I became a legion lich

67 Attack plan

Rock village, just before dusk.

Athos was sitting in a chair on the porch of the village chief’s house, wiping the blood off his sword. In front of him, over 1000 skeletons were lined up, while only a few were doing equipment maintenance. About 700 of them were human skeletons, while the rest were village cattle.

Athos had successfully invaded the Horn and Rock villages and was taking a break while waiting for Sevenus. Satisfied after testing his command skill in the green village, Athos invaded the horn village using sheer brute force. He simply ordered his skeletons to attack through the front gates while the two skeleton mages attacked from behind and he raged to his heart’s content in the center of the village.

He repeated the same process in the rock village and was busy until a few minutes ago healing the newly created undead. The mage skeletons were to his left and right acting as bodyguards, but the truth is that they were almost bursting with a headache after casting magic all day and still having to help Athos heal the undead.

Athos had received a large amount of life force twice, so it was likely that Sevenus was busy healing the skeletons and would soon be here. Even knowing this, Athos was in a foul mood.

“Just a little more...! A little more and I would have made it... just a little more and I would have made it!” Athos yelled in frustration. Even after killing all the people and livestock in both villages, even after receiving the life force from Sevenus’ deaths, even after killing every bird and mouse he found in the village, he still hadn’t reached the second layer of death.

Its core felt like a black hole, absorbing all the drained life force with no sign of being satisfied. Whenever Athos received life force, he felt as if something was about to happen, as if the last piece of a jigsaw was falling into place, but the sensation disappeared as quickly as it appeared, leaving Athos in anguish and not knowing what to do.

He knew something was missing, but he had no idea how to fix it. He was still getting stronger with the life force received, so the situation wasn’t that hopeless.

“I wanted to form a new layer before attacking Faltra, but not everything goes as planned. All I can do is hope that I can resolve it while I fight, or that I can overcome the bottleneck with brute force by absorbing the entire city. ” It was the conclusion that Athos came to after finishing cleaning his sword.

.....

Deciding that Sevenus would still take some time to arrive, he was about to train with his sword to pass the time, when he felt the approach of several undead. He could feel the presence and mentally communicate with his undead as long as they were at a certain distance, and he had just felt the approach of Sevenus’ army.

“How is he here already? It must have taken him several hours to heal all the skeletons and then recover his mana for another attack. I thought he would only get here tomorrow morning. I just finished it just now, so he was even faster than me.” Athos spoke in shock, standing up to see the undead coming.

The gates were destroyed, so the skeletons marched proudly as if they were a victorious army returning home. In front of them, Sevenus mounted the stone bear and puffed out his chest so much with pride that for a second Athos thought he would burst his lungs from inflating so much, until he remembered that he had none.

“My lord, I have returned...to your side and brought...the skeletons as you...ordered me.” Sevenus got off the bear and knelt in front of him, reporting his success.

“Yes, I can see them. Your speech also seems more articulate and the skeletons seem linked to you, but I’m more curious about how you managed to heal them so fast.” Athos said, ignoring the shiver he felt when he heard him say ‘by your side’.

“I’m glad...you asked. I found out that...skeletons...can heal themselves...just have a...source of nutrients.” Sevenus spoke, his pride almost palpable. He began to explain how he discovered the regeneration potential of black skeletons.

“This is impressive and explains the undead are famous for devouring people alive, despite not needing food. Good job, Sevenus.” Athos congratulated him.

“OHhh...! I’m happy...to serve you...my lord.” Sevenus said ecstatically.

“How many skeletons did you bring? Did you find any of the mage slayers?” Athos asked, trying to change the subject and snap Sevenus out of his trance.

“I have killed 620...people in the two villages...and 300 skeletons...of livestock animals. I have not found...any sign of the...mage slayers...my lord. I believe they are. ..in the city. Are you sure that... we should continue?” Sevenus asked, fearing for Athos’ safety.

“That’s a little more than 1900 undead. If we add the monster skeletons, we can have 2000 soldiers. The numbers are ok, the problem is their quality. They don’t have any combat experience and they kept their skills and strength of when they were alive. We can take the city if we want, but it’s debatable whether we can kill everyone without letting anyone escape.” Athos spoke, sitting down again and waving Sevenus to do the same.

Sevenus felt his left rib skip a beat and sat down on the other side of the table awkwardly.

“Their equipment is also questionable. Most are armed with hoes and shovels, the rest with kitchen knives or makeshift spears.” Athos spoke, feeling a headache trying to think of a way to corner the city.

Even if they moved at night, it would be impossible to divide the army and encircle the city as it did the villages. They would be seen from miles away and the city would go on alert. If Athos wanted to besiege the city, he would have to kill all the watchmen patrolling the walls who would surely be on alert after his massacre.

“But it’s too much work for one person. If I broke in alone, they’d definitely find me. I still have to watch out for the mage slayers who will definitely be in town. Do you and the skeleton mage have experience with infiltration?” Athos was muttering to himself and turned to ask Sevenus.

“We haven’t received...infiltration training...but if it’s...just a...infiltration skill...we can learn it...in a few hours.” Sevenus said, understanding what Athos wanted.

“Fine, I want you all to learn how to sneak in before dark and then we’re going to storm the city. There are a total of 4 alarm bells around the wall and we need to take over all of them without them discovering us.” Athos said.

“I’m afraid...mages have...difficulty not...being seen. Our magic is...flamboyant...and without it...guards can...alert others first... to kill them all...” Sevenus said embarrassed, angry with himself for not having learned any magic that didn’t draw attention when alive.

“I figured it was like that. That’s why we’re going to have help. We’re going to use the two-faced monkeys and birds with blades to make up for the numbers. The birds won’t be seen at night and the monkeys are used to moving silently in the forest. I’m sure they will be useful.” Athos said, looking at the monster skeletons expectantly.

“I see...while my lord...leads the troops...we will...kill the guards...and open the gates.” Sevenus said, misinterpreting Athos’ plan.

“No, you will lead the troops. I will invade the city and take one of the bells.” Athos spoke, nearly making Sevenus’ jaw drop to the ground.

“Because...?” Sevenus asked in total confusion.

“I’m an alchemist, you know? My professor destroyed our base in this city along with my laboratory, but I kept a small hideout in the slum unbeknownst to him, full of alchemical items. I will retrieve the alchemical items shortly after taking the bells.” Athos explained his role in the plan.

Two weeks before Ricley’s departure from town, Khali had taken Athos to a brothel for his “coming of age ceremony”. Since then, Athos visited the brothel every night with a bag full of stamina potions.

In fact, what Khali thought were stamina potions were actually several different alchemical items disguised as potions. Athos pretended to destroy everything and hid them in the space between the walls of one of the brothel rooms.

...Of course, Athos couldn’t just be breaking into the rooms, so he actually rented one of the rooms and one of the staff at the establishment, but that was just to not arouse suspicion. Yes, just not to arouse suspicion.

He also remembered the mischievous grin plastered on Khali’s face every time he came back with his clothes messed up, but he ignored the memory.

“Anyway, we already have a plan, just put it into action.” Athos looked at Sevenus, who quickly waved back.

**********