Nero, who was especially used to paying attention to his environment, was feeling uncomfortable despite the fact that he was still under the influence of the injection that should have prevented him from feeling negative or uncomfortable. It was a testament to the threat they were feeling from the fog.
It was the feeling of being in the sights of a powerful predator, getting ready to pounce at a moment's notice. Yet instead of a single predator, they were surrounded from all sides and angles from countless predators.
"How much control have you gained over your ability?" Nero asked as he stretched his limbs, getting ready for their prompt exit.
"Not nearly as much as I'd like," Gabriel said as he summoned red sand in his hand. Nero could vaguely tell that the sand was supposed to be in the shape of a sword, but wasn't coming together quite right.
"My innate ability gained a new trait without losing out any of the old ones. It's basically a lot more versatile and easier to use than before, but it's almost like I have to learn how to use it from the beginning. Past experience helps, but only so much."
"Mine just grew stronger," Nero said as he looked at the frost on the walls. "As a result, it actually lost a few traits, but the overall effect should still be stronger. We'll just have to find out by how much the old fashioned way."
Once Nero had limbered up, and Gabriel was also ready, they quickly left the room, ensuring they closed it properly and left no hints of its existence. They had ended up spending an additional hour in the fog, so chances were high that Arter and Maximilian had already made it out - if they had not been intercepted by enemies first.
They quickly made their way to the entrance of the Vault, all without facing any obstacles, which was a good sign. There also weren't any dark berserkers smashing themselves on the barrier at the entrance which was for the best.
Even so, as they exited, they had their weapons drawn and were completely ready to face any sudden attacks. Fortunately, none came.
"Follow me," Nero said as he began navigating the way through the fog. He had made sure to memorise the path on the way over, so he was certain that he would be able to backtrack their way through the research facility - until they reached the stairwell. Or, to be more specific, the entrance to the stairwell.
There was a massive, metal sheet that had been ripped out of somewhere that had been placed where the entrance was, blocking it. On the metal sheet Nero could spot signs of weapons trying to cut through, and suddenly imagined Arter and Maximilian trying to make their way out.
Yet they had clearly failed, since there was no opening to the other side, and they were absent as well.
"What the hell is going on?" Gabriel said as he touched the metal sheet to see if it was real. He even brushed it with his red sand to see if his sand could eat through the metal, only to be faced with failure.
"Someone clearly doesn't want us to exit," Nero said with a frown. It was genuinely difficult to think clearly when his senses were messing with him. He felt danger all around him, which he could understand represented the fog. But that meant if he faced some other kind of danger, it would be masked by the threat of the fog.
"Do you know another way out?" Gabriel asked, although he was certain he knew the answer.
"No idea. With the fog blocking the way, it'll be even harder to find another exit. I suggest we try to pick up where the others left off and try to cut a hole through the metal sheet. If we use the augmented weapons, we might be able to cut through slowly. We just need to keep an eye out for… for whatever drew the others away."
It was a bad plan, but so was blindly searching through the fog for an exit. A part of Nero felt like he was letting the pressure get to him, but in truth, sometimes the stupid plan really was the best. Unless they tried and found out whether they could cut through the sheet, they'd never know.
Unfortunately, their trial ended up with worse results than expected. It seemed like they couldn't even make the scratches that Arter made. It was likely a benefit of his ability that allowed him to scratch the wall to begin with. In the end, they were forced to explore the facility, which brought them to a new problem.
Should they follow the same path Arter and Maximilian took? It was easy to tell which way they went because of the occasional corpse leading the way. For a brief moment, Nero considered going the opposite way. It would be perfect if those two could serve as bait.
Yet Nero quickly decided against that. Whoever placed the metal sheet in front of the door was clearly targeting them, and considering that they could not move the heavy sheet, nor cut through it, facing them alone would be an incredibly difficult task, if not an impossible one.
Relying on strength through numbers would be the best idea.
They followed the corpses, moving quickly yet carefully, through the facility. Whether it was luck or something else, they did not run into any living berserkers on the way, but the number of dead ones began to concern them until they suddenly reached an intersection, and couldn't find a single corpse in any direction.
"What are the chances that they finally managed to kill all the berserkers in the entire facility?" Gabriel asked with a troubled look.
"I wouldn't bet on it," Nero said, and with a defeated sigh expanded the range of Fair Weather till it covered the width of the corridor. They started looking for clues, travelling through each of the three new paths until they found something they weren't expecting to see.
Nero found a black briefcase on the ground, opened and empty. Not only had Arter and Maximilian lost the case, but someone had looted their contents, or already used them somehow. Yet the only person Nero could think of was Vanessa, posing as Jessie. Yet who helped her take the injections if she really was the one who took the box?
Either way, it seemed like they were on the correct path so they continued forward only to discover blood smeared on the ground. It looked like someone had been dragging a bleeding body.
"Only good things happen when you follow blood stains," Gabriel said out loud, though Nero could not tell if he was being sarcastic, or hoping for a positive manifestation.
They naturally followed the blood to an open door, though the entrance had been barricaded using various pieces of furniture.
"Arter! Maximilian!" Nero whispered through the door, channelling Fair Weather through the door so that the fog would disperse, allowing his voice to carry. "Are you guys in there?"
"Nero?" a familiar voice suddenly exclaimed from the other side. It was Maximilian.
"Shit! You guys need to hide quickly! Return to the Vault if you can! That thing isn't something Neophytes can fight! Arter's entered a coma due to aether exhaustion, and I'm practically out as well!"
Maximilian's voice was filled with genuine panic and fear, yet before they could ask anymore questions, Nero felt a tremor travel through the floor. His dagger already drawn, he turned around from the direction of the tremor, yet saw nothing. But a moment later, he felt another tremor, and another, as if something heavy was walking towards them.
Finally, through the fog itself, before he could see anything, Nero heard a faint 'thud'. He saw the outline of an enormous, misshapen creature a moment before it passed through the fog, into the clearing of Fair Weather.
It had the body of a large berserker, its silver skin stretched to the limit with packed muscle. Yet there were a couple of key differences. Instead of a right arm, the thing had dozens of tentacles emerging from his left shoulder, twisting and turning together into the shape of a right arm that was somehow bigger than its body itself.
Even more surprising, for some odd reason, was that in its left hand, it held a spear that Nero was all too familiar with.
"My spear," he couldn't help but whisper as he laid eyes on it.
Upon hearing Nero's words the creature stopped walking, and instead looked at him through the soulless eyes of the berserkers.
"My spear," the creature spoke, its voice like nails scratching on a chalkboard. There was a certain amount of glee in its voice as it spoke, and a level of intellect that made Nero extremely wary. This was a completely different level of enemy from the berserkers they faced before.
"My Vault."