But before John could take a closer look, the Snow Wolf King had already launched an attack!
Boom!
A gigantic snowball was forming in the mouth of the Snow Wolf King!
For some reason, upon seeing this enormous snowball, everyone suddenly felt a sense of oppression.
No...
even with the buff enhancement, the oppressive aura from the diamond-tier boss was still overwhelmingly strong!
They simply couldn't resist, nor could they do much else.
What to do? What to do? Were they just to wait here for death?!
As the snowball was about to form completely, everyone's hearts rose to their throats.
The snowball finally hurtled toward the protective shield!
Just as it was about to hit, the next second...
"Fire Meteor!"
A massive fireball erupted from John's staff.
Bang!
The fireball collided with the snowball, exploding in that instant!
Boom!
The huge snowball burst in midair, as if unleashing a blizzard.
Some of the snow wolves below were even knocked unconscious by chunks of ice, while others felt layers of snowflakes accumulating on their fur.
Layer upon layer of snowflakes piled up, seemingly becoming extraordinarily heavy.
Some snow wolves' running speed had slowed down a bit, and even their formation was disrupted by the massive snowball, their buffs clearly dissipating.
Everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief; it turned out that killing snow wolves could make the monster's buff disappear!
Without the enhanced buff, fighting on their side became much smoother!
However, the Snow Wolf King was furious.
"Roar... roar..."
After a few roars from the Snow Wolf King, all the snow wolves regrouped once again, each one regaining the Wolfpack buff.
"We can disperse the pack all we want, but it's useless; we must strike the king first!"
Archibald quickly realized this, so they needed to focus their attacks on the Snow Wolf King first.
But facing a diamond-tier boss, their damage was only making a minimal dent.
"Continue attacking, leave the Snow Wolf King to me!" John commanded firmly.
"Yes!"
Everyone nodded vigorously.
This time, no one held back; even melee fighters descended from the walls, fighting within the protective shield's range.
It was as if there was a thin membrane separating them; they could hit the monsters from within the shield, but the monsters couldn't reach them.
Thus, many swordsmen went right down the walls, ensuring their safety while attacking the monsters.
Above were broad-ranging magical damages, below were close-range, high physical damages.
Compared to the initial stage where everyone was timid and coordination was lacking, now everyone was exceptionally well-coordinated!
A round of magical damage from above would leave the lesser monsters nearly dead, and those below could finish them off with physical attacks.
John, keenly observant from above, noticed that even though everyone's skills only scratched the Snow Wolf King slightly, it was particularly protective of a small lump on its back.
Squinting, a term came to mind: Wolves and Baizes in Collusion.
Wolves aren't inherently clever creatures, but they do have a strategist known as a Baize.
This creature, naturally small and less agile, is typically carried on the backs of wolves.
It appears as though the wolves are the ones committing misdeeds, but in reality, it's their strategist orchestrating everything from behind.
John felt that the Snow Wolf King might not be as straightforward as it seemed.
Perhaps if they could eliminate the strategist, the battle might ease a bit.
However, the Snow Wolf King was positioned too far back, unreachable from their current location atop the walls, leaving John no choice but to head out himself.
"Top cover is yours," Archibald immediately realized John intended to go down, though he struggled to find the right words.
Finally, he managed to say, "Be careful."
Everyone's gaze inevitably fell on John, filled with expectation, worry, and admiration.
They all knew this siege by the monsters was more ferocious than any before.
But they had no way back.
They could only press forward.
That was the only way to carve out a path to survival.
Some lacked the courage, but John was different.
It seemed he was always at the forefront, leading them.
"I'll go with you," Rosalind quickly noticed John's intent and wanted to accompany him, her role as a support class allowing her to boost John with some buffs.
John, however, just smiled slightly and waved his hand dismissively.
"Right now, no one's buff can outmatch mine."
After saying this, John summoned the Thorned Rock Serpent.
The moment it appeared beneath the city walls, its tail swatted away countless lesser monsters, even crushing some into pulp!
John leaped down, landing on the head of the Thorned Rock Serpent.
The surrounding lesser monsters began to unleash attacks in John's direction, even flying creatures in the sky swooped down.
But...
Boom!
Protected by the Thorned Rock Serpent, a sweep of its tail flung all the nearby lesser monsters aside.
"I feel like he's become even more powerful," Rosalind couldn't help but remark.
Archibald frowned slightly but said nothing.
Others might not know, but he was aware that John now controlled 52% of the secret realm's power of control.
This meant that all his skills were not merely his own anymore but were augmented by the realm's power of control itself.
Take the Thorned Rock Serpent, for example.
Normally summoned by his own magical power, its damage would naturally correspond to his own levels.
But now, with 52% control over the realm, the summoned Thorned Rock Serpent embodied a trace of the world's rules.
Even though it was just a platinum-tier summon, it could fling most monsters around it and even crush them directly.
This is what it means to be invincible within its tier and to slay across levels.
Archibald couldn't help but feel a surge of hope in his heart.
If it were John... perhaps there really was a chance for them.
The Thorned Rock Serpent charged forward as if entering an uninhabited territory, racing towards the Snow Wolf King.
Many smaller wolves attempted to block John's path, but were mercilessly flung aside by the serpent's tail.
Even the snowballs they hurled merely left patches of snowflakes on the Serpent's body, doing no real damage.
With his upgraded skills appearing terrifyingly powerful, the Snow Wolf King watched this minor creature approach and grew even more infuriated.
Snowballs began to form in its mouth once more.
John scoffed coldly, "The same move again? It won't work a second time!"
"Fire Meteor!"
This time, taking advantage of the snowball still forming, he launched a fiery meteor straight into the Snow Wolf King's open mouth.
Fortunately for the Snow Wolf King, its mouth was open wide enough; otherwise, such a large fireball would have been impossible to swallow.
"Roar!!"
The fireball and snowball exploded in the mouth of the Snow Wolf King, causing tremendous damage.
The beast's mouth was left bloody and mangled.
In that instant, the Snow Wolf King let out a wail of agony.
The surrounding snow wolves jumped in shock, completely unprepared for such an event, and stared in horror at the scene.
However, quickly recovering from the initial shock, the smaller wolves started relentlessly launching their skills in John's direction.
Compared to the Snow Wolf King, the smaller wolves' skills seemed particularly basic, primarily consisting of snowball attacks, with only biting and claw swiping for close combat.
A few emerald-tier snow wolves leaped towards John, their claws gleaming coldly under the sunlight!
Hearts on the city walls rose to throats—being caught by those claws could halve a health bar...
But...
"Heh..."
John scoffed coldly, whipping out the Bloodthirsty Blade with a swift backhand motion and slashing fiercely at the oncoming claws.
Thud! The wolf's paw hit the ground.