Isa held his breath as he watched the dark figure of Nero move closer to the stirring vine-creature. The low visibility aided Nero's approach, but they were uncertain if the creatures had any other means of sensing Nero.
They'd already sensed that they reacted to aether, so as long as Nero did not use his ability or any card, he should remain undetected.
But that was not the issue that Nero was facing. Instead, he was considering how to take down the creature as silently as possible. If it weren't covered in vines, he would aim to knock him unconscious. That loss of consciousness for the host seemed to affect the vines' ability to control them, something he had noticed with the very first vine creature he took down.
But since the hosts were now thoroughly covered in vines, such an approach was impossible. Cutting enough vines to make it bleed to death was an alternative option, but it wasn't exactly a stealthy option.
With no good options, and no good ideas either, Nero had to settle for the least bad idea.
The layout of all the apartments were identical, so Nero easily made his way till he reached the room where the creature was supposed to be. But in the pitch darkness, without any source of light at all, he could not even make out the figure of the creature.
Nero had to admit that, alongside the excitement he was feeling, there was also a tinge of nervousness in his heart. He was nervous not because he was afraid for his life in the upcoming scuffle, but rather because he was really hoping to succeed in his stealth attack.
With his eyes out of the equation, he used his ears. He listened for the soft sound of vines rubbing against each other as they moved, of the stirring of clothes, of any hint of life whatsoever.
When he focused, he finally heard something. It was barely audible, but it seemed as if something was rubbing against the wall of the far corner.
Nero, very careful, took a step forward. But as fate would have it, that was the end of his stealth mission. When he set his foot down, he stepped on shards of broken glass which cracked loudly.
The very instant the glass cracked, as if he had been ready for it the entire time, Nero dashed forward. He conjured the tiniest flame on his knife so that he could see, revealing a gruesome sight.
The vine-creature, or more importantly the student, seemed to be missing his lower body. The vast amounts of blood on the floor indicated that this was a recent development, though the vines had sealed his wound and prevented him from bleeding out.
But instead of leaving its body on the floor, the vine had started to creep up on the walls, and had pulled the student's body halfway up as well.
The student and the vine both seemed dazed, and reacted lethargically to Nero's arrival, which gave him just enough time to react. Mustering as much strength as he could, Nero swiped the vines holding the body up on the wall, cutting them off in one swift motion. Before the creature could shriek, he clamped its mouth shut with his other hand.
This was a very dangerous situation because it made it virtually impossible for himself to dodge, but considering that the majority of the vines were up on the wall, he took that risk.
The body dropped suddenly and it tried to shriek, but Nero's hand blocked it out.
He had no time for precision, and with another slash he cut off a number of vines that were wrapped around the students body before suddenly jumping back when he saw a vine move.
Freed, the vine-creature began to shriek but came to a stop when it fell face forward on the ground.
Nero wanted to ignore the sharp pain in his abdomen, but knew he couldn't. He brought the flame close to see if his body had been punctured, but fortunately there was not even a scratch. He had jumped back just as a vine was about to strike him.
Just as a precaution, he encompassed the hit area in his flame, to kill any spores or vines or however else the vines spread, and resumed his attack.
The creature was struggling to pick itself up, probably due to the severe weakness as a result of blood loss. The rest was surprisingly easy. With a largely immobile enemy that was also extremely lethargic, it took barely a dozen seconds before Nero cut enough vines for it to stop moving.
Just to be sure, he cut every vine on the kid's body, save the ones preventing him from bleeding out.
The whole fight barely took a minute, and he had done his best to reduce the amount of noise, but whether he attracted more vine-creatures was uncertain.
He retreated from the apartment, trying to remain as silent as possible. Even Muted self could not prevent him from making sound if he stepped on glass or kicked a metal can.
The moment he reached Isa, the boy shook his head, indicating that the others weren't attracted over.
Feeling a wave of relief, he continued with the plan. There were about five more vine creatures standing in the wallway, but they were dormant as well, meaning they were standing eerily still. Did manipulating the students bodies consume aether? It was likely. That would explain their stillness without any source of aether to attract their attention.
Next, he would see if he could pull them towards himself, one at a time, beginning with possibly the dumbest idea. But sometimes dumb worked.
He picked up a tiny piece of broken debris and after locating the dark outline of the closest vine-creature, threw it. Nero's aim was true, striking the creature on its head, rousing it from its dormancy, though without any urgency.
It looked around, as if searching for the stimulus it had felt when something once again struck its head. This time, it sensed the direction it came from and turned to look, but could not find anything. Even though it had controlled a host, it did not have full access to its sight.
The creature spread out its vines to cover the floor in front of it as it moved down the corridor, the extended vines guiding its steps.
One more unknown force struck its head, prompting it to speed up its search. An invisible hand guided its steps, and every time it slowed down or turned into a room, the tiny force would strike it again, guiding its movement in the right direction.
Eventually its extended vines hit a wall, and just as it thought it had reached a dead end, after exploring a bit more, its vines discovered a hole. The creature, still sluggish in its movements from its dormancy, stepped through the window.
That's when Nero struck. This far way, he was not worried about attracting any attention. He kicked it hard on its legs, causing it to stumble forward. Its vines extended forth, like waving hands, trying to catch anything and keep it from falling.
But the taut vines only proved a perfect target for Nero to cut. The creature began to shriek, but mustering up a bout of courage, even Isa came close and kicked its head, though he immediately retreated after, like a frightened cat.
The struggle was brief and intense, but it ended with Nero's victory, and another rescued student.
"Pull his body aside," he said to Isa, "while I go attract more. Don't let the adrenaline affect you. Always keep your awareness of your surroundings, and make sure none of the creatures come from up the stairs or below us."
After giving his reminder, Nero once climbed into the hallway to replicate the feat. Taking down this last vine-creature didn't even require any aether. If things continued according to plan, then he would clear out this floor, excluding the creeper, with plenty of energy left.
At first, things seemed to be going as he expected. He successfully managed to save two more students using the same method. But when he went back into the alleyway to attract the fourth, right after he threw a pebble to wake it up, he heard something behind him.
Isa had climbed into the hallway, and he looked incredibly panicked!
Nero snuck into an apartment, avoiding the gaze of the vine-creature. He knew that Isa would be able to find him easily, and true to his expectations the pale kids came in shortly after him, his body once again trembling.
"What's wrong?" Nero asked as he grabbed the kid, who once again seemed to be on the verge of shutting down due to an overload.
"S-s-s-s-some- something b-bi-big is co-coming down," he said with clattering teeth. "An-and it's an-angry! I checked and- and all of- of them a-are com-coming our way! It's- it's like they've- they've sensed us!"
Nero frowned. Time for a change of plans.