What attacked Hector at that moment was a Scythe.
It was a type of Dread born from the crossing of different mutated insects. Its form resembled the one of a mantis, its wings were similar to a cockroach and it had spikes all over its body. There was a carapace on the vital parts of its trunk that resembled an armor made of steel. Finally, its head could be easily recognized as the one of an ant.
What was more noticeable on the Scythes' body structure, though, were their claws that seemed like a scythe. They were as sharp as a well-made blade, but instead of rust and getting dull through time until getting totally useless, they became even sharper.
They were known as dangerous hunters. Once they targeted their prey, it was difficult to escape from their attack. They had high agility, fearful power, and considerable resistance. Fighting them was the same as fighting an experienced armored warrior.
That said, Hector couldn't expect anything but death when the beast unleashed a blow surgically aimed at his throat. For sure, that attack would rip off his head. He would not have time to escape, not when those Dreads had such speed in their movements.
Kevin was already busy dealing with two Scythes of the 6th generation. Rick was fighting against one of the 5th gen and being helped by Clay, who was shooting a torrent of arrows.
'Damn it!' was the only thing that his mind could think when seeing those scythe-like claws drawing a bow towards him.
"Ha!" He heard someone shouting in a firm voice, with no hesitation behind.
The sound of iron clashing against iron was heard.
"Hurry up and get out, Master! Switch with me!" Dean shouted at him while gritting his teeth.
He was locking blades with the Scythe and giving his all to keep in his way.
Hector quickly retrieved, turning on heels and already aiming his finger forward. Another Scythe was in his aim and he didn't lose time to cast his signature spells.
That was the monster that Dean was fighting before. He disengaged from the battle to go help Hector when he realized the sneaky approach of the other Scythe.
The Dread was already running after Dean, leaping forward like a crazy beast. Anyway, he didn't have the time to approach the boy.
"Drain!" Hector chanted.
A great amount of "Chaos" got sucked from the Dread's body, making him suddenly stop to run after Dean and focus on Hector instead.
The energy that Hector drained went to the tip of his finger and condensed into a sphere.
"Shot!" He shouted, with resolute eyes.
That little sphere traveled in middle-air like it was a bullet and struck the beast on its head, exploding it afterward. It didn't even have the time to react before its head got exploded.
The Dread continued to move even after that, trying to, blindly, reach Hector. Nevertheless, it fell to the ground before doing so.
'Man... I am sort of glad that Dean is improving every day. Although it is scary that he is so resolute in getting stronger just to kill us, it's still good that he can help out more in the battles...' He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling his head heavy.
That was the aftereffect of his two spells combined. They were good to debuff the enemies and harm them, but spent too much "Willpower".
Hector trained in order to raise the ranking of his Nourishment Pillar, but the reserve and recovery of "Willpower" that he had weren't able to keep up with the quantity spent.
'Well, besides, it's good that he could learn our way of fighting together. If he just said for me to get out, instead of switch, I wouldn't know that he was engaged in battle before...'
Hector watched Dean as he fought against another Scythe.
The boy clearly had the disadvantage. While the Dread had two weapons to attack, Dean had just a long sword that he needed to wield with both hands. That alone was a handicap in a one versus one battle.
Besides that, the Scythe clearly was more powerful than Dean. His strength wasn't particularly impressive, but its speed was incomparable. Dean couldn't match at all.
Since he engaged in battle with the Scythe, Dean was only struggling to defend its swift attacks.
That monster also had the intelligence needed to manipulate "Chaos" and strengthen his body, so it made him a formidable opponent.
Nonetheless, what made Hector impressed with Dean was the way he pulled through all those disadvantages only with his limited strength and, especially, technique. His swordsmanship was getting more and more polite every battle they had.
'Is he going to lose?' Hector thought, looking to the sides. The others were still busy.
'I already used my spells plenty of times in the start, because a wave of these things came after us. I knocked out more than ten in a roll. I can't help him at all... Amazingly, he can defend against such a high-caliber Dread, but just defend won't give him the victory.'
What Hector couldn't see on that fight was crucial to answering his question, though.
Even though he could watch Dean's movements, he couldn't look through his intentions. Dean wasn't just defending helplessly his blows, but waiting for the right time to attack.
After all, he knew about a habit that those Dreads had when fighting.
'They are beasts, after all. Something that they can't get rid of even if their intelligence is higher now is their wrath!' Dean thought while dodging and defending the Scythe's attacks.
After dozens of slashes unleashed against that boy, the Dread was getting somewhat pissed off. However, it was going to get worse.
Dean parried one of his blows, launching his scythe backward. However, it wasn't a big deal for the Dread, who just adjusted his balance and delivered another slash with his other claw, but vertical this time.
'Too predictable!'
The boy stepped to the side, avoiding the attack by inches.
The Scythe simply backstepped. It wasn't dumb at all, so it knew that Dean couldn't attack while his sword was at that position.
However, he never intended to attack with the blade of his sword.
Dean's sword grip flew forward, thrusting the air and smacking the Dread on his head.
That creature stumbled backward, getting confused.
After the Scythe recomposed, its eyes shone in a bright red, and he let out a roar of agony and fury.
'Let's start the real fight.' Dean grinned.