling in agony!"

As expected of a hero made by the Vampire Duke, he has quite a few ways to save his life, even splitting his soul fire in preparation for its revival.

Although the destruction of this physical body and part of the soul would result in the loss of most of the cursed energy, he could still recover his condition by eating and sleeping, thanks to his vampire talent.

After all, survival is everything!
Orling completely ignored Tulian, who was rather noisy. He punched the vampire duke hard, making him dizzy.

The battlefield was still thick with yin energy. Ouling used exorcism magic to drive away the accumulated death aura, lest it be resurrected by the spirit-gathering technique. That's the trouble with fighting the undead; they can easily be resurrected and summoned, so the battlefield and corpses must be cleared away promptly.

After bringing Tullion into Bearhold, Orling ransacked the place, but didn't get much of a profit.

The dignified vampire duke was extremely poor, possessing only two level 2 treasures. The rest were special treasures formed from undead structures, which humans could not use.

【大蛇神胸甲（2级宝物）：英雄佩戴后+3咒力，对低等级兵种（1-2级）施展魔法有几率（2%）附加恐惧效果。

Evaluation: The exquisite breastplate made of snake scales instills fear in lower creatures.

Tullion didn't even have a chance to cast spells on the Earthbow in this battle; he only used the Atmosphere Shield once before his entire army was wiped out. Although this artifact seems to have a low chance of inflicting fear, it's still a useful bonus if used to cast area-of-effect spells.

【Ghost Bird (Level 2 Treasure): When equipped by a hero, it grants +2 Luck but -1 Morale. It also increases the damage of Luck Critical Strike by 30%. It is one of the four components of the combination treasure, Death Knell.

Comment: Being chosen by Death is considered a kind of luck by the spirits of the dead.

This treasure is quite powerful, but it's more suitable for graveyard units. After all, the undead don't have morale, so further weakening them wouldn't help. Plus, it grants 2 points of luck and increases critical hit damage, making it a very powerful support treasure.

What's even more remarkable is that it's actually a component of a combined treasure, suggesting that Tullion, this vampire duke, also has some ambitions.

Seeing that Ouling was interested in the Ghost Bird, Tulian immediately said, "Don't even think about it. The Death Knell is a combination treasure that strengthens the Ghost race. If you humans equip it, not only will you not be strengthened, but you will also be severely weakened."

"Why don't you release me? There are many treasures in the ruins suitable for humans; consider it my ransom!"

Seeing that Orling did not reply, Tullion thought that Orling was wavering and continued to persuade him: "Although Uller is arrogant, his terrifying knights are invincible. Your small number of people cannot defend the city at all. My suggestion is to run away quickly before he arrives."

"Hand over the beacon tower to me, and I will plead for your lives. Then we won't have to resort to force."

"thump!"

In response, Ouling tossed him heavily into the thatched hut.

Tullion was completely bewildered, not understanding why Orling had brought him here. Was he going to imprison him here? That would be great! When Uller arrived, Bearhold would be unable to hold out, and he could survive without even losing his life.

Just as Tullion was beaming with joy, he looked up and saw a bat hanging upside down from the rafters, its blood-red eyes fixed on him. "A vampire marquis? No, a duke. No, that's not right either!"

Feeling the immense pressure emanating from the source blood, Tulian trembled. He observed carefully; the vampire before him was not a hero, yet he possessed source blood beyond the ordinary. Under normal circumstances, a vampire with such pure source blood should have become a hero long ago, but for some reason, the vampire had not yet evolved.

Normally, with the added power of his powerful magic, Tullion could withstand the pressure of the Source Blood level, since there is a natural difference between heroes and soldiers.

But now he is seriously injured and unable to use his magic to resist. Facing the higher level of source blood, he trembles from the depths of his heart and can't even stand up.

"The Vampire Prince!"

At this point, if Tullion still can't recognize the other party's bloodline level, he'd be unworthy of calling himself a vampire.

Ouling called out, signaling the Blood Bat King to come down: "This guy has a way to survive in the ruins, so I'm leaving it to you. Have a snack!"

After the Ice Lake Fortress incident, the Blood Bat King was brought back to the castle and trained separately by Gale, with Maggie applying dream-domain techniques to him. During this time, he remained obedient, even when drinking blood, it was always from the cattle and sheep provided by the castle, and he didn't cause any trouble.

At Lie Feng's request, the Blood Bat King was brought along on this northward support mission. Su Mu originally planned to have it continue to serve as a mount, alternating with Lie Feng when high speed was needed, or for other heroes to ride the Bat King if required.

However, Orling encountered the formidable Tulian and wanted to have the Bat King, also from the ruins, try to break the enemy's soulfire separation. He didn't want the enemy he had painstakingly captured to be only half a soul; if he was going to die, he wanted him to die a complete death.

"No!"

The Bat King's tiny head instantly grew larger, and it swallowed the heavily injured Tullion whole.

The poisonous blood membrane surrounding him instantly melted, turning into sweet and delicious blood that flowed into the Bat King's body.

The Bat King's long fangs pierced through Tullion's neck and entered the Vampire Duke's body, instantly transforming into countless tiny, sharp blades that ravaged his interior.

Tullion's originally powerful blood exploded violently, then adhered to the blade and flowed back into the Bat King's body.

In just ten seconds, Tullion was turned into a dried-up corpse.

Worse still, his soul fire kept contracting and expanding, seemingly sensing distant lands and rapidly replenishing its energy.

But the fangs biting his neck never let go, sucking his source blood and even devouring his soul to enrich its own bloodline genes.

Tulian persisted for a few minutes, then fell silent. His soul fire extinguished, and the connecting blood threads completely dried up. This time, not only could he not retain any soul fire, but even a powerful necromancy couldn't turn him into a skeleton.

The vampire duke has been completely drained!
The Blood Bat King licked its lips and hung upside down on the beam again, a layer of purple blood membrane condensing around its body, seemingly undergoing a new evolution.

Ouling glanced at the scattered leather bags on the ground and felt a chill run down his spine.

"Is this thing really just an ordinary commander? It's even more terrifying than a hero!"
The lord should be warned and strictly controlled.

Reflecting on Su Mu's governing skills and management abilities, Ou Ling felt much more at ease.

He left the cabin and returned to the city wall, allowing the ranged troops a short rest in preparation for the upcoming battle.

This is just the appetizer; the real test is yet to come.

Faced with the army of terrifying knights, he was not confident of victory, so he ordered the sheriff of Bearhold to take away the old lord and lead the townspeople to retreat first.

He waited there for Su Mu to return to defend.

At least this time the defense of the city bought time and space, and when Su Mu returns, we can fight or retreat as we please.

Logically, Ouling naturally hoped they could hold their ground, but if the situation turned against them, temporarily avoiding direct confrontation was not out of the question.

(End of this chapter)