I became a legion lich

176 Hidden village

The original spell was supposed to cover a large area, so its effects were much stronger in an enclosed area, lowering the temperature until it became bearable. More and more lava was flowing into the chamber, but Treevor kept powering the spell to keep it from melting in the heat.

Durui quickly built a land bridge for them to cross, though the size was questionable and only allowed one skeleton to cross at a time. Treevor looked at him resentfully, but the dwarf just shrugged.

“The surrounding rocks... are melting as...I need to divide...my focus on...keeping the rock solid...and building the bridge...with just my...willpower ...this bridge is...the best I can...do.” Durui spoke, but the skeletons were already moving across the bridge without waiting for his reply.

The first to advance were the twins Roy and Ruy. They weren’t wearing their usual equipment, as they hadn’t been corrupted yet, but Treevor had given them weapons made from the corrupted willow tree, the same ones that Athos found in Treevor’s laboratory.

The door was only 1.50 meters high and had no handle, opening only from the inside, just as Durui had explained while planning the invasion. Even the dwarf could not force his way in here, as the door and the land around it were enchanted to resist its effects.

Which is why the twins planned to force their way here. They drew the wands Treevor had given them, conjuring waves of heat and cold. The metal door creaked as the temperature rose and fell rapidly, cracks appearing everywhere as the metal expanded.

Despite enchantments increasing the door’s strength, the metal’s durability has dropped dramatically. After that it was easy work for the twins to destroy the door with corrupted mana bullets.

They burst into the small passageway, only to hear the voice of an angry dwarf.

“Fire!” The dwarf screamed before they could do anything and a hail of fireballs and stone bullets hit them.

.....

The dwarves began to evacuate just as the skeletons began to climb the mountains, but they realized that they would not be able to retreat in time.

The village chief had been informed that their presence on the mountain had been discovered and they had started to prepare the villagers to retreat, but their preparations were not fast enough.

They started to flee in panic, but the village head knew they would be unable to evacuate everyone before the undead invaded the village. Even triggering the defenses and releasing lava through the tunnels didn’t slow them down, so the village guards stayed behind to buy time for the others to flee.

Most of the elderly also decided to help buy time to ensure that the younger ones could escape the village. They formed a small army of nearly 50, using enchanted equipment to compensate for their weak bodies.

They waited in front of the village’s only entrance and unleashed a barrage of fire just as the skeletons broke through.

The twins weren’t able to fend off the attacks in time, but Treevor behind them was. He cast a shield of corrupted mana in front of the skeletons, protecting them from attacks.

“Don’t just stand in front of the door, we need space for everyone to pass through. We’ll be dead if they attack us before we get through!” Treevor ordered them forward, feeling his shield crack under the barrage of attacks.

He sensed that the barrier was about to break, so he detonated the barrier himself, sending the shock wave towards the dwarves. The shock wave also pushed the flames towards them, forcing the dwarves to stop attacking and defend themselves, giving the undead precious seconds.

The twins backed away from the door and ran into the recovering dwarves, clearing the way for the others.

Treevor was next to pass and immediately attacked, its vines swaying in all directions as it released blades of aura. The aura blades hit all of the dwarves, but their enchanted shields withstood the blow, receiving only a scratch.

‘Their equipment is powerful, but the dwarves themselves are no big deal.’ Treevor thought, using death vision to size up the dwarves. He noticed that several of them had slight shadows across their bodies, probably from illnesses brought on by old age.

“Don’t let them out, keep pressing them!” The leader of the village guard shouted for the dwarves to attack again, but it was a second too late.

The dwarves unleashed a fresh barrage of fireballs and stone bullets, but the skeletons responded with their own spells.

Half of them were responsible for defense, while the rest fought back. The undead were outnumbered, but they worked together to cast a defensive spell together, successfully fending off the dwarves’ attacks.

