F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 221: Faulty Routine

The Relic Hunting Cohort journeyed back to the other side of the Underworld River, passing the first Ancient Settlement Daru came across, tracing the southern fences of the Cemetery of the Damned to make their way west of it, and eventually reaching the Dead Forest north of the Ashen Plain and south of the Stone Castle.

There, they camped for hours until the colossal drawbridge opened.

Hiding behind an enormous stone slab just a few meters away from the howling wraith army of the castle remained a chilling experience, but since this was their second time, the three Damnedlings weren’t too horrified this time, though still nervous nonetheless.

The cohort then crossed the bridge, used the first floor of the castle as a safe route again, and then made their way over to Altar Mountain.

Their next target was Harlowe.

The reason for this was that they still had to observe Rocante’s routine, and doing that around a demonic jester who probably hated them now with a passion didn’t seem too safe.

It would be safer to slay Harlowe first.

So, that’s what they went for, and after some more hours, they arrived once more at the demonic jester’s ridge, walking up to the indestructible dead tree.

The cohort froze for a moment and looked at each other.

This was not according to plan, but when they thought back to it, they were very optimistic in believing that Harlowe would stay here.

After all, there was nothing to see except the decapitated corpse of his beloved.

"Well...the creep seems to be gone. Do any of you have any idea where he might’ve gone?" Gris broke the silence.

"How would we?" Lesha answered with an impassive shrug.

And so, the cohort was lost for a few moments, unsure of what to do.

"Damn it..." Caleb cursed silently. "What if that thing never shows itself again? How troublesome..."

It was a valid and unusually horrifying concern.

What if the demonic jester’s form of revenge was to hide in the massive gray realm, forever trapping them?

Gris finally realized the gravity of the situation and paled.

"Worse, what if he jumped into the river?!"

Caleb didn’t disappoint, an anxious look appearing on his face.

Lesha gave them both a whack on the back of their heads.

"And how would panicking help, you idiots? This place has rules. If that jester would hide or jump into the Howling River once the bony b*tch was killed, such a hint would’ve been mentioned in his page of the book. In any case, let’s worry about it once we have nothing else to worry about, yeah? I have a feeling things wouldn’t be that difficult."

’At least not in that direction...’

The short female Veshari imagined that they would be observed creepily from the shadows instead, and that the jester might strike when they least expected it...or something along those lines.

She had, in fact, sensed a faint, fleeting gaze earlier. But she dismissed it, as it truly seemed like nothing but mere imagination.

Only now, upon discovering that The Eye was gone, did she understand that it wasn’t her imagination at all...and that the horror likely doesn’t intend to hide forever.

Things have gotten tricky, for sure.

Yet, curiously, she kept the feeling to herself, definitely for a reason.

Luckily for them, although Daru had learned how to utilize his smarts lately, he had never been an overthinker. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Harlowe was gone?

"Well then, let’s just hunt Rocante first and think about the jester later," he stated with an impassive shrug, basically repeating what Lesha said, but in a less complicated and more direct manner.

Their familiarity with each other’s personalities made it difficult for the two anxious youngsters to just dismiss the problem.

However, the composed exterior of their comrades at least brought them a bit of peace.

What else could they do except keep laboring for their freedom, anyway?

So, after being lost for a dozen moments, the Relic Hunting Cohort had a direction again.

Back to the Stone Castle they went.

The journey — especially traversing the Altar Mountain — was tough, but the wretches faced everything the god-forsaken realm threw at them.

There were more than a few times Gris almost plummeted to his death on the descent, but in the end, they all made it back to the vicinity of the Stone Castle.

The plan this time, though — thought of by Caleb — was to take two different points: one close to the stone gate and one farther away, so that it would be easy to ambush Rocante and get into position once the horror was on the return journey.

The pairings were the two humans, then Gris and Lesha.

Ascalon simply refused to pair up with the rather wild and unhinged Veshari, taking Daru with him, with the reason that they were of the same race and thus would be able to work together better.

Perhaps there were other reasons, or perhaps he just didn’t want to deal with the headache of her suggestiveness.

In any case, those were the pairings, and they hid in good hiding spots.

The Serpentkin-Veshari duo were the ones who kept watch on the castle gates.

Daru and Caleb, on the other hand, will be the ones to start the ambush, as the former was their strongest combatant and would be able to hold the horror down more effectively than any of them.

A few hours later, the familiar heavy thuds echoed in the distance, approaching the castle.

Rocante soon got into the human duo’s view.

As they expected and hoped, the hulking horror was hunched, seemingly still depressed, and his hitpoints were at half.

Furthermore, Daru noticed that he didn’t have the familiar black aura. The others didn’t as they hadn’t seen the horror in his peak state.

As the page suggested, the balance had indeed tilted beyond measure after they denied Rocante his small boons.

What would happen if he went and challenged the Stone Castle in his current state?

Perhaps they wouldn’t need to move at all?

Daru and Caleb watched as the hunched, hulking horror passed their hiding spot, continuing on his sad march towards the Stone Castle, doomed to a fate of eternal challenge.

Rocante soon arrived in front of the gate — also within Lesha and Gris’ view.

The two curiously watched what the horror would do, ready to report through the white ribbon. They seemed very enthusiastic about the show.

After all, this was the first time they were witnessing this side of the hulking horror’s routine, and it gave them the feeling of "mystery solved."

Only, upon reaching the gate, Rocante merely stared at it for a while, sighed...and turned around, starting the march to La Filosa’s once more.

The final challenge never happened.