Chapter 87: Chapter 87
Lin Mo sheathed his sword and struck a finishing pose. He had traced a sword-flourish, and because the sword light had severed the goblins outright, the blade bore no bloodstains.
Parn was startled by him and couldn’t help but murmur to himself.
When they had sparred earlier, he already felt something was off about this kid. Now that he’d seen him strike for real, it was truly terrifying.
Parn imagined for a moment if he himself had faced that blow just now…
The thought made him shiver uncontrollably.
Even if he somehow managed to parry it, the aftermath would be unbearable.
“Are goblins really everywhere in this area now?”
Alden, who had arrived from the rear, looked at the corpses of the goblins and frowned.
“Keep moving. I wonder how Falling Leaves Village is holding up…”
With goblins practically delivering themselves, how could he pass them up? Those were free proficiency points!
While driving the carriage, he glanced at his proficiency panel.
The Cross Slash skill had already been close to leveling up; the goblins just now completed the remaining portion.
“Skill [Cross Slash] Lv4 (100/100) — Level Up!”
“Current Skill [Cross Slash] Lv5 (1/180)”
Just one level to go; this skill was about to finish evolving into another outstanding-tier ability!
However, after that, the goblins encountered along the way weren’t as many as imagined—only two scattered waves, roughly ten in total.
Lin Mo wasn’t anxious though; they were almost at their destination.
Even riding in the carriage, the journey had lasted the whole day as dusk fell.
By the last light of the setting sun, they finally spotted the village sitting on the vast plain in the distance.
At the same time, they also saw faint shapes of green-skinned little figures.
The goblins were attacking the village!
“Speed up! Prepare for combat!”
Alden, who had been driving for Lin Mo, immediately drew his weapon and wore a murderous expression.
“Those damned green cockroaches—send them to the afterlife!”
Lin Mo was the first to rush out from the carriage. Impatient with the exhausted horses, he jumped down from the carriage, landed solidly, and sprinted toward the village.
Alden followed his example, and Ellie along with other veteran members from the adventurer teams fell in right behind.
Lin Mo led the charge, with an assassin-class adventurer slowly catching up to his stride, while the rest of the party trailed further behind.
The assassin glanced at Lin Mo in surprise. A young adventurer was already impressive, but more so, he looked like a warrior—how could his speed be so high?
He was only a little slower than the assassin.
Approaching the village, the assassin refocused and watched the scene ahead.
Within his sight, he could count thirty to forty goblins breaking through fences and pouring into the village. About ten able-bodied villagers wielding pole staves, chopping axes, and pitchforks were being besieged by the goblins; many were injured, and two lay on the ground in particularly bad condition.
He frowned and quickened his steps. He threw a short dagger with precise aim, piercing one goblin’s skull.
During the brief stagger caused by the dagger entering that goblin’s head, the assassin seized the moment. He grabbed the dagger that flew out of the other side of the goblin’s skull, plunged it hard, and cut through another goblin’s cervical spine.
The flowing sequence showcased the assassin’s professional level perfectly.
Just as the assassin was about to continue, he saw two razor-sharp sword qi arcs sweep past half a meter beside him, bringing a slicing wind with them.
With a swish, as if mowing leeks, five or six goblins were effortlessly cleaved apart by the sword light.
The sword qi’s momentum didn’t fade; its echo still vibrated through the air.
Clearly, cutting down four or five goblins wasn’t the limit of this move — it was simply that only that many goblins were within range.
What a powerful move!
It was nothing like any technique he had seen before.
And that guy really was a warrior, right? A warrior with that speed was absurd!
But since they were in the middle of battle, he didn’t let himself be distracted further and focused on fighting.
The villagers’ spirits lifted as they saw the newcomers, hope rekindling in their eyes. They gritted their teeth and continued to struggle against the goblins.
By the time the rest of the adventurers caught up, only goblin corpses remained at the scene.
Most of them had been killed by Lin Mo, and his [Cross Slash] gained another 16 proficiency points.
“What’s the situation now?”
Alden hurried over and asked the youths.
“There are goblins in other parts of the village too!”
The taller youth leading them clutched his wounded arm and replied urgently, “Many places have already fallen. Goblins have broken into the village… Please, save everyone!”
The several team leaders exchanged a look and nodded in silent agreement, moving into the village from different directions.
Alden carefully patted the injured youth’s unhurt arm. “Rest and recover. We’ll handle the rest from here.”
Carson crouched to inspect the two collapsed youths and breathed a small sigh of relief. “They’re okay. The injuries are serious but not fatal. Move them to a safe place and have the village healer treat them immediately.” ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ NoveIＦire.net
He then stood and fell into step with the group.
The youths nodded and stared at their departing backs in a kind of stunned daze.
“Those are adventurers, right?”
“A lot cooler than those guards who always come to collect our taxes!”
“I want to be an adventurer someday…”
As they entered the village, it was exactly as the youths had described: Falling Leaves Village had been overrun by this wave of goblins. Evidence of destruction was everywhere.
The streets were ruined; the windows of roadside houses were smashed, and the interiors were wrecked.
A girl’s scream rang out nearby. Lin Mo rushed over to find several goblins pinning a girl to the ground, grinning savagely as they began tearing at her clothes.
Lin Mo’s gaze chilled. He quickly drew a dagger from his waist and threw it.
The goblin that was about to rip the girl’s skirt was pierced through the heart and toppled straight down.
The remaining goblins shrieked and scrambled to pick up weapons. Before they could form a stance, Lin Mo charged through and swept them down one sword at a time.
To avoid accidentally harming the girl, he did not use a skill. After dispatching the goblins, he hurried forward to check on the crying girl.
Fortunately, she seemed to have only some scrapes.
But her sobbing was so intense there had to be more to it.
The girl, choking on sobs, sat in front of a straw hut wrecked by the goblins. Lin Mo turned to look inside and found a middle-aged man riddled with wounds, lying in a pool of blood. An axe jutted straight out of his back; he was already motionless. His hand still clutched a goblin’s ankle. That broken-legged goblin, holding a wooden club studded with nails, lay nearby, staring blankly at the suddenly fallen companion.