Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Lin Mo could see some information about the goblins.

On the status panel, the goblins’ levels hadn’t directly increased, but they had gained a status called "Dark Surge." As for the actual combat power boost... Lin Mo roughly assessed that since ordinary goblins had a poor base combat capability, their attributes had nearly doubled across the board!

Meanwhile, the mutated goblins and goblin guards had also received significant enhancements—though not as dramatic as a full doubling, they had still gained at least around a 70% boost.

Bronze-rank goblins had been strengthened by roughly 50%, while Silver-level goblins had seen an increase of over 30%.

As for Gold-level goblins, Lin Mo hadn’t spotted any yet, so he couldn’t confirm their boost.

In short, under the influence of the Dark Tide, the overall strength of the goblin army had undoubtedly risen by more than just one level compared to before.

The enhancement of these low-to-mid-tier goblins wasn’t too big a deal for powerful officers or high-level adventurers. Their strength overwhelmingly crushed these low-level goblins, so even if they could kill them in one move before, they could still do so now.

But for less powerful adventurers and ordinary soldiers, it became a huge headache.

Originally, ordinary goblins were so weak that even a normal adult could beat them, let alone these well-trained soldiers. In previous battles, in one-on-one fights, soldiers could finish off an ordinary goblin in under 30 seconds. Even when outnumbered two-to-one or three-to-one, they could still handle it.

Their only advantage was superior equipment and weapons. Ordinary goblins used crude weapons like wooden sticks and spears, while these soldiers—even the most basic ones—were genuine Imperial regulars, each equipped with a standard set of light armor and a decent weapon.

Combined with the protective barrier giving them a retreat route and reducing the goblins’ numerical advantage by narrowing the battlefield, the two sides were temporarily locked in a stalemate.

But when it came to casualty ratios, the allied forces were clearly winning by a large margin.

Yet, this brought them back to the same problem...

Even with a casualty ratio of 1:10, it was still a losing game for them.

Clearly, the current combat strategy couldn’t be sustained. If they kept dragging things out like this, even if they could hold on for a long time, they’d never truly solve the problem. In fact, the longer the war dragged on, the more "power" the Dark Tide would absorb.

Moreover, the Holy Son could only maintain this barrier for a limited time. According to his own estimate, he could sustain it for at most three or four days under extreme conditions.

They had to find a way to resolve this within those three to four days, or they wouldn’t be able to stop the Dark Tide and the goblin army from spreading further.

The situation had already been relayed to the Empire and the Church, but while the Empire could send more troops, without Holy Light Power’s protection, no amount of soldiers could stand against the Dark Tide.

As for the Church...

Three or four days weren’t enough for reinforcements from the Church to arrive. More importantly, with Dark Tide incidents erupting everywhere, the Church had few available personnel to deploy.

The Pope himself couldn’t come in person. He had to stay vigilant against a far more dangerous threat... the undead.

During this time, the necromancers had been growing increasingly active and bold. They were always waiting for the perfect opportunity, and the Pope leaving the Holy Light Church would undoubtedly be an opportunity too tempting for them to resist.

Once they confirmed the Pope’s location, the necromancers, ready and waiting, would launch an Undead Cataclysm without hesitation. If such a disaster occurred, the Pope would need to arrive at the scene as quickly as possible to contain its spread. Once the Undead Cataclysm reached a certain scale, it would become exponentially harder to handle.

By comparison, while the current crisis was also severe, it simply couldn’t compare to an Undead Cataclysm.

In terms of both spread speed and potential damage, an Undead Cataclysm was far worse than an ordinary Dark Tide disaster.

After all, "death"—just as life is to the world—was one of the most fundamental roots of the dark side and the most powerful and troublesome form of the Dark Tide.

Undead creatures were far more adaptable and compatible with the Dark Tide’s power, allowing them to gain terrifying enhancements, and they were incredibly hard to kill!

In fact, this gnome kingdom invasion might have been a deliberate smokescreen for the necromancers—a bait deliberately thrown out to lure the Church.

If the Pope took the bait, the consequences would be impossible to predict.

