Chapter 122: Chapter 122

With 36 points of strength, the physical damage boost from [Vanish], and the formidable power of a fully charged [Charged Sword Slash], multiple sword energies layered together directly severed the Minotaur Chieftain's head from its body.

Even Lin Mo himself hadn't expected the results to be this effective. After a brief moment of surprise, delight washed over him.

Taking out the most troublesome chieftain in one go meant this mission was more than halfway completed.

[Vanish] proficiency +20

[Accumulated Sword Combo] proficiency +20

As these notifications floated before his eyes, the distant Minotaurs also noticed their leader's gruesome death. Surprisingly, instead of scattering and fleeing immediately, they all charged forward en masse.

It had to be said that compared to Goblins, they were much braver—or perhaps more reckless.

Facing the Minotaurs' group assault, Lin Mo felt no fear whatsoever, instead growing quite excited.

He had just been worrying that if these creatures scattered and ran, pursuing them would be difficult. Now they were delivering themselves right to him!

These were the Minotaur Vanguards.

Their strength mostly ranged between 1.5-1.9, posing significant challenges for ordinary professionals, but for professionals above level 2, they weren't much of a threat.

Lin Mo didn't retreat at all, simply watching them approach.

Behind him, Ellie first retreated some distance with Finnie before returning to Lin Mo's side.

Holy light flashed as Finnie cast the [Light's Assistance] buff on Ellie too.

As for Lin Mo, the buff she'd given him earlier hadn't expired yet.

One of the Minotaur Vanguards roared and charged at Lin Mo, who thrust forward with his Black Sword.

The sharp blade struck the axe head, the powerful force immediately causing the Minotaur Vanguard to stagger. Then, Lin Mo's Black Sword, which should have lost momentum, suddenly exerted force again.

[Consecutive Thrusts]!

This thrust came so abruptly that the Minotaur Vanguard had no time to block or dodge, directly pierced through the chest. It struggled briefly before collapsing to the ground unwillingly.

[Consecutive Thrusts] proficiency +13

"Skill [Consecutive Thrusts] Lv1 (10/10) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Consecutive Thrusts] Lv2 (3/20)"

Leveling up from just one monster.

Lin Mo glanced at the Consecutive Thrusts proficiency and pressed his advantage, attacking the other Minotaur Vanguard.

Meanwhile, Ellie became entangled in combat with three Minotaurs.

With her strength, handling one Minotaur was more than enough, two she could manage, but three was quite strenuous. Without the attribute boost from [Light's Assistance], she probably wouldn't last long.

Even so, Ellie's current situation looked somewhat disheveled. A momentary lapse allowed a Minotaur's axe to graze her arm.

But the next moment, a gentle light showered over her, the wound healing at a visible rate.

This was the benefit of having a priest in the party—injuries weren't worrisome until the priest's mana was depleted.

Lin Mo quickened his movements, seemingly preparing to charge head-on at the Minotaur Vanguard.

The Minotaur Vanguard also prepared itself, having witnessed its companion's gruesome death and now aware of Lin Mo's cunning tactics, ready to counter.

Just as it gathered momentum to engage, the figure before it suddenly vanished.

The sudden change made the Minotaur Vanguard pause momentarily. Less than half a second later, a sharp blade suddenly pierced through its throat from behind.

[Consecutive Thrusts] proficiency +13!

The moment his sword struck, Lin Mo was already heading toward Ellie's position without looking back.

Several Minotaurs moved to intercept, but they were too slow to stop him.

Ellie deflected one Minotaur's attack, sidestepped another axe swing, then looked at the third axe following closely, gritted her teeth, preparing to block it forcefully.

The next moment, a black blade suddenly pierced through that Minotaur's chest, then slowly withdrew.

Ellie smiled briefly before engaging the remaining two Minotaurs again.

With the [Light's Assistance] boost, two Minotaurs posed much less threat to her.

Lin Mo didn't intervene further, instead turning to look behind him.

Even for these reckless creatures, with their three strongest fallen, they should be calming down now.

Sure enough, the remaining Minotaurs had started to flee.

Lin Mo quickly pursued, easily killing one with a single sword strike.

[Stealth] proficiency +8!

[Consecutive Thrusts] proficiency +8!

Soon, another level-up notification for [Consecutive Thrusts] appeared before Lin Mo's eyes.

"Skill [Consecutive Thrusts] Lv2 (20/20) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Consecutive Thrusts] Lv3 (4/40)"

Acquired attribute points: Strength +2

Leveling up twice within just two minutes—this Minotaur settlement truly was, as Lin Mo had anticipated, a holy land for grinding proficiency.

His strength had now reached 29 points, just one step away from advancing to a level 3 warrior!

But this final step wasn't easy to cross. Unless he acquired new skills, reaching the max level for either [Consecutive Thrusts] or [Accumulated Sword Combo] would require some time.

