I became a legion lich

250 Second invasion

A unit of nearly 500 priests was right behind the army and they were concentrating on casting large-scale spells to serve as backup.

A little further away from the army, knights in white armor mounted on pegasus just waiting for a signal to fly. It was the church’s Sky knight unit, their version of the tamers.

They created monsters with an affinity for light as pets and weakened them before using the binding spell on them to make them familiar. The church did not allow its members to have monsters with any affinity other than light, considering it blasphemous.

There were pouches strapped to either side of the pegasus’ cell, filled with glass bottles of alchemical items that the knights planned to bomb on the demihuman ships. It was the strategy the church formed to face the demihumans who were unable to use magic and had almost no means of attacking something in the sky.

Shields with a hexagram pattern made of white platinum were floating around the island, just waiting for the bishop in charge of defense to activate them to surround the entire island with shields made of light.

Light cannons made of white platinum were placed on either side of the crusader formation, pointed towards the horizon. Everyone was waiting anxiously for the armies of demihumans to get close enough to start attacking.

The kingdom of Belaster had abandoned the smallest islands, deeming them impossible to defend, so the church’s troops were the only ones to defend them. The realm had even recommended that the order and church abandon these small islands and concentrate their forces on the larger islands where it was almost impossible to evacuate all the villagers without overwhelming other places, but Eirin and Eishin knew that was a bad idea.

Leaving small empty islands for the evolved demi-humans to conquer would allow them to settle down and put down roots on the Caprio continent, something that had to be stopped at all costs.

Canan and Eirin had already seen from their moon base that the second wave of demihumans coming from Doravon was much larger than the first and they left some behind on each island they passed, exploiting the resources that previously belonged to the order.

.....

“What are the chances of winning?” Canan asked doubtfully, not seeing anyone notable among the church’s army. Their numbers were more or less equal to Louis’s undead, but Canan couldn’t judge their actual strength based on appearance alone.

“Unfortunately, the chances of victory are slim and it’s almost impossible to send reinforcements to the island. We don’t have portals of our own and the church has few teleportation crystals, so we can’t send a lot of support at once.” Eishin explained with dismay.

“Can’t you send the saints or individually powerful warriors as support?” Canan asked doubtfully, wondering the reason for the church’s lack of support. He expected Eishin to deploy all of the church’s forces in the cities and fortresses they protect, but he seemed uninterested.

“Only three of the saints are in the field and the other two are on hold at church headquarters, but none of them have visited these small islands, so it’s impossible to teleport there.” Eishin explained, before suddenly becoming furious.

“It would be possible to send support quickly if angels used the crystals, but because of that bastard Illum and the undead invasions, everyone has their hands full and cannot interfere in this damn war!”

‘Should we throw it in his face that this whole situation is his fault and his impulsiveness?’ Eirin mentally suggested, but Canan just ignored her.

“Why didn’t you order your saints to visit the islands if you knew they would be attacked?” Canan asked doubtfully.

“Do you know how many islands, cities and fortresses exist and are being created? It is almost impossible to visit all the fortresses and you know that it is necessary to at least take a look around to be able to remember the place and teleport safely.” Eishin spoke wryly.

“Don’t forget what happens when someone tries to teleport without a clear picture of where they want to go.” Eishin reminded him of some of the tests they had done in the past.

The mage who tried to teleport to a place he had never visited before disappeared into a purple orb and has never been found.

“The battle will start soon, so let’s focus on the hologram.” Canan understood Eishin’s point and changed the subject.

The evolved demi-human ships had gotten close enough to the island and the light cannons fired beams of superheated concentrated light, piercing and igniting the massive ships.

Unlike the order’s normal magic cannons, the light cannons continuously fired beams of superheated light, absorbing the mana of whoever was operating the cannons.

The beams of light hit with the force of a freight train and burned through the wood of ships or the skin and flesh of demihumans, exploding those weaker ones like goblins.

The ships began to sink after the beams of light did enough damage to the ships’ hulls, forcing the evolved demihumans to jump off the ships and swim the rest of the way.

They used the same tactics as the invading army at Fortress D, the giants activating giganticization while the rest tried to swim. It was the demihuman army’s standard strategy as well as the only one they knew.

“Move to the next ships and ignore the demihumans in the sea! Sky knight units, bombarding!” The bishop in command shouted orders and the light cannons switched targets to hit the ships farthest behind, while the pegasus took to the skies to attack the evolved demihumans.

The Sky knights dropped the bottles with alchemical items on the demihumans, but it was a futile attack. The demihumans in the middle of the sea easily noticed the pegasus and at the moment they dropped unknown objects on top of the demihumans, the latter responded aggressively and used aura skills to hit the bottles still in the air, exploding harmlessly.

Not all of them were intercepted in time and hit the swimming demihumans or missed the target and hit the sea, but most exploded above the evolved demihumans, releasing a burst of light and flame that blinded all of the evolved demihumans.

The alchemical items created by the church’s alchemists were mixed with the element of light and other elements, their alchemical items causing a flash along with the explosions.

“Keep firing! Our enemies can’t see us and won’t be able to intercept this time!” The bishop shouted into the communicator as he shielded his eyes from the intense light, causing all the Sky knights to continue the bombardment, even if they couldn’t see the demihumans below.

His pegasus also absorbed his mana and conjured bullets of light and rained down on the demihumans. Not all Sky knights had a talent for magic, but pegasus had a natural affinity with air and light, being able to cast spells as long as their masters gave them mana.

Unfortunately for the humans, the demihumans didn’t just sit around waiting to be attacked without fighting back. Dozens of purple spheres appeared around the pegasus formation and the goblins came out, slashing at the nearest pegasus or rider.

Those too far away just hurled their weapons at the knights, their blows cut the pegasus in half and the knights were heavily injured, surviving only because of the second layer of protective light on their armor and the self-healing enchantments.

Evolved goblins began to fall after attacking while grappling with falling knights to finish them off and ensure they didn’t heal again. The other Sky knights fired spells at the goblins, sacrificing their comrades to eliminate the enemies.

“I will raise the barriers, priests, prepare to attack while the demihumans are busy trying to break through!” The bishop shouted orders and activated the shields, raising a hexagonal barrier that surrounded the entire island for an instant, before the shields focused in the direction the demihumans were approaching.

He could freely control the shields and scatter them again if the demihumans scattered.

The priests nodded, finishing casting their large-scale spells and just waiting for them to get close enough.

A purple orb much larger than the others appeared in the midst of the priests’ formation, engulfing dozens of priests and interrupting half of the large-scale spells.

Two demihumans emerged from the purple sphere, and both vaguely resembled minotaurs, but had so many different characteristics that the priests were slow to recognize them.

Both were 12 meters long and could move both as bipeds and quadrupeds. Its hind legs ended in bull-like hooves and it had a long tail that ended in a mace of bones, while its front legs ended in four claws, one being opposite the rest like a thumb.

Long, curved horns rose from the sides of its head while a short one grew from the top of its head. Its eyes were elongated like a goat’s and its jaw long like a carnivore’s, white fangs visible every time it opened its mouth.

One was white while the other was black, indicating that it was a female and a male respectively.