Just moments ago, everyone's morale had hit rock bottom, but with a few words, John had reignited their fighting spirit.
Although many glared at John with anger, he never backed down.
As his father used to say, such a person is a born commander, capable of inspiring his soldiers' morale in the shortest time possible.
After resolving the immediate chaos, John quickly surveyed his surroundings.
He noticed that the monsters' nighttime attacks seemed slightly weaker than those during the day.
Moreover, their defenses against fire-based skills were particularly low.
Even a spark on their wings would ignite a fire, causing them to fall.
Many observant individuals noticed this as well and immediately began using fire-based skills without hesitation.
Archers lit their arrows with fireballs, shooting them into the swarm of monsters, bringing down many.
The ground monsters, however, were no different from those during the day and even appeared to be stronger.
John took a moment to check the shield's status, discovering that in less than five minutes, its durability had already dropped to 91%.
This was alarming!
If this rate continued, the shield at full durability would only last for 50 minutes!
Given that the monsters would only get stronger and more numerous, their ability to maintain the shield would diminish rapidly.
They would need at least 20 or more energy stones daily, possibly even more!
John couldn't help but take a sharp breath.
Thankfully, he had exchanged some energy stones with the second and third fortresses earlier, or else they would have been doomed!
He had no time to communicate further with the others and quickly shared the information about the monsters' fear of fire in their small group chat.
However, there was no immediate response from the others.
After surviving the initial chaotic wave of attacks, the others grew more determined and energetic.
Everyone gritted their teeth, furiously casting skills outward as if this was the only way to honor their fallen comrades.
As daylight broke, John keenly noticed a faint blue glow to his left and right.
The light was distant but exceptionally bright, resembling a shield.
Could it be that the shields of the second and third fortresses had also been activated, and now the barriers between them had disappeared, allowing them to see each other?
John took a moment to check the group chat and saw that the others had noticed the difference as well.
They confirmed that they could see each other's shields.
It seemed that the tenth day had indeed brought about a hellish difficulty level.
John couldn't help but smile wryly.
Archibald, who had also noticed this, became even more serious.
Everyone gasped, covering their mouths in shock.
But the next moment, they saw John land on the Thorned Rock Serpent's head!
The serpent's tail swept through the area, clearing a large swath of monsters, leaving only corpses in its wake.
However, John's actions also attracted the attention of the elite monsters.
[Name: Amalgam Golem]
[Level: lv50]
[Skills: Roar, Strike, Stone Spike, Earthmeld]
Indeed, an emerald-tier elite monster...
The skill level was a significant suppression for them!
Even with days of fighting monsters, John was only lv35, which was the highest level among them.
No wonder their skills only managed to reduce the elite monster's HP by one point—it was barely scratching the surface!
Earth-based monsters had inherently high defenses, and with such a substantial level gap, it was impressive they could inflict any damage at all.
The Thorned Rock Serpent, also an earth-based summon, seemed insignificant in front of the golem.
The golem roared and struck the ground, causing a tremor that stunned nearby monsters, though it didn't seem to care about them.
Instead, it began striding directly towards John.
Meanwhile, the other elite monsters also took notice of the situation.
[Name: Frost Giant]
[Level: lv50]
[Skills: Howling Gale, Frost Strike, Iceblade]
[Name: Lava Behemoth]
[Level: lv50]
[Skills: Lava Corrosion, Erupting Magma, Flame Scorch]
There were a total of six elite monsters.
John quickly assessed them: two ice-based, two fire-based, and two earth-based.
For the ice-based monsters, the ranged mages could still inflict a few hundred points of damage using fire-based skills.
The fire-based monsters could be damaged similarly with water-based or ice-based skills.
However, each skill only shaved off a few hundred HP at best, barely a dent in their tens of thousands of HP.
Although elite monsters had less HP than boss-level monsters, the level suppression made them especially challenging.
The earth-based monsters were the worst, with incredibly high defenses that allowed only minimal damage.
Seeing John standing on the Thorned Rock Serpent's head, the elite monsters roared in fury and charged toward him.