novelraw Chapter 238: Swamp Earthworms and Magic Stones
Chapter 238: Swamp Earthworms and Magic Stones
"Currently, our location is roughly in the middle section of Blackwater Swamp..."
On the way, Dirk introduced while vigilantly watching their surroundings: "The monsters active in this area are roughly level 2~5, with occasional low-tier Lord level monsters like that Marsh Slime we encountered earlier."
The adventurers in the team were all on high alert. This was no longer like the beginning of the mission;
they could encounter powerful monster attacks at any moment, requiring them to maintain extreme vigilance and constantly watch for potential dangers.
The convoy continued to move at a relatively fast pace, though much slower compared to the morning.
They weren't deliberately slowing down—the ground beneath their feet was becoming increasingly muddy. The wheels rolled through the soft mud, sinking several centimeters deep, and the horses pulling the carts consequently faced greater resistance.
However, this issue didn't bother Lin Mo's group for now, as their carriage was pulled by Gale Steeds. In fact, from the mission's start until now, these two Gale Steeds had been semi-slacking off, never truly unleashing their full speed.
The vegetation in the swamp area wasn't as lush as in the forests—trees were relatively sparse, but there were still some tall patches of grass.
These grassy areas were the adventurers' main focus of vigilance.
Many monsters could be hiding within the grass, waiting for passing prey to launch sudden attacks.
As they passed another patch of yellowish grass, countless eyes closely watched the area, not missing the slightest movement.Only when the convoy safely passed through the grassy area without incident did everyone subconsciously breathe a sigh of relief.
They weren't unlucky enough to encounter monsters blocking their path every single time.
Moreover, with their large numbers, monsters weren't foolish enough to casually launch attacks.
However, just when everyone was at their most relaxed...
A mass of brown-black mucus shot toward the convoy like a bullet.
Such incredible speed!
Lin Mo was instantly startled and prepared to act, but simultaneously, Dirk on the other side had already swung his sword, using Sword Energy to disperse the mucus.
Experienced veteran adventurers were truly different. While everyone else thought the danger had passed, Dirk maintained the highest level of alertness, so like Lin Mo, he detected the sudden attack immediately.
"Where did it come from?"
"Damn, that scared me!"
In comparison, Dirk's subordinate adventurers reacted noticeably slower. However, after their instinctive complaints, they instantly entered combat readiness.
Lin Mo's gaze fell upon the ground ahead.
The convoy continued moving, and as it advanced, something seemed to be tunneling beneath the muddy ground.
"It's coming!"
The next moment, his pupils suddenly contracted. With the vision enhancement provided by Eagle Eye, he clearly saw the moment the creature burst from the earth.
It was a "worm" nearly two meters thick, opening its toothless, gaping maw to attack the merchant convoy.
It clearly recognized that these adventurers weren't easy targets, so it aimed for the ordinary people escorting the convoy.
The moment the creature revealed itself, Lin Mo simultaneously sprang into action.
His speed was extremely fast, almost instantly arriving before the targeted carriage.
Simultaneously, he swung his sword, a blade of Sword Energy slicing through the brown-black mucus the creature spat. Two puddles of mucus fell to the ground, where the earth was visibly corroded, sizzling and emitting wisps of white smoke.
"It's a Swamp Earthworm!"
Dirk loudly warned: "Be careful, its mucus is poisonous!"
Actually, no warning was needed—everyone had already seen it.
Dirk frowned deeply. It seemed this journey was proving somewhat unlucky...
Including the giant slime earlier, this was already the second Lord-level monster.
Normally, the frequency of encountering Lord-level monsters in the middle section of Blackwater Swamp shouldn't be this high.
Regardless, since it had appeared, they needed to deal with it quickly.
The convoy continued moving, with the Swamp Earthworm in close pursuit. Dirk unleashed a Sword Energy attack toward it.
But the Swamp Earthworm cunningly burrowed underground, dodging the Sword Energy.
"Not good!"
Lin Mo immediately understood its intention and leaped directly from the carriage.
[Earth-Rending Slam]!
He landed forcefully with the Frost Dragon Scale Sword in hand, the tremendous impact sending mud flying over ten meters high.
