I became a legion lich

Chapter 31: Chapter 3

She and the other archer climbed into the trees, jumping between the branches to move. They positioned themselves in a spot with a good line of sight to the caravan and watched as the first group made its way towards the bandits.

“What? Attention, the enemies have arrived! Return to your formations, now!” The first to notice the attack was obviously the platoon leader, who quickly ordered his soldiers to prepare.

He was surprised at the moment of the enemy attack, but he didn’t have much time to think.

“What do you mean, an attack? Wasn’t it a hole made by monsters?” One of the soldiers asked confused by the contradictory orders.

The guards had already let their guard down, so they were slow to respond. The bandits, on the other hand, used the cover of the trees until they reached the clearing where they shouted at the top of their lungs to draw the guards’ full attention to them.

“Attack!” Random Bandit1.

“Kill them all!” Random Bandit2.

.....

The platoon leader quickly assessed the number of enemies and realized they were outnumbered, but he didn’t feel cornered. His platoon had 3 mana users with him included, so victory would be a matter of time, he quickly looked between the enemies looking for the leader and saw a man covered in plate armor and the only mana user among the bandits.

Dave advanced first and in an instant was in front of the nearest guard. He attacked with the mace in his right hand using the critical strike skill.

The mana concentrated in the center of the mace during the swing and exploded out of the weapon on impact, generating a concentrated shock wave. The guard didn’t react in time and the mace hit his helmet squarely.

The helmet cracked on impact and his skull was crushed in an instant. Blood leaked from every orifice in her face, while her eyes bulged out of their sockets from the pressure of her crushed brain.

“ROARR!!!!”Dave concentrated his mana in his throat before roaring, using a second skill, intimidating roar.

The mana was released along with the voice, spreading his aura further than should be possible and paralyzing anyone weaker within the roar’s area of effect.

A second roar was heard, but this one came from behind the guards. The squad leader activated the same ability, the overwhelming auras colliding with each other and canceling out.

The platoon leader leapt over the guards, raising the ax above his head with both hands, and landed on top of Dave, trying to split him in half.

Dave defended himself by raising his shield in his left hand and using a shield strike.

The sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the clearing as the weapons collided. The platoon leader used all his weight on the blow, forcing Dave to drop to one knee, but the knockback effect of the skill sent him flying back.

“Why are you just looking? Attack!” Dave yelled, snapping his men out of their stupor.

The bandits and guards had stopped to watch the fight. The platoon leader was about to shout orders as well, but a wind being cut sound was heard.

An arrow quickly flew towards his head. He jerked his head to the side hastily to dodge, but a second arrow hit him in the left shoulder before exploding in a shower of fragments and blood.

The arrow was imbued with the weapon break skill. The skill concentrated the user’s mana with the metal’s natural mana and blasted it all in a single attack, increasing the destructive power multiple times. The flaw of the skill was that the weapon used was destroyed after the attack and the high cost of mana required to use it.

Most warriors would hesitate to use the skill, but it was a perfect skill for archers who could use disposable arrows.

“Watch out for the archers, keep your shields ready!” The platoon leader held back a cry of pain, feeling a tremendous pain in his left shoulder. The bone fragments mixed with the arrow fragments in a bloody mess. He couldn’t move his left arm, no matter how hard he tried.

Fighting between the two groups started around them, but neither group dared to attack them, as if an invisible barrier was around them.

The fight around them became a mess in an instant, with screams, blood, and guns all over the place. The platoon leader expected at least one of his mana-capable subordinates to show up to help him, but a quick look around the battlefield proved that they were both busy.

Three bandits formed a triangle formation around each of them, keeping them busy while a hooded assassin attacked from behind whenever they got distracted by the simultaneous attacks.

Bloody wounds began to rapidly accumulate through their bodies as they desperately fought for their lives.

“George, team up with me!” One of them screamed desperately using a shield skill to push back one of the bandits, temporarily breaking the formation. The assassin didn’t let the opportunity pass, taking advantage of the gap to plunge a poisoned dagger between his ribs, piercing between the gaps in the side of the armor.

The guard tasted iron in his mouth, but he never stopped running. Until the sound of wind being cut was heard again. An arrow flew swiftly while he was distracted, digging into his neck and exploding in a shower of blood, sending the guard’s head flying.

“Frank!” George screamed as he watched his friend die, fighting fiercely without regard for his own safety, but the situation only worsened for him. A second assassin joined the fight, doubling the damage he took. A dagger plunged into his thigh, a second into his stomach, and a third into his lung.

Blood spurted from the wounds, but George was determined not to die alone. He gripped the hilt that held the dagger in his stomach tightly and used his other hand to stab the sword through the assassin’s chest.

He used the sword’s weapon break as a form of mockery, causing the sword to shatter inside the assassin’s body and half of his torso to explode in a shower of viscera and blood.

George dropped to his knees on the floor, losing all strength. He fell to the side shortly thereafter, drowning in his own blood.

“You motherfuckers...!” The platoon leader cursed watching his subordinates die. The course of the battle quickly changed from there. For every bandit that was killed, two more guards died as well. Sporadic arrows also blew off the guards’ heads, adding to casualties. Soldiers who had any leeway tried to flee, only for enemy reinforcements appeared from behind, cutting off the escape route.

“You shouldn’t get distracted in the middle of a fight!!” Dave yelled, striking at the mace in a vertical attack. The platoon leader took a hasty step back as the spiked point of the mace scratches his helmet.

Dave took a step forward and brought the mace down using the critical strike. The platoon leader raised his ax in a desperate measure to protect himself, but only avoided a mortal blow. The mace slammed into the ax and continued on with almost no resistance, crushing his right arm and ripping it from his body.

The leader felt blood spurt like a fountain from the stump of his arm, but he used the last of his strength to fight back. He lunged forward, headbutting with all his might.

Dave was thrown backward on impact, falling to the ground with a dent in his helmet, but he did not sustain any serious damage.

‘We did it! We’ve won!” Evylin yelled after blasting the skull of the last guard alive, raising her fist in the air in triumph.

She felt that this would be the first of many victories for her new, united organization and felt a pang of happiness in her heart.

“Eh?” Evylin muttered in confusion and looked down, discovering that the sting she felt was a red-hot blade piercing through her heart.