Chapter 185: Chapter185-A Force of One
John, oblivious to any odd behavior from those around him, continued unleashing his skills outward.
Fire Meteor!
Light Sword Rain!
Fire Tornado!
Windblade!
...
One skill after another slammed down, mowing down the monsters in front of him like wheat sheared to the ground.
Even the Thorned Rock Serpent that John had summoned was wreaking havoc among the monster ranks.
However, John soon realized something was amiss—there seemed to be fewer and fewer people around him, replaced by others who had moved to different parts of the city wall.
Puzzled, he asked Archibald what was going on.
Archibald hesitated but eventually explained, "Standing here, you're like a cannon; no one can snatch any points or experience. Why would anyone stand here? Besides, you alone can defend this entire section of the wall."
As he spoke these last words, his eyes were filled with admiration.
To be so formidable that a single person could guard an entire city wall was something unheard of!
Indeed, it seemed unbelievable to them, but John was actually doing it!
John was somewhat amused and bewildered that people had left because of this.
But soon, he had no time to dwell on it any further, as he continued to slaughter the monsters in front of him.
He had a feeling that the more he killed now, the less trouble they might face later on.
John, like a mobile casting turret, kept relentlessly taking down the monsters outside.
Meanwhile, John's score was rising at an astonishing rate on the leaderboard.
He took a moment to check and saw that Isabella's and Cecilia's scores were also increasing rapidly, though Isabella's was growing slightly faster.
"How are things on your end?"
He found a moment to ask this in the small group chat shared among the three of them.
"It's pretty much what I expected. The monsters here are mostly water-based, emerging near a large lake. Their attack power and regeneration speed significantly increase upon contact with water, which is quite a headache," Cecilia couldn't help but complain.
Thankfully, they had a good number of fire-based mages on their side; otherwise, it would be really troublesome.
"It's not too bad here, mostly just standard types of monsters."
Isabella paused slightly after saying this, seeming a bit hesitant.
"Is there something wrong? We three need to be open with each other if we're to fight side by side."
John immediately sensed something was off with Isabella and pressed for more information directly.
"Just now, someone accidentally fell off, and his body is still down there by the wall, it hasn't turned into white light..."
What?!
Both John and Cecilia were shocked upon hearing this.
They knew the transformation of bodies into white light might be a bit slower now, but it was just supposed to be a delay.
But why were the bodies now remaining here? What was happening? Could it be that dying here meant truly dying, unable to return to the real world?
Impossible, this is within a secret realm, within Principal Sophia's domain, she would never allow such a thing to happen.
"I've arranged for someone to try to retrieve that person's body so we can have the healer resurrect him."
It's critical they do so; this is the first person to die among the three fortresses, and they must bring him back to life!
It will also serve as a test for the Resurrection Spell's effectiveness.
They need to understand exactly what's going on.
"Keep in touch with me at all times, and let me know if there's anything unusual after he's resurrected."
Isabella nodded in agreement upon hearing John's plan, promising to contact him immediately once they had any updates.
However, John took a deep breath as he reviewed the situation at hand.
His points and experience were indeed increasing, but there were other issues that needed to be addressed soon.
For instance, he noticed that the bodies of the monsters, which were now left behind after death, must be useful in some way.
He had thought the monster attacks would come in waves, but once they started, they showed no signs of stopping.
The monster assault continued into the evening, and only as darkness approached did it finally start to taper off.
By then, the bodies outside the walls had piled up into small hills.
"What should we do with these bodies?"
Archibald approached John immediately to discuss the issue with the corpses.
If left to accumulate outside, they would surely rot over the 15 days, emitting unbearable stench and possibly spreading disease.
"Since the bodies haven't disappeared, that means they can be useful to us. Have the logistics team take them out and see if they can be broken down into materials. The bones are quite strong and the fur could be used for defensive gear."
Archibald nodded in understanding, then quickly went off to instruct his teams to take on various tasks, while John checked the commander panel's backend.
He noticed that the majority of potion usage so far had been for MP recovery.
Due to the first day of the monster siege, melee fighters hardly had any opportunity to perform, whereas mages were continuously casting ranged attack skills.
In just one day, nearly 3000 bottles of MP recovery potions had been used! This figure was alarmingly high and such usage could not continue.
"Tell them to pace their skill releases during the next attack. Once a group's MP is depleted, they should rest and recover while another group takes over. We can't keep using MP recovery potions uncontrollably; we simply won't be able to sustain it."
With so many used on the first day, how would they manage later?
Archibald also immediately grasped the significance of this, assuring him he understood.
"Don't worry, I'll talk to them."
Their potion stores were already low, and if they used so much on the first day, they wouldn't be able to continue fighting later on.
Meanwhile, good news came from Lavinia: the bodies of the monsters could indeed be broken down.
They could be separated into bones, lean meat, and fur.
The lean meat could be used as ingredients for cooking, the bones could be used in alchemy or for making Bone Arrows, and they also found some small, shiny objects that looked like gems among the decomposed bodies, which, even after identification, only showed as three question marks.
"Keep them. I have a feeling these things could be useful. If we can make them into something now, let's turn them all into arrows!"
While they still had an adequate supply of black iron ore, nobody knew what might happen later, so it was best to conserve resources wherever possible.
When John took some of the bones to Old Nick to have him craft something, Old Nick readily agreed.
Once the crafted item was ready, John was impressed by what he saw: This is…
[Name: Bone Arrow (Precious)]
[Description: Attack +453, includes a bleeding effect, inflicts ten times critical damage against magical beast type monsters! (Bone Arrow made from the bones of a high-level magical beast has a suppressive effect on lower-level magical beasts)]
The properties were indeed impressive, especially the last part!
Not only does it deal ten times critical damage to magical beast type monsters, but it also has a suppressive effect on lower-level magical beasts!
John picked up another Bone Arrow lying next to him.
[Name: Bone Arrow (Common)]
Suddenly, it all made sense...
John instantly understood what was going on.
This precious Bone Arrow must have been made from the bones of elite monsters like the Titanic Ape, whereas the common Bone Arrow likely utilized the bones of normal-tier monsters such as the Ferocious Rabbit.
Higher-tier magical beasts naturally have a suppressive effect on lower-tier ones!
Already equipped with ten times critical damage, if you add the suppressive effect, the outcome could be even more remarkable.
John quickly shared this information with the second and third fortresses.
Cecilia, who was busy tallying post-battle losses, paused in surprise when she heard this.
"Those bodies are actually useful?"