The first thing Nero did was question everyone and get a better understanding of what they specialised in. Once he found out more, their performance suddenly made sense. Glade, who he had been treating as an animal expert, actually came from a family of cattle farmers, which is why his familiarity with animals made some sense.
He was good in self-defence but, as such, he had not specialised in anything.
Adam, who had an incredible healing innate ability that was a mutation of the usual innate ability passed along his family line, described himself as the ultimate attacker. His healing could ensure that he could take more hits, while he wanted to use his hammer to deliver devastating blows. In his defence, he really did have some decent strength.
Unfortunately for him, that's now how Nero intended to use him.
Paul was a scout, like Henry and one other recruit. That left Nero and Wendy as close range combatants and Charles as a mid-ranged attacker. Of the remaining twelve, only three others had their primary focus as a form of combat, but even that was focused towards curses rather than animals or people.
Four had decent skill in aetheric studies, which meant that they could study natural aether lines, patterns, technology - both modern and ancient - as well as anything else that depended on aether. They made good researchers and prospectors, but were not ideal soldiers.
Three more were actually artisans. Nero would have seriously questioned their place on a fireteam if it weren't for the fact that their mission was to safely procure some rare and delicate ingredients.
The final two were synergists, which meant that like Taylor, they could augment their teammates in some way, either by boosting their traits in some manner or improving their equipment.
All in all, they formed a terrible combination to be out in the forest. At that point, Nero stopped trying to account for whatever considerations the army had when they made these teams, because he just could not understand it. The worst part was that they did not even understand the extent of how poorly they had performed in the one encounter they had.
But that no longer mattered. They did not need to understand. They only needed to follow orders.
Nero remade the arrangement for the whole group, treating it as one big team instead of several smaller ones. Only when they would be completing their actual missions would they return to their basic, five-man team.
With the synergists, including Taylor, and Adam in the middle, surrounded by the artisans and aetheric experts, with the rest taking positions around the group, they made their way towards the water stream.
The three scouts were constantly circling the group from a distance, not only looking for a path to follow, but for any animals that might attack. After the incident with the snakes, everyone was more vigilant, which was fortunate because as soon as they reached the stream, something happened.
Nero felt something slam into his aetheric pressure, nearly tearing it apart trying to enter his body. But the sudden change did not stun him, and he responded by increasing his pressure as much as he could while simultaneously coating himself in his Cryoflame.
He was not the only one to suddenly activate his ability, so too did the three curse combatants. Two of them surrounded their body with an identical light blue barrier, likely the effect of a spell, while the third, the girl who accused Nero for causing the disaster earlier, surrounded her body with a bright, yellow light that made it nearly impossible to look at her.
Unfortunately, no one else reacted, or even sensed anything amiss.
"Quickly retreat! We're being cursed!" Nero said, but it was already too late. A couple of the recruits fell to their knees and became dazed, while the others once again fell into a panic.
"Stay in formation and retreat orderly!" Nero roared, this time absolutely demanding obedience. At the same time, he sent a wave of flames crashing over the other recruits.
Caught unprepared, many of them thought Nero was attacking them, but the flames did not stick long, disappearing once they fought off the cursed energy that attacked them.
Wendy grabbed one of the dazed recruits, prompting the others into action, allowing for a swift retreat after the initial hiccup.
Fortunately, they needed to only move a few steps away to move out of range of whatever had been cursing them!
"Do any of you know how to locate cursed items, or the origins of curses?" Nero asked once they were in the clear.
"I can," the girl surrounded by light said, as she looked at Nero with an odd expression. "Can't you do the same with your flames? You clearly dissipated the cursed energy off everyone else."
"I need to conserve aether," Nero said, not explaining that he didn't know a proper method to look for curses yet. "Can the two of you purify everyone in the group?"
"Yes, but only if the curse is weak."
"Do what you can. You," he said, turning to the girl. "Help me find the source of the curse."
The girl took a few steps forward and condensed the light surrounding her into her hand, before projecting it forward like a spotlight, and began scanning the ground. Everything seemed fine until she shined her light on a patch of the stream.
A strange, red fog was rising from the water, but it only became visible under her light.
"The source is under the water, right there. I can try sealing it, but it might take a while."
"Let me try something first," Nero said, as he lit the tip of his spear in blue flames and walked forward, resisting the curse using only his aetheric pressure. Now that he knew about it, it wasn't so hard to resist its effects.
As soon as he came close, Nero spotted the source. It was, surprisingly, a doll made from sticks that had been joined together somehow. That did not reek of sabotage at all.
Without displaying any outward reaction to spotting the object, he thrust his spear forward, stabbing the doll. There was a sudden, massive drain on his aether right as the doll shattered into countless pieces and began flowing away with the water.
"That… that worked!" the girl said, stunned. "You… you directly destroyed the cursed item!"
"It wasn't too strong. Check if there are any other curses nearby. We need the water."
The girl continued to scan the surroundings, but discovered nothing else.
Their group finally drank some water and washed their wounds clean before continuing their journey forward. Nero's display of destroying a cursed item subdued them even further, for reasons Wendy promptly informed him of.
Apparently, the standard operating procedure for dealing with cursed items was to seal them and leave destruction up to a proper team. If anyone tried to destroy a curse, they would usually bear the full brunt of the curse themselves. For Nero to so casually destroy a cursed item while remaining unaffected meant that he was much stronger than the rest of them.
Nero didn't feel like that was the case. More likely, his flames directly dissipated all the cursed energy in the item till there was nothing left to affect him - not that he would explain that to anyone.
Instead, he used his increased authority to stress to the group the importance of obeying orders instead of panicking as soon as they encountered any obstacle. He also reiterated how they should react in the face of a sudden encounter. His instructions were put to the test soon after, when they encountered a cursed bush!
Much like the vines had gained a level of instincts, which they then used to attack the entire city, the cursed bush also had instincts. It waited until the group was well within its range before it displayed any abnormality. Its already towering height suddenly doubled, and dozens of brambles and thorny stems shot out, surrounding them.
"Gather up and protect each other," Nero spoke loudly, yet with an air of calmness in his voice as he cut down anything that came within range of his spear. "Charles, blow up that bush."
Nero did not take a single step forward to attack, nor did he retreat a single step when the attack came. It was as if he had everything under control, and was using this situation to train the rest. Considering that if he had not stood in front and cut the attacking stems, many of them would have suffered countless tiny cuts, and possibly even a curse, many of them even began to believe it.
Nero saw a dark blur shoot by him and hit the bush, resulting in a flameless explosion that ripped apart half the bush. The bush writhed, as if feeling extreme pain, before it suddenly launched itself at the group once more.
"Once more," Nero said calmly as his flaming spear batted the bush back, still unmoving from his spot. Another blur shot past him, and this time the bush was completely blown to bits, unable to attack any of them.
"Don't relax yet. If there was one cursed bush, there could be more. We've only just begun to enter the depth of the forest. Stay vigilant."