Thunder Blade Shadow

"Whoosh!"

"I told you, I'm an assassin, not a berserker!"

Lu Qiming appeared beside Aili and Ailin, reaching out to gently stroke the two little girls' golden hair.

"Senior, you're here!"

Aili and Ailin stared in disbelief at Lu Qiming's smiling face as he suddenly appeared before them. Feeling the warmth of his hand on their heads, they threw themselves into his arms and began to cry.

What had happened that day had been far too much for them. They had simply been happily following their captain to watch other adventurers take on the Floor Boss, only to be surprised to discover that the Berserker senior was someone they had met just yesterday.

Then all the monsters had gone berserk, surging relentlessly into the passage where they were. Their captain and the other seniors had given up their chance to escape so they could hold the monsters back for them.

"All right, all right. Don't cry."

Lu Qiming calmly stroked the two little girls' heads, soothing them over and over. After all, this had happened because of him. Though he didn't care about the deaths of other adventurers, he was still quite lenient with the little girls who admired him.

"Berserker senior, our captain and the others..."

"They're fine. Look, here they come."

Lu Qiming smiled and released the two little girls. Behind him, the members of Aili Familia were helping one another as they walked over.

"Sir, thank you for saving us!"

With his teammates supporting him, the captain, covered in wounds, stepped in front of Lu Qiming and bowed in thanks.

"You don't need to thank me. If anything, I should apologize to you. My carelessness caused all this."

Lu Qiming waved a hand to tell them not to worry about it, then turned and walked outside. He had just brought down every passage where the other adventurers had been, leaving only this one. All the adventurers still alive in the other passages had already left.

"Senior, where are you going?"

Aili looked curiously at Lu Qiming as he headed out of the passage, unsure what he intended to do.

"Obviously, to finish off all the remaining monsters!"

Lu Qiming still wore the same gentle smile, but a pale red aura of killing intent coiled around him, making him look like a Demon God.

"Roar! Roooar!"

Endless monsters poured into the passage before him, roaring as they lunged at Lu Qiming.

"Watch out!"

Ailin had just started to warn Lu Qiming, but before she could finish, he vanished from where he stood. The monsters that had lunged at him halted in midair, then burst apart into black ash. Magic Stones rained down.

Outside the passage, the monsters' dying cries mingled with Lu Qiming's frenzied laughter, carrying back to the group inside.

"Captain, what do we do now?"

Mili walked over to their captain and handed recovery potions to the others who had just returned.

"Let's go. We're heading back!"

The captain drank his potion, and the wounds on his body began to heal. Raising the greatsword in his hand, he headed toward the cave entrance. He knew he wouldn't be of much use in the battle ahead.

Besides, Lu Qiming was nearby, so his team would be safe. Even if he couldn't help much, he didn't want to leave just like that. After what had happened, he wanted to gain greater strength, too.

This was his chance to learn just how powerful a true strong adventurer could be. Only by knowing how powerful the strongest were could he strive to reach that level!

The others followed the captain. Aili and Ailin, especially, ran right to the front and were the first to reach the passage exit.

At the passage exit, Aili and Ailin stared blankly down below, motionless.

"Aili, Ailin, what's wrong?"

Mili looked at the two girls, puzzled. They should have been jumping around and cheering by now, given their usual nature.

The others noticed something was wrong, too. They hurried to the passage entrance and looked down. In an instant, they were just as stunned as the two sisters.

Endless monsters surged toward the passage they were in, but not one could come within a hundred meters of it. The moment one got close, a flash of sword light swept through it, and blood and severed limbs rained down.

Ahead of them, Lu Qiming laughed without restraint. His body vanished and reappeared again and again, and terrifying sword light rose wherever he passed. A thick layer of Magic Stones and other drops already covered the ground.

"So this is what a true strong adventurer looks like?"

Watching Lu Qiming slaughter monsters below as if mowing down grass, the captain finally understood the power possessed by the very strongest adventurers. He lowered his head and looked at his blood-covered greatsword.

He knew he could never reach that level. But his Familia had geniuses!

The reason he had made Mili take Aili and Ailin away at the last moment was that the two girls had talents completely unlike his own. They had the highest-level Berserker talents: "Battle-Hardened" and "Born for Battle."

With talents like theirs, the two of them would surely become adventurers every bit as powerful as Lu Qiming was now!

"Captain, look!"

The werewolf youth Elio nudged the captain, who was still staring in a daze, and pointed below with a shout. The captain quickly looked where he was pointing.

There, Lu Qiming had stopped moving at high speed and stood calmly in front of the horde.

"Three minutes left."

Lu Qiming calmly watched the horde standing not far away, roaring nonstop. After his slaughter, the monsters that had originally filled the 17th Floor had been reduced by half.

His "Musou" had only three minutes left. He had leveled up while slaughtering the monsters, which had increased his Magic Power again; otherwise, "Musou" would have run out several minutes ago.

"Since I don't have much time left, I won't play around with you anymore!"

The carefree, frenzied smile vanished from Lu Qiming's face. His expression was once again as calm as before—utterly still and cold.

"Thunder Blade Shadow: Modified."

A quiet murmur rang out as endless lightning enveloped Lu Qiming. He crouched low, and terrifying bolts spread over Divine Judgment. A blade formed of lightning extended the sword, whose original blade was only fifty centimeters long.

"Crackle!"

As the lightning crackled, the blade stretched to forty meters. This was his first time testing the move, after all. He had expected the lightning to cover Divine Judgment's blade without making it longer, simply concentrating its power along the sword's edge.

But there was no time to worry about that now. It would be more than enough to slaughter the monsters in front of him.

"Dance!"

The instant Lu Qiming vanished, the sound of thunderclaps rang throughout the entire 17th Floor. Endless sword light surged alongside the lightning. Just a few seconds later, the lightning vanished, leaving only a field of Magic Stones and drops behind.