Heroes of Might and Magic: Grand Consul

Chapter 196 Taking the Enemy's Head Amidst a Sea of ​​Troops
The 14 terrifying knights are all capable of taking on a hundred men each. If Uller were to use this spirit-gathering magic on the skeletons, he could revive more than 1000 level 1 soldiers.

Furthermore, the resurrected Dread Knight gains 40% magic resistance, and even the effect of Meteor Shower is halved.

Fortunately, Ivan returned with the fearless swordsmen, and the north gate was undefended, making it the perfect time to enter the city.

The moment he entered the fray, he activated the Cursed Armor effect, afflicting all the undead with four debuff spells. Among them, Slow and Weakness are both very strong crowd control skills, while Doom reduces the chance of the Dread Knight landing a lucky strike, which is a decent reduction.

The Lich King and the Dread Knights came to intercept them, and Orling returned to his old ways, setting up ballistae to block the enemy.

Maggie cast Hercules Shield and Quicksand Trap to block the Dread Knights' path, preventing them from charging through.

Just as Uller was about to make a move, the lich Beren Water in the formation cast a spell first, setting up a quicksand trap at the north gate, causing a large number of shield soldiers to remain in place and unable to enter.

Meanwhile, the lich Beren commanded the army of the Lich King to bombard the shield soldiers outside the north city. A deathly cloud hung over the battlefield, and the sky darkened.

He carried a dark quiver on his back, filled with terrifying death energy that accumulated and increased, providing the Lich King with a powerful ranged attack.

【Heavenly Feather Arrow (Level 3 Treasure): Increases hero archery skill effect by 15% and range by 20%. Requires hero to have archery skill.】

Evaluation: Below the level of the three components of the combined treasure, the Phantom Bow.

The Lich King was able to strike from a considerable distance because Beren was wearing the Heavenly Feather Arrow. To his surprise, the opposing general, Orling, seemed to possess two other treasures, which was a godsend.

Once he conquers this city and eliminates Ouling, he can collect the Phantom Bow and then command the Lich King with ease.

The Undead Grand Duke once promised them that if they could bring back the beacon tower, they might even have a chance to obtain the Ghost King's Cloak. At that time, wouldn't he be able to become a hegemon with an endless army of lich witches?
Therefore, Beren needs to perform well and demonstrate sufficient ability in this battle.

To his surprise, the ranged attacks of hundreds of Lich Kings, bombarding the shield-bearer formation, caused no damage whatsoever. The shield-bearers, wielding tall shields, emerged unscathed from the deathly cloud.

"This, how is this possible?"

Previously, Su Mu only inherited the defensive technique, so he did not maximize his physical resistance. Although Beren felt that the enemy troops had high physical resistance, he did not have a very intuitive understanding of it.

It wasn't until the death cloud bombarded the shieldbearer without causing any damage that Beren truly witnessed what ultimate defense meant.

This is a level 1 unit! It's outrageous that the mighty Lich King can't even kill a level 1 unit.

Taking advantage of the lull in the attack, Maggie used her exorcism magic to dispel the obstacles set up by the enemy, allowing the shield soldiers to move smoothly into the city.

At this point, the ghoul Tori also joined the battle at the North Gate, dispelling the effects of Hercules' Shield and the Cursed Armor, allowing the Dread Knight to charge in and face the shield bearers.

Because the Cursed Armor's area of ​​effect is too wide, even heroes with high-level Water Elemental Mastery cannot completely dispel it during siege battles. Tori can only dispel the debuffs on the Northern Army first.

Ullr possesses the skill of Advanced Bone Storm, and his knights have elemental damage; with their high attack power, they can basically kill a shieldbearer with a single strike.

But Ivan was prepared. Just before the two armies clashed, he cast a Fire Shield on his soldiers. With the added bonus of his Flame Armor, the fire shield reflected damage to its maximum.

Essentially, the Dread Knights were fighting against themselves. Every time they swung their blades, the fire shields would reflect all elemental attacks. Combined with the shieldbearers' own shield-parrying effect, the Dread Knights seemed trapped in a barrage of blades. After a few rounds of attacks, they couldn't withstand it anymore, and several knights were even engulfed by the flames and turned to ashes.

Compared to the grappling griffon troops inside the city, the shield infantry outside, though of lower level, are like porcupines covered in thorns. A life for a life—ten level 1 soldiers for the life of your level 6 soldier, would you trade?

Although Ullr possesses the magical ability to gather spirits, resurrecting the terrifying knight requires mana, and he needs to conserve enough mana until the decisive moment arrives.

Ullr then ordered the Death Knights to halt their attack to avoid unnecessary damage, while allowing the Lich Beren to continue slowing down the enemy's advance.

