The Puppeteer of the DanMachi World

"The life signatures are weak and numerous. The only creatures in the lower floors with that kind of reading are... Killer Ants."

Having made his judgment, Ming Ge headed toward the Killer Ants.

Killer Ants were weak, but their numbers rivaled those of actual ants.

They also had one distinctive trait: if given time to react before dying, they would let out a scream audible only to other Killer Ants. Then one would have to face a "Monster Party."

"Perfect. I can test the power of a large-scale Shockwave."

Beyond the basic magic Shockwave, its advanced magical form was sound magic.

The Shockwaves created by sound were powerful, consumed little mana, and could be controlled through frequency dispersion to form single-target or area attacks.

Naturally, its power could not compare to Alfia's sound magic, "Demon King Vallion," but this was only one advancement. It was equivalent to an elemental Vacuum Blade, and Ming Ge defined it

as intermediate magic.

"Wind Blade Origin Slash."

Five circular blades spun around Ming Ge.

With Detection Wave continuously pulsing, Ming Ge carved a bloody path straight into the center of the Killer Ant swarm.

Looking at those dense, grotesque monsters, each larger than a cat, Ming Ge could not help but break out in goosebumps.

"Shockwave: Soundless."

The instant he cast the spell, all sound vanished from Ming Ge's ears for a moment, as though a vacuum zone had formed around him.

Centered on Ming Ge's body, a deadly attack was unleashed across a radius of ten meters.

A nearly visible Shockwave took shape, clearing out the Killer Ants around him.

In a single instant, more than 120 Killer Ants were wiped out.

Magic stones rained down densely. Those closer to Ming Ge had even vanished along with their magic stones.

"That burned through mana pretty fast. I really can't keep up large-scale attacks..."

Ming Ge stretched lazily.

That wave had consumed quite a bit of mana. He could only cast attacks of that level a little over twenty times at most.

But that was already impressive. His mana was no weaker than that of a lower-level adventurer among professional mages, and Ming Ge had not even become an adventurer yet.

Over the twenty-odd days of training, Ming Ge's mana had increased fivefold, equivalent to an Lv. 1 mana stat of around 300.

And that was not even the limit of Ming Ge's growth. He was currently in a period of rapid development, with his mana increasing significantly almost every day.

"This guy... calls that burning through mana fast?"

Adventurers had keen senses, so the Hera Familia member heard Ming Ge's humblebrag from far away.

"He suddenly charged into a swarm of Killer Ants. He scared me half to death."

She clutched her chest with a pained expression. A non-adventurer had charged into a Killer Ant swarm and slaughtered them left and right. Ming Ge might not have felt anything, but she could barely take it.

If something happened, how was she supposed to face Meitellia?

But clearly, she had been worrying too much.

"That idiot Meitellia really didn't tell me anything..."

She muttered to herself. Then, seeing Ming Ge head deeper into the lower floors again, she hurried after him.

Just how far could he go?

The Hera Familia member assigned to protect Ming Ge unknowingly began to feel a strong sense of anticipation.

The tenth floor was where a new monster appeared: Orcs.

They were massive green monsters, three meters tall and shaped like enormous fat men.

The entire area was pale white, with white, pallid trees rising from the ground.

The huge Orcs would uproot those trees and use them as club-like weapons, which was why this place was also called the "Natural Armory."

"Next is the intermediate test target."

The monsters on the first nine floors were basically all small and exceptionally weak.

Even an ordinary adult could kill them with a weapon and enough courage.

The Vacuum Blades Ming Ge used to attack were basically at minimum output, so they consumed very little mana.

"Here it comes."

Ming Ge looked ahead.

Heavy tremors sounded as a huge Orc yanked a pallid tree from the ground and gripped it as a weapon.

Ming Ge raised both hands. Circular wind blades formed, and he charged toward the Orc.

He easily slipped past the Orc's clumsy arm. One circle around its neck was enough to kill it.

He released two more large circular wind blades, directly cutting another Orc in half at the waist.

Calculating the Orcs' strength, Ming Ge eventually arrived at a rough estimate of the gap between their combat abilities.

As long as he enlarged an ordinary circular wind blade about threefold, a medium-sized blade could easily sever an Orc's neck.

More importantly, his attacks were extremely fast. Ordinary monsters and adventurers could not react at all.

After a period of training, Ming Ge's combat strength had reached Lv. 2.

No, it would be more accurate to say that one needed to be at least Lv. 2 to fight Ming Ge. Otherwise, they would most likely be instantly killed.

His magic attacks were simply too fast, with neither windup nor recovery. The moment a thought crossed his mind, an attack followed.

"Second ability test."

Ming Ge casually walked toward an Orc until they were extremely close.

"What is he trying to do?"

Watching Ming Ge's seemingly suicidal actions, the Hera Familia member could no longer stay calm.

She was already prepared to intervene at any moment when a sharp sound of something slicing through the air suddenly came from beside her.