Dungeon of Niflheim

"As you wish master" An ice troll witchdoctor responded to Frost with a growing smile that was filled with evil intentions. He would be the one in charge of bringing these assassins back from the brink and evaluating how much pain they could take before they\'d hit their limits.

Frost walked a few steps before remembering something which caused an evil smirk to form on his lips.

"The sub leader, Kalia make her suffer more than the rest, she\'s the only one with a time limit after all."

"It will be done master."

"Un, I\'ll visit periodically to grade your efforts." The witchdoctor and the rest of the torturing team trembled and bowed their heads as Frost walked out with Findley by his side. This was the first time in a long while that Frost had deigned to take such an interest in their methods.

"Master what you said before?" Once they were clear of the prison\'s halls Findley couldn\'t help but question his Lord.

"The second prince truly has no real motive at this point to anger me especially after learning or rather supposedly learning about my background. His focus is completely on Randolph, even the attacks against the Furanos have dwindled in the past few months." Frost regularly kept in touch with Douglas, Ryuu and Bastion given their alliance and common enemy.

Though danger was brewing in the capital and across the empire until everything goes to shit an out of the way Viscounty and his recently established camp were inconsequential to Sedrick…for now at least.

"Considering how easily the information concerning the second prince fell into our laps and how weak the assassins were there\'s now not a single doubt in my mind, Sedrick wasn\'t involved."

"So it was the crown prince?" Though Findley was still sceptical, upon hearing the confidence in Frost\'s voice he was no longer confused.

"Again I can\'t be 100% certain but there\'s few others who could pull this thing off and who would have the motive to spark another clash between Sedrick and I." The reaction of Kalia and her superior were also quite damning. .net

Crack!

The sound of knuckles loudly cracking could be heard from Findley\'s fists and a vicious expression formed across his visage.

"Calm yourself Findley, blindly releasing your anger will only cause yourself pain." Frost spoke calmly but a fire could be seen within the depths of his eyes. Their revenge needed to be well planned, only then could they be truly satisfied.

"Take care of the Dungeon\'s tasks and check in on Khuno I\'ve got a call to make."

"Yes master." Findley saluted with his arm across his chest before vanishing through a spatial warp leaving Frost alone.

"….Randolph seems that you didn\'t take my warning seriously thus I can\'t be blamed for what happens to you and your precious Empire." Frost\'s wrath was far more serious than even Findley realised. He wished to bathe in Randolph\'s blood, to flay his flesh from his body one strip at a time as he begged for mercy.

No one could target his people and get away with it especially the children who weren\'t even able protect themselves.

After relishing in his dark thoughts for a few minutes Frost brought up the Dungeon menu that had changed in minute ways since the last family gathering, he was still getting used to the new layout and comfort features.

Ring, ring, ring

Frost quickly found his list of contacts and starting calling one of the dozen or so people listed.

Ring, ring, ring

There was no answer even after multiple rings but eventually just when he was about to give up someone on other line picked up.

"Huh Frost what do I owe this pleasure." An eery perhaps even sinister sounding voice came from the dark screen as an image started to come through.

"Agar, I didn\'t catch you at a bad time did I?" Frost had called his younger brother Agar who had the form of a lich and was a master of the undead classification of monsters as well as necromancy magic. Agar was also one of the few siblings Frost considered close.

"Not really, I was just about to go for a good soak but since it\'s you calling I can put it off hehehe." Agar despite having a rather scary form was incredibly easy going and quite affable.

"Thank you brother. The reason I\'m calling is too ask you a few questions about your speciality as well as perhaps conduct a quick trade."

"Hoh you\'re interested in the undead or necromancy?" Agar\'s eye sockets lit up with glee, not many people were interested in either of his specialities.

"For a personal reason I\'d like to know more about necromancy in particular."

"If I can answer your questions I will, go ahead brother."

"Very well, through necromancy you\'re able to reanimate the dead correct?"

"Not exactly, what necromancy entails is the creation of an undead monster through the use of a corpse.

The previous person/inhabitant of the body does not come back to life, and they also don\'t become an undead monster rather it\'s more akin to a brand new entity, a fusion of the physical offering, the leftover fragments of their soul and the magic of the necromancer." Many people had the wrong idea about necromancy, it wasn\'t something that could bring a person\'s loved one back from the dead or reanimate long dead heroes as long as they had their corpse and an abundance of magic.

"I see, is there no leftover vestiges from the previous owners?"

"There can be, though the soul can never be whole again the higher the spell used and the more advanced the necromancer the more likely somethings than can remain such as memories, skills and even weapon mastery.

In some cases the created undead can even be stronger than the host corpse used to create them but only those at the very peak can do that." Agar could be considered rather gifted but at his current level converting C-rank corpses was his absolute limit and the result would be a D-rank undead with practically nothing useful remaining from the host soul.

Frost couldn\'t help but frown upon hearing Agar\'s answer, he had the hope that by turning the assassins into undead monsters he\'d be able to gleam into their memories even those that had been previously sealed.

Though Kalia and her group had mentioned that the second prince was the mastermind they never did openly admit anything regarding the crown prince and during the initial interrogation very little was carved out in relation to their organisation. Key memories such as those were locked behind a powerful mental seal that would destroy the host\'s mind the moment Frost or another went poking around.

\'Well guess that\'s a dead end.\' A shame but not a complete loss, he was already pretty certain of Randolph\'s involvement and had to be honest he cared little about the so called underworld syndicate.

"Thanks Agar your explanation has answered most of my queries."

"No problem brother." Agar was more than happy to help Frost; it was just some common knowledge as far as he was concerned.

"Are you able to purchase necromancy spell scrolls, ones that can utilise the bodies of C-rank entities?"

"I can yes but the results will be even less efficient if a non-necromancer uses them… plus they aren\'t cheap." Agar\'s bone skull showed a smile and a chortle passed through his teeth. He was all for lending a hand to his brother but when it came to business there was no such thing as family. If Frost wanted his specialty scrolls he was going to have to cough up a hefty amount of DP.

"Urgh, how much?"

"7000DP a scroll not a single DP less."

"That\'s extortion, 7000DP to create a single low ranking undead." Agar was almost charging the same amount as a basic B-rank monster.

"True but I have something you want and as far as I know I\'m the only one who\'d offer you such a low, low price for it." Frost could practically see coins floating in Agar\'s eyes, the man was a ruthless merchant right done to his bleached bones.

"Bastard"

"Hehehehe I love you too."

Frost gnashed his teeth together and cursed Agar\'s brutality several times but eventually his younger brother won in the end. Frost was in the weaker position, Agar had something he wanted so he could charge whatever he wished.

Though in the end Frost did manage to haggle the price down to 6200DP per scroll, a minor win but one he refused to relent.

"Hehehe nice doing business with you brother." Agar\'s smugly chortled as his balance rose an additional 50,000DP.

"They won\'t work at all on B-rank corpses?"

"Nope their bodies are too strong for this level of spell and unfortunately I don\'t have access to a higher circle yet." Seems the assassin leader would be getting off lightly in the end, no eternal torment for him.

"Alright thanks Agar, enjoy your soak." Though he felt completely fleeced he didn\'t hold anything against his brother and wished him well.

"Ciao."

"Haaaaa torture sure is pricey."