Something fuzzy was on my face. Then a prickly stick? I rolled over. A few seconds later the fuzzy thing was there again.

"Shit!" I sat up gripping my nose. What the hell? Something bit me!

I looked around and found Amisi buzzing at me. Her dance could only be called erratic. Then I was bombarded with a mess of images. Bees leaving, they were all leaving. What was going on?

"Amisi it's ok, calm down," I whispered. I didn't want to wake Crue.

She took off and buzzed around me going to the flap of the tent then working her way outside.

When I didn't follow she poked her head back in and buzzed at me loudly. She kept sending me images of bees leaving.

"Whaza?" Crue mumbled. She was making a big racket for such a little bee.

"Shhh, you're waking people up." I tried to get her to quiet down, but she just buzzed louder. She sent me an image of bees leaving, then an image of me running. What?

Another image of me running this time with Crue. Then I got an image of a dead deer and Sturgis. What the hell? She was obviously panicking about something. Was she just now realizing her bee clan left her? What an odd time to figure that out.

"We aren't going to leave you behind, girl. I promise we won't leave without you. So come back to bed." I patted the blanket rolled up into a little nest by my head.

Amisi buzzed at me and went back outside. Fine, I'd see what she wanted. Silly bee.

I opened the tent and stepped outside. Now. where did she buzz off to?

The fire was just burning down to coals so it was harder to see in the dark. Why hadn't Sturgis kept it burning? Well, it didn't matter. I took some smaller pieces and built the fire back up a bit. The fire didn't need to be big, but it did need to give off some light.

Where was Sturgis? He was supposed to be on watch. I didn't think it was early enough for the girls to be up yet. I could tell that by how far the moon had moved in the sky. Crue and I had only been asleep for about 3 hours. Not enough sleep to make me happy about lunatic bees.

I checked my map looking for Sturgis maybe he'd wandered off to take a whiz.

I checked it again.

I broke out in a cold sweat.

Fuck me.

I turned and slowly went back to the tent. No sudden moves. I shook Crue, HARD.

"Get up, we're under attack. Be Quiet. Get the girls," I whispered to him with my hand over his mouth. When he nodded his understanding I moved it.

"Sturgis?" He whispered.

"I don't know what happened. He's alive but he's in the far bushes around the left rock formation. He's not moving. Get the girls. I'll lead it away. You check on him."

"What is it?"

"Our worst purple nightmare. Tell them to get the camp together I'll circle back around and collect everything. Be prepared for a fight if things don't go well."

"Shit," Crue hissed. "It hadn't moved all day."

"Well, it's moved now, and I think it got Sturgis so be damned careful."

"Fuck," Crue was pulling on his pants. Why on Elrich had he been sleeping without pants?

That wasn't important. Getting that thing away from camp was.

Shit. Shit. Double shit.

Wait, where was Amisi? That glorious bee may have saved us all. She was trying to tell me to run, not that she was upset her bee family left. I blame my lack of sleep really.

I came back out of the tent and checked my map. Amisi was hanging out on a tree about fifteen feet from the monster. Was she keeping an eye on it? Was she planning to attack? Hell, this entire plan of mine was seriously by the seat of my pants. Crue was the healer he couldn't do it. Illia was out because her levels were too low. Lotte may have been able to do something but in a pinch she couldn't save herself by allocating her Exp. No, I was the sound choice. Damn. Damn and screw.

Level 14 me against a possible level 70 Cave Bear. Not good odds even with my Blessings. Shit. Odds... Esaias... betting. He'd bet that I'd die. That wasn't reassuring at all.

I came up to where Amisi was hiding. She buzzed at me and sent me the images for run. I nodded at her. She flew up to my shoulder and dug her legs into the leather of my armor. We were really going to do this.

Before I lost my nerve at the insane thing I was about to do, I jumped out from behind the tree.

"You look like a Liza Frank reject!" I yelled at the bear getting its attention. It had been distracted by searching through the honey hive, but I certainly made myself known.

"RUAUUUUUUH!" It bellowed, dropped to all fours, then charged at me.

"AHHHHH!!!" I yelled back turning around and moving as fast as my legs would go. SHIT! No one told me bears could run. They are huge how in the world are they able to run so fast? When you have something the size of a rhino coming at you and gaining you find your inner sprinter.

