"Agreed," said Nero, wiping the grin off his face and looking towards the others. "In fact, we’re going to be rushing back instead of taking our time like we did on our way here. The herb seems to attract curses from far and wide. That’s probably the primary reason the sugarcane field is so dangerous."
The relieved smiles on everyone’s faces were suddenly wiped off, and a look of uncertainty replaced it.
"Pot Prison should have isolated the aura of the herb," Vanessa said. "Just to be safe, hand me the herb and I’ll suppress it even more. Since you came back quicker than anticipated, we have plenty of time to exit. We should make use of it and leave strategically rather than rushing."
Nero was aware of Vanessa’s ability to hide in shadows, so it was completely believable that she could leverage that ability to hide items. Under normal circumstances he would have suggested such a thing himself, for it was a completely viable strategy. Yet in the case of that golden sugarcane, Nero doubted that she would be able to suppress its aura.
He shook his head, displaying his doubts, but did not contradict her. Nero could have explained to her why he didn’t think that would work, but undermining a superior in front of others was not going to help anyone. Besides, on the off chance her ability actually worked, their escape would be a lot easier.
Nero withdrew the glass orb containing a shimmering, golden bamboo shoot from his bag and presented it to her, displaying no qualms about listening to her orders. All eyes focused on the orb, mesmerised by the flickering golden dust that seemed to be rising out of the orb.
The dust was a mere illusion - Nero had already confirmed as much. However, the allure and attraction that he felt from those flakes of gold were very real. It was as if his body was yearning for it.
If Nero was affected by the gold dust, then so would the others. Realising as much, Vanessa immediately used either her ability or some card to obscure the glass orb, hiding it from view and eliminating traces of the golden dust.
"Let’s move," she said, equipping a stoic expression. "Nero, how are your aether reserves? Can you take the lead?"
"My aether reserves aren’t the best, but I can manage for now," he lied without the slightest hesitation. If he claimed that he had well over half his aether left, no one would believe him in the best case scenario or begin to question how he managed such a feat in the worst scenario.
Expecting as much, Vanessa simply nodded, indicating that they should begin their return. Considering they had already travelled the path and knew what to expect their return should have been easier. It was not.
Though, much to Vanessa’s credit, it wasn’t curses which made their return hazardous. Before their first venture into this alternate dimension, Nero had been briefed that the dimension frequently had various kinds of natural and aetheric storms. Fortunately he’d avoided getting into too much trouble with one so far.
But merely twenty minutes into their return, the group noticed that the sky was getting darker quicker than anticipated. At first they couldn’t tell why, for the sky was clear and blue. Then they noticed that even the light that fell on them began to take on a blue hue.
The next anomaly was noticed by everyone save Nero, for with the blue light came a bitter cold that pierced through their protective suits and began to cut into their skin.
"It’s a Frigid Storm," Vanessa said gravely when she finally put everything together. "There’s a poisonous blue gas that starts by covering up the sky as a precursor to the storm, and descends as the actual storm arrives.
"This is one of the more lethal storms, not only because the gas itself has freezing properties, causing temperature drops of down to -30 degrees celsius (-22 Fahrenheit), but also because of how corrosive the gas is. It can eat right through our protective suits, and the question of whether it kills faster by corroding the human body, by poisoning their entire system, or by freezing them to death is as of yet unknown."
"How long till the storm kicks in?" Nero asked, looking incredibly troubled.
Vanessa didn’t answer, for she simply didn’t know.
"We’re not the only ones who’ve noticed the coming storm," Ursula suddenly said, attracting everyone’s attention. "All the animals are retreating. They’re causing quite ruckus. If we can avoid them, we might be able to make it back even quicker."
Nero turned to look towards their path, and though he saw a few more animals than normal running around, it definitely didn’t qualify as a ’ruckus’. He knew Ursula’s eyes were augmented, but he didn’t know the exact augmentation she had.
"Can you lead the way?" he asked, turning back to her. "If your eye augmentation allows you to see more than us, then finding the optimal path should be up to you. We can’t afford to waste time getting into fights."
Ursula didn’t immediately answer, instead looking towards their path. Her eyes seemed to lose focus as she looked into the distance, searching for something completely unseen.
"It’s impossible to completely avoid them, but I can find a way to avoid most of them," she said finally, her voice audibly weaker as if she was drained. "But there’s a problem. We’ll have to cross a hive of cursed hornets."
"A storm of cold, poisonous gas freezing us to death is a problem," said Nero. "Something that I can kill is not a problem. Let’s go."
The group started running with Ursula in the lead, taking them through an awkward path that often took long detours. Yet since they faced fewer obstacles, they were actually quicker. Running also helped keep their bodies warm as a thin layer of frost began to cover the landscape. Nero could literally see the exhaled breath from his mask turning to crystals, shining under the pale blue light, and for the first time got a glimpse of what his opponents must feel like.
The anxiety caused from the ever dropping temperature was palpable, and not just because the effects of it could literally be seen before their very eyes. Initially the animals and cursed creatures had been running away, but as more time passed by their behavior became even more erratic, eventually turning into a stampede.
Fighting against a stampede was impossible, even with Nero’s additional strength, so they had to take even longer detours, venturing into the territories of animals of cursed beasts unafraid of the descending blue gas.
The most common of those turned out to be the cursed hornets Ursula warned about, as well as the large winged worms. The worms descended from the skies, as if they had been following the blue gas from its origin, and attacked anything and everything that was being affected by the frost.
Fortunately for the group, that included the other animals. Unfortunately, any time Nero used his blue flames to fight off anything, it would attract the winged worms. Ultimately, he had no choice but to rely solely on channeling aether through his glaive, using it as the only form of augmentation of his attack he could summon.
Even using burning Snowflakes attracted a swarm of winged worms. With each of those worms being anywhere between one to two meters in length (3 to 6 feet), and bodies that were tough to cut through, they were formidable enemies.
It was a shame, for the additional cold only made Nero’s flames even more dangerous against ordinary foes.
Despite their fast progress, the situation kept getting worse.
"I can see a storm on the horizon," Ursula said weakly, her voice almost as if she was crying. "It’s going to be here soon."
Nero resisted the urge to click his tongue as his thoughts quickly raced on possible solutions. Using Serene Winds might have been a good solution, except for the fact that it only surrounded the head with wind, not the entire body.
"Do you think we can continuously use Linen Wrap to avoid letting the gas directly contact our bodies?" Nero asked out loud.
"I suppose if we create enough layers of it," Vanessa said, sounding unsure.
"Then that’s what we’ll do," Nero said. "Begin wrapping yourselves in Linen Wrap, and use Seren Wind once the gas reaches us to keep our masks from breaking. We’ll just have to use our natural body heat to resist the cold until we reach the tavern."
He was grasping at straws, and everyone knew it. But there was no better plan available. Nero could make it to the tavern on his own in time if he abandoned everyone else - that was the benefit of being significantly faster than everyone. But he pushed those thoughts away, not even considering them.
Even ignoring the fact that he could not abandon Noman or Vanessa for the sake of his future, he absolutely would not abandon his teammates. Hopefully.