The group of ten quickly took out their weapons and prepared for battle.

The tanker withdrew a shield and stood in front of the group, ready to tank the attacks.

Meanwhile, the two mages withdrew their staffs, ready to cast spells.

"Everyone be on high alert!"

The group leader took out a long, slender sword that seemed like a katana, ready to fight.

Finally, their gazes were attracted to the lone figure standing ahead.

He seemed to be momentarily stunned for a few seconds before starting to move.

"That’s the guy who triggered the quest..." one of them stated, then lowered his voice. "What’s he doing?"

"Is that... an armor?" They noticed the phantom armor on Amon’s body, and instantly a few burned with greed.

"Calm down for now. Let’s access his strength." The leader advised as they studied weaver.

They watched the young man instantly close the distance with a praying mantis as that towered a few meters above him.

He sliced the praying mantis’s legs, dealing some damage.

-30

A red notification appeared above the praying mantis head.

The group instantly sucked in a deep breath.

"Such a high amount of damage?" They were astounded.

That wasn’t the end.

A pincer struck towards Weaver’s waist from an unnatural angle.

Amon dodged to the side at the last moment, barely dodging the attack; however, his attack was already moving at lightning speed.

He sliced off another pincer from the praying mantis.

Then another, until the praying mantis was at its last breath.

Amon quickly pulled his system.

He discovered another flaw with his armor during his fight with the praying mantis.

It only enhanced his speed, offering no defense.

’System, extract the defense prefix.’ Amon quickly said.

[Ding! Congratulations, Extraction failed; please select another Prefix.]

Amon’s lips twitched repeatedly.

"Fuck." He uttered a curse and immediately slammed his blade into the head of the mantis, killing it.

Surprisingly, the mantis exploded into a treasure chest!

Boom!

The previous bronze treasure chest had been a common treasure chest, the first rank of grading; however, this one emitted a greenish hue, clearly a higher grade.

"He really got a treasure chest..." the breathing of the group instantly grew heated as they stared at the green treasure chest.

"And it’s an uncommon one at that." The leader’s eyes flashed with greed as he noticed this sight. He wanted that treasure chest for himself!

They were about to encircle Amon when he slowly placed his hand atop it and opened it.

A bright green light erupted, then a sword materialized in front of him.

The sword was green, with a jagged, long spine akin to the spine of the praying mantis from before.

Amon could also feel an edge of sharpness from the blade.

Just at its normal level, it could already rival the blade he’d been using all this while.

Although just a starter equipment, it had been enhanced by 4 prefixes!

Amon’s heart was instantly filled with a wave of excitement.

He gripped the sword, its attributes instantly appearing in front of him.

[Name: Serrated Mantis Blade]

[Prefix: Sharp blade, agile blade.]

[Grade: Uncommon]

[Attack Power: +20]

[Attributes]

└ Agile Hunter — +10 Agility while wielded.

└ Razor Edge — Slight increase to armor penetration.

└ Precision Strike — Weak points deal slightly increased damage.

At the same time, he turned his gaze to the previous blade in his grasp.

’System, extract the ’extremely’ prefix.’

[Prefix extracted. Do you wish to assign to Serrated Mantis Blade?]

Amon quickly gave the order without hesitation, while also sighing in relief.

Instantly, a vibration hummed into the surroundings.

The sharpness of the blade seemed to have been raised to a whole new level entirely!

Amon was briefly taken aback by how sharp it seemed to have become.

He could tell that now, slicing through the snake and the mantis from before would be as easy as a hot knife slicing through butter.

’It seems although it’s the same prefix, with the higher the grade of the weapon, the more immense its effects would be.’ Amon came to an understanding internally.

He quickly decided to extract the remaining prefix from the previous blade; however, his luck turned out to be bad.

[Ding! Congratulations, Extraction failed, please select another Prefix.]

[Ding! Congratulations, Extraction failed, please select another Prefix.]

[Ding! Congratulations, Extraction failed, please select another Prefix.]

Amon’s eyebrows twitched repeatedly at the consistent failure to extract.

’You motherfucking system!’ he cursed internally, his heart bleeding at the loss of the three prefixes.

At this moment, a sharp voice cut through his thoughts.

"Hey, kid, hand over the uncommon blade and we might spare your life. Remember, a single death here costs thirty lives; losing that many would make you die instantly and be unable to be part of Nexus anymore."

The threatening voice only deepened the anger Amon was feeling over the loss of his three prefixes.

"Hey, weaver, listen to our boss; since he’s said he’ll spare you, I’ll make sure of it." The tanker amongst the group beat his chest to repeatedly reassure Amon.

"Bastard." Amon cursed under his breath. But it was loud enough for the group to hear.

"What did you say?" the leader asked in anger.

"If you want the sword, come and get it yourself, coward."

The beasts that had surrounded the group watched the spectacle with curiosity in their eyes.

Naturally, within the first half of the players’ time within the wasteland, the beasts would be pretty lax about the whole thing.

However, the moment the second half began, that was when things truly got deadly.

The beasts were under no pressure to deal with the players for now and were instead waiting for more players to arrive.

"Everyone, charge! I want him alive!"

They had seen how Amon had killed the praying mantis from before, so they didn’t want to take any chances.

However, they’d still underestimated Amon’s true strength.

The tanker was in front, with the mages already forming their spells from behind.

The warriors, which consisted of the remaining six, with one healer, attacked from behind.

Two were of the subclass archers and already prepared their bows, ready to strike.

The leader brandished his slender katana, and the other three, who were assassins, quickly blended into the shadows.

Suddenly...

Bang!

Amon’s sword struck the shield of the tanker.

They were expecting the attack to be tanked so they could use that opportunity to attack, however.

-140

-critical hit

[Player Ember moon is dead.]

The blade had effortlessly sliced through his defenses, cutting him in half.

The group were too shocked to react, and taking advantage of that, Amon swiftly dealt with the warriors surrounding him.

[Player Loggins is dead.]

[Player Lumberjack is dead.]

[Player urmomma is dead.]

[Player Avaris is dead.] 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Within a few seconds, five players were dead.

A chill instantly swept through the remaining five.