The Eldrim Cards Legacy

Chapter 286 Cost of a mistake

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.

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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