Ash smirked faintly. "Good. Let's test how much your firepower can keep up with my blade."
Jessie glared at him but stepped forward, raising her staff with determination.
"I thought you were just a newbie."
Ash's blade glowed in the darkness, the extra stat bonus from it helping to save his own ass.
The wolves emerged, circling them, snarling.
Ash crouched low, blade gleaming, his Assassin instincts activating. His awareness expanded, tracking every movement around him.
Jessie whispered, "On my signal, duck."
Ash didn't question. He lunged at the nearest wolf, slashing across its snout before rolling to the side. The others closed in.
"Now!" Jessie shouted.
As he heard that, he activated Killing Intent.
[Killing Intent Activated: 12 MP/second]
Ash dropped low just as a blazing arc of fire shot over his head, sweeping across three wolves at once. Their scales blackened, their howls echoing in the dungeon.
Ash was already moving, stabbing one in the neck, spinning, slashing the tendon of another. His movements were sharp, efficient—like a predator dismantling prey piece by piece.
Jessie's magic burned through the pack, but her breathing grew heavier. Sweat dripped down her temple.
Ash noticed immediately. "Don't overdo it. I'll thin the numbers."
He deactivated the skill. They were quite weak, but the number was a problem which was costing him high MP.
[MP: 14/60]
He dashed forward, blade flashing in the dim light, his movements seamless. Every strike was calculated and targeted to kill. The wolves couldn't pin him down.
Minutes later, silence returned to the forest. The last wolf twitched once before collapsing.
[+23 Exp]
Jessie had a big smile on her face, partially panting.
Ash looked at her calmly, not even out of breath. "Not bad. You burned half of them. Saved me some effort."
She shot him a glare, but the corners of her lips curved upward. "You fight like you've done this for years."
Ash sheathed his blade, eyes narrowing at the forest ahead. "I have."
Their wristbands glowed again, showing the number 12. The band was showing their cumulative kills, not individual, so fighting for kills would only provide Exp and wouldn't help in the test.
Ash checked his Exp, which was close but not enough to level up.
[Exp: 358/500]
On the giant screen outside, their squad number blinked and jumped a few spots up the ranking. But they were still in the twenties.
Ash didn't care about the number. He just needed some Exp to level up. But he also didn't want Jessie to fail because of him.
His eyes were fixed deeper into the forest. The growls earlier had been loud and misleading but not nearly enough to mask someone in the forest.
His alertness heightened in these situations.
Jessie followed his gaze nervously. "What is it?"
Ash's expression hardened. "Someone's watching us."
And as he said that, a group of young people emerged out of the woods.
"You ain't bad, man. Would you mind joining our team?" The guy with golden trim on his clothes walked out. It was the one who was belittling newbies.
"No thanks." Ash went back towards Jessie.
"Ohoo, see this guy rejecting me for the little bitch," the guy laughed, his four friends supporting him.
"Are you not in a hurry to get more points?" Ash asked, ignoring his taunts.
"Haha, why kill beasts when you can just gift us the points?" one man on his side who had a small shield in his hands said.
"You better find someone else." Ash stood stern in his stance. He didn't care if they had any backing or not.
Jessie tugged on his shirt, trying to alert him.
"You talk too much. We can kill you and get those points and will have your girl for some sweet nights before getting rid of her."
Another guy said this, but Ash didn't even pay attention and started leaving with no reaction.
Jessie had a red face when called out as Ash's girl, but she followed Ash in the other direction without saying a word. She wanted to get far away from these stupid nobles.
Surprisingly, no one stopped them.
"He is strange and powerful. We should not indulge with him," the noble guy said in a low tone.
He had seen him fight, and it was way different than theirs. It was ruthless and precise, just like a seasoned warrior. So having this much proficiency at just age sixteen wasn't something that came naturally.
And he didn't want to test the cause of this lethality. At least not now. The time would come.
Ash and Jessie moved deeper into the jungle, looking for more beasts. Ash knew the level wouldn't increase for these beasts since it was a well-tested E-rank dungeon.
But he didn't care. His goal was to gather enough Exp to reach the next level.
Another group of wolves were dealt with swiftly by him and Jessie.
They kept moving in to find the dungeon boss if there was any. It had already been thirty minutes, and they hadn't seen any other squad till now.
Ash checked his Exp.
[Exp: 452/500]
"I didn't expect it, but you are quite strong." Jessie praised his performance.
He didn't use any flashy skills—it was all just cold assassin calculations till now. He was slowly losing his mind.
He had already killed more than twenty wolves, yet he didn't level up. Now he was realizing how hard it was to level up for so many reasons.
For example, he had already started to get low Exp from these wolves. He needed new types of beasts if he wanted to increase Exp faster.
As they were going through the jungle, light crystals spread across the ground. Two girls were running towards them. Not to attack, but running from someone or something.
"It's the dungeon boss, run!" they alerted Ash and Jessie.
Instead of running, Ash felt excited. He needed this. He was bored after learning all the attack patterns of wolves.
Finally, from behind them, a large wolf the size of an elephant appeared. Its eyes gleamed with killing intent and black lightning ran across its back.
As Ash was about to rush, a black lightning bolt just fell beside him, making a large crater in the ground.
He was surprised that some of the light crystals also broke down, ones that Ash had failed to break.
His heart raced, while Jessie, aware of these types of situations, flanked to the right to avoid direct confrontation.
Seeing Ash in a tough situation, she cast her best spell.
"Twilight Trap."