So subsequent proficiency should be allocated to other skills.

Lin Mo had already pre-equipped the arm shield he'd specially purchased earlier on his left arm.

He quickly caught up with the remaining Minotaurs, severing each one's legs with a single sword strike. The Minotaurs instantly lost their ability to flee, collapsing to the ground with mournful howls.

Lin Mo approached one Minotaur, swung his arm shield, and smashed it forcefully against its forehead.

Under the powerful force, the level 1 professional equivalent Minotaur was instantly and undoubtedly headshot.

[Shield Bash] proficiency +8

Lin Mo repeated the method on five consecutive Minotaurs, and the [Shield Bash] skill leveled up to 4.

Reaching level 5 from level 4 required 100 proficiency points, which couldn't be gathered for now.

With the last remaining Minotaur, Lin Mo decided to conduct a small experiment.

He first used [Consecutive Thrusts] to pierce the Minotaur's chest, then quickly followed up with a [Fireball].

The Minotaur soon died, and a notification appeared before Lin Mo's eyes.

[Consecutive Thrusts] proficiency +8

Well, it seemed it didn't work.

He had wanted to test if he could exploit a bug this way to gain Fireball proficiency, but it appeared he failed.

As for directly blasting...although magic was powerful, it required mana support. His mana was only 4 points; it might no longer be limited to dealing with ordinary Goblins and could be effective against other low-level magical creatures, but trying to kill a professionally-level Minotaur with a solid threat level of 1 was still too difficult. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ n0velfire.net

It was like an ordinary person with 4 strength points trying to chop down a Minotaur—at most they'd break the skin without even reaching the bone.

He'd need at least 7-8 mana points, or over 6 points with an excellent-grade skill to manage it.

After returning this time, he needed to visit the church to see if he could learn a healing spell. Even if it wasn't useful with Finnie around, it would at least increase his mana by 1 point.

Turning around, he saw that Ellie, with Finnie's assistance, had successfully killed one Minotaur. Lin Mo hurried over to claim the final Minotaur's "kill," allocating the proficiency to [Shield Bash].

Mastering this skill would allow him to advance to a level 2 knight.

"Mr. Lin Mo, are you injured?"

Finnie jogged over, ready to cast a healing spell on Lin Mo at any moment.

Lin Mo waved his hand, then looked at the ground covered with Minotaur corpses, suddenly feeling a headache.

"With so many Minotaur horns, bringing them back will be troublesome..."

And their axes too—although they were crude weapons, the materials were substantial and could fetch some money.

Unfortunately, with only three of them, carrying everything back wasn't feasible.

Finnie raised her hand: "Actually, after the previous two missions, I thought carrying so many things back every time was quite laborious for everyone, so..."

She opened her backpack and took out a seemingly small cloth bag.

But this cloth bag was clearly extraordinary, adorned with extremely complex magical patterns.

Obviously, this was a magical artifact.

Lin Mo recalled a magical artifact Alden had once mentioned—the "Magic Storage Bag."

This artifact used rare space magic enchanted into bags woven from magic-conductive materials, achieving an effect similar to "spatial folding," allowing seemingly small bags to hold many items.

This thing's value was no less than a magic staff!

"I was too nervous earlier and forgot about this... Mother said this storage bag has about five meters of space, which I think should be enough..."

"Enough, definitely enough!"

Lin Mo, overjoyed, immediately started working, removing the Minotaur horns and piling them together with the weapons.

Ellie came to help too, while Finnie... she lacked the strength and couldn't manage.

After considerable effort, they finished. Lin Mo rubbed his sore neck and looked at Finnie with anticipation.

Finnie said nervously, "I've never used this before, so..."

As she spoke, she channeled mana into the storage bag. The next moment, the originally small bag opening enlarged significantly. Lin Mo tried placing a Minotaur horn inside, and it instantly disappeared as if swallowed by a black hole.

After putting in several pairs of horns, Finnie's expression suddenly became strained.

"Um... Mr. Lin Mo..."

She struggled to hold the bag with both hands: "It's a bit heavy."

Lin Mo paused, then took the bag. Well, although the space inside could expand, this was merely spatial folding, not a true extradimensional space—the weight of items placed inside didn't vanish.

It seemed the plan to bring all the axes still wasn't feasible; otherwise, he couldn't carry it either.

After packing all the horns and stuffing the Minotaur Chieftain's weapon inside, Lin Mo held the heavy bag, already finding it somewhat strenuous.

But nonetheless, it was much more convenient.

This mission seemed to be concluding smoothly, and Lin Mo couldn't help but feel relaxed.

However, at that moment, Ellie suddenly froze. She sniffed carefully, then looked toward the depths of the forest, her fur instantly bristling...