Daru’s eyes narrowed as his walking speed slowed a bit.
He continued observing, this ti more keenly, sotis even traveling closer to the forest to make sure that what he noticed was not re imagination.
It wasn’t.
Every harmless tree indeed had trunk hollows facing the sa direction.
’Why?’ he wondered.
A few monts later, however, another question struck him, one that would help him survive:
’What about those tree Swordspawns, then?’
Daru was astonished at how smoothly his thoughts were flowing — how he was slowly dismantling the seemingly unsolvable problem of surviving in Yggdrasil.
Finding a bit of direction and purpose, he walked closer to the forest.
He needed to find one of those tree Swordspawns.
It wasn’t too difficult.
Despite being slow and cautious in his advance, Daru soon caught sothing moving in the corners of his eyes.
It was exactly the creature he was looking for: the lesser version of the Verdant Runebark.
The Swordspawn’s struggles in uprooting itself beca more and more vigorous until, finally, it was able to get itself out, roots morphing and solidifying into proper, stable legs.
Its branches coiled at each other, too, turning into a simple, wooden greatsword.
The tree spawn then erupted into a dash.
Its speed demanded effort from Daru’s eyes, but only moderately. Daru felt he could keep up with this Swordspawn.
A bit of excitent even returned to his worried heart, as there was a chance to confirm two important things in a single battle.
Daru charged right back, unwilling to give the initiative to the approaching foe.
He perford strange, zigzagging steps, erupting into a dash the next mont with a mirage.
The tree Swordspawn seed confused at first.
But then, upon getting closer, it suddenly, sohow, chose to attack his true body.
Daru opted for a direct confrontation this ti.
Black aura crawled from his tachi’s handle, veiling the entire blade as his arms lashed out with it.
A heavy clack sounded.
In the next mont, the tree Swordspawn was sent staggering back for two steps, seemingly glancing at its chipped wooden arm as a red damage value floated, also revealing its naplate:
[- 130]
==
Oak Runebark Lv. 80
HP: 79,870 / 80,000
==
’A Runebark...’ he mused, not too discouraged at the low damage value.
It was a direct clash, after all, and Daru even felt it was a bonus that he could damage that sword arm, too.
The most promising thing, however, was the fact that he won the exchange.
His battle with the Verdant Runebark was just too much of a humble pie for him.
’This one might be winnable...’
Daru didn’t dare claim in absolutes, as he was yet to hit the evergreen spawn with a clean, standard slash, but at the very least, he felt he could erge victorious.
The battle soon resud as the Oak Runebark recovered its footing, legs stabbing deep into the ground.
But Daru didn’t retreat, performing subtle circular motions with his legs, then erupting into a short dash to the evergreen spawn’s side.
He waved his arms upward in a rising slash mid-montum, striking the Oak Runebark cleanly on its waist.
[-89]
"What?" Daru ducked, the incoming, sweeping counter, slashing out another ti before stepping back, a bit indignant at the small amount of damage he dealt.
"How are these things so tough?" he muttered complainingly, but there was a faint smile on his face.
The tree spawn was relentless and fearless, imdiately pursuing him and stabbing with its sword arm.
Daru sidestepped neatly, pivoted his foot, and chopped down, cutting into the bark of the Oak Runebark’s arm.
[- 98]
’That felt a bit better.’
An intense series of exchanges began like so.
Daru, having realized that he had enough physical attributes to fight the battle without relying on movent-type Sword Skills, decided to rely on his technique.
The Oak Runebark seed to have a decent grasp on swordsmanship.
However, it was simply no match for him.
He would then use damaging Sword Skills from ti to ti, increasing the speed at which he chipped at the spawn’s hitpoints.
A clean Mountainsplitter would wreck the Oak Runebark for around 300 hitpoints.
It wasn’t as much as Daru was used to, but it was a decent chunk for how much stamina it cost him.
Initially, he was also using Azure Swordfall and Spectral Thrust, an SS-tier Sword Skill he learned from one of the SS-rankers he fought in the Spot Gauntlet, but eventually stopped and even ca to regret it.
The two Sword Skills dealt more damage than Mountainsplitter.
However, the reason why Daru suddenly stopped and even half-lanted using them was because he realized he should’ve been frugal with his stamina usage from the beginning.
Now, he was unsure whether he would be able to defeat his opponent before he ran out of steam.
Daru had stamina potions in his inventory now, thanks to Iron Lotus, but would they be enough?
"Tch."
He jumped back, downing a unit. He felt warm energy reinvigorating him the next second.
Daru had realized that the lower one’s stamina was, the more their focus would slip and the sloppier they would fight, so he decided to take stamina potions early to maximize their effects.
Taking them when he was almost out would be an unstrategic move.
Once he was done, Daru rushed back in, jumping and turning into a red tornado. He slashed down with his tachi, but the Oak Runebark was as hardy as ever.
[- 110]
==
Oak Runebark Lv. 80
HP: 70,420 / 80,000
==
He hadn’t even shaved off 10,000 hitpoints from his enemy, yet he was already forced to use his consumables.
This was definitely not a good situation.
Also, even if he sohow got through it, what about the next one?
Daru shook his head.
’Focus!’ He reprimanded himself.
Before he started utilizing his brain, he hadn’t been thinking so much. This was what he feared would happen...what he ant by his blade would dull if he thought too much.
But on second thought, this was a necessary change. He wouldn’t survive or thrive on combat instinct alone.
At least not in Yggdrasil, and maybe not in so other, high-level zone in the future.
He had to take this chance to grow.
There should be a good balance between thinking and fighting on instinct, and he just had to find it and get used to it.
That was his next improvent step.
’Alright, one step at a ti...for now, think about this battle and only this battle. There might be a weakness I can use...’
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