In truth, Li Huaiming could not be entirely blamed.
After all, who the hell would have known that a little girl who suddenly appeared here would be an S-rank?
Moreover, with only her silver hair and without her ceremonial attire, Aya Tone’s recognizability was genuinely low.
—Her appearance was simply too youthful.
“Didn’t I tell you I’d enhance you?” Aya Tone pouted.
In her normal state, without the ceremonial attire, while her abilities operated at only half their full power, the advantage lay in her capacity to utilize both types of strength.
Even half her power, however, proved more than sufficient.
Li Huaiming could only gape in silence.
Even with the enhancement, he lacked the strength to clear a dungeon alone.
‘Your Majesty, this humble servant truly cannot accomplish such a feat…’
“Rest assured, I am no demon; should we encounter monsters beyond your capabilities, I will naturally intervene.”
A jolt ran through Li Huaiming.
Upon hearing these words, Li Huaiming instantly sprang to life.
‘Why didn’t you say so sooner?’
‘What did this imply? An S-rank powerhouse was backing him!’
‘This was a resource that countless riches might not procure! He absolutely had to cherish it!’
‘As for failing to overcome them?’
‘Nonsense! With a big boss supporting him, even if he couldn’t defeat them, he could at least put up a fight.’
‘At worst, he’d be laid up for a month, but he’d still be a hero after it.’
‘Moreover, this was prime material for bragging to his friends.’
‘Tell me, could anyone resist boasting to their friends, “Have you ever soloed a C-rank dungeon? I have.”?
‘Certainly not!’
‘Let’s do this! Let’s do this! Let’s do this!’
****
Tracking the stone monsters’ footprints, the two followed the trail all the way to the mountainside.
Here, a large cavern pierced through the mountain, and on either side of its entrance, two stone monsters stood guard.
‘This must be the place.’
Unlike the stone monsters they had just encountered, these two wielded stone axes in each hand—they used weapons!
Li Huaiming hid behind the trees, observing the cavern from a distance.
‘Counting the two at the entrance and those that attacked them earlier, there were roughly six in total.’
In a C-rank dungeon, stone monsters typically reached elite level at most, but in a rampaging dungeon…
He couldn’t quite ascertain if there would be exceptionally powerful beings inside.
Furthermore, judging by the physiques of the two stone monsters guarding the entrance, they were at least elite-tier.
‘Even the gatekeepers are elite monsters…’
‘It’s over; my mentor never taught me how to solve this problem.’
‘This is completely beyond the curriculum.’
Li Huaiming instinctively glanced back at Aya Tone, who was squatting behind him.
‘If it were this esteemed individual…’
“Why are you looking at me? I’m just a support; don’t count on me.”
‘Alright, this one, who only wanted to coast by, couldn’t be relied upon.’
In that moment, the towering image of an S-rank expert utterly crumbled in Li Huaiming’s mind.
He exhaled slowly.
Li Huaiming closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
When he opened them again, his gaze was devoid of all uncertainty. “I’m going in!”
The moment Li Huaiming stepped out, the two stone monsters guarding the entrance immediately spotted him.
“ROAR!” [This human killed our kin just now!]
The stone monsters let out an enraged roar and charged at Li Huaiming, stone axes in hand.
Their massive bodies caused the ground to groan under their immense weight with every step.
“Come on!” Li Huaiming watched the stone monsters’ every movement with a grave expression.
The injuries on his hands had long since healed completely, thanks to Aya Tone’s restorative powers.
However, lacking any protective gear, he dared not directly confront those stone axes; a single strike would undoubtedly be fatal.
The stone monsters swung their axes with force, but their clumsy movements stood no chance against a prepared Li Huaiming.
Leveraging his superior agility, Li Huaiming effortlessly led the two stone monsters on a merry chase.
Even with their seemingly perfect coordination, they failed to land a single blow on him.
“My body feels so light!”
In that moment, Li Huaiming finally understood that Aya Tone had not deceived him.
His speed and strength had both received a massive boost.
