F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 353: Mere Prey
There were quite a few Bladepollen Blooms in the area, and the trio chose to harvest them all.
There’s no such thing as too much leveling for a Bladeborn, after all, and to increase their chances of winning the Yggdrasil Race, they must be stronger than their foes.
With Peter’s ability to make the flower spawns offer their lives, everything became free experience points for them.
They leveled up two times in three days.
==
Bladeborn: Daru Finnley
Level 74 (380,900 to level up)
Titles: Bob’s Sworn Brother [Active(Display)], Strongest Novice [Active (Effect)]
Secondary Titles: [Soul Eater] [Novice Tanner]
Blessings: [???????’s Minor Blessing (???? ????’s ???)]
Curses: [Yama’s Discontent (Soulbound Sword)] [Goddess Fortuna’s Frown] [Baal’s Mark]
Strength: 108 (+80)
Dexterity: 108 (+60)
Agility: 107 (+60)
Stamina: 75(+70)
Vitality: 72 (+120)
Perception: 145 (+38)
Luck: 3 (+45)
Will: ? (+30)
===
Sword Status:
Name: Onimaru Kunitsuna
Type: Tachi
Tier: S
Status: Dormant - 90 / 500 Oni or Demon Essence (First Awakening)
Sword Skills: Somersault Slash (F), Tornado Slash (D), Crescent Dicer (C), Double Strike (C), Swift Tumble (C), Havoc Rush (B), Phantom Lunge (B), Hurricane Sweep (B), Swallow Step (A), Full Moon Assault (A), Seven Glasswind Slash (A), Mountainsplitter (S), Stoic (S), Azure Swordfall (SS), Spectral Thrust (SS)
Passives: [Divine Comprehension (Soulbound Sword)], [Tainted Enforcer (Soulbound Sword)]
===
With how many experience points they needed these days to level up, such a thing was incredibly fast.
Peter had been sighing more after those three days, though. The Bladepollen Blooms had begun avoiding him as they’d done in the first level.
Kills became significantly scarcer.
The seemingly fearless Rotblade Burrowers once again became the main source of their experience points.
The ones living in this area of the death zone were a level or two higher on average compared to the ones on the outskirts, and so they are more dangerous.
Far more dangerous, as they can spit Rotblood.
There was a time Peter had become too careless and was forced to block the odd liquid with his left forearm, allowing them to finally learn its effects.
Within seconds, the Rotblood had consumed his entire forearm, forcing the SSS-ranker to make a bold decision and sever his entire left forearm.
Had it not been for the reduced sensitivity, he would’ve been in utter agony for the duration of his recovery.
Peter had been a bit more serious since then, though neither Daru nor Elara dared underestimate the seemingly out-of-focus SSS-ranker after learning of one of his abilities.
There was definitely more, and the Aziyan turned out to be very secretive when it came to his Sword Skills.
Their overly enthusiastic comrade was far more cunning than they thought. He was no overconfident fool at all.
The sheer size of this level of Yggdrasil made Elara entertain the possibility that they were stuck in a mirage loop multiple times.
However, after two more Hissings, she was finally able to put that theory to rest as they arrived at an area littered by shards and large pieces of Rotblade Burrower exoskeletons.
A strong, ammonia-like odor wafted on the chilly breeze to their noses, bringing a grimace to the princess’s gorgeous face.
While Peter and Daru’s continued existence had proved that the spider spawn’s meat was edible, seeing so many legs emptied of them through such crude and brutal means was slightly unnerving.
They would’ve said that "something" prowled these lands and was hunting the Rotblade Burrowers.
However, after walking deeper into the Spider Graveyard, the trio’s expressions changed.
"S-So many..." Peter stuttered, noticing that the spider shells extended into the horizon.
What flabbergasted them were the few dozens of hollow legs rising to the skies in the distance. Those were not standard Rotblade Burrowers, probably elites.
Yet, they, too, suffered the same fate.
These spiders were merely prey here, and based on the numbers...it was logical to conclude that there wasn’t only one hunter but multiple.
It wasn’t a stretch to guess hundreds.
The curious thing, though, was why these crawlers were being either consumed or disposed of here by the creatures who were hunting them.
A warning through a display of dominance? Or simply because it was to the hunters’ advantage to consume them here?
Unfortunately, there was no way to know without even encountering the hunters.
A part of the trio wanted to, so they could be more at ease while advancing through the graveyard, but the mere half-thought of it felt quite ominous in and of itself.
It was as though they were daring this harrowing environment to bring death upon them.
Weaving through the exoskeletons and the piercing fragments on the floor, the pungent odor of ammonia intensified, punching through their senses.
Even Daru and Peter couldn’t help but grimace.
Then, they heard it: echoing clacks. Once. Twice. Dozens.
The timing was inconsistent, and the sources, while from the same general direction, don’t seem to be coming from exactly one area.
Some were closer; a few were a bit farther away, and the others were a little to the right.
A feast.
The hunters were having a feast.
Simultaneously, the three sought covers, moving through the dead trees, the shrubbery, and the larger exoskeletons as they carefully closed in.
It normally would’ve been wiser to back away.
Unfortunately, they were the representatives of their race in a high-stakes race.
Their destination was further forward, and they had no choice but to go through this spine-chilling graveyard if they didn’t want to return in shame and watch the news channels headline a World Breach.
So, despite the threat of a gruesome end, the three advanced.
Glancing to their left and right, the graveyard stretched for as far as their eyes could see.
Perhaps their enemies were also going through the same problems.
Or better, not yet.
The closer they got to the source, the louder the clacks became, and soon, they caught sight of the first figure.
It was a tall and lean humanoid that was as tall as, if not taller than, Vyrrkans.
Its gray fur rustled in the winds as it sat on the branch of a tree with dark-aquamarine leaves, long tail swinging as it ripped an exoskeleton open with its bare mouth, spat the shell on the ground, and took a huge bite off the exposed gray meat.
"A monkey?" Daru murmured.
His comrades thought the same. The Swordspawn in front of them was undoubtedly a monkey, and if so, then this explains why there were so many dead spiders.
A tribe probably lived in these parts, and not a small one.
Unfortunately, Elara had spotted that one of the trees had begun secreting sap to cover its hollow.
The Hissing was upon them.
Daru and Peter were still observing the monkeys, but when the princess informed them of her observations, the two immediately switched to looking for burrows.
To their surprise, it was fairly simple. There were a lot.
They even had the luxury of choosing. Spotting a spacious one that was the size of a house, the trio slid inside with more than a dozen seconds of spare time.
What they didn’t have, however, was the time to switch burrows.
The moment Daru planted the Dark Sentry on the floor of their burrow, his eyes widened.
