Ren and Evan locked eyes with each other for a moment. And then, Ren nodded and rushed back alone.
He instantly started running toward the path from where the sound had orginated, and it was none other than the direction where Caleb and Ronan had gone.
But the problem was that they were in the opposite direction from where the duo was supposed to be.
Meanwhile, Evan was also running towards Ronan but his speed was a lot slower than Ren's.
The reason being Lina was with him, but his face didn't reveal even a speck of irritation or anger for her being so slow.
He didn't complain and kept the same pace as her to avoid leaving her alone in the forest.
Ren sprinted at full speed as he entered the village and after running for a few minutes, stopped just a few meters away from the barrier.
He was astonished to find the scene unfolding before him.
Ronan was supporting a single-handed Caleb, and leading him into the village.
Ren wanted to ask about what had happened but stopped as a question rose in his mind.
'Will limbs regenerate too?'
The knowledge about whether days of rest could regenerate one's limbs in the village or not as it was proven earlier that hunger, exhaustion, and even cuts or scratches would heal after recuperating here was unknown to him.
Caleb was crying, his tears mixed with his snot as he cursed repeatedly.
Ronan was trying to bandage him to stop the blood flow with the help of his clothes despite the fact that his hands were shaking.
His nervous expression couldn't be hidden.
After a few moments, Evan and Lina arrived and were horrified to see Caleb without one of his arms.
The blood flow had stopped due to the bandage, earning a look of surprise from Ren.
As Evan and Lina were finally about to ask what had occurred, a loud bang was heard.
Everyone's heads snapped to the barrier.
Seeing the monstrosity standing there, Caleb's body shivered uncontrollably as the creature continuously smashed the barrier. Others instantly connected the dots as they saw the sharp blade-like arms of the vermin as it tried to slash through the barrier.
It was more than seven feet tall with a massive body, jagged spikes protruding from its back.
Only a singular red eye was present on its face and two sharp blades in place of where its hands were supposed to be.
But its arms—or rather its blades couldn't give even a scratch to the barrier despite its relentless blows.
Even so, the sudden slight ripple of the barrier set everyone on edge.
Ren had a plan and he wanted to run back to take control of the level 10 Vermin he had killed a day earlier but he didn't.
Or rather, he couldn't.
Just as he took a step back, his body started to feel heavy, and his mind felt as if it was trying to expand but couldn't find enough space to do so.
Not being able to handle the pain any further, Ren fell on the ground while clutching his head.
But he gritted his teeth and didn't make a noise despite the continuous waves of agony flooding his mind.
Nobody paid attention to him as Ren was standing at the back and the vermin kept trying to slash its way through the barrier.
After a few moments, the pain in Ren's head started to subside slowly.
His head was now covered with beads of sweat as he breathed heavily, his head finally began to clear.
Ren immediately looked up and saw the vermin still trying to get past the barrier, but this time, it was trying to smash its way through its body.
It kept running straight into the barrier and slamming against it continuously.
The rest were clutching their weapons tightly while Ronan kept an eye on Caleb to make sure he was alright.
Meanwhile, Caleb couldn't stop shivering as he heard the loud banging sounds, he still remembered the way this creature had jumped from a tree out of nowhere and cleaved his arm in a single slash.
Before he could even register what had happened, a wave of blinding pain assaulted him, tearing a scream from him as his knees fell to the ground.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh…."
Thankfully, he was together with Ronan who attacked the Vermin from behind just in time and prevented his death.
But Ronan's strike wasn't strong enough to cut through the vermin's skin but despite that, he had succeeded in his attempt as the Vermin stumbled ahead due to the impact.
Taking his chance, Ronan grabbed Caleb and yanked his hair hard.
"Hold onto yourself."
Finally regaining his senses, Caleb stood up and bolted forward with him despite the pain.
And thankfully, the vermin wasn't fast enough to catch up to them before crossing the barrier.
And that's how the current situation came to be.
Evan and Lina were oblivious to the fact that Ren wasn't behind them but had actually run to one of the houses in the corner of the village.
This was the place where Ren had ordered his minion to keep the corpse of the level 10 vermin after killing it.
And his last level 2 vermin was also here, sitting quietly in the corner.
That day, Ren was pleasantly surprised to find out that his minions were able to cross the barrier unlike the other vermins, hence he had ordered it to keep the corpse here until his mana could recover.
Without any delay, he placed his hand on its chest while mentally summoning his stat panel and clicking on the (+) icon beside his spirit power stat.
He once again felt a draining feeling as he saw the mana stat decreasing by ten points.
Mana:12 — [2/12]
The vermin's eyes snapped back to life as it slowly stood up, its veins now carrying streaks of red and black visible beneath its skin.
But this one was a little different.
Its horns too had transformed from pure black to crimson and dark-orange mixed with shades of grey, looking quite menacing.
But Ren didn't focus on the details, he didn't have the time to let that arm-blade monster run away. Or he might lose a precious chance to obtain another strong underling.
He quickly commanded the level ten vermin to intercept the arm-blade monster on its way back to the forest and kill it.
The weaker vermin wasn't smart enough to execute his commands perfectly so he just left him in the hands of the stronger one.
The level ten vermin nodded while the weaker one followed it from behind.