· Killing Intent Solidifies

With Lu Qiming's high-speed slaughter, the Expedition Team continued to push deeper into the Dungeon.

Dungeon, 20th Floor.

The stone walls on both sides churned violently like liquid as monster after monster hatched. Driven by the will of the Dungeon, the newly born creatures roared madly, converging toward a single direction.

There, a black-haired youth laughed maniacally as he swung his twin blades, shattering monster after monster into pieces. As the death toll rose, the blood-red killing intent coiling around the youth grew increasingly dense.

"One hundred and fifty thousand!"

Lu Qiming kicked the last monster in front of him until it exploded. He glanced casually at his mission panel and continued toward the next floor.

Dungeon, 24th Floor.

This place was originally a lush forest with verdant earth, but now, following a monster riot across the entire floor, a youth stood amidst the endless encirclement, his sword beams lashing out incessantly.

Rows of trees collapsed, and the emerald ground was stained dark red with blood.

On a high platform outside the encirclement, Finn and the others watched the scene below calmly. Back on the 22nd floor, when they first encountered a monster riot, they had intended to rush in and assist Lu Qiming.

But before they could even move, all the monsters were sliced to pieces by Lu Qiming amidst a roar of thunder.

Ever since then, whenever Finn and his team encountered a monster riot, they simply found a safe place to wait, biding their time until Lu Qiming finished the battle so they could collect the spoils.

Dungeon, 30th Floor.

The moment Lu Qiming stepped inside, an endless army of skeletons erupted from the ground, charging toward him with a rhythmic clack-clack sound.

"Yo, a change of pace?"

Lu Qiming paused for a moment upon seeing the skeletons. Since entering the 19th floor, he had only been hacking through flesh-and-blood monsters; this was his first time encountering these things.

Following this, his killing intent, now fully solidified, erupted and pressed down upon the skeleton army.

This was something he had discovered on the 28th floor when his mission index reached three hundred thousand—his killing intent had condensed into a physical force. Based on his observations, this solidified killing intent could suppress any creature possessing intelligence.

Even top-tier adventurers like Finn would have their strength suppressed to a certain degree under his killing intent. However, what satisfied Lu Qiming most was that under the influence of his solidified aura, the Dungeon's monsters would completely lose their sanity and launch frenzied attacks against him.

They would fight to the death, completely disregarding their own injuries.

At this moment, the skeleton army charging at Lu Qiming had eyes glowing red under the influence of his killing intent, attacking him with wild abandon. The organized, army-like formation they had displayed moments ago was completely gone.

"Hehehe, come on! Hahahaha!"

The maniacal figure wreathed in blood-red energy charged straight into the skeleton army, his massive sword beams cutting through the ranks and leaving terrifying gouges in the walls.

Behind him, Finn and the others, who had just emerged from the tunnel, watched helplessly as Lu Qiming dove deep into the skeleton army. Everywhere he passed, the skeletons turned into black ash, leaving behind individual Magic Stones.

"Doesn't this guy, Lu Qiming, ever get tired?"

Tiona watched Lu Qiming, who was becoming more excited the more he killed, and muttered a complaint. In the past, even when they went on expeditions, it would take them several days to reach the 30th floor, but this time...

Because Lu Qiming swept through everything—especially after the 22nd floor—every time he reached a new level, he triggered a monster riot. The endless waves of monsters ignored the rest of them entirely, roaring as they charged toward Lu Qiming.

Now, they had completely turned into a logistics unit; after finishing the cleanup on the previous floor, they simply hurried to the next to continue gathering loot.

Their speed in collecting Magic Stones and drops could barely keep up with Lu Qiming's speed of slaughter.

"Alright, Tiona, hurry up and collect the Magic Stones and drops. If we wait any longer, Lu Qiming will have cleared this floor."

Nearby, Finn crouched down to toss a Magic Stone into his backpack, looking up at the skeleton army, of which Lu Qiming had already killed at least half.

"Received, received."

Tiona crouched down, bored, and picked up the Magic Stones on the ground.

"Tch!"

Beside them, the Berserker Bete kicked a Magic Stone away, then helplessly crouched down to start collecting them. After all, with no monsters left to kill, he could only pass the time by picking up loot.

In truth, everyone in the first-string team felt the same as Bete. This was the first time they had ever been so bored on an expedition, with absolutely no monsters to fight.

Originally, they had assumed that Lu Qiming's request to handle all the monsters himself—provided it didn't endanger the team—would only apply to the upper and middle floors. They hadn't expected that even at the 30th floor, Lu Qiming would show no signs of fatigue.

He was even killing monsters at an ever-increasing speed, as if his strength were constantly growing.

But in everyone's understanding, Lu Qiming did not possess a Falna, so it was impossible for him to grow so quickly. Even with a Falna, it wouldn't be this fast.

In the end, they could only conclude that Lu Qiming had been hiding his strength all along, and only as the monsters' strength and numbers increased did he reveal his true capabilities.

On the other side.

Lu Qiming pulled the last skeleton into his arms and crushed it with both hands.

"What a shame, not a girl. Otherwise, I would've wanted to see what a 'hug-of-death' felt like."

Watching the skeleton in his arms die and turn into black ash, leaving behind a Magic Stone, Lu Qiming smacked his lips. His eyes flashed with red light as he looked toward the next floor, his tongue licking his lips slightly.

"The next floor better have some monsters with flesh and blood. Without the embellishment of blood, it just lacks that certain something—hahahaha!"

Accompanied by his bloodthirsty laughter, Lu Qiming charged down toward the 31st floor.

Behind him, Finn and his group watched Lu Qiming's back in silence. They had grown accustomed to his maniacal, terrifying laughter; in fact, they would find it strange if they didn't hear him laughing while he was slaughtering monsters.

"Captain, do you know what Lu Qiming's profession is?"

At this moment, Lefiya looked at Finn with curiosity, and the others followed suit, equally intrigued.

"...It should be a combination of Berserker and swordsman."

Finn looked uncertainly toward the distance, where the entrance to the thirty-first floor lay, from which Lu Qiming's familiar, manic laughter was continuously echoing.

"But, I seem to have heard people say that Lu Qiming is an Assassin?"

Ais looked up, a flicker of memory passing through her expressionless eyes. She remembered meeting two young Amazon girls at the Adventurer's Guild a few days ago, who had insisted to others that Lu Qiming was an Assassin, as if Lu Qiming himself had told them so.

"How is that possible? That guy being an Assassin!"

Bete glared at the entrance to the next floor in annoyance; if Lu Qiming were an Assassin, he would stand on his head and eat dung!

"Is that so?"

Ais tilted her head slightly and continued picking up the Magic Stone on the ground, deciding to ask Lu Qiming about it when they rested that night.

Three minutes later.

"Let's go, we need to catch up with Lu Qiming. It's getting late, and after clearing a few more floors, it should be about time to rest."

With that, Finn stood up and headed toward the next level, the Magic Stones and drops here having been completely collected.

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