F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 344: Beyond The Clouds

Somewhere in Yggdrasil...

In the periphery of another hovering pearl, steel sang in clangs. Four individuals were fighting around it: two gray-skinned humanoids, both slightly shorter than their opponents, a young man with eyes and short hair of roaring flames, and another humanoid that was uncannily similar to a human.

Only, this female had runic veins all over her body.

Gram and the female Aetherborn with the trial name of Alia’Theran would occasionally attack each other given the chance, but they were mostly fighting the Vesharis, who were working together to seize control of the pearl.

One of them was a familiar face to Daru.

***

Meanwhile, at a "small" branch the size of five highways placed side by side, Daru and Elara walked through the clouds.

Visibility had somewhat reduced, but vision was clearer than they expected.

There were significantly fewer trees dwelling here.

Swordspawns, however, were a different story.

"Daru!" Elara’s voice cut through the chilly silence of the approaching dawn.

But Daru was already moving. He unhesitatingly dashed forward, neatly dodging the wooden blade of another Runebark, then striking right back at its arm.

A few minutes of dull clacks later, the Oak Runebark toppled over, branches and leaves scattered around its lifeless trunk.

Daru exhaled lightly.

They didn’t know which branch led to the pearl, but there were multiple paths leading to it, so they just chose the one that they felt was correct.

Their current progress seemed promising.

After Elara consumed the Vitality Seed, the two resumed their journey. Dawn smiled upon them.

"Hey, Daru."

Daru naturally turned to look, a brow raised. "What?"

"I have a surplus of Kestrari Wingroots. Do you want to fly so we can see where this path leads faster?"

He thought about it for a moment and agreed. He, too, had almost a dozen untouched Kestrari Wingroots.

Using one here shouldn’t be too careless a decision. They couldn’t chain-use the same wingroot anyway...

"I don’t see why that’s a bad idea," he nodded. "How many do you have?"

"Nine."

"Then let’s use one of mine. I have eleven."

A few moments later, the two were at an elevation, soaring down and enjoying both the temperate winds of dawn and the Dawn Dive bonus as Daru firmly gripped Elara’s hands, the princess hanging beneath him.

They zoomed past multiple Runebarks who didn’t even have any time to react.

Daru made sure that the branch was always within sight so that he didn’t have to tap into his rather faulty internal compass. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The two of them covered a satisfying, huge amount of distance with that one wingroot. So much so that Elara was about to suggest that they use another.

Only, before their feet could touch the ground...a wooden greatsword cut through the clouds.

Elara’s eyes widened.

The sweeping slash, far faster than an ordinary Runebark’s, cleanly passed through her neck before she could move.

Then she moved...kicking at the face of the attacker and using it to propel herself backward, letting go of her comrade’s hands.

Daru, meanwhile, continued his downward momentum and crashed at the Verdant Runebark with a vicious Spectral Thrust that moderately chipped a tiny part of the elite humanoid tree’s face.

[- 670!]

"Tch," he clicked his tongue as the Kestrari Wingroot finally dissolved and he slid on the bouncy ground for a few more meters before stabilizing his footing with the help of his weapon.

==

(Elite) Verdant Runebark Lv. 85

HP: 111,680 / 112,350

==

The darned thing was as tough as ever.

Daru quickly looked around, a faint grin tugging on the corners of his mouth upon realizing that there were no other enemies around.

This was the perfect time to test their limits.

Armed with sufficient Life Saps, knowledge in confronting the tree-kin, a few level-ups, a comrade, and a blazing will to fight, Daru, for the first time, charged right back at the elite.

He lingered for a while longer than ideal, then sidestepped, drawing out a stab from the Verdant Runebark.

Pivoting his foot with practiced motion, he chopped down hard, his tachi veiled in a black aura.

[-350!]

His grin widened.

"My attacks hurt quite a bit now, don’t they?" he taunted unintentionally, releasing his pent-up frustration of having to evade the formidable foe time and again.

Before the Verdant Runebark could answer with its sword arm, the burning green aura on its shoulder flickered, and it was pushed forward slightly from that part of its body as a silver tornado pierced from behind.

[-245!]

Elara then vanished with an elegant backflip, easily evading the wild counterattack.

"Hmph!" she snorted in disdain. "How could such desperate strikes hit this princess?"

A brief pause later, the battle raged again.

Even in the past, Daru’s Perception and Agility were enough for him to dance around the elite as long as he focused and did not hesitate in exerting himself.

Yet he was still forced to flee. The alternative was death.

This time, however, his strength, dexterity, and most importantly, his supplies, were ready.

His eyes and legs were considerably faster since that first encounter, too.

And so, Daru poured his heart...his very soul into the battle, eyes predatory as if his flames wouldn’t be snuffed out by a single mistake.

He flowed, and flowed aggressively.

Elara, meanwhile, was a graceful silver swan. Her movements weren’t too fast. Yet, somehow, the wooden sword arm never managed to touch her.

The Verdant Runebark was always so close, but never made it.

Time spilled; clacks filled the air for dozens of minutes, and vials were emptied following vigorous gulps.

Before any of the three even had the wits to notice, the elite tree was already bleeding in burning, green life energy.

Its trunk torso was full of chips and chops.

Yet, like a mighty, everlasting tree it stood, ever the attacker and never bothering to defend itself.

Its entire body was the defense.

Had Soulbound Swords not been forged by the gods themselves, it was highly likely that they would’ve been the first ones to give, because clearly, none of the three was about to.

Another half an hour flew by until finally, with a roar tainted by madness, a black-veiled blade completely sundered through the wooden sword arm.

Following this, a silver sword manifestation fell from the skies, landing squarely on the head of the dying tree-kin.

The Verdant Runebark shuddered, lashing out with its nonexistent blade one more time before falling into a kneeling position.

Then, to Daru and Elara’s bewilderment, its roots crawled deep into the branch-land, attempting to find purchase, but to no avail.

Extinguished completely of life force, the trunk began to wither, exploding into mere sticks and splinters — some wounding the duo’s skin.

A mighty pulse of life energy then stretched outward, as though announcing the fall of a divine herald.

It blew away the clouds as a set of notifications appeared in front of Daru and Elara.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t check them immediately, their eyes glued to what was before them.

The branch they were on curved towards the pearl, and the two of them were now close to it.

Only, so were the two figures on another branch a flight’s distance away from theirs.