The bridge finally became visible as the vegetation began to clear.
But the trees here were a lot different than the ones behind him.
'What the hell happened here?' Ren cursed as he looked around. The forest was starting to thin out as he reached closer to the bridge but what perplexed him were the trees themselves.
None of them had a single leaf on its branches. They looked hollow as if life itself had been sucked out of them. The trunks were slightly paler than the ones in the woods behind.
And this was the reason why Ren was able to see the bridge despite being far away from it.
Not its entirety, but he could make out the structure of it, which was enough to reignite the crushed hope in his heart.
The other thing he noticed was the vines. They were getting thicker and thicker as he neared the bridge, an absurd contrast to the hollow-like trees.
"Huff… huff…" ignoring his surroundings, Ren staggered forward with all his might but his pace had slowed down a lot due to the thick vines beneath him.
Even the vermins got stuck between them sometimes, providing opportunities for Shrike.
Shrike took them out one by one while they ran away from the fire that quickly approached.
But despite Shrike's efforts, a multitude of vermins were still closing in on Ren.
'Just a little more.' He gritted his teeth and tried to increase his pace but suddenly, his leg got stuck in the vines, prompting him to fall to the ground.
One of the vermins with an agile build became ecstatic to see the prey in front of him trip down. It was one of those that had adapted to running on the ground, hence its lower body had mutated a lot.
The vermin leapt at Ren.
Before Ren could even stand up, claws swept on his back, forcing him to scream in pain.
"AHHHHHHHH…."
"No—now, do it now," Ren shouted as blood dripped from his lips. His heart thundered as the fear of death loomed over his mind.
As soon as he commanded, Fleshcleaver, hurtled down from above the trunk of a hollow trees.
Thud.
With a sweep of its blades, the vermin's head slid down and fell to the ground.
Biting his lips, Ren ignored the bleeding and pushed his battered body off the ground.
Without wasting another second, he rushed ahead.
Glancing back, Ren regretted not being able to increase his Oblivion army but the urgency of the situation didn't allow him to waste time on useless thoughts.
'I need to do something. Think, Ren. Think.'
He racked his brain as blood kept dripping from his back.
Even if those vermins were catching on to him quickly, with Fleshcleaver in addition to Shrike, they were able to slow them down even further.
Still, finishing them off completely was next to impossible. Because the stronger ones were actually in the center of the horde while the weaker ones were swept away by Ren's minions.
Just then, one of the vermins that looked like a monkey with long limbs attacked Shrike.
With an abnormal grip of its arms, it tore apart one of the Shrike's horns directly from its head.
"Screech…"
Screaming madly, Shrike plunged its claws and gouged out one of the eyes of the vermin that had attacked him.
But due to both having similar levels of strength and agility, they were locked in a standoff while also constantly running away from the forest fire.
"Wait, the fire."
Ren quickly opened his panel and glanced at his first skill.
---
" OBLIVION SERIES "
Type: Inherent Skill
Progression: Chapter 1
Ash Manipulation: Grants dominion over residual remains of destruction and allows manipulation of ash, smoke, and lingering cinders born from combustion.
---
Ren still remembered how the vermin was charred to ashes instantly after getting in contact with the fire.
"I hope this works." Muttering to himself, Ren mentally willed the skill to activate.
For a second, nothing happened. But soon enough, Ren felt a mental connection with the residual ashes and cinders from the fire beside him.
He became ecstatic and instantly tried to command them, but a sharp pain hit his head.
"Shit."
Controlling them wasn't easy, though it worked nonetheless.
At his command, a burning cinder abruptly changed its direction and struck a random vermin at the edge of the horde.
"Shireee—"
It's scream was cut short as fire crawled across its skin. The fur blackened in an instant. Its skin softened, melted, and crumpled into a heap of smoke and ashes.
A lot of vermins instantly started to burn down the moment the leaves fell on them.
This stopped Shrike from taking down more of the Vermins.
Meanwhile, Ren almost stumbled upon a vine once again but balanced himself quickly.
The mental focus required to use this skill was a lot, which caused Ren to be unable to focus on the path ahead of him but clenching his jaw, he still ran.
He didn't stop. He couldn't.
Fleshcleaver was running just behind him, preventing any vermins from getting close.
Any Vermin that reached near him was sliced apart by its blades.
Seeing the scene, Ren sighed in relief and was grateful for having Fleshcleaver with him.
Despite Fleshcleaver's disadvantage in speed when compared to Shrike, it was still able to keep up with Ren due to his exhaustion.
Ren and the vermins stumbled from time to time but Fleshcleaver was completely fine despite running on top of the vines. Its legs were wide enough not to get stuck between them.
And this came as a boon for Ren.
Which, obviously, didn't last long.
Two vermins who were in the center of the now decreasing horde pounced on Fleshcleaver at the same time.
Just then, Ren felt his mental connection with Shrike break apart.
'No.' Ren snapped his head behind but couldn't locate Shrike due to the multitude of vermins.
And looking at Fleshcleaver which was completely at a disadvantage against its two new opponents, Ren could only give one single command.
'Stop them.'
He didn't ask Fleshcleaver to run, but to stay behind.
For a moment, a slight hesitation with a look of despair flashed through its eyes but was hidden in the next moment.
Fleshcleaver grabbed the legs of both of the attackers and threw them directly at the horde, (prompting) many to fall. And then, it directly jumped inside it.
'At least I freed it from the mutation.' That was the sole thing keeping Ren from feeling guilty about sacrificing both of his minions.
But were they still truly infected after becoming a minion?
---
As his ash manipulation worked, the weaker vermins started to burn while the stronger ones left the center and jumped ahead.
Despite Fleshcleaver's hulking figure and powerful blades, it wasn't able to take on every single one of them by itself.
Ren crossed the last bit of trees and could finally see the bridge ahead clearly.
'Finally.'
He gritted his teeth and started running towards it.
The fire had swept away almost all the trees but the vines on the ground were somehow completely fine.
But Ren didn't pay any attention to it or rather he couldn't as he was on the verge of mental and physical exhaustion.
The only reason he was still able to run was the increase in his levels he received from the kills done by Fleshcleaver and Shrike.
Now, he couldn't afford to lose a single second as the fastest of the vermins were just right behind him.
And that's when Ren's foot stepped on the bridge.