I became a legion lich

133 Attack plan

“I know it’s still a few days until we reach the stronghold, but I want to discuss your role in the upcoming battle. I want to know your thoughts on the monster we’re going to face and opinions on how to fight it.” The colonel spoke solemnly.

“We clergy intend to take the vanguard during the battle. Our priests intend to conjure a gigantic sacred field that will protect our crusaders from the filthy attacks of the undead while weakening them. Even if they try to use siege weapons against we, our paladins will conjure shields of light to protect us as we take the gate.” The bishop declared proudly.

“And how do you plan to deal with enemy magic? We’re sure there won’t be at least 50 undead mages besides the plant monster. How do you plan to deal with them?”

“Well, we’re not on this crusade alone. The army has several court mages that can deal with enemy mages, and enchanted siege weapons can break down the sturdy gate. We already have the advantage in numbers and firepower, the only Worry is how to deal with the plant monster.” The bishop spoke with a frown on his face.

“The mages of the order suggested that the plant monster was in possession of a teleportation crystal and used its miasma to activate it. As the church may know, undead created from necromancy and undead that arise spontaneously are completely many different.” Colonel Orus spoke and the bishop nodded. Miasma was what corrupt magic was called among mages.

“Undead created by necromancers are made with dark magic, but still maintain a certain balance with the other elements thanks to the pure mana of the mage who created them. Natural undead are abominations of nature, unable to accept their own death and completely rejecting the light in their own bodies.” The bishop explained in disgust, causing the blue fang to raise an eyebrow in surprise, as this kind of information was not available to the general public.

“Miasma teleportation is different and rips space instead of connecting it, so it would explain how the plant monster ignored the forced teleportation spell and invaded the fortress. Unfortunately, that doesn’t help us to face it. Even the order currently has no means to stop the teleportation.” Orus spoke in frustration.

“So we don’t have the means to stop this monster from attacking our rear, is that it?” The blue fang asked rhetorically. He knew how important it was to keep a monster’s attention on itself and prevent it from attacking the weakest mages and archers. It was then that he had an idea.

“Why don’t we use that to our advantage? If we know they can teleport and attack where we’re most exposed, we can give them that.” The blue fang smiled as he spoke, holding the two men’s attention.

.....

“What do you suggest?” the bishop asked.

“If I were an undead that could move anywhere on the battlefield, I would first attack the priests who are most dangerous or the mages who have the most firepower. If we gather the priests in place and scatter the mages across the army, we can reduce enemy targets and predict where they will appear.” The colonel was surprised at the adventurer’s thought, mainly because he was right.

The blue fang was right and the undead really did target the priests first when they invaded the keep, but it was too risky to gather all the priests in one place.

The blue fang continued talking as if reading the colonel’s thoughts. “We don’t need to risk the real priests, Colonel. We can disguise some adventurers in place of the priests and ambush the monster when it appears. How many priests does it take to maintain a sacred field?”

“50 is the minimum and covers a little over 100 meters. We need all 250 to effectively cover all crusaders and paladins during battle. It’s not certain your plan will work, so I can’t move any priests without jeopardizing the crusaders.” The bishop spoke after thinking about the blue tusk proposal.

The crusaders who came with him on this crusade were willing to give their lives willingly for justice, but the bishop would not sacrifice their lives in vain. He planned to lead the priests personally to protect as much as he could.

“You don’t need to move any priests, just change your gear with the adventurers. Let’s put the adventurers disguised as priests in the middle of the formation with the priests disguised as adventurers around them as if to protect them, and ambush the plant monster. ”

“Along with the paladins, we have enough strength to kill the plant monster or at least hold it in place while the army annihilates the undead. It must cost a lot in mana to teleport so he shouldn’t be able to do it repeatedly. ” The blue fang spoke with a toothy smile, satisfied with his plan.

‘Adventurers are really cunning. Even without the information we have, he formed a plan to hunt the monster with the scant information he had. He ignored the undead army, focusing only on the undead spirit that was his target. It’s not the kind of vision suited for someone in charge of thousands, but it’s perfect for leading small, elite groups.’ The colonel thought, positively evaluating the skills of the blue fang.

“Really, if the paladins and adventurers get together, the plant monster can be stopped and the rest of the undead army would be much easier to deal with. But that would put the adventurers at great risk and there would surely be heavy casualties on your side. Are you sure about that?” The colonel asked a little suspicious of how cooperative the blue prey was being.

“We have a better chance of surviving than your soldiers, Colonel. Unlike soldiers who are trained to obey orders and paladins who would attack without caring about their lives, we adventurers are trained to react on our own in an emergency.”

“Also, we’re not going to put all of our own in that group, just enough to replace all the priests, we still need to decide where the others will be placed.” What the blue fang said was true. Many soldiers were trained to instinctively react to incoming orders, but this slowed their reaction to unforeseen situations.

“I want a piece of that thing as a souvenir too. A body part of a plant monster capable of creating undead would be worth good money on the black market.’ The blue fang thinks to itself, managing to keep a poker face.

“It would be really helpful if you could lend me some of your mages when the fight starts. A little bit of magic to be able to kill the plant monster would help a lot.” The blue prey asked the colonel, who promptly agreed to her request.

“It won’t be a problem. Now, we need to discuss the distribution of soldiers and how we’re going to attack them.” The colonel spoke and the three spent a few hours discussing the plan of attack.

In the end, they decided that the best way to ensure the undead would be wiped out was to lay siege to the entire fortress. The front gate where Athos’ army invaded would be attacked by the church and its crusaders, focusing most of the enemy’s attention on them.

Meanwhile, the archers and siege weapons unit would rain arrows and explosives on the enemy army, the light infantry and mercenaries would use ladders to scale the walls and take the gates.

Heavy infantry, spearmen and cavalry would circle around and storm the other gate, cutting off the undead army’s escape route. Both elite units would be kept on hold and deployed where needed, acting as emergency backup. The fortress had its own elite soldiers and the colonel was on guard against them.

Court mages would form a large-scale spell of their own and provide cover for crusaders or adventurers and paladins if the plant monster was more powerful than expected. The adventurers would act freely and attack undead that stood out in the army undead.

The difficulty was where to place the tamers. Their strengths were so different from each other that they didn’t know where to put them. In the end, it was decided that they would stay as reserve troops and along with the elite soldiers.

The discussion ended, the bishop and the blue prey said goodbye to the colonel and joined their respective forces. The colonel was left alone and his expression changed from serious to hate and he gripped tightly the pendant hidden in his breast pocket. It was something given to him by Astrus on his coming of age birthday.

“I’ll release you soon brother, just wait a little longer.” Orus muttered, before going to get up and get something to eat.

*******

“Did you hear everything?” The blue fang spoke as soon as he left the colonel’s tent and made sure no one was following him. Its shadow stretched and a man wearing black leather armor stepped out of it with a black snake coiled around his arm.

The serpent was a shadow serpent, capable of hiding in shadows and carrying objects or people together. It was an incredibly rare and hard-to-find monster, but one of your group members was lucky enough to have one as a familiar.

“I heard. You did well in there, but they knew more than they said.” The unknown man spoke.

“I know, but that’s normal. An undead spirit would cause unnecessary panic and be troublesome for them if I accidentally leaked the information. I didn’t seem very trustworthy after all.” The blue fang laughed, proud of his arrogant adventurer performance.