Chapter 91: Chapter 87: Goblin Village Assault
Lin Mo stood with his sword withdrawn, giving it a flourish. The flash of his blade had severed the Goblins so cleanly that not even a drop of blood stained the steel.
Pain was startled by him, his mind reeling.
He’d felt something was off about this kid back when they were sparring. Now that he had finally seen him fight for real, it was just as terrifying as he had imagined.
Pain briefly pictured himself facing that last sword strike...
The very thought sent a shiver down his spine.
’Even if I somehow managed to block it, I probably wouldn’t have come out unscathed.’
"So this area really is swarming with Goblins now?"
Alton, who had caught up from behind, frowned as he looked at the Goblin corpses.
"Let’s keep moving. I wonder what the situation is like over at Falling Leaves Village..."
The horse-drawn carriage continued on, but this time, Lin Mo, who was now at the front of the procession, picked up the pace.
’With Goblins practically delivering themselves to my doorstep, how can I just hand them over to someone else? This is all free Skill Level!’
While driving the carriage, he glanced at his Skill Level panel.
His Cross Slash had been close to leveling up before, and the few Goblins from just now had provided exactly what was needed to finish it off.
"Skill [Cross Slash] Lv4 (100/100) has leveled up!"
"Current Skill: [Cross Slash] Lv5 (1/180)"
’Just one more level to go, and this skill will complete its upgrade and evolve into another Excellence Level Skill!’
However, after that, they didn’t encounter as many Goblins along the way as he had hoped. There were only two scattered waves, totaling no more than a dozen or so.
But Lin Mo wasn’t worried. After all, they were about to reach their destination.
The sky was growing dark. Even with the carriage, the journey had taken the entire day.
In the twilight of the setting sun, they finally spotted the village in the distance, nestled on a vast plain.
At the same time, they also saw the faint figures of short, green-skinned creatures.
The Goblins were attacking the village!
"Pick up the pace! Prepare for battle!"
Alton, who had taken over driving the carriage from Lin Mo, immediately drew his weapon, a murderous look on his face.
"These damned green-skinned cockroaches! It’s time to send them to the Netherworld!"
Lin Mo was the first to rush out from the carriage. Not wanting to wait for the exhausted horses to pull the cart, he leaped directly off, landed steadily on his feet, and immediately charged toward the village.
Alton followed suit, as did Ali and the other experts from the Adventurer Squads behind them; they all charged ahead.
Lin Mo charged at the very front. An Assassin who had followed was slowly catching up to him, while the other Adventurers, not being as fast, trailed far behind.
The Assassin gave Lin Mo a surprised glance. ’It’s astonishing enough for a Professional to be this young, but more importantly, he clearly looks like a Warrior. How can he be so fast?’
’He’s only a little slower than me, an Assassin!’
As they neared the village, he cleared his mind of stray thoughts and focused on what was ahead.
Within his line of sight, he could see thirty to forty Goblins that had broken through the fence and stormed into the village. About a dozen able-bodied young men, armed with carrying poles, wood-cutting axes, and pitchforks, were being swarmed by the Goblins. Many of them were injured, and two were already on the ground, not looking good.
His brow furrowed. He quickened his pace, and a short dagger flew from his hand, precisely piercing a Goblin’s head.
In the brief moment the dagger was suspended as it passed through the Goblin’s head, the Assassin himself had already arrived, catching the dagger as it emerged from the other side. With a powerful thrust, he severed another Goblin’s spine.
The sequence of moves was as smooth as flowing water, a perfect display of his skill as a Professional Level Assassin.
However...
Just as the Assassin was about to continue, he turned his head to see two fierce blades of Sword Qi graze past him, barely half a meter away, stirring up a sharp wind.
SWISH! Like mowing down weeds, five or six Goblins were effortlessly sliced in two by the flash of the blade.
VWOOM—
The Sword Qi’s momentum hadn’t faded, its vibrating echo lingering in the air.
Clearly, taking out five or six Goblins wasn’t the limit of this technique; it was just that there were only that many Goblins in its range.
’What a powerful technique!’
’It’s completely different from anything I’ve seen before.’
’And this guy really is a Warrior, right? For a Warrior to have this kind of speed is just absurd!’
But they were still in the middle of a battle, so he didn’t let his mind wander any further and refocused on the fight.
"Reinforcements are here!"
Seeing them, the young men’s spirits were instantly lifted. Hope rekindled, they gritted their teeth and continued to fight the Goblins.
By the time the other Adventurers from behind arrived, only Goblin corpses remained on the scene.
Most of them, naturally, had been killed by Lin Mo, which also increased his [Cross Slash] Skill Level by another 16 points.
"What’s the situation now?"
Alton hurried over and asked the young men.
"There are Goblins on the other sides of the village too!"
The leader, a taller young man clutching his injured arm, answered urgently, "Many areas have already fallen! The Goblins have broken into the village... Please, you have to save everyone!"
The few squad leaders exchanged a look, nodded in silent understanding, and entered the village from different directions.
Alton carefully patted the young man’s uninjured arm. "Focus on healing up. Leave the rest to us."
Carson knelt to check on the two young men on the ground and breathed a small sigh of relief. "It’s okay. Their injuries aren’t light, but they aren’t fatal. Get them somewhere safe and have the village physician treat them immediately."
After speaking, he stood up and followed the rest of the team.
The young men nodded, staring somewhat dazedly at their retreating backs.
"So those are Adventurers, huh?"
"So cool!"
"Way cooler than the Guards who are always hassling us for tax grain!"
"I want to be an Adventurer someday..."
...
Upon entering the village, it was just as the young men had said. Falling Leaves Village had fallen to the Goblins’ assault, and signs of their destruction were everywhere.
The streets were in shambles, the windows of roadside houses were smashed, and their interiors were in ruins.
"Aaaah—!"
A young girl’s scream came from not far away. Lin Mo rushed over and saw several Goblins pinning a girl to the ground. They were laughing hideously as they tore at her clothes.
Lin Mo’s eyes turned cold. He quickly drew a dagger from his waist and threw it.
The Goblin that was about to rip the girl’s skirt was instantly pierced through the heart and fell down stiffly.
"Gaaah—!"
The remaining Goblins shrieked strangely, scrambling to pick up their weapons from the ground. Before they could even get into a stance, Lin Mo charged in and cut them all down, one for each swing of his sword.
Afraid of accidentally injuring the girl, he hadn’t used any Skills. After finishing off the Goblins, Lin Mo hurried forward to check on the crying girl.
’Thankfully, it seems she only has a few scrapes.’
’But she’s crying so heartbrokenly. There must be another reason.’
"My... my father... he..."
The girl, sobbing uncontrollably, sat in front of the thatched hut the Goblins had demolished. Lin Mo glanced inside. A middle-aged man, covered in wounds, lay in a pool of blood with an axe buried deep in his back, long since motionless. His hand was still clenched tightly around a Goblin’s ankle. That Goblin, its own leg broken, held a nail-studded club that rested on the dead man’s head. It was staring blankly at its companions, who had all suddenly dropped dead.
