Deciding that he should set up a teleportation pad just outside of the magic tree's influence to make his return trip easier, Rino gathered the required materials, including the amber. There were a few things Rino wanted to get before he confronted the master behind the strange events in the swamp.

If his guess was right on the money, the master behind those strange events in the marshland was a magician like him. Not just any magician either. He had to be someone who practised the dark arts. 

Rino might not know a lot about the dark arts, but there was no mistaking the nature of the sacrifice needed for the powerful magical aura. The evil and sinister setting surrounding the marsh was a perfect honeypot for lost souls addicted to the suffering they feel. Those wisps lingering in the area were not possessed or enslaved. They were simply taking comfort in the familiarity of pain. 

The magic tree was good at using illusions to entice its prey because it wasn't able to move from its spot. Illusion magic worked the same way as any emotional manipulation would. It targeted memories of the prey that would affect them the most and continue to feed them stimulation to hook those onto those feelings. The prey would react instinctively or predictably, marching to the illusionist's tune and walk into the trap willingly.

Someone who could manipulate the bodies of the dead like a puppet could only be a necromancer. Unless they were also an awakened lich like him, Rino did not have to worry too much about fighting them directly. A necromancer's weakness was the same as every other undead and magician. Once Rino destroyed its body by exposing it to holy elements or sunlight, it would be severely weakened and die.

The necromancer in the swamp should be powerful enough if it could summon twenty bodies at once. However, Rino was superior in terms of mana capacity. If he avoided direct confrontation and drew the battle out, he would win. It sounded dirty, but Rino never said he was going to play fair.

The only concern he had was if the magic tree was already bound to that necromancer's soul. Like all practitioners of the dark arts, soul magic was a very basic spell used as insurance against a more powerful opponent. This was why hunting dark mages was one of Rino's most hated jobs when he was still a court magician. Those witches and wizards could have hundreds of weak spare bodies or disgusting nests full of half-completed puppets.

He only hoped that this swamp magician did not have a base outside of the swamp. He did not want to make an enemy that would come to bite him in the back later if he did not finish the job cleanly.

Presently, the sun was going down, and Rino called for his newly appointed Baron, the four elemental sylphs and Erika.

His loyal servants bowed in respect when they arrived at Rino's farmhouse. The impatient lich dismissed the need for etiquette. There was an important mission that he had to assign them in case things blow out of proportion in the worst-case scenario. As the magic web array was still not completed, he could not leave his base camp at ease. Fighting against a necromancer who established such a strong fortress in the middle of the swamp was not going to be easy. Rino might fail to catch him in one swoop because the fairies could not provide him with enough information.

Attacking the master of the marsh was like attacking an enemy's castle with a toothpick after giving them three years worth of notice. Rino also did not have enough manpower to lock the necromancer in a siege. They could only win in a miserable war of attrition if Rino failed to strike at the heart of this swamp and slowly force the magician to submit.

Peace would never be an option. There could not be two kings under one sky, and Rino was destined to be the best. Even if the empire of Solitude did not have a castle, it had a rather impressive farmhouse that most village chiefs couldn't even dream of, not to mention the crappy living conditions in a bog.

"Gnut, you are in charge of protecting the borders of my territory while I am gone. Erika, you are in charge of maintaining order when I am gone. As for the sylphs, speed up with the magic web array. Keep the idle fairies on standby watch duty. I need as many eyes as possible tonight while I go on a swamp expedition."

The goblin lord bowed and asked if Rino was going to conquer new lands. The lich nodded once. He did not know if this could be conquering new lands because the swamp was within his assigned territory marked by the gods when he first arrived. It just happened that there were already local inhabitants in the area that Rino had to 'negotiate' with.

Hearing that the conquest had begun, the goblin lord puffed his chest out with pride and tapped it proudly.

"My king! If you require our assistance, my clan will always be ready to respond to your summons."

Thankful for the reassurance, Rino dismissed them and checked the items in his shadow sack. He had everything he needed now, and all that was left would be to wait until the sun dipped below the horizon to start his journey.

A few agonisingly long minutes later, the burning ball in the sky disappeared entirely, and darkness covered the world like a blanket. Farmers returned to the fields with the wisp companions, lighting up the area like magical torches and fairies zipped around, leaving trails of sparkling dust wherever they flew.

Rino walked past all the busy workers and hopped onto the teleportation pad. He arrived at the king toad hunting ground quickly and decided to leave this here for Fowler and his friends. Even if there wasn't much in this part of the forest, there were still many delicious king toads in the area waiting to be found. He also needed the hunters to start thinking of ways to secure a steady supply of animal byproducts such as feathers, skin and bones.

From this teleportation pad forth, Rino chose to teleport all the way to the new site where he would build that new temporary teleportation pad. For this new teleportation pad, Rino wasn't taking any chances. He prepared three different levels of defence spells and traps to protect it. If he ever needed an artillery squad, the fairies and sylphs could come quickly.

Or at least, that was the plan.