I became a legion lich

245 Evolved Skills

Two horns sounded in the rear line and the ships that came in the rear turned left and right, advancing while avoiding coming into gun range.

‘Tch. They have a commander and are organized. It would be so much simpler if they just went forward like the barbarians they are.’ Louis thought irritably. The skeletons continued firing at the swimming demihumans, but the evolved ogres blocked the blasts with their fists, detonating the projectiles in the air.

The ogres used defensive abilities to generate shockwaves upon impact, the shockwaves blocking the blasts and protecting the demihumans below.

‘Lichs, cast your spells as soon as the demihumans get close enough. Skeletons, keep shooting at the demihumans.’ Louis ordered the undead, but the demihumans were faster.

The evolved demihumans on the ogres’ shoulders carried teleportation crystals and had been carrying them since the first shots. Once loaded, the evolved demi-humans jumped and disappeared in purple spheres, appearing in the middle of the formation of skeletons and cannons.

The evolved demihumans didn’t know what cannons were, but they realized the attacks came from them and aimed at them first. Those small demihumans were evolved goblins, their size slightly larger than the average human being and possessing a small horn in the middle of their foreheads, but their power could not be different.

Ordinary goblins didn’t have racial abilities and that truth didn’t change even after they started to evolve, but their brute strength was much stronger than their size would suggest.

The instant they appeared, they split left and right, hacking or smashing the skeletons to pieces with their axes or maces. The teleportation spheres cut skeletons to pieces or teleported them whole, throwing them back to their previous position among the evolved demihumans, where they were almost immediately destroyed.

The skeletons tried to block the goblins’ onslaught, but they were much stronger and attacked suicidally, using only offensive abilities to tear the undead apart.

.....

Unfortunately for the goblins, the skeletons fought just as aggressively and had the overwhelming numerical advantage, so there was little they could do to overcome them.

The goblins quickly fell, festering wounds piling up all over their bodies. So when the Lichs’ spells fell on them, there was nothing they could do to reverse the situation.

Louis had ordered the lichs to cast their spells as soon as they came into range, and that’s exactly what they did. Darkness spells were naturally slow, but the undead modified the spell, sacrificing power for increased speed.

One of the last living goblins who narrowly escaped one of the lichs’ spells and decided to go all-or-nothing, leaping into the air and hurling his ax at one of the cannons.

The ax hit the cannon and sliced ??it in half like butter, the ammo inside the cannon exploding and destroying nearby skeletons.

The cannons were far from each other so the explosion did not affect other cannons, but it did hit the ordnance that was left nearby to reload and generated several small subsequent explosions and destroyed hundreds of other skeletons.

A single cannon wouldn’t have made much difference in the battle, but it was a huge blow to Louis, who had hoped for a perfect victory.

“It was only a few dozen evolved goblins, but almost 1000 skeletons were destroyed. I think we need to prepare to call for reinforcements and retreat.” One of the masters of magic scoffed and Louis just gritted his teeth in response.

‘The use of teleportation crystals was unexpected. I don’t have any magic items that interfere or force teleportation, so I have no means to stop them from teleporting. I can only hope that the only ones who have crystal are the small evolved goblins.’ Louis thought irritably, ordering the lichs to prepare the next batch of spells.

Lichs were undead-turned mages who retained knowledge of all the spells they knew in life, but still had their intelligence limited and could only act on Louis’s orders, to prevent them from getting out of control.

The evolved demihumans swimming finally reached the beach while being bombarded by the cannons, but the ogres protected them until the end.

“Destroy them all!” Shouted an evolved orc, 7 meters tall, with blood red skin and a pair of short, black horns. He was the captain of the first unit of demihumans and was furious that his soldiers had been killed by what he considered cowardly tactics.

Many of the generals and important positions in the army were occupied by the evolved orcs, as the important positions in the army were chosen through brute force in duels.

A soldier could challenge his superior to duels and take his position if he won the fight and the evolved orcs were best for direct fights like this. They didn’t have to worry about controlling their mana and they fought with everything they had, becoming unstoppable.

The evolved demihumans responded with equally furious screams, but Louís could only make out snippets or single words. Louis knew the demihuman language, but the demihumans on the Doravon continent spoke a different dialect and several words had changed meaning over time, so it was almost a different language now.

‘Even if I don’t understand your words, it doesn’t take a genius to understand your simple plan.’ Louis thought, noticing that the gigantified Ogres were advancing in front and acting as shields.

The cannons continued to fire and the lichs cast their best spells against them, but the ogres used elemental abilities that were similar to spells in response.

They were still few in number and their power could not match the barrage of darkness that fell upon them, but the ogres used their bodies to defend those who came after them and allow them to catch up with the army.

When they finally reached the line of skeletons, most of the ogres were dead or badly injured, their giant bodies falling apart with several black spots from the spells of darkness, but they did their job.

The evolved orcs roared as they broke out of the ogres’ protection and cut through the line of skeletons, only to be blocked by the barrier. They grew enraged at being blocked so close to their enemies and attacked with ever-increasing ferocity, their attacks generating shock waves that swept across the land and raised clouds of dust.

The battle spirit racial skill had changed along with them, evolving into negative Karma. Now, his skill reacted not only to anger and hatred, but any negative feelings like envy or remorse would also increase his physical power.

Even though there were only a few dozen, each strike was equivalent to twenty orcs at full strength, so the barrier began to shake under the barrage of attacks, although it was resisting. It was an artifact created by powerful archmages, so it wouldn’t break easily.

The skeletons were protected by the barrier and fired their cannons at close range, sending the evolved orcs flying. The cannonballs exploded outside the barrier, so even the explosion was unable to affect them.

‘The strength of these orcs surprised me for a moment, but they won’t last long. Their bodies are powerful and have managed to survive a cannonball above the speed of sound point blank, but they won’t be able to fight under these conditions. The problem is the others.’ Louis looked at the ships that had split left and right and began to advance again, as the guns were busy.

The time they lost dealing with the first demihumans was enough for the ships to safely board the beach. When the last of the orcs were finally killed, the rest of the invaders were already halfway to the barriers.

They made use of the same tactic, using evolved ogres as shields, but this time the trolls joined them as well. Evolved trolls stood nearly 10 meters tall when standing upright, but their bone structure changed along with evolution and now walked hunched over using their arms for support, much like gorillas.

Its long arms reached the ground even when upright, and now it had brown fur all over its body, while orange fangs rose from its lower jaw.

The cannons could only fire a single barrage of shots before the evolved demihumans reached them, but even that barrage was useless. The explosions ripped out huge and caused deep wounds to the trolls, but their wounds started to heal the moment they were made.

His body began to thin as its nutrients were drained to regenerate its wounds, but it quickly returned to normal. The earth the trolls trod on drained and absorbed into their bodies to replace what was lost, but Louis mistook this for just the deep footprints of the giant trolls.

Evolved trolls were not only able to regenerate at high speed, but also absorb earth to regain lost mass, so they were nearly immortal while in contact with the ground.

“Destroy this annoying shield and kill all the cowards hiding behind it!!” The orc general leading the troops shouted, smashing his warhammer against the barrier, his single blow making the entire barrier shake, showing that he was much stronger than the others.