Ch 27 Slowly amassing my horde of rats over the week, I began to turn my attention to the group of people that were heading in my direction. They were still quite a ways away, but they would arrive in a day. The surveillance bats that I sent to circle my territory had detected them and alerted me. This was not good; each of them radiated as much, if not more, mana than the hero; their armaments seemed far more advanced; and each of them seemed unique, which implied they would be far harder to deal with than the light mana-specialized paladins. Since they were still far away, I couldn't make out their mana affinities, but this was still bad. I assume these were a specialized band of mercenaries sent by the Lord to deal with me or my prisoner. I would need to prepare myself for another invasion. So I double-checked my traps, gave every monster in my dungeon a high dose of mana to rule them up, and began to consult with the lich, who was currently sealed within a beautiful iron vase.

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  "Lich, it seems you have attracted quite the stir. I suspect the Lord has sent some truly dangerous mercenaries to kill you."

  The lich laughed.

  "Ha, and why should I care? You have entombed me within the most secure vault this side of the continent. Not only that, I am being kept in the deepest bowels of your godforsaken dungeon. I am sure your defenses should be sufficient. Even I can tell you've birthed quite the beast above me. Even through these walls of silver, I can feel the darkness emanating from it. After all that, why should I be concerned for my wellbeing?"

  I retorted

  "Well, if they turn out to be too much of a hassle, I could always release you to be slaughtered by them, you know."

  Frowning, the lich countered.

  "You wouldn't dare."

  I replied

  "Would I? Would you even want to know?"

  Silence befell the room, and the lich snarled.

  "What do you want?"

  I smiled or did whatever a rock could do to show satisfaction.

  "Just a simple thing, I want you to puppet a skeleton and say a few things, is all."