For a few monts, Daru was rooted in place, gaze shifting.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t accept that he died.
He was just suddenly wary of the trees, blood running cold at the realization that he was in the middle of dozens of them.
Slowly, he backed away, trying to catch all movents with his eyes.
Nothing moved.
The trees did nothing out of the ordinary, but Daru didn’t dare trust them anymore. In fact, he didn’t dare trust the entire environnt.
The flowers...the bushes, and the other weird growths.
Gaining enough distance, he turned and erupted into a dash. There were trees everywhere, but there were also areas devoid of them in the distance.
He shall stop and think of what to do there.
A few minutes later, he arrived at a brown clearing, feet sinking slightly at the mildly bouncy ground.
Daru turned to face the previous area he was in, frowning.
Everything was normal.
The leaves of the trees swayed in the temperate winds, and the air was the sa — thick with life energy.
Then, he caught it from the corners of his eyes, a titanic silhouette ca crashing down from the skies in the far distance, but oddly, there was not the slightest tremor.
Daru turned his attention back to his surroundings, scanning the "paradise" with focused eyes.
He had to figure out the environnt first before he could even think of directions or even advancing in general.
’Odd...’ he remarked inwardly.
Suddenly, the environnt isn’t so lethal.
’Did I just get unlucky in choosing to climb a hostile tree?’
That, frustrating as it may be, was quite a real possibility. Daru rembered well how that tall tree looked.
’For starters, I shouldn’t go near one with the sa appearance as that thing that killed ...’
Or he could probe the tree first with a Crescent Dicer to see how they would react.
In fact...
Daru walked closer to a fairly tight cluster of four or five trees, assuming an L-stance and slashing twice in succession.
A spinning cross slash flew forth, crashing onto the body of the first tree, cutting into its thick bark...and dissipating.
Daru’s eyes widened montarily in disbelief.
There was no way his Crescent Dicer, now significantly stronger thanks to his recent, massive boost in physical attributes, failed to cut down even a single tree.
It doesn’t even seem like the one his Sword Skill struck first is old and mature.
Still, he was at least able to cut moderately deep into the tree, leaving an X-mark on its trunk.
Daru was snapped out of his stupor as he noticed golden sap flowing out of the wound.
He got the sudden urge to retrieve so, but he suddenly rembered that trees can be dangerous, so he waited for a reaction first.
Nothing.
’Ah...but just to be sure...’
Daru wasn’t satisfied yet, jumping back to create an appropriate distance before rushing back in, eyes fixed on the second and third trees in the cluster.
He then raised his sword, as if calling upon the might of the heavens, and then slashed repeatedly.
Two tis, five, ten, fifteen...
With every slash, he fired an extrely sharp and lethal silver crescent, each just as deadly as the Crescent Dicer.
So struck the second tree, others veered towards the third.
By the ti Daru stopped and stepped back to wait for a reaction, the evergreens were bleeding heavily, seemingly sweet, delicious, and nourishing golden sap flowing from nurous wounds.
This was one of the skills he obtained from one of the SS-rankers he fought, the A-tier Sword Skill, Full Moon Assault.
This should provoke so reaction.
And it did.
However, not from the trees, which seed to be crying injustice after being bullied by the new arrival.
It was clear to Daru now that these evergreens are indeed only standard trees, though oddly, extrely tough ones.
The danger ca from another tree in the distance.
The branches and leaves shook violently.
In the next mont, a swarm of black, winged insects the size of Daru’s forearm then erged, flying furiously towards him.
Their frontmost pair of legs are small sabres, swinging viciously from afar.
Daru’s eyes widened as he noticed hundreds of small, spinning black crescents — their edges sizzling, as if corrosive — shot towards him.
He would be annihilated if he didn’t move.
Daru sorsaulted back, dodging the barrage, though so of the insects attacked late enough that they were able to attempt cutting him mid-air.
The pitiful red slash mark he fired back was shattered almost imdiately, and Daru had to deal with the remaining few as he landed.
They weren’t too strong, considering that Sorsault Slash was able to deal with at least a dozen of them before collapsing.
But the Sabre Aphids seed very furious.
They cunningly spread out as they rushed towards him, sabre legs eager to mangle.
Alarm bells rang in Daru’s head.
He just realized...he was not equipped to deal with swarms like these!
So, Daru turned to flee instead.
Unfortunately, a few caught up, forcing him to deal with them.
He slashed at an approaching Sabre Aphid, striking it cleanly on the head, but to his surprise, it was sent teoring towards the ground instead of being slashed cleanly in half.
Daru had no ti to check what happened on that first one, though, as three more were already upon him.
But one thing was for sure: it wasn’t dead.
A notification of the kill would’ve appeared otherwise.
He sent two more pests crashing with Double Strike before Crescent Dicer finally ca off cooldown, granting him reprieve.
But not for long...
The other Sabre Aphids had caught up, and it would be impossible to even think of fighting such a large swarm, especially since they were unbelievably tough and he couldn’t even kill one instantly despite a clean slash landing squarely.
He would be overwheld.
So, using the only appropriate Sword Skill he had for the situation, he spun as he swept with his tachi, summoning a raging hurricane that blew the swarm away for a few monts.
Daru took this chance to gain proper distance.
He didn’t want to be entering a tree-dense forest, but he had no choice. He had to deal with the imdiate danger of the swarm.
The scenery changed as unsettling flora thickened.
Still on the outskirts, Daru looked back, his brows rising. The swarm seed to be hesitating.
In the end, they turned back, heading for the wounded trees instead, perhaps to consu the flowing, golden sap.
He stopped running, but on his last step, Daru felt it. He stepped on sothing slimy.
He hurriedly looked down, noticing that a strange, transparent sap was seeping out of the chilling, porous ground...and that his right foot was stuck in it.
Daru tried pulling out, but the grip was too tight.
His left foot would also be caught if he didn’t escape soon.
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