Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

An adventurer was locked in a brutal struggle.

His strength was quite good, he had reached the Heroic Realm, unquestionably one of the more reliable adventurers.

But the gnome in front of him was even stronger.

From his years of experience, he could judge that this gnome was most likely level 32, one level higher than him.

Facing a gnome of this level was already difficult for him under normal circumstances, let alone now that it had been empowered by some kind of Dark Tide, making it even harder to handle.

The fight had only been going on for a few minutes, but his body was already covered in wounds, his equipment damaged, and his stamina and qi and blood severely depleted.

If this continued, he could only hold out a few more minutes at best before being defeated and killed by this gnome.

He regretted answering the Association’s request and wading into this mess.

No, he had to find a way to escape!

But once such thoughts arose, his fighting edge was lost, and he became even less able to contend with his opponent.

He hurriedly dodged the gnome’s attack. His first thought was not to counterattack, but to flee. As he turned to run, several other goblins suddenly rushed out from the side. Though not as powerful, their surprise attack still caused him trouble.

After he hacked those goblins down with a few slashes and turned back, the stronger gnome already had its blade raised, swinging down toward his neck.

It was over!

A wave of despair flashed through his mind, he could not dodge this strike in time…

The next moment, a white flash streaked across his vision. The gnome’s blade struck him, sending him flying and landing in a miserable heap.

But to his surprise, he was not dead—only a deep bloody gash remained across his neck.

[Constitution Amplification] Proficiency +20

[Unyielding Body] Proficiency +20

Lin Mo glanced at the prompt that flickered before him and smiled faintly.

Besides combat skills, these auxiliary skills could also be useful for farming proficiency.

These gnomes were powerful; fighting them increased auxiliary skill proficiency very quickly,

and he could also buff others and earn some proficiency that way.

So...

The next moment Lin Mo flashed directly behind the goblin that had just failed to kill the adventurer and was staring in shock. Before it could react, his figure streaked past and, accompanied by an invisible edge of air, sliced through its body.

Twin Dragon Space Slash!

This move was the result of Lin Mo’s research over the past period.

Previously, Lin Mo’s Spellsword skills had always been combinations of warrior techniques and elemental magic, but he had never tried combining warrior skills with Space Magic.

On one hand, the number of Space Magic spells he knew was not small, but the only offensive Space Magic—the Space Slash—was of relatively low rank, so he had not prioritized it.

On the other hand, compared to elemental magic, time-and-space magic was much harder. Combining time-and-space magic with warrior skills presented a tremendous challenge.

Lin Mo spent a long time studying before he managed to break through that technical barrier,

and the result was the move he had just used.

Paired with the Space Slash was the evolved version of the Iaido Flash he had independently grasped earlier—the Twin Dragon Flash.

This skill’s defining trait is speed. Its raw power was not exceptional, but its slashing speed was astonishing. Integrating Space Slash greatly amplified the move’s lethality, compensating for its lack of base power.

Although Space Slash was only an Exceptional-Grade skill, its special nature gave it a pseudo-true-damage mechanism, allowing it to ignore many defensive measures.

Moreover, after combining it with Twin Dragon Flash, there was an extremely important effect... Twin Dragon Flash rapidly delivers two slashes in quick succession, so when fused with Space Slash it likewise released twice in rapid succession.

That was precisely the biggest difficulty of the technique, and what Lin Mo had spent so much time researching.

At first it would not succeed at all. Only through repeated trials, and with increasing proficiency and rank in both skills, did Lin Mo’s understanding deepen until he finally found the solution.

The combined effect of these two skills entirely justified his long effort.

A combination of one Epic-Level skill and one Exceptional-Grade magic produced power even exceeding the pairing of two Epic-Level skills,

and, crucially, the execution speed was ridiculously fast, making it perfect for surprise strikes.

Coupled with Flash, this instant close-range teleportation skill, the combo was essentially a killer move against foes weaker than him.

Without surprise, under the combined force of the two overlapping spaces, the gnome was cut cleanly in two.

The severed body still writhed, its face filled with incredulous shock.

It had no idea what had happened... Why hadn’t it finished off that human? Who was this sudden attacker? Why had its body split in two?

It didn’t get time to ponder further.

[Space Slash] Proficiency +500 (+500+250)

[Flash] Proficiency +500 (+500+250)

[Twin Dragon Flash] Proficiency +500 (+500+250)

Not bad, not bad!

Lin Mo watched the floating prompts and nodded with satisfaction. This yield was quite decent.

The next instant, he didn’t bother with the wounded adventurer and immediately swapped positions with a nearby shadow split.

The swapped shadow split was also fighting, killing high-level goblins.

Lin Mo’s main body arrived at the position the split had occupied.

Not far from him, another human powerhouse was locked in a brutal duel with a gnome.

This was the convenience the Shadow Split skill provided: by sending a split ahead to the battlefield, Lin Mo could, after finishing one fight, immediately teleport to another spot in the blink of an eye.

This undoubtedly saved him a great deal of travel time and greatly improved efficiency.

Using this method, Lin Mo shuttled across the battlefield and repeatedly rescued several human powerhouses on the brink of disaster.

Similar scenes were happening with other exceptionally strong, once-promising talents.

