The key to defeating so-called ‘heroes’ was a very simple set of tactics.

Overwhelming force on the first strike, so they never get the second. Always ambush, so they never have the time to prepare. Never allow them to escape, so they cannot learn from their mistakes nor spread knowledge of your tactics. Bring numbers, for chivalry is for suckers.

In short, never give them a chance. If this becomes a close fight, then you failed somewhere along the line.

Hagen had set up a perfect ambush position in one of the larger wet caverns, a large dome with blue moss-covered walls. Two murky pools made the ground difficult to walk on, except for a single, relatively dry walkway. The cavern served as a bottleneck, and one of the back entrances to access the mines below.

Clad in his [Robes of the Forbidden Rites] and his face hidden behind his [Mask of the Forsaken], Tye surveyed his warriors. Besides Hagen, he had called upon two of his elites: the zombie count Duke, and the mummy assassin Spook.

Spook was perhaps the most unnerving of Tye’s undead retinue, largely because he never made a sound. Almost eight feet tall, the undead hid his flesh beneath bandages dyed black, and his face behind a shapeless funerary mask. He disdained heavy armor, wearing light iron for protection, metal claws to shred his foes, and a golden pendant around the neck; the last memento of his time among the living.

Contrasting with Spook’s eerie appearance, Duke was ugly as they come, a rotting man with one eye bigger than the other. He had lost half his teeth, replacing them with gems collected from those he killed. In spite of his horrifying appearance, Duke kept wearing his tattered nobleman clothes, clinging to his former status. His rapier dripped with blood.

Ghostring also remained in standby as support, using a Perk of his to remain invisible.

“[Vorpal],” Tye cast on the trio, empowering their blades with foul, unholy energies. He kept layering himself and his troops in protective spells. “[Elemental Veil], [Fallen Auspices].”

“Thanks, boss,” Hagen said, as his master briefly lifted his mask to drink a potion. Tye could cast powerful spells, but they cost him a lot in Special Points.

“[Blood Conversion],” Tye cast a final blood magic spell on himself.

You can now use your HP instead of SP to fuel your spells.

Since he had twice as many health points than special points, the necromancer could afford to give away some to avoid being drained. Even as an undead himself and no easy pickings, a lack of spellcasting would make him vulnerable.

“Knight comin’,” Ghostring said, as he crossed one of the cave’s walls.

“[Veil of Darkness],” Tye said while Duke and Spook climbed the walls to hide in the ceiling's dark corners, leaving only Hagen to stand at the end of the walkway. An unnatural cloud of shadows surrounded the necromancer, allowing him to hide in the darkness.

He could already hear them approach from the tunnel.

Five people. The knight, his squire, and three unknowns.

“We should fall back,” a man said. “It’s getting narrow down here.”

“Stop being such a coward, Lamor,” a woman answered, her voice haughty and confident. “You’re the one who wanted a bigger challenge than goblins.”

“If we are to defend the kingdom properly, we must see it for how it is, not what the school wants to show us,” another womanly voice added, more wisely.

“Milady, while I find your vision commendable,” Sigurd the Knight said. “You should have chosen another place. These tunnels smell of blood and death.”

The group finally entered the cave through the tunnel, stopping at the sight of Hagen waiting at the other end. Besides Sigurd and Percy, whom he had already met, Tye noticed three young people on the verge of adulthood, all of them wearing some kind of silver and purple uniform. A boy with grayish hair and a noble, stern face; a strikingly graceful girl with a crimson mane and emerald eyes, whose numerous jewels only enhanced her beauty; and a refined blonde lady with piercing blue eyes always gauging her surroundings. A silvery feather brooch held her hair, radiating magic.

“[Super Magic Scan],” Tye whispered, hiding at the edge of the room. Textual information about the newcomers immediately appeared next to their heads.

The squire, Percy Greenfield. Level sixteen, ten in [Bowman], six in [Squire]. A nonentity in this fight. Since he seemed like a nice young man, and Tye had no quarrel with him, the necromancer had strongly considered sparing him; before remembering all the times a plucky kid escaped, only to grow into a troublesome avenger later.

The magician settled on a middle ground: reviving him as a sentient member of his undead retinue.

The knight, Sigurd Dragonbane, level forty-five. Many levels below Tye himself, although the necromancer couldn’t identify his classes. Probably [Knight] and variants. Definitely the most dangerous of the bunch, but manageable.

The last man, Lamor Gales. Level twenty, ten levels in [Noble], five in [Magician Apprentice], and five in [Paladin]. A nice combination, but not one that could save him.

But the girls… his scan couldn’t identify their levels, nor their classes. They must have items hiding them from his sight. Very powerful items. Tye decided to remain wary of them, and keep his strongest spells in reserve.

