I became a legion lich

146 Defense violated

Before the first crusader managed to reach the fortress, two of the large-scale spells had already been lost.

‘Fuck. We need to react or we’ll be killed before we can do anything. If any more mage units are killed or lose focus, we won’t be able to bring down the miasma barrier. Eishin would never forgive me if this mission failed and neither would I.’ The bishop thought, taking a special grade mana regeneration potion.

The bishop spread the light shields again to try to cover as much ground as possible, but the loss of so many shields created too many gaps in his defense. New shields were being conjured as priests recovered and resumed the spell, but it didn’t do much to cover so many gaps.

“Continue the advance!” The bishop started shouting orders, but it was unnecessary. The Crusaders were deaf, but their fighting spirit was burning furiously. They saw that the lightning was falling again on their mages and realized the danger it posed, abandoning any concern for their own lives e running furiously for the gate.

Those further back followed the lead of the first and ran, the tight formation of the Crusaders breaking as they advanced fearlessly, ignoring the earaches they felt with sheer force of will.

In their minds, the beams would target those who were easy targets instead of hitting the shields of light. Many of them would die for it, but it wasn’t a problem for the crusader fanatics. Dying on a crusade to ensure the evil was expunged was an honor, after all.

“Fire.” Unfortunately for them, Athos would not fall for this provocation so easily. The ballistae and catapults behind the walls fired, raining stones and arrows on the crusaders. Barriers had a convenient feature that allowed anything from inside to pass through, but would block any attacks coming from outside.

The Crusaders didn’t flinch in the face of attacks, raising their weapons and using their best skills in an attempt to block incoming ballista giant arrows, or at least serve as a human shield to protect others coming after them. Even with their best skills, all they could do was be crushed or roll to save themselves.

The rocks from the catapults crushed all the crusaders who were too slow to react, but it was the ballista arrows that did the most damage. The crusaders didn’t notice, but the arrows were black and their wooden base was rotting as they flew.

.....

Athos had positioned mana users to operate the ballistae and ordered them to use the weapon break skill on all arrows before firing them. Ballista arrows struck the Crusaders’ shields or armor and impaled them without resistance, slashing the corpses to pieces.

“Recharge.” Athos was impressed by the ballistae’s offensive power, but they had only killed a few dozen crusaders and there were still thousands.

“Screw this.” The bishop swore under his breath, before starting to yell again. “Follow the Crusaders’ lead and advance! We need to take down the walls at once! We will defend the lightning, so advance without looking up!”

The paladins and adventurers nodded their heads realizing the gravity of the situation, but the soldiers pushing siege weapons were still lying on the ground while holding their bleeding ears. They were moaning in pain on the floor and it didn’t look like they would get up anytime soon.

“Tch. Paladins heal them!” The bishop clicked his tongue and spoke reluctantly. The crusaders weren’t listening to their orders and were just running frantically, so they needed to advance at once to cover them with shields to avoid heavy casualties.

The paladins knew this and rushed to heal them, breaking out of defensive formation and moving to heal the soldiers.

A few sporadic bolts managed to break through the gaps in the defense and hit a third group of mages, causing the bishop to curse once more and try to hurry. Luckily, the soldiers weren’t new to war and they quickly recovered and pushed the siege weapons.

The paladins also helped push the siege weapons, but the walls were still far away.

“For Eishin!” Crusaders reached the gates and shouted as one, though they could not hear each other. They hit the gate with all their might, but only sparks flew. The energy of the large-scale spells made the gate as strong as the barrier.

The difference is that the barrier was made of pure energy, while the gates were made of steel filled with energy. It was pretty obvious which one would be tougher. Crusaders could only make superficial scratches, but the same wasn’t true for the undead above the gate.

The skeletons dragged barrels full of oil and dropped them onto the crusaders below, before one of them threw a torch and all the barrels exploded. The crusaders pressed against the gate were unable to escape in time, their own comrades arrested them and were burned alive in the flame.

The oil also didn’t burn all at once and made the gate keep burning, as well as the area in front of the gate.

“Fire!” Luckily, the siege weapons finally came within range of the wall and fired. Rocks, firebombs and explosive arrows rained down on the barrier, causing a series of explosions that made the walls shake, but the damage was far from enough.

The skeletons tried to fight back by firing their own siege weapons, but the priests had gotten too close and with them the light shields, most of the gaps filled in even as the lightning bolts constantly dealt damage.

Priests were pouring out all their mana to maintain shields, so even constant damage couldn’t keep up with their regeneration. The shields again covered in a spherical pattern and protected the crusaders, the front shields touching the corrupted barrier.

The light fought the corruption as smoke billowed out of the point of contact. The attacks of both siege weapons were useless now, both blocked by their respective barriers. Both projectiles exploded on contact, sending out shock waves and sounds so loud they would deafen the nearest humans if their eardrums weren’t already burst.

Skeletons on top of the gates and to the side also attacked physically while the crusaders unleashed long-range abilities like aura blades, but their attacks were just scratches compared to the rest.

“It’s going to be broken soon, huh. I was hoping it would last a little longer.” Athos muttered, seeing the constant attacks on both barriers. The corrupted barrier was in much better condition than the light shields, but without stopping the mages, the balance would tip in the enemy’s favor in a matter of minutes.

“Should we back off master?” Emilia asked beside his. Neither of them were attacking the barrier or worrying too much, talking quietly despite the deafening sounds around them and the fanatical roars of the Crusaders.

“Yes let’s go.” Athos nodded and mentally ordered. ‘All Skeleton Commanders, retreat from the wall and go to your previously agreed positions.’

All high-ranking skeletons obeyed and fled while they still could, leaving only the low-ranking ones behind.

In a timely manner, two beams of pure mana hit the corrupted barrier, causing the entire wall to shake as cracks spread from the point of impact. The slower mages had finally reached a position close enough and fired their mana cannons until their cores dried up.

Court mages who lost control of large-scale spells still had mana and cast their best spells against the barrier. Two of water mages conjured a layer of ice over the gates and doused the flames, allowing the waiting battering rams to reach them.

The enchanted battering rams reached the gates a few seconds later, slamming into the steel gates and causing the entire structure to shake. The rams delivered impacts both inside and outside the gate, weakening its resistance.

“Come on, come on. Break it at once!” The blue fang screamed looking at the cracks in the barrier and the darkness getting thinner and thinner. Even so, the barrier didn’t look like it was going to give way anytime soon and the light shields weren’t much better off.

The bishop had shared the energy between the light shields to protect everyone from lightning, great arrows from the siege weapons and even damage the barrier, but that came at a price.

The priests’ mana was almost gone and most of them had fresh blood marks running down their noses. Everyone had a terrible headache and despite the use of mana regeneration potions, their cores were dangerously empty, all regenerated mana was immediately consumed to maintain the light shields.

It would cause a lot of problems for the priests when the potion wore off, but they had no way of worrying about that now.

The stalemate continued for a few more minutes, before the corrupted barrier finally gave way and the cannons broke through. The corrupted barrier cracked like glass before shattering into thousands of pieces, which quickly disintegrated in midair.

Horns sounded as soldiers around the wall cheered and began to advance. The Crusaders’ cries were particularly loud, all their fervor and fanaticism clear as they attacked the walls with renewed fury, the closest ones using the wall’s imperfections to climb.

The paladins had healed several of them during the stalemate, but most were still deaf, so they couldn’t fight neatly as an army.