The Labyrinth Lone King, Udaios

"Qiming, are you sure you mean an Assassin?"

Finn looked at Lu Qiming with a speechless expression. He'd never heard of an Assassin choosing this kind of method to carry out a hit. Weren't they supposed to sneak around, use poison, and kill with a single strike?

But the problem was, what Lu Qiming said didn't seem wrong, either. An Assassin had only one goal: complete the mission by any means necessary. Who cared about the process? As long as nobody found out, that was all that mattered.

"Yeah, I really am an Assassin. And there are other senior Assassins like me, like King Hassan and Wu Liuqi."

"There are more?"

Everyone stared at Lu Qiming, speechless. Now they finally understood where his strange rules for Assassins had come from. They were part of a long tradition!

After that, the group left the meeting tent in silence and headed back to their own tents. They needed time to digest what Lu Qiming had said and rethink their ideas about Assassins.

As for Bete, he went outside the temporary camp. He was on watch for the first half of the night, but he wasn't thinking about that at all. His mind was consumed with whether he should wash his hair while standing on his head.

The next morning, everyone emerged from their tents and began preparing for that day's Expedition.

Just then, Bete stepped out of his tent. His silver-white hair looked damp, and his normally smooth locks stood on end like a Saiyan's.

"Bete, what happened to you?"

Tione eyed Bete's unusual new look curiously. Was he trying out a new hairstyle?

"Nothing. I just washed my hair!"

Bete replied with an air of cockiness, then turned around and began packing up his tent.

"Washed your hair?"

Tione watched Bete's back in curiosity. Why had he suddenly washed his hair? And on the 35th Floor, no less. This wasn't like the 18th Floor or the 24th Floor; there was no water here at all.

But then she remembered that, barring any surprises, they could reach the 50th Floor that day and replenish their water supply. She stopped worrying about it and began packing her things.

Half an hour later, the Expedition Team set out once more.

As before, Lu Qiming took the lead, charging straight toward the 36th Floor.

"Hehehehahaha... My sweet little babies are here!"

Amid bloodthirsty, frenzied laughter, one skeleton monster after another turned to black ash, leaving behind only Magic Stones. Meanwhile, monsters were continuously being spawned from the walls of the 36th Floor, their jaws clacking as they charged at Lu Qiming.

A tangible, blood-red killing intent blanketed the entire 36th Floor. The countless skeleton monsters had all gone berserk.

Behind him, Finn and the others watched Lu Qiming fight and realized that he really did always kill with a single strike. No monster could survive a second blow from him.

"Maybe this guy really is an Assassin."

Finn muttered as he began collecting the Magic Stones from the ground. It was a good thing Lu Qiming had told him to prepare enough backpacks before the Expedition. Otherwise, they might not have been able to carry all these Magic Stones away.

After all, during their previous Expeditions, the monsters hadn't all gone berserk from the 20th Floor onward. And the Dungeon Consciousness seemed determined to kill Lu Qiming, spawning monsters without end.

The 37th Floor.

This time, Lu Qiming entered the floor alongside Ais and the others. The instant they stepped in, the entire 37th Floor erupted into chaos. The skeleton monsters that had been wandering around turned toward them, red light flaring in their eyes as they charged straight at the group by the entrance.

Just then, the ground across the 37th Floor began to shake, as though some enormous monster were awakening beneath it.

Rumble... Rumble...

"It's coming!"

Ais rested her left hand on her sword hilt. A pale green glow enveloped her as she stared grimly at the ground ahead.

Boom!

With a deafening crash, a small mountain tens of meters high rose from the ground. A pair of skeletal hands emerged from within and pried the mound apart. A monster appeared, its bones jet-black, a massive Magic Stone set where its heart should be, and enormous horns like a ram's atop its head.

"At last... the Labyrinth Lone King, Udaios!"

Riveria murmured as she stared at the enormous monster in the distance.

Ais tightened her grip on her sword and crouched slightly. The pale green glow steadily gathered around its hilt.

"Don't interfere!"

As soon as she said it, Ais drew her sword in an instant and swung it fiercely at Udaios.

Whoosh!

A gigantic blade of light shot from her sword. Its keen edge split every skeleton monster and Magic Stone in its path in two, tearing through the ground as it sped toward Udaios.

"Roar!"

Udaios seemed to sense the threat of death. The red glow in its eye sockets flared as it yanked a massive bone sword from the ground and slammed it against the incoming blade of light.

Boom!

The moment the blade collided with the sword, a tremendous crash rang out. A terrifying shock wave shattered the ground and sent a vast cloud of dust billowing into the air.

"How is this possible? Udaios actually drew a sword!"

Riveria stared in disbelief at Udaios, obscured by the dust in the distance. This was the first time she'd seen it wield a sword.

As the dust settled, Udaios raised its enormous bone sword high. A black, silent aura coiled around the blade.

"Get out of the way, Ais!"

Riveria immediately noticed Udaios's movement and shouted at Ais, who was charging toward it.

Behind them, Bete, Finn, and the others raised their weapons, ready to rush in and help if Ais couldn't hold out.

At Riveria's warning, Ais noticed what Udaios was doing as she charged. But she didn't turn and retreat. Instead, she sped up and raced toward it again.

"Awaken, Tempest!"

As Ais chanted, an even more concentrated pale green light enveloped her.

In the next moment, all the light gathered into the Despair Sword in her hands. She pushed off hard with her feet and leaped into the air, bringing the Despair Sword up to meet Udaios's descending greatsword.

That was right—Udaios brought it down like a club. The 20-to-30-meter-long sword was aimed at Ais as she leaped up, smashing down with tremendous force.

Boom!

"Ais!"

Everyone shouted. They hadn't expected Ais to take Udaios's blow head-on, and they hurried toward her.

"Wait!"

Lu Qiming stopped them and pointed to where Ais and Udaios had clashed. Ais's figure shot out of the cloud of dust. She spun once in midair to adjust her angle, then planted one foot against the ceiling of the 37th Floor.

Pushing off hard with both feet, she slid the blade back into its scabbard and shot toward Udaios once more.

"Draw Sword Strike!"

A low shout rang out, and another tangible blade of light appeared.

Beneath it, Udaios, its body covered in cracks and its greatsword already broken, raised its left hand and swung at the blade of light.

In an instant, the blade shattered Udaios's fist, then tore its way up its left arm and slammed into the top of its head.

Thanks to Douluo for the 5,000-point tip. Thanks to Douluo for the three monthly votes, to Turbulent Floating Life for one monthly vote, and to Dongmu for two monthly votes.

Thanks to all the readers for your continued recommendation votes and for following along.

Also, I went to the hospital for a follow-up yesterday and today. Yesterday's DanMachi chapter was from my backlog, and Dragon Egg has been on hiatus for two days. Regular updates will resume tomorrow.

I just got back tonight and started writing right away. After finishing two DanMachi chapters, I was too tired to keep going, so I'll get up early tomorrow to write.

Also, the new DanMachi novel is in its launch period, so please support it with recommendation votes and monthly votes. I'm also taking investments.