“Halt,” Hagen spoke at the end of the walkway, a sword and a flail in each hand. “You shall go no further.”

Sigurd immediately drew his weapon, a large claymore which could cleave a man in two, while the others hid behind him. When his squire raised his bow to shoot the dullahan, the older knight put a hand on his shoulder. “B-but sir—”

“He’s too strong for you, Percy,” Sigurd said, before glancing at the others. “Too strong for any of you.”

“If you want to descend into the next level, you will have to defeat me in a fair duel,” Hagen said. “Like a true knight.”

“I’m no longer a knight, but I accept your challenge,” Sigurd replied, before muttering something to his squire, too low for Tye to listen. The young man positioned himself to protect the blonde girl, seemingly to make a run for it at the first sign of trouble.

“Sir, is this wise?” that wise teen asked, perhaps smelling a trap.

“Sir Sigurd is a strong knight,” Lamor replied with pride. “No way some lone undead could stop him!”

“I am no mere undead,” the dullahan replied, as he crossed blades with Sigurd. “You face Hagen of Vendemar, mortal.”

While the two warriors fought one another in a great show of swordplay, Tye’s attention remained focused on the rest of the group. While both Lamor and the redhead observed the fight with confidence, and Percy with concern for his master, the blonde’s eyes trailed all over the cave, surveying it. Smart girl.

Her eyes settled on Tye.

She could see him? No, impossible, only a powerful mage could pierce the veil, and she looked no older than-

“Sir Sigurd, there is a mage hidden to your left!” the woman declared, before raising a hand to spellcast. “[Revealing Light].”

Tye cursed as she summoned a shining flash stripping him of his shadow mantle, while Sigurd finally recognized the name. “Hagen of Vendemar… Hagen No Mercy?!”

“Oh?” the dullahan couldn’t help but rejoice at mortals remembering him. “My infamous reputation precedes me.”

“Oh it does; your reputation for treachery and dishonorable combat!” Sigurd pushed Hagen back with a thrust of his sword, before immediately attempting to fall back and protect his charges. “Kids, it’s an ambush! Flee!”

Spook and Duke chose that moment to descend from the ceiling. The zombie immediately tried to stab the knight in the neck with his rapier. The man’s sharp reflexes saved him, only to find himself trapped between the attacker and Hagen.

Percy raised his bow, to support his master, but Spook cleaved his bow in two with his claws upon landing. Before the kid could grab his sword, the mummy hit him in the chest with his knee, the sheer strength of the blow sending him falling on his back. Utterly merciless, the assassin raised a hand to finish him off.

Sigurd let out a furious roar, managing to repel Duke out of his way and charging at the mummy; Hagen, ever the pragmatist, attempted to stab him in the back, but his blade only grazed the armor. Spook abandoned Percy to parry Sigurd’s sword swing with his claws, before attempting to slash at the man’s face. The knight unleashed some kind of light spell, blinding the undead.

Now unveiled, Tye decided to enter the fray himself. “[Dark Calling].”

A giant, corpse-like hand manifested below Sigurd, grabbing him by the legs. Before the knight could defend himself, the hand threw him into the murky pool, where his armor kept him down. As light as a feather, Spook joined his fellow undead in ganging up on the knight, walking on the mirk without sinking.

“Take care of him,” Tye left the knight to his subordinates and approached the others.

“Back off!” The redhead unleashed a volley of fireballs at the necromancer, while the Lamor kid summoned a sword of solid light and the blonde a shield of magic. The fire bullets bounced off his elemental veil, and Tye didn’t give them the opportunity to retaliate.

“[Death X],” he cast, once these two were within his spell’s range. The young man instantly fell dead on the cold floor, Percy letting out a wail of horror. "[Wall of Stone]."

Stones immediately condemned the tunnel behind the adventurers, trapping them.

The redhead only frowned and kept attacking, none of her spells even damaging Tye. How could she survive his [Death X] and yet pack so little firepower? It should kill anything twenty levels lower than him. A closer look at the girls told him why: the wealth of magical items they wore, from crimson pendants to rings of power.

“[Spirit Burn],” Tye turned part of his lifeforce into a screaming ectoplasm, firing it at the two ladies. The blonde unleashed a ray of light to stop it, but the ghost easily powered through before hitting her and her companion. The redhead collapsed, her skin pale and withered, while the blonde struggled to stay standing.

Amateurs. Amateurs with exceptionally powerful magical gear, but rookies nonetheless. They wouldn’t survive a second attack.

The blonde must have realized the same thing, as she glanced at Sigurd, now a bleeding mess attacked from all sides by three undead. “[Recall to Sanctuary],” she chanted, a white ring shining on her right hand, as she hastily grabbed both Percy and the redhead.

