Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 193 The Difficult Guard

The effects of the Soul Arrow Technique are gradually fading, but this is a continuous process, not an instantaneous removal.

Orling guessed that the opponent's forgetting skill must also have certain limitations, such as spell power determination. After all, the power of magic or skills is determined by the strength of the hero's spell power, which reflects the essence of the magical world's exploration of arcane arts; no matter how strong the skill, it cannot violate this law.

It is obvious that Oling's magical power is not as good as Uller's, but after wearing many treasures, his magical power is not too far behind, so the process of forgetting the Soul Arrow Technique will be prolonged.

Ouling gripped the bow and arrow. Based on his years of experience, he judged that it still had 70% of the Soul Arrow skill's power, and that power was gradually diminishing.

"We must tell the lord this crucial information! Otherwise, if the art of governance is forgotten, it will be truly disastrous."

Ouling wasn't sure if the opponent could cast spells on different heroes during the battle. Although theoretically such an abnormal skill should have a longer cooldown, it was possible that the Death Knight had prepared special treasures. The best way was naturally to have Su Mu increase his spell power.

He waved his right hand, and a small magical arrow pierced his mind, conveying crucial information to Su Mu through the magical communication unique to the art of governance.

We hope that the lord can make timely and targeted deployments.

After sending the message, Orling immediately rallied his troops, activated the Spirit of Vengeance, and, together with the army of Earthbow and Arcane Prayer, attacked the enemy who wanted to circle around to the west.

Although Ullr had anticipated Orling's archery skills, Soul Arrow's destructive power was maximized within its range without any attenuation. Therefore, as soon as the undead army entered the archers' range, Orling launched an attack, covering the retreating skeletons and wraiths with overwhelming force.

Stone arrows and arrows of vengeance struck the withered bones. Even with only 70% of the Soul Arrow technique remaining, its destructive power was still astonishing. Hundreds of the thousands of skeleton soldiers had already perished, their shrieking spirits extinguished.

The detour tactic suffered a major blow, with one-fifth of the troops deployed to the west being reduced.

Tori was the one who actually controlled the skeleton army. She didn't expect that Orling's skills wouldn't be forgotten immediately, and that he could still cause such damage at such a distance.

Since it's unclear how long it will take for Orling to lose his skill, the best approach right now is to use melee units to besiege the city and contain the enemy. However, the siege engines aren't in place yet, so the melee units can't break through the walls, making the situation quite troublesome.

"Get out of the enemy's firing range and circle around from a greater distance!"

Tori spread her Soulfire, directing the skeletons and wraiths to retreat and leave Orling's firing range.

Taking advantage of this gap, Orling led his archers in another volley, taking down thousands of skeleton warriors.

At this moment, Uller raised his dark longsword and slashed it fiercely at the ground. A yellowish-brown ripple instantly spread across the battlefield, and all living beings seemed to hear the sound of corpses digging into their coffins with their fingernails—a sound that was piercing, sharp, and unbearable.

Blood seeped from the eardrums of the Bow of the Earth, and it writhed in agony, clutching its head. Warriors who stood atop the city walls facing the ripples fell one after another, smashing into a bloody pulp.

The Mystic Prayer was in better condition, though he was a little dizzy and had overlapping visions, but he had not suffered any serious damage.

They took this opportunity to trigger new healing magic, treating the injured archers and ensuring their combat effectiveness.

"Quickly, push it up!"

With the Earthbow at the forefront dead, Orling immediately ordered the rear guard to take over and continue aiming at the retreating enemies.

Time is of the essence now; we must do our utmost to inflict damage before the Soul Arrow Technique is completely forgotten.

Ullr unleashed Death Ripple primarily to destroy the Soul of Vengeance. This area-of-effect spell instantly wiped out half of Bearhold's ranged combat power. As expected of a Death Knight, the opponent immediately grasped the key point.

The Earthbow faction suffered only a few dozen casualties, and the Arcane Prayer faction lost even fewer, perhaps in the single digits. Ullr, however, didn't care about the casualty figures; he was more concerned with the overall situation on the battlefield. "50%!"

Although O's Soul Archery skills have been half forgotten, with the blessing of the Governing Arts, his archery skills are still improved by 60%. Combined with the two treasures, the damage is still considerable.

Tori has moved her troops out of the archers' range and is cautiously moving westward toward the city.

At this point, archers could no longer hit the enemy, but Ouling still had other options. He took out his crystal ballista and three ordinary ballistas, aimed them at the retreating shrieking ghosts, and unleashed a barrage of fire.

The newly captured treasure, the Great Serpent God Breastplate, has been worn by Ouling, granting him a boost in magical power, enough to control four ballistae. It's a pity there aren't enough high-level ballistae, otherwise he could unleash a volley of crossbow bolts at the enemy.

The attribute that Ouling gained from being ruled is attack. The opponent's defense is too high, so you need a high attack attribute bonus to break through the defense, otherwise you have no chance at all.

After the crossbow bolts swept through the dense formation of the howling ghosts, they took away nearly a hundred more ghosts.

Although the ballistae were few in number, they had the bonus of intermediate artillery skills. When Olling launched a rapid-fire attack, it even triggered critical damage. For a time, these few ballistae actually made Tori unable to raise her head.

Tori was almost miles away when she was still hit by the ballista, and she was going crazy.

But glancing at Ullr in the distance, she dared not delay any longer and led her undead troops swiftly westward to their designated positions.

To some extent, Uller didn't want to weaken the Dread Knights, which is why he set up the siege. Given Orin's powerful archery skills, if the Dread Knights went up against him, they would likely suffer losses.

"20%!"

Ouling's hand holding the bow and arrow was already a little unsteady. He never thought that one day he would feel so unfamiliar with his bow and arrow. But since it had already happened, Ouling could accept it calmly. Even if his archery skills were no longer extraordinary, he still had artillery skills and could command the ballistae to continue the attack.

The undead army in the West District was basically decimated, especially the number of howling ghosts, which was greatly reduced. Even if they attacked the city gate, the skeleton soldiers could only wander around the city walls and could not cause any damage.

The southern region is mainly infested with vampires and skeletons, while the northern region is left undefended. The most difficult to contend with is the force personally commanded by Ullr in the east. 150 death knights, hordes of lich kings, and countless glaring vampires—it's a sight to behold.

After fighting for so long, the enemies that Orling eliminated the most were skeletons, but the skeletons of the undead army were the cheapest, and there were so many of them that it was impossible to kill them all.

This is also the most difficult part of the battle with the cemetery.

No matter how you kill them, the enemy has an endless supply of undead soldiers to replenish their ranks. Faced with this situation, the soldiers' mental defenses gradually collapse, and their morale drops drastically.

The castle has the Brotherhood building, which uses town magic to provide some psychological protection to the garrisoned soldiers, preventing them from collapsing. Combined with the blessing of the Hall of Medals, the archers' morale remains relatively high.

Therefore, Ouling brought the Ghost Bird, using morale to exchange for luck and increase the chance of critical hits.

The ballista itself has a critical hit rate, and with the addition of a lucky strike, the damage is extremely considerable.

But that was the end of it. The undead catapults were in place, and a lich stepped out from the Lich King's formation. With a wave of his hand, the earth shook, and cracks began to appear in the walls of Bearhold.

Orling's mind went blank, and he completely forgot his archery skills.

Three armies of the undead have begun their siege!
(End of this chapter)