The allied forces’ high command naturally understood these issues. At this point, the situation had gone far beyond just the Lockesetz Empire’s problem—it was a crisis the entire continent had to face together.

But what could they actually do to resolve this immediate crisis?

No one could give an answer for the moment.

Because they were facing an enemy they couldn’t see or touch.

"In any case, we can’t keep grinding this out. The goblins still number in the billions—we can’t outlast them. Even if it’s dangerous, we have to take the initiative and find a way to destroy the goblins’ command structure."

In other words, it was time for the powerful professionals to step up and take responsibility. They had to figure out how to kill the high-level goblins and throw the goblin army into chaos.

Though the goblin army was chaotic and disorderly, there was still some overall direction and order, much like a human army. This was thanks to their multi-layered "command" system.

Hidden among the vast goblin army were a few special individuals responsible for relaying higher-level commands and directing the troops.

Killing these special individuals would create localized chaos among the goblins.

And if they could take down the higher-ranking goblins that served as command hubs for larger areas, the benefits would be even greater.

The reason they hadn’t chosen this approach earlier was the sheer scale of the war. While the allied forces had many powerful experts, it was still hard to cover the entire vast frontline. The risk of taking the initiative was too high—if powerful goblins showed up on the frontline while the experts were out, it could cause massive damage, leading to heavy casualties among soldiers and adventurers, or even a breach in the line.

Now that the frontline had shrunk, even though many goblins would slip past them and threaten the Empire and the Elven Royal Court, it also meant the area they needed to cover was smaller, making an active assault far more feasible.

It was like when people fight, they’re always afraid of getting hurt. They try to solve things without taking damage, which makes them hesitant. But once they’re actually injured and realize the problem isn’t that easy to solve, they let go of those concerns. At that point, it’s like removing a lock—they’re truly in fighting mode.

Besides, with the Holy Son’s barrier in place, and the Holy Son able to adjust the barrier locally, any truly powerful goblins or gnomes that tried to sneak-attack could still be dealt with.

So, it was time to go on the offensive!

But this kind of operation was extremely dangerous. Outside the barrier’s protection, they had to face not just goblins and gnomes, but also the Dark Tide!

Even though the Dark Tide had been spread thin to enhance the goblin army, and no longer eroded minds as directly as before, since it could be dispersed, it could also be concentrated again.

Therefore, such a dangerous mission would not allow the participation of young, talented juniors.

Each faction settled their own juniors, strictly ordering them not to leave before setting out themselves.

On the military side, enough people were left to maintain the command structure, while the remaining officers formed teams and went out as well.

Everyone was moving. Lin Mo naturally wasn’t going to just sit idle.

Ellie and the others had already rested enough inside the Portable Space.

Though the Dark Tide was dangerous, it posed no threat to them.

As for why...

Lin Mo wasn’t entirely sure either, but earlier when the Dark Tide had descended, he had used Holy Light Power to create a barrier and block it, so he hadn’t recalled Ellie and the others in time. They had been very close to the Dark Tide, yet they weren’t affected at all.

Later, after some careful analysis, they came up with a conclusion—though whether it was correct or not, they didn’t know.

Maybe it was because they had been in close contact with Lin Mo for so long that they had absorbed the "Holy Light" aura?

Though it sounded a bit far-fetched, when they thought about it, it did seem like a reasonable explanation.

Mainly because they couldn’t think of any other explanation.

Anyway, Ellie and the others could participate in the upcoming battle. And if anything unexpected happened, with the Life Contract in place, there was no need to worry too much.

Even if they were corrupted by the Dark Tide, with Lin Mo around, driving it out wouldn’t be difficult.

They could go all out and let loose.

The "beheading" operation soon began.

Many powerful experts sprang into action, departing from different directions, leaving the barrier’s range to launch surprise attacks deep into the goblin army.

The Silver Radiance Team members were also among them.

Lin Mo charged ahead the fastest, but he didn’t rush to the very front. He didn’t recklessly plunge deep into enemy ranks. Instead, he kept himself in the middle-front section of the formation. This position allowed him to encounter more high-level goblins and gnomes, but without being on the front line, avoiding the risk of being an obvious target.

