Nero was struck with a wave of mild nausea. Although he had stamina to spare and was not at his physical limits, expending too much aether too quickly still affected him negatively. This was something he and every other Neophyte would have to live with until they became Initiates. It wasn't even that he was close to expending all his aether. He had been very careful not to do that.
But even so, using up a large amount of aether quickly still negatively impacted him.
But the nausea quickly passed, though he still had body aches across his body. It would take some time to recover from that, especially since he was still using his aether to keep the flames outside going. He was hoping that the berserkers would remain in his cryoflames long enough to be affected by it, especially since the machine was still out there fighting them.
"How are you holding up?" Gabriel asked, walking up to Nero. He checked for signs of bleeding of injury, but besides being a little more pale than usual, Nero seemed fine.
"I'm fine, but we have a problem. Unless we figure out a way to kill or constrain those berserkers, we're trapped down here."
"What are the chances that they go up instead of waiting around?" Leonard asked. "Then we'd be free, and without the fog blocking the way, the other soldiers can take them out."
"I'm not sure if they'll go up on their own. There's also another issue. I don't think the building's security is working on these floors. That means if they try to go to the second level, the buildings' defences might end up blocking them.
Of course, there's also the chance that the building could act out against them, but considering how the building ignored the previous curses, I see no reason why it would act against these ones."
"My ability seems to work against them, but I don't think it does much damage," said Harold.
"If my ability works against them, then it's super slow. I haven't seen it affect them yet."
"Their recovery is ridiculously strong," said one of the survivors from the third team, a tall teeanger with dark hair and a bruised face. "James… James had an ability that could hurt them, but those things recovered much too fast. They're also smart, although it doesn't seem like it at first. Once they realised James could hurt them, they all swarmed him… until they killed him.
We couldn't stop them."
His body trembled as he recalled how his teammate had died, though he tried to ignore it and stay strong.
Nero walked over to an empty sofa and sat down, pulling his backpack aside and rummaging through it.
"So basically, either we get someone to lead the berserker upstairs and hope either the building attacks them or that they can be led all the way to the top, or we need to come up with a way to penetrate their defences and kill them quickly," Nero summarised everything, his mind already working on ways he could achieve either of the two. The preferable option would be if he could do both.
He pulled out a ration pack and munched it down in a few quick bites. Although he was not hungry, he had just been through a lot of physical exertion so needed to replenish his body's energy. Drinking a potion would be quicker, but he didn't want to waste that opportunity on this yet in case he faced a much more dire situation later on.
"Did any of you manage to find any artefacts before encountering the berserkers?" Nero asked, looking at the three survivors.
"No, as soon as we reached the third floor we heard noises and came to investigate, that's when we met them."
The survivor paused, and suddenly his eyes expanded as he recalled something.
"There will be more teams following us soon. We entered the city before them, but there were definitely other teams waiting to get access to the city behind us who were aiming for this building. If we team up with them, then maybe… maybe we could…"
Nero shook his head. The berserkers were too resilient and strong. Throwing numbers at them would not work unless they were trying to exhaust their cursed energy, which did not exactly sound like the most feasible idea.
After all, even after trapping them in a flaming inferno for who knows how long, Nero had not been able to do that.
"Everyone, rest and recover to your peak state. Last time we were taken by surprise, but this time we'll know what we're heading into. Let's try to come up with strategies for how we can fight them. At the same time, someone stay close to the cracks at all times and let me know if you hear the sound of fighting. If the other teams come down, they might need our help."
These weren't the best and most clear instructions, but it was the best they could do at the moment. Nero had no intention of hiding here for long. Now that he had faced the berserkers in a fight, he could plan how to engage them and how they might defeat them. But no matter what strategy he came up with, it would depend on everyone being at full strength.
At the same time, Nero himself also needed some rest to recover from his aches. The better his condition, the better he would be able to perform.
Over the next two hours everyone rested, or talked amongst themselves. A few of them, such as Remi who was neither hurt nor exhausted, began exploring the basement mansion again, hoping for a secret exit of some kind.
After the first thirty minutes, Nero had also let go of his flames. He doubted that the berserkers would have stayed in his flames for that long, since they were apparently smart and had self protective instincts.
Various images flashed through Nero's mind as he recalled the entire fight with them. He recalled how easy or difficult it was for him to manipulate them, and how easily Harold could push them. He remembered Leonard cutting them, and he remembered how they reacted when Wendy successfully managed to shoot her needles into their mouths or eyes.
He remembered that they avoided Jackal's flame more than his own. He also recalled how easily they squished someone the moment they got the chance, and how they ripped off someone's head.
Slowly an idea started to form in his mind. He thought of the cards that he had brought with him, and he thought of all the abilities available to him, not only of his teammates but of Leonards as well.
The greatest problem, for Nero at least, were their numbers. If he faced them one at a time it would be easy to kill them, but with so many of them attacking altogether, it was difficult to implement any long or complicated plan.
If they had to kill them, they would have to do it quickly within the span of a few seconds, if even that. If he could not come up with a plan for that, leading them away was his best bet.
"Hey, you okay?" Gabriel said, waking Nero up from his meditation. The red head was holding out a glass of water he got from somewhere.
"The kitchen has running water," Gabriel explained. "We already checked it. It's clean."
"Thanks," said Nero as he took the drink. "How is everyone doing? If they're ready, we'll head out soon. I have a plan that might work but it'll require everyone's help."
"Scared to death, and the new team isn't helping at all. One of them, the tall one, is trying to hold up but he's clearly traumatised after watching his friend get squished to death. I don't think he can fight. The other two are even worse. I had to… help them go to sleep so that they could calm down."
Nero nodded.
"There's one more thing," Gabriel said, as he looked around, making sure no one could hear them. "Remi said she found a secret compartment. She hasn't opened it, but she says it's too small to be an escape hatch or another room. It's most likely a safe - one big enough to hold an object or two."
Nero nodded once more, this time much more slowly.
"I think I'm going to stretch my legs a bit. You should go gather everyone and make sure they're ready to head out. We can't stay here forever. We'll make our first attempt soon. We'll need Verdant-2's help as well, so make sure Leonard is here too. As for the third team… you can leave them be.
They might be more of a liability than an aid in their condition."
Gabriel nodded and headed off in a different direction, while Nero got up and once more explored the mansion, as if he was just doing it to warm up his legs and get ready for the fight ahead.
He kept going until he ran into Remi, who was standing nervously in a study. She really did not know how to play it cool at all.