Rookie Killer

In the blink of an eye, half a day passed.

Deep within the Fourth Layer, on the outskirts of the Mushroom Jungle.

A newly built temporary camp had been completed. Using giant mushrooms over ten meters tall as support, ten orc adventurers had hollowed out most of the stalks to create a small tree hollow. The perimeter was covered with all kinds of traps and magical alarms.

Several groups of Goblins that caught the scent of females came over during that time, only to die without exception at the hands of the assassin setting the traps. Occasionally, Swamp Pythons came to attack, but the minotaur warrior split them apart with his axe, turning them into monster materials and chunks of meat.

Smack!

Inside the camp, the tiger-man roasting meat suddenly raised his hand and slapped his thigh. When he turned his palm over, there was a bloody smear in its furry center, along with a Purple Poison Giant Mosquito the size of a pinky finger.

"What a disgusting little thing."

The tiger-man wore a look of disgust. Since entering the Fourth Layer, the greatest nuisance they had faced was not the harsh environment or the powerful monsters that attacked without pause, but these seemingly insignificant creatures, so weak they could be swatted dead with one slap.

From fist-sized individuals in the Venomous Swamp to thumb-sized offspring in the Mushroom Jungle, this monster race displayed unusual diversity, seemingly able to produce different individuals according to different environments.

What was most disgusting was that these monsters always appeared in swarms. While sucking blood, they would lay eggs, using their prey as breeding grounds for the next generation—but even that was barely tolerable.

Most importantly, these monsters were utterly worthless. There was not a single material on them that could be sold for money, yet they were everywhere.

"Ahhh, damn mosquitoes! I'll kill you all, meow!"

Across from him, the petite cat-person assassin was driven frantic by the constant buzzing at her ears. She shouted as she waved her hands, killing all the Purple Poison Giant Mosquitoes around her. But before she could be happy for even a second, more Purple Poison Giant Mosquitoes flew over.

"Captain, we have to find a way to keep these annoying things out." Across from him, the minotaur warrior, built like an iron tower and normally steadfast and brave, now had a face full of helplessness and despair. "I don't want to wake up after sleeping and find myself drained dry, turned into beef jerky, or watch a pile of these things crawl out of my body."

"Dig a hole."

The tiger-man captain took a deep breath and ultimately decided to rely on the simplest and cheapest physical isolation. Expensive magical barriers were not something they could afford, and digging a sealed cave was the best option.

As it happened, that was an old orc craft.

"Leave it to me." The rat-man thief in the party raised his hand, a confident smile appearing on his face. "This is our rat people's specialty. Watch me dig out a cave guaranteed to be comfortable."

He immediately got to work. The rat-man thief stood up, selected a suitable spot, and began digging at high speed. The hard mushroom stalk was peeled apart as easily as tofu before his claws wrapped in battle aura.

"All right, leave the digging to Kerry. What we need to do next is begin exploring the Dungeon with the camp as our center."

The tiger-man clapped his hands, drawing everyone else's attention. They had not come to the Dungeon to dig holes, but for the treasures and wealth within it.

After a brief discussion, the orc adventurer party prepared to split into two groups. One group would gather and investigate nearby resources, while the other would check out the camps of the Goblin groups that had previously intruded upon their camp.

With their tasks assigned, the adventurer party began to move.

"They really are cautious adventurers. That doesn't fit the orcs' temperament at all."

Out of curiosity toward the orc adventurers, Luo Ao had kept part of his attention on them the entire time. All he could say was that this Orc Squad perfectly matched his definition of elite adventurers.

They did not rush ahead, they had a plan, and they advanced gradually according to established steps. Compared with other adventurers who began pushing deeper the moment they entered the Mushroom Jungle, they were currently the most likely to successfully reach the center of the Fourth Layer and face the layer's minor boss, the Treant Guardian.

"Huh, more provisions have arrived."

At that moment, Luo Ao's attention was drawn to the many adventurers who had just entered the Dungeon's First Layer. Shifting his gaze over, he saw a medium-sized adventurer party of more than fifty people stepping into the Dungeon.

"Brothers, the treasures and power of the Fourth Layer are waiting for us! There is endless wealth there, all kinds of rare magical plants, and inheritances of extraordinary professions from ancient times!"

"Power and wealth are all waiting for me to claim them!"

"We're adventurers, born for adventure! As long as we conquer the Fourth Layer, we can get everything we want!"

"Of course, as your leader, I promise that after this adventure ends, every one of you can order ten of the prettiest, wildest girls on Flower Street!"

"Oohhh, long live Boss Norton!"

"We swear to follow and serve Boss Norton unto death!"

"Boss, can I order men?"

Amid the successive cries of loyalty and vows to follow him unto death, Norton lowered his head to look at the female adventurer in the group, whose build was more masculine than a man's. He grinned, revealing an honest smile.

"Of course you can!"

"Thank you, Boss Norton. Loyalty."

The female adventurer grinned, but a trace of disdain flashed through her eyes. She quietly stepped back and blended into the crowd. Beside her were four or five adventurers doing the same, appearing as fanatical as everyone around them, though their eyes still held the light of reason.

"Brothers, let's go."

Norton had naturally noticed those few people mixed into the party, but he did not care. As long as they did not expose his plans, he did not mind letting them hitch a ride into the Fourth Layer.

As a professional rookie killer, Norton naturally knew that his tricks could only fool stupid new adventurers. Anyone with even a little brains could guess what he was doing.

After all, he had only recently led a grand adventurer party into the Dungeon, yet only a few of them had come back out. On top of that, the adventurers' equipment had appeared on the black market.

It was simply something everyone tacitly understood without saying aloud. In a brand-new Dungeon, every new layer's environment, monsters, and various dangers required a great deal of cannon fodder to probe them.

Norton made his fortune by fooling large numbers of rookies into entering new Dungeon layers, using their lives to gather intelligence. Once he left the Dungeon, he sold the new adventurers' equipment and the information he had acquired, making a huge profit.

Norton had done similar things in many places. Whenever his reputation became completely ruined, he would move somewhere new and return to his old trade.

"Brothers, move out!"

With a wave of his hand, Norton led seven or eight Formal Professionals to clear the way ahead. These adorable rookie adventurers could not be allowed to die in the first three layers; he was still waiting for them to use their lives in the Fourth Layer to gather new intelligence for him.