Among so many powerful experts, Lin Mo’s strength wasn’t actually that remarkable. After all, this wasn’t a competition with people his age or slightly older—many of those present were among the top-tier experts across the entire continent.

Apart from over a dozen peak Heroic Realm super-powerhouses, there were also over a hundred Heroic-level high-end combatants. There weren’t as many at first, but as the battle grew more intense, more Heroic-level experts came to reinforce. Adding in the elven Heroic-level experts, they reached this exaggerated number.

Lin Mo’s current strength placed him roughly in the middle of these hundred or so... After all, his level had gone up again in the past few days.

Beyond that, there were thousands of Transcendent-level adventurers, officers, and faction members—roughly more than half of the total Transcendent-level forces on this frontline.

So, at least for now, there was no need for him to shoulder a heavy burden. He could just play it safe, grind his proficiency, and be cautious above all else.

Speaking of which, there was something else Lin Mo was very curious about.

These goblins, after being enhanced by the Dark Tide, had seen significant boosts to their attributes and combat power, but their levels hadn’t changed. Under normal circumstances, their proficiency shouldn’t have changed much either.

But... could a goblin possessed by the Dark Tide really be considered "normal circumstances"?

Would these enhanced goblins give more proficiency?

With this thought, Lin Mo decided to test it out. He casually picked a Gold-level goblin, swung his sword, and released a Sword Energy, effortlessly cutting it in half.

[Phantom Sword Dance] Proficiency +225!

It increased!

The moment he saw this prompt flash before his eyes, Lin Mo’s eyes lit up. The Gold-level goblin he had just killed was probably level 17. Under normal circumstances, a magical creature of that level would provide 150 proficiency points, but this time he had gained 225 points. That was clearly a lot more—an increase of about 50%.

He tried again, taking down a few more, and the results were similar.

Though the proficiency increase seemed to vary depending on the goblin’s level, there was definitely a substantial boost.

Suddenly, Lin Mo felt even more motivated. He moved faster and faster, turning high-level goblin after high-level goblin into dead souls beneath his blade.

After a continuous slaughter, the proficiency of [Phantom Sword Dance] skyrocketed, quickly reaching the max level!

Another Epic-level skill had evolved!

"Skill [Phantom Sword Dance] Lv8 (20/20) Upgrade!"

"Current Skill [Phantom Sword Dance] Lv9 (11/40)"

"Basic Attribute Points Gained: Strength +6, Agility +4!"

"Automatically Evolved to New Skill—Peerless Sword Formation!"

"Comprehended Skill [Peerless Sword Formation]! Basic Attribute Points Gained: Strength +10!"

When an Epic-level skill reached max level and when comprehending a Legendary skill, the base attribute points gained were both 10, adding up to a total of 20 points.

[Peerless Sword Formation] Lv1 (0/60): Condenses a large amount of Qi and Blood and releases it outward, forming a massive "Peerless Sword Formation." Within the formation, countless "Peerless Sword Shadows" formed from Qi and Blood constantly shuttle around, dealing massive damage to any targets they hit! Targets within the formation whose level or Strength attribute is lower than the caster’s will be trapped inside, unable to leave!

Just from the name alone, it was clear this was an incredibly powerful and flashy skill.

Lin Mo immediately turned to look at this skill’s evolution paths.

Please choose an evolution direction—

Evolution Route 1: Phantom Dash I: Peerless Sword Shadow travel speed increased by 30%!

Evolution Route 2: Formation Expansion I: Peerless Sword Formation range increased by 30%!

Two evolution paths. The first increased the speed of the sword shadows’ movement, which effectively boosted the skill’s damage frequency and, in turn, its overall damage output. However, it was hard to quantify exactly how much it increased.

As for Evolution Route 2, it directly expanded the formation’s range.

Lin Mo was leaning toward Evolution Route 2.

At least with the current situation, he didn’t need to increase the power of a Legendary-level skill. After all, even without the boost, he was still slaughtering effortlessly. By comparison, increasing the skill’s range offered better value for money.

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