Earlier, when Nero had fought, even in their shrivelled state he could still identify that his assailants were human. Now, though, he could at most say they were humanoid in shape.
The skinny, frail humans who had attacked him had suddenly bulked up, gaining a tremendous amount of what Nero could only assume was muscle. They had also grown taller, the smallest of them being at least 2.2 metres (7 feet 2 inches).
Their hairless skin was a mixture of grey and silver, with a metallic sheen, and with bones sticking out of them despite the copious amounts of muscle that they had suddenly gained. But the most dire thing about them was that each of them seemed to have gained extra limbs and body parts from somewhere.
Hands grew out of their backs, fingers grew out of their knees, mouths appeared in the randomest places.
Their eyes had become completely white, lacking pupils at all. Their teeth had become like iron nails, their claws like daggers. As if all of that was not enough, the dense aether they were previously radiating had been completely replaced with cursed energy! The only thing Nero could describe them as was cursed berserkers.
But this cursed energy was unlike anything Nero had ever felt. They did not feel like they were cursed, rather it felt like they were… like they were using cursed energy instead.
Nero absorbed all of that information in a split second, and then rushed forward. In a different circumstance he might have tried to come up with a plan, but as it was those cursed berserkers were thoroughly overpowering the team fighting them, and it would be mere moments before they suffered a casualty if they received no help.
Wendy, who appeared behind Nero, pulled out her needles once more. During the last fight she had coated them in her most potent necrotic venom and shot them at the research subjects, easily killing them, so she tried the same again. Once she coated the needle, she pulled out a card that would shoot any object she held in her hand wherever she was aiming at breakneck speeds.
The needle shot past Nero and arrived at the first target. It hit the cursed berserker's skin, tinged, and then ricocheted off. Her eyes widened.
Nero noticed as well so he adjusted the aim of his spear ever so slightly as he lunged forward, aiming for one of the mouths that had appeared on the berserkers torso, his blue flame roaring at the tip.
The blade of the spear barely managed to push through the gap between the lips and cut into its body, though Nero could tell the cut was not deep. The thing had way too much muscle protecting it.
The berserker screamed - from its original mouth - yet before it could turn towards Nero a barrage of attacks landed on its body, pushing it back.
"Retreat towards us," Nero yelled, making sure the others heard him. But their arrival had still been too slow.
Nero watched as a berserker stomped on a fallen teenager, his face morphed with fear and panic. His entire body was turned to paste, his blood squirting everywhere. At the same time, another Berserker pulled the neck off another girl straight off her body, crushing her head in his arms.
"Save them!" Leonard roared as he arrived next to Nero and slammed his shield into another berserker, throwing its body away. His sword and shield were glowing, as if coated in some power.
Nero didn't have the time to dwell on it, because nearly two dozen berserkers simultaneously looked towards them. Nero could have sworn he saw a hint of recognition in those white eyes, followed by blind rage.
In that instant Nero knew he could hold back no more, and that even the slightest misstep could result in the death of his teammates or even himself.
"Gabriel, with me. Remi, run back! Everyone else, focus on rescue efforts!" he yelled as not a hint of fear shone in his eyes.
Faced with death Nero did not step back, he stepped forward. A cold, blue flame appeared in his mind once again, suppressing his emotions, but even his flames could not eat up all the excitement in his heart.
He had been avoiding it using his internal pressure, but in this moment he showed not a hint of hesitation as he swung his spear with all his might, knocking back a berserker's swinging arm.
It was no longer just his blade that was covered in blue flames, it was his entire spear and his entire body.
While his blade could not cut their skin, it could scratch them. While he could not match the strength of the berserkers, he could play with them as if they were puppets attached to strings.
With his spear he guided their attacks into striking their allies, and with his flames he began quenching the cursed energy in their bodies.
"Contain the research subjects," the machine spoke loudly towards Nero from somewhere in the back, but no one paid it any mind. Though he could not harm them, Nero could contain them easily.
Surrounded by berserkers Nero danced as if he were in a ballad, his every move perfectly dodging and blocking the behemoths. He twirled, swirled, swung and smashed his spear with such elegance that it seemed he was still practising in the gym. Yet the berserkers stumbling, tripping, slipping and crashing at the slightest touch all around was a stark reality, assuring him that he was not in the gym.
Then Gabriel appeared behind Nero, slipping through between two berserkers, and the tempo of Nero's movements changed. As if through tacit understanding, the two teenagers began attacking the berserkers, cutting through their armour even if they had to cut a thousand times.
Red sand covered the ground, and though it could no longer hold down the berserkers' feet, it slowly streaked up their legs, eating away at their defences. Blue flames licked their bodies every time Nero stabbed them, and though the flames did not much more than sizzle as it touched their cursed energy, slowly it began to drain them.
But out numbered as they were, even penultimate skill could not allow the two to defend in one place. They moved through the berserkers quickly but without any urgency, using the hulking bodies of their own kind to block attacks. More than once Nero used a berserker as a stepping stone as he leaped forward to avoid those behind him.
Surrounded by enemies who could squish him with a single hit, Nero and Gabriel continuously avoided all hits and kept them distracted. If either of them tripped or messed up, the other was there instantly to help.
But even with the two of them attracting the attention of the bulk of the berserkers, there were still many left. Wendy had managed to shoot her needles into the eyes or mouths of a few berserkers, but the effects of the venom seemed to have slowed down considerably.
The short archer, too, could barely help in this situation at all.
In this tough situation, it actually became Harold whose ability was the most effective! Even though to use his ability he needed to touch the berserkers himself, his hand to hand combat and reflexes were remarkable. More importantly, every time he punched a berserker, they were knocked back a few steps, unable to stay standing.
With Leonard on his side, providing his protection with his sword and shield, they managed to give enough time for the rest to rescue the few remaining members of the team that had been fighting.
"Retreat!" Leonard yelled as the final member was pulled back towards the cracks, slipping into the underground mansion. But he himself did not retreat. He was holding his ground, waiting for Nero and Gabriel to return.
But Nero had no intentions of retreating just yet. Now that he had no concern about his teammates getting caught in the crossfire, he let his flames spread.
"Gabe, take a step back, and tell Jackal to start the fireworks."
Gabriel stepped back, his fists clenching as he realised his sand had not managed to harm even one berserker significantly. But this was not the time to dwell on such things.
"Jackal, hit the fireworks," he yelled, stepping back. Retreating was easier said than done when countless massive enemies were all around them. Nero was not blinded by his excitement to the extent where he wanted to kill all of these enemies on his own.
He just wanted to create the appropriate circumstances that would allow him to retreat. Though, a part of his mind could not help but consider that if all his enemies were dead, he would not need to retreat. Whether or not he could manage that depended on if the building still put out Jackals flames.
Jackal himself had not spent this time doing nothing. He was preparing a contingency in case the building tried to put out his flames once more. It wouldn't be appropriate if his performance was consistently the worst. He was supposed to be the army asset amongst them.