Upon seeing it, all of Mark’s subordinates went on alert instantly.

The three elves also raised their weapons, with the armored elf positioning himself in front of Emilia while the other two took positions on each side.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Mark, taking a step forward.

"Oh, that’s right, I haven’t introduced myself," responded the skeleton, making a bow. "My name is Rudolf, and I am a faithful follower of the true mistress of this putrid world."

Mark exchanged glances with his subordinates to see if any of them understood who the skeleton was referring to, but quickly they all shrugged or shook their heads.

None of them knew what he was talking about.

Mark looked back at the skeleton.

"And that is...?" he asked in a genuinely confused tone.

"Wow, I didn’t think you’d forget about my mistress so quickly," responded Rudolf, tilting his skull slightly to one side. "She will certainly be very sad when she finds out since your encounter in the dungeon, you’re practically all she talks about."

Mark froze the instant all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. And without stopping looking at the skeleton, he spoke to his subordinates through the mental link.

"Listen to me, all of you," said Mark seriously. "Be very careful with this phenomenon. He’s a subordinate of the Demon Lord."

They all tensed immediately.

"Let’s take advantage of our numerical superiority and try to get rid of him as quickly as possible."

"Understood, Master," they all responded in unison through the link.

Mark spoke again out loud, this time addressing the skeleton in a casual tone.

"Tell the Demon Lord I send her greetings," he said with a half-smile on his face. "And that to be honest, I was happier not hearing from her."

The skeleton looked at him for a moment and then let out a small, contained laugh.

"Alright, I’ll give my mistress your message, Lord Necromancer," responded Rudolf with another one of his exaggerated bows. "Although I doubt it will make her very happy—"

The skeleton couldn’t finish his sentence because suddenly he was attacked from several directions simultaneously.

Rose being the first to attack.

"Hells Flame!"

Three projectiles of black fire shot out from the tip of her staff, leaving dark trails in the air as they advanced directly toward the skeleton.

Yuki was the second.

Two daggers left her hands at a speed that made them almost invisible, one aimed at the skeleton’s head and the other at his torso.

Ely and Alice were the third and fourth.

Both threw themselves at the skeleton from opposite sides. Ely with her sword held high, wrapped in white energy, and Alice with her right fist glowing with the golden energy of her gauntlets.

"Holy Strike!"

"Will of the Weak!"

The attack was perfectly coordinated. The ranged attacks would arrive first to force him to take cover, and the melee attacks would arrive immediately after to catch him with his guard down.

But Rudolf didn’t take cover or attempt to move. He simply raised one of his hands.

"Unlimited Void."

Two black holes appeared in the air in front of him. They weren’t large, barely the size of a shield each, but they were positioned exactly in the trajectory of the ranged attacks.

Rose’s black fire projectiles entered the first hole and disappeared into the darkness. At the same time, Yuki’s daggers passed through the second hole and also disappeared.

There were no explosions or impacts. The attacks were simply swallowed by the black holes, as if they had never existed.

And then, an instant later, both holes closed.

Ely and Alice were next.

Ely descended from the left with a diagonal cut and Alice came from the right with a straight blow.

Both attacks were heading directly toward Rudolf, but before they could touch him, two more black holes appeared.

Both opened at the same time, one descending and one ascending, and quickly Rudolf’s body disappeared between the two. Causing Ely’s sword to cut through empty air and Alice’s fist to hit nothing.

After that, both of them stood in the center of the hall, looking at the space where the skeleton had been a second before.

"What just happened?" asked Alice, confused.

"Where the hell did that phenomenon go?" said Ely, looking around.

"Up," responded Yuki.

Everyone looked up.

Rudolf was floating next to the enormous hole he had left in the ceiling when he entered, with his bony wings extended and his arms crossed behind his back.

"What an annoying party trick..." said Alice, looking at him from below with her fists still clenched.

He looked at them from above and began to shake his head.

"Lord Necromancer," said the skeleton, addressing Mark in a tone that was absurdly courteous given the situation. "You should learn to control your subordinates better."

Mark looked at him without saying anything.

"They interrupted the pleasant conversation we were having," continued Rudolf, placing a hand on his chest. "That is very rude."

And before Mark could respond, many footsteps began to be heard coming from the hallway.

A group of elves appeared running through the destroyed entrance of the council hall. They were royal guards, knights with silver armor and shields, and behind them mages in tunics and wooden staffs, all with expressions of alarm.

"Venerable council members!" screamed the first of the knights as he crossed the entrance. "Are you all—?!"

He stopped upon seeing the bodies of the twelve council members dead in their chairs.

"What has happened here—?!"

Rudolf raised a hand and the same black holes from before opened in the air in front of him. From them came the attacks that had entered before.

Rose’s attack shot out of the first black hole heading directly at the entrance of the hall and Yuki’s daggers shot out at full speed from the second in the same direction.

Mark saw the attacks coming directly at him and reacted instantly.

"Bone Wall!" he shouted, raising both hands.

Two walls of bones rose from the ground instantly, one in front of him and another covering the queen and her subordinates.

But to his surprise, both attacks passed right by. They impacted directly against the group of guards and elven mages that were piled up at the entrance.

The explosions were brief but devastating.

The black fire engulfed the first knights and the daggers pierced through the mages that were behind them.

When the smoke cleared, the group of elves that had run into the hall seconds before lay completely charred on the ground.

"But what a hall full of rude people, entering without knocking, screaming without permission, interrupting other people’s conversations..." said Rudolf, shaking his skull in a gesture of disappointment. "It seems I’ll have to teach everyone present a little basic etiquette."

He extended both arms and immediately many small black holes began to appear behind him.

"Lesson number one: don’t interrupt people when they’re talking."