"Yo! What is up, my manss...My broski! I definitely didn’t expect to see you here. Look at you, well and alive!"
A way-too-lively greeting bood across the early evening of the grim death zone as Daru found himself in an unexplainable, minor trance, already extending his arms to give the new arrival a high five, then a low five, then a fist bump, all of which he hadn’t rehearsed for yet sohow managed to do anyway.
"Oh, and you too, princess, even though you made wait so long for who knows what reason...You hate , don’t you? But that’s fine. Everybody does until they spend ti with . Only then do they appreciate the true depth of how likable I truly am."
Elara, anwhile, only sized Chi Xiao up and down with a scrutinizing, almost judging gaze, one of her brows curved sassily.
"This princess does find your excessive enthusiasm and masked arrogance a bit too irritating, but I only delayed approving your request for your own sake. You think I haven’t contemplated a playful press of the ’yes’ button?"
"Ooh, you’re a scary woman. Anyway, it’s night, let’s sleep. Haven’t had a proper rest since day one, you see..."
Daru and Elara t each other’s gaze.
"The Hissing will occur soon. There’s a shelter five and ten minutes away from here. Let’s hide first, then go back to our burrow so this guy can rest properly," the forr said, to which the latter nodded.
"The Hissing? What’s that?" Chi Xiao asked, curious.
"We’ll explain on the way. There’s no ti to lose." Elara answered before turning.
The three began to move.
With the hollows of the dead trees telling them where to go, direction was simple. The princess was more eloquent than Daru, so she was the one who explained everything they knew in this level of Yggdrasil to their newly arrived comrade.
The Hissing; the signs of it, the burrowers, and the natural cavities.
Chi Xiao seed to be an intelligent young man, easily understanding everything. Elara found his unserious nature slightly frustrating, though.
It was like the SSS-ranker from Cluster 1 had the attention span of a goldfish.
Soon, they arrived at the nearest burrow.
Daru placed a Dark Sentry on the ground and then fired a Crescent Dicer onto the burrow.
"It’s clear."
Chi Xiao, anwhile, had the look of an amazed child, looking at the mouth of the cavity, then to the Dark Sentry, then at Daru.
"Yo!! What is that? Where did you get this thing? This wiggly worm detects danger just like that? Gim one and take all my money! A peaceful sleep everywhere I go! That’s what that thing is..."
"Yes, it detects danger like that." Daru nodded, retrieving the ward. "I got it from a special kill, though. I don’t know if there’s any on the market."
"Aihh..." the SSS-ranker from Cluster 1 covered his eyes with his hands dramatically, then snapped back into existence: "Then sell it to ."
"No."
"What? Co on, aren’t we buddies here? Look, we’re even representing humanity together."
Daru’s brows furrowed.
"How can we be buddies when we just talked to each other today? I’m reluctant to even call you an acquaintance. You are not my buddy."
"Pfft!" Elara stifled her laughter, clearly satisfied.
Chi Xiao, anwhile, was dumbfounded for a mont before bursting out laughing.
"Hahahaha! You’re right, you’re right. My bad, then."
The young man, for the first ti, then showed a sharp gaze — not one of hatred, but of appreciation.
Daru found nothing wrong with what he said, so he simply went ahead and checked the burrow.
It was small, but it would do.
"Chi Xiao, y–"
"Call Peter."
"Peter, hide in this one until the lid opens by itself. Elara and I will hide in the other one five minutes away from this one. Let’s et later and head to the burrow we’re using."
Surprisingly, the overly-enthusiastic SSS-ranker only nodded this ti and proceeded to slide into the burrow.
Daru and Elara walked to the other one — even smaller than the one Chi Xiao was using — and sat inside.
They couldn’t even lie down.
Unfortunately, the two could only make do with it, as giving up a life would be the alternative.
They didn’t waste this opportunity to gather information.
Like what they had been doing and will be doing later, they sat near the mouth of this smaller burrow, watching everything in their surroundings while waiting for the chilling, suffocating sensation.
They learned sothing valuable.
An entire minute before they felt the sensation, they noticed that gray sap would seep out of the gaps in the dead bark of two types of trees, covering their hollow entirely.
This would add an entire minute of reaction ti for them in the future.
Then, when they finally felt it was too dangerous to stay outside, they slid into the burrow and sat side by side.
The Hissing began again just a dozen seconds later and ended after an hour.
The two waited for Peter, then the three of them proceeded to the larger burrow.
While sleeping together there would feel a bit cramped, there was at least ample space for all of them to lie down side by side.
Elara already had plans for who would sleep beside whom. She absolutely refused to share proximity with the SSS-ranker from the Aziya Cluster.
They arrived five minutes later, and the first thing Peter did was celebrate, imdiately sliding into the burrow and setting up his sleeping bag to sleep.
The two shook their heads, Elara with a hint of annoyance.
Nonetheless, they continued their studies of the environnt. Daru first planted all of his sentries, then returned to Elara’s side to observe with her.
They familiarized themselves with how the flora and the spawns moved pre-Hissing, the chilling sensation of impending death — absorbing everything like a sponge.
The two diligently continued throughout the cold, dark, aquamarine night until their bodies protested for sleep.
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