The Laughing Swordsman

Apollo's eyes narrowed when they landed on the rank.

'Copper coin - Iron Lined'

That must mean it was a difficult mission.

Layla looked at the picture of the eagle berry. She tilted her head to the side.

"I remember seeing this before!"

Apollo turned to Layla.

"You have?"

Layla nodded enthusiastically.

"Mm... It was a long time ago, I think."

Apollo picked up the parchment, causing it to fly up to the center of the room.

His coin tumbled onto the desk, which he snatched up.

"Welp, let's go on a scavenger hunt."

He left for the shadow world. After a few steps, he came back to the real world.

Layla was already there, waiting for him.

"So whoever finds it first is the winner?"

She smiled cheekily.

Apollo rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"...How about we work together to find them?"

Layla tilted her head to the side.

"Mmm... Ok!"

Apollo took a deep breath.

"Do you know where the eagle berry bushes are?"

Layla's tail swayed gently, filling the air with soft jingles.

"Maybe? Follow me!"

Layla navigated the forest with ease. Apollo had a little difficulty in following, but kept up fine.

Along their journey, Apollo could make out many of those strange creatures, though it was only a glimpse.

He was initially concerned he would have to fight them. However, they appeared to be avoiding the pair.

Apollo did not question it.

No obstacles presented themselves in their journey.

...

After roughly twenty minutes of running, Layla stopped.

There was a smile on her face.

"Haha! Found it!"

Layla zipped off in a direction.

She crouched down and performed the action of picking a berry, however, nothing was there.

Apollo tried to look with his blindspot but was unable to find anything.

In just a moment, Layla walked up to Apollo. She held her hand out as if there was something there.

"Here, take some!"

Apollo furrowed his brows. He tried to look at Layla's hand with his blindspot, but couldn't see anything.

Despite that, he reached out his hand to try and pick up whatever Layla was offering him.

There was no physical sensation, he was just grasping at air.

Layla pouted.

"Why aren't you taking them?"

Apollo raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't pick it up?"

Layla hummed with dissatisfaction.

"Your hand slipped right through it!"

Apollo rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

"...The third layer."

He recalled a piece of information from the request. These eagle berries only existed on the third layer within the Forest of Misery.

He could only see the shadow monkeys by using his blindspot. However, at that point, he wasn't in the first layer.

It seemed that only layers adjacent to one another could interact with each other.

One could not directly see the layer below unless they checked with their blind spot.

Apollo closed his eyes.

So the first layer contained the shadow monkeys and penumbra trees.

The second layer contained those weird creatures.

Then, the third layer contained these eagle berries.

Apollo guessed that he was currently transitioning to the second layer, considering he could catch glimpses of the weird creatures.

Once he fully entered the second layer, He should be able to interact with these eagle berries.

...Along with whatever monster resided in the third layer.

Apollo sighed.

"I can't take the eagle berries for now."

Layla raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?"

Apollo shrugged his shoulders.

"I need to eat more fruits of light. Hold onto them for me please."

Layla smiled.

"No problem!"

Suddenly, Layla's head snapped to the side.

"Wow! What is that?"

Layla dived into the ground, burrowing as though she was a mole.

Apollo's mouth was agape.

What is this girl doing?

He looked down the hole left by Layla. It was filled with loose dirt.

The corner of Apollo's lip twitched.

He was not going to follow her. After all, he didn't awaken to the superpowers of a mole.

Apollo shook his head.

He would have to find more fruits of light so that he could actually interact with the eagle berries.

Suddenly, Apollo threw his body to the side. He dodged a creature's lunge by a hair.

The scent of rot filled his nose as a creature's jaws passed by his face.

Apollo's bokken flashed.

The creature exploded into a mass of blood and flesh.

Apollo sighed.

It appears Layla was the reason these creatures weren't hostile.

Now he only had himself to rely on.

Apollo ran through the forest, searching for penumbra trees.

There were a few creatures along the way, but they all died to Apollo's bokken. The creatures would flicker in and out of Apollo's vision, making them hard to track.

However, he would sense them whenever they attacked, making them easy targets.

Apollo's eyes squinted.

He could see some fruits of light in the distance.

Apollo dashed forward but suddenly stopped.

The penumbra tree was teeming with creatures.

They were letting out frustrated roars. Half of them were holding onto their heads, seemingly in pain.

They were hungry.

The creatures stayed around the penumbra trees hoping that a shadow monkey would come. However, they were bound to be disappointed as all the shadow monkeys were dead.

Apollo clicked his tongue.

If he wanted to get the fruits of life, he would have to work for it.

And so, he worked for it.

Apollo reached the perimeter and directly killed several creatures.

Instead of getting angry, the creatures were excited that there was something to eat.

They were more aggressive than ravenous wolves, pushing and shoving so that they could get closer to Apollo.

As for Apollo, he let out a flurry of strikes, causing numerous bodies to fall to the floor.

However, there were simply too many of them.

Apollo was encircled in a matter of seconds.

He reacted by giggling.

Apollo closed his eyes, dodging their lunges. Every time he was attacked, Apollo would tax the creature with their life.

As Apollo laughed in disdain, he suddenly froze.

A creature had burst out of the ground and chomped on his leg.

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