Assassin's Code

The Dungeon, 35th Floor

The last skeleton monster was kicked flying by Lu Qiming and slammed hard into the wall beside them. It crumbled into black ash, leaving behind a Magic Stone.

"Done."

Lu Qiming glanced at the dropped Magic Stone and was just about to turn toward the entrance to the next floor.

"Qiming, wait a moment."

Finn hurried over and called out to Lu Qiming.

"What is it?"

"Let's call it a day. Everyone's starting to feel tired. We'll set up camp on the 35th Floor and recover before setting out again tomorrow."

As he spoke, Finn pointed to the others behind them, who were gathering the Magic Stones on the ground. The lower-level adventurers and Magicians in particular were exhausted. Even though they hadn't taken part in the fighting, they'd spent the entire day traveling and collecting Magic Stones, and were now starting to feel fatigued.

At their usual expedition pace, it would have taken them at least a week to reach the 35th Floor. But with Lu Qiming charging ahead and sweeping everything in his path, the group had covered a week's journey in a single day.

"Fine."

Seeing this, Lu Qiming nodded and joined the others in collecting the Magic Stones and drops. His original plan had been to fight their way straight to the 50th Floor today, rest up, then head down from there.

He was curious about the Corrupted Spirit clone from the original story and wondered what it would feel like to cut one down. The thought of the Corrupted Spirit wailing and screaming beneath his sword made Lu Qiming's blood boil.

And beyond the 50th Floor, there were endless monsters—especially the ones shaped like Great Dragons, capable of blasting through the floors from the 58th to the 51st with a single shot. They were practically perfect targets for slaughter.

In Lu Qiming's hand, Divine Judgment seemed to sense his thoughts. Its black blade trembled repeatedly, expressing its hunger for blood and souls.

"Easy. The feast is always tastiest when you save it for last. Hehahaha!"

His fingers glided lightly over Divine Judgment's blade, and his low laughter echoed through the passage.

Nearby, Lefiya shivered when she heard Lu Qiming laugh and edged closer to Ais. She was more and more convinced that Lu Qiming was a Berserker—and a bloodthirsty one at that.

Otherwise, how could a normal person turn into this the moment a fight began? He was like an entirely different person from the gentle man he usually seemed to be.

An hour later, everyone had gathered all the Magic Stones and drops from the ground and finished setting up their temporary camp.

Inside one of the tents, Lu Qiming sat in a circle with Ais, Finn, and the others from the first group. As they ate their rations, they discussed the next day's mission.

"Tomorrow, we'll still have Qiming lead the way and push straight through to the 50th Floor. But we'll need to be careful of the Floor Boss on the 37th Floor—the Labyrinth Lone King Udaios."

At this, Finn looked toward Lu Qiming.

"Qiming, when we encounter the Floor Boss tomorrow, will you need us to step in?"

"It's fine. I haven't had my fill today. Tomorrow, the Floor Boss can be my appetizer. There's a feast waiting for me afterward."

"Wait!"

Ais stood up and looked at Lu Qiming and the others. Her usually blank eyes were filled with determination.

"Let me handle the Floor Boss tomorrow. I'll defeat it. Don't interfere!"

Everyone looked at Ais, especially Riveria, who had cared for her since she was little. She immediately stood up, wanting to stop Ais. The Labyrinth Lone King Udaios had once wiped out a large expeditionary force. Even now that Ais had learned Draw Sword Strike, her odds of defeating it alone were less than one in ten.

Clap!

Finn caught Riveria before she could stop Ais. He shook his head at her, then turned to Ais.

"Are you sure, Ais?"

"Yeah!"

Seeing that Ais's expression hadn't wavered, Finn knew she had made up her mind. He had gone through this stage himself: hunting monsters every day, only for his growth to slow more and more, eventually grinding to a halt.

Finn knew that for Ais to grow quickly again, she needed a Great Achievement. Defeating the 37th Floor Boss, the Lone King Udaios, all by herself would be exactly the kind of Great Achievement that could help her level up again.

Finn nodded to Ais, then looked toward Lu Qiming.

"What do you think, Qiming?"

Lu Qiming looked at Finn, then at Ais, who was watching him. He smiled.

"No problem. Ais can handle tomorrow's Floor Boss!"

He had originally wanted to try out the new move he'd developed while fighting Goliath against Udaios. But if Ais wanted to defeat it, then why not let her?

In the original story, Ais had leveled up to become a Lv6 adventurer after defeating Udaios on her own. This time, she would simply be doing it earlier. Besides, he had no intention of following the original plot. His goal this time was the Corrupted Spirit on the 59th Floor.

He had no interest in letting the expedition stop at the 50th Floor.

So he'd leave the 37th Floor Boss to Ais this time—and take the chance to see how well she had mastered the Draw Sword Strike he'd taught her.

"Thank you, Qiming!"

Ais thanked him, sat back down, drew the Despair Sword from her waist, and began carefully wiping it.

Seeing this, the others said no more. They simply resolved to rush in and save her at the first sign of danger tomorrow.

Just then, Bete stood up and walked over to Lu Qiming, staring at him intently.

"Bete, what's wrong?"

Lu Qiming looked curiously at the werewolf youth who resembled a certain self-important old man. He didn't think he'd done anything to upset him, so why was he so worked up? Wait, could it be because Ais had thanked him and Bete was jealous?

He knew this guy had always been in love with Ais. In the original story, he'd mocked Bell at the Hostess of Fertility for all sorts of things, but it was really just because he wanted to use Bell's weakness to show off his own strength.

In a nutshell, he was a hopeless romantic. Like an elementary school kid who didn't know how to express his feelings and could only show it by picking on the girl he liked. No wonder Ais never fell for him.

Still, the guy was really just a sharp-tongued softie, a stubborn tsundere who didn't know how to express himself—or whose way of expressing himself was simply like this.

"Qiming, what exactly is your class?"

Bete had his hands in his pockets and leaned halfway to one side, bringing his face close to Lu Qiming's as he stared at him.

"Huh? That's what you wanted to ask?"

Lu Qiming gave Bete a closer look. So he wasn't jealous after all?

"Huh? You think I'd ask you anything else?"

"Okay, I was mistaken."

Lu Qiming shrugged. Looking around, he realized everyone was watching him curiously. Even Ais, whose expression was usually blank, had a rare hint of curiosity.

"I'm an Assassin. I mean, is my fighting style not obviously that of an Assassin?"

"What kind of nonsense is that?!"

Tiona was the first to shout. With the way Lu Qiming fought, no one would doubt it if someone called him a Berserker.

The others beside her looked just as unconvinced, completely unwilling to believe that he was an Assassin.

"Don't you know the first rule of the Assassin's Code? An Assassin only needs to take out the target. The process doesn't matter. So I figure I might as well take out all the witnesses, too."