I became a legion lich

111 General Astrus

Athos cannot keep watching for long. He was getting closer and closer to the wall and the arrows were becoming more and more constant, so he needed to do his best not to get hit.

Hive hawks were in a better situation, as their small size was difficult to achieve and night shrouded their figure. Athos was irritated by the constant attacks, but he was already getting a headache from quickly conjuring all the wind platforms and his mana was still not recovered.

He took short breaks while gathering the slimes in the sewers to regenerate his mana, but he still spent a good chunk of it conjuring four hot air tornadoes, even though three of them were incomplete.

Athos finally reached the top of the wall, getting too close for the ballistae to hit him. Archers fired normal arrows at him, but a wind shield redirected all arrows, even those imbued with abilities.

He wasted no time fighting and broke through the wall. Athos landed on the ground and used the lightning impulse to quickly flee the scene. The ballistae took some time to turn, but the archers’ arrows rained down behind him, even though the soldiers knew it would be useless.

Countless soldiers prepared to descend and give chase, but their superiors forbade them. “It’s useless to give chase to him. Let’s focus on helping the fleeing soldiers and merchants. Keep the minimum number of soldiers to guard the wall and the rest come down to help!”

“Yes sir!” The soldiers responded before carrying out their orders.

***********

“We’re finally here.” Emilia spoke as she reached the top of the fortress. The top of the fortress was a huge, circular courtyard with two watchtowers on either side. There were weapons piled up in one corner and burn marks and cracks all over the floor, so it was likely that mages and high-ranking soldiers would use this place as a training arena.

.....

The fog of darkness did not reach that place, as the light mages conjured shields of light and blocked the way, but Emilia and Caio killed all five. It was pretty simple. The mages couldn’t see through the fog of darkness, so Emilia and Caio just conjured two spears of corrupted mana each and hurled them at them, hitting four of the five mages at once.

The spears hit them in the abdomen or chest and didn’t kill them instantly, but still incapacitated them enough for Emilia and Caio to have an easy time with them. The latter tried to run while surrounded by barriers of light and the cloak itself barrier, but their combined attacks finished him off.

They had to leave the corpses behind unfortunately, as it took time to turn someone with the light attribute into undead, which they didn’t have.

“There they are! Kill the undead!” The soldiers in the watchtowers shouted as they surrounded them, but Emilia paid them no heed as Caio only sighed in irritation.

He held his sword in one hand and his wand in the other and ran towards the group on the left. The soldiers drew their weapons and tried to fight, but Caio used earth magic to turn the ground where they stepped into mud and throw them off balance, before slashing with his sword as they tried to regain their balance.

Caio was unable to kill them in a single blow, but left deep wounds that necrotized, causing the soldiers excruciating pain. The mana user fared a little better, but Caio managed to cut off one of his legs and left him dying on the floor.

The second group was hesitant after seeing Caio’ skill and tried to attack Emilia, but she was even crueler. Emilia used her superior speed to move through the group, before cutting through the gaps in the soldiers’ armor.

Small cuts accumulated in the soldiers’ armpits and waist, pain slowing their movements as Emilia cut in the same place, increasing the wounds even more. Soon, there was no one standing but her and Caio.

“Should we kill them and transform them?” Caio asked.

“No, just leave them dying on the ground. Our mana is already low and barely enough to use the teleport crystal, we don’t have energy to waste on skeletons that will be left behind. Also, if someone climbs up here we can use them as hostages, so they are more useful alive than dead.” Emilia spoke, ignoring the groans of pain coming from the soldiers.

In good time, the hive hawk appeared in the sky and approached Emilia, but a spear of light came from below and split the hive hawk in half, the pieces falling onto the training yard along with the crystal.

A white blur rose into the sky and grabbed the spear while it was still in midair, before starting down to the courtyard. General Astrus was mounted on his pegasus, his face contorted into an angry grimace, though it wasn’t visible because of his helmet. He descended from the pegasus and stomped on the bones of the hive hawk’s spine, while picking up the teleportation crystal.

“My fortress...my soldiers...you will pay for this!” Astrus screamed in rage as he looked around and saw the wounded soldiers on the ground. ‘Help them.’ He ordered his familiar.

The pegasus obeyed and its feathers began to glow, casting a protective layer over the soldiers and slowly healing the necrotic wounds. The pegasus was a monster with a natural affinity for light, but its power was now limited because of its status as a familiar.

Emilia pointed her wand at him, causing Astrus to raise his guard, but the attack came from below. The hive hawk’s skull was still relatively intact and transmitted the spell to the general’s feet.

A corrupted mana spear pierced him in the back of the knee, where there was no armor, and tore his leg from the knee down. The general screamed as he fell to the side and dropped the teleport crystal, but the pegasus caught him.

Astrus gritted his teeth and cracked the hive hawk’s skull, before casting a healing spell on the stump of the leg.

Emilia and Caio advanced left and right at the same time, both focused on getting their hands on the teleportation crystal. Caio conjured stone spikes just below Astrus, but the pegasus caught him and flew away from the spikes.

Emilia arrived first and grabbed the teleportation crystal, feeding it mana.

“Do not even think about it!” Astrus shouted from above, hurling his spear at Emilia. The spear had an enchantment that created a blade of wind when thrown, allowing it to fly even faster using the vacuum of air.

“Argh!” Emilia jumped back and the spear hit the ground in front of her, releasing a blast of light that seared her bones. “Caio!”

Emilia threw the crystal and Caio caught it in the air. He tried to run towards one of the observation towers, but the pegasus landed in his path and Astrus unleashed a ray mixed with light element at Caio.

“Die!” The white ray split into two smaller rays and approached Caio from the left and right. Caio canceled the attack spell he was preparing and hurriedly conjured an earthen wall to block one of the ray, but the other still hit him.

Caio suffered spasms as the light spread through his bones, destroying the darkness that controls his bones and knocking him to the ground. Caio still maintained control over the teleportation crystal, the crystal continually draining his mana.

It was expensive to fight while feeding the crystal mana, but he had no other choice.

Astrus raised his hand and the spear flew back into his hand, but Emilia gripped the spear, ignoring the pain she felt as she gripped the spear brimming with the element of light. She used the speed of the spear to kick him in the jaw with all her might.

The armor’s light barrier shielded Astrus from the kick, but the impact hurled him against the observation tower wall, causing a spider’s web-shaped crack in the wall. Emilia mounted the pegasus and pierced the back of the head at the same time as she cut her throat, before jumping away.

The pegasus started to neigh and tried to step on Emilia, but she shot two blades of black aura in his face and jumped once more, landing next to Caio. The familiar began to unravel and was absorbed back into Astrus’ body.

‘How much time?’ Emilia asked, never taking her eyes off Astrus. The bones in her right arm, thighs, and ribs were damaged from contact with the light, but she held her ground.

‘Still halfway through.’ Caio replied as he stood up. He released a pulse of darkness to restore his movements to normal, but he still felt kind of sluggish.

‘Let’s go ahead with it then!’ Emilia also placed her hand on the crystal and fed it with her own mana. Two energies with different energy signatures would have conflicted within the crystal, but Caio and Emilia’s signatures were similar enough not to conflict.

“You won’t run away!” Astrus yelled as he got up and ran towards them. A prosthetic leg made of light was in place of his lost leg and although his steps weren’t as steady as they once were, he was still a threat to the skeletons’ current state.