Under the shade of a tree, roughly five hundred meters away from the estate of merchant Eliot Greed, Bones sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

*cling clang*

In the clearing in front of him, two bone constructs engaged in a fierce match. Out of five duels, Skully won four of them. Murdok's movements felt sluggish compared to the flexible Lizardman so the outcome was as expected. When it came to power though…

*swish*

The greataxe cleaved through the air, passing Skully by a hairbreadth and leaving a meter long gouge in the ground clear of snow. Every time Murdok swung his weapon cleared a good portion of snow with it. Soon, Skully began to slip on mud and Murdok scored his second win.

Meanwhile, Bones focused on the two fighting. Through Soul Link he felt their presence, their movements, but couldn't really read their thoughts nor control them. The only sense of control he had was giving orders and directing them on what to do. No matter how high his Golem Mastery or Soul Magic was, he felt that was his limit. If it was like before, Bones would be content with just that. Afterall, they were supposed to be mere golem constructs without thoughts, with simple programming and just following orders. But it was different now. His golems were infused with Soul Spark and were capable of growth. The connection between them was deeper than ever. Still, Bones felt like there was a wall made of fog obstructing him from seeing further.

"Alright, that's enough." Bones opened his eyes and saw both golems covered in mud, from head to toe. Cleaning the bones wasn't hard, but the equipment…

I forgot to have them take off their gear.

"You two…From now on, every time you spar you'll take off your gear! Now go rub some snow and clean it up. I'll not have you go around looking like mud golems!"

While Skully and Murdok rolled in the snow and made snow angels, Bones walked over to the edge of the forest and observed the estate from a distance. There were many possible entry points and the private security didn't seem overly cautious of intruders.

Getting cheap on security? Works for me! Two men are stationed at the main gates and two patrols, in pairs, are making rounds around the estate. It should be fairly easy to jump over the two meters high wrought iron fence and approach the mansion. The inside is the problem. I know nothing about the layout or how many guards there are inside, or where my target would be.

Bones leaned on the nearby tree and waited. Soon, Skully and Murdok joined him and - a few hours later - night descended and the trio went into action.

For the first time Bones saw the estate without any flowers or bushes decorating the yard, just plain grass and nothing he could use as a cover. When the patrol passed, Bones jumped over the fence and sneaked to the back of the mansion. From there, he used his bony fingers to climb to the balcony of the master bedroom on the first floor. The doors to the room were locked, but that wasn't an issue for Bones.

Instead of relying on the Incomplete Skeleton Key, he used his finger on the lock. With a bit of time, effort and luck on his part, he successfully unlocked the most basic of locks and entered. Bones ignored the leather straps hanging off the bed frame and toys for nightly activities on the nightstand, and approached the door to the hallway. He could hear voices coming from the other side of the doors. He waited and when it seemed the coast was clear, he gently pried the door open and set a small spider-like contract on the floor.

"Go make some noise sg-one (spider golem)."

Bones whispered, then glanced left and right before shutting the door and leaving the spider construct out in the hallway. The spider golem immediately set off in a random direction, sticking to the wall and disappearing behind the corner. It took less than a minute for the first screams to be heard and the hurried stomping of the feet. Bones heard the guards passing the master bedroom, then quickly opened the door and left the room, dressed in a bathroom robe that dragged loosely on the floor and wearing a nightcap.

Merchant Eliot was a hefty man and Bones couldn't think of anything else. He regretted not asking for the information about the estate and his new targets beforehand, but what's done is done. There was no point in fretting about it now - it was too late to change his mind now that he was already inside the mansion.

Besides, what does he really have to be afraid of? To be seen? He was confident he could at least escape safely. At least, that was Bones' train of thought before he donned the bathrobe and went skulking down the hallway, opposite the direction his spider golem ran off to.

Speaking of…

"I'm telling you I saw a spider! A giant white spider! I think it was albino…"

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"Look here Mary…" The head of security, Sheffield, addressed the maid. "There's no way a spider of that size is freely roaming the mansion."

Just as Sheffield, the voice of reason was trying to calm the maid, the spider golem passed behind his and his men's back. Mary once again shrieked in a fright, causing the men to wince and cover their ears, then dropped on the floor like a log, fainting. Sheffield reacted quickly and

spun around to see what caused Mary to faint but the spider was already gone.

Strange. Mary isn't the type of gall to make a ruckus for no reason.

Trusting his instincts, he believed there indeed was something suspicious going on tonight. Just in case, he ordered his men to search the mansion and look for anything out of the ordinary… like giant spiders.

At the same time, Bones found out where all three figures of interest were. The trio had a meeting behind closed doors in Eliot's private office. Bones found the doors to the office but there were two guards stationed upfront. Creeping behind the corner, he could barely make out the voices through the thick, noise canceling walls. If it wasn't for their heated argument and raised voices, he wouldn't be able to hear anything at all.

