F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 355: Hunted
"Haah...Haah...Go on...without this princess..."
A voice echoed from the darkness of a burrow as two young men staggered out of its mouth.
Pungent!
The damned corpses of the Gray Ateles Mortises had become so unbearably pungent that they struggled to breathe in the past half hour.
Thankfully, the Hissing didn’t last too long this time, or it would be they who wouldn’t have lasted.
Daru looked back, face contorted in a heavy grimace.
"Elara, stop being so dramatic," he reprimanded. "Come, we need to leave. With how smelly those corpses are becoming, it’s only a matter of time before their tribemates find them. We’d be hunted down if we don’t make enough distance."
They can’t move as freely as they wanted to, after all, unlike the monkey tribe.
"Tch." Elara clicked her tongue and crawled out of the burrow, looking like her gut was barely holding on. "Is a gorgeous young lady not even allowed a bit of drama?"
Peter’s face relaxed slightly as he listened to their conversation, clearly amused.
Still, what Daru said was true, so the three immediately got going, wrapping around the area where they saw the seven monkeys.
The other five were certainly still around, as they had to have sought the safety of the surrounding burrows, too.
The trio avoided the burrows they saw earlier.
A few tense seconds passed as they sneaked around until, finally, gray figures emerged in the distance, climbing the dead trees and leaving through the branches.
Four of them.
The missing fifth was quite a cause for concern, but the trio knew that every second counted, so they pressed east for a few minutes before following the hollows again.
They’d just made enough distance when the shrubbery rustled, and the exoskeleton pieces crunched around their burrow.
On the advance once again, the human trio vigilantly looked around.
Still nothing but Rotblade Burrower shells, trees, and shrubbery for as far as the eye could see.
The pungent smell of ammonia remained intense, too, though it could be said that the one permeating the open air was considerably milder than what they had to endure back at the burrow.
The princess’s nose had certainly been toughened by the experience.
Not even ten minutes since they began moving, however, they heard it again, the sounds of eating Ateles Mortises.
The three hurriedly checked where the monkeys were perched, then avoided the area, further pushing them east.
They had to do this every few minutes until the Hissing came again.
Daru was the unfortunate watcher this time, unable to sleep.
The trio began moving again almost as soon as the lid opened. They were slowly getting used to the feeling of sneaking past the Gray Ateles Mortises.
If things continued, then even if it would take them some time to leave this monkey territory, they would be able to do so safely. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
They just had to keep doing what they’ve been doing and advance as quickly but as carefully as possible.
It was a good thing that the Gray Ateles Mortises didn’t seem to have ridiculously sharp vision and hearing.
A few Hissings later, night fell.
Nighttime in these lands of death isn’t too dark or dangerous...or at least it hadn’t been.
This particular night, however, the dead forest was alive.
From the moment Daru and his comrades peered their heads out of their burrow, they heard sounds of cracking shells, accompanied by the rustling of foliage here and there.
What made their hearts sink, though, was the calls.
The Gray Ateles Mortises were communicating. Naturally, the trio couldn’t understand what they were saying, but they could at least deduce something from the intensity and length of every bark, screech, and low growl.
The monkeys were out hunting.
This was the first time they witnessed the primates in action, but it wasn’t too difficult to tell that they were looking specifically for something...or some people.
Perhaps for murderers.
For them.
They had a strong hunch that the Gray Ateles Mortises had been ordered to look for them, mayhaps not heavily for revenge, but more so to cleanse the territory of pests.
"Ideas, gentlemen?" Elara asked, turning to look at Daru.
She, too, didn’t know what to do.
At times like these, when both options were equally dangerous, she relied on Daru to decide, as his instincts and decisiveness had always proved better in these situations.
Peter didn’t care too much, either, simply waiting.
"These primates are probably searching the burrows, too. We’re done for if we’re found inside one. Let’s move." Daru said, unhesitatingly proceeding to exit their burrow soon after.
The two followed shortly.
This way, even if they’re discovered, they at least have the option to flee.
They would also be progressing closer to their destination, whereas inside a burrow, they would be stuck fighting to their inevitable deaths.
The trio moved through the night, beneath the shaking trees and alongside the rustling shrubbery, all while carefully avoiding the pieces of spider shells on their feet.
A single wrong step could be their last for this life.
Fortunately, for an entire Hissing Cycle, they made no mistakes. That was a start. The question was: could they keep it up till they leave the territory of the death monkeys?
After all, the scenery remained the same, and it seemed like they were still quite some ways from making it out.
The second Hissing Cycle soon began.
Daru felt refreshed after a nice, one hour and a half rest. With Elara keeping watch alongside the Dark Sentries, he felt more restful.
He naturally trusted the princess far more than he did Peter.
Outside, the Gray Ateles Mortises were searching farther away from them, though there remained a few in their proximity.
The trio exited their burrow and resumed their journey through the chilling night, treading through the threat of being hunted down by a tribe of deathly primates.
They were almost through the second Hissing Cycle since the peril began, and they would’ve gotten through it with no problem...had a silver princess’s mournful cries not suddenly echoed across the graveyard.
