Daru fell to his knees, smiling as he panted in utter exhaustion.

'It's over, huh?'

He glanced at his nameplate.

==

Okuni

HP: 69 / 1,150

==

Daru took a deep breath to calm his turbulent heart, quickly sitting to ensure that the bleed status wouldn't affect him anymore and he would start to recover.

Only then did he have the spare attention to look at the notifications that appeared in front of him:

[You have slain a (Field) Boss Swordspawn [5] levels higher than you! Calculating experience point rewards…]

[You've obtained 15,000 + (15,000) Experience Points!]

[Congratulations! You've leveled up to 28!]

[The Overseer is pleased. You've obtained an item: [Level Grape]!]

[You've obtained 20,000 Swordcoins.]

[You've obtained 100 Actualizer Crystals.]

[You've obtained (5) Armor Enhancement Runestone(s).]

[You've obtained (1) Mount Dice (Sunblade Savannah).]

Daru was naturally pleased with what he obtained, but his attention was captured by the [Level Grape] and the [Mount Dice].

He tapped on his belt bag to open his inventory.

However, when he was about to check the item descriptions, a nervous voice sounded behind him.

"U-Uhh, hi?"

Daru's eyes momentarily widened, and he sprang up, assuming a fighting stance as he turned to face the source.

"H-Hiiih! C-Calm down, will you?! I'm not crazy enough to fight a damned demon like you! I'm just checking if you're fine!"

Daru's brows raised as he locked eyes with the horrified young woman with lavender hair.

Moonpiercer approached as carefully as she could, understanding that the demonic B-ranker might still be a bit jumpy due to the intense battle that had just ended.

Unfortunately, she was still given a scare.

Her horror didn't last, however, as Daru recalled what had happened earlier.

"Ahh…sorry. I thought you were trying to kill me…" he apologized while continuing to gaze straight at the considerably shorter young lady's eyes, making her heart skip a bit.

If this guy suddenly decided to silence her…

Moonpiercer broke into a cold sweat, regretting the fact that she had approached on impulse.

Why did she think that such a madman would be…

But then, she froze, as, in the next moment, Daru offered a sincere bow:

"You're the one who helped me earlier…for that, I give you my thanks."

"A-Ahh? Y-You're welcome! Wait…h-help? When did I?" the flustered young lady stuttered, not expecting to be thanked suddenly.

"You informed me that the field boss was low on stamina. I might not have noticed on time had you not told me, and that's what I'm thanking you for."

While Moonpiercer was panicking, Daru walked past her, giving her wits a jolt.

She quickly turned to see where he was going, ready to impulsively stop him for reasons even she didn't know, had he not stopped on his own and begun looking for something at the ground.

"Ah…there it is."

Daru picked up the [Putrid Fang of the Hackstroke Matriarch] and returned to where Moonpiercer was, giving the item to her.

"I'll give this to you as thanks."

"T-Thanks…?" responded Moonpiercer, who couldn't believe how approachable the "demon" was.

Daru, with another slight bow, then left, heading towards the rocky path leading to another cave beyond the savannah.

He felt rather uneasy resting in front of someone he didn't know well, and since he still had some hit points to spare, Daru decided to rest in the rocky path instead.

He only needed a minute to recover from the bleed status, anyway.

The lavender-haired young woman followed him with her dumbfounded gaze for a while before she was forcefully snapped back to reality as a pungent smell assaulted her nose.

"Ah…that stinks, damn it! Why would anyone..."

She still tapped on the item, though, checking its description.

In the next moment, Moonpiercer's eyes widened as an idea instantly popped up in her mind, and she quickly turned to look at the respawning Sunblade Lionesses.

"S-Sh*t!" She cursed in an unladylike manner, quickly equipping the item Daru gave her as a pendant.

A translucent-vermilion barrier then appeared and enveloped her.

Still, Moonpiercer's heart was racing wildly, almost exploding as a red light suddenly materialized in front of her, spawning another level 32 Sunblade Lioness.

Her anxiety was more-than-justified, as she had just made it to the Sunblade Savannah in her last hours on the previous day.

She was merely wandering and ended up in such a dangerous area by pure chance.

Moonpiercer was about to turn tail and flee as fast as she could, losing her courage at the mere sight of the Swordspawn's nameplate, when she realized it wasn't looking at her.

The Sunblade Lioness that spawned right next to Moonpiercer merely continued patrolling, completely ignoring her.

It was then she remembered the idea she had thought of earlier.

Trembling in anticipatory nervousness, she opened her palms, summoning her sheathed, lavender-colored Jian, quickly pulling it out of the scabbard.

Moonpiercer gulped, then slashed at the Sunblade Lioness' neck.

[- 350!]

The level gap was, unfortunately, far too huge, and her weapon got stuck in the neck of the swordspawn.

"H-Hiih!!"

With a horrified shriek, she quickly pulled her jian back, sprinting as fast as she could.

Only after running a few dozen meters did she realize no one was after her.

Moonpiercer froze for a moment, then almost went crazy, not knowing how to process the loophole she just discovered.

Her breathing grew heavier.

A few moments later, she froze again, another realization dawning upon her.

Maybe "discovered" wasn't the right word?

Yes…"gifted" was more fitting.

She instinctively turned in the direction Daru was headed, her heart pounding out of her chest.

She felt like she was about to cry in happiness.

Left with no outlet, Moonpiercer could only howl to the scorching skies:

"LORD OKUNI!! THANK YOU FOR THE GIFT!!"

She then got to work the next moment, confused roars of agony filling the air as she hacked, slashed, chopped, and stabbed at the helpless swordspawns.

It took her a minimum of ten hits before she was able to kill the first Sunblade Lioness, earning her the absolute upper limit of experience points a bladeborn could obtain in a single kill.

Meanwhile, traveling on the rocky path, Daru had a faint smile on his face as he read the descriptions of the items he obtained as a reward for killing.

The [Level Grape] did only one thing: grant the user an instant level up when consumed.

It was a great item for sure.

Daru already had an idea when it would be wise to use it, thanks to his diligent efforts in studying.

However, his attention was currently on a different item, or rather, a prompt triggered by an item:

[You have used [Mount Dice (Sunblade Savannah)]!]

[You have rolled a 1!]

[Congratulations! You've obtained a mount: [Cross-eyed Albino Zebra]!]

[Novice Tip: Whistle or clap once to open the [Mounts] window.]

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