The two parties made camp some distance away from the castle, on another much smaller hill with a clear line of sight on the castle. The adventurers tended to their wounds and equipment when Bones approached. The party leaders from each party stepped up to meet him and demanded an explanation as to why he was there. When they heard he was here for the contract as well, both frowned and didn't bother to hide their dissatisfaction.

"Great! Just great! Where's the rest of your party, old man?" The party leader of one of the parties, Calem, sarcastically remarked and asked.

"Oh I don't have a party. I came alone." Bones replied. The two leaders exchanged looks before bursting into laughter. After that, no one bothered with Bones anymore. They simply didn't take him seriously, but he was warned not to get in their way. Bones didn't get angry - he understood where they were coming from. He did wonder how come they still haven't breached the castle's fortifications. He asked Calem, the leader he spoke to previously and the man scoffed before replying.

"How would you breach their defenses? You even planned to take on the mark solo…" Calem asked. His attitude somewhat relaxed now that he didn't think of Bones as a threat. Bones looked toward the castle, some four hundred meters away, and observed possible entry points. The castle was situated on the hill and a high wall made of stone circled the estate. The castle was truly a fortress, impenetrable without siege weapons or a great number of soldiers. No matter which side the adventurers choose to approach from, the bandits had the advantage of the high ground. What's more, the start of the forest surrounding the castle started around fifty meters from the base of the hill.

"I'd still go with the fire, burn everything in radius around the castle, let smoke obscure the sight of me and then approach." Bones said after analyzing the castle. Calem paused for a few seconds, then started scratching his head.

"We did that. It didn't work." He replied.

"You already did?" Bones looked at Calem dubiously. He didn't notice any signs of fire on the walls. Calem couldn't help but frown again and a tinge of anger was evident on his face and it grew the more Bones' spoke.

"How can that be? I don't see any signs of fire. Are you sure the fire was big enough? It is a castle after all so the fire needs to be big!" Bones explained to the leader who began to fume, then couldn't hold it in anymore and snapped at Bones.

"Now look here mister! We came bloody prepared! That adventurer over there..." Calem turned and pointed at a young man sporting a goatee and wearing robes, currently helping another party member wrap a bandage around his wound, on the ground next to him was a staff.

"...He is a fire mage, and the fire was bloody big enough!" Calem continued, raising his voice. Bones made a slight *o* with his mouth and turned to the other party leader, Forbes, the quiet one. The man didn't talk much, but neither did the other party members in his group.

"Forbes, was it? Why didn't you bring the fire mage with you? Together you coul -"

"Shut up!" Forbes yelled, interrupting Bones.

"For fucks sake shut up already! Can't you take a fucking hint?!" Forbes angrily retorted. He glanced at the covered up body lying below the tree a few meters away, then turned back to Bones.

"Newcomer, stay put and be quiet. I won't repeat myself again!" Forbes warned and went back to his business. Bones stroked his chin and turned to Calem but he too returned to his people, leaving Bones alone.

Guess I pushed too far. The body is clearly of a fallen party member and from his reaction, a fire mage. Hm… that bandit leader immediately singled out the most dangerous one in the group and quickly squashed any chance of a threat. Decisive and ruthless.

The adventurers… They seem young, in their twenties and thirties, and from what I gathered using Soul Link, their morale is really down, they're exhausted and some have already given up on pursuit. I didn't need to use soul magic to find that out. It's pretty evident on their faces and attitude. Now what should I do? Should I move on my own, get rid of both parties or wait?

…

Bones approached the tree between the two camps, pressed his back against it and slid down into a sitting position. He decided to wait and see what the adventurers planned for tomorrow. It was clear they won't be continuing the battle for the rest of the day.

In the midst of night, the whistling sound alerted the adventurers and to Bones' wonderment, the camp stirred into action in a second. The next second, an arrow pierced one of the tents, making a giant hole and pulverizing the ground from the impact. The adventurers scattered, taking cover behind trees. After a minute, another arrow slammed into another tent. The same repeated a dozen of times within the next three hours and each arrow fired at a different interval.

None of the adventurers got any sleep that night and the morning was quite rowdy. Bones learned the same happened the night before and he wasn't warned or informed about the possible night attack. At least now he knew where he stood with adventurers - on the sidelines. Bones returned to his spot by the tree and simply observed. The tactics were discussed and a role was assigned to each adventurer. The parties moved through the forest and once they disappeared out of sight, Bones followed after them.

The fight started with mages flinging spells, trying to cover the approach of the combatants and their diligence led to success. Both leaders were melee fighters, but most importantly, had high strength and agility. When they reached the castle walls, each used a grappling hook in order to climb over the wall and finally infiltrate the castle. Their effort was immediately cut off by a figure appearing on the rampart and shooting through the rope the hooks were attached too. Under mages' cover, both fighters successfully retreated to the forest, defeated once again.

