[Invisibility]!

Slipping into a hidden corner, Lin Mo activated the Invisibility Skill again and made his way to the largest wooden hut in the center of the Goblin Settlement.

Inside the hut, a sturdily built Goblin was holding a large leg, tearing off a piece of flesh with its teeth.

On a nearby pile of straw, several green-skinned infants were wailing loudly. They looked distinctly different from the young Goblins Lin Mo had seen earlier.

Clearly, these were Mutated Goblins. If allowed to grow to maturity, they would pose a significant threat.

The killing intent in Lin Mo’s eyes flared. With the Black Sword in hand, he began to charge his attack.

Now that Sword Storing and Continuous Slash had reached Level 4, its power was far beyond what it had been at Level 2. Furthermore, reaching Level 4 had unlocked another Evolutionary Path.

One option was an enhanced Quick Charge, shortening the required charge time by 50%—a further 17% improvement over its previous version. The other was Condensation, an option he hadn’t picked before, which would increase the maximum number of Sword Qi strikes by one.

Generally, choosing the same Evolutionary Path twice for a Skill resulted in diminishing returns. For that reason, Lin Mo almost always chose the other path for the second evolution.

The same was true for Sword Charge Strike. As a result, it could now unleash a maximum of seven Sword Qi strikes!

The duration of [Invisibility] was about to expire, and [Sword Charge Strike] was fully charged. Without hesitation, Lin Mo unleashed all seven Sword Qi strikes simultaneously, aiming straight for the head of the Quasi-Bronze Goblin before him.

The physical damage bonus from Invisibility activated. Combined with the 2 points of Strength and the 10% bonus to slashing-type damage from the Black Sword, the move’s power became terrifyingly immense.

Furthermore, the Black Sword increased the casting speed of Sword Charge Strike by 10%. ’At first, I thought that meant the charging speed, but it’s not that...’

’Based on the results, it was the speed of my sword swing and the flight speed of the Sword Qi!’

The Goblin had no time to react. Seven strikes of Sword Qi slashed across its neck almost simultaneously. Its grotesque green head flew into the air, the leg it was holding dropped to the ground, and its body collapsed limply onto the crude lounge chair.

[Invisibility] Skill Proficiency +14

[Sword Storing and Continuous Slash] Skill Proficiency +14

He had one-shotted a Quasi-Bronze Goblin with a Threat Level of at least 1.8!

A look of delight appeared on Lin Mo’s face. ’This new weapon is damn good.’

’And I can keep going...’

The kill was so fast that the creature didn’t even have time to make a sound. Amid the clamor of the Goblins outside, the soft thud of its head hitting the floor was barely audible.

Lin Mo activated [Invisibility] again, left the hut, and headed for the one next to it.

[Sword Storing and Continuous Slash]!

This time, he didn’t even need to charge. A single, instant-cast [Sword Storing and Continuous Slash]—using only two of the available three Sword Qi strikes—was enough to slay the adult Mutated Goblin inside the hut.

[Invisibility] Skill Proficiency +8

[Sword Storing and Continuous Slash] Skill Proficiency +8

’Farming skill proficiency like this feels great!’

Overjoyed, Lin Mo rushed to the next hut without pause, clearing them out one by one like the Grim Reaper with his scythe...

A few minutes later, while the others watched from a distance, still wondering why Lin Mo hadn’t attacked, he suddenly appeared in plain sight before the Goblins who were eating breakfast.

"YAAH—!"

The Goblins were startled, scrambling to grab their weapons and point them at Lin Mo.

Having formed a settlement with sufficient numbers, these Goblins were quite bold. A dozen of them immediately charged forward, brandishing wooden clubs.

Expressionless, Lin Mo held his Black Sword and methodically stabbed forward, one thrust at a time, as if playing a game of whack-a-mole.

With each thrust, a Goblin fell with a wail, and his [Stabbing] Skill Proficiency rose in turn.

A Goblin Archer at the rear drew its bow, but before it could fire, Lin Mo casually launched an Ice Cone Skill that instantly pierced its skull.

Seeing him engage, the members of the Bull Run Squad charged forward as well.

Ali led the charge, plunging right into the horde of Goblins and fighting as she pleased. The others maintained their formation, fighting methodically.

Rick and Alton formed a wall at the front of the party, protecting Feney and Solan behind them.

Carson lurked on the flank, looking for an opening to assassinate. After a successful strike, he would immediately withdraw.

This was how a veteran Adventurer Squad handled combat. Unless their numbers were overwhelming, these Ordinary Goblins posed no real threat to them.

And clearly, the number of Goblins in this small settlement was nowhere near enough to turn the tide.

What puzzled Alton was the absence of the Mutated Goblins. ’Why haven’t they shown up yet?’

The Ordinary Goblins, who were being routed and were rapidly losing their will to fight, wondered the same thing.

’Where are the big guys? Why aren’t they coming out to save us?’

’Could it be...’

Of course, Alton was much smarter than a Goblin. He quickly realized what must have happened and looked over at Lin Mo, who appeared completely at ease despite being surrounded by Goblins.

’He took care of all the Mutated Goblins already?’