But their presence only helped some individuals escape danger. Overall, because of the Dark Tide’s empowerment, the Allied Forces no longer held a clear advantage in mid-to-high tier combat strength.

Plus, many troops were still positioned at the rear to defend, so frontline strength was naturally further depleted.

No, this can’t continue...

The few peak Heroic-level leaders were also embroiled in grueling fights.

However, because of the Gnome Emperor’s strategy and their own resilient strength, even with the Dark Tide’s aid, the gnome forces didn’t have enough hands to suppress them.

So their situation was not dire—they were simply entangled and couldn’t break free for the moment.

They still had the capacity to pay attention to surrounding developments and were fully aware of the current grim reality.

“If things get really bad, we’ll pull back. There are already casualties. If this continues, we’ll suffer heavy losses...”

After all, they were deep behind enemy lines. Besides dealing with these tenacious opponents, many goblins were harassing them.

Although most goblins posed little threat individually, the numerous Gold-level goblins and those gnomes who had reached Transcendent Level could not be ignored.

If they kept fighting like this, their precious mid-to-high tier forces would certainly suffer severe losses.

And because of the harsh situation, some scattered fighters who sensed danger had already found chances to leave without notifying anyone.

Eugene Dunlow frowned. Though his face was old, his eyes remained bright. He continued pressing his attack, keeping his opponent suppressed but finding it hard to finish the kill.

Between skirmishes he contacted his companions via comm device: “No! If we retreat now, the result will be the same. Reports from the lines say the goblins attacking from the flank were ambushed. It seems the goblins are beginning to abandon the Empire’s offensive and are trying to encircle us!”

There was a brief silence on the other end of the comm, then a voice replied in disbelief: “They want to leave us all here?”

“That’s likely... but they won’t succeed.”

“This information has been synchronized with the Imperial Capital. More reinforcements will come from the capital, but until then we must hold this situation. We can’t let the goblins easily complete the encirclement, because once the encirclement is finished, it will be difficult for reinforcements to reach us.”

“Understood. Hold for that period, wait for reinforcements, and then link up.”

“In that case, pull some of the people from the lines over here... Now is not the time for caution. With Holy Son His Eminence’s barrier in place, we don’t need to worry too much about the lines, but if only our group remains, we might not hold until reinforcements arrive. We could lose too many important combatants, making subsequent battles much harder.”

“Mm.”

As the temporary overall commander for this operation, Eugene Dunlow nodded.

“Trust Holy Son Lyons with the lines!”

With orders quickly relayed, many strong fighters who had been guarding the lines left their posts and hurried over here.

They had to withstand the pressure and, using their own formidable strength, clear large areas to hinder the goblin army’s advance, reduce pressure on the lines, and delay the goblins’ encirclement plan.

The war had reached its critical phase!

Lin Mo continued saving allied troops facing powerful foes—humans and elves alike.

Some powerful elves were doing similar work. They helped not only their own kind but humans as well.

At the start of the war, though nominally allied, elves had a pretty poor impression of humans, so outside of necessary circumstances they rarely communicated.

But as the war dragged on and they fought side by side for long stretches, relations gradually eased and mutual aid became natural.

It must be said: a common enemy really is the fastest way to form friendships.

Lin Mo soon noticed that more personnel were leaving the defended lines and joining their side of the fight.

He didn’t know the situation at the lines in detail, but it seemed the commander there did not intend to retreat; instead they were preparing to fight to the death against the Gnome Kingdom.

As more people joined, expanding their combat power, their pressure quickly eased.

The new arrivals were all in excellent condition, swiftly helping endangered comrades and eliminating many powerful gnomes, causing significant losses to the enemy’s key forces.

These reinforcements once again dealt a heavy blow to the goblin army.

Each powerful professional on the battlefield was like a meat grinder, able to slaughter swathes of goblins with little effort.

Magic-oriented classes were especially terrifying in efficiency.

For a time, the goblin ranks briefly fractured.

But such a situation was hard to sustain.

They all understood this, and the Gnome Emperor understood it too. Even though many high-level units had been lost, it had no intention of recklessly retaliating.

There were already so few Epic-Level gnomes to begin with, and they had just lost some more. Even if it sent the entire army forward, unless it personally intervened, achieving its aims would be difficult.

As for the Emperor himself...

He would not appear unless absolutely necessary.

Humans knew well his strength, so surely a Legendary Realm, or even someone stronger than him, was lurking on this battlefield waiting.

It wasn’t time yet; the power harvested was not sufficient!

The Gnome Emperor narrowed its eyes, black mist coiling around its body.

Wait a bit longer. When the “nourishment” has fully accumulated,

these humans will all become the souls in my hands!

The following fighting slipped back into a war of attrition, but this time the pressure fell entirely on those mid-to-high tier fighters.

Even though they were strong, their stamina, qi and blood, or mana were limited.

Even with many supplies, how long could they sustain high-output combat against an almost endless goblin horde?

“Cunning bastards...”

The surrounding gnome numbers were now hardly visible; the high-level goblin count was dropping. Clearly, the Gnome Emperor intended to expend the least possible cost to drain their energy.

However...

A faint smile crossed Eugene Dunlow’s face. Everything unfolding before him had been predicted.

Their preparations for this war were not simple...

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