CHAPTER 188: UPGRADE AND EVOLVE AT THE SAME TIME!

No need for further discussion, Lin Mo directly accepted the mission at the Association.

Afterwards, Chairman Vic began arranging the adventurers participating in this Call to Arms.

First, naturally, was according to their chosen objectives.

Lin Mo temporarily joined the queue for defending the defensive lines, which was also the category chosen by the most adventurers.

Firstly, because of its importance—the premise for all other work and response methods was that the front lines couldn't collapse. Otherwise, once the goblin army lost its obstruction and reached Silverstream City's walls, losing strategic depth, it would be very difficult to win this war later.

Especially tonight, the first wave of the goblin attack would definitely be the most intense and hardest to withstand.

Secondly, for adventurers, going to the front lines was also the easiest place to achieve merit and build careers.

Although missions behind enemy lines or rescue operations were also very important, when it came to killing enemies and loot, the frontal battlefield was definitely the most abundant. Plus, it didn't require much brainpower—just follow arrangements, stay in designated areas, and wait for the goblins to come for slaughter.

After these adventurers assembled into several hundred-person squads, they directly headed to the front lines, rushing to their corresponding defensive line areas.

As the news continued to spread, more adventurers arrived later to assemble.

In the past, Silverstream City might not have had so many adventurers... but recently, the city's various promotions and policies had indeed achieved considerable results, attracting many adventurers from surrounding areas.

The remaining adventurers who chose other mission categories also headed to their corresponding assembly areas—which were actually near the front lines. After all, currently, neither assassination and sabotage missions behind enemy lines nor rescue operations had started yet;

they were still in the stage of waiting for mission assignments. Actions would only begin as the battle situation progressed tonight.

If the situation became quite bad, they might also be mobilized to temporarily join the frontline defense battle.

Regarding these tactical arrangements, Lin Mo believed that under the leadership of Lady Bessie, Chairman Vic, and others, they should be handled well.

So he didn't need to consider that much and followed the main force to the front lines.

Of course, following him were currently Level 2.5 or even higher warrior Ellie, Level 2 priest Finnie, and also the assassin responsible for ensuring their safety—Sherfilia.

In tactical arrangements, Chairman Vic and the others didn't choose the seemingly more logical professional division of labor, but still maintained the adventurers in squad formations.

Dividing and planning according to profession seemed the most correct approach, but it also showed inflexibility.

Because sometimes you can't just consider the rationality of things;

you have to consider specific problems from a human perspective.

After all, adventurers weren't well-trained soldiers. If they were broken up and scattered, their execution and coordination definitely couldn't compare to the guard troops.

But conversely, keeping them in squad formations was clearly more in line with their usual combat situations.

And the members of each squad had already developed sufficient coordination through long adventures, so cooperation between them naturally wouldn't be a problem. Plus, they had squad leaders responsible for command. Although they fought independently, this small adventurer squad format was the method that maximized the effectiveness of adventurers.

Of course, the main force of Silverstream City's defensive lines was still the regular army like the city's guard troops. The adventurers were mostly responsible for consolidating the flanks, serving to share some pressure. ȑΑ𐌽оʙĚ𝐒

Lin Mo's Silver Radiance Team, along with more than ten other adventurer squads, totaling over a hundred adventurers, were assigned to the area near the end of the left flank battle line.

It seemed like that place was at the edge of the battlefield, but its importance wasn't low.

Because the outermost sides of the defensive lines were the most prone to surprise attacks and most likely to have unexpected situations.

And such special situations were most suitable for leveraging the adventurers' strong individual capabilities.

So the adventurer squads assigned to this area were mostly not ordinary;

they also included Lin Mo's old acquaintance, Landon's Azure Orchid Team.

"This really reminds me of when we supported Silvermoon Town back then..."

The battlefield was still in the preparation stage, and the adventurers themselves had relatively free movement, so Landon simply came to Lin Mo's side and started chatting.

"Yeah."

Hearing him say that, Lin Mo also felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

However, different from back then, his current strength was completely on another level.

At that time, Landon's strength was definitely above his, and by quite a margin, but now...

Also different from Silvermoon Town's crude defensive lines, because they had anticipated this situation long ago, Silverstream City had already started preparing defensive lines a long time ago.

The defensive line they were on was located about over ten kilometers from Silverstream City, and only less than three kilometers from Roland Forest, almost setting up the battle line right at Roland Forest's doorstep.

Of course, this was only the first line of defense. If problems occurred, they had sufficient strategic retreat space, with second and third lines of defense behind them, prepared very thoroughly.

And each defensive line was constructed very properly.

Lin Mo came to an open area and looked ahead.

In the slightly farther distance, they could see that large swathes of trees at the edge of Roland Forest had been cleared. On one hand, this provided local materials for building various facilities of the defensive lines;

on the other hand, doing this also allowed the goblins to be exposed to their sight earlier, with nowhere to hide.