Even if Ivan has the defensive spell specialization, maintaining the physical immunity of so many elemental baptism troops must consume an astonishing amount of magic. As long as we can stall until Ivan runs out of magic, his death knights can kill at will, and there is no need to fight brute force.

Ivan had no intention of engaging in a war of attrition with the Undead Legion. He wasn't here for open-field battles; his defensive spells would deter the enemy from attacking, allowing him to slip through the city gates.

Seeing that the shieldbearers were no longer obstructed, he initially intended to lead the fearless swordsmen into the city to deal with the terrifying knights inside. However, upon glancing at the lich Beren, who was positioned further forward, he immediately had a different idea. Ivan's thoughts were similar to Beren's, except that the lich possessed the Heavenly Feather Arrow, and that the opponent, believing himself protected by the terrifying knights, had positioned himself too far forward.

Without much hesitation, Beren led 200 fearless swordsmen in a lightning raid, charging towards the Lich King's formation.

The opponent was somewhat naive to think that having a large number of undead troops blocking the way would guarantee success.

The fearless swordsman instantly transformed into lightning, traversing thousands of meters of battlefield in a flash, and descended beside the Lich King. He unleashed a series of slashes and swung his greatsword, leaving the Lich King no time to react before a large number of soldiers were cut down.

The Lich Beren's offensive and defensive attributes were much worse, and with the special skill of the Fearless Swordsman, the high morale of the attack was triggered, and the Lich King was instantly killed or wounded by more than a hundred.

The skeleton soldiers who were originally guarding the Lich King were swept away by the sword energy waves generated by the continuous slashes, clearing a vacuum area of ​​more than 100 meters.

Ivan, leading dozens of his core guards, headed straight for Beren. Unlike the ghouls who commanded numerous miscellaneous troops, Beren only controlled the Lich King. This wasn't just because he only had one undead ranged unit, but also because he wanted Beren to retain enough magic to control the situation.

But this arrangement also gave Ivan a rare opportunity: if he could kill the Lich King in the center of the formation, he might be able to kill this Lich hero.

Seeing Ivan and the fearless swordsman move with impunity, Beren panicked. He never expected that the enemy would dare to launch a charge while surrounded, and with such ferocity.

Hundreds of Lich Kings, gone just like that, it's outrageous.

"Sir, save me!"

Beren could no longer care about anything else and retreated straight towards Ullr. If there was anyone on the scene who could stop Ivan, it was only this Death Knight.

Seeing Ivan's reckless actions, Uller was also enraged. It was the first time he had seen such an arrogant person, daring to charge into the Dread Knights' formation and even trying to kill his subordinates under heavy protection.

"Foolish bastard, you're asking for death!"

Uller led the remaining Dread Knights in a charge, heading straight for the vanguard of the Fearless Swordsmen.

Su Mu and Ou Ling on the city wall also witnessed this scene. Su Mu immediately declared with great pride, "I will personally beat the drum to cheer on Ivan!"

At the main gate of Bear Fortress stood a war drum several meters tall. Su Mu raised his long hammer and, using his powerful earth magic, pounded the drum fiercely. The drumbeats were deafening, deep and resonant, like a surging tide sweeping across the land.

Su Mu already possessed advanced Alliance Leadership skills; his drumming inspired and motivated all soldiers to forget their fear and charge forward without hesitation.

Furthermore, Su Mu cast a magic-resistant spell on the charging soldiers to prevent them from being attacked by magic.

Orling cooperated, operating the giant crystal crossbow and aiming an arrow at the fleeing Beren, piercing through the clouds.

The lich's massive body was pierced by the giant crystal arrow and pinned to the ground. Ivan arrived shortly after, slashing horizontally with his broadsword, slicing the skull off in two; the two coordinated perfectly.

Beren's final perspective is that after a dizzying spin, the soul fire lands in Ivan's left hand, and the world goes dark.

Of course, liches are not so easy to kill, but they need to retain their soulfire to survive.

At that moment, a wave of water descended from the sky, dispelling the anti-demon spell and extinguishing the fire shield.

The giant blade, engulfed in ghostly flames, slashed down. Ivan barely managed to hold it off with his Black Demon Sword, but the immense force slammed him into the ground, nearly knocking him to the ground.

But Ivan, being a hero specializing in defensive magic, withstood the immense pressure, slowly straightened up, used the Black Magic Sword to hoist the opponent's Ghost Blade, and stared directly at the Death Knight.

With his left hand, he stuffed Beren's head into the quiver, his eyes filled with rage but showing no fear.

It's as if they're saying, "I killed him! What are you going to do about it?"

(End of this chapter)