’Just as I thought. It’s only been two or three days since our last mission, and he’s gotten so much stronger.’

Shaking his head with a sense of resignation, Alton pushed aside such thoughts of envy and focused on the Goblins before him.

Before long, the decimated Goblins began to scatter and flee. The Bull Run Squad pursued them relentlessly, and ultimately, not even one in ten managed to escape.

All in all, it was a highly successful extermination mission.

Normally, while it was easy for Adventurers to destroy a Goblin Settlement, achieving a high kill rate was difficult.

A rate of around 60% was considered acceptable, while a veteran squad might achieve over 70%. Last time, their own rate had been just over 80%. Reaching 90% this time was purely because Lin Mo had eliminated the Mutated Goblins without the Ordinary Goblins realizing it; they were still fantasizing that their bosses would come save the day.

By the time they realized something was wrong, it was too late to escape.

The group began to clear the battlefield. Lin Mo, of course, didn’t forget to go back and kill all the young Goblins in the settlement. He paid special attention to the few Mutated Goblin young in the largest hut, dismembering each one to ensure nothing was left to chance.

After that came the rather tedious task of collecting the spoils...

They worked until just after nine in the morning, at which point Alton sealed the bag of Goblin ears, signaling the end of the mission.

And so, the Bull Run Squad’s final mission was successfully completed.

The group embarked on the journey home, falling into a strange, somber silence.

Lin Mo opened his skill proficiency panel to check his progress.

During that battle, he had deliberately focused on raising his [Ice Cone Skill] proficiency. Its progress was now Lv2 (17/20). He just needed 3 more proficiency points to gain another point of Magic Power.

Likewise, his [Stabbing] skill had gained a lot of proficiency and was close to reaching Level 4.

As for his High Tier Skills, [Resilience] had gained almost no proficiency because there hadn’t been any major impacts.

Thanks to the Mutated Goblins, however, both [Sword Storing and Continuous Slash] and [Invisibility] had gained 45 skill proficiency points.

The current progress for [Sword Storing and Continuous Slash] was Lv4 (49/100). [Invisibility], however, had accumulated just enough proficiency to reach Level 5.

"Skill [Invisibility] Lv4 (100/100) has Leveled Up!"

"Current Skill: [Invisibility] Lv5 (0/180)"

[Invisibility] Lv5: Accustomed to hiding in the shadows, you begin to grasp the true essence of ’shadow.’ Consume Qi and Blood to briefly hide your form and grant your next attack a 25% physical damage bonus!

[Invisibility] at Level 5 already provided a 25% physical damage bonus!

’However, based on the pattern so far, there’s probably still a long way to go before I can max out this skill and upgrade it to the next tier: Epic.’

’The cap for Ordinary Level Skills is Level 5, and for Excellent Level skills it’s Level 6. So, as an Excellence Level skill, [Invisibility] must have a Level 7 beyond Level 6.’

’The proficiency required for each level increases drastically, and to gain significant proficiency for Excellence Level Skills, you have to kill elite monsters. Maxing this skill out is going to be a long and arduous journey...’

’For now, my priority should be improving my Low Tier Skills. I’ll see results much faster that way.’

They headed straight back to Silver Stream City. Since this mission hadn’t taken them too deep into the forest, they made it back inside the city walls just as night began to fall.

This time, Feney wasn’t in a rush to get home. Everyone else seemed to be on the same page, as they all headed straight for the Association.

Lena had just tidied up her counter and was about to leave for the day when the group pushed open the Association’s main doors and headed straight for her.

"Sorry to keep you, Lena. Looks like you’ll have to work a little overtime," Lin Mo said with a smile.

"Of course, no problem!"

Lena nodded and cheerfully took the cloth bag from Alton.

"The mission numbers are E5519 and E6032."

"Alright, one moment please... Mission E5519, hunt a Gale Snake. Confirmed receipt of Snake Fang, Snake Gallbladder, and Poison Sac. The reward is 25 gold coins."

"Mission E6032..."

Another Association staff member helped count the Goblin ears.

After confirming the count, Lena continued, "Mission E6032, clear out Goblin Settlement #81. Total subjugated: 188 Ordinary Goblins and 6 Mutated Goblins. So the total comes to..."

She did the math for a moment. "A total of 28 gold coins and 64 silver coins."

The total earnings for the missions came to 53 gold coins and 64 silver coins. On top of that, Feney took out 60 gold coins from her personal savings as a bonus.

Following the same distribution method as before, Lin Mo’s share came out to a little over 34 gold. This brought his total savings to 283 gold coins, putting him close to the 300-gold mark.

With the mission payout settled, Alton smiled at everyone. "Come on, let’s go have a feast. It’s on me!"

A short while later, a private room in Silver Stream City’s Richard Grand Hotel was filled with the sounds of clinking glasses and cheerful laughter...

Alton, who rarely drank, got completely wasted. Rick and Solan drank heavily too, as did Lin Mo and Ali. Even Feney, who had never had a drop of alcohol in her life, drank a few glasses of fruit wine before her face turned bright red and she passed out on the table, muttering in her sleep.