On the defensive line side, various defensive measures made of wood, stone, and steel were already deployed in place.

Catapults, large crossbows, including sturdy rock-built low walls...

Clearly much more organized and tight compared to back at Silvermoon Town.

Everything was ready, just waiting for the goblins to launch their attack.

Time passed bit by bit, just as the intelligence department had predicted. When the sun was about to set, with the afterglow of sunset casting at the edges of their vision, under the gradually arriving cover of night, some sneaky figures began appearing ahead.

These should be goblin scouts sent ahead to probe. After discovering them, adventurers with the ranger profession immediately drew their bows and arrows, sharp arrows flying towards those emerging goblins, very accurately piercing through their bodies.

The goblins' screams opened the prelude of this defensive battle, followed immediately by rumbling-like noises coming from the distance.

Those were the footsteps of the goblins. Their excessively large numbers plus chaotic footsteps made the ground seem to tremble.

"This formation, there are really a lot coming."

Landon complained while gripping his staff tightly, his expression turning serious, clearly entering combat mode.

Lin Mo was also rubbing his hands in anticipation, ready to farm extensively.

Opening his status panel, he glanced at the current skill proficiency progress. The first wave to farm would naturally be magic skill proficiency.

Lin Mo looked at those key skills: Flame Chain Star, Flame Arrow, Blizzard, and Wind-Binding Blade.

Among these skills, besides Flame Arrow which needed focused cultivation to speed up its leveling and evolution, the other few skills were considered AOE skills, perfectly suitable for situations with numerous enemies.

The footsteps of the goblin army grew closer. Gradually, under the last rays of sunset, rows of black shadows appeared in their sight.

"Prepare for battle!"

The person in charge of this small area was also their old acquaintance.

It was that Torren who had gone to the cavern with them previously.

Perhaps because of the experience gained from last time in the cavern, this time when they saw Torren again, he seemed much more composed than before.

After Torren's reminder, ranged adventurers like rangers and mages all made combat preparations.

The goblin army gradually approached. The rangers' bows and crossbows were already drawn. The moment those goblins entered firing range, the sound of bowstrings vibrating rang out. The number of arrows fired wasn't large, since they didn't have many people here, but every arrow accurately hit a goblin, and without exception, all were instant kills.

Those assigned to this place were at least adventurers approaching professional level. For them, dealing with these most ordinary goblins was too simple.

Compared to the roughly 20+ ranger professionals, the number of mage professionals seemed quite pitiful.

Even including Lin Mo, there were only three total.

The other two were Landon and another Level 2 mage professional.

None of the three acted immediately, because compared to the rangers with ample arrows, the mages' mana was clearly more precious.

Only when those goblins, enduring the arrow rain, gradually approached, and their numbers kept gathering...

Lin Mo finally acted first.

However, he didn't use those two outstanding-level skills, but first used a [Wind-Binding Blade].

The number of goblins ahead wasn't very large yet, and outstanding-level skills killing these ordinary goblins would have diminished proficiency gains, so using a pseudo-AOE skill like [Wind-Binding Blade] with low consumption was perfect for this situation.

This was the advantage of having many skills—in most situations, Lin Mo could have suitable skills to use.

[Wind-Binding Blade] was thrown out, and under Lin Mo's exquisite control, it very accurately hit a location with relatively dense goblins.

The two or three goblins hit by the wind blades had their heads chopped off first.

Immediately after, the scattered wind blades transformed into a vortex with suction, pulling several surrounding goblins into it, directly tearing them into pieces.

[Wind-Binding Blade] proficiency +9

This single move directly increased proficiency by 9 points.

At the same time, seeing Lin Mo act, Landon and the other mage also began casting spells.

Landon started by releasing several wind blades, while the other mage was an earth-element mage. Several earth spikes suddenly grew sequentially from underground, directly piercing the hit goblins. The goblins around there were also affected, knocked flying by the suddenly emerging earth spikes. Just this impact force was enough to displace their internal organs, causing them to vomit blood and die.

Ordinary goblins had almost no resistance against these powerful adventurers.

But they still didn't retreat, like cannon fodder, continuously charging forward, consuming the adventurers' arrows and mana.

This was the goblins' simplest, most brainless, yet hardest-to-solve tactic—completely relying on numbers to overwhelm, and you couldn't not kill them, but as long as you wasted stamina or mana to kill them, then they profited.

One could only say, an overt scheme is unsolvable.

After several consecutive [Wind-Binding Blade] uses, this skill of Lin Mo's actually leveled up directly.

"Skill [Wind-Binding Blade] Lv4 (100/100) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Wind-Binding Blade] Lv5 (3/180)"

Although he had already accumulated some proficiency originally, this leveling speed still greatly exceeded his expectations.

Really quite fast.

Since that's the case, then continue!

Anyway, Lin Mo's other magic skills were either single-target or outstanding-level, killing ordinary goblins wasn't cost-effective, so he simply kept farming this skill's proficiency.

