The greatest mistake their group made was panicking. He couldn't blame the girl who got bit for screaming, but the scream seemed to infect all of the recruits and made them run like headless chickens.
Without investigating the situation they started running around, which resulted in a few more recruits getting bit.
Nero wasn't ashamed to admit that the sudden chaos affected him as well, but it was only for the briefest of moments. He quickly gathered himself, identified the situation for what it was. If they were near the snake's burrow, then getting them to retreat wasn't possible. They'd have to fight them all.
An initial analysis seemed to indicate that their ability was stealth based, but that did not mean that they didn't have other abilities as well. They also boasted mundane physical attributes but that might not be true for all of them.
He had asked Taylor to boost their defence to help them resist bites, and asked Charles to attack the ground because the impact of the shockwaves from his explosions seemed to free them of their stealth.
That was enough for now. The stage was set.
Nero extended his awareness to the battlefield, taking in everything, before deciding how to act. This was going to be the first time his teammates saw him fight, so he planned on creating a strong first impression.
Snakes were coldblooded, as far as he remembered, which is why they were even more vulnerable to his flames, as they would seek out external sources of heat for their bodies. That meant that when Nero created a barrier of flames around his group, the snakes weren't likely to try and pass it, unless they could get rid of the flames first.
He looked at Wendy, and the two formed a tacit understanding that only came from knowing each other for countless years. He nodded, and created an opening in his flames before dashing through, followed closely by Wendy.
Nero never imagined himself cutting grass with his spear, but that's exactly what it looked like he was doing as he ran, swiping his spear left and right in front of him. Countering the snake's stealth was the greatest obstacle, as was proved when two snakes were cut like ribbons by his spear's sharp edge.
Nero hadn't pulled out a card from his case because the one he wanted to use, Air Push, was inserted into a slot inside his armour. The slot was in his chest area, and kept the card connected to his skin, so he could channel aether into it whenever he wished.
A large gust of air hit the ground all around him, launching mulch, as well as countless snakes in the air. Wendy, who was keeping up with Nero, flashed forward cutting through the snakes right in the air with her short sword and blade.
The air was filled with screams and yelling as the other recruits were mindlessly launching their abilities or using their cards to cast various spells, the ground trembling under the barrage of their attacks. But the snakes themselves, somehow, bore the least of the attacks. Though, at least the chaos caused many of the snakes to fall out of their stealth, which was perfect for Nero.
"Protect your legs," Nero said to Wendy as he covered his own legs with flames, before throwing himself into the thick of things. A spear was not the best weapon to fight countless, small enemies such as hundreds of snakes, but Nero himself was the best weapon against everything.
His every step crushed a snake, leaving behind a small burning corpse. Every swing of his spear cut through the bodies of various snakes, or launched them in the air, only to be cut through by Wendy.
The two of them worked perfectly together, forming a lethal whirlwind of blades. She would avoid the small flames Nero left behind without any trouble, and he would frequently launch snakes into the air for her to cut.
While the rest were frenziedly hurling everything they could at the ground to keep the snakes away, those two silently cut right into the heart of the swarm, barely using up any energy at all.
More than once, snakes tried to bite them. The first time, Nero even let it strike, just to see the effectiveness of Taylors augmentation, if she ever got around to using it. The snake bit through his pants, but only managed to scratch his leg, instead of piercing it. Even then, the very second he got the information he needed, he blasted his leg with his flames.
The snake was thrown away, and spent the next few seconds writhing till its brain eventually froze.
Every attempt after that by snakes, to strike either Nero or Wendy, was met with failure. Nero's flames kept him protected, whereas Wendy had seriously undersold herself when she described herself as specialising in speed.
Her nimbleness surpassed even Nero, and she wove through the snakes without ever getting touched at all.
A few minutes was all it took. Hundreds of snakes were left butchered on the ground, and though there were many left, the majority of them were already dead.
That's when Nero and Wendy turned to help the others. The forest near the recruits was a well. A few trees had caught on fire, the normal kind, and the orange flames were quickly spreading onto the mulch on the ground. Potholes covered the ground where spells had struck. Branches had fallen to the ground, forming artificial barriers.
The earth itself had been rent asunder by what looked like a powerful ability.
Yet there were still dozens of snakes slithering around, managing to dodge attacks and strike at some of the increasingly lethargic recruits. Swelling and discoloration of their limbs showed that snake venom had started to affect them.
"I'll rescue, you kill," Nero said, then pushed forward, sprinkling his own flames in various places as he went.
One very important reason he had been sprinkling his flame all across the field was so that he could sense the arrival or presence of any curses, which would change the situation drastically should they strike.
Fortunately, none had arrived so far. More importantly, regular flames served as the best fuel for his own flames, once they managed to completely convert them, so the spreading flames would only serve to enhance their protection from curses while they handled the fallout of this attack.
Nero dodged another recruit's attack, which had not really aimed well, ignoring him for the moment, and grabbed a couple of recruits who had been bit, and left separated from their groups. He dragged them to the group, not caring about being polite, and created a flaming barrier around them to keep the snakes out.
"Treat them quickly if anyone has an antidote," Nero said loudly.
"I can heal them!" a recruit yelled and quickly retreated from the front, where he had been using a hammer to try and squish snakes.
Nero had not stayed long enough to listen to the response, or study the unusual healer. He began pulling the wounded back, dodging the recruits' attacks actually becoming his greatest obstacle. The way this had been handled was possibly the worst they could have done.
He looked at his own group, and saw that Charles was just standing there, beside Taylor, not doing anything. Henry, at least, was trying to fight, though it wasn't exactly easy to cut a snake when you had to aim at the ground, and the snakes were quick enough to slither out of the way.
A few minutes later, just as Nero pulled the last recruit back, making it to a total of eleven wounded, the snakes decided to retreat. They simultaneously slithered away, as if they had been summoned by something else.
But though they retreated, the recruits did not feel safe. They continued to attack the ground, as if searching for invisible enemies who could strike at any time. Admittedly, even Nero did not have a good way of ensuring there weren't any invisible snakes left waiting, so the clean up was necessary, but the way they were wasting aether was too careless.
But they were not his concern - at least for now. He would address his own team and call out their shortcomings, but if started doing that for strangers, it would only build animosity. As cruel as it sounded, the more they suffered, the greater he would seem if he helped them out, so for now he was content to let them blunder.
But he had to put a stop to their attacks, it was too loud and could attract unwanted attention. He used Air Push a few times to clear all the mulch from around them and ensure that there weren't any snakes left.
"Enough! Stop wasting aether. You won't have anything to defend yourself with if we face anything else!" he yelled. The recruits listened, but incredibly reluctantly.
"How are the wounded?"