He could now utterly overpower ten of his former selves.
Ultimately, the two stone monsters, dizzy from being toyed with, had their heads crushed.
Their bodies disintegrated into rubble, merging with the mountain forest.
“Wow, that was amazing!”
Aya Tone acted as a cheerleader from behind, providing ample emotional support.
To Li Huaiming, however, it sounded more like sarcasm from a supreme expert.
His good mood, buoyed by defeating the elite stone monsters, vanished without a trace.
“Shall we go inside?” Li Huaiming asked, gazing at the gloomy cavern entrance, from which a faint red glow emanated.
—It was the rampaging dungeon’s teleportation array.
“If we don’t go in, are you going to cross dimensions and shut the dungeon down yourself?”
Aya Tone stood outside the entrance, observing the activity within.
In her perception, this dungeon was in its early stages of rampaging, and the few stone monsters roaming outside constituted its entire vanguard.
The ones guarding the entrance were likely the strongest monsters currently capable of passing through.
Had they arrived even a moment later, the monsters inside might have all escaped.
‘One could only say they were quite fortunate.’
‘Unlike a certain dungeon she had encountered before…’
A flicker of memory involuntarily surfaced in Aya Tone’s eyes.
Years ago, in a village on the outskirts of Yan’an City, a similar dungeon rampage incident had occurred.
However, unlike the current situation, that dungeon was located in a remote area.
By the time Aya Tone arrived, the dungeon was already in a fully open state, and all the monsters within had escaped.
Half the villagers had perished beneath the monsters’ claws.
Even the defending military forces had been utterly annihilated.
Since then, with the exception of resource dungeons,
Aya Tone would personally intervene to clear any dungeon that remained unhandled for more than two days.
Naturally,
it was also for the sake of money.
“Senior, if we go in like this, won’t something go wrong?”
“Just a moment ago you called me ‘esteemed individual,’ now it’s ‘Senior,’ will you be calling me by my name next?” Aya Tone teased.
“Not at all! Calling you ‘Senior’ just feels more intimate,” Li Huaiming chuckled awkwardly. He genuinely wanted to call her by name, but he didn’t know what Aya Tone’s name was.
Her real name wasn’t available online; only her titles circulated.
“I’m just joking.”
Aya Tone didn’t truly mind; instead, she proceeded to give Li Huaiming an impromptu lecture.
“At its core, a dungeon rampage occurs when a dungeon absorbs a vast amount of spatial energy from Blue Star.
Once the energy reaches saturation, the excess spatial energy causes the teleportation gate to evolve.
With the gate strengthened, the monsters inside can then emerge. Do you understand?”
“Oh~” Li Huaiming nodded, seemingly understanding yet not quite.
‘Clearly, he hadn’t understood a thing.’
‘This kid… surely his brain isn’t just muscle, is it?’
Aya Tone pressed a hand to her forehead. “What that means is, a dungeon rampage doesn’t affect your ability to enter in the slightest. Do you understand now?”
“Understood!” Li Huaiming exclaimed, snapping to attention.
‘As long as he answered loudly enough, no one would know he hadn’t understood.’
“If you understand, then what are you waiting for?”
Aya Tone cast a fleeting glance his way.
‘No initiative, huh?’
“No, wait! I’ll do it myself!” Li Huaiming waved his hands frantically.
‘He knew that look all too well.’
Li Jia would give him that exact look when she was annoyed, taking advantage of being the older sister to bully him, her younger brother.
While Li Jia might still hold back somewhat, if this esteemed individual were to make a move, Li Huaiming wasn’t sure he’d make it home standing.
As he stepped into the cavern, the blood-red teleportation array seemed to whisper of ill omens, and the small stones on the ground trembled, drawn by the spatial fluctuations.
Li Huaiming nervously glanced back at Aya Tone, confirming she was still right behind him, before striding boldly into the sanguine teleportation array.
“At least he has some initiative,” Aya Tone murmured, a slight curve to her lips, before following him in.
At least somrm