F-ranker Sword Saint: My Soulbound Sword is Secretly SSS-tier!-Chapter 343: Branching Paths

Daru instinctively gulped.

He then made his way down to a clearing where a few trees existed in a small cluster, but not close to where the Nawkaris went.

A few moments after they landed, the wing dissolved.

The two of them turned their heads to where the Small Forest had been, faces grim, hearts heavy.

The line of sight was clear. The dreadful predatory tree was the only thing in the distance, and the subtle silver light of the nonexistent moon was enough to show them its silhouette.

Daru and Elara were rooted in place, still unnerved. They could only keep watching.

It was then that they saw it...more silhouettes. Trees were suddenly fixing themselves in place. Very few mature ones, but mostly young.

They arranged themselves into the structure of a forest.

The human duo’s hearts skipped a beat, realizing what that Small Forest was. It was a trap — a trap to lure lifeforms for the tree to consume.

The entire artificial ecosystem was its waiting maw.

True to the tenets of trees, it was patient, setting everything up for one big meal while consuming the minimum in the meantime to keep itself alive.

Daru and Elara felt chills crawl down their spine at the realization.

It was, at the very least, fifty percent possible that the tree was going to snap its jaws shut tonight, regardless of what Elara did.

The Nightreign Strigaris’ attack turned out to be a blessing.

Otherwise, they would’ve lost their precious second life right then and there.

After all, even among the fastest Nawkaris, only a few made it, and the two doubted they would’ve sensed the danger faster than the dwellers of that forest.

They would’ve likely been in the middle of the pack, part of those who were devoured.

Both, however, were smart in their own ways. They took a deep breath — almost simultaneously — then turned to look at each other.

"Well, we survived that..." Daru said.

"Indeed." Elara preened, suddenly turning a bit smug. "Good thing you trusted this princess, huh?"

Daru was one to give credit where credit was due, so he nodded in agreement.

"It’s indeed because of your sharp judgment that we survived."

His words sounded so sweet in the princess’s ears, washing away a great deal of negative emotions.

Now knowing him on a slightly deeper level, Elara found herself enjoying Daru’s once-bland company.

It turned out that she just had to know how to navigate that stiff tongue of his to get what she wanted to hear.

But then, the reality of their situation came crashing back, dampening her mood.

It was nighttime, and they were now homeless...

They hadn’t had much rest, either...

"So...what should we do next?" she asked for his opinion.

"How about we proceed east and follow where the hollows are taking us. At least until noon, then let’s take a nap."

"Sounds like a good plan."

That was what the two of them did.

Thankfully, midnight wasn’t as dark as the early hours. There was sufficient illumination for them to at least move.

There also weren’t many foliage obstructions, so it wasn’t too difficult to proceed.

Some distance away, the Nawkaris stalked them, but Daru and Elara welcomed the challenge. The dusk half-birds simply weren’t scary anymore after coming face to face with the Nightreign Strigaris.

In the end, their lack of wariness despite letting it be known that they knew the half-avians were there made the Nawkaris leave.

They weren’t exhibiting prey behavior, and since the dusk birds were ambushers and not fighters, they decided that the two humans weren’t worth the risk and effort.

Daru and Elara were able to cover a decent distance in just an hour.

Finally, it felt like they were at the starting point of the race.

They met three Runebarks on the way, but with how smooth their coordination now was, the tree spawns were easily chopped up, netting them sixty thousand experience points each, with Daru being given the priority for two of the vitality seeds, since it had been long established between them that he was a "brute".

At least that’s what Elara kept on calling him in battle...and so he was also and would always be the bait.

The investments in strength for raw damage, and dexterity and agility for precision, turned out to be the correct thing to do.

With the two of them working together, their Life Sap consumption now seemed sustainable.

They only had to use one each to slay a Runebark, then get both back.

Plus, they had a surplus in their inventory, so both of them were in a good position to start looking for the Sovereign Sapling.

The only negative thing currently was that they were running on only four hours of sleep, decreasing their maximum stamina reserves.

Still, the two proceeded east, soon arriving at the end of the straight path they were taking.

In front of them were three relatively smaller pathways growing from the strange land they were on, all extending into the clouds.

It wasn’t too difficult to believe now that they were standing in a gigantic branch as thick as land.

After all, the "branching paths" before them looked like massive branches...and they were the smaller ones.

At least compared to the one they were on.

But that wasn’t what caught their attention.

There, in front of them, was a strange, down-curving platform similar in shape but smoother than a cauliflower.

It was locked in place, unmoving as if the space around it had been frozen, and that only beings of appropriate power were authorized to make changes.

There was a mystical glowing pearl above it, hovering chaotically while emitting vigorous life energy that manifested in a thick green aura.

"How pretty..." Elara praised in awe.

Daru, too, stood rooted in place for a moment before he was able to get his wits about him.

"Is that the Sovereign Sapling?" he murmured, but his comrade heard.

"Unlikely." The princess shook her head. "But with very few clues left for us, this princess believes that the route should be somewhat obvious as long as we use our brains a bit."

A moment of silence later, she added:

"I strongly sense that that pretty pearl is our path forward."