A [Ring of Recall]? "This dungeon is warded against teleportation," Tye taunted them, “[Spirit Bur—”

The mystery girl immediately vanished, taking Percy and another survivor with her.

What? How?

Questions for later.

Tye glanced back at Sigurd, who had lost an eye to Spook’s vicious claw and more blood to Hagen’s blade. The necromancer assisted his cohorts by casting a [Pain Spell], causing the knight’s body to bend as his nerves flared up in agony. Finding a chink in the man’s protection, Duke stabbed him through the chest. Sigurd coughed blood, Hagen hitting him in the back with his flail and throwing him to the ground.

Tye walked towards the knight, while Spook and Duke pinned him by holding both his arms. “You… I was right…” the knight hissed at the mastermind, somehow recognizing him. “You’re… a necromancer...”

“Aren’t you clever?” Tye confirmed. “And soon to be dead.”

“It was… revenge? You Pale Serpents… had it coming!” The knight spat blood at Tye’s feet for good measure.

“A bit more respect before the true lord of this place,” Duke said with maniacal laughter, while Spook simply stabbed his prey through the arm with a claw. The knight clenched his teeth and glared at the necromancer.

“I have better things to do than avenge my fellow necromancers,” Tye replied. “Like raising them from the dead.” As for the knight, he might get claimed by a valkyrie if his soul was allowed to pass on; and the necromancer couldn’t let the gods learn about a Pale Serpent’s continued existence in Midgard.

Tye searched under his robes, bringing out a small jewel. “[Phylactery].” Compelled by his foul sorcery, the knight’s soul left his dying body and entered the jewel, turning it purple and leaving only a corpse in the mud. Maybe it would make for a nice [Death Knight]. Who knew?

Toying with the soul gem, Tye whistled as he examined the remains of that Lamor boy, who would serve again as a zombie. Still, the more he watched the boy, the more familiar his uniform seemed.

No way…

A Royal Academy student. They had killed an academy student. A friend of Annie, probably noble-born, a classmate of the royal princess...

…

The princess!

“Search the upper levels for the survivors!” Tye ordered. “This is an emergency! Bring them back to me, alive!”

Spook didn’t question him and escaped through the tunnels, although Tye doubted he would bring anyone back with all their body parts still attached. Duke and Hagen, though, seemed a bit surprised by his sudden panic. “Now!” the necromancer ordered.

“Can’t we simply kill them?” Duke asked.

“Alive!” Tye ordered wrathfully, his men running to do their job.

But it was all in vain.

After wasting hours, Tye had to accept the truth. His prey had fled the dungeon.

The next day, Tye witnessed a marvelous message appear before his eyes, as he finished mixing essential salts with pewter behind his shop’s counter.

Congratulations, you earned a level in [Infernal Alchemist]. You earned the [Slime Brewery] Class Perk!

+30 HP, +10 SP, +1 SKI, +2 INT, +1 CHA, +1 LCK.

[Slime Brewery]: You can now intuitively create [Slime] monsters as you would potions. You cannot create slimes whose total level exceeds yours.

Finally. At least he received enough exp out of this fiasco to gain his fifty-fourth level.

“Why the sudden rush?” Tye complained to his client, a blacksmith whose name he never bothered to learn, as he handed him pouches of alloys. “Your guild never buys alchemical metals in bulk.”

“We expect a massive increase in high-quality weapon demand,” the smith replied, raising an eyebrow at Tye’s lack of response. “Haven’t you heard? Undead almost killed the royal princess Gwenhyfar in the dungeon.”

“No, really?” Tye asked with false astonishment and all too real embarrassment. “What was she doing down there?”

“I heard she slipped out with her classmates to visit the less dangerous areas. A knight caught up with them, but they got ambushed. The eldest son of Jarl Gales got killed. Shame, that kid had a promising future.”

“Jarl whom?”

“Gales the Grey Wolf, the Jarl of Vingolf,” the blacksmith replied, amused. “You’ve never heard of him?”

How was he supposed to remember every damn noble in the kingdom? It wasn’t as if they did anything better than collect his taxes. “That’s terrible,” Tye said, knowing the hammer would fall hard on his head.

At least he hadn’t killed the princess. If he did, her father the King would have had the dungeon razed.

“And you know what’s the worst?” the smith approached his head to whisper into Tye’s ear, as if fearing that someone would listen. “The rumors were true! The dungeon has a master, commanding the undead! Some kind of wizard!”

Aw.

Well, this was a mess. A huge mess.

“The princess swore that she would avenge her fallen classmate,” the smith said. “She said she wouldn’t leave the city so long as the killers went unpunished, and her whole class followed. The Academy is furious, but can’t do anything about it.”

Good news, Tye would probably see Annie more now than ever.

Bad news, his peaceful days were over.

“Look on the bright side,” the smith said. “We’re both going to get more business than ever!”