As the three bone hounds led the way, a group of skeleton soldiers with metallic-colored bone axes followed. Behind them was a large squad of skeleton mages, with the floating ghost Magellan, the clawed Dagma, and the skeletal lord Reid, who carried a black knight's head on his shoulder. At the very back, walking with his hands behind his back and a swaggering step, was Ander, clearly in a good mood.
He was thrilled! Overjoyed! He had inexplicably gained a black knight servant, though the black knight was still just a head!
Ander was so happy that, if he could sing, he would belt out a tune of "Walking on the Country Road" to the melody of "Good Man Song."
The headless black knight had not been able to escape Ander's grasp. After enduring Ander's powerful necromantic control, he became Ander's newest servant.
As Magellan and Reid circled the skeleton temple a few times, they saw only a few skeleton zombies. There was no sign of Colderon or the black knight servant, and not even a bone rat appeared.
Now, Ander immediately turned toward his main base, the Skeleton Cemetery. The zombie caves and the electric zombie lord were forgotten in an instant. The priority was to give the black knight Darkening a body and to continue with his plans for improving his skeleton mages.
Despite walking in a straight line, it took Ander and his skeletal followers most of the night to reach the cemetery. When they saw the familiar weathered buildings and noticed the increase in low-level skeletons, Ander felt as though he had come home.
Just as he was about to make a comment, he spotted four collapsed stone pillars.
"Reid, my dear skeleton lord, if I see another collapsed stone pillar, I'll skin you alive!"
Ander kicked Reid in the back and mockingly threatened him. Reid quickly reassured him, nervously directing the skeletons to repair the stone pillars.
After taking the black knight Darkening's head from Reid, Ander ordered the team to disperse and move freely. Then, he led the skeleton mages to the weathered stone temple in the center of the cemetery—the only habitable building.
As they entered the stone building, Ander remembered that the name "Darkening" sounded familiar. He realized it was a brand of antifungal ointment.
Thus, poor Darkening's head was casually tossed onto the stone table, sending bits of stone flying.
"You can't treat me like this! I am a noble black knight! You promised to restore my body!"
The flickering flame in the black knight's helmet flashed angrily, protesting toward Ander.
"Shut up. You're my servant now. When you speak, you'll address me as 'Master'. If you want a body, wait quietly!" Ander snapped, addressing the rebellious black knight.
After silencing Darkening with a dose of necromantic power, Ander set about experimenting. He took some metallic bone particles from the corner of the room and selected a random skeleton mage from the group outside. After examining the condition of the mage's bones, he began recalling the scene when Colderon had released dark magic without using a staff. This memory triggered new ideas for Ander.
He deduced that skeleton mages, according to the rules of the necromantic world, needed to circulate dark magic through their bones before they could release it from their staffs. This created the delay in casting spells like the basic bone binding spell. However, Colderon had somehow incorporated metal bone particles into his skeleton, allowing him to quickly release the dark magic without a staff.
This discovery excited Ander. Initially, he thought the metallic bone particles were only useful for reinforcing melee-type undead, but now he realized they could also speed up the casting of necromantic spells.
Determined to experiment, Ander decided to carve grooves into the skeleton mages' bones and connect them with continuous metal bone lines, similar to electrical wiring. This would create a set path for the dark magic to flow, reducing the delay in casting spells.
While Ander was busy preparing for this, Darkening's head suddenly spoke up, mocking him for trying to change the fundamental laws of necromancy.
"Shut up if you don't want to suffer," Ander growled, throwing a metal bone shard at Darkening's head in frustration.
Unfortunately, he missed.