Outside the castle, shrouded in night, two agile figures were climbing up the wall gripping a rope.
Although the brothers Blackie and Husky liked to scam people, their skills were undeniably solid. They easily selected the route with the fewest magical traps, successfully bypassed the outer periter sentries, scaled the enclosing wall, and delivered their grappling hook to the top of the tower.
They only needed to climb this wall to enter the castle tower, and then they could explore the castle from the top down.
The brothers only wanted to quickly do a lap inside the castle, scribble a fake map, and run.
They hadn't wanted to co on this adventure at all. However, those Paladins had marched them to the edge of Ambrose's territory at arrow-point, forcing them forward.
Not only that, but the Paladins had also done sothing to them. If they tried to escape, they would likely be caught very quickly—there were plenty of tracking spells in the repertoire of Light magic.
So, faking the infiltration wasn't an option. They had to find a way to shorten the adventure ti.
Although confident in their skills, both Blackie and Husky were terrified of the na "Tiga Ultraman." That was a Legendary-rank Lich, one who had pitted the brothers so hard it left deep psychological scars.
If they had known the target was him, the price should have been ten tis higher. Now, they were taking a massive loss and risking their lives.
They could only pray that the Lich was hiding in his vault counting gold coins and wouldn't discover their intrusion. The brothers swore to every god that they wouldn't take even a stone, leaving only a few footprints before departing.
Unfortunately, the gods did not smile upon them.
"Caw! Caw! Caw!"
Husky's raven suddenly scread, startling the two climbing brothers.
Husky knew his beast companion wouldn't cry out randomly; it must have discovered danger. He looked toward his bird and saw it flying in a strange, hovering pattern.
"Below? Sothing's below?"
Husky understood the raven's warning and looked down.
One glance, and Husky felt his limbs go weak.
"What is it?" Blackie muttered, looking down as well. The sight shocked him so much his hands shook, nearly letting go of the rope.
It was a terrifying behemoth.
A giant several ters tall, clad in black heavy armor. Where its head should have been, there was nothing but a mass of swirling dark purple light.
"Is that... a Headless Knight?!" Husky said in shock.
Blackie hurriedly said, "Have you ever seen a Headless Knight this big? That's a damn Hill Giant, isn't it?"
Husky followed his brother's logic. "Then soone cut a Hill Giant's head off and made it into a Headless Knight!"
Blackie wanted to say more, but he saw the Headless Knight below draw a long blade. He hurriedly warned, "Shit, that thing spotted us. Quick... climb..."
The last word was so quiet it was almost inaudible.
Because a dark, dull blade edge had already swept past Blackie's neck, taking his head off.
Blackie couldn't understand. They were at least fifteen ters up. How did that blade reach his neck? And it was so fast, so silent—he hadn't even heard the sound of the swing.
In the mont before death, Blackie had only one thought.
*Fuck, that so-called life-saving potion was fake. We were scamd by those Paladins.*
But what Husky saw was different.
When the blade arrived, three magical glows flashed on Blackie's body. *Armor of Agathys*, *Stoneskin*, and *Shield Spell*. The three defensive spells had indeed activated, yet none could stop the unassuming dark blade. They didn't even make the long blade pause for half a second.
As Blackie's head fell, Husky fell along with the headless corpse.
That strike just now hadn't just severed Blackie's neck; it had cut their rope as well.
Precise, ferocious, terrifying. Before Husky could even grieve for his brother, his body was tightly bound by chains.
It turned out the long blade had been thrown attached to a chain. After decapitating Blackie, it wrapped around twice as if alive, binding Husky's body.
*Armor of Agathys*, *Stoneskin*, and *Shield Spell*—the triple magical defense activated automatically, but it failed to save Husky's life just the sa.
The thick chain went taut in mid-air. Blood splattered.
Husky was sliced in half at the waist. By the ti he hit the ground, his eyes were already closed forever.
Only then did Ambrose arrive in a hurry, appearing beside Brother Headless.
"Brother Tiga, perfect timing. Just found two intruders," Gareth said proudly.
Gareth truly considered Ambrose a brother to protect. Upon discovering the intrusion, he decisively eliminated the two n.
Against the power of a Legendary figure, defensive spells were useless.
Ambrose looked at the scattered remains and couldn't help but sigh. "Gareth, next ti you et small fry like this, try to leave a whole corpse."
"Why? Are you short on bones?"
Gareth thought Ambrose wanted to use their bodies to create undead.
But Ambrose shook his head. "The *Speak with Dead* spell requires the corpse to be largely intact. Decapitation and bisection won't do."
*Speak with Dead* was a classic necromancy spell that could briefly bind the deceased's soul within the corpse and command it to answer questions. Usually, one could ask five questions, and the target couldn't lie.
Ambrose wanted to know why these two had suddenly snuck into his castle and if those Paladins had a plan.
But now that the bodies were severely mutilated, casting *Speak with Dead* was impossible.
Gareth said sowhat awkwardly, "Ah, I forgot. I'm not very good at magic. I completely forgot about the *Speak with Dead* spell."
Naturally, Ambrose wouldn't bla the diligent Gareth. He comforted him, saying, "It doesn't matter. I'll just make them into undead. It's just a bit more trouble."
Ambrose summoned a swarm of *Mage Hands*, picked up the bodies of Blackie and Husky, and sent them to his laboratory.
Looking at the reassembled corpses, Ambrose suddenly had a strange feeling. It seed this was his first ti creating undead in such a traditional manner.
Ever since advancing to Legend rank and acquiring the Simulated Soul ability, all his skeleton troops had been created using Simulated Souls to replace living souls. Moreover, even the skeletal remains were collected from the battlefield of the last magical beast war.
"This is ridiculous. If the other mbers of the Elegy Society knew, they'd mock for centuries."
With a peculiar feeling, Ambrose began stitching the two corpses and comnced his first traditional undead creation.
Since it was the first ti, there had to be a sense of ceremony. He might as well make them both high-ranking undead.
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