Daru quickly hopped out of the fallen tree's hollow, summoning his sword, pulling it out of the illusory scabbard, and striking a fighting stance.

'Tch…how rude…' he cursed under his breath, eyes narrowing as he watched the hoarsely screeching abominations trying to encircle him.

He naturally wouldn't allow them, quickly jumping back to ensure all of the Accursed Soulcatchers would remain within sight.

The moment one of them secured his back, he was done for.

The armored wraiths were persistent, continuously trying, but Daru never let them, so the actual exchanges hadn't really begun yet.

Realizing that the wretch they had been hunting seemed different from the rest, the Accursed Soulcatchers looked at each other.

Daru keenly observed the strange interaction.

It was the only thing he could do, as turning his back here might be his undoing, and he didn't really want to do such a thing.

At least not without clashing swords with the elite abominations first.

After all, Daru had long wanted to test their ghostly gray blade.

He soon got what he wanted, as all four decided to simply charge him from the front.

While the elites had dealt with a few anomalies in the past few eons of their eternal servitude, none had bested them in combat.

How could the weird Damnedling in front of them be any different?

In each of their individual, twisted memories, they had encountered more than a dozen of these wretches.

It was just that it took a while for their limited sentience — meant only for their never-ending task — to recognize the category of wretch Daru belonged in.

The idea to surround him instantly vanished.

There was no need to, as they could simply overpower him.

Normally, one of them would've been enough, sometimes two if the strange wretch was on the stronger side of their category.

But never have there been a case where they needed three to catch one.

Since there were four of them…

What could be more effective than a brute-force approach?

The Accursed Soulcatchers charged in a loose line, their gray jian swords singing as they cut through the winds in a harrowing advance.

Their left, bony arms throbbed, itching to grab the Outsider's neck and bury him six feet under the ashen ground surface.

Daru's heart raced in excitement, but he calmed it down with a single deep breath.

'Fast!'

The elites were fast.

It was a good thing that he decided to invest all five attribute points he gained in the recent level up to Perception.

The question was, could his other physical attributes keep up with the elites?

The immediate answer was yes…somewhat.

He waved his tainted tachi, clashing fiercely with the Accursed Soulcatcher at the forefront.

He lost the exchange and was sent skidding back a few centimeters, which, to his fortune, turned out to be of help, granting him the few milliseconds he needed to dodge the follow-up attacks.

'They're stronger, huh?' Daru thought inwardly, landing neatly after jumping back.

He didn't have much luxury to continue thinking, though, as the armored wraiths were relentless, immediately chasing him down.

"Hmph, fine then, wretches, come and get me!"

With a prideful snort, he charged right back. Daru determined that being too defensive wouldn't help.

He needed to take a few risks.

There was no time to execute Havoc Rush, so he jumped instead, turning into a red tornado mid-air.

A deafening clang echoed in the eerie mist as the golden edges of the tainted tachi made contact with the gray jian of one of the Accursed Soulcatchers.

Daru landed on the powdery ash behind them, kicking up a small cloud of ash as he glanced at his right forearm.

This wasn't his first time being wounded in the monochrome world.

However, the sharp pain reminded him that the rules of the ashen realm were unlike those in Valmaris.

Being wounded here actually hurts.

A damn lot.

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Daru's mouth as he muttered under his breath: "That…was quite close…"

It really was.

Not only was his curveball of a sword skill blocked quite neatly, but one of the armored wraiths almost cut his entire right arm off.

Daru wondered how such a thing would feel.

He was quite certain that limbs would regenerate here even if severed completely, but it would probably hurt like hell.

'Focus,' he gently reprimanded himself.

The Soulcatchers were upon him again. This was no time to think about unnecessary stuff.

But then, just when he was about to somersault to dodge the coordinated blow, the armored wraiths suddenly stopped.

They jumped back, and two of them turned to look westward, while the other two stood on guard.

Their eerie coordination seemed to be deeply engraved in them.

How would they have been able to do such a thing without conversing, otherwise?

Daru was curious, too, but unlike the Accursed Soulcatchers, he was alone.

He didn't have the same luxury.

In fact, Daru was quite sure that as soon as he took his eyes off them, the two standing on guard would take advantage of the situation and charge him.

He could only use his other senses.

At first, there was nothing, then he heard it: the violent sifting of the powdery ash layer of the gray grounds

The source of the noise seemed to be west of where he was fighting the elites.

His gaze narrowed as the urge to turn his head grew stronger, but Daru suppressed it.

He could only settle for listening for now.

His eyelids flickered for a moment as he began to recognize what they were…those familiar draggy footsteps…

'Lost Damnedlings?'

Daru's brows rose in puzzlement.

In the next moment, he finally got the luxury to look, as the armored wraiths suddenly jumped back and assumed a different formation a safer distance away.

Three faced the direction of what he assumed to be Lost Damnedlings. Only one continued to watch him.

The distance afforded Daru a glance, and he couldn't help but take the chance.

His eyes widened.

In the distance, charging towards them were Damnedlings.

Around seventy of them.

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