"Hmm…maybe this is for the best?" muttered an old man with long, white hair and a stern gaze as he sat facing the tall window inside his luxurious office, tobacco smoke gently blowing out of his aged mouth.

Strangely, the news of Onimaru Kunitsuna being sent to another continent didn't make the executive of the world government, who was responsible for Cluster 4, panic too much.

He would gladly trade one Heartsoul Gem—extremely difficult to obtain as it was—to know the identity of this mysterious novice, who somehow wasn't registered in the database but definitely existed.

It was almost certain that Onimaru Kunitsuna would lose their life.

Even the most gifted in history needed luck on their side to survive the accursed event — and if they hoped to reclaim that life, they would have to seek help from the world government.

The white-haired, elderly executive had a plan…

***

Back at the Gloomy Forest…

A green-haired young woman hummed a rather jolly tune as dead leaves crunched softly beneath her foot, though her face didn't reflect his joy much.

Daru, in the past hour, had continued exploring the massive, eerie forest.

He had already encountered more than ten swordspawns with nightmarish appearances, and all of them were within his hunting range.

They were also slightly stronger than the ones roaming the Crystal Hollows.

To make things better, it seemed that he was somehow given a fifty-percent boost in experience point gain.

How could he not be in a good mood?

Daru hoped this strange dungeon wouldn't kick him out soon…

After another five minutes of walking around, he came face to face with two more Veshari—both C-rankers and was just as surprised as Asipha was.

Daru's brows rose.

His initial guess was that he was in a dungeon with multiple entrances, some of which were located on other continents.

This was why he met a Veshari inside.

But now, he wasn't so sure anymore…

He didn't have the luxury to keep on thinking about the matter, though, as the two Veshari C-rankers were already rushing at him.

Daru wasn't fazed.

Asipha was faster than these two, so he charged right back at them without hesitation.

Sure enough, the moment he moved, the two bladeborns of the enemy race blanked out, as all they could see were dead leaves bursting into the air and momentary after-images.

The two C-rankers found themselves respawning at the nearest statue.

Daru, on the other hand, was deep in thought, not celebrating his victory much, since fighting the two wasn't even a challenge.

He simply swiped to dismiss the notifications of his victory with slightly narrowed eyes.

'Where am I? Why is there a lot of Veshari here…'

Not much information was posted online about the accursed event, as it happened extremely rarely.

It was difficult, if not nearly impossible, to come across an article about it without deliberately seeking one out.

Daru realized that it was better for him to simply continue hunting swordspawns than waste time thinking about what was going on.

He believed that the truth would surface in time, and if it didn't, then he would ask Instructor Talon about it.

He was still happy hunting the nightmarish swordspawns and fighting bladeborns of the Veshari Race for now, anyway.

Why think too much?

And so, dropping his thoughts, Daru continued exploring the Gloomy Forest, somehow enjoying its eerie atmosphere.

The cold breeze, the permanently grey skies, the crunching of dead leaves, the slightly unpleasant smell, and the strange howls of the roaming swordspawns…

This was his first time experiencing such a vibe in the Myriad Sword Realm, but he was all for it.

'Ahh…I wonder what this place looks like at night?'

The Crystal Hollows were boringly the same.

As for the Sunblade Savannah, the moon was so bright to the point that the darkness didn't matter at all.

Daru encountered dual-wielding mosquitoes with a monstrous, slightly overgrown skull for a head, a level 38 elite six-eyed bulb plant, and many more swordspawns of such appearances—nothing close to the ones he had met so far.

Even Cryzhar's unsettling appearance looked a bit more pleasing than the ones in this forest.

Nonetheless, they gave the same amount of experience points as the ones he was used to fighting.

The next two hours were quite peaceful.

Daru was able to forget the Veshari Bladeborns, as he had not encountered another.

Until just a few minutes short of another two hours…

He had arrived at a somehow even creepier location, where it seemed like the Gloomy Forest was connected to a rather swampy area with very shallow waters, reaching only up to ankle-level.

A third type of tree—one close to the appearance of mangroves but had cone-like leaves—had also started to appear in addition to the usual half-dead oaks and spruces.

Daru made it here in search of a location to hide his husk, specifically a tree hollow.

He had to make a voluntary exit, after all, for two reasons.

First, he wanted to experience this area at night, and second, he didn't want people noticing he had an extra hour on him, fearing that it might make it to the ears of the world government through the gossiping mouths of his classmates.

Members of the academy's faculty would most certainly waste his time asking about how he strengthened his connection to the realm.

Daru basically wanted to be left alone.

At least for now, as he didn't want to be hindered by agents following him around.

This was also the reason why he didn't want to reveal that he was an S-ranker.

'Hmm…there should be a tree hollow here somewhere…'

As per the articles he read, the common resting areas in forest-type biomes were tree hollows and burrows hidden in thick shrubbery, and he had already seen quite a few of the former, though weirdly none of the latter.

It was only because the ones he spotted were too exposed that he decided to look for a better resting area.

It was then that he noticed an opening beneath the massive roots of one of the nearest Coneleaf Mangrove, and Daru quickly walked closer to inspect the location.

Maybe he could squeeze in…

But then, the moment he was about to poke his head in, he felt a faint, almost fleeting sense of danger from behind—one he would've never felt had it not been for his high perception attribute.

Daru rolled to the side without looking, somehow aware that it would be too late to dodge if he did.

A strange shortsword that looked like two weakly curved crescents facing each other, then stabbed at his previous location, causing swampwater to splash everywhere.

"Hoh…how did you notice me? You're quite skilled for a mere A-ranker, human…"

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