· Assassin's Creed

Dungeon 35th Floor.

The last skeleton was kicked away by Lu Qiming, slamming heavily into the nearby wall before crumbling into black ash and dropping a Magic Stone.

"Done."

Lu Qiming glanced at the fallen Magic Stone, just about to turn and head toward the entrance to the next floor.

"Qiming, wait a moment."

Finn ran forward and called out to Lu Qiming.

"What is it?"

"Let's stop here for today. Everyone is starting to feel exhausted. We'll set up camp on the 35th floor to recover our strength and continue tomorrow."

As Finn spoke, he gestured toward the group behind him who were busy collecting Magic Stones from the ground. The lower-level adventurers and mages, in particular, were already showing signs of fatigue from the constant marching and gathering, even without having participated in the actual combat.

At the usual pace of an expedition, it would take at least a week to reach the 35th floor, but under Lu Qiming's relentless push, the group had covered a week's worth of distance in a single day.

"Fine."

Seeing this, Lu Qiming nodded and joined the team collecting the Magic Stones and drops. According to his original plan, he had intended to push straight to the 50th floor in one go, rest, and then head deeper.

He was quite curious about the Corrupted Spirit clone from the original work and wondered how it would feel to hack through it. The mere thought of the Corrupted Spirit wailing and screaming under his blade made Lu Qiming's blood boil.

Besides, there were endless monsters below the 50th floor, especially those dragon-like creatures capable of blasting through from the 58th floor to the 51st with a single shot—they were the perfect targets for slaughter.

In Lu Qiming's hand, Divine Judgment seemed to sense his thoughts; the black blade trembled incessantly, whispering its thirst for blood and souls to him.

"Don't be impatient. The main course is always best served last. Hahahaha!"

He lightly traced his finger along the edge of Divine Judgment, his low laughter echoing through the corridor.

On the other side, Lefiya shuddered at the sound of Lu Qiming's laughter and leaned closer to Ais. She was increasingly convinced that Lu Qiming was a Berserker, and a bloodthirsty one at that.

Otherwise, how could a normal person transform like that the moment combat began, becoming a completely different existence from his usual gentle self?

An hour later, the group had collected all the Magic Stones and drops from the ground and finished setting up the temporary camp.

Inside one of the tents, Lu Qiming sat in a circle with the first-tier members like Ais and Finn, discussing tomorrow's mission while eating rations.

"Tomorrow, we will continue with Qiming as the vanguard to break through to the 50th floor in one go. However, we must be careful of the Floor Boss on the 37th floor, the Dungeon's King, Udaios."

At this, Finn looked at Lu Qiming.

"Qiming, when we encounter the Floor Boss tomorrow, do you need us to intervene?"

"No worries. I haven't had my fill today; I'll use the Floor Boss as an appetizer tomorrow. There's a main course waiting for me further down."

"Wait!"

At this moment, Ais stood up and looked at Lu Qiming and the others, her usually expressionless eyes filled with determination.

"Let me handle tomorrow's Floor Boss. I will be the one to defeat it—none of you are to interfere!"

The group looked at Ais, especially Riveria, who had raised her since she was a child. She immediately stood up, intending to stop Ais. One had to realize that Udaios, the Dungeon's King, was a formidable enemy that had wiped out large-scale parties. Even with Ais having learned the Iai-slash, her chances of defeating it solo were less than ten percent.

Slap!

Finn grabbed Riveria's arm as she moved to stop Ais, shaking his head at her before looking at Ais.

"Are you sure, Ais?"

"Yes!"

Seeing that Ais's gaze remained unwavering, Finn knew she had made up her mind. He had gone through this stage himself, working hard to hunt monsters every day, only to find his growth slowing down or even stagnating.

Finn knew that for Ais to grow rapidly again, she needed a 'Great Feat,' and soloing the 37th-floor boss, Udaios, was exactly the kind of 'Great Feat' that could allow Ais to level up!

Finn nodded at Ais and looked toward Lu Qiming.

"Qiming, what do you say?"

Lu Qiming looked at Finn and then at Ais, who was staring intently at him, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"No problem. Tomorrow's Floor Boss is all yours, Ais!"

As for Udaios, Lu Qiming had originally wanted to test the new technique he developed while dealing with Goliath, but since Ais wanted to take it on, he didn't mind letting her.

In the original story, Ais had leveled up to a Level 6 adventurer after soloing Udaios. This was just letting her do it a bit earlier, and he had no intention of following the original plot anyway; his goal was the Corrupted Spirit on the 59th floor.

He had no interest in ending this expedition at the 50th floor.

Therefore, he would leave the 37th-floor boss to Ais and take the opportunity to see how well she had mastered the Iai-slash he had taught her.

"Thank you, Qiming!"

Ais thanked him, sat back down, drew the Despair Sword from her waist, and began to wipe it gently.

Seeing this, the others said nothing more, though they secretly resolved to rush in and save her the moment she was in danger tomorrow.

At this moment, Bete stood up and walked over to Lu Qiming, staring at him intensely.

"Bete, what's wrong?"

Lu Qiming looked curiously at the werewolf youth who resembled a certain "Accelerator," wondering why he was so agitated when he hadn't provoked him. Wait, could he be jealous because Ais thanked him?

He knew this guy had always harbored a crush on Ais; in the original story, his constant disdain for Bell at the Hostess of Fertility was merely a way to highlight his own strength by belittling Bell's weakness.

Overall, he's just a love-idiot, like those elementary schoolers who don't know how to express themselves and only show they care for a girl by bullying her; no wonder Ais didn't fall for him in the end.

However, this guy is actually just a total tsundere with a sharp tongue but a soft heart; he just doesn't know how to express himself, or rather, this is simply his way of doing so.

"Lu Qiming, what exactly is your class?"

Bete stood with his hands in his pockets, leaning slightly to the side as he brought his face close to Lu Qiming's to stare at him.

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

Lu Qiming looked at Bete carefully; he wasn't actually jealous?

"Ha? You think I'd ask about anything else?"

"Fine, I guessed wrong."

Lu Qiming spread his hands and looked around, only to realize that everyone was watching him with curiosity, even the expressionless Ais, who was showing a rare hint of interest.

"I'm an Assassin. Besides, how could you guys not tell with such an obvious Assassin combat style?"

"Tell what, you ghost!"

Tiona was the first to shout; with the combat style Lu Qiming used, no one would doubt it if he were called a Berserker.

Nearby, the others also looked at Lu Qiming with disbelief, completely unconvinced that he was an Assassin.

"Don't you guys know the first rule of the Assassin's Code? An Assassin is someone who just needs to take out the target; the process doesn't matter. So, I've chosen to simply take out all the witnesses."