CH-10 First Mission (3)

On my mark," Latoya whispered, drawing her greatsword. The rest of the team readied themselves, weapons at the ready.

Sean wore his gauntlets and Samantha raised her shield. Tyson raised his glaive.They would have to aggro the Abomination before they could hit it with their trap.

BANG!

With Jayden's shot, the skirmish started. The Abomination was hit in its back, a tiny bullet mark could be seen. Although it did not hurt the Abomination, it was enough to draw it's attention before the quad pounced on it. Sean was the fastest because his weapons weighed less, and he got to the side of the Abomination. Right behind him were Tyson, Samantha and Latoya following just right after him, and they positioned themselves at the Abomination's behind, front and other side respectively. Latoya swung her greatsword with her utmost, trying to chop the creature in half. The Abomination took the hit boldly, and turned to hit Latoya with it's hooves.

Samantha did not let it happen as she smashed her mace on to the Abomination's head, making it stagger. Sean and Tyson did not miss the chance as Sean pummeled the creature with quick jabs, Tyson slashed at its back leg muscles. The slashes did not work, and most of Sean's punches bounced back. Although they couldn't get through its skin, they could still damage it's inner organs with blunt attacks through build up.

Fight continued on with occasional bullets and arrows trying to distract the Abomination. Sadly they would only make it more agitated. After such another bullet, the Abomination suddenly turned to attack Sean. Samantha dashed forward seeing it, with Sean dodging to the side. Samantha slid under the Abomination's hooves, her shield facing up. Before the Abomination could pull the hooves back, she pushed them upwards. Latoya did not sit still, she also swung her greatsword with great force, sweeping the Abomination's front legs off the ground.

The Abomination lost its balance and tumbled down. Before it could rise on it's feet again, it took a blow to it's head. It was Sean, after dodging the initial kick, who went to Latoya's side, as it was where the head of the Abomination would be. He brought both of his hands down on it's head, pummeling it down. The ground cracked due to force behind, with one of the horns digging into the dirt. Tyson did not leave it alone in it's misery, as he slashed at the root of the other, causing the creature shrike in agony. With that they started an unending assault to the downed Abomination.

If Captain Henry Hawks were here to see them beating the Abomination, he would have pitied the beast. Although the hits did not leave any visible effects, each strike shook the creature. Every hit from the start of the skirmish would eventually build up, and the Abomination would be open to more dangerous attacks.

While they did not let it get up, there was something else that was also building up. Rage. Abomination was enraged. Although not as intelligent as humans, due to it's Evolution it had enough intelligence to feel pride. Prideful of its strength. Prideful of it's cunning. It could even beat weaker Rank 2 Abomination if they fell to it's trap! Now what was this, four ants bypassed its trap and were even beating it! It was unacceptable. It wouldn't let this shameful, degrading act continue. So it used it's source of pride. The Abomination's horns that glowed with subtlety now shined bright green. 

Sean, who was about to hit another blow to the Abomination, pulled back as he saw this. The rest also followed him. They cleared off of the immediate surroundings of the Abomination, putting some distance between them and it. In a short moment, the glow died down, but the quad was not in a good situation. Although they put some distance, they now had a headache and their vision was blurry. It wasn't long before their sight also darkened. 

When they got their vision back, it was not what they had hoped to see. There were three other gazelle-looking Abominations. They quickly understood what is going on. The Abomination had used it's illusion and mind hex together again, making them see each other as it. Knowing this, they stood completely still. If the Abomination attacked them, they would know which one was the real one. The Abomination knew it too, so it also stood completely still. Soon it turned into a stare contest.

Sean was sizing up the gazelle he thought was the real one when an arrow flew right past him, hitting the one that Sean was looking at. It seemed that the Abomination was giving quite a bit of focus to maintain the mind hex, when the Arrow hit the mind hex was also lifted.

The Abomination growled as the quad dashed towards it. Contrary to its expectations they ran past it, diving into the woods. The Abomination gave chase, it would not let those humiliated it ran away.

"Now!" Yelled Tyson as he past the short tree. A gunshot was heard, and the Abomination was hit by a rebounding branch that was embedded with arrows from the side. It was the trap they had prepared. Tyson had learned this kind of trap from a kids' animation series he watched as a child.

The arrows grazed and pierced the skin of the Abomination, then a red liquid dropped to the ground. It was the first time they drew blood in the whole battle.

"Attack!" With Latoya's order they quickly surrounded the Abomination. They would give it the same treatment as before. Each one of the four surrounded one side of the Abomination, leaving it nowhere to escape. Attacking and switching places regularly, they draines the stamina of the Abomination. Compared to before, now they could win. The creature was bleeding, they were prepared for it's mind hexes, and there were no wherefor it to run.

Knowing its future was grim, the Abomination made a frenzied attack, not caring if it was hit from the sides. It wanted to Clear it's front and behind.

Sean dodged the fierce kick, and jumped on top of the creature. He wouldn't let it run. Climbing top of it's back, Sean pulled it's horns backwards. With it's head yanked, the Abomination had to stop it's advance. It let a thunderous warcry, then struggled to get Sean of it's back

Sean wouldn't let it happen so easily. He gripped the horns tightly and wrapped his legs around its neck. But the Abomination was determined to get Sean off its back. It trashed around, used Sean as a shield when his team attacked and swung him around.

Sean knew he couldn't continue as such. He let go of his grip on it's left horn, with the freed hand he stabbed his fingers to the Abomination's left eye.

'Now the next!'

But before he could do so, he lost his balance and slipped down. Just before he was about to turn into mush, Samantha slammed against the Abomination from the side, sending both flying.

Latoya followed behind Samantha and swung down her greatsword, aiming the place Tyson slashed before.

"KYIIIEEK!"

The Abomination let a cry out of pain. Latoya wanted to swing her sword again, but it was stuck at the root of the horn.

"Die already you fucker!" Sean kicked the sword, which caused the sword to cut the horn from the root.

"KYYAAAAK!"

The cry this time was louder. It desperately tried to stand up, but before it could do so, Sean stabbed it in the neck with its own horn. The Abomination struggled to stand up, but it was for baught. It drew it's last breath not much after.

"Phew, finally dead." Said Jayden. "I thought it wouldn't die for a moment. I couldn't shoot with so much going on."

"Is it finally dead? (K)

"Yeah, it's dead," answered Latoya. "Quick, let's take out it's cores.

"Oh boy, here we go!"

They disected the newly dead Abomination.

"Nice! We got two cores!" (T)

"Really?" Sean was surprised. "I thought Rank 1 didn't have multiple cores."

"Normal ones don't," Tyson answered. "But Aberrations do. We were lucky this one didn't win the evolution lottery; we would've been dead otherwise."

"Well, we are alive, aren't we? Let's also take the horns; they should fetch a good amount of merit. (S)

With that they also cut down the other horn. It should give them enough merit for Arctic front.

Once the task was complete, the group moved a short distance away from the Abomination's remains to set up camp. They chose a spot near a large tree, its wide canopy offering some protection from the elements. Jayden and Samantha quickly gathered wood for a fire, while Latoya and Tyson began unpacking their gear.

The fire crackled to life, casting a warm glow around the campsite. The team sat in a loose circle around it, with the tension of the battle slowly melting away in the comforting heat.