F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 338: Stone Cold Sober

Three days have passed since the Yggdrasil Race Event began.

Daru and Elara had done nothing but grind levels and loot since then, now knowing the area around their hollow fairly well.

They still slept on shifts, as they still hadn’t tested the extent of the effectiveness of the Dark Sentries.

The duo would rest early so that, by dawn, both would have already had breakfast, then they would immediately transition to hunting half-avians.

They managed to level up once in the past two days.

They usually avoided the rodents, but there was one time a Barkshade Volini attempted to ambush Daru, perhaps due to excessive hunger.

In any case, they killed that odd exception relatively easily yesterday, obtaining surprisingly good loot from it.

As it turned out, its fur reduces the chances of being spotted by predators from the Ari race.

They planned to hunt another, though this task was low on their priority list, as it was only Elara who had the need for this item.

Daru would be less effective bait if he wore one.

Leveling up was the most important.

After all, tough as their situation was, they were still in a race, and they needed to win for humanity.

As dawn settles, they would hunt for Dawnblade Kestraris, felling quite a few of that specific species and obtaining two Wingroots each.

Then they would carefully partake in the Savage Avian Riot during the mid-morning hours before having an early lunch.

Daru and Elara would then patrol the surroundings together to check if a Runebark had rooted close to their hollow afterwards.

They’ve eliminated two, obtaining one Vitality Seed and two Life Saps each, greatly delighting the latter.

She even suggested that they focus on hunting Runebarks instead. The permanent +1 in Vitality was simply irresistible to a smart young woman like her.

However, Daru disagreed heavily. He had fought a Verdant Runebark before, and Elara had not.

Those things latch on like court-ordered child support.

Besides the fact that there would be avians swooping in from time to time, roaming too far from their familiar territory increases the chances of encountering the elite humanoid tree.

Even if they have a slim chance at victory, who can say for sure that no other Swordspawns would come and make an attempt at their lives?

There was a very high risk of simply dragging multiple enemies back to their haven.

But Elara insisted that they do, so the two settled on hunting for Vitality Seeds for an hour after lunch every day.

That would minimize the risk. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

If they truly had to, then the skies would at least be silent by then. "Safe" was too strong a word.

That’s what they will add to their routine starting tomorrow. Not just patrolling their known grounds, but actively hunting for Runebarks.

From afternoon to dusk, they continued targeting avians, though Sciurinis kept on ruining their attempts at hunting those dusk avians, for some reason...

The lean spawns were also infuriatingly tough and agile, always managing to escape.

Daru never thought he would find a squirrel vexing one day. Consequently, they still haven’t obtained a Wingroot of those Duskwatch Nawkaris.

With the ones from the Dawnblade Kestraris obtaining a massive speed boost at dawn, they imagined the Nawkari Wingroots would be useful at dusk — a simple deduction.

They didn’t waste their time attempting to hunt one today, though. They shall get back at the hateful Sciurinis once they are a bit stronger.

As dusk settled, they’d already finished having dinner, and Elara was already well on her way to dreamland.

Daru kept watch as usual, chilly winds licking his skin.

He was certain there were more of those Ari Race Swordspawns in the dead of the night. For one, there was definitely an owl out there, as they’d heard its harrowing, distorted hoots multiple times already.

It was just that he didn’t take the risk to peek too much, as the darned things had really sharp eyes.

There was even one time a Dawnblade Kestrari detected them because they were staring at it.

Who knows what massive half-bird he would invite to their humble dwelling due to one unfortunate instance of miscontained curiosity?

So, deadly boring as it was, Daru settled for staring at the walls of their hollow.

’I haven’t had the chance to practice my form in the past few days...’ he sighed inwardly. ’Well, I’m getting real, valuable combat experiences in exchange, so I guess this is fine, too...’

He had been used to the distressing sounds of the early eve, the few minutes of unnerving silence a bit deeper into the night, and the horrifying thuds of the forest coming fully alive near midnight.

The notifications were nothing out of the ordinary, either.

"Ahh, what a good rest..." Elara stretched for a while, turning to him. "You can sleep now, handsome sentry."

Daru was very strict when it came to proper rest, so he wasted no time and immediately snuggled into Elara’s sleeping bag.

She insisted last night, saying she didn’t mind, and since the restful bonus was a real, logical advantage, Daru agreed.

This was his second time sleeping in it.

Honestly speaking, it was indeed very advantageous, so he planned to request one from his future guild.

’They’ll probably give me one for free...’ That was his last thought as he drifted into the calming embrace of a restful sleep’s oblivion.

Only, this night turned out not so peaceful...

A few hours into his shift, he was woken up by a mournful wail. Daru immediately sat up, heart rate shooting through the roof.

This...was another less desirable method to be woken up.

He quickly turned to look at the recognizable source of the sorrow.

Elara was struggling to grasp through the part of her chest where her heart was, crying her heart out as if she had gone mad in utter grief.

"Elara, what’s wrong?!" he asked in a slight panic, crawling over and pulling her closer by her shoulders.

More than the fact that they were in the middle of a deadly night in a forest too alive, he was...not knowledgeable about how to make grown ladies stop crying.

Daru did the first thing he thought was the right thing to do. He pulled her closer to his chest.

He remembered this was how his father hugged his mother on the last night he saw them, and his mother calmed down.

This was the only way he knew how to calm a woman.

"There, there...stop crying...no, really...aren’t you already eighteen?...we’ll die at this rate..."