A hand instantly pressed over Lina's mouth and stopped her from speaking any further.
Ren had also noticed the vermins hanging on the vines in front of him.
The reason he and Evan were the only ones to notice them first was because these creatures were blending in with the vines almost perfectly. Their green skin color, had developed a darker shade, like a chameleon shifting colors with respect to its surroundings.
But the reason Ren had noticed the horde was that his minion, Shrike, was also present in the horde.
Evan, too, was only able to locate them because he had located Shrike first, due to its unique dark-crimson horns and light green skin, which was slightly different from the others.
But he didn't have time to contemplate why one of them appeared different from the rest.
Meanwhile, Caleb and Ronan stood stiff and scared. Both of them felt their legs going weak after seeing dozens of vermins who appeared to be far more agile than the normal ones, swinging from one vine to another.
Evan gulped and took a step back without even turning around. He didn't want to show his back and get attacked from behind.
Slowly, the whole group retreated and only stopped once they were at a safe distance away from the horde. But realising they could still be attacked at any moment from the trees, they needed to plan their next step quickly.
Meanwhile, Ren's mouth kept twitching all the time at the sight of Shrike.
'So this idiot chose now of all times to blend in?' Ren wanted to teach it a lesson but the situation was urgent.
But suddenly, he had an idea.
"I can distract them," Ren said, surprising Evan and the rest.
"Don't take nonsen—" just as Caleb was about to reprimand him, Evan cut in on the conversation.
"Are you sure?" Evan could see the seriousness on Ren's face. Even if he didn't want to use Ren as bait, just a single glance at Caleb changed his mind.
They had a teammate who was injured, fighting them head-on was simply stupid.
'Our situation is far better than before. Hopefully, we will survive this time.' Evan thought to himself.
After a moment of bickering, Caleb finally conceded.
He knew Ren wasn't doing this entirely for him but his current state could still be a part of the reason for Ren to propose this plan.
With a bitter look on his face, Caleb realised that his incompetence was now leading others into danger but before he could spiral into those thoughts any further, Ronan slapped his head from behind.
"Don't. We also saved him, he is just returning the favor." Ronan explained, hoping to change his focus to the current situation.
Meanwhile, Ren discussed the plan with Evan.
"Are you sure this will work?" Ren hadn't explained anything about how he would return to them. And the more Evan listened, the more he was convinced that Ren was sacrificing himself.
"Trust me." That was all it took for Evan to agree. From his observations, he knew Ren wasn't one to joke, especially in situations like these.
Ren started moving away from the group while they stood there waiting for his signal.
And it didn't take long.
Smoke started to billow from the trees in the direction Ren had gone.
Seeing the fire and the rising smoke in the air, all their gazes instantly locked in that direction.
And in the blink of an eye, they all started rushing forward except one of them, which had a confused look present on its face, it was none other than Shrike.
Because the direction in which the vermins were running was the same as where Ren was present. But thinking that Ren hadn't called him back, it decided to follow the horde.
By the time the vermins crossed half the distance, Ren had already started returning back at his full speed.
Not long after, he started to hear the sounds of the approaching vermins. Stopping for a moment, he quickly took cover behind a huge tree.
The vermins didn't suspect a thing and rushed ahead.
Just as the horde crossed Ren, Shrike suddenly jumped out of it and rolled down to the ground, landing beside Ren as ordered.
'Nice, now follow me.' Giving another mental command, Ren immediately started sprinting again, but this time, he was with Shrike.
After a couple of minutes, Ren finally reached the same spot where they had located the vermins earlier but he didn't find any of them.
'Looks like I went a little too far.' But this was all part of the plan.
Ren immediately rushed in the direction in which Evan had told him to go.
As time passed, Ren started to feel a little exhausted after the endless running. His legs felt slightly sore but suddenly, a loud shriek came from behind.
Turning his head, his eyes widened in panic to see the multitude of vermins that were chasing him.
"But how?"
And the answer was right behind them. The forest fire had almost caught up to the vermins and was spreading in all directions.
Those who were swinging on the vines had also started running on the ground to avoid getting implicated from the flames.
Ren saw a vermin instantly getting burned to ashes as a burning leaf landed on its body.
'Shit. How was I supposed to know they can't survive the fire and will die instantly.' He now somewhat regretted his decision.
And he also didn't know why the fire was spreading this fast. It was too fast to be true.
The only reason Ren could think of was that the blue-colored leaves were more flammable than a normal leaf.
The vermins had also spotted him running ahead. And despite the danger behind, their instincts to feed upon human flesh didn't fade away.
They started running even faster and were now slowly catching up to Ren. One of them was just meters behind him.
The moment the vermin reached a little closer, it lunged at him.
But was thrown aside by a swipe of Shrike's claws the next second.
"Hold them back." Screaming, Ren ran ahead with all his might. Whereas Shrike jumped at the oncoming vermins and got instantly engulfed in the massive horde.
The vermins didn't attack Shrike all at once, as every single one of them was running for their lives. This caused a vermin or two to be thrown behind and stabbed by Shrike's claws.
Meanwhile, Ren had started panting a little. The vermins, despite the relentless efforts of Shrike, were catching up to him slowly.
And just as he was thinking whether Evan had told him the wrong direction, the trees started to thin out.
'The bridge is close.'
His exhaustion was swept away by renewed vigor as he dashed with all his might.