A loud thud echoed through the misty streets as Daru found himself smashing back-first into the young redwood at the side.

'Damn,' he cursed, half-impressed, half-in-disbelief.

He is currently level 35.

While the gap was fifteen levels, he was used to fighting higher-leveled swordspawns.

This was the first time he fully felt the effects of the sheer difference in attributes.

Even the difference against Lyon, the Sunblade Lion King was not this huge.

The Grove Sentinel was able to take a fourth of his total hitpoints with just a single clash of swords.

Had he not managed to angle his tachi to block, he would've undoubtedly died right then and there.

Daru quickly stood up, rolling to the side and narrowly avoiding the follow-up attack.

He then bolted towards the exit of the Kahsar Novice Grove.

As much as he wanted to engage the Grove Sentinel who was chasing him, it might mean forfeiting both his soul and a chance to fight a mythical swordspawn in the future.

It was simply not worth it.

One day, he would inevitably pass level 50, and Daru knew he would deeply regret it if he chose this fight now over the more exciting one tomorrow.

He must stay focused on the mission.

Unfortunately, deciding to disengage didn't mean he would easily be able to, as the Grove Sentinel was significantly faster than him.

Two seconds of sprinting, and he felt the cold whispers of death again.

Daru trusted his instincts and somersaulted, narrowly dodging the pale-gray-skinned pursuer's moon sabre.

He then courageously landed on the Grove Sentinel's face, using it as a springboard to launch himself forward and continue fleeing.

This gained him another few seconds of distance.

Daru looked around as he ran, thinking of how he could lose the combat waykeeper.

But he didn't feel like he could outmaneuver it on its own turf.

Thus, he decided to turn around and confront the Grove Sentinel, a plan in mind.

If he could pull it off, even if he had to sacrifice a huge chunk of his hit points, then it would be worth it.

Narrowly ducking a vicious sweep to his neck, Daru counterattacked with a stab to the heart as quickly as he could, but the combat waykeeper was able to easily jump back to avoid the counter.

He couldn't even touch the combat waykeeper, despite striking on such a prime chance.

This was when Daru realized he was never winning against a Grove Sentinel, not right now.

He believed he needed to level up at least five more times before he would have a slight chance of victory.

The gap in attributes gave him the same feeling as when he lost a duel against a whale player in the sword-intensive MMORPG he played in the past.

It was simply not fun.

Due to this, he suddenly lost interest in fighting Kazuraga, as the mythical spawn was probably far stronger than even the Grove Sentinel in front of him.

Daru was reminded today that the most fun battles were against swordspawns or bladeborns who are at the extreme limits of what he could handle, not against those whom he had no business fighting.

"Tch." Daru clicked his tongue in frustration.

Humans couldn't have this huge a gap in physical attributes in Neo-Earth, so he would have normally never encountered this problem.

But then again, he was in the Myriad Sword Realm and was now a Bladeborn.

He had to adapt to the rules of this world and have fun accordingly.

The Grove Sentinel wasted no time and began eliminating him, the intruder, again, turning into a blur almost impossible for his eyes to follow and striking from a lower angle with a rising slash.

Daru could only muster a clumsy block that sent him flying backwards, a red damage value floating up:

[- 190]

Around an eighth of his total hitpoints, and this was already because he hadn't smashed into something yet.

Fortunately, Daru had the presence of mind to take this matter into consideration this time, using the backward momentum to gain distance.

He turned mid-air, stabbing his tachi into the condensed soil ground to help recover his footing faster before exploding into a full sprint.

The Grove Sentinel immediately gave chase.

Like so, the two played cat and mouse, dashing through the chaotic and misty streets of the Kahsar Novice Grove.

Daru noticed the ongoing battles around them and decided to use them as a distraction.

Perhaps he could use the invading Swordspawns of the Somber Swamp to get the combat waykeeper off him?

He quickly altered from a straight path, heading for the ongoing battle between three Droven Murrs and another Grove Sentinel.

Daru made it before his pursuer caught up, sliding beneath the ongoing fight like an elite baseball runner on third base.

Safe.

He barely avoided the stab that would've ended everything for him.

Not wasting a millisecond, he quickly stood up and looked behind, breathing in relief after realizing that his plan worked.

The Grove Sentinel that was pursuing him was now helping its comrade eliminate the other threats.

However, the reprieve was only for a moment, as the instant he turned again, another shadow loomed.

He unfortunately shook a Grove Sentinel off, only to run into another.

Daru jumped back, barely dodging a sweeping slash before continuing to flee. The cat and mouse game resumed.

But at least he discovered an effective method.

Daru weaved between battles like an elusive wraith, sliding through one moment before jumping and continuing to sprint in the next.

However, there were two problems, the first of which was that there were now five Grove Sentinels behind him, and with every battle he passed, the faster the invading force collapsed.

The second was that he was now down to around three hundred hitpoints and could only clash one more time.

And he had to use that one time now.

With an ear-piercing clang, Daru was sent flying once more, gaining his last bit of distance as his hit points hit barely above a hundred.

At least the exit arch was now in sight—so close yet so far.

Six pursuers closed in, and they were fast. Far faster than him.

'Damn it, I won't make it!' he cursed with a slightly mad grin, his heart racing.

It was then that a flash of inspiration struck as he saw a group of novice Vesharis teaming up to defeat a Tahm Throssa.

He dashed towards them and grabbed one who wasn't looking, throwing him to the approaching sentinels.

A loud crash sounded as three of the sentinels were caught off guard.

They couldn't hurt an innocent Veshari, so they could only fall to the ground, losing their target.

The thrown bladeborn's friend noticed what happened, turning in fury to Daru.

"YOU B–?!"

The other novice was about to erupt into a curse, but the words got stuck in his throat as he spotted another, more vicious word floating above the head of the bastard:

Ahfakriphar!

He was beaten to the punch and was cursed venomously instead.

The Veshari novice's mind blanked for a moment, but an instant was long enough for Daru to get away with what he just did.

The poor novices could only rely on the three pursuing Grove Sentinels to find justice and mete out punishment for them.

The small distraction was able to give Daru a bit of distance, but it didn't seem like he would be able to make it to the exit without taking another hit.

And he couldn't receive another. His remaining hitpoints simply weren't enough.

Still, Daru continued putting one foot in front of the other.

There was no way he would give up. Not now, and not ever.

Fortunately, in another moment of desperate brilliance, he quickly retrieved something from his inventory—a small fruit—keeping it in his hands.

Daru was saving it for an emergency.

However, it seemed that the situation was now, so he popped the item in his mouth, turned around, and blocked the two simultaneous attacks.

The sounds of metal clashing against metal reverberated as Daru was sent flying out of the arch.

A horrifying red damage value appeared above him.

[- 450]

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