All the Soul Returner who participated in the plan that night received thanks from the two men, but [ Western Sharpshooter ] declined the monetary reward and instead hoped that these two " Grand Artisan " could help modify the purely decorative revolver on his waist.
The brothers Grand Foundry Master had never seen such a weapon before. After [ Western Sharpshooter ] explained the principle and the effect he hoped to achieve, the two brothers took on the job with great interest and eventually delivered a very satisfactory result to [ Western Sharpshooter ].
And this is the second thing he hid from Colin:
That is, the revolver at his waist is no ordinary weapon.
In fact, apart from resembling a revolver in appearance, this thing has absolutely nothing to do with revolvers.
According to Balund and Aiboke, this thing is not actually a launching device driven by gunpowder, springs, or compressed gas, but a sophisticatedly structured Alienation staff.
Yes, this thing is Psionic Energy powered.
Therefore, according to the job classification of the World of Disorder, [ Western Sharpshooter ], who has always prided himself on being a cowboy, has completely switched to Psionic Energy mage.
It's just that his spellcasting tools are somewhat strange.
In order to master this revolver, [ Western Sharpshooter ] put all the free attribute points he had accumulated from the recent upgrades into Psionic Energy, and found that the pistol's power was indeed significantly improved.
But the works of the two Grand Artisan were far more complex than that—
Balund and Aiboke even set three output levels for this weapon; as long as the Psionic Energy input reaches a certain threshold, the projectile's power can be significantly increased.
The shot that took down Centurion Atli earlier was taken with a medium-powered shot. If he switched to a high-powered shot and launched a sneak attack, he could really deliver a powerful blow to those Middle Tier Intermediate -tier).
At that point, Colin's worries will become a reality, but after firing such a shot, [ Western Sharpshooter ] himself may be drained of his Psionic Energy and go offline.
As for whether this thing is a consumable item or not...
[ Western Sharpshooter ] thinks so -- except that it consumes bullets instead of the pistol itself.
He deliberately blurred the lines between the two to confuse Colin's perception, something his good friend [ Aluode ] had taught him.
They were ultimately just mercenaries; the skeletons on the other side couldn't possibly trust them completely, and vice versa.
When news arrived that the enemy had appeared in sight, the well-prepared [ Western Sharpshooter ] naturally knew who it was, but now was not the time to reveal that the Soul Returner possessed long-distance communication capabilities.
He then bowed politely to Colin, and like the other players and skeleton warriors, donned his armor and went to the outer wall to prepare to defend against the enemy's attack.
The group consisted of about twenty people. Although they looked very energetic, their armor was tattered, as if they had just been through a major battle.
More importantly, as they approached the outer wall of the sandcastle, these "enemies" did not show any hostility, and did not even enter a fighting state.
Under the watchful eyes of the Soul Returner and the Skeleton Warriors, the group finally stopped a few dozen meters away from the sandcastle, a distance sufficient for them to deal with any unexpected situations.
[ Western Sharpshooter ] recognized one of the two leaders as his good brother [ Gill's Cuisine ], while the other must be the infamous [ Ginseng Rooster ].
[ Ginseng Rooster ] rode forward alone and arrived at the outer wall of the sandcastle:
"Is Lord Colin, the Guardian Knight, here? I am the Soul Returner reinforcement invited by [ Aluode ]!"
"What?"
Colin, who was already donning his armor and preparing his weapons, was shocked to hear this. He strode to the outer wall and looked down at the person below. The person did not have the mark of a contract that mercenaries usually have, meaning that the person still had the ability to attack him.
"You said it was [ Aluode ] who summoned you?"
Colin asked the question that was on everyone's mind:
What evidence do you have?
"This is a keepsake from [ Aluode ]!"
[ Ginseng Rooster ] pulled a blood-red crystal cluster from his pocket and looked at Colin, saying:
"In addition, we have brought our 'pledge of allegiance' to join your side."
He waved his hand behind him, and more than a dozen Soul Returner stepped forward in unison, then unfolded and threw out a variety of items from under the outer wall.
The items that had been thrown out were spread out on the sand in the morning, and were easily identifiable. Some were uniforms of Imperial soldiers, some were standard Imperial armor, and the most conspicuous among them were several Imperial centurion flags.
Having dealt with the Empire for many years, Colin knew perfectly well that each flag represented, in fact, a hundred-man squad.
Last night they captured a flag belonging to a hundred-man unit, which looked no different from the others.
He and his Soul Returner fought for half the night and only managed to defeat a hundred-man squad. Where did these dozen or so people get three battle flags?
Where did these things come from?
Colin asked, feigning composure.
"Of course it was stolen!"
[ Ginseng Rooster ] said with considerable pride:
"Last night, a dozen of us launched a surprise attack on the Imperial Army camp closest to this sandcastle. Under the cover of darkness, we fought our way through the camp and even set it on fire before we left."
"Those imperialists are nothing but a bunch of good-for-nothings. When there's no fire, they're like headless flies, just running around aimlessly."
"And after the fire started, they began running recklessly in the direction where the fire hadn't started, showing absolutely no behavior befitting soldiers."
Colin, standing on the outer wall, was stunned. Not only him, but the skeleton soldiers were also gaping in disbelief. The Soul Returner, who knew about this beforehand, overacted as usual, letting out a series of exclamations of "Ah!"
"So, these are all our spoils of war."
[ Ginseng Rooster ] shrugged:
"I really beat them this time. They won't dare attack the sandcastle again for at least a week."
Colin, standing on the outer wall, was surprised, but something still felt off.
This whole affair sounds incredibly strange. While the enemy was launching a night attack, a mercenary group that hadn't even joined the Alliance was launching a night attack on them?
That's way too enthusiastic!
After thinking for a moment, he finally chose to praise first and then ask questions:
"Well done! Did you suffer any losses in this battle?"
Upon hearing this question, a hint of sadness appeared on [ the Ginseng Rooster's ] face:
"It's a small matter that we're all wounded; the important thing is that our captain was killed by the enemy!"
"Although he likely still has a chance to revive, this has indeed changed our night raid strategy, allowing us to withdraw our troops earlier and come here."
As he spoke, he had [ Gill's Cuisine ] turn its horse around, revealing the "remaining part" of [ Lion Hidden in the Eyes ], which was bound behind the Hoofed Beast.
Colin's gaze was instantly drawn to the tall, strong, headless corpse, and he suddenly felt that everything made sense.
That's more like it; people always die in war.