Chapter 155: Free for all

As soon as that idea popped into Nero's mind, he had an ominous premonition. He did not know what the Eldrim's purpose was in making these berserkers, but it hardly mattered anymore.

What mattered was that, at a glance, it seemed like these research specimens had been alive, or in some kind of stasis state for almost 1200 years, at the very least. Being alive, or keeping someone alive for that long was already enough to drive everyone else insane. Every country would want to get their hands on that technology or technique.

But more than that, being able to mass produce such powerful monsters such as berserkers in a lab ultimately gave anyone the ability to create an army of monsters.

Nero could imagine a future where instead of being sent to the front lines of various cursed zones, criminals in Kolar were instead sent to labs to be turned into berserkers. Whether that was wise or not was another matter altogether. What mattered was that compared to ordinary Neophytes, berserkers were much stronger.

If they could be elevated to the Initiate realm, or perhaps even the Arcanist realm, then their destructive capabilities could only be imagined.

The worst part was that while Nero knew some people might not be open to the idea of testing and experimenting on humans, countries like Dolziya and Creta would not hesitate whatsoever.

"Whatever you do, do not approach the glass," Nero said in a very calm and tempered voice. "We don't know if any disturbances will wake them up, and we don't know how many of them there are in this room."

"They won't wake up so easily," said the blonde girl, her gaze fixed on the skinny specimen in the glass box. "I checked the previous boxes. They're tempered glass, and very strong ones at that. Even if they do wake up, breaking out of the glass won't be so simple."

Nero took a step back, and continued to explore the room. He got the feeling that there was more to this berserker research than there appeared, but unless he got access to their research logs it was impossible for him to know more.

He continued to come across glass boxes, and some of them had the skinny specimen, while others were empty. He must have crossed dozens of such boxes before the layout of the room suddenly changed. The railing that had been blocking access to the glass boxes suddenly turned at the ninety degree angle, and the room became wider.

Since there was poor visibility, Nero was not sure if he should continue to follow the railing, or head towards the centre of the room, though there would be nothing guiding him forward if he left the railing behind.

After a slight hesitation, he decided to head towards the middle of the room. Tall stands and various machines came into view, reminding him of the many machines he saw in the tower when he entered the city. He touched them, wondering exactly how everyone else was able to use them.

He felt a soft pull on his aether, and allowed it to flow, but as soon as it entered the machine he lost that sense of pull, and nothing happened.

"Remi, come here," he called out softly. Although he could not see her in the fog, his team was all closeby, so he knew she had to be somewhere close.

"Can you see what these machines do?" he asked her when she stepped forward.

"How do you want to do this gentlemen?" Nero asked with a smile. "We can do this fair and square, or we can have a free for all."

Arter frowned. It was not like he expected the others to just... let him take the artefacts, but ability was not an easy one to use if he was trying to avoid killing someone. At the very least, he'd end up seriously maiming them even with his lightest attack.

"How do you want to compete?" he asked. "Keep in mind, if we fight, not just anyone can survive my blade. The lightest cut can sever an arm."

"I remember," Nero said, recalling the headless berserkers. "But if you think only you're strong and everyone else is a pushover, then you're sadly mistaken. A fair fight would be between captains. Winner takes all. A free for all would be, well, a free for all. Once again, the winner takes all."

Silence followed Nero's suggestion. No one brought up any naive suggestion such as splitting the artefacts between two teams. Everyone here wanted the entire prize.

Nero looked towards Leonard who had sword and shield ready. A fight between captains suited him best.

"How do I know one of your teammates won't nab the artefacts while we're fighting?" Arter said, scrutinising the two. He had not forgotten how they had been cooperating before. Asking for a fight between just the leaders might be a way to outnumber him. But if that was the case, even a free for all would leave him outnumbered as well.

"It's a matter of trust. If there's no trust, well, I might as well ask you where your last teammate is - the blonde."

The question confused Arter. Obviously all his teammates were all around him - they just couldn't be seen due to the fog.

But when he looked around, waiting for her to step forward, he noticed that the others came close to him, but the girl was missing.

"What did you do?" he asked, turning back towards Nero. Even if one couldn't see the expression on his face, just the sound of his voice was enough to tell how angry he was.

"What do you mean what did I do? I did nothing. You're the one with the missing teammate."

Arter clearly did not believe Nero, assuming that he had kidnapped his teammate earlier on. Just like Nero said, their understanding was based on trust. Since Arters trust was broken, he no longer continued wasting time talking.

"Grab the artefacts," he barked to his teammates while he swung his sword towards Nero, holding nothing back.

"So a free for all it is," Nero said, blocking the sword with the length of his spear, completely unperturbed by Arter's anger.