The ground beneath his feet cracked open, and black blood gushed forth.
Lin Mo quickly cast [Frost Guard] on himself, blocking the filthy blood and falling mud.
Seeing this, Dirk breathed a sigh of relief.
That Swamp Earthworm had intended to attack the convoy directly from underground through the depression. Had it succeeded, its massive body suddenly emerging from below would have claimed at least one carriage and its escort personnel.
Fortunately, Lin Mo was here—his speed was sufficient, and his attack power strong enough.
Although Dirk could achieve similar effects, his speed wasn't adequate. Even if he identified the Swamp Earthworm's position, he likely wouldn't reach it in time.
[Earth-Rending Slam] proficiency +50
It was actually a level 7 monster.
But against Lin Mo, as long as it was solidly hit, it was a one-shot affair.
Only its burrowing method and poisonous mucus were troublesome, making the situation appear tense.
He glanced at Earth-Rending Slam's current proficiency.
After gaining the substantial 50 proficiency points, the skill's current progress was Lv6 (112/300). It still needed just over half a level to reach level 7—the maximum level for this Exceptional-Grade skill.
After quickly raising his Warrior profession to level 11, completing the simultaneous promotion of both Warrior and Mage professions...
Lin Mo's next task was to catch up the lagging Knight profession level.
Currently, it's known that Warrior + Mage could potentially become a Spellsword, though many uncertainties remained. After all, the Spellsword profession, at least currently, had no records in the historical texts accessible within the Doria Kingdom.
This meant that true Spellswords had never appeared in the continent's official history.
Only in some empires' secret documents or literature unearthed from ancient ruins might there be mentions of related matters.
Whether he could ultimately successfully change professions to the hidden Spellsword class, Lin Mo actually felt quite uncertain.
But the combination of Knight and Priest was different.
The Holy Light Church's records explicitly mentioned the hidden profession formed by combining these two classes—the Paladin.
In the church's history, there had once been a Paladin named Joan.
He even currently possessed a Paladin skill scroll from the Holy Light Church bishop of Silverstream City!
Now his Priest profession had reached level 10 alongside his Mage profession. Regardless of whether he could successfully become a Spellsword, his next plan was definitely to promote both Priest and Knight professions to Elite and attempt to obtain the Paladin profession.
The carriage's movement hadn't stopped, but catching up to it was naturally no difficulty for Lin Mo. He quickly dissected the Swamp Earthworm before him, extracting a brown crystal from its head.
This thing was the most valuable material from such monsters, usable for crafting earth element magic stones.
After all, it was a Lord-level monster—the crafted stone's actual effect would certainly be stronger than the two magic stones currently embedded in his mithril gloves.
But it wasn't worth replacing... after all, Lin Mo didn't use many earth element spells. Even if replaced, the improvement would be minimal.
He'd be better off acquiring a better ice or fire element magic stone later for a substantial boost to his strength.
Thinking about these matters, Lin Mo quickly caught up to the convoy and returned to the carriage.
"Well done."
Dirk nodded to him, and Lin Mo waved his hand, indicating it was nothing.
"This journey seems more disaster-prone than anticipated..."
"Indeed."
Dirk responded with considerable emotion, then quickly rallied his spirits to vigilantly watch their surroundings again.
Reality wasn't like adventure novels where you get breathing room after every crisis or tense moment—especially in places like Blackwater Swamp, a relatively small area with dense monster populations.
After one monster attack, another wave could immediately follow.
Just as Dirk thought this, he saw a dark green tongue shoot from the grass ahead toward a carriage.
He quickly moved, unleashing a Sword Energy attack.
Lin Mo simultaneously acted, a blood-colored Sword Energy instantly flying out.
The tongue had already wrapped around the carriage compartment, preparing to pull it back and swallow it whole.
The next moment, the dark green tongue was directly severed by the blood-colored Sword Energy!
Dirk's Sword Energy followed closely behind, leaving a deep sword mark on it and cutting through more than half the remaining tongue.
As a level 10 warrior very close to level 11, Dirk's strength was quite considerable. If not for his various profession bonuses and the Frost Dragon Scale Sword's enhancements, Lin Mo's power probably wouldn't exceed his by much.
Of course, this was because his Warrior profession was only level 8, and he'd just reached it recently.
If both were level 10, that would be another matter entirely.
The merchant convoy personnel on that carriage looked utterly terrified, and the convoy was finally forced to stop.
"Quickly resolve this!"
As Lin Mo spoke, Finnie's buff had already been applied to him. Hahn drew his bow and fired an arrow infused with powerful Qi and Blood, which swiftly pierced the attacking Festering Giant Frog.
Dirk had already disembarked and reached the monster, swinging his sword. The sharp blade landed on the Festering Giant Frog's slippery skin, momentarily stiffening before instantly slicing through it.
"Ha—!"
Dirk shouted, exerting more force, actually cleaving the giant frog in two.
"So strong!"
Luke, who could only watch from behind, stared wide-eyed.
As fellow warriors, compared to their captain, his strength was indeed far, far inferior...
"Impressive."
Dirk returned to the carriage with the spoils, and Lin Mo gave him a thumbs-up.
"Can't let you do all the work..."
Dirk said with a smile.
But his mind recalled their simultaneous attack on the Festering Giant Frog's tongue earlier.
Lin Mo's Sword Energy arrived first, and its effect was clearly much stronger than his...
The most resilient part of the Festering Giant Frog was its tongue, which it relied on for survival.
Generally, even those two or three levels higher than it would struggle to directly sever its tongue.
Dirk's earlier performance illustrated this point well.
This Festering Giant Frog was approximately level 8. He could cut through its body but couldn't sever its tongue—at most cutting through more than half.
Yet Lin Mo's single strike had cleanly severed the entire tongue!
That power was truly somewhat exaggerated.
No wonder he was someone who could make their battle-maniac leader voluntarily call a truce.
"Encountering Lord-level monsters consecutively—isn't this somewhat abnormal?"
Lin Mo frowned, speaking while remaining vigilant of their surroundings.
"Indeed... and their strength is quite exaggerated too. In the middle section of Blackwater Swamp, those should be relatively rare powerful monsters."
Dirk was also quite concerned. Was their luck truly that bad, or had something unknown occurred in Blackwater Swamp?
At times like this, he'd rather be the unlucky one, so he could hope for better luck ahead.
If it was the latter, the situation would be much more complex...
However, just as they grew worried about this, the subsequent journey actually became less difficult.
They encountered many more monsters along the way, but their levels weren't high—none reached Lord-level.
Lin Mo finally had spare time to check his recent gains.
[Blood Qi Blade] proficiency +60
First was that level 8 Festering Giant Frog earlier. Although Dirk landed the killing blow, since Lin Mo dealt crucial damage, he definitely received proficiency.
Then there were the subsequent monsters.
[Meteor Thrust] proficiency +20
[Jumping Slash] proficiency +13
"In about half an hour, we'll reach the most dangerous area of this mission."
Since they hadn't encountered any troublesome monsters during this period, Dirk's tone sounded somewhat relaxed: "Hopefully, we can continue being this lucky."
Because they were traveling through Blackwater Swamp, they didn't rest at noon, only eating simple meals during the journey.
The timing was earlier than expected... it was only past 2 PM, and the section near Blackwater Swamp's Core Area was only about half an hour's travel away.
Meaning, if everything went smoothly, they could leave this swamp before 4 PM.
Then they'd quickly enter the Official Road, and the remaining journey would be easy and pleasant.
Lin Mo didn't speak, merely watching the road ahead.
He had a rather bad premonition.
The dangerous route, the person in the central carriage, the merchant convoy's unknown plans...
However he looked at it, it didn't seem like they'd pass through so smoothly!
He hoped this was just him overthinking things.
"Everyone, pay attention! We're about to enter the most critical phase of this mission. Stay alert and don't relax!"
Dirk loudly reminded them: "Once we pass through this most difficult stretch, this mission will be as good as completed!"
The adventurers responded in unison, everyone standing ready.
Amid such tense atmosphere, the merchant convoy began turning, heading deeper into Blackwater Swamp...