F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 340: Rulers of the Night

"Elara!" Daru roared with gritted teeth.

Fortunately, she was already awake and was also about to peek out. Before she could, however, Daru decisively pulled her wrist and descended the fir with a decisive jump.

A long, dark wing grew on his back, and he dove through the leaves and branches, flying low to the ground.

Elara was held closely to his chest, looking at him with a hint of worry.

"Daru, what’s going on?!"

"Those owls!" he explained.

She instantly understood.

During their night watches, there was always a horrifying, raspy, intermittent hooting with no regular schedule.

Both of them would hear two varying but similar hoots — one a pitch higher than the other — multiple times throughout the night.

The most unsettling thing about the calls, more than how nightmarish they sounded, was the fact that they could still be heard during the times the forest was alive.

This meant that the owls were not afraid of the moving trees at all.

Should the two of them decide to fight within the confines of their humble hollow, chances were higher that they would only be killed, as the winged spawns were most likely stronger than them in a direct battle...and only a direct battle would happen if they didn’t flee to a wider space.

Now, they were in a wider space, flying faster than the wind, yet the sense of danger never left.

Daru could feel soulless gazes piercing him from above, causing the chilly winds to feel far colder than they actually were.

The fact that he had to leave his sentries pained him.

’I’ll try to retrieve them later if I get the chance...’ he thought to himself, flapping his wings another time.

Then, the chilling threat of death solidified, almost pricking him from behind the neck. Daru glanced back.

The owls had taken flight and were giving chase!

If anything was to their advantage, it was that the two gigantic half-avians were not that fast. Still, they seemed persistent.

Daru only had less than three minutes to work with before the Nawkari Wingroot expired.

’What to do...’

While he was lost in his thoughts, he felt a strong force push him slightly upwards, then the sensation of something slipping from his arms.

Before he even got his wits about what had happened, Elara was already soaring away, back to where the owls were.

She...was trying to sacrifice herself!

"Elara!!" he roared in utter frustration and fury. He could not wrap his head around why she would suddenly act so stupidly.

Her words flashed in his mind...

Gorgeous women like her were creatures of intense emotions and beauty.

Daru gritted his teeth, about to decisively make a turn to try and save his comrade, illogical and less likely to work to their favor as that course of action was, when he noticed that the owls had split.

Then words boomed through the unsettling night as Elara barely managed to slip through the huge talons of the larger half-avian that were the size of her entire figure.

"Find a way to deal with yours...somehow! I’ll deal with mine!"

With those parting words — quite possibly an eternal farewell — she disappeared into the darkness of the horrifying woods, the male owl hot on her tail.

Daru gritted his teeth and straightened his flight path, the few moments of hesitation greatly shortening the distance between the female horned owl and himself.

He had also unfortunately lost the dive boost of the Nawkari Wingroot, resulting in his pursuer now gaining on him.

A few moments later, he made a swift turn, the harrowing clink of metallic talons missing their target echoing in his previous position.

’Deal with this thing...how can I?’

A third glance allowed him to appreciate the winged horror behind him in its entirety. It was an owl indeed, one that was around twelve feet tall with a thirty-foot wingspan...and this was the female.

The one chasing Elara was significantly larger.

Doubts whether she could truly deal with her hunter brushed his mind, but Daru quickly shook them off.

He had to worry about himself first.

From what he noticed, the male owl was a bit slower than the one behind him, likely due to its heavier mass.

Perhaps his pursuer was deadlier, after all...

’I have to take some risks...’

Thankfully, he knew his way straight ahead.

He was close to the edge of this branch of Yggdrasil — as he and Elara had agreed to call the strange, bouncy land.

There are no trees there, at least...

Since it was impossible to outrun the massive female owl, he had to fight it...and somehow win.

There was also another, more desperate option for him there, although it was out of his control.

Nonetheless, a slim chance was better than nothing.

Daru, barely dodging the lethal talons of his pursuer, was finally struck the third time.

One of his wings was ripped apart, causing him to crash to the ground as the other also dissipated.

But he had made it.

He was out of the forest, at least.

"Come, owl!" Daru challenged as he nimbly cartwheeled himself back to stable footing, aiming his sword at the approaching dark figure.

The eerie woods would be the witness to what was about to unfold.

Massive talons approaching, a black aura veiled Onimaru Kunitsuna as it viciously slashed forth.

In the next moment, an ear-piercing clang echoed in the chilling night.

Daru staggered backward. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Gritting his teeth, he forcefully parked his right foot, preventing himself from falling to his behind as the owl pushed forward.

He was dragged a few centimeters across the bouncy ground before he could use Swift Tumble to get out of the talon’s way.

But the owl didn’t leave.

It hovered in place, its massive body swiveling toward him as it met his gaze with a soulless, predatory one.

Then, the winged spawn screeched raspily — a sound that would make the weak-hearted be devoured by dread — as its nameplate appeared:

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(Elite) Nightreign Strigari Lv.90

HP: 125,000 / 125,000

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