From the perspective of [the Crown], making such a decision under conditions of information asymmetry is certainly understandable.
But in fact, it was precisely because of his decision that the Skeleton Alliance faced its biggest crisis since its inception.
Time flew by and it was evening the next day. The large teleportation array in the center of the Great Fortress was already filled with elite troops drawn from sandcastles all around.
These skeletal warriors were all well-equipped; those with horses wore horse armor, while those without were clad in heavy armor and wielded long-handled weapons, clearly members of the [Hard Armor] legion.
By this time, four military governors had rushed to the Great Fortress, but the total number of soldiers was only a little over 30,000.
Those who were short were, of course, lost to the Imperial Army in the continuous battles during this period, but thanks to [Hard Armor]'s excessive distribution of his strength to his soldiers, some 10,000-man units did not collapse even though they suffered heavy losses.
At this moment, [Hard Armor] stood on the high platform inside the fortress, signaling the four warlords below to maintain order in the ranks.
The warlords below did as instructed, but they were still unable to suppress all the commotion.
That makes sense. Everyone received the orders very late yesterday. Waking up the resting skeleton soldiers and leading them to the Great Fortress without saying a word would be exhausting, even for Skeleton Man.
Even now, they don't know what they've come here for. They only know that they've come all this way to the Great Fortress, and their leader has told them to stay in the open without saying a word.
[Hard Armor] didn't really have any good solutions; he just told everyone that there was a mission to go to the Sand Capital to complete.
He didn't say much more about anything beyond that.
After all, as the legion commander, he couldn't very well tell his soldiers, "Something terrible has happened! Our brother unit has mutinied, Sand Capital is in imminent danger!"
Given his current position, such words would have a significant impact on morale.
Just as an ordinary soldier might say "The Skeleton Alliance is doomed" when he's unhappy, it would be a big problem if those words came from a senator's mouth.
Faced with the governors' inquiries, [Hard Armor] could only give them vague answers again and again, telling them that there was something very important that needed their help in Sand Capital.
So everyone waited and waited, and the day quickly came to an end. Looking at the setting sun, [Hard Armor] let out a long sigh, feeling that the ordeal was finally coming to an end.
He gave the final order to assemble the team, then stepped down from the platform and joined the ranks to await the activation of the teleportation.
Time passed second by second, and the sun was about to set—the sun was halfway down—the sun had completely set—the afterglow was gone—and it was dark.
Nothing happened.
"My lord, what about Sand Capital...?"
"Shut up."
[Hard Armor] said, suppressing his anger.
Although the warlord was slightly dissatisfied, he had followed [Hard Armor] for a long time, and speaking objectively, he believed that this matter had nothing to do with his boss; the problem lay with Sand Capital.
"Yes, sir."
Another warlord, looking at the deep-thinking [Hard Armor], asked:
"Sir, may we activate the teleportation ourselves?"
[Hard Armor] turned his head and looked at the warlord with the eyes of someone looking at a fool. The third warlord immediately slapped him and explained:
"Everywhere can be automatically teleported to Sandcastle? Those damned Imperials would have been in our backyard by now."
"I see."
The somewhat foolish warlord suddenly realized what was happening, and [Hard Armor] earnestly explained at that moment:
"The teleportation arrays in the Great Fortress and other places are one-way, only the teleportation array in Sand Capital is two-way. We can only wait until other orders arrive."
"Let everyone take a rest, but don't leave here; you can only rest where you are."
"Yes."
The few military governors were of low status and had no choice but to obey orders.
Somewhere north of the Great Fortress, in a sandcastle.
"Hurry! Hurry!"
A hoarse, indistinct voice echoed in the swaying, enclosed space.
"What are you holding onto?!"
A voice quickly retorted.
"Grab whatever you can! I'm going to crash into it!"
"Good!"
Upon hearing this, a dozen or so players quickly grabbed onto anything nearby to stabilize themselves, while a few chose to go with the flow, wanting to experience the feeling of flying.
The next moment--
"Bang!"
A violent impact struck, and several players who hadn't had a firm grip or hadn't grabbed on at all were instantly thrown forward, crashing into the wall in front of them.
The seemingly impregnable gate of the sandcastle was smashed open on the spot by the fierce impact of the "Boundary Great Fortune". Afterwards, more than a dozen skeletons responsible for reinforcing the gate were sent flying backwards, their arms shattered into bone fragments.
The "Jie· Great Fortune, having smashed open the first gate, continued its momentum, making a sharp turn and crashing into the second city gate.
The fortress's knights never expected to encounter such an outrageous creature; they didn't even have time to order their reserve force to advance before being let through on the spot.
Breaking through two city gates in succession excited the Machine Spirit greatly. As it rushed into the sandcastle, it repeatedly crushed the half-dead skeletons, while simultaneously opening the rear door.
Nearly twenty Soul Returner immediately assumed battle stance and charged out with roars.
The fortress knights never imagined that such a monster actually contained so many elite soldiers inside; it was in essence an troop transport vehicle!
There was no time to give orders, so he grabbed a Skeleton Man at random:
"This place is about to fall! Report it immediately! Report it immediately!"
Having said that, he drew his weapon from his waist and charged forward, engaging in a fierce battle with a large group of Soul Returner had stormed into the sandcastle.
Two minutes later, with the skillful coordination of the three, the fortress knight's head flew off, and the battle ended.
Without their leader, the skeletal warriors scattered like sand. The players summoned the Imperial auxiliary troops, who were used to eating leftovers, and they began to skillfully clean up the battlefield.
Those who needed to be captured alive were captured alive, and those who needed to be finished off were finished off. Soon, someone found a Skeleton Man communicating using runic bone fragments in a corner.
As the enemies surrounded him, the Skeleton Man's hands trembled even more.
A player pushed aside numerous auxiliary soldiers to stand before him and asked:
"Have you finished reporting?"
The Skeleton Man paused for a moment, then shook its head.
"Hurry up."
The Skeleton Man nodded and sent the news of the sandcastle's fall to the Bastion Lord as quickly as possible.
He lowered his hand and nodded fearfully.
"Arrest him."
With a command given, seven or eight Imperial auxiliary NPC soldiers rushed forward and captured the Skeleton Man, binding it like a silkworm cocoon.
"Sir, what should we do?"
The player turned to look at the several support soldiers with fawning expressions and asked in confusion:
"Not used to it yet? Give it a beating first, and once it's subdued, throw it into pedaling."