Chapter 138 Lich Fight 01

We saw them coming from miles away. At first, they looked like a flock of birds, but as they got closer, it was clear what they actually were. A flock of undead, zombified drakes and wyverns was flying in our direction, and at the very front was the skeletonized remains of a dragon. It would still take them about an hour to get here, which was why I was changing the environment for this fight.

I couldn’t tell; my perception just wasn’t high enough to see such small things from this far away, but both Tems and Silk said that someone was riding the dragon. It meant that this was most likely the leader, which meant this would be their last coordinated attack against us. Dozens of wyverns, hundreds of flying drakes, and a dragon with a rider atop it; it was going to be our hardest battle yet.

Not because they could defeat us, but because killing them would be much harder; flight was something we didn’t have access to, and the size of the undead was enough to crush us if we got unlucky. That’s why I was digging a web-like tunnel for us to use to even the air superiority they had. There was also something else I needed to make, because having access was the difference that was big enough to completely shift the tide of the fight.

It would take a long time to set it up; my wives would have to fight without me until I activated it, but once I did, it would be a game-changer.

…

Master’s Point of View

I activated one of my last contingencies in the form of my flying squad of undead. They sat, motionless and inanimate, until I reattached my connection to them. The pull on controlling them wasn’t that strong, but it was enough to cause problems for my other generals if they pushed hard enough, and it was mostly from the dragon. Even as a skeleton, he fought back constantly, requiring me to be in close range of him in order for it to not break.

That was why I had to leave all my fortifications, even though I didn’t like it; it was the only way to ensure whoever was assaulting my army’s demise. It wasn’t very hard to follow the trail they left behind. Working my way backwards from the dungeons and following the truly dead undead they left behind, I finally sighted them. I was half expecting an army, but wasn’t surprised when I saw a small group.

I knew the strength of powerful classes; most of my own generals were the best of the best when it came to that. Now, it was time to really test them and put them to death with our overwhelming air superiority. Except, they didn’t just sit and wait for us to reach them, but began to build up defenses. Wood and stone appeared from storage items as several barriers came up.

I could see them digging in the ground, but it would only slow down their deaths, because as powerful as this army I led was, I was the true powerhouse behind it, and I wouldn’t be stopped by caves like my dragon or wyverns. The drakes might be able to fit inside, but they weren’t powerful enough to warrant the wastage. Having my aerial units assault them first, then capitalize on any weaknesses they show or their tiredness from the constant fighting.

They were preparing for us, but they couldn’t do anything. The biggest reason for my aerial group was to deal with hard-to-kill adventurers; only a fraction of adventurers could deal with enemies they couldn’t reach, after all. As we grew closer, I felt a familiar tingle of something I hadn’t felt in years. The thrill of fighting; I wasn’t always an undead lich.

My journey started as a slave, but I was also an adventurer. That was the only true way to grow powerful, and I was powerful enough to use wish magic, something only four other people(known) could cast. One of those was why the dwarves were the superior race on the continent. He used a wish to alter himself, becoming a high dwarf, a being superior in every way to a normal dwarf.

The disease I enacted targeted his blood, and only the dwarves without any, or if high dwarves' blood was so diluted, could survive the fallout of what happened to the specific virus. Overnight, the dwarves went from the strongest race by far to almost being wiped out; even now, the virus clung to them, turning the chances of having men to almost zero, even if they didn’t have any of his blood in their veins.

As we grew close enough to finally make out the features of each other, their counterattack began. A single one of their fighters fired bolts of charged arrows at us; one would have struck me, but I got a magical barrier up in time. The drain was significant but still manageable. After her attack was ineffective against me, she began to shoot at the wyverns instead of the dragon.

Her bolts were massive and perfectly timed. Many of them struck multiple wyverns, taking two or even three out at a time while also taking out a handful of drakes. Soon enough, she ran out of mana. I could see her struggle to breathe as she pulled out an extremely blue vial and began to chug it before she began firing again.

Her barrage took almost half the wyverns and roughly 10% of the drakes off the table. My eyes widened at the power behind her. If she had focused on just me, her magic might have worn me down, approximately 25% of my mana defending myself. Now that she was tapped out, the real battle began.

…

Leaf poured out all her effort into her attacks as she brought down a good number of the fliers, but it was only a drop in the ocean as they still outnumbered us dramatically. She kept firing while Cherry charged a massive fireball right before they reached us. Hurling it at the largest remaining cluster of wyverns alive; it exploded, taking down seven wyverns and ten times as many drakes.

They were still meat, still dead bodies falling directly toward us; if we were a larger group, even the corpses landing would have caused casualties, but we weren’t; we were all easily fast enough to avoid them as we got to work. Drakes were the first to attack, but every drake that attempted to land a strike was quickly put down. We all struck with clean precision; there was no wasted effort, no glancing blows or partial attacks; all our strikes were deathblows.

Dozens died every second as the sheer mass of their bodies would have been enough to bury us if we weren’t stepping on their bodies as we slew them. Dozens became hundreds as most of the drakes were dealt with in a matter of a minute; the wyverns were equally fast to take down; the only difference was the amount of blows needed to finally end them.

I was shocked at how easy this was, but as I got too sure of myself and let my guard down, the lich and dragon finally acted. Thousands of pounds of bone landed, flattening the bodies as its tail swung at us, some barely dodging. I heard the lich yell out. “Die.” Before a glowing green beam shot from his finger and into Sarah’s chest.