It had only been a few seconds, but Nero went over all the information he gathered about the vine-controlled students in his mind as the second one approached him. They were slow, which is why their fastest attack was to lunge forward at their target and use their body weight to press them down. The vines wrapped around them could also thrust forward to attack, which was faster but had limited range as a result of being wrapped around their bodies.
Blunt force attacks did minimal damage, and stabbing had not brought about any significant results either. There was, however, a seconds delay after the vine pierced forward and before it could pull back. Cryoflame was extremely effective against them, but Nero would be drained of all his aether if he had to rely on his flame to kill the vines.