Those despicable supervisory teams!
While they and their comrades were fighting a bloody battle, they were merely standing behind, firing arrows from the Skeleton Alliance's crossbows.
Although the arrows were powerful, their rate of fire was too slow. Moreover, the three of them could vaguely see that one of the skeleton soldiers' crossbow bolts was always aimed at their backs, clearly to prevent them from escaping.
With that thought in mind, the player, who was already doomed, had no more hesitation. After failing to defeat [ Howling Pothos ] and the others, he grabbed the skeleton soldier's leg bone and tried to pull him off his horse.
Even if it means a fight to the death, it can reduce the risk of being monitored for one's companions.
The skeletal horse, which was not as strong as a normal Hoofed Beast, could hardly withstand the pulling, dragging, and snatching by the two of them, and soon neighed and fell down.
So the players under [ Practice More If You're Bad ] and the elites under Centurion Atli swarmed forward, smashing the skeleton warriors into bone dust with hammers and kicks, while the players who were left behind were chopped into mincemeat with smiles on their faces.
As for the other player and the other skeleton, they died in battle without any doubt. The former was simply no match for three opponents, and the latter was caught up and stabbed in the back while running away, which is quite reasonable.
After all, it wouldn't be fair that all the skeletons were killed by players from the Alliance faction; that would be too contrived.
After hearing the exaggerated account from [ the Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ], Colin was furious!
"Bang!"
The enraged fortress knight slammed his fist on the stone table in front of him and hissed:
"You despicable imperialists! Put on my armor, I want to personally oversee the battle!"
"Yes, sir!"
With the spread of Psionic Energy and normal sounds, the skeleton warriors and the Soul Returner quickly gathered on the open ground in the sandcastle.
After counting the number of people, everyone put on their weapons and went up to the outer wall. Sure enough, a cloud of dust rose in the distance a few minutes later.
Upon closer inspection, it became clear that the elite imperial troops made no attempt to conceal their presence, riding their Hoofed Beast across the Alliance's territory.
Because Sandcastle was a large-scale border fortification, its outer walls were not as high as those of a typical city wall. In addition, the Skeleton Alliance was located in the desert, where it would not rain for months on end, so there was no moat.
As the distance between the two sides closed, many of the imperial elites who had never been here before saw this scene, and their eyes turned red with rage.
There were no moats, the city walls weren't high, and the defending troops didn't look like much.
Is this all there is to the Skeleton Alliance?
You should have said so earlier! If we had known, we would have come to freeload much sooner!
Atli thought to himself that he had been prepared to retreat, but he only stayed because he saw [ Practice More If You're Bad ] draw his weapon and prepare to fight.
In retrospect, I realized I made the right decision.
At this moment, many of the Imperial NPCs under Centurion Atli were thinking the same thing. They were not originally from the Imperial border army and had no idea of the power of the Skeleton Alliance or how troublesome the skeleton soldiers were.
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] noticed this and started sending messages to his teammates in the chat box.
The original ambush was canceled due to encountering the [ Mules and Horses Drive the Sun ] squad, and now both sides are clearly preparing for a head-on clash.
With a neigh like that of an ordinary Hoofed Beast, Centurion [ Practice More If You're Bad ] led his elite troops in a charge toward Sandcastle.
As a group of wild, plant-like beings, they don't even need to bring siege equipment, since they have the useful method of Alienation.
Atli knew this beforehand, so he already had his own plans in mind:
Those skeleton soldiers who managed to occupy Sandcastle Number Fourteen must be no ordinary creatures; if my men charged ahead, they would surely suffer heavy losses.
He unconsciously slowed down his charge, and [ Practice More If You're Bad ] and the others had anticipated this, but they did not choose to join them.
As the race continued, the two groups of people gradually widened the gap between them.
The Soul Returner charged ahead, some braving various attacks from the city walls to attempt to set up ladders, while others had Alienation into claws with barbs, piercing the nearly 90-degree angled outer wall and beginning to climb upwards.
Meanwhile, Atli led the other half of his men in a leisurely charge from behind.
Upon seeing several ladders erected on the outer wall of the sandcastle, he suddenly gave an order for his soldiers to speed up, while he himself brandished his weapon and roared.
This is an essential skill for every medieval fantasy soldier.
When things are going well, or at least appear to be going well, they are always able to maximize their impact.
When the wind blows against them, they will disappear again, eventually respawning in the camp behind them.
[ Practice More If You're Bad ] doesn't mind this blatant attempt to steal credit at all.
After the siege ladders were erected, he immediately led the Soul Returner in a siege. Although the city walls were low, the number of people on both sides was also quite small, so the battle looked like a low-budget version of the Holy City Defense War a few months ago.
Upon seeing the enemy begin to climb, the skeleton soldiers and Soul Returner defending the city immediately launched a counterattack.
For thousands of years, the best companion of the siege ladder has undoubtedly been the legendary "golden juice".
However, due to some well-known reasons, it's truly impossible to find such a thing within the entire Skeleton Alliance...
So the group had no choice but to settle for second best and throw the logs and stones they had prepared beforehand down the crenellations of the city wall.
Players who received the message "[ Practice More If You're Bad ]" were already prepared, and they all cried out in pain before starting their own performances:
Players who used grappling hooks to cling to the city walls fell straight down. Players advancing on ladders, even when they fell, didn't forget to pull their comrades up with them. Players who had already reached the top of the walls, along with the skeleton soldiers and mercenaries, fought for only a few rounds before choosing to flee...
The entire elite force under [ Practice More If You're Bad ], including [ Howling Pothos ], instantly turned into paper tigers that were easy targets. They collapsed as soon as the opponent exerted even a little effort.
On the other side, seeing three enemies on a siege ladder being knocked down by a large round rock, the [ Western Sharpshooter ] organizing the defense on the city wall suddenly felt a thrill similar to playing billiards or bowling.
Just as he was about to press on, he saw a burly man rush up the city wall from the other side.
He was very burly, wearing imperial-style iron armor. After a roar, he seemed to swell up, completely filling out the armor.
"Ding~"
A new message arrived, and [ Western Sharpshooter ] glanced at it, only to find that it was indeed from [ Practice More If You're Bad ], who was already lying under the sandcastle:
"That's him! Give him a good beating!"