“So, it is going to be an issue,” Rose spoke in their minds.

  “It appears to be, at least for now, it could actually turn into something more problematic. I will keep scouting, and let you all know, until then, keep doing whatever it is you guys are doing,” They all heard Lili say.

  During Lili’s scouting time, Tesilim and Drex had stayed outside, pretending to guard the door while nonchalantly looking for squirrels and birds that might be drones. Tesilim wanted to see if he could actually spot them, and Drex wanted to taste them.

  Meanwhile, Alyx, Rose, and Jasmine had gone inside. While inside, Jasmine had quickly consumed some more mana, Alyx having expanded his bathroom to fit one of the monsters in her rings. They knew a fight was coming, and she had used a decent bit of mana so far. After all, unlike everyone else, she couldn’t easily regenerate the mana she spent on her enhancements as they ran around.

  On that note, Alyx had recommended that they look into creating an item where they could temporarily store their mana for later use. The twins then pointed out that such items were expensive and rare. Items like that weren’t widespread, at least ones that were only used as mana storages for individuals. Instead, they were more common in large formations for city defenses, and even then, they weren’t the best. Of course, there was also the general lack of need for such items since pretty much everyone could regenerate mana. There were items that held mana to be used for abilities ingrained in said items, but they were also rare and one-way mana storages.

  After refilling, the trio had joined Tesilim, choosing to take a break while they waited for Lili. They weren’t worried about being attacked since they could run into the door and survive for however long until help arrived.

  Lili kept tabs on the three drones while continuing to do her rounds around the area of the door. She knew that with the addition of the three drones, there was a good chance that a force of aberrations would be sent to deal with the party. Unlike when they ran into that large pack of hounds during their scouting mission, the drones spoke of an actual threat this time.

  Like with Realm Incursions, there were different types of aberration encounters. The easiest to deal with were the ones where a single aberration was found and killed. One single drone was such an example. From there, it usually escalated in numbers as the Eldritch God sent down packs of weaker variants to cause basic havoc. The large and weak pack of hounds that Tesilim had killed a while back was such an example.

  Of course, and as they were currently experiencing, it scaled when more than one drone showed up. Even then, it wasn’t that rare for multiple drones to be in a generally large area. However, for three drones to arrive in such a small zone and seemingly at the same time indicated an actual force behind them. So, now, what the party needed to figure out was whether the force was small enough for them to kill, such as a basic hunting party, or was it an issue that involved more than one party. Even then, at worst, they could be looking at a situation where B Rankers and above had to step in.

  Lili hadn’t forgotten about their original quest. They had been on the way to the seaside cave, and she intended to finish that favor for her friend. However, that was only after they addressed the aberration issue, or at least moved it up the chain of command. Either way, as she was thinking about killing one or two more of the drones, she finally felt what she had been waiting for.

  The pack of hounds was coming from the west, from deeper in the wilds. The question was: how deep? For all Lili knew, they could have been making their way ever since she killed the first drone about an hour back, or just a couple of minutes ago. It was an important question because it would determine how long she would travel for in the foreseeable future. However, first they had to deal with the incoming problem.

  “So, there are ten of them, and you want us to leave a couple alive?” Tesilim asked telepathically after hearing Lili’s update and plan.

  “Yes, that way I can follow after them,” She replied.

  “Alright, sounds good,” He confirmed, and Alyx dismissed the door, pretending they were all done camping and about to move on. Of course, that was when Rose, who had been placed on guard, finally pretended to notice the incoming hounds, and they got ready for a fight.

  The fight was more problematic than the party expected, not because their enemy was strong but because they weren’t. They wanted to let whoever was commanding the hounds think that the party wasn’t too strong even for their respective ranks.

  Some of the hounds were Mid D Rank, with one being high, but most were on the low end. The party specifically wanted to kill all the higher-ranked ones, so they didn’t have to deal with them later.

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  Like always, it began with the party throwing a few ranged attacks at the incoming hounds. The exception was Drex, who was placed in the back as Tesilim wanted to conserve the drake's mana. So, beams of light, bolts of force, and lightning shot at the hounds. After the attacks went through, causing some of the hounds to delay, Rose brought her Shield Wall up. Per their plan, the wall didn’t last long and shattered after the hounds slammed into it.

