Muffled wails echoed throughout the fir hollow, perhaps heard in the near surroundings, too.
Elara was deeper into Daru’s arms, a hand over her mouth.
It seed she was painfully aware that what she was doing would get her killed. So, she wasn’t resisting, though oddly, she could not stop crying either.
Daru, anwhile, had done everything he could and was now hoping...praying that nothing enters their hollow, eyes fixated coldly at the entrance.
The mont he sensed sothing, he would stand up and fight.
Their humble dwelling was spacious, but it was very difficult to fight inside, especially for a human like him, who was used to moving around to evade the usually mightier opponent’s strikes.
Here, he would have to fight like a cornered beast.
The Dark Sentries kept on giving him notifications, yet it sohow wasn’t issuing a warning of danger.
Of course, Daru didn’t dare trust it completely, so he kept on watching, forced to fight against the negative thoughts of their situation and the womanly scent that had been assaulting his senses constantly, all while snuggled with another, eligible human of the opposite sex.
He had never experienced such a battle before. He knew it existed, but not to this degree.
He was having a damn hard ti.
Fortunately, the threat of another death, although mitigated to an extent through reduced noise, kept him grounded.
Both lost and kept vigilant by internal battles, Daru watched, and watched well.
They sohow remained safe throughout the heart-pounding ordeal...until finally, Elara slowly cald, and whatever uncontrollable storm of emotions besieging the citadel that was her heart gradually receded.
He moved his head at an angle so he could look at her face. Her eyes were still lost, but at the very least, the intense episode was reduced to re heart-wrenching sniffles.
Daru was greatly curious in the back of his mind.
However, his wariness of being possibly forced out of or fighting to the death inside their hollow made curiosity a luxury for now.
He continued watching for a while, until Elara herself removed his hand.
She took multiple deep breaths, wiped her eyes, then t his gaze, sighing:
"How embarrassing...I apologize that you must see this princess in such a state. I definitely would not have cried so much over anything except for the death of my parents, and they are very healthy."
Daru’s brows rose.
"Then why..."
Elara sighed again, explaining: "It’s a curse brought upon this princess by her mighty sword..."
He nodded. That made sense to him.
Still, curiosity got the better of Daru, and he asked a bit more about it, more so in preparation for navigating through the curse.
"When does it have a chance of occurring?"
"At midnight, for so unpleasant reason. I’d suddenly feel as if I’ve lost soone important to . I know who during those episodes, but after, I would always forget. Oddly enough, this princess is having a blast at life. The only important people to are my dearest mother and father. They’re strong S and SS-rankers, though mostly retired now and are handling our family’s businesses..."
"I see...does the curse happen often?" he followed up, to which Elara shook her head.
"No. In fact, this was only the third ti this had happened to this princess. We just got really unlucky tonight...or lucky, since nothing attacked us...."
The two didn’t have much to discuss.
So, after staying awake for a while and courageously peeking out of the hollow entrance twice, Daru decided to go right back to sleeping.
The night, unexpectedly, turned out to be like any other — cozy and peaceful...more so the forr as there were...circumstantial hugging.
The next thing he knew, dawn was upon them.
Then, they were a week into the event, having leveled up two more tis and gained a total of seven additional Vitality stat points each from Vitality Seeds.
Daru had been allocating most of his attributes to strength and dexterity, though he also added a little bit of agility.
==
Strength: 105 ( 80)
Dexterity: 105 ( 60)
Agility: 103 ( 60)
Stamina: 75( 70)
Vitality: 72 ( 120)
Perception: 140 ( 38)
Luck: 3 ( 45)
Will: ? ( 30)
==
The priority was faster hunting.
They were in a race, after all, so they must beco stronger at a faster rate than their opponents and obtain the Sovereign Sapling first.
On the fifth night, during Elara’s shift, Daru had suddenly been woken by the first danger alarm. He detected it even before the sentry did.
A Ruffian Ravager Sciurini had attempted to raid their dwelling in the middle of the night.
However, the two of them easily fended the invader off, aware and prepared and all...
That was the mont the two of them began resting at the sa ti, sleeping side by side. The Dark Sentries were far more effective than they’ve been given credit for.
As a result, their days beca more efficient, and they were able to hunt more Swordspawns.
While there were a few unwanted encounters with Verdant Runebarks, staying true to their planned routine worked wonders for them, as Daru and Elara would simply soar to the skies to escape a dangerous situation.
The two of them were finding their groove.
Even though the needed experience points to level up were increasing drastically, and the gain was decreasing, they were progressing at a satisfactory rate.
They doubted the representatives from the other races, or those from their own, were doing much better.
Being together was an advantage in and of itself, after all...and they were unwilling to give it up, which was why they were being very careful and strategic.
While they can afford another death, there’s little chance they would spawn in the sa area again.
Unfortunately, soon ca a night when an intense danger notification arrived.
Daru quickly stood up, eyes a bit bloodshot as he nudged his comrade, then carefully peered out of the hollow.
He thought it was another Sciurini...but no.
Atop the nearby pine stood a massive owl, almost twice the size of the already huge Stormcrest Jayaris — soulless eyes staring right at him.
It had two feathery tufts swaying in the cold winds and a curved horn on its forehead.
Then, the winds trembled.
Another owl.
The sa appearance as the first one, but considerably larger.
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