The Scythes were arriving at the battlefield quickly enough to not give time for Rick's group to regroup. They were still fighting against the 5th gen Dread, whatsoever, so they wouldn't be able to organize their formation.
"Damn it! We are surrounded already! It's not been even a minute since this thing made that sound. Why are these Dreads this fast?" Hector complained. He was unsheathing a short sword on his waist. The skinny man wouldn't use any spell so soon due to his lack of energy so he needed to resort to melee combat.
Clay did the same, taking two daggers in his hands and preparing himself. He still had a tiny bit of "Willpower", but it would be enough just to reinforce either his weapon or his body. Of course, it was much more advantageous to reinforce his body, particularly the legs, at that moment.
"They are utilizing "Chaos" to boost their physical power! Work on reinforcing your leg muscles because we will need a lot of mobility now! I think we are dealing with a Commander."
Dean could swiftly avoid three Dreads that nearly got him with their dangerous strikes. He ran beside Clay, aiming to get together with as many people as he could in order to prevent getting sieged individually.
"Commander, you say? I don't know about it. What does that mean?" Dean asked.
"Are you blind or just idiot, slave? You can't suppose by yourself?"
"I can, scum... Master. However, I don't want to believe that this is actually true..."
Clay hated Dean. Hate truly is a dangerous word, but that was the only way that he could use to describe his feelings for him. He had scorn for slaves, but Dean was special.
'Even so, I can't deny that I totally agree with him. It's hard to believe that these beings can evolve to become great leaders that not only can command a whole pack of Dreads, but also make them break through their limits, like using freely "Chaos" even in an early generation.'
Commander-type Dreads were very unusual to appear. However, when one appeared, the refuges usually gathered together to subdue the monster before they could do something disastrous.
The last time when a Commander got free for too long, it was capable to develop intelligence. When getting smarter than before, it was aware of its capabilities and how far it could go with the natural talent that it had.
The result was several strong, rich, and big refuges getting reduced to nothing but the remains of a destructive raid.
It wasn't uncommon for Dreads to do packs. But rarely they would have someone commanding them and would do coordinated and calculated attacks.
Rick's group was witnessing at that time the birth of a truly frightening monster, with the potential to threaten big refuges.
"What will we do now?" Dean asked, biting his lips.
Those Scythes made an encirclement around the group and the Dread of the 5th generation. They were closing that siege and getting closer.
They wanted to smell the fear of their opponents before doing anything.
"How the hell would I know, you sucker!?" Clay shouted, keeping the Dreads away by swinging his daggers in the air and walking back.
Dean kept following him but looking to the other side. He wanted to cover Clay's back and let him maintain his back safe as well.
The boy briefly focused on his chest, feeling his heartbeat.
'There is some "Willpower" remaining. I probably can do that technique one more time. Anyway, I won't have enough energy to reinforce my body and weapon anymore, so it won't be good against a wave of enemies. I don't need two attacks, I need a thousand!' Dean thought.
Kevin and Rick were in the middle of that siege while Hector, Dean, and Clay were a bit far away. Hector was the only one who got individually surrounded, but he was holding them for the time being.
The leader and the tank of the group were in a pinch there. They needed to fight against a powerful Dread while repelling the others that just came. They were in a frenetic pace that wasn't only straining their bodies, but also ending with their final reserves of "Willpower".
'Damn it! I want to live! I want so badly to live... However, what the hell can we do in this situation...? While that monster keeps alive, there isn't any possibility for us to win. Those Dreads wouldn't even be gathering together if not for him. In truth, they would start to fight over who would get the prey first. The only way of stopping them is by killing the leader, but Rick and Kevin can't do it by themselves since their energy is nearly depleted...'
While under pressure, Dean's thoughts became even quicker than usual. That was a characteristic that helped him a lot, but not in a situation where he could only think about the obvious and couldn't find an answer. When someone was cornered, they felt like getting blind.
"Sometimes we want to have, or want to do, more than we can. At times like this, you need to make sacrifices. And sacrificing is basically when we give out irreplaceable things." Dean's mind brought up the advice of his dad again.
'Irreplaceable things...?' Dean looked around. 'Irreplaceable...'
Dean's eyes got resolute once he remembered that. The image of his dad's broken arm got clear on his mind.
'I just need to buy time, right? Plan B is yet to come, but I need to maintain everyone alive for more time...'
Dean didn't know what were going to be the consequences of his decision at that moment.
Actually, up until then, he never understood the last phrase of his father on that day.
How could he know that he was going to do something that he wouldn't regret later?
But right there he discovered it.
'If I don't do it now, then I will regret it two times more, I am sure!'