"Yes, we've reached a deal."
With the death of the last skeleton soldier, there was no living creature other than the Soul Returner within a radius of several miles.
On the outer wall of the sandcastle, [ Howling Pothos ] lowered her powerful mechanical crossbow and began to explain her previous actions:
"We're worried that we'll come back empty-handed, or even be relentlessly pursued by the opposing players, ultimately ending up with nothing and having our accounts permanently deleted."
"And [ Aluode ] and the others were actually just as worried--"
"Their team is stronger overall than ours, but their average level is higher than ours."
"Everyone's life is tied to one gold coin, and nobody wants to fight us head-on like this."
[ Howling Pothos ] smiled as she looked at the other nine people:
"This whole thing didn't have to be staged, but there was this skeleton man watching us the whole time..."
"[ Aluode ] told me that after joining the Skeleton Alliance and activating the crystal cluster, they could no longer attack the Skeletons."
"Those rules seem to have been formulated by several High Tier to constrain them."
"So, if we want things to resolve smoothly, we'll need to intervene a bit."
Ultimately, we chose to let each other have what they needed.
[ Aluode ] spoke loudly to the fifty-odd people behind him:
"I told [ Howling Pothos ] and the others to pack their things and leave quickly, then we'd just take over this sandcastle. Wouldn't that give us the credit for reclaiming lost territory?"
One player raised his hand and said:
"But they don't outnumber us to begin with. If we go up and kill them all, not only will the sandcastle be ours, but all the other spoils will be ours too!"
[ Aluode ] looked at his somewhat stubborn teammate and shrugged, saying:
"Well said, then go ahead."
Seeing that the other party stopped speaking, [ Aluode ] patiently explained again:
"They can take down a sandcastle with ten of them. I don't think I have that ability. Although we have more people, our average level is about five levels lower than theirs."
"I've already discussed it with [ Howling Pothos ]. We'll split the loot in half; they'll take some of the more portable items, and the rest will be ours."
"As for the dead skeleton soldiers, they'll only take the skeleton of the Middle Tier skeleton knight. The rest are ours too. Don't forget, the Skeleton Alliance has a habit of recycling skeletons; those bones are all credit!"
[ Aluode ] finished speaking and suddenly saw the skeleton soldier who had been killed by a crossbow bolt. He quickly kicked the sand twice to bury it.
"Forget about this. If retrieving his parts leads to our exposure, then we're all doomed."
Reclaim the sandcastle, drive out the enemy troops, and collect the remains.
If we simply let [ Howling Pothos ] and her group go, not only will no one die, but we can also eat them all at once.
The players present were greedy but not stupid. Chasing down [ Howling Pothos ] was indeed highly rewarding, but the risks were equally terrifying.
According to the agreement between [ Aluode ] and the other party, it seems that they have gained many benefits for nothing without having to do anything.
The superiority or inferiority of each is now obvious.
So everyone finally reached an agreement, and to make it absolutely certain, a few more players placed the skeleton on the skeleton horse, preparing to arrange a proper death for the other party inside the sandcastle.
Ten minutes later, the gates of the sandcastle opened, and [ Howling Pothos ] and his group of nine, all carrying packs and riding skeleton horses, swaggered out.
Meanwhile, across from the gates of Sandcastle, over fifty players, led by [ Aluode ] and [ Dark Archmage ], were already impatient.
The two sides drew closer, but the atmosphere remained tense. [ Howling Pothos ] even took the initiative to come over and shake hands with [ Aluode ].
The two sides that were supposed to be fighting each got what they wanted without losing a single soldier (except for a skeleton soldier), and the scene was even more harmonious than the handover of a house between old and new tenants.
Seeing the two leaders shake hands, the other players either rushed over to shake hands or waved their arms, all beaming with joy as if they were still in Valhalla.
After [ Howling Pothos ] and his group left, [ Aluode ] led his men in a frenzied charge into the sandcastle, displaying an invincible and domineering demeanor, though it was unclear who he was trying to impress.
Surprisingly, there really was another person inside the sandcastle.
Looking at the [ Easily Soluble in Water ] in front of him, [ Aluode ] asked in confusion:
Why haven't you left yet?
[ Easily Soluble in Water ] Upon hearing this, I responded with a smile:
"We've been fighting for so long, we can't expect to have no enemies killed, can we?"
Having understood what the other person meant, [ Aluode ] wore a shocked expression:
"You're getting way too into character! Reviving costs a gold coin!"
"That's secondary."
[ Easily Soluble in Water ] stated:
"I actually want to know how the Skeleton Alliance recycles bones to create skeleton soldiers--"
"If it were simply a resurrection, then our skeletons shouldn't be able to create skeleton soldiers, because our consciousness is essentially not in our bodies."
"And if my corpse can truly be successfully used for transformation, then it means the Skeleton Alliance has other secrets..."
As she said this, [ Easily Soluble in Water ] looked intently at [ Aluode ]:
"After I die, remember to modify the knife more, take a picture of the marks you leave and send it to me. Later I will post a bounty on the forum for a skeleton soldier that looks like that."
"If you can publish a paper based on this, I'll reserve a corresponding author position for you."
After giving his last words, [ Easily Soluble in Water ] waved his hand, then stood up straight and committed suicide on the spot!
[ Aluode ] was speechless for a moment. After a while, he finally asked a few players to come forward and modify [ Easily Soluble in Water ]'s knife, and took pictures of the marks left on the bone and sent them to the other party.
After doing all this, he uttered the word [ Gill's Cuisine ] had taught him in a somewhat strange tone:
"Awesome!"
As the saying goes, "Bandits pass by like combs, soldiers pass by like fine brushes," and in the latter half of this night, a sandcastle on the border of the Skeleton Alliance was once again plundered, and this time it was even more frenzied and thorough than the last.
The last time it was robbed was... twenty minutes ago.
Soon, [ Aluode ] and his group had tallied up all the valuable items inside the sandcastle:
Forty-six skeleton horses, enough brand-new weaponry to arm eighty men, and a large number of fist-sized, multicolored crystal clusters (suspected to be food for the skeleton creatures).
In addition, there is an enemy corpse (sponsored by [ Easily Soluble in Water ]).
All the skeletons here are dead, except for Lide, who may still be alive, but his whereabouts are currently unknown.
The group successfully collected a total of 85 skeletons, from which they recovered more than 2,000 usable bones.
As for the unfortunate messenger, he had already been smashed to pieces and thrown into the pile of bones.