Rick's group was now gathered at the glade. After the Screamers got thoroughly burnt, Kevin could catch up with the others.
It had been just a few seconds after their victory.
Silence befell the forest as they looked at each other, trying to see any hint of joy or accomplishment for their win. However, no one showed such expression. Not even Dean, who was the most excited about fighting against those Dreads of a higher caliber than the ones that he fought before.
The group tried to find any hint of hope in Rick's eyes, but they weren't ones of happiness at all. On the contrary, he seemed pissed off.
"These bastard freaking trees..." He growled, gritting his teeth in frustration.
In front of him, the lines of "Chaos" were getting thicker and waving with more intensity. Also, their numbers were increasing as well. After so much time observing "Chaos", he learned how to read its pattern like an open book. He knew approximately how many Dreads were coming, and how much power they had.
"Are they coming in our direction?" Kevin asked, panting.
"You jerks delayed too much. It's late now. It's easier to assume that a whole bunch of them are coming to eat us alive!" Rick took forcefully his sword from Dean's hands, sheathing it.
Clay was silent as always, just looking around and using his sharp senses to know from where the threat was coming. Then, he realized the mess they were stuck.
"This glade is..." He began to say slowly and hesitantly but got interrupted by Rick.
"Yeah, it is getting sieged quickly. All the perimeter in a wide range is getting. If we don't get out of here as fast as possible, we will be screwed."
Hector approached Rick.
"We aren't going to fight, then? Because, since it is the case, run away seems to be a good idea for m--" Before he could finish his commentary, Rick slapped him on the face, getting the tall and slim man out of balance.
"Shut the hell up." He was getting more and more pissed off. It gave Dean and Paul goosebumps because they knew that he would stress out later by beating them.
Hector kept looking dumbfounded at his leader, who just replied to him bruskly.
"Idiot! Can't you notice that we don't have any way to just run away from here!? We will need to fight while we get away from these monsters. How we will do that I still don't know, though."
"If I push myself, maybe Intimidate can work against them," Kevin suggested hesitantly.
"Not against all of them. After all, there must be Dreads of the 5th generation in this tide."
""5th!?"" All the group yelled at the same time.
Dean himself had fought a Dread of the 5th generation and he could say for sure that the group wasn't able to beat one of them. Particularly in a scenario where they were accompanied by other weaker Dreads to help them.
"Are we done? Just like this?" Paul muttered but didn't have time to complain anymore as Rick delivered a kick that caught both his legs, making the boy fall on his shoulder over the ground.
"Stop talking shit, slave. If there is the slight possibility of dying here, I will use your body to gain even a 1 percent chance of surviving, got it? So you better pray that I can find a solution here!"
Rick was thinking deeply on that matter. He began to rub his hair viciously while trying to think of something that could give them an advantage.
"Clay, what type of Dreads are coming. Can you tell?"
"Probably Venom Monkeys. There might be some Stone Gorillas with them as well. The latter usually command the tides."
'I see. The Gorillas might be the Dreads of the 5th gen. Those aren't good news. Anyway, Venom Monkeys are tough in their own way. We don't have an antidote anymore to deal with their deadly poison.'
A whole minute passed as Rick continued to think about that matter.
The group was getting anxious, but no one dared to ask him a question and interrupt his train of thought.
"Ok, you scumbags. If I don't get out of here alive after this one, I will let you all slap me on the face as many times as you want once we get in hell!" He smiled faintly.
The group gathered near him.
...
Dean got into position in the middle of the glade. His legs were trembling already, even though the action didn't start. He was fearing for his life.
'If I was at peak condition, it wouldn't be a problem at all, but I am harmed from the battle against the Screamers. Also, to begin with, I was already exhausted since I entered this forest, and after that fight, I am even worse...'
The good thing was that Dean allowed Hector to boost his body so he wouldn't feel so bad when doing physical exertion.
"Power-up" was the second spell of Hector after the combined spells "Drain" and "Shot". This spell was a buff to his physical prowess, also numbing all the pain on his body and making him feel less tired. He could use this skill in one person at a time, but Dean heard that Hector was training sometimes and trying to improve it to use in more people at once.
Paul was some meters away from Dean. He was shivering from head to toe. It was undeniable that he was two times as scared as his partner.
Dean wanted to say something to him in order to raise his morale, but he gave up in the middle. He thought that he would never be able to make Paul feel pumped up, nor anyone in that world.
They waited anxiously for the arrival of the Dread while holding their breath.
Soon, the sound of those giant trees shaking was heard. It was clear that animals were moving on top of them, and also others on the ground.
Finally, a Dread appeared on the glade.
It was a Stone Gorilla.