I became a legion lich

271 Second wave

“You will go to our clan’s barracks and be trained again, but this time to our clan’s standard. Those who meet our clan’s standards may serve us, but the rest will be expelled and sent back home. .” Lots of grumbling and gulping sounds were heard from the crowd.

“Don’t get your hopes up for Master Nero’s speech, most here won’t last long enough to see his words come true.” Sergeant Brain began to walk through the crowd, who moved left and right to avoid getting in his way.

“The few that remain, however, will really have the chance to participate in the operation that Master Nero described and leave their name in the history of our kingdom. And who will decide who deserves to have that chance will be me, so listen to every word I say, if you don’t want to miss your only chance in life.” Sergeant Brian grinned wickedly, daydreaming about making life hell for the black hawks.

‘I can’t tell if this guy is fanatical about his own clan, hates black hawks, or just abusing the power at hand.’ Ash thought confused, but tried to keep his presence as low as possible so as not to draw the sergeant’s attention to himself.

“Well, I can save the rest of the sermon for later, for now I’ll take you to your quarters, follow me.” Sergeant Brain flapped his wings once, but heard only complaints from the black hawks.

“We’ve just finished a march of over 18 hours and we already have to fly again?” A black hawk complained, wings still sore after flying for so long.

Before any other voices of complaint could arise, the sergeant disappeared in a flash, leaving only spark behind. He appeared in front of the complaining black hawk and hit it on the chin with his sheathed sword, knocking it out in one blow.

‘How fast! Is that the speed of a tempest eagle using acceleration?’ Ash wondered, barely able to follow the sergeant’s movements with his eyes.

He wondered if he could react to that move and realized that he could only resist if he had prepared in advance, with skills to increase reaction time and agility.

.....

As a surprise attack, it would be almost impossible to defend in time.

“Well, that’s one less for me to train. Anyone else have any complaints?” Brain looked around at the black hawks, who swallowed their complaints and looked down. “No? Great, then follow me in silence.”

‘Now I understand why the father was so strict with us during the trip. It was just a piece of what we were going to experience as soldiers here.’ Ash thought as he trailed behind the sergeant, followed by all the beastmen except the one who had passed out.

He began to smile unconsciously, hopeful for the future.

***************

While Ash was busy starting his training in the sky wing clan and Athos was busy working on perfecting the potion to develop the magic organ in the other black skeletons, the invasion of evolved demihumans in the west of the continent continued.

The order of magic and the church went ahead with the plan to attack demi-human ships before they reached the mainland and sent mages with magic items that allowed flight or the church’s flying units, but the plan failed miserably.

Unlike the first invasion of evolved demi-humans, which was composed exclusively of demi-humans who fought hand-to-hand, the second wave had demi-humans like Solars or Merman, who were able to fight at a distance by controlling the natural elements that were attuned.

Merman were water-attuned demi-humans with blue skin and green or blonde hair. On land they could walk on two legs and in the sea they could form a fish tail to swim quickly.

Just as the solar were able to control and shape natural fire, mermans were able to do the same with water, making them deadly threats while in the ocean.

During attacks by the order of magic and the church, the mermans defended the evolved demihumans on the boats, creating domes with tons of water and mana. After defending themselves, the water domes split into dozens of geysers of pressurized water.

Normally, the water would lose pressure after a few tens of meters and fall harmlessly back into the ocean, but the mermen’s mana kept the water pressurized for hundreds of meters and cut mages or church members in half along with the cloaks’ magical protections delighted.

Some managed to dodge in time or cast defensive spells strong enough to protect themselves, but the mermans just needed to readjust the geysers to chase those who fled or increase the amount of mana in the geysers they hit to break through the defenses.

When attacks from spears or thrown weapons made from condensed fire from the solar hit them, the human mages were forced to retreat to avoid further losses and regrouped with the forces on the continent.

The ships reached the mainland a few hours later, along with huge waves that hit the barriers, causing a huge impact and shaking the entire barrier.

The gigantic waves didn’t stop there, but surrounded the barrier and pressed from all sides, causing huge cracks through which the water began to seep.

In the church fortresses the situation was even worse. The light shields had small gaps the mermans exploited to seep water and expand, making room for even more water to enter.

The church’s paladins cast ordinary light barriers, realizing that the multiple shields they often use were ineffective, but it was too late. The light cannons had been flooded before they even activated and the large scale spells they were casting were not helpful in stopping all the invading water.

The waves had washed the ships up to the light shields, so the demihumans hadn’t taken damage from spells or cannons. They further widened the spaces between the light shields to get in, further increasing the amount of water that invaded.

Large scale light spells hit the evolved demihumans and killed dozens, but even more broke through the shields.

The church forces tried to resist as long as they could, but the paladins’ barriers didn’t last long and the demihumans had an easy time slaughtering the humans with no barriers blocking them.

Most of the strongholds had to be abandoned to reduce the loss of life, but the demihumans pursued them not to allow them to escape. In the end, the order of magic needed to open portals to rescue the church’s troops, or at least those who were near the portals when they opened.

Demi-humans weren’t stupid and despite not knowing what a portal is, they realized that humans were running through them and attacked the portals, forcing the mages on the other side of the portal to close them so they wouldn’t be attacked.

Individual portals had been built in various cities across the empires over the past month and although multiple individual portals lessened the danger, there was still a risk of demihumans breaking into the portals and attacking the different branches of the order or church in the empire.

It was a risk the humans had to avoid at all costs, even if they had to sacrifice hundreds to thousands of soldiers. The chances of a second anomaly like the one that destroyed the portal tower were unlikely, but it was of the utmost importance to prevent the loss of portals during a time of war like this.

In the fortresses defended by the order of magic the battle was a little more arduous, but it was still in favor of the evolved demihumans. The barriers conjured by the magic items blocked the sea waves and the mages could cast their large-scale spells, but their effects were greatly reduced compared to the previous invasion.

The waves formed a natural barrier that, along with the merman’s mana, mitigated the force of large-scale spells. Evolved trolls and minotaurs took the brunt of the attacks and several were killed or seriously injured, but the other evolved demihumans were still unharmed.

Between the constant pressure of the waves controlled by the mermans and the attacks of the evolved demihumans, the barrier gave way after a few minutes, almost as fast as the first barrier despite the humans using magic items even more powerful than the previous ones.

The battles were even more chaotic and destructive than the previous ones, thanks to demihumans like Solar or Merman adding their destructive power. The solar were not very strong during human ambushes because they were in the middle of the ocean and only had the flames they carried as weapons and their own body heat as a weapon, but they were still deadly during battle.