F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 357: The Haunting Calm of Death

The Gray Ateles Mortises assisting the elite had circled to their front, attacking one time.

None did real damage to the human trio.

However, not only were the three of them stopped in their advance, but they were pushed back, too, towards the rather unwholesome arms of the elite.

The only good thing about what happened was the fact that the deathly, spider-eating monkeys had already scrambled for safety right after attacking.

Around twenty-five seconds...

Based on how suffocating the sensations were, that was the amount of time they had left.

The elite Ateles Mortis wasted no time, brandishing its legblade cleaver, this time at Daru.

It was so sure that its target would be felled.

After all, if even the inferior ones of his race could send them flying, they should die from a single strike from it, or at least be left with multiple broken bones, effectively sealing their fate.

But...no...

The elite’s eyes widened in utter disbelief and intensifying fury as it felt its arm bounce back with a piercing clang despite hitting the turning target squarely on the head.

"AOOH? GRAAAAGGHH!" It snarled.

However, Daru was unfazed. Resuming his motion, a black aura veiled Onimaru Kunitsuna, its blade swinging down on the inner part of the armored monkey’s right leg.

Spurt!

Gray blood — one with pungency unlike anything they had encountered their entire lives — spurted out of the wound. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

[- 2,340!]

In the next moment, he quickly Swallow Stepped back to his comrades, dodging not only the potent Rotblood but also the elite primate’s frenzied counterattack.

The foe was clearly greatly frustrated.

Daru, meanwhile, was in slight disbelief himself. The flesh of the darned elite was almost as tough as a Verdant Runebark’s trunk!

Nonetheless, his attack did some damage, and more than just directly.

It slightly reduced the elite Ateles Mortis’ running speed, granting them more time. The now-lone monkey was still considerably faster than they were, though.

It was also smart, opting for the branches.

Every few seconds, it would pounce at them, lashing viciously with its weapon, but to the elite primate’s utter outrage, no matter which one of the three it attacked, the tenacious pests always survived.

It finally could no longer bear the Hissing’s chilling pressure five more attempts later.

The elite Gray Ateles Mortis reluctantly dropped the chase upon spotting a hiding place, jumping straight into it while shooting one final glance at the foolish twerps.

It was unsatisfying that it wouldn’t be able to kill the intruders itself, but this would do, too...

Daru glanced at the perfect timing, making eye contact with their pursuer...and learning something new.

"There, a burrow!" Elara pointed at an area.

They still had some time, but since the elite monkey had given up a few seconds earlier than she expected, they had already made decent distance from wherever it had hidden.

They can lax a bit on the risk.

Arriving at a burrow far east of where the chase began, the two SSS-rankers slid inside, with Daru right behind them.

Around five seconds, and the world will hiss.

Soon, he arrived at the mouth...and froze like Elara.

The burrow turned out tight, and even his comrades barely fit despite them already sitting and tucking their knees in.

There was simply no space for a third person. So, Daru decisively left with Elara’s anxious and slightly pained call ringing behind him.

He had sacrificed himself.

That was what the princess thought...but no.

There was another hiding place nearby — one he had learned recently from the elite Gray Ateles Mortis.

Daru sprinted wildly for it, reaching the base of the sap-spewing tree with time to spare.

His eyes flashed with a murderous glint, and he turned to face another tree, sending out a spinning cross slash at its sap-covered hollow before jumping for the hollow of his own tree.

He ripped a small part of the protective sap open with his hands, threw himself in, and patched it right back in time, though the tree itself hadn’t stopped secreting, helping him cover the opening at the last second.

His sword projectile, meanwhile, continued on its way.

Before Daru’s very eyes, the world hissed, and he finally saw what the Hissing was through the semi-transparent gray sap.

Smoke.

The entire level of Yggdrasil was exhaling deathly, dark aquamarine plumes of smoke that rose from small, porous openings, rising to the skies and reinforcing the colors of the clouds.

The life here, however, seemed to have adapted to the environment.

None within his immediate line of sight perished or withered. They simply rode out the Hissing...until something walked unsteadily towards his hollow, wilting face contorting into a furious expression.

Only then did Daru remember.

His Crescent Dicer probably ripped open the gray sap covering the hollow of the tree where the Elite Gray Ateles Mortis hid.

No, not probably. It certainly did.

Why else would the elite primate be crawling towards him — body half-rotting — with a look of sheer wrath?

Unfortunately, it was destined not to reach him.

The Ateles Mortis fell to the ground around six meters away from his hollow, grasping at him one last time before its body completely decomposed into a mere skeleton, and even that was slowly being dissolved.

A little farther away, he noticed that the tree that was used as a hiding place had also truly wilted, its leaves curling as they fell to the ground.

Daru shuddered slightly.

However, with deep breaths, he slowly restored his calm. The Hissing soon brought with it the usual, harrowing comfort.

He watched from behind the semi-transparent curtains of the gray sap, appreciating its haunting beauty.

He was safe here...

Daru would’ve slept.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t, as there was no one to wake him up.

Elara and Peter might really move on and leave him behind, thinking that he was dead, if he didn’t approach them before they left the vicinity of their burrow.

A little over an hour later, the world was done relieving itself, and gray lids unfurled.

The princess was the first one to step out, finding it unbearable to stay in the unpleasant safety of the burrow that denied the only individual she truly considered her comrade in this twisted game.

The remnants of amusement and odd satisfaction in her eyes were now completely gone, replaced by sheer unhappiness at the current situation.

Performing one’s duty was different from doing what one wanted, after all.

Everything had just become a mere task to accomplish for her.

Behind her, Peter sneered, finding Elara’s attitude irritating.

To him, she was the reason for all of this, yet she still dared act as if she had the right to be angry.

The atmosphere between the two was becoming heavier for sure...until a voice sounded behind them.

"Let’s go, the monkeys are probably right behind us. We must make it further east, as Elara said."

The two SSS-rankers could not believe their ears.