286 Cost of a mistake
Nero paused for a moment. The researcher he was carrying was awake, but wouldn't be able to move effectively on his own. If Nero set him down, he could grab Liam, but his mission was to prioritise the researchers.
He did not want to abandon his teammate, but he couldn't compromise the mission either. It was a tough situation, and ultimately, he made an even tougher decision. He lowered the researcher he was carrying and handed him over to Vanessa.
"Bael, you grab Liam and carry him with you. Everyone else, move as quickly as you can, and simply focus on moving forward and defending yourself. Leave the rest to me."
Nero lit his body aflame, the blue fire hugging him closely as if it was some kind of ethereal armour. Truthfully speaking, Nero was not in the best condition himself, either. Though he had avoided getting struck by the rock shrapnel, and though Daisy had healed him earlier on, parts of his armour were still attached to his skin, as if it had been welded together.
It was not just that he was struck by waves of pain every single time he moved, all across his body, since the armour had melted all over, and not in just a few places. No, it was also the fact that as a result of his skin being stuck to the armour, his movement was severely restricted.
But Nero did not complain, and instead savoured the pain. He reminded himself that this was the consequence of ignoring his fathers advice. Edward had told him not to become arrogant, but after his body underwent an upgrade once more, he truly felt invincible, and his arrogance returned.
It was a stupid, silly mistake that could have been avoided if he weren't so full of himself. To ensure that he never made such a mistake ever again, he forced himself to pay attention to the pain. He forced himself to feel the consequence of a poor decision.
The path he had set himself on was not something that allowed weakness, and it did not allow mistakes. The fact that he was even alive was already good enough.
But to stay alive, he would now have to do something drastic. Since the armour was stuck to his skin, and restricting his movement, there was one simple solution. He had to rip his skin off wherever it was stuck to his armour.
It was going to be an unpleasant experience, to say the least, but Nero did not allow himself to dwell on such thoughts. Instead, he heightened his focus, and prepared himself to give his best performance yet.
Everyone's lives depended on him, to a degree, and he would not fail now.
"Is everyone ready?" Nero asked, his voice becoming emotionless as he glanced at them all. Most of them looked extremely miserable, and Dave especially looked very jittery, but besides that, all was good.
"Good. Then follow me. Vanessa, you and the other researchers stay right behind me."
While their journey to the red rocks had been a careful, measured journey, their return would be direct and domineering.
With his grip on his spear tightening, Nero burst forward, heading back towards the tavern in a straight line. The flames on his body were raging, spreading the aura of leaking aether far and wide. Ordinarily, this would attract a lot of attention, and indeed that is exactly what happened now as well.
But regardless of how dangerous Perilith was, it had developed an equilibrium. Whether it was beasts or cursed beings, they all understood the dangers and benefits of being rampant, and established territories.
While venturing into their territories would attract trouble, if Nero proved himself strong enough, he could develop a deterrent effect, and cause all living and nonliving things to at least hesitate before attacking him. Considering the fact that they would be running through, hesitation was already enough to provide them with enough time to pass on from their territories.
That was Nero's plan, based on the fact that he had noticed that even cursed beings behaved in a strategic and calculated manner within Perilith.
Whether his plan would truly succeed was yet to be seen.
The ground quaked as he dashed forward, each of his steps creating a resounding boom as if announcing his passage.
A snake shot out of the grass, aiming towards Vanessa and the others, right behind Nero. Compared to his domineering presence, the others made for easy, almost welcome targets. Yet Nero, with his senses enhanced due to his recent upgrade, and then augmented by Keen insight, detected the snake even before it left the cover of grass.
A flaming Snowflake shot through the air, cutting the snake's face in half, leaving its body covered in blue flames, frost quickly covering its body.
But following the first attack came an entire wave, as if all animals in the vicinity were competing to see who could get the prize first.
Cats, badgers, snakes, and animals of all kinds attacked, but not a single one managed to evade Nero's Snowflake. Even if the animal did not die from the initial Snowflake, at least their own attack would fail as it was not easy to fight with a mutilated, burning body.
The others also weren't vegetarians, and though none of them had the same reaction time as Nero, they all used various cards to attack and protect themselves.
But so far, these had only been random, disorganised attacks. In front of him, Nero finally saw one of the obstacles that they had wanted to avoid.
A pack of dogs stuck their head out of the grass, and growled at him threateningly. But Nero could not change directions now. Whether he went straight or retreated, a fight with the dogs was inevitable, so he only strengthened his flames and shot forward even faster. Responding to Nero's aggression, four dogs ran forward, clearly intending on slowing him down.
But Nero's intentions were not to fight. No, his intention was to escape as fast as possible, so for the second time that day, he used his spear for a purpose it was never intended for. Like a bat, he swung his spear and smashed it into the side of a dog that had leaped towards him.
Through the spear he felt a couple of the dog's bones snap, but more importantly, with Nero's immense strength the dog was sent flying into the distance far away. It would take at least twenty seconds or so before it could come back, if it was in a condition to move. By then, they would have already moved on.
Yet he could smash one dog away, but not all of them. Transitioning from one stance into another, he seamlessly used the body of the spear to block another dog's lunge, and then kicked it on the neck.
Unfortunately, that was not enough to break its neck, but it was injured. Alongside the flames from the spear which had covered its mouth, the dog ran away whimpering as it tried to douse the fire.
The other dogs attacked together, but it was not so easy to overwhelm Nero with numbers. The length of the spear gave him an advantage, allowing him to easily attack multiple enemies on both sides before they could close in.
All he needed to do was make contact a single time and his flames would spread from his body or spear on to the enemy, causing them extreme pain and damage. The dogs, overwhelmed by the sense of impending death all began to run, but flying blades flew through the sky and cut into their necks, killing them.
The pack leader, clearly feeling provoked, barked angrily as he ran forward with a dozen other dogs, but Nero had no time to waste on them.
He threw Snowflakes liberally, aiming to main rather than kill which was much easier. When the dogs who managed to avoid the Snowflakes closed in, they were met with Nero's flaming wrath. He was like a whirlwind, mowing down anything in his path.
Although he preferred to be more flexible, the benefits of an unbending spear could not be denied. He used the blade more than the body of the spar to attack, leaving a series of deep cuts and gashes in the dog's body, causing them all to retreat.
But the alpha, bigger and stronger than his pack, was not so easily cowed. He was angry and aggressive, yet Nero didn't have time for his nonsense.
Nero grabbed his spear with both hands, clenched his teeth tightly, and pushed himself forward with his full strength. His movement, which had so far been restricted, suddenly freed up, but not without cost.
When the armour pulled him back, preventing him from moving freely, he just powered through, causing patches of skin all across his body to rip off.
The pain was unbearable, and even broke through to his cold, emotionless state of mind. Pain turned to anger, and though Nero would not allow anger to guide his actions, he would let it strengthen him.
With a loud roar Nero charged at the alpha, who was using some kind of ability to grow his body even stronger. But in the end, the dog was too slow, and Nero too furious.
The spear skewered through the dog, killing it instantly, but leaving Nero with an issue which was that he now had a considerable burden weighing down his spear.
So, without hesitation, Nero used Radix Augmentation on the dog, causing its body to turn to ash as he felt a revitalising energy enter his body, and soothe his simmering aether.
He felt considerable progress being made towards reaching the Initiate level, but he couldn't focus on that right now.
He charged into the tall grass, cutting and freezing it as he passed, leaving a narrow trail for his teammates to follow. The fight was far from over.
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