Bones' didn't rely on his sight to follow the battle, but when the bandit leader appeared, he couldn't help but find a spot he could see from and take a look. One Eye Garrison was a figure of a small and slim stature. The man was probably as tall as Bones, if not slightly shorter, but what made the man menacing was the thing he covered his face with.

What a sick bastard… Bones couldn't help but think. The man had a mask made of skin, human skin to be exact, and that of multiple parts sewn together to form a face mask. Only the area around the right eye was maskless and that’s where the Garrison’s eye could be seen. The man was psychotic, but smart and had skills. After fighting Barret, Bones recognized both bandit leaders were capable and good at imbuing their weapons. In the case of One Eye… it was arrows. Bones watched another failed attempt before returning to the camp.

He waited until evening when most of the adventurers returned. None of them died, but they suffered injuries and the two uninjured stayed behind to monitor the movements in the castle. The mood was… hard to describe. The leaders returned determined while others had mixed expressions of relief and worry on their faces. Bones quietly waited until both Calem and Forbes approached him.

"Adventurer, we decided on trying the night raid again as a last ditch effort. If it doesn't work, we're leaving. I don't know what class you are, but I don't feel the strength of a second tier from you. If you are still intent on going after the bandit leader, tell us if you need anything before we leave.

Hoo? This is a surprise. I don't really need anything, but I could use more horse feed.

"Thank you for the offer. I could use oat or hay for the horse, and I would like to ask more information about the leader."

Forbes nodded and said he'll go fetch him hay for the horse while Calem said he would answer any questions he had. The first thing Bones asked was about the mask. Somberly, Calem replied the mask was made out of previous adventurer's facial skin that had been cut off as a trophy by the sick fuck. His exact words. The next question was about the whistling sound and how in the world can the man so accurately shoot from a four hundred meters distance.

"Garrison is a Windbreaker spellbow class, you know that?" Calem asked and Bones confirmed.

"Well, it's exactly like the name of his class implied. The man has wind affinity and is imbuing his arrows to reduce the air resistance when shooting. Not just that, the mana coats the arrows and makes them spin at high speed, increasing the penetration power of the attacks. You saw what it did last night, when it ripped the tent apart?" Bones nodded again and Calem continued.

"Without air resistance, the arrows fly straight instead of in an arc, and the only reason for the arrow to slow down and fall to the ground is because the coating on the arrow expires. So far, we thought the maximum distance was three hundred meters… the bastard, he hid his strength!" Calem referred to the attack last night and spat to the ground.

"In melee, he should be easy to take down, but from high ground? The castle's walls?..." Calem shook his head and said that's pretty much all he had on him. Strong at range, weak at close range. Bones asked for the number of bandits in the castle and received an estimate. There were around sixty bandits in the castle, most of them below level forty and only the leader presented the real threat. Bones didn't understand how that could be. Why both bandit leaders didn't have higher level henchmen and the reason was simple.

"It's not strange. The bandit leaders surround themselves with lower level subordinates to avoid the risk of an ambitious subordinate aiming for their head and taking over." Calem chuckled then added in a derisive tone. "They're bandits! Savages! Cutthroats! You shouldn't expect loyalty, honor or reason from any of them! The only good bandit is a dead bandit!"

Bones agreed with the man and after Forbes returned and gave him hay for the horse, the leaders returned to their parties to devise a plan for the night raid. The night raid was as successful as their previous attempts. The adventurers were lucky to leave with a single casualty, the poor mage that died on the first day. After they left, Bones changed the location closer to the castle, but didn't plan to engage. In fact, he had no plan to attack for the next two days.

The next day was peaceful and the bandits could be seen returning to their posts at the castle wall but no one had left the castle yet. Meanwhile, Bones was busy with something else.

Originally, the castle was built and owned by a noble family that lived here for generations until the family at that time perished while trying to find safety in the city during the monster surge. Since then, the castle had changed ownership multiple times over the years and finally, in recent years, it's been taken over by the bandits. A useless piece of information from Calem. At least he had a layout of the inner workings of the castle… albeit old, it might have changed in recent years.

"Regardless, I didn't plan to take the same approach as the adventurers anyway. The bandit leader is a troublesome one and infiltrating the castle will take some finesse on my part."

I've been focusing on golems to aid me in combat and that's why I acquired Skully and the orc, but I forgot that the golems don't necessarily have to be big and combat ready. For this contract, I'll try with something new, something small, unassuming and easily undetectable.

Close to the evening, Bones detected a couple of figures leaving the castle and scouting the forest. After finding the camp empty and without any signs of the adventurers, they returned to the castle. With adventurers gone, the daily routine in the castle returned to normal. The night passed peacefully and in the early morning a group of bandits started patrolling the perimeter outside the castle walls.

Bones was rather small and sat unmoving. He would be hard to notice even if someone did pass close by. Beside him stood two constructs made of bones in the shape of spiders, around thirty centimeters in diameter. After he finishes, the two constructs will be his way into the castle.

Tonight is the night I take action. It's time I take One Eye Garrison out and return to Arbington as a silver ranker!