F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 329: Savage Avian Riot

"S-Shameless!" Daru admonished, an intense red creeping onto his face. "How can you, a lady, say such...t-things with a straight face? We’re not children anymore!"

Elara, meanwhile, was stunned for a moment.

She then scoffed in amused disbelief.

How could her words — ones that could very well have been spoken by first and second graders — be so effective?

She scoffed again, then erupted into a sweet chuckle.

"Oh, I can’t believe you, Daru...how can you be so ador–"

Before Elara could finish her words, however, the leaves near the mouth of their hollow rustled violently, then a loud thud as a body crashed on one of the branches.

Daru was given a jolt.

He quickly grabbed his comrade, pulled her close to the walls, then carefully peered out from the opening.

Elara’s scent tickled his olfactory senses for a moment, but he quickly brushed it off.

She then peered out from slightly above him, whispering in protest while rubbing her shoulders a bit, even though it didn’t really hurt:

"Can’t you be a little gentler?"

But Daru ignored her, already in full vigilance. He summoned and unsheathed his tachi.

Inwardly agreeing that this was no time to joke around, she summoned Sigrun, too, turning her attention to the ongoing chaos on a branch of their fir tree.

Two half-birds, one a bigger blue and one a slightly smaller black, gray, and reddish-orange.

"A Stormcrest Jayari and an Emberchest Robari..." Daru murmured, watching as the latter was pinned down by the former, talons locked together in their original forms.

Both parties were wounded, but the Robari slightly more than the Jayari.

Still, the former didn’t seem like it was panicking, seemingly used to such a situation, though it was breathing rather heavily and struggling violently.

Perhaps this was a mere everyday occurrence.

But to Daru and Elara, it was a fascinating sight. Their eyes watched with burning interest as the two chirped and shrieked, legs, beaks, and wings working.

After inflicting minor damage upon its foe and receiving more wounds for itself, the Emberchest Robari was able to scramble back to proper leverage, then took to the skies with its wings.

The Stormcrest Jayari quickly pursued, talons turning into a cobalt blue claymore that slashed upwards as it snapped into a backward flip.

An azure slash mark flew towards the retreating foe.

The Emberchest Robari, however, was not about to let itself be struck. It momentarily turned, talons morphing into a sharp longsword that glowed vermilion, kicking at the projectile flying towards it.

The azure slash mark was halted for a moment, then burned as it was deflected elsewhere.

The two half-birds soon disappeared behind the rich leaves of a nearby pine.

"My...how savage..." Elara remarked, her eyes glued for another moment before she sat back down.

Daru, meanwhile, stared for longer, then sighed in relief as he, too, rested himself proper.

A brief silence ensued in the hollow.

Only a few moments later was it broken:

"It’s still quite chaotic outside, so how about we share what we know first?" Daru suggested, to which the princess only sighed in response.

"This princess is ashamed to admit that, except for the difference between predatory trees and standard ones, the hollows all facing a certain direction, and the existence of those half-birds, I don’t know anything else. This princess hadn’t had the time to learn much...but perhaps helping in digesting information is on the table..."

Elara blushed a bit in embarrassment after listing the few things she had discovered, stealing a glance.

She was a bit relieved to see that his reaction was as boring as ever.

"I see." Daru nodded, then proceeded to explain everything he knew — the Runebarks, Sap Traps, his suspicion that they might be in a colossal branch of a preposterously gargantuan tree, the Vitality Seeds, the Life Saps, his concern about his dwindling reserves of stamina potions, the Sabre Aphids, and his plan to attempt harvesting the Golden Sap of a specific kind of thick-trunked tree.

Elara blinked a few times.

"H-How did you even learn so much in such a short time?" she asked, a bit overwhelmed.

Daru pondered for a while, then shrugged as he decided to explain it in the simplest way possible:

"Well, running through the entire forest in one exhausting, all-out sprint while being chased by a persistent elite Runebark is how I learned all of those...almost fell and paid the price of a second life, too."

The princess scoffed, then chuckled.

"That...is quite the experience, I must say. I guess I’m outdone...again?" She shook her head, but with a faint smile.

"Alright then," Elara continued, "with all that said, guess it’s wise to go with your plan? While this princess isn’t having quite the plebeian problem like yours yet, there’s a chance I might. Oh, the horror."

She shivered, then added:

"So what do you say we wait out this savage avian riot, then get right to work? Based on what you’re saying, those Golden Sap Trees aren’t too far, and with the two of us working together, a mere few sword bugs would be insignificant, no?"

A sly, testing grin tugged in the corners of her mouth.

"Since you’re the man, I assume you’re fine with being the bait while this poor, gorgeous lady collects the sap?"

Daru passed the test with flying colors:

"That’s no issue," he responded without hesitation, "but before we go out, let’s eat. I’m quite hungry, and since I got a few supplies from hunting Swordspawns in the past week and a half, maybe we can..."

He then shifted position, peering out of the hollow for a moment, then looking around, as if genuinely trying to look for a solution.

Elara, meanwhile, misunderstood his response, a wide smile borne of utter amusement extending on her gorgeous face.

"If you’re acting, then you’re the best at it..." she suddenly remarked, to Daru’s confusion. "But fine. You’re the man, I’m the woman in our new little play household. I might be a princess, but I’m competent in everything I do. Allow me to prepare you a meal in exchange for you agreeing to take the brunt of the danger..."