F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 223: Relic Hunt: The Sword (2)

"Daru!" Caleb’s worried shout echoed through the white ribbon again.

After being momentarily distracted by the three Damnedlings’ arrival, Rocante immediately got back to hunting Daru down.

Of course, Ascalon, Lesha, and Gris did not waste the free chances to strike, despite their worries, lunging and passing through like ghosts and inflicting shallow wounds upon the hulking horror.

They looked like a hunting pack of wolves.

Only, their bites weren’t so effective, and their alpha was one casual hit away from perishing.

"Damn it, you big idiot, hit me! Me!!" Caleb cursed, not even bothering to utilize his bony body’s speed anymore.

Instead, in hopes of snatching Rocante’s attention, he stood his ground and focused on attacking from the side.

But nothing he did mattered.

Ashen clouds billowed with every crash of the hulking monstrosity’s huge stone greatsword, and all of the strikes landed close to Daru.

Daru never stopped looking for an opportunity to fight back.

It was just that there were truly none, at least at the moment, as Rocante’s lethal attacks weren’t impossibly fast but were chained close to perfection.

It was as though the horror had truly mastered his weapon.

Nonetheless, although he was being suppressed, Daru was ultimately successful in containing the opponent.

His allies had managed to deal less than a thousand hit points, despite having been attacking for some time now — a rather unfortunate outcome.

Their status as a Damned truly hurt against such a tough opponent.

They still had over 38,000 hitpoints to whittle down, and the hunt for The Sword’s relic was turning out to be a lengthy battle...if they somehow managed to evade the greatsword of instant death for an equal length of time, that is.

"Strong...You’re strong, Rocante!" Daru generously praised, somersaulting forward to barely avoid a rising slash before firing a red crescent that cleanly landed on his foe’s neck.

[-110]

The damage was pitifully low, but damage was damage, and it at least progressed their cohort to a brighter end.

Daru chopped down as he landed on the horror’s shoulders.

His tachi cleanly landed on Rocante’s forehead, causing a nauseating, dull clack to fill the air.

In the next moment, he couldn’t help but click his tongue in disbelief upon realizing that his fairly clean strike did discouragingly little damage.

He was forced to jump, landing a few meters away and barely dodging Rocante’s horrifying grasp.

His bones would probably be crunched to shards had his leg been caught by such a demonic arm.

The hunt — although it was unclear who was being hunted by whom — progressed like so.

Rocante strangely persisted in killing Daru first.

Perhaps it was because he was a Visitor, or maybe simply due to the fact that he was the biggest threat.

Either way, this gave Caleb, Lesha, and Gris unlimited chances to attack.

They swung their bony arms without rest, slashing, chopping, and stabbing furiously to chip at the hulking horror’s hitpoints.

A stalemate was reached.

Or more accurately, the wretches of Egress seemed to be winning, but it would only take one mistake from Daru for things to go from good to despairingly bad.

Lucky, he hadn’t made that mistake...yet.

He danced like an agile swallow as he avoided Rocante’s attacks, courageously fighting the horror when he had the appropriate sword skills to do so and going on a full retreat whenever he was out of skills to use.

Only, his stamina was being drained faster than his comrades were nibbling at the foe’s hitpoints.

’Tch, we’ll lose...’ Daru thought inwardly. ’I have to take more risks.’

In contrast to his thoughts, he momentarily retreated, giving himself a bit of space. He then pulled out three chunks of the strange, bush-grown cooked meat and popped all three into his mouth.

His body began emitting black smoke the next moment as he felt warm energy pulse within him.

Unfortunately, Daru didn’t have time to relish the feeling, as Rocante’s gigantic stone greatsword was upon him, aiming to cleave him in half.

’No, this is not enough...’

He continued retreating, continuing to pop all the chunks of grown, cooked meat in his mouth and stacking up the strength bonuses.

He also consumed one each of the remaining Limbo Carrots and Hellberries in his inventory — not for sustenance but for the ten-percent hitpoint regeneration and stamina boosts that persist even in combat.

Daru hadn’t noticed, but he was fighting more and more like a true bladeborn now.

The past him would’ve disdained using such small boons, thinking them to be nothing but crutches.

Caleb saw what he did, and the older bladeborn’s worried heart calmed a little.

Only for a few moments, though, as Daru suddenly held his ground and slashed forward, opting for an unexpected head-on clash that made the SS-ranker feel as if he had aged a decade in an instant.

"DARU!!"

Caleb’s anxious call was drowned out by a piercing clang that sent a weak cloud of ash billowing out.

Daru was sent skidding backwards, and a red damage value floated above his head as expected...but the actual value itself was very unexpected, making the three Damnedlings’ eyes widen.

[-71]

It was still a fairly huge amount, considering the source was a clash and not a graze or a clean strike, but it was still a far cry from the initial one he suffered from the hulking horror’s first blow.

’Now this is doable...’ Daru noted to himself, a competitive grin appearing on his face.

Although he was still at a huge disadvantage and the risk of losing his life with a single mistake remained, he had at least gained the ability to endure more than two dozen head-on clashes.

He could work with this.

In fact, he believed they had a high chance of emerging victorious...given that Rocante stayed consistent with his current behavior, that is.

Daru had a feeling something would change, though, and he had to be ready for it.

For one, the hulking horror hadn’t used any Sword Skills yet and had been merely attempting to push his physical advantage.

Nonetheless, the stalemate was momentarily broken, and triumph was now smiling more upon the wretches of Egress, as Daru was given a bit more leeway to move around by the consumables.

He decisively converted it to more contributions in the offense, utilizing his flowing style and dancing around Rocante with the help of Swallow Step, dealing light to moderate cuts here and there. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The rate at which his stamina dwindled was still fast, but was now somewhat on par with how quickly the hulking horror’s hitpoints dwindled.

They were winning...for now.