(11/180)

(24/180)

......

(89/180)

For a while, this skill's proficiency rose like a rocket, rapidly increasing.

The surrounding ranger adventurers were also having a blast killing, some even already using skills, simultaneously shooting two or even three arrows, each arrow able to accurately hit one goblin.

For a time, adventurers with warrior and knight professions actually had little use.

They couldn't just directly cross the defensive line and charge forward to bother the goblins, so they could only stay in place rubbing their hands in anticipation, watching these ranged adventurers have their fun.

But as that saying goes, you might have fun, but the goblin side definitely doesn't lose.

The ranger adventurers brought quite a lot of arrows;

these arrows were supplied by Silverstream City. But even so, compared to the goblins' massive numbers, they still paled in comparison.

After only about twenty minutes of battle, the arrow quantity had already been consumed by nearly one-third.

And the goblin army ahead showed no signs of decreasing at all.

At the same time, some mutated goblins also began appearing.

Individual rangers whose strength didn't reach professional level couldn't instantly kill these mutated goblins with their arrows. Even professional-level rangers, if only Level 1, would find it difficult to kill one mutated goblin with each arrow.

Let alone those subsequent adult mutated goblins.

Although the casualties were already considerable, the goblin army ahead was clearly continuously advancing towards the defensive line.

"Rangers and mages above Level 2, please prioritize handling those adult mutated goblins."

Torren, responsible for commanding the battle, clearly also realized this and reminded them.

Immediately after, he added: "Adventurers with knight and warrior professions, please also prepare for battle!"

The goblin army was getting closer and closer to the defensive line.

The rangers began consciously retreating slightly, hiding behind the knights and warriors, while those knight and warrior professionals all raised shields, gripped sword hilts, ready to start killing at any moment.

Lin Mo raised his right hand, flames gathering in his palm, then transforming into an arrow flying towards an adult mutated goblin.

Without any suspense, the flame-constructed arrow instantly hit that goblin's chest, leaving a terrifying fiery red hole.

The flame arrow continued flying forward, descending in a parabolic arc, also piercing through several unlucky goblins behind it.

This was an unexpected bonus.

[Flame Arrow] proficiency +13

Lin Mo looked at the proficiency prompt floating before his eyes and nodded with satisfaction.

Not bad, not bad!

[Flame Arrow], as a skill focused on cultivation recently, had already reached Level 5 previously, only one level away from evolution. Using it earlier against ordinary goblins was somewhat wasteful, with effectiveness inferior to [Wind-Binding Blade].

Now that mutated goblins had appeared, it just allowed him to continue farming this skill's proficiency.

Of course, [Wind-Binding Blade] also almost never stopped.

The moment Lin Mo's right-hand flame arrow was shot, wind elements began gathering in his left hand.

[Wind-Binding Blade] was released, then [Flame Arrow] began forming immediately after.

So next, Lin Mo became like an emotionless machine, constantly repeating these two skills.

The proficiency prompts before his eyes immediately kept floating up.

+1, +1, +8, +1, +5.....

But without using large-area skills, his individual strength after all could hardly change the entire battle situation.

Soon, the goblins finally charged up to the rock-built defensive line.

The knight and warrior professionals who had been waiting for a long time immediately roared and met them.

Close combat ensued, the sounds of metal clashing constantly ringing out, the atmosphere of war thickening.

Almost, almost there...

Lin Mo felt somewhat itchy to join watching, but still kept his composure, continuing to release his magic.

His total mana attribute now reached a high 84 points. For excellent-level magic like [Flame Arrow Annihilation] and [Wind-Binding Blade], the consumption wasn't significant for him.

After so long, casting so many spells, his mana had only been consumed by less than one-fifth.

Finally, along with another [Flame Arrow] being born, a mutated goblin fell accordingly, along with several goblins behind it also suffering.

[Flame Arrow] proficiency +14

With these 14 proficiency points added, the [Flame Arrow] skill's proficiency immediately filled up.

And also...

Immediately after, the wind elements in Lin Mo's left hand had already started gathering again, transforming into wind blades thrown out.

Several goblins were pulled into it, even including an unlucky mutated goblin nearby that was also affected, all hit by the wind blades and shredded by the formed vortex.

[Wind-Binding Blade] proficiency +19!

"Tch, proficiency overflowed, a bit wasteful..."

Lin Mo clicked his tongue, then showed a happy expression.

Because these two skills leveled up simultaneously, and both were excellent-level skills, both going from Level 5 to Level 6.

And both completed evolution simultaneously!

"Skill [Flame Arrow] Lv5 (180/180) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Flame Arrow] Lv6 (Max)"

"Gained attribute points Mana +2, Spirit +1!"

"Skill [Wind-Binding Blade] Lv5 (180/180) leveled up!"

"Current skill [Wind-Binding Blade] Lv6 (Max)"

"Gained attribute points Mana +2, Spirit +1!"

"Automatically evolved into skill..."