"Lord Colin!"
Sandcastle Number Fourteen at night, a Soul Returner stumbled and fell heavily in front of the fortress's guardian knight, Colin.
One of his legs was completely crippled, and two arrows with their arrowheads embedded in his flesh were stuck in his back.
"Urgent military situation!"
"Speak quickly!"
"The one who escaped with serious injuries a couple of days ago has indeed returned to the Imperials' camp. He's already led the Imperial elite to the vicinity!"
Player [ Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ]'s acting at this moment was completely genuine, which was nothing special for him, since everyone put on this kind of performance every day in front of their bosses at the company.
As for why things turned out this way...
The events are quite simple. Today marks the third day since Colin led his soldiers and mercenaries to relocate to Sandcastle Number Fourteen.
Two days ago, the Empire's elite scouts sneaked over again, making almost no attempt to conceal themselves along the way, as if Sandcastle Number Fourteen had been officially deemed an easy target, and any Tom, Dick, or Harry wanted to take a bite out of it.
And indeed, that was the case. Sandcastle Number Fourteen, which had just received a new garrison, was a pushover; not a single one of the elite skeleton soldiers sent out returned.
This made Colin think that the group on the other side should be the same group of people who had taken Sandcastle Number Fourteen before, because among the skeleton soldiers who died in this battle was a skeleton man who was recognized as having good strength, and he was also one of his important subordinates.
Colin knew the skeleton soldier's strength well; with him around, a small force shouldn't have lost.
But the stark reality before them showed that the opposing force was no ordinary imperial soldier.
A day earlier, having familiarized himself with the surrounding terrain, Colin quickly switched from defense to offense, sending out three small cavalry units totaling sixty men to begin annihilating the imperial scouts who had ventured deep into the desert.
Unsurprisingly, they encountered a group of players from the Empire faction, who were equally well-equipped and acted with great audacity.
A day ago, this group of "Imperial Elite" was also a group of players who were unwilling to be left out, but their strength was not as good as [ Howling Pothos ]'s scout team.
Besides, their team had not signed any match-fixing agreement with [ Aluode ] and others, so faced with such blatant provocation, the remaining Soul Returner naturally chose to confront them head-on.
It's okay to occasionally participate in match-fixing to cultivate your character and earn some extra money.
If matches are fixed every single day, who will find it interesting?
Just as the Imperial players on the other side treated Sandcastle Number Fourteen as an easy target, these Alliance players, who had been recruited for some time, were also itching for a fight.
Thus, under the leadership of [ Western Sharpshooter ], the Soul Returner Cavalry fought a brilliant annihilation battle in the wild, successfully decapitating many players from the Imperial faction.
Due to the terrain and the intensity of the battle, a critically wounded Imperial player buried himself in the sand, ultimately surviving by burying his head in the sand.
Based on [ Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ]'s observation, the elite imperial force that has already approached is, if not related to, the player who survived by chance.
Yes, the team that has already gotten close is led by none other than [ Howling Pothos ] under the command of [ Practice More If You're Bad ]!
He's here again!
As for why this team was linked to the player who ran away before, it was just something [ Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ] made up to increase the credibility of his information.
The reason why [ Howling Pothos ] came here is self-evident.
Although [ Aluode ] has left, his influence remains throughout the entire sandcastle.
On the eve of heading to their hometown to conscript men, [ Aluode ] and [ Howling Pothos ] signed a second match-fixing agreement.
Today is the day the consequences of match-fixing are realized.
Unlike before, this match-fixing is extremely difficult to crack.
The previous fixed matches had no local spectators, so everyone just fobbed off a few bets and that was it.
But they couldn't kill Colin this time—there were still over a hundred Soul Returner relying on Colin to pay their wages!
If Colin dies, what will everyone eat?
After careful consideration by both parties, [ Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ], who was acting as [ Aluode's ] full agent, and [ Practice More If You're Bad ], who was authorized by [ Howling Pothos ], reached a cooperation agreement and finalized every detail of the plan.
A completely rigged match will become the next stepping stone for both sides to elevate their status!
The stage is set up and the actors are ready, so now it's time for the audience to enter!
With this in mind, [ Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ] embellished the story and described the fierce battle that had taken place a dozen minutes earlier to the fortress guards, causing Colin, who was listening intently, to clench his Colin fists even tighter.
"What?!"
Colin was studying a map somewhere, suddenly slammed his fist on the table and stood up:
"How many of them came? Where are they now? What is their strength? Did your scout team suffer any casualties?"
"About fifty men, they should be two or three miles from Sandcastle. Judging from the recent exchange, they're all elite fighters like those who raided Sandcastle Number Fourteen that night! Our squad..."
At this point, [ the Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ]'s expression turned as if he had lost his parents, and he spoke in a mournful tone:
"Two Soul Returner and two Skeleton Warriors died... Only I returned."
A tear slid down his face:
"Those two Soul Returner to their original state were the type that Lord Adrian didn't value; they... perhaps have no chance of resurrection..."
What they said was a mix of truth and falsehood.
Of course, a regular player team can't compare to [ Howling Pothos ]'s team, but [ Howling Pothos ] is also a player, and not an invincible god of war.
However, apart from [ Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ], all the guys who had witnessed the prowess of the [ Howling Pothos ] squad were killed in this operation.
Exaggerating the abilities of an opponent for whom there is no corroboration is something almost every subordinate would do.
As for the casualties in the scout team, there are actually some interesting reasons behind it...
The squad, composed of two skeleton warriors and three Soul Returner, was, to put it nicely, a way for both sides to develop a tacit understanding; to put it bluntly, it was pure surveillance.
It's normal to be suspected; it's abnormal not to be suspected.
Even with the crystal clusters on their foreheads as a form of insurance, many players could still sense the skeletal beings' wariness and desire towards them.
The reason for their wariness was that they were no longer of the same race as themselves, and their desire was somewhat similar to that of Blood Corpse craving flesh and blood. The only difference was that these skeletons were rational and could communicate, and they did not leave behind a huge amount of poisonous saliva because of their desire.
So, realizing there was no going back, an Alliance player suddenly turned around and targeted his nominal teammate, the Skeleton Army, with his " Deathrattle " ability...