F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 220: Wisdom in the False

Daru glanced at the entrance.

His comrades were as shocked as he expected them to be, but he only paid them attention for a second before tapping on his belt bag.

The Circlet of Thorns was, as expected, La Filosa’s sacrificial relic.

As for the other item he obtained, Daru could only check:

==

Name: Shard of Falsehoods

Type: Miscellaneous-Consumable

Tier: S

Level Requirement: None

Description: A splinter torn from a truth that never existed. It presents a convincing lie, yet leaves nothing behind once doubt takes root.

Innate Abilities:

[Twisted Truth] - Manifests a True Illusion shaped by the user’s intent. The mirage endures only while its falsehood remains unrecognized.

==

His brows rose.

’Well, this is a very handy item but...’

Why is it that this world always gives him items related to trickery and deceit?

Regardless, the Shard of Falsehoods could be an effective life-saving trump card, perhaps something more if he found a better use for it.

He had to be a better liar than La Filosa, though, or the item could only backfire on him in the form of unreliable confidence.

Daru sighed.

He wasn’t very good at deceiving people, but at the same time, he now understood the ruthless world of the Myriad Sword Realm better.

Very few things were impossible here.

So, if he didn’t adapt, it would be mere inflexibility...which could be considered a form of incompetence in the Sword Trials.

And incompetence would result in death.

Sure, Limbo was a very special location, but who could say for sure that only special locations would render one’s extra lives meaningless?

What if there were sword skills out there that could snuff out all lives in an instant?

Items that would force one to respawn where one was ambushed and killed, so that one could be killed again and again?

What about other forms of awakenings or external forces that could destroy one’s mind or soul, leaving one to be nothing but an empty-eyed husk?

These were only the possibilities he could think of.

He was strong, perhaps even invincible right now in the Novice Zones, but what about the Rookie zones? 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The Elite Zones?

The central continent of Vigrheim, where there were many infamous Death Zones due to the current impossibility of defeating the Swordspawns dwelling in them?

Daru was confident, but he was not arrogant.

Furthermore, his confidence stems from his competence...and inflexibility is incompetence in the crucible of the Sword Trials.

Improving his skills in deceit was not optional.

And his rather dogwater navigation skills, too. If he really was untalented in this regard, perhaps there was an item out there that could make up for this vulnerability.

In any case, he needed to improve his arsenal if he wanted to reach the apex and fight the strongest the Myriad Sword Realm had to offer.

’So much to do...’ Daru sighed again.

The sheer scope of it all was overwhelming, yet his reaction remained the same. He was excited.

His once gray world — grayer than even Limbo — was full of color now, and he appreciated the change a lot.

He shall live his life to the fullest.

To do that, though, he must survive and escape the god-forsaken realm he was in first.

Daru took a deep breath, harvested La Filosa’s head with a slight grimace, and walked over to his comrades, who still believed they couldn’t enter the ruins.

And so they couldn’t.

He, on the other hand, merely stepped out as if his exit had not been blocked at all.

The moment he did.

"Daru! W-What was that? Why did she suddenly...wait, why were you ignoring us earlier? You could’ve explained to us, at least...Also, how did you leave? I thought you were trapped inside for eternity!"

Caleb was still the worrywart that he was.

However, Daru appreciated it, as he was undoubtedly different from the guy.

Ascalon was a good comrade to have, though a bit too noisy and annoying at times.

"Ah, sorry. I was checking the descriptions of the items I obtained from killing La Filosa. Shall we go?"

This...unfortunately, was one of those annoying times:

"W-What do you mean?! At least explain to us first. How did you kill her so suddenly when it seemed like she was healing every damage? I almost died of worry, you know? We felt so helpless...and useless..."

The ghastly appearance of a Damnedling saying such dramatic lines and staring at the ground while clenching its bony fists looked rather comical to Daru, and so it was difficult for him to take Caleb seriously.

Still, he explained.

That everything the liar said was...well...a lie, and all one had to do was call out the falsehood to make it crumble.

The three Damnedlings froze the moment he finished throwing light on La Filosa’s abilities.

"That’s it? You mean to say we could’ve entered if we didn’t believe her?" Caleb said, seemingly losing his mind in suppressed frustration.

"Exactly. Yes."

The moment Daru confirmed, he gritted his teeth and clenched his bony fists so hard that a cracking sound echoed in their small part of the gray world.

"Great!! Just great! We were rendered useless again, and this time by a darned, fragile lie that could simply be called out!" the older human bladeborn snapped.

Out of the three of The Five they tried to hunt, two were successful, and the three of them had been useful exactly zero times.

Due to his frustration, Caleb reprimanded Daru for not telling them so they could’ve helped, but Daru’s explanation that he was utilizing what he realized to his advantage and that putting the three of them in danger when there was no need to also made sense.

Kind of.

So, in the end, the cherry blossom-haired SS-ranker could only vow, as if he was cursing, that he...the three of them, will be useful next time.

And the remaining three horrors and the gray world better mark his words.

While Lesha was rather nonchalant and only glad that things worked out in the end, Caleb and Gris seemed eager to prove themselves, so the relic-hunting cohort didn’t waste time.

They immediately left the periphery of the fallen liar’s ruins to eliminate their next target.