"Hey! There are some footprints here!" Klein was first to find a trace. With his call, everyone gathered where he found the footprint.
"It doesn't look like it's from an Abomination, it looks like it's from a deer hoof or something. I didn't know there were wild animals here." (J)
"There aren't. These are from an Abomination. It seems to go deeper into the oasis region," Sean said.
"Do we follow it?" (S)
"We should. If an Abomination looks like a wild animal, that means it's not that strong. We might even be able to kill it!" (T)
"We go, then." (L)
With Latoya making the final decision, the group headed deeper inside the oasis, following the trails. Other than the hoof prints, there were occasional pits that were dug out, seemingly random. One common trait between them was that each one of them was close to a water source.
"Weird," muttered Sean. "Why would it dug out holes when it's near water?"
"Maybe it wanted to relieve itself?" (J)
"Abominations don't excrete, dumbass. You learned it last week." (K)
"I think we are missing something." (Sean)
"Should we go back and start from the beginning then?" (S)
While they were conversing about what to do, Tyson walked up to one of the pits. He gave the pond of water nearby a look before turning back to the pit. 'Maybe I can find out why it kept digging if I dig this more.' He took out his lance, and started digging using it. His actions drew the attention of the group, ending their conversation. Sean and Latoya joined him with their weapons to dig, while Samantha was crushing the rocks they came across. Digging like that for a few minutes, they only stopped when Jayden warned.
"Wait! You will reach the pond!"
"No way, the dirt here dry as hell. We shouldn't be near the pond yet." (S)
While Samantha dismissed it, Sean climbed up to take a look. What he saw confused him.
'We should've been right beneath the pond, why is the dirt still so dry?' Feeling something was amiss, he called out to everyone.
"Guys! Come up! Something is not right." As he said so he also jumdped down. "Can I borrow your shield?"
"S-sure?"
Samantha was confused as to why would Sean need her shield when he called everyone up. Her confusion was cleared soon enough as Sean went to the place that was under the pond, and started hitting the ceiling with his gauntlet, the shield above him protecting him from the rubble.
"You could've just went into the pond if you wanted to have bath, Sean. I promise I wouldn't look!" (J)
Ignoring Jayden, Sean kept hitting the ceiling. Eventually it fell apart, being able to withstand only so much. While Sean was expecting water to fall, what hit him was something else.
'Sand?' Sean was momentarily confused, and fallback afew steps. What fell on him was definitely sand.
"Shit! RUN!"
He got out of the pit and started running out of the oasis. Others ran after him. Sean eventually stopped, giving others a chance to catch up to him.
"What was that for?" (K) But Sean wasn't listening. He crouched by one of the nearby pits, and looked at the puddle after that.
"Sean, what did you find?" (L)
Sean finally snapped back to reality, and pointed towards the pit he just looked at.
"Look at the pits, isn't something off about them?" Then he walked at another, then another. "Every single one of them looks identical to the water source they are near of. It's not just that, but this entire oasis is strange. How can it be so big but not have a single Abomination?" And turned back to his teammates. "We are under a mind hex. Probably from the time we first discovered the hoof print."
"Damn. We are deadmeat." (J)
"It's at least a Rank 3 Abomination if it can make illusions and mind hex," said Tyson, his expression was bleak. "Any ideas to how to break the mind hex?"
"Would dismemberment work?" (K)
"We are not cutting up anyone!" (S)
"Then what's your great idea, hm?" (K)
"Oh Harsen! I don't wanna die!" (J)
"Everyone shut up!" It was the first time they heard Latoya raise her voice, the hectic team turned dead silent in a moment. "There should be a reason why the Abomination hasn't eaten us yet. If it was really a Rank 3 Abomination with a mind hex evolution, we would've died before we could even realise we were under a mind hex.
"She's right." Sean backer her. "If the Abomination was that strong, it would place us under a stronger mind hex, and there would be no need to support it with illusions. Its not coming after us also suggests that it is not sure that it can take us without luring us into a trap."
"So that was it! It made pits in patches of dirt, then with illusion powers made those pits into look like ponds! But it couldn't hide the illusion medium beacuse it was a weak Abomination, or it's evolution is split between mind hex and illusion, making them weaker than they would be if they were standalone evolutions." (T)
The group found their confidence as they saw through the Abomination's strength, making them set on killing it. They started on planning before the sun set.
"If we are going to kill it, there are two things we should be careful of," started Tyson. "A different mind hex and other Abominations."
"Why only those? Are you not worried about the Abomination's trap?" (J)
"Since we are aware it made a trap, it's basically useless. It's not intelligent enough to make realising a trap be a trap in itself. (L)
"Not just that, psychic type Abominations weaker in terms of raw strength, whatever trap it had set us definitely required it's mind hex. Now we're aware of both, we can use it against it." (T)
"I don't think there are other Abominations near here," continued Klein. " Even if there were, they would be hunting that bastard, not us."
Not all Abominations were capable of working together. Only same types or intelligent ones were capable of it. And the reason they would go after the Mind Hex Abomination was because it was clearly an Aberration. An Aberration would be more nutritious than few non-evolved humans.
As the group finalized their plan, the tension in the air shifted from confusion and fear to determination. They had pieced together enough clues to understand that the Abomination they were dealing with was not as powerful as they initially feared. Armed with this knowledge, they were ready to hunt it down.
Sean took the lead, eyes scanning the ground for more clues. "We will continue to follow the hoof prints. It wanted us to there, so it's nest should be there."
The group moved cautiously through the oasis, at least what looked like an Oasis. They were sure the place was as deserted as any other place near the S.E.C.
"Look, the prints ends ahead," Jayden whispered, pointing towards a small clearing. The footprints ended abruptly, as if the creature had stopped or doubled back.
Latoya gestured for them to spread out, encircling the area. As they approached the clearing, the air grew still, and the group could feel the hairs on the back of their necks stand on end. They were sure that the Abominations placed it's trap around here.
"Time for work," Sean murmured, eyes narrowing. "Let's get going"
"We'll need to bring it out." Tyson said, already stringing his glaive across his back. "Klein, can you embed your arrows to this branch?" He was pointing to a small trees branch.
"Sure thing."
He started fixing arrows on the branch, making it look like a deadly toothbrush for gigants.
"We will have to locate it first before it realises we are already here, Jayden." (L)
With Latoya's nudge, Jayden climbed a taller tree and scanned the peripheries.
"I see a clearing about fifty to sixty meters from here! It should be the real nest."
"Then let's go there," said Sean. "The owner is bound to receive guests when they are at his door."
With that Latoya, Sean, Samantha and Tyson headed towards the clearing. They were careful of not to make unnecessary sounds, and walked silently. They were tense and on guard, in case the Abomination spotted them before they got to the clearing. When they got to clearing, there were no signs of the Abomination.
"What do you do when the homeowner refuses to show up?" Sean asked his group. Latoya shrugged, Samantha was confused, Tyson had a knowing smile. " You knock the door till he shows up!" And he started trashing the place.
The trio joined him in crushing rocks and felling trees. They were trying to be loud as possible now. Soon enough their efforts to trash the place paid off, as the Abomination showed up.
From a distance, it looked no different then a gazelle, but it's horns had a green hue. Seeing the hue, they were horrified. The Abomination was likely to be a green. The fight would not be as easy as they had hoped.
"On my mark," Latoya whispered, drawing her greatsword. The rest of the team readied themselves, weapons at the ready.