  With the shield down, Rose engaged the weaker hounds, attempting to keep their attention. Meanwhile, Alyx had used the time bought to chant a spell, ensuring to pour plenty of mana into it and unleashing a massive lightning bolt at the strongest of the hounds. It was enough to kill it and two of the weaker ones that had ignored Rose. After unleashing the spell, the gnome made sure to look exhausted, even to the extent of getting on one knee as he pretended to be completely drained.

  Tesilim made sure not to teleport once, and instead, he pretended to unleash slashes of water with his katana before entering the melee with Jasmine. From there, it took longer than usual for the two to cut and beat the mid-tier hounds to a pulp. Finally, the party had teamed up on the ones Rose had held back, with Drex joining in. They had had to be very careful not to kill the hounds but do enough damage that they wouldn’t be able to regenerate too quickly. That was the issue with aberrations; even the weaker ones still had some decent regenerative abilities, and that was why the party had taken so long to finish them off without going all out.

  After the fight, the group went back into Alyx’s room to rest, knowing Lili was already following the hounds back to wherever they came from.

  Lili was happy with her team. They had done a great job. The hounds had been wounded enough that instead of sticking around waiting to regenerate, they were heading straight in a singular direction. There were only two hounds left, and the creatures were smart enough to know they would be killed if they ran into another beast or monster.

  Lili followed the two hounds for some time, but luckily, they never left the one-mile distance of their telepathic rings. The plan was that if they traveled too far from their location, the party would continue their journey and report the issue to the guild or the city upon their return.

  The hounds led her to a small clearing formed right where a cliff jutted out from the ground. Stopping at the tree line, some distance between her and the crack on the wall, she saw the two hounds go inside. Lili was tempted to follow them inside, but decades of training held her back. She knew better than to go into a random crack in the wall, where the aberrations felt safe.

  Sure enough, and indicating that it was more than just a random pack of hounds, the two hounds exited the crack a few minutes later, looking completely healed. Now, during their walk, the two aberrations had healed a bit, but there was no way they had healed so much so fast. It clearly indicated that the cave held other aberrations that could heal flesh, probably some moapiens if she had to guess.

  Either way, the two hounds never left the vicinity of the cave and simply sniffed around as they roamed the clearing. It was clear to Lili that they were waiting for something, like her party.

  There was a good chance the aberration in charge had seen through their ruse, something that was confirmed when a few more aberrations exited the cave but didn’t leave the area. Instead, they joined the two hounds and even expanded their search.

  Looking at the new additions, Lili began to think it would be best if they left and informed the city of the issue. They didn’t know how many aberrations were actually in the cave, and it wasn’t smart to attack without further information. Of course, just as she was about to leave, she got another reason to head back.

  “Uh, Lili, you need to come back, right now,” Alyx told her via telepathy. His voice didn’t sound that urgent, so she didn’t think they were under attack, but something had clearly happened, and she asked.

  “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

  “I got a quest,” Tesilim responded, and Lili felt like she already knew what it would be about.

  Before entering Alyx’s room, Lili had eliminated the rest of the drones. Inside, everyone was still relaxing; clearly, whatever had shocked them wasn’t enough to keep the group rattled for long.

  It didn’t take long for her to give them a rundown of what she had seen, and soon enough, she was reading the new quest, which of course had to do with what she had seen. At least, most of it did.

  ?? Crystal Notice ??

  ?? Adventure Goal ??

  Name: Aberration Annihilation.

  Type: Extermination ??.

  Rank: D.

  Danger: Extreme ??.

  Suggested Number: 5+.

  Threat: Astral ?.

  Goal: Eliminate the Aberrations. 0/11.

  Reward: 1 Chaos Point and Partial Completion of your Missing Werewolf Goal.

  Description: While looking to find a missing werewolf, your party has run into some aberrations. After some planning and tracking, Lili has found the aberration’s base of operation. Enter and eliminate all the aberrations found within the cave.

  ??

  Reading the quest, it was nice to know they would get a two-for-one deal, but she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to take the deal. Naturally, it would be the party’s decision. Honestly, for Lili, the most important thing the quest reminded her of was the truth. She had been surprised when the system had used Lili, after all, that wasn’t her actual name, at least not entirely. It had been one of the things in her mind lately, and something she had been leaning towards telling Tesilim. It was one of the things her new partner deserved to know, at least to begin with.