Treevor continued to fire dozens of aura blades per second, pressuring the dwarves and preventing them from organizing themselves. There were mages among the dwarves, but they focused on defending the other dwarves rather than attacking. His mission here was to buy time, not eliminate the threat after all.

Despite the skeletons’ best efforts, they ended up in a stalemate, with neither side doing enough damage to bypass the other’s defense. Who ended up breaking the stalemate were the twin skeletons.

Ruy conjured a jet of pressurized dark water and doused the dwarves. The latter just raised their shields and defended, not considering the attack a real threat. A serious mistake on their part.

Roy fired lightning at the dwarves, who bypassed their magical protections thanks to water. They were electrocuted as darkness spread through their bodies. The bodies of the elderly dwarves were not able to withstand the spells and fell to the ground in a faint.

The younger sentinels managed to stay conscious but still fell to the ground, before the black aura blades inflicted deep wounds on them.

The tide of battle turned to the undead from here. Astrus conjured the sword of judgment and swung it horizontally, sweeping the dwarves away.

Emilia, Caio, and Orus followed, engaging the dwarves in hand-to-hand combat.

“I’ll leave this one with you, I’ll go after the rest.” Treevor spoke loudly on purpose, drawing the dwarves’ aggression towards him. He took off at full speed and the dwarves tried desperately to give chase, turning their backs on the undead who promptly killed them.

With no dwarves to buy his attention, Treevor can finally get a good look at the dwarven village.

The dwarven village was in a cave approximately 500 meters wide and 15 meters high. All buildings were made of stone extracted from the mountain itself and had no windows, looking like large cubes of stones.

The streets were narrow by human standards, with the exception of the main street that cut through the entire village. The cave was gently sloping and the skeletons had invaded from the lowest part, so they would have to go up from there.

‘Looks like dwarves don’t suffer from claustrophobia. I would go crazy if I had to spend more than a week here.’ Treevor thought as he walked up main street.

He saw a lot of stuff lying around in the street, probably belongings of the dwarves that they were unable to carry and ended up leaving behind. The dwarves quickly fled after learning of the attack, taking with them only what they could carry on hand.

‘I found them.’ Treevor thought, noticing a crowd of dwarves overhead.

“Are here!” Said random dwarf 1.

“Hurry up and escape through the tunnels!” Said random dwarf 2.

“Someone stop him from approaching!” Said random dwarf 3.

At the end of the cave, there were three emergency escape tunnels and the dwarves were crowded together as they tried to escape.

‘Shit, they’re already running away. We need to hurry.’ Treevor spoke through the mind link, alerting the skeletons that remained behind.

They had already finished killing the sentries and were following the same path as Treevor down the main street.

“Let the women and children enter the tunnels first. Men, help me buy time!” The village elder shouted and half the men made room for the women and children to step forward.

They formed a line as if they wanted to protect the tunnels with their bodies, before crouching down and touching the ground with their hands.

‘I have a bad feeling about this.’ Treevor thought and he was right.

The dwarves activated their racial abilities all at once, manipulating the stone floor and turning it into a gigantic wave of mud. The wave of mud descended thanks to the slope of the village, increasing in volume as it engulfed the stone houses.

“I wasn’t told they could do this!” Treevor screamed as he tried and failed to control the earth to form a shield. ‘I have no choice.’

Treevor thought and began feeding a small teleportation crystal trapped inside the ribs of his real body. It was one of the crystals that Emilia had retrieved from the wreckage of the anomaly, and each of the skeletons had been given one for an emergency escape.

They were much inferior to the crystal that Emília had, but they would still cover a few hundred meters and would be useful for situations like this.

Treevor fed the crystal its core energy and amber energy, quickly filling it. A purplish black orb that was barely able to cover his entire body appeared, before teleporting behind the elder.

‘All of you, use the teleportation crystals to escape the mud wave. I’m going to kill the boss now.’ Treevor spoke and quickly attacked the ancient.