Throughout all those months that Dean fought alongside Rick and his group, he never felt like that before. There was just a single time when something of the sort happened but, after that, he lasted a long time until he could find a situation that would give the same sensation.
While looking at that Dread, the boy could only stay still in the same place, not because he wanted to, but due to his shock.
The amount of "Chaos" that the Scythe was emanating was far beyond every other Dread that they fought that day, or in their previous journey.
Those Dreads of 7th and 6th generation were just small fries that were quite easy to deal with compared to that one.
In truth, Rick's group was too strong to the Black fields, where only low-grade Dreads would live.
The only time when they faced a similar situation was in Spear Forest, but they had the choice to escape at that time.
This time, the group was facing death, and couldn't back away anymore. Different from the situation in the forest, when their instincts screamed for them to run away at all costs, this time they told them to fight back until the group fell to their knees. That was the only way.
There was nothing more frightening than your own body leaving all its primitive impulses aside and acknowledging that nothing was helping that situation.
Dean needed to bent his knees more, but only to get a more firm base. His legs were shaking, so he wasn't steady enough to wield the sword properly.
He bit his lips in order to remain conscious of his surroundings and not leave his thoughts to take control over his mind.
'I... I never...' He tightened his grip on the sword, gulping, 'I never was so sure before in my life that I was going to die...'
That thought came out of nowhere and seemed to be made from someone else, not Dean. It was a strange feeling that got the boy wondering if he was getting crazy because of all that pressure or not.
'A-Actually, just one time. Even though his power doesn't match the one of that Lion... I am sure that the feeling I get now is very similar to what I needed to go through that time.' Just thinking about the presence and power of that Lion was enough to make Dean nearly shiver. It was frightening even now.
The boy glanced at the group.
Rick and the others seemed to be aware that the Dread would do such a thing. They weren't feeling as much fear as Dean was, but they weren't untouchable. Of course, when facing such a powerful Dread they would get shaken.
Rick's group could handle a Dread of the 5th generation. With lots of struggle, of course, but they were capable of doing this.
However, that was real life, not a game. They weren't willing to beat up strong Dreads just to show off or get stronger. Since the group would have a lot of encounters in the path to their main destination, it was better to fight against weaklings than Dreads that would give them a hard time.
Traveling had one essential thing, and it was sustenance.
Long duration battles more than halved the sustenance of the group since it wasted more materials to heal their wounds, fix the clothes, nourish their bodies, and their "Willpower" was depleted completely.
A traveler never would pick a fight with such beings that matched their capabilities.
But the time would always come when they needed to use their all against a monster. It happened once in a while.
Dean was very frightened, but the others were more composed. The battle wasn't lost yet. At least, not psychologically.
'They aren't even flinching... Can those four really take a 5th gen Dread by themselves? Or are they just suppressing it?' Dean couldn't know about these details since he never fought with his group against Dreads of this caliber.
The Dread was standing on the spot again. "Chaos" was still flowing within its body, which just helped the atmosphere to get tenser. It was still pressurizing the air, so the group needed to be careful not to be thrown in the air.
It took that great amount of "Chaos" and put it into its scythe-like claws.
Before, those two natural weapons had the same size as a normal harvest scythe, but the "Chaos" began to improve its shape, just like filling the spaces that were missing. A thin layer of black energy, outlined with red, began to appear and increased the size of the scythes threefold.
Its carapace got reinforced as well, and the wound on its shoulder that extended to the entire trunk caused by Dean, stopped bleeding.
'Reinforcement... It's a common thing to do with both "Willpower" and "Chaos". I did it before out of instinct, but reinforce your body and weapons with these energies is something very fundamental. However, for a Dread to do this, and to this extent, something dangerous might be coming. I just hope that it didn't have spells right off the bat...' Dean thought.
Rick, Kevin, and Clay were looking between each other as if conversing with their eyes.
Dean knew that their synchrony was just perfect, so they knew each other's intentions without even saying a word.
The boy, unable to catch up with that high leveled communication, just kept paying attention and seeing what they were going to do.
Although he wasn't particularly happy about this, he needed to help them when they were in danger. Not only because of Emperor's Touch but also because he couldn't let them die now. He knew that the group was also a tool for him to get to a safer refuge and to have enough resources for their traveling.
'I wonder who will make the next movement. For now, we are just waiting until the pressure on the air is released and we can go attack that Dread.'
It was very difficult to even move when high quantities of "Chaos" appeared in the environment and out-powered you.
Kevin was the first one to step, even before the pressure was released.
However, the initiative wasn't taken by him, but for the Dread, as its eyes emitted an abnormally cruel gleam.