Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding

Chapter 294: Slaying a Level 16 Undead and Entering the Secret Realm

Not long ago, outside the Silent Forest.

The City Lord of Fargard City received communications from mentors of the Doria Kingdom's Royal National Academy.

Not just one, but two communications.

They both conveyed similar messages, and he acknowledged receiving them one by one.

However, after the communications were cut, he immediately returned to the group as if nothing had happened.

"Was there something important?"

Elvish inquired.

"No, nothing, just some simple message reports..."

He shook his head and looked at the scoreboard. "Now, this is when things truly get exciting."

The others didn't doubt him either. After all, as he said, the next few days would indeed be the most exciting and fiercely competitive time of the Hunting Competition. "The weather in the distance seems to be changing..."

Elvish looked at the faint, indistinct dark clouds on the distant horizon. Somehow, he had a rather bad premonition.

"It's just a bit of rain. Although it's indeed uncommon for this season, it's not strange."

The academy representative from the neighboring Lisad Kingdom shook his head. "Rather than that, you should be more concerned about your academy's students... Regardless of first place, the point total of Miss Eve in second place hasn't changed for quite a while either."

He had learned his lesson. That kid named Lin Mo in first place was truly unpredictable. Previously, everyone thought he was about to be done for, but then he suddenly took down another high-level monster. So now, even though his points hadn't increased for a while, he didn't say anything.

After all, who knew when this guy would pull out another big surprise.

But Eve, whose points had been steadily increasing, suddenly stopped gaining points—that was always worth mentioning, right?

"She's probably just resting."

Elvish said this, partly to argue and partly to reassure himself.

In principle, before the Hunting Competition began, the venue would be inspected not just once, plus with the numerous supervisors arranged and the emergency button on the wristbands, in theory, there shouldn't be any accidents.

After all, the competition had already lasted six days. Taking a short rest was normal, nothing strange about it.

Thinking this, he relaxed and waited patiently.

Although it was unclear whether those Transcendent-level experts outside the Silent Forest had begun to act, at least for Lin Mo, he didn't have that much time to wait for so-called rescue.

Those powerful undead creatures—if he remembered correctly, they were called "Skeleton Generals"—were probably already on their way to continue hunting him down.

Actually, even fighting one against two, he had the confidence to battle them. But one against six was still too early.

So, to avoid the pursuit of these monsters, there seemed to be only one way.

—The Secret Realm.

Come to think of it, why does it feel like every time I encounter a Secret Realm, I run into similar situations?

Clearly wanting to play it safe and not rashly enter, but there are always all sorts of unexpected events that force him to choose the lesser of two evils, ultimately entering the Secret Realm anyway.

If I'd known this would happen, next time I might as well just enter on my own initiative.

That said, the entrance to the Secret Realm was still unknown and needed to be searched for.

The two previous encounters with beetle-type monsters were in Area 37 and Area 33, respectively.

Now, Area 33 was sealed off by the Necromancer's magic array. Going there would be no different from walking into a trap. So, indeed, the only option was to head to Area 37.

Lin Mo made a prompt decision and quickly moved towards the direction of Area 37.

Along the way, he still encountered many monsters and occasionally ran into a few contestants. As Lin Mo had guessed, most contestants currently didn't know what was happening.

This also confirmed his previous thoughts...

If Elvish and the others over there knew about the existence of the Necromancer, they would definitely send a message to all contestants via the wristbands, informing them that the Hunting Competition was therefore terminated.

But they hadn't done that.

Either the message previously sent out by Mentor Siriduo didn't actually get through and was intercepted midway by the Necromancer using some method, or... the person responsible for receiving the message had a problem.

Lin Mo didn't know where the information sent from these wristbands ultimately went, so for now, he couldn't judge who the mole was. But regardless, with something like this happening, the City Lord of Fargard City would certainly be held responsible.

As his thoughts drifted, Lin Mo once again sensed that familiar aura of necromantic energy.

Because he needed to head to Area 37, he couldn't completely flee in the opposite direction. This also gave those "Generals" a chance to intercept him.

