As Lu Qiming slaughtered his way forward at high speed, the Expedition Team continued deeper into the Dungeon.
Dungeon, Floor 20
The stone walls on either side churned violently like liquid as monsters hatched one after another. Driven by the Dungeon's will, the newly born monsters roared madly and converged in one direction.
There, a black-haired boy laughed maniacally without pause. Monsters shattered across the ground beneath the swings of his twin swords, and as their numbers dwindled, the blood-red killing aura coiling around him grew ever thicker.
"150,000!"
Lu Qiming kicked the last monster in front of him into pieces, glanced casually at the mission panel, then continued toward the next floor.
Dungeon, Floor 24
This place had once been a lush forest, with verdant earth beneath the trees. But now, as monsters rampaged across the entire floor, a boy stood surrounded by countless foes, sending out one streak of swordlight after another.
Trees fell in swathes, and the verdant ground was stained dark red with blood.
On a raised platform outside the monsters' encirclement, Finn and the others watched calmly. When they had first encountered the monster rampage on Floor 22, they had planned to rush in and help Lu Qiming.
But before they could act, Lu Qiming had cut every monster to pieces amid the thunderous roar.
After that, whenever Finn and the others came across a monster rampage, they found a safe place to wait until Lu Qiming finished fighting, then went to collect the spoils.
Dungeon, Floor 30.
The instant Lu Qiming stepped onto the floor, an endless army of skeletons burst from the ground, charging at him with a clattering sound.
"Well, new monsters?"
Lu Qiming paused when he saw the skeletons. Ever since entering Floor 19, he had been cutting down flesh-and-blood monsters. This was his first time encountering these things.
Then his killing intent, now fully condensed into a tangible force, surged out and bore down on the skeleton army.
It had become tangible when his mission tally reached 300,000 on Floor 28. From what he had observed, his manifested killing aura could suppress any intelligent creature.
Even top-tier adventurers like Finn and the others were somewhat weakened under his killing intent. But what pleased Lu Qiming most was that the Dungeon's monsters completely lost their reason under its influence, attacking him with wild abandon.
They fought to the death, paying no heed to their own injuries.
Now, under the influence of his tangible killing aura, the skeletons charging at Lu Qiming all glowed red-eyed and attacked him frantically. Their earlier formation, which had resembled an army's orderly advance, was gone.
"Heh, hahahaha! Come on! Hahaha!"
The crazed figure, wreathed in blood-red energy, charged straight into the skeleton army. Great arcs of swordlight swept through the horde, carving terrifying scars into the walls.
Behind him, Finn and the others had just emerged from the passage. They watched helplessly as Lu Qiming plunged deep into the skeleton army. Wherever he passed, the skeletons turned to black ash, leaving behind Magic Stones.
"Does Qiming ever get tired?"
Tiona watched Lu Qiming, who seemed to grow more excited the more he killed, and grumbled. Even on an expedition, it usually took them days to reach Floor 30. But this time, with Lu Qiming sweeping everything aside, especially from Floor 22 onward, every new floor he reached triggered a monster rampage. Countless monsters ignored them completely and roared as they charged at Lu Qiming.
Now they had become nothing more than a support crew. After collecting the spoils on one floor, all they had to do was head to the next and gather more.
They could barely keep up with Lu Qiming's killing pace when it came to collecting Magic Stones and drops.
"Come on, Tiona. Hurry up and collect the Magic Stones and drops. At this rate, Qiming will almost have slaughtered his way through this floor before long."
Nearby, Finn crouched down and tossed a Magic Stone into his pack. He looked up at the skeleton army in the distance, at least half of which Lu Qiming had already killed.
"Got it, got it."
Tiona crouched down boredly and picked up a Magic Stone.
"Tch!"
Nearby, the werewolf Bete kicked the Magic Stone in front of him away, then crouched down helplessly and started collecting them. There weren't any monsters left for him to fight, so all he could do was pass the time by picking up Magic Stones and drops.
Like Bete, everyone in the First Tier was bored. It was their first time on an expedition with so little to do and not a single monster to fight.
They had thought that, as Lu Qiming had said, he would take on the monsters as long as the team wasn't in danger. They assumed that meant he would handle the monsters on the upper and middle floors. They hadn't expected him to show no sign of fatigue even after reaching Floor 30.
If anything, he was killing monsters even faster, as if his strength kept increasing.
But as far as they knew, Lu Qiming didn't even have a Falna. It was impossible for him to grow this quickly. And even with a Falna, one couldn't improve so fast.
In the end, they reluctantly concluded that Lu Qiming had been hiding his strength all along, and was only revealing it now that the monsters' strength and numbers had increased.
Meanwhile.
Lu Qiming grabbed the last skeleton monster and pulled it into his arms, then crushed it with both hands.
"Shame it wasn't a girl. I've always wanted to know what it feels like to use 'Embrace-and-Kill.'"
Lu Qiming smacked his lips as he looked at the skeleton in his arms. It was already dead, turning to black ash and dropping a Magic Stone. His eyes glowed red as he looked toward the next floor, his tongue flicking over the corner of his mouth.
"Hopefully the next floor has some meaty monsters. Without a bit of blood for decoration, it just doesn't feel right. Hahaha!"
With a bloodthirsty laugh, Lu Qiming charged straight down to Floor 31.
Behind him, Finn and the others watched his retreating figure in silence. They were used to Lu Qiming's crazed, terrifying laughter by now. In fact, they would have found it strange if they ever came across him killing monsters without hearing him laugh a few times.
"Captain, do you know what Qiming's class is?"
Lefiya looked curiously at Finn. The others nearby also turned to him, equally curious.
"...Probably a Berserker and a swordsman."
Finn looked uncertainly toward the entrance to Floor 31. Lu Qiming's familiar, manic laughter was echoing out from it.
"But I thought I heard someone say Qiming was an Assassin?"
Ais raised her head, a hint of recollection in her blank eyes. A few days ago, she had met two young Amazons at the Adventure Guild. They had confidently told the others that Lu Qiming was an Assassin, as if he had told them so himself.
"How could he possibly be an Assassin?"
Bete looked unhappily at the entrance to the next floor. If Lu Qiming was an Assassin, he'd eat shit upside down!
"Is that so?"
Ais tilted her little head, then continued picking up the Magic Stones. She would ask Lu Qiming when they rested that evening.
Three minutes later
"Let's go. We'll catch up with Qiming. It's getting late, and after clearing a few more floors, it'll be about time to rest."
Finn stood up and headed for the next floor. They had already finished collecting all the Magic Stones and drops here.
Before you continue