Nero used FAK to stop any of Jackals bleeding, but that was far from healing him. Ideally, he should not be doing anything at all, but the situation didn't allow for that. The other soldiers were hurt as well, and though Nero helped remove the Mutt corpse from atop them, even in their injured state they were wary of him. After all, they had no idea why he killed Herbert.
But as long as they stayed in a corner and didn't bother him, Nero didn't mind leaving them be. He rushed back to the door.
The berserker's kick had cleared some of the corpses in the way, but it had also scared away the living Mutts from this area so they got a brief respite. But a single glance in the now bloody room revealed that their despite would only remain brief.
There were still countless Mutts flying around, though they were less focused on fighting now, and more focused on avoiding the berserker.
Its hulking frame made it so that it could not easily fit through the doors, which was a blessing in disguise as Nero could see that a group of soldiers were holding it off at another door.
Killing the berserker with his flames was not feasible, but if Nero killed all the Mutts at least then they would only have one target to focus on.
"Move out of the way," Jackal said weakly, and Nero didn't need to be told twice.
Jackal hurled a tiny fireball into the hall, its size beginning to grow the moment it left his hand. Yet despite its deceptive size, the fireball contained a formidable amount of fire power.
Before it could land on the blood covered ground, a Mutt accidentally flew into it, setting off a devastating explosion.
The shockwave hit Nero hard, even though he was hiding behind a wall, and all he saw was a stream of deep orange flames flash in the room before fading away. The problem with explosions was that they produced a powerful shockwave, but didn't necessarily light everything on fire.
But Nero was forced to amend his views on them when he peeked into the hall. The berserker, as was predictable, was completely fine. But dozens of Mutts had died, and even more of them were on fire.
Nero's eyes gleamed and he started to use his Flare card, shooting out flames all across the room, spreading the existing flames even more. He suspected that the facility might also put out the flames automatically if they got too big, but until then he wanted to spread them as much as he could.
Hopefully the heat and smoke would harm the Mutts, but if not, it was just creating fuel for when he used his own flames.
But the Mutts had other plans. Besides the ones that were already burning, they began flapping their wings, blowing the smoke of the flames back into them, quickly extinguishing them.
"Stay here for now," Nero said to Gabriel, and then sprang into the hall, his own blue flames rolling off his body. They spread quickly, eating up any remaining flames and drinking in the heat that had only just begun to accumulate in the room.
The Mutts screamed and dove towards him since he was the only moving target in the room, but that only brought them closer to the blaze.
Nero hurled Snowflakes at the farthest ones and stabbed any that came close, finishing them off quickly. In only a few minutes the room was already chilly enough to see fog when one breathed, but that created another problem. The blood on the floor - at least the blood that hadn't evaporated from the regular flames earlier, froze, creating icy surfaces.
The berserker, who couldn't have been bothered to see what was happening behind him, slipped.The fall gave the soldiers an opportunity to target him, but it also brought Nero to its attention.
The creature grinned, its face contorting in a hair-raisingly gruesome way. Then it stood up, its skin sizzling against the blue flame, and lumbered towards Nero. It slapped down on the ground, intending on squishing Nero, successfully catching a few Mutts in the way, but not Nero himself.
He moved away just in time, but even he was not confident in continuing this tactic for long. This berserker was genuinely too strong and too fast for him to compete with. But just as Nero dodged, his eye caught the sight of Arter, standing at the edge of his flames, his sword in hand.
Nero controlled his flames, opening up a path for Arter as he dodged the berserker again. Most of the Mutts, by now, were writhing on the ground, slowly turning to ice, or flying close to the very roof, avoiding the reach of the flames. That gave the other soldiers the freedom to aim for the berserker, not that it was making much of a difference.
Nero leaped forward, using the frozen floor to carry him out of reach as he dodged the berserker again. But by now its grin was fading, and an irritated scowl was beginning to paint its face.
With an angry cry it charged forward, completely unbothered by the flames, all its focus on Nero. But, once again, it slipped on the blood of the Mutts it had squished and fell backwards with a loud thumb!
Nero quickly extinguished the flames around it so the other soldiers could also join. Arter was already there, and he had charged up his blade quite a bit. Yet instead of trying to cut its excessively thick neck, he stabbed into its eye, hoping to cut its brain.
He was successful in the sense that he managed to stab the sword all the way in. He failed in the sense that his attack did not kill the berserker, only enraged it.
But by now, more and more soldiers were coming back into the hall, picking off the remaining Mutt's and focusing on the berserker. Maximilian came rushing in, just as Arter dodged a near fatal attack, forced to leave his sword still embedded in the creature's eye.
His shining bright hair attracted the berserker's gaze, and just as the creature looked over, his hair began to shine even brighter.
Nero was forced to look away once more, but the sound of a loud thud attracted him. He looked over and saw the berserker collapsed on the ground, drooling. Its eyes were spinning in its head, and though it wasn't unconscious, it seemed incredibly disoriented.
Wasting no time, Nero rushed over and used Thunderous Clap on its neck. Maximilian did the same, as well as a few other soldiers. Arter used this time to pull out his sword and begin preparing another attack. MVLeMpYr-your-novel-source
Yet even this barrage of Thunderous Claps on its neck was not enough to kill the berserker.
It got up once more, kicking and slapping as soon as it recovered a bit. But by now, things were different.
Dozens of card spells and abilities rained down on it, pushing it back to the ground and hurting it repeatedly.
Every time it turned someone would use Thunderous Clap on its neck from its blindside, and though that did not have immediate effects, it began to slowly wear him down.
Ultimately, even this behemoth of a berserker died. The final blow was delivered by some soldier that Nero did not recognise, not that it mattered. What mattered was that it was over.
Nero looked out at the room, filled with countless corpses, human and otherwise. Just a few minutes ago, even Nero had become a little comfortable due to their numbers. They were a large fighting force, and they took down numerous foes before reaching here.
But just like they had numbers, so too did their enemies. Worse, they also had huge mutated freaks.
Nero looked down and patted himself down. It was true that adrenaline could make it so that he could miss obvious injuries, which is why this tiny process was always necessary. At least he didn't feel like anything was broken, and nothing was bleeding. But their almighty fighting force had been drastically reduced in numbers.
"How many got out?" Nero asked Maximilian, looking towards the door. He could see at least a dozen wounded.
"Too-" Maximilian paused, coughed to clear his throat because his voice was suddenly sore, then spoke again. "Too few. I think… I think at least half died. I… I lost sight of Shirly-"
"I'm fine," Shirly called out as she walked in from another door. She trembled, though whether it was because of the bloody sight or the cold couldn't be determined. "I- they saved me."
Behind her, Wendy and Harold came limping in. Harold was badly hurt and looked incredibly pale, and Wendy was only slightly better.
"Where's Remi?" Nero asked, but the duo only shook their heads, indicating that they didn't know. Nero looked around and didn't see any sign of her.