The sound of the skeletal horses trotting the sand should have been very faint, but their sheer number made up for it.
The commotion grew louder and louder; everyone realized something was about to happen.
The skeleton soldiers who had narrowly escaped earlier may have actually brought back reinforcements, but with only ten men on their side, how are they going to defend this sandcastle that should be garrisoned by a hundred?
"What to do?"
[ Easily Soluble in Water ] At this moment, I was a bit at a loss. A player next to me said fiercely:
"Let's explode!"
"Etc!"
Another person pondered and said:
"I suddenly realized that this scenario is perfect for us to use the 'empty city strategy'—"
"Let's all climb up the outer wall and open the fortress gate; maybe that will scare them away."
[ Easily Soluble in Water ] shook his head and retorted:
"This can't be copied directly. The fighting spirit of skeleton soldiers is incomparable to that of ordinary humans. As long as they have orders from their superiors, they will charge without hesitation even if they know they will die."
"Ah, I forgot about that."
The player slapped his forehead in frustration, and the other person said:
"And there's another point that's not entirely safe: the people who went to get reinforcements probably have a rough idea of how many of us there are."
"In their eyes, our team should be a five-person squad plus a monster."
"It seems like holding on by sheer will be very difficult, and I can't think of any good solutions."
[ Howling Pothos ] thought about it and finally made a decision:
"Everyone, get to the outer wall and act tough. If they really try to force an attack, the five of us without the weakness buff will transform into Treant Aggregate again and then run away with you all."
[ Easily Soluble in Water ] I looked longingly at the already packed spoils of war:
"If we run away..."
A person next to him nodded and put their hand on his shoulder:
"We definitely can't take these things with us. I guess only the head of that fortress-guarding knight is worth anything."
"Okay, that's settled then."
Although I felt a little sad, I knew that [it Easily Soluble in Water ] was the best solution at present.
The distance between the two border sandcastles of the Skeleton Alliance is not short; even on horseback, it takes two to three hours.
The fact that the runaway skeleton soldier was able to bring back reinforcements so quickly indicates that there were other sandcastle patrols nearby.
They were simply unlucky.
Near the sandcastle, a troop of fifty or sixty cavalrymen was galloping at full speed.
"Almost there! Almost there!"
The leader of the skeletons shouted anxiously and excitedly:
"Sandcastle will never fall!"
Behind him, the players who heard these words exchanged glances and perked up.
As top-notch mercenaries of the Skeleton Alliance, their mission tonight was originally to scout the area around the sandcastle that had hired them.
As a result, not long after the group left the sandcastle, someone "picked up" a skeleton soldier.
The skeleton soldier initially intended to attack the humans, but quickly noticed the crystal cluster markings on their bodies.
Indeed, in order to distinguish between humans belonging to the Empire and humans belonging to the Skeleton Alliance, the Alliance has swiftly introduced a policy.
After all, the native NPCs in this world aren't players; they can tell from a great distance whether the other player's faction is the same as their own.
To address this issue, the Skeleton Council recently released a new document, which bears the joint signatures of [ Crown ], [ Divine Wings ], [ Hard Armor ], [ Whale Tail ], and [ Nether Crossing ].
The document clearly stipulates the latest requirements for mercenaries who are not affiliated with the Skeleton Alliance:
If a human voluntarily joins the Skeleton Alliance as a mercenary, he or she will be certified as a Sandcastle Guardian Knight.
Each Sandcastle Guardian Knight is of Middle Tier and has already mastered basic Psionic Energy Manifestation abilities.
The guardian knight will use the power of Psionic Energy Manifestation to place a small cluster of crystals on the forehead of the volunteer.
This crystal cluster neither causes pain nor affects abilities; its sole purpose is identity verification.
In other words, when encountering skeleton soldiers or skeleton knights, simply removing the hood to reveal the Psionic Energy crystal cluster on one's forehead is enough to prove one's identity.
As for the players in the second faction, the Empire, they simply couldn't imitate them even if they wanted to.
The Skeleton Alliance's Psionic Energy Manifestation is a technology exclusive to the Skeletons. If one were to impersonate them using ordinary crystal clusters, they would suffer from the so-called " Crystal Cluster Disease," just like the spies captured in the Great Labyrinth City, and their health would deteriorate day by day.
So after recognizing the other party's identity, the skeleton soldier's attitude immediately made a complete 180-degree turn.
After listening to the skeleton soldier's story, the Soul Returner quickly realized that this was a good opportunity, so he took out an Oil Vine signal flare from his pocket and fired it.
The dazzling flames quickly summoned more than fifty Soul Returner cavalrymen, and the group then marched in a grand procession towards the sandcastle, led by skeleton soldiers.
After crossing the last sand dune, the fortress was now in sight.
The walls were riddled with craters left by the half-tree monsters' attack and had not yet been repaired. Broken or discarded arrows, or those that had already missed their mark, were scattered all over the ground, and the sandstorm had not yet buried them.
Clearly, a major battle had recently taken place here, and their arrival was perfectly timed.
As the column drew closer, with a "whoosh," an arrow was planted in the sand in front of them.
"We've taken this fortress. Those who know what's good for them should get lost. We'll come back to collect their corpses after we've eaten our fill!"
A person on the outer wall shouted at the top of their lungs.
The skeleton who had brought reinforcements now had some courage and cursed back at the people on the low wall in front of him:
"Reinforcements have arrived! Whether you open the door or not, you are all going to die here today!"
After exchanging a few insults, the two sides reached a stalemate. At that moment, the [ Dark Archmage ], riding on the skeletal horse fitted with a Takahashi saddle, suddenly felt that the voice he had just heard was somewhat familiar.
She raised her head and squinted, and sure enough, she saw a somewhat familiar face...
Seriously? I've run into this kind of expert here?
The Dark Archmage felt a pang of bitterness in her heart. Although it had been a long time since she had seen him, she still recognized the person leading the group on the outer wall as [ Howling Pothos ].
The news that the other party had advanced to become a Middle Tier warrior who was proficient in both plant and mechanical systems had spread completely about half a month ago.
Players didn't know if there was anyone who leveled up faster than [ Howling Pothos ], but they all knew that [ Howling Pothos ] was definitely the most famous Middle Tier player.
What if you run into someone like that?
[ Dark Archmage ] immediately shared the message with another player nearby, who was none other than [ Aluode ], an experience-oriented player who had recently finished his work in the north and rushed south to join the army.