I ran around the rock formations, tripping every so often on a leftover Death Bee kill. Good news was that the raging Cave Bear couldn't do corners as well as I could. I rounded the next corner and I heard rather than saw him smash into the trees as he overcorrected.

It was probably the only reason I hadn't been caught. In a straight foot race, I'd have been bear chow by now. Dodge and swerve became my new life mantra. I ran around a particularly large tree and cut hard to the right. Once again I heard the bear crash into something.

I was running out of relatively open space. I'd be running around in the forest soon. It didn't seem like a good idea to run around full speed in the dark in an unknown area of woods. Definitely a very bad idea, but I needed to buy time for Crue to heal Sturgis and for the girls to prepare for either fight or flight.

I really didn't want to be bear kibble. I really pushed myself, Amisi buzzed at me to let me know when the bear was too close, then I made a sharp turn to gain some more distance.

*Title Gain- Dedicated Runner~

Well, that was nice I guess, but it wouldn't help if I was killed.

Distracted, I ran face first into a low hanging tree branch. I fell against the tree just as a spout of water shot above where my head would have been. I was still hit with the tail end of the attack.

*Skill Gain- Water Magic Resistance~

I took a few hits of damage. If it was from smacking into the tree or from the water attack I wasn't sure and I wasn't waiting to find out. I activated Water Magic Resistance and brought it to Lv 2.

Hopefully, that would be enough to keep me alive if I got hit directly. Amisi buzzed at me, the bear had stopped to cast its magic but was running at me again. I needed to get moving, sore face or not. I stumbled the first few steps in my run but finally began to pick up the pace again.

In a way, I was insanely lucky that I'd hit that tree. The bear's magic had missed me, and I'd paused long enough for my body to reset after running. Hopefully, in this mad chase around the forests, I'd be able to engineer a few more stops. The longer I kept him occupied the longer the others had to plan.

I rounded a clump of bushes realized I was about to fall into a natural ditch and without thinking about it, I jumped like a hurdler. The jump dislodged Amisi and she took to the sky. Good thing too because my landing was more of a flying somersaulting fall into a bunch of bramble bushes. Fuck, those thorns hurt.

*Skill Gain- Acrobatics~

What the hell was that?

*Skill Change- Acrobatics, Running, Dancing, and Jumping have combined into Dynamic Movement. Dynamic Movement has automatically been activated. This skill is currently at level 4.~

A shot of water blew over my bramble bush. No time to think about that. I needed to get out of this bush, find Amisi, and run.

I drew my knife and cut away at the bush freeing myself. I was glad for the Spider Silk suit. I had cuts all over my hands and face, but my body was protected.

Amisi, where was Amisi? She was buzzing around the bear. Sweet crazy bee, she was buying me time to get free. The bear was on its hind legs swatting at the annoyance. Good thing Amisi was a speedy little bee. While she couldn't fly as fast as we could run, she could dodge with insane accuracy in the air.

"Amisi!" I yelled. She stopped her attack and headed my way. The bear wasn't happy about that and shot a stream of water right at her.

"AMISI!" Oh Shit! My pulse, which was already pounding in my ears, worked its way into my throat. I was nearing heart attack levels of panic.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She was able to dodge partly out of the way, but it was mostly unnecessary. A flash of purplish-white light encompassed her. The magic just flowed around her as if it were being repelled by an Amisi sized bubble. The bubble popped and she still got wet with the tail end of the attack, but she was still able to fly to me. Right, Death Bees were resistant to magic and since she was a Queen Death Bee, baby or not, magic under a certain level wouldn't affect her.

Wait, didn't that mean she had to have a higher level of resistance than the attack? That would mean her resistance was higher than a Lv 4. Either that or Crue and Sturgis were wrong about the attack level of the bear. Could it be it wasn't really a King Cave Bear? Could I check Amisi's skills?

*Name- Amisi

HP 2465/2478

MP 625

Level- 32

Age- Infant

Race/Species – Queen Death Bee

Occupation- Bodyguard

Companion- Eri Veritas Succuba (Human)

Exp- 34

Physical Power- 94

Stamina- 685

Defense- 1457

Agility- