'Why is Ren... going with them?' Evan couldn't believe the scene unfolding before his eyes. In the actual timeline, he was the one supposed to be in the group and it was him who would go for leveling up... but that's not all. Even the timing didn't fit.
It should've been two days from now on, not today. Evan remembered it clearly.
'I should've thought about the domino effect,' but he was too late to do anything about it.
Regret. That's what he felt.
In the past, neither Derek nor Luna was supposed to be on the team. The whole party composition had changed and Evan could only think of a single incident responsible for it. It was when Brett messed with Ren. But was the domino effect so strong that the situation spiraled this much out of control?
'But this was only a leveling experience, so I shouldn't be worried about missing this chance.' Sighing to himself, he watched as Ren's figure disappeared from the pathway as he turned to the left.
'So did I practice all this time for nothing?' Evan pondered, glancing at the skill hovering before his eyes.
[Stillpoint Spear Technique]
***
The cohort stepped out of the citadel. And Kael being himself, didn't spare a second and explained how they would fight as a group.
"We will work as a team, not like mercenaries who stay in groups but fight by themselves." No one had complaints and all of them agreed to the plan. Then, Kael laid out his ideas about the formation of their movement.
Owen would be in the front of the group with Kael a step behind him. Ren and Derek were placed in the center while Luna was at the back due to her support class.
Kael wasn't too worried about Luna's safety as he knew Derek would be enough to fend off one or two vermyrex, enough time for the rest of them to intervene and save them.
'Are you ready?' Ren asked mentally, and a rough and grunted voice came the second next, 'Yes.. p-prince.'
Ren had figured this out the night before, realising that not only could he share visions, but also converse with his minions.
'I knew it.' The conjecture that these beasts would be able to speak to them. But it was only partially true considering that it was talking because of being Ren's minion.
Ren still hadn't seen or heard about a single vermyrex or vermin capable of speech.
The cohort exited the Inner Keep without any incidents, the guards patrolling the perimeter and the narrow alleys were not stationed for no reason.
Some moved silently through the roofs of the houses, while others kept watch on the walls to prevent any mishaps from occurring.
Seeing this, Ren was completely sure about one thing, the man—or rather the city captain who ran this place, was a man who had experienced war.
As they moved further, Ren's mind shifted to the things he had seen from his visions. And when he shifted his visions with the vermyrex, once again, he found one of them. Those shrewd-looking individuals.
He had seen them more than once but was never able to locate their base, the reason being their highly cautious nature.
'What should I do?' Ren cursed the person who was entering a house in the outer section of the city and was rummaging through things, probably searching for food.
Now either Ren could send his minion after him and watch the person vanish once again from his eyesight or take the vermyrex to protect himself in this hunt.
With an irritated look, Ren commanded the vermyrex to dash towards him and leave the man be. He believed it would be a waste of time for now and he would have plenty of time to search for them after returning to the base.
The first encounter came without any surprise, Derek with his darkness ability located the vermyrex before those vermyrexs could find them.
"That's... useful," Ren muttered, watching as Derek closed his eyes, placed his hand on the ground, and immediately located the nearest vermyrex in a span of a few minutes.
They took turns in killing them, ensuring equal exp distribution across the group without discrimination. This surprised Luna, and the way she viewed Kael changed slightly.
'At least they have some decency.' But her prejudice born from experiencing the disparity in the citadel didn't allow her to believe them completely, and that too when she was one of the elites.
She couldn't even imagine how the other women survived.
Well, she actually knew. But as always, she was powerless to do anything.
In this manner, the group kept sweeping the weakest of the bunch that were located and filtered by Derek's ability, not realising that at this pace, it would probably take years, if not months, to clean out this city.
***
In a completely different place, the air reeked of rot and filth.
Inside a semi-spherical chamber with four entrances from the four cardinal directions, sat a wretched figure. The human hearts from earlier were gone, replaced by long claw marks on the ground.
Slowly, the humanoid figure's eyes opened. Its red eyes glow dimmed, and the same devilish smile returned to his face.
"Food," a weak, disgruntled voice escaped his lips. The creature lifted both his hands with deliberate slowness and clapped.
The sound echoed through the underground network, and a sudden silence enveloped the surroundings.
But it didn't last long.
Immediately, thousands of squeaks started to echo around him, hundreds of rats moved through the drains, sewages, and pipelines leading to different places in multiple directions as if reaching for something, or rather, multiple things.
"Defiant prey, the one I like the most." It muttered, saliva dripping from its mouth as it imagined the intoxicating taste of their hearts.
It was a predator. Meant to hunt only those whom he deemed worthy of consumption, but the situation had forced him to hunt any humans it could, whether weak or disabled.
Due to this, the moment it located the stronger prey emerging from its burrow, it commanded half of the rats under its control, all at once. But the rats weren't the ones that were going to fight the cohort and bring the food to this predator's plate. Those beings who were responsible for the hunt were something else... something inhuman.
Meanwhile, the cohort moved steadily around the perimeter of the Outer and Inner Keep, completely oblivious to the approaching danger.