What should I do? Should I dispose of the guards? That's an option for sure and would make everything easier but I was hoping for a more not-to-be-seen approach.

…

Let's try a different way to approach the office. If everything else fails, I'll resort to violence!

Bones turned and headed back toward the master bedroom. The guards were still busy on the ground floor, chasing the spider. The golem was programmed with the intent to sneak around and avoid the guards but it was only a matter of time before it was spotted. It was being chased into the corner and Sheffield patiently waited for an opportunity to strike. When the opportunity came, he casted Mana Arrow and in one accurate hit pierced the golem's body and dispersed the nucleus.

"Sam, go inspect the body." He turned to the newcomer and ordered.

"Hm? No way." The young lad took one good look at the spider and refused.

"Sam?"

"I'll fight a dragon bare chested if I have to but I'm not touching that! I hate spiders."

The head of security could hear the other guards’ half-suppressed laughter and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly annoyed.

"...you know what? Why don't you go patrol the mansion." He decided to relent and have the boy go back to patrol instead.

"What if there are more of them?" Sam asked, his eyes jittery and nervously looking around.

"Did you see any other?"

Sam shook his head.

"Then there probably aren't any more, but if you see any, scream like Mary just did and I'll come running. Is that alright with you?" Sheffield asked sarcastically.

"Deal! Thanks boss!" Sam enthusiastically said and feeling relieved, left to patrol to Sheffield's disbelief.

He turned to the other guards and, no longer amused, asked: "Anyone else have a problem with spiders?"

"Well I'm not a big fan of them either to be honest…" One of the guards started but quickly shut up seeing the head giving him the look.

While they were inspecting the "dead" spider, the head butlers approached and asked if they should report the incident to master Eliot. Sheffield motioned for the butler to follow him outside and let the guards deal with the mess while they talked.

"Master Eliot is in a meeting and he explicitly said not to disturb him."

"I know but I just saw the master."

"What? Where?" Sheffield asked, surprised.

The two stopped in the middle of the main hall and the butler pointed towards the stairs leading to the first floor.

"Upstairs." The butler said.

Sheffield followed where the butler was pointing and asked if he was sure he saw Eliot. The butler explained he saw the master in his bathroom robe coming from the direction of his office and going towards his bedroom.

The head of security paused, glanced at the upstairs then turned to the butler and said to tell the staff everything was fine and to continue working as usual. When the butler left, Sheffield approached the stairs and cautiously - without making any noise - started climbing the steps. At the top of the stairs he peeked around the corner, in the direction of the office, then the other side where Sam suddenly appeared giving him a fright.

"What are you doing here boss?"

"Gods, Sam…where did you come from? Did you see anyone suspicious walking by?"

"Suspicious? Like spiders?"

"Like master Eliot… Would you give spiders a rest already?"

"Well, I haven't seen anyone - or anything - suspicious after the first, you know, spider…"

"Just go away Sam, continue patrolling and be sure to inspect every room!"

Sam shrugged and left, and Sheffield headed toward the master bedroom. Usually, everyone would be barred from entering the master's private chambers but today’s events raised concern and called for a detailed sweep of the mansion, the bedroom included.

Sheffield entered the bedroom, trying his best not to look in the direction of the bed and the gadgets beside the bed, and saw the doors of the balcony slightly opened. He immediately walked over to the balcony and leaned over the rails, looking around but didn't find anything out of the ordinary.

He stayed and waited on the balcony until he saw two guards patrolling the estate and asked them if they saw anything suspicious but both confirmed that everything was in order.

Scratching the back of his head, Sheffield stood there confused. He was sure something was amiss and decided to go back to the location of the dead spider. He should've properly inspected the body before the butler came and interrupted him. It wasn't the first time they had monsters in the mansion. Back a few years ago, they had a rat infestation down in the cellars and the master had to issue a contract in the Adventurer's Guild asking for their help.

Is the situation repeating itself? Do we really have a spider infestation? That wine cellar is more trouble than it’s worth!

Sheffield turned around, went back to the bedroom after making sure to lock the doors to the balcony and then leaving. A few meters to the side, Bones stood on the ledge of the mansion, glued to the wall and still as a brick.

If he couldn't get to the office unnoticed from the inside, he thought about getting there from the outside. He was just on his way there when the head of security barged in through the balcony door and started looking around. Luckily, it was dark outside and Bones had dark clothing he wore beneath the bathroom robe he took off and left on the bed before heading outside.

When the head of security left, Bones made great strides and impatiently continued toward the office, risking slipping and falling off the ledge.

That was close… and how humiliating! I could've gone over the roof instead. Why did I even bother - I should've just killed everyone and gained experience out of it all.

A patrol passed by once again and Bones remained unnoticed. When he reached the windows to the office, he peeked inside and saw three men in a heated argument.