So I did not attack. Not just yet.
They came closer and closer. I raised my dagger, bringing a shield up as they finally reached me—
And the Abominations continued past me. Ignoring me as if I were not there. I cocked my head to the side, as the five Abominations headed out of the cave, towards the sunlight.
...should I stop them?
I would stop them. Eventually. But I was curious about what they were doing. So I followed the Abominations, out to the mouth of the cave. And there, I saw the Abominations grab the dead Crawlers— not the ones I killed— and began dragging them back inside.
Once again, they walked past me. As if they were a group of laborers at a market, passing me by as they went about their work. I frowned as the Abominations continued walking, even as I walked amongst them, getting in their paths. This… was clearly unnatural. There was no doubt about it. But it was not unexpected.
I shrugged as I followed the Abominations further into the cave, past the point where I had first seen them. Let’s see where they’re going with this.
There was clearly some sort of nest or den for these Abominations further inside, and I was hoping they would lead me to it; I did not dare touching the Abominations just yet, out of fear that an attack would trigger a reaction, so I stayed out of their way although I followed close behind.
I was right to keep the Abominations alive, as the tunnel split into two paths, which would have forced me to choose one to follow; with the Abominations here to lead the way, I didn't even have to make a decision. However, just as I began down the corridor the Abominations went down, the light from my spell flashed into the other hallway, shining into a group of Vyrbats hanging off the ceiling.
The Monstrous bats reacted as bats normally did when exposed to something bright, and tried to fly away from the light source while squeaking. This attracted the attention of the Abominations, which spun around in an instant. There was a screech as the Abominations heard the noise, then ran back to me from their tunnel, around me, and down towards the other tunnel, chasing after the Vyrbats as they tried to flee.
Can Abominations not see? I decided to test whether the Abominations ignored me just because they couldn’t hear me.
"Um, hey?" I called out, preparing for any one of them to turn around to attack me. But the Abominations continued chasing after the Vyrbats.
Apparently, the Abominations had to have been able to see as well, since I saw one of the bats perch behind a stalactite without making a noise, but an Abomination still leapt up at it regardless. The Abomination covered the distance without much issue, showing once again its inhuman strength—
And smashed on the jagged rock.
The corpse— the body of the Abomination— seemed unharmed, yet the blue bulbs with their faint yellow glow exploded out. Almost like a tomato getting smashed with a hammer, except the tomato was blue in color instead. The Abomination dropped to the ground, not dead, but it moved significantly slower than the others now, with half of its bulbs gone.
Interesting, so the fewer bulbs an Abomination has, the weaker it gets? I’ll probably have to report that to the guild.
I continued watching the Abominations chase after the Vyrbats, until they were nearly out of sight. Realizing that they were probably not going to let up any time soon, I decided to carry out my final experiment, before they got away.
I raised a finger, pointing it at the closest Abomination. A small blue bolt of energy shot out from it, impacting the Abomination at the side, and splattering the blue sinuous flesh onto the cavern wall. I waited…
And the Abomination whirled around, screaming. The other four Abominations followed after it, copying the noises the first made which almost sounded like chirps. They charged at me with the same ferocity they directed towards the Vyrbats.
These Abominations. Demented beings. The perversion of life itself. Their bodies shifted, morphing into the shapes of weapons. Swords. Blades. One brought out scythe-like arms, another had a tendril as a whip. These terrifying creatures charged at me. Echoing their screams. Chittering their warcry—
A single Wind Blade sliced three of the Abominations in half, and a second one finished off the other two a few seconds later.
I sheathed my dagger, sighing. They really are fragile, aren’t they? Another thing I would have to tell the guild. Although I was certain that everyone probably knew that by now, better to be as thorough as possible in my report.
And then I continued further into the cave.
I found another group of Abominations further down. It was a bigger group. A dozen large. They did not attack me, which meant that the Abominations must not have some sort of telepathic hivemind between all of them; it was a possibility for other types of Abominations— something the Hunters Guild told me to watch out for— but now I confirmed that it was not for the regular Abominations.
I did not attack them. Instead, I continued observing them with my Light spell still out. These ones also went outside to collect some bodies, and I followed them once again. They had just stepped out into the sunlight to grab the remaining dead giant spiders when I saw a small round object drop in between them. I heard a clink, as it rolled for a second.
"Wha—" I barely managed to get
