Chapter 248 - 161: Epic Skill—Shadow Splitting
Chapter 248: Chapter 161: Epic Skill—Shadow Splitting
The Goblins’ "houses" had mostly collapsed, turned into complete ruins.
Fortunately, since they were all Agile Type Adventurers, they were quick. The rescue didn’t waste much time, and before long, they had caught up with the main party.
The group left the Cave and put some distance behind them before finally breathing a sigh of relief and collapsing on the ground to rest.
Most of the Adventurers had reached their limit. They panted heavily, unable to move a muscle.
Those with strength to spare scanned the surroundings for any potential danger.
Less than ten minutes after they left the Cave, the entire cave system collapsed completely.
The sound of the RUMBLING was incessant. Although they had escaped safely, everyone wore a grim expression.
The difficulties they had encountered on this trip far exceeded their expectations, and in comparison, their achievements were minimal.
Including the few saved along the way, only a total of 21 young women had been rescued.
And after some questioning, they learned that at least three to four hundred girls had been abducted and brought to this Cave during that time!
Most of them, after they were no longer of use, had become a fine meal for the Goblins, their remains reduced to decorations in their homes.
Torren was dejected. He sat dazedly on the ground, a lost look on his face.
On this mission, they had also lost about ten Adventurers—all of them experts of at least the Professional Level.
"Don’t let it get to you."
Landon clapped him on the shoulder. "Judging by that final explosion, the clues we suddenly found were, as expected, deliberately planted by the Goblins and that Undead Mage!"
To put it bluntly, they had walked right into a trap.
They dangled the bait, and in the end, not only did we fail to save many people, we also lost significant Combat Power.
Just imagine if our Combat Power had been a little weaker, or if the Cave had collapsed a little faster... we might have been completely wiped out!
But without knowing the situation inside the Cave, we had no choice but to come.
What if there were still a lot of girls alive in there? Even if you don’t look at it from a rescue standpoint, we couldn’t let the Goblins use them to continuously expand their clan and birth even more powerful Goblins.
Simply put, it was a trap we had to spring.
Things were already so bad... getting this result in the end is honestly pretty good...
"Look at it from another angle—at least we cleared out the Goblins in that Cave,"
someone with a more cheerful disposition in the crowd chimed in.
"I wonder how the other teams are doing?"
Landon said, a worried tone in his voice.
"Sigh... In any case, let’s get some proper rest for now. We’ll set out early to head back tomorrow."
Although it was still some time before evening, everyone was in terrible shape, so it wasn’t wise to press on. After a short rest, they found a suitable spot nearby and set up a large camp for their party of several dozen.
The Casters were sheltered in the center of the camp. Lin Mo started a huge bonfire, but he didn’t plan on resting just yet. Instead, he set out to hunt with the Rangers.
’I can’t wait any longer. I need to max out the [Invisibility] Skill right away.’
And so, an elite hunting party led by Lute and Lin Mo departed.
Considering how many people were in the camp, they would need to bring back plenty of game.
This was the Deep Forest Area of Loran Forest, after all, and they were quite deep within it, so naturally, there were plenty of Demons around.
Before long, Lute spotted a massive Rock-Horned Bull.
"Now that’s a great find!"
Outside of combat, Lute instantly became much more talkative. "Among all the Level 2 Demons, the Rock-Horned Bull is one of the tastiest."
He sounded like a true gourmand. It made sense; Adventurers spent years living in the forest and couldn’t survive on dry rations alone. That stuff was for emergencies—eaten only when time was short or in special circumstances. If time permitted, most capable Adventurers chose to hunt for their food.
This was especially true for a powerful Ranger like Lute, who had probably hunted and eaten countless Demons over the years.
If he said it was delicious, then it was definitely delicious.
"Wait, let me handle this."
Seeing Lute draw his bow and nock an arrow, Lin Mo quickly stopped him. "Let me get some practice in."
"Alright."
Though he found it a bit strange, Lute naturally had faith in Lin Mo’s strength, so he lowered his bow.
Lin Mo eagerly activated [Invisibility], snuck up, and circled behind the Rock-Horned Bull. Then, with a [Backstab], he plunged his dagger into its spine.
’Professional!’
After training with Shefilya, Lin Mo hadn’t just increased his Skill Level in a few Skills; he had also gained significant combat experience and a much better grasp of the fundamentals of the Assassin Profession.
His fundamentals as an Assassin were now fully up to par.
A Level 2 Demon could easily be one-shot, even with an Ordinary Level Skill like [Backstab].
[Invisibility] Skill Level +14
[Backstab] Skill Level +14
’Still not enough... I have to keep killing.’
On the other hand, his Backstab Skill went straight to Level 4.
Skill [Backstab] Level 3 (40/40) has leveled up!
Current Skill: [Backstab] Level 4 (5/100)
One Rock-Horned Bull definitely wasn’t enough to feed so many people, so a few of them were assigned to take the carcass back first. This was a job for the Warriors who had come along; with their lower Strength, it would have been difficult for the Rangers to carry the massive bull back.
A few Warriors hoisted the prize onto their shoulders and headed back, while the rest continued the hunt...