They could have relied on their strong defense and excellent teamwork to form a circular formation and put up a stubborn resistance.
But after [ Hard Armor ] shouted "Combine!", the strength of these skeletons noticeably declined.
From the players' perspective, it means that [ Hard Armor ] temporarily revoked the positive buff that was supposed to be permanent, causing all the besieged members of the [ Hard Armor ] legion to lose about five levels of strength and be afflicted with a weakness debuff that doesn't last very long.
After a period of fighting, Luokenuosuos i discovered a very unusual problem:
The average quality of the heavy cavalry and heavy armored soldiers in the [ Hard Armor ] Legion is a bit too high, almost unreasonably so.
Although he was a dragon skilled in individual combat, Luokenuosuos i, being in a position of power, naturally also had some insights into commanding troops.
Although it is unknown how the skeletal race came into being during the Demonic Tide, their individual strength is actually not much different from that of humans.
Therefore, it doesn't make sense that the average quality of the [ Hard Armor ] Legion is so high, unless there are some secrets they don't know about.
This has been Luokenuosuos i's long-held speculation --
[ Hard Armor ] distributed some of his strength to his subordinates, which prevented him from easily taking action himself, while his soldiers were all overpowered.
To verify his suspicions, during the recent month-long "Great March," Luokenuosuos i always tried to lure a considerable number of enemies into an encirclement, forcing [ Hard Armor ] to personally test his skills.
The goal has been achieved, and the result is obvious.
I guessed right.
Since they guessed correctly, then [ Hard Armor ] must pay the price.
If [ Hard Armor ] dares to bestow power upon these more than ten thousand people again, I will immediately kill him.
With [ Hard Armor ] dead, the Alliance's defenses could collapse completely in just one day.
However, if [ Hard Armor ] chooses to abandon the cause for the greater good, then he is certain to defeat these ten thousand skeleton soldiers today.
These are no ordinary ragtag soldiers; they are the real elite troops.
The entire Alliance was wiped out, but it suffered only minor damage.
To ensure the plan went smoothly, Luokenuosuos i even dispatched his most trusted and promising young general, Alfonso Lange.
This guy was originally just an unknown nobody, the second son of an imperial nobleman who was living off his family's wealth.
There are at least five hundred, if not a thousand, such useless empires.
But since the start of the war, this young man has repeatedly achieved victories. After being transferred once, he directly captured the fortress of Riel Valley, and in the subsequent great advance, he also amassed great military achievements.
Despite sending people to check multiple times, no problems were found.
This can only mean that either Alfonso exceptionally capable, or he has a powerful mentor guiding him from behind the scenes.
But whichever the possibility, it's a good thing for the empire.
Therefore, Luokenuosuos i did not investigate further.
So far, everything on the battlefield seems to be going very smoothly.
As the mist dissipated, the enormous figure of the [ Hard Armor ] appeared in the air, instantly boosting the morale of the skeletal people below.
But the repeated ups and downs in morale could never compare to a positive buff equivalent to level five.
[ The Hard Armor ] commander seemed to have realized this as well, and relayed an order to the commander of this group:
"Stop holding out and break out immediately."
"Yes!"
The commander, who was originally standing in the center of the circle, immediately began to give orders, as breaking through meant sacrificing some people.
The fact that [ Hard Armor ] gave this order indicates that there was truly no other way...
In the air, the Alliance councilor and the Imperial Marshal gazed at each other across the distance, while on the battlefield below, the two sides charged into battle.
The imperial army continuously squeezed the skeletons' fighting space, dividing the skeletons at the rear into small groups, and annihilating them one by one by relying on their numerical advantage.
When the warlord led his troops to successfully break through the encirclement, he found that only a small portion of his men remained behind him.
He looked up at the battlefield behind him and saw countless compatriots trapped in a dense encirclement.
An enemy with a resolute expression noticed his gaze and fired a powerful crossbow bolt.
The already conflicted warlord was enraged and was about to launch a counterattack when he received another order from [ Hard Armor ].
Left with no other choice, he finally made up his mind, turned around, and led his soldiers away from this bloody millstone.
Not to mention that the Empire won a great victory in this battle, even Alfonso was idle throughout the entire battle, received personal commendation from Luokenuosuos i.
Meanwhile, the Skeleton Alliance was shrouded in gloom.
Skeletons are also intelligent beings; they can see whether the battle is going well or badly.
A defensive line was recently abandoned, and countless skeletons who couldn't escape were ruthlessly annihilated by the enemy.
And today, we've lost another game.
Although the root cause of this battle was that the defeated warlord could not resist the enemy's provocation and was successfully lured into an encirclement, people couldn't help but begin to reflect on the following:
[ Hard Armor ] lord truly capable?
If it doesn't work, why not replace them?
If it really works, why do I keep losing?
Although no one said it aloud, everyone was secretly wondering about it.
This complex mix of emotions reached its peak after the narrow defeat that day.
Because people from Sand Capital came.
The headquarters of the Skeleton Alliance's second line of defense, the " Great Fortress," is located several hundred miles southwest of Sand Capital.
[ Hard Armor ] deactivated his Psionic Energy Manifestation state and noticed something was off about everyone's expressions as soon as he entered the fortress. Only after going inside did he see a familiar face.
"[ Hard Armor ] Lord, it's been a long time."
The visitor was Sailesi, also known as Senator [ Nether Crossing ].
"It has indeed been a long time."
[ Hard Armor ] nodded:
"Has everything been resolved in the Demon Realm? What was the situation and the outcome of the battle?"
"The battle was fierce, but fortunately, we fulfilled our mission."
"Heavy losses?"
[ Hard Armor ] found a place to sit down, waved his hand to dismiss a large group of overseers, leaving only himself and Sailesi.
"It was indeed a devastating loss."
How many soldiers were lost?
"About forty thousand."
"Much less than I expected."
Sailesi seemed unsure how to begin, and after a moment of silence, he whispered:
"And there are also [ Divine Wings ] Councilor and [ Whale Tail ] Councilor."
"What?!"
[ Hard Armor ] was so shocked he almost jumped up:
"[ Divine Wings ] and [ Whale Tail ] are both..."
"Yes, we're facing three vampire grand dukes, not just one."
Sailesi let a hint of sadness creep into his voice.
[ Hard Armor ] disregarded this earth-shattering news and hurriedly asked:
What about the ' Holy Remains '?
"I brought them all back to Sand Capital. It was Lord [ Divine Wings ] who risked his life to cover my return."
[ Hard Armor ] was relieved to see that [ Nether Crossing ] was not surprised by the term "Holy Remains".
It seems that [ Divine Wings ] has shared some knowledge about the Holy Remains with this outsider.
"I see."
His mood also became very low:
"The situation here... isn't going very well either."