[Author’s Note: I went back and re-edited my Chapters, so the total number of Chapters have reduced. You don’t have to panic though, and you don’t have to restart the novel from Chapter 1. Just read the Chapter before this(Chapter 12), that’s where the story re-continues from. Nothing has changed, I only cut out some parts from the early Chapters, which is why the number of Chapters are lesser now. I’m sorry for the inconvenience this might have caused, and I’m mass releasing three Chapters to make up for it!]

*

He stepped forward, his voice rising to a vicious sneer as he pointed his weapon directly at the porter.

"Not even a good weapon can save a worthless trash like you!" Orat barked, his eyes flashing with lethal intent. "You’re only level three, no matter what kind of lucky treasure you managed to pick up. You don’t have the stats to match us, and you don’t have the experience to survive against an entire coordinated party!"

A fierce wind started blowing violently around Orat’s legs, kicking up dust and loose leaves from the forest floor.

He activated his movement talent, and the sudden wind propelled him forward with incredible speed, turning him into a fast blur as he charged straight at Leon.

The rest of the party members reacted instantly, launching themselves forward to attack Leon also.

They coordinated their movements almost perfectly, all using their talents at the exact same time to ensure the lone player had absolutely no way to escape their combined assault.

Leon only chuckled softly though, completely unmoved by the incoming onslaught of deadly steel and magical talents.

To him, it was like they were all moving in slow motion.

’Even with Excalibur’s strength halved in phantom mode, it is still more than enough to easily take care of players like you.’ he thought.

The massive boost to his statistics changed everything. Because his agility and perception had reached an entirely new level, all of their rapid attacks seemed incredibly slow to him, moving through the air like snails.

Orat reached him first, his face twisted in rage as he swung the sharp dagger in his hand directly towards Leon’s exposed neck.

Leon didn’t panic; he simply took a casual half-step back, avoiding the deadly blade by a mere fraction of an inch with absolute ease.

Before the captain could even realize he had missed his target, Leon quickly raised his invisible sword. He brought the blade down with a single, precise slash, cleanly cutting off the man’s hand at the wrist before Orat could pull away.

Orat grunted loudly in pure pain, stumbling backward as a thick torrent of dark crimson blood started spurting heavily from the fresh wound.

His eyes filled with sudden terror as he realized the sheer difference in their physical speed.

The remaining members of the squad saw the horrific injury and instinctively tried to halt their advance, but it was already too late.

Before the rest of the party could successfully back off and create some safe distance, Leon swung his smoky weapon horizontally at them.

Crescent Slash!

A powerful golden crescent-shaped slash immediately shot out from the tip of the invisible sword, illuminating the dark forest with a brilliant, blinding light.

The energy wave crackled violently with arcs of fierce golden lightning, tearing through the air with a deafening roar.

It traveled instantly across the gap and immediately sliced four of them cleanly into two pieces, right from the waist down.

The brutal attack was so incredibly hot and intense that blood didn’t even spray out from the severed torsos.

As their bodies were cut, the high-voltage energy fried their flesh instantly, completely cauterizing the wounds and drying up every single drop of blood in their bodies.

Even after slicing cleanly through the four party members, the attack did not slow down at all. The powerful crescent slash kept going, tearing through the air and colliding violently with the dense forest directly behind them.

The glowing slash wave tore through a bunch of thick, ancient trees, snapping their heavy wooden trunks like thin twigs.

Tree after tree collapsed to the ground with a series of loud, splintering crashes, shaking the earth before the crescent slash finally dispersed into nothingness in the far distance.

Immediately after the destruction, a rapid series of glowing system notifications appeared directly before Leon’s eyes.

Leon didn’t care about the numbers for now. He completely ignored the system alerts, waving his hand slightly to clear his vision as he kept his focus locked entirely on the remaining threats.

Now, out of the entire raiding party, only Orat and the tall, buff man who had attacked him first, Bort, were still alive. The overwhelming force of the single attack had completely wiped out the rest of their squad in an instant.

The two of them were completely stricken with pure, paralyzing fear, their bodies freezing as they looked at the smoking ground.

Their faces looked utterly pale, as if every single drop of healthy color had been drained from their skin in a matter of seconds.

They were both missing a hand also, sharing the exact same gruesome injury. The two grown men were desperately clutching their bloody stumps, squeezing their wrists as hard as they possibly could while trying to stop the thick blood from bleeding out onto the grass.

Orat stumbled backwards in absolute fear, his boots dragging heavily through the dirt as he tried to get as far away from Leon as possible. His coordination was completely gone, and he ended up tripping over his own foot before falling heavily to the ground on his back.

He scrambled to sit up against a tree trunk, his entire frame shaking violently as he looked up at the porter he had just insulted.

"I’m sorry... don’t kill me..." Orat pleaded, his voice breaking into a high-pitched, pathetic whine. "I’m sorry... I shouldn’t have offended you... just please... don’t spare me..."

Bort, who was sitting by the side and weeping from the intense pain of his severed limb, also got down on his knees immediately.

He bowed his head all the way to the dirt, shivering uncontrollably as he waited for Leon’s judgment.

Leon scoffed loudly, the sound cold and entirely lacking any mercy as he looked down at the two miserable men. He didn’t lower his invisible blade, keeping the smoky tip pointed directly at them.

"First," Leon said, his voice dropping into a demanding, icy tone that left absolutely no room for negotiation, "hand over all you have."