However, although a direct confrontation wouldn't be easy, thinking these guys could catch Lin Mo was undoubtedly wishful thinking.

Lin Mo immediately used the [Shadow Split] skill and split up with his clone.

This would also increase the efficiency of searching for the Secret Realm entrance.

Soon, those few "Skeleton Generals" appeared before him.

Lin Mo was somewhat curious. How exactly did these guys lock onto his aura and position?

Did they leave some kind of mark on him?

But when... wait!

Lin Mo suddenly realized something and looked at the wristband on his hand.

Could it be...

He immediately took off the wristband and placed it into his Spatial Ring.

The space inside the Spatial Ring was an alternate space different from the main world, opened up using space magic. Naturally, it could also isolate most auras and marks.

Afterward, Lin Mo entered the "Vanish" state again.

Although those "Generals" could roughly determine his position with their keen perception, compared to before, their accuracy had clearly dropped by more than a little.

So that's it!

This wristband is the problem!

Lin Mo exchanged positions with his clone again and left the area.

"Did he figure it out?"

At the same time, somewhere in the Silent Forest, a gaunt, emaciated person dressed in black robes like Cress opened his grayish-white pupils.

"Exceptionally talented, and his thinking is quite sharp. The surprise Cress mentioned this time is indeed unexpected... Well then, let me see just how much potential you really have."

Anyway, there was plenty of time. He wasn't in a hurry...

Separated?

Here, after using the [Shadow Split] skill to escape, Lin Mo activated it again, summoning a clone to continue searching for the Secret Realm entrance.

However, before finding the Secret Realm entrance, he first discovered a "General."

Because the clone itself didn't have a so-called aura, and the General had no vision, the other party didn't notice anything unusual and was still searching in the forest.

"Lin Mo" carefully confirmed that there was only this one monster, then hesitated no longer and directly exchanged positions with his clone.

The instant the position transfer was complete, he used a [Flash], closing the distance face-to-face. A fully charged [Furious Thunder Piercing Kill], prepared before the transfer, was unleashed directly.

This time, it wasn't done hastily. It was a full-power strike with all buffs active and the skill completely charged.

"Boom—!"

A beam of sword energy wrapped in blue electric arcs instantly pierced through the chest of the "Skeleton General," leaving a terrifyingly large hollow that almost melted its entire upper body.

The "Skeleton General's" body was sent flying violently, smashing through several trees along the way, its entire form becoming shattered and broken.

However, there was a reason undead creatures were called undead creatures.

Its intact lower half quickly stood up, and the fragments of its upper half flew up, piecing themselves together to form a complete body again.

But correspondingly, its aura directly withered by nearly one-third.

When there were six together, Lin Mo was indeed outnumbered and couldn't win. But now that there was only one, it was completely different.

After recovering, the General immediately launched a counterattack, swinging the broadsword forged from white bone in its hand towards Lin Mo.

Its speed wasn't actually slow. As a strength-type monster, it had roughly the agility attribute of a level 12 speed-type monster, which was quite good.

But compared to Lin Mo with his buffs active, it still fell far short.

Lin Mo sidestepped, easily dodging the opponent's attack, then countered with a backhand slash at the other's neck.

The sharpness of an Epic-tier weapon was beyond doubt. This ordinary slash nearly severed its head.

However, undead creatures felt no pain and had no concept of being injured.

While half its head was being cut off, black mist began to emanate from its body. An arm shrouded in black mist aimed directly for Lin Mo's face.

[Frost Guard]!

Lin Mo wasn't flustered at all. An ice-blue barrier steadily blocked the opponent's attack.

The output of a level 16 monster was no small matter. The barrier shattered accordingly, but it had already completed its task.

Lin Mo punched forward, his fist wrapped in swirling gusts of wind, knocking it back. The remaining Spiral Wind Vortex continued to tear at the Skeleton General's bones, churning its chest to pieces.

Not giving it time to recover, the next moment, a brilliant flame appeared on the Frost Dragon Scale Sword.

A blood-red sword energy slash shot out. After a brief moment of resistance, the [Blazing Moon Sky Charge] cleaved the monster before him in two.

This time, the speed at which the General's remnants merged back together was clearly much slower.

But... this guy still wasn't dead.

Lin Mo clicked his tongue in annoyance. The next moment, icy energy rapidly gathered, transforming into a massive ice-blue magic array.

Immediately after, countless sword shadows descended from the sky. Each one carried extremely strong Ice Element mana, continuously falling upon the Skeleton General.

This [Swordshadow Storm] skill, formed by the combination of two Epic-level skills, was undoubtedly Lin Mo's most powerful skill at the moment.

Countless sword shadows crisscrossed as they fell, freezing the General's remnants. Finally, a giant ice sword forged from frost descended from the sky, flanked on either side by slightly smaller ice swords—a result of the previous [Phantom Sword Dance] enhancement.

The three ice swords completely crushed the General's body, leaving no possibility of recovery.

Finally, a prompt appeared before Lin Mo's eyes.

"Killed level 16 monster 'General.' [Swordshadow Storm] proficiency +140 (+210)."

After all, it was killing a monster above his level, and by 4 levels at that, directly granting an extra 150% proficiency reward.

A total of 350 proficiency points!

Though called [Swordshadow Storm], it was actually the two combined skills each gaining improvement.

Even for these two Epic-level skills, 350 was a significant amount of proficiency.

However, both skills were already at level 6. The proficiency needed to level up again was a full 600 points, so they didn't level up.

Killing one more would be enough...

But, Lin Mo didn't find it easy to kill this kind of monster. He still had to enter the Secret Realm later and didn't want to consume too much of his condition.

So, it was best to stop here for now.

After coming out of the Secret Realm later, he'd settle the score with these guys!

"Lin Mo" looked at the familiar, wondrous entrance before him and smiled slightly.

Finally found it.

He didn't hesitate, directly choosing to exchange positions with his clone, then stepped inside...

Deep in the Silent Forest, the black-robed figure wore a satisfied smile.

"To actually be able to kill a General at this age is simply unbelievable... Well then, how would he fare against two?"

He wanted to test bit by bit, to see just where the limits of this uncut jade lay.

This "hunting" game had only just begun...

At the same time, Cress on the other side was fulfilling his agreement with Duke Morin.

It wasn't that he was particularly rule-abiding, but his subsequent plans still required this Duke to continue contributing.

So, naturally, he needed to give him some "reassurance."

Through the wristband, he quickly locked onto the target's location.

"It seems Young Master Satt is having a lot of fun..."

After several days of effort, Satt finally saw reality clearly. With his strength, relying solely on hunting monsters, it was simply impossible to catch up to those guys.

He'd be hard-pressed to even make the top ten.

But how could he be content with that?

Fortunately, at this time, his father finally sent a big gift.

Permission for his wristband to view the locations of other contestants.

Since then, Satt's goal had completely changed.

What was the point of honestly killing monsters when directly plundering others' points was so much faster?

"You lost. Hand over all your points..."

"You... despicable and shameless!"

The contestant he intercepted was unwilling, but the rules were the rules. He could only accept his fate and handed over half his points.

If he fought hard later, there might still be a chance to break into the top thousand.

Satt obtained the points and immediately smiled with satisfaction. "With this, I can surpass another person and reach 7th place."

He knew his own strength. He wouldn't provoke those powerful contestant teams, only targeting solo contestants or weak squads to snatch points.

If he encountered a fairly strong group, like the one just now, he would follow them first, then strike when they had just finished fighting a powerful monster, allowing him to defeat them easily.

These guys probably all thought they were just unlucky, that fortune wasn't on their side, right?

"Hahaha—"

Satt laughed wildly. This feeling was really good.

Over the next few days, try to snatch as many more as possible. Combined with that kid's points, it might not be impossible to enter the top five, even the top three.

That way, Father should be relatively satisfied, at least he wouldn't punish him.

Just as he was happy, several figures were walking towards him.

"Satt, my brother, I've finally found you..."

Benerod stood beside Cress, smiling as he looked at the "elder brother" before him.