Ren returned to the group hastily as he didn't want them to find him missing and think he had run away.
But the moment he arrived, his eyes fell upon the arm-blade vermin returning to the forest. And Caleb had fainted due to blood loss from losing his arm.
Ronan held and prevented him from falling to the ground. Meanwhile, Evan rushed forward and supported Caleb together with Ronan.
They took him to his house.
Placing him on the bed, Ronan finally let out a heavy breath that he didn't realize he was holding. Evan's brows furrowed as he contemplated something.
Shaking his head, Evan tried to remove the cloth tied around Caleb's arm but a hand stopped him.
Ronan's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Evan and spoke in a low voice,
"Not today, Evan. Don't consider your friends as experiments in the name of survival."
Evan watched him for a second longer and then sighed. Ronan withdrew his hand and sat on the corner of the bed, watching Caleb silently.
He murmured to himself, "I am sorry…. it was all my fault."
"His bleeding has stopped. We need to remove the cloth to check his wounds by tomorrow at the very least." Evan's eyes carried a trace of guilt. He now regretted his decision and thought that he should've just let the group stick together.
But he couldn't fall here. Not now.
And the good thing was that Caleb wasn't dead. But now, he was nothing more than a burden considering how much time they had left before the protective layering collapsed.
The barrier that was initially complete, now wobbled and rippled with gaps forming occasionally before sealing back.
Evan shook his head and stepped out of the room without offering him any consolation. In this situation, words wouldn't change anything.
While Lina gently placed a hand on Ronan's shoulder and comforted him, "He will be alright."
Ren just stared silently with a blank look on his face, devoid of any emotion. But if one looked closer into his eyes, a menacing look could be seen in them.
Because just now, the connection between him and his level two Oblivion Entity had been broken.
And the connection break could only signify one thing, his minion had died.
Following Lina, he slipped back from the room and was about to run straight toward the direction in which feel the connection with the remaining vermin but suddenly, Evan blocked him.
Ren's eyes narrowed. He didn't have the time to chit-chat and lose his precious minion but what Evan said left him completely bewildered.
"We are leaving tomorrow. Be prepared." Without explaining further, he walked past Ren and went to do his own preparations.
'Shit.' Ren didn't even have the time to let his minion scout the path towards the city as he thought they still had some days left. Not wanting to take any surprises, he had decided to send his minion a day earlier to get the best detailed report about those vermins blocking their way.
However, Evan's decision had thrown his plans off track.
'No, first focus on what's important.' Shaking his head, he rushed towards the east of the forest where he could feel his level ten vermin's depleting life force.
He didn't know who was winning. All he could feel was that the connection with his minion was weakening a little, which signified that it was probably in some sort of danger.
'I can't lose you.'
The reason? He was damn sure that their group would die tomorrow in their attempt to cross those hordes of vermins that were blocking the path to the city.
And the only thing he could place his bets on was this minion. But Ren didn't like the sound of that.
Placing all his bets on one chip? He wasn't a gambler. He needed some backup. And that was the reason he had hastily sent it to intercept that arm-bladed vermin.
Ren didn't know what was going on in Evan's mind that he had decided to advance towards the city tomorrow.
'It's the worst possible time. Or maybe not.' The barrier was disappearing which made the situation urgent, but were they strong enough to pass through that horde? Ren didn't know.
And now, they had a burden to carry too.
It was Caleb.
Ren wasn't one to dump someone when that person had also helped him but if such a situation occurred where he would have to decide whether to let him die to save his own life, he wouldn't hesitate.
As he reached the location, faint whistling sounds of air being sliced apart could be heard.
Swish.
Another slash was etched into the chest of Ren's minion. Green blood spilled out without showing any signs of slowing down.
The minion's eyes were frantic, but it still held a shred of consciousness which made it cautious and was the only reason it had survived till now.
Despite the monstrosity having blade-like arms and a highly defensive body, it was still mindless and didn't have enough movement speed to catch this obnoxious pest in one go.
Ren's minion kept darting around it while attacking at any opportunity it could find with its long claws.
While the damage wasn't massive, the accumulation of attacks had left the monstrosity breathless.
"Raaahhh!" Anger boiled in its chest at its inability to kill this pesky rat. It was able to sense the deep gashes despite its solid defense.
The vermin knew that it had to finish this fast, or it might be its last day.
In a fit of anger, the monstrosity slashed towards Ren's minion which left it completely confused as there was still a wide gap between them and the reach wasn't enough.
But what the minion hadn't anticipated was the blade getting detached from the Vermin's arm and being thrown towards it.
Seeing the incoming blade-like arms, the minion was completely stupefied on the spot—rendered immobile.
Just as the blades were going to slice it apart, Ren jumped from behind the ten-foot vermin and embedded his axe into a deep gash in its neck, killing it in a single strike.
It was left earlier by his minion with its claws.
And in the blink of an eye, a splinter of wood collided with the flying blade and changed its trajectory.
Ren had thrown that splinter on instinct, and the strike was accurate, leaving him stunned on the spot.
He had thrown it despite knowing he had a very low chance of it colliding with the blade accurately, but at the last moment—his eyes glowed red and increased his perception for a short duration which had allowed him to see the trajectory of the blade.
This was the reason he was able to intercept the blade mid-flight.
"Looks like you are getting a new companion." Ren chuckled as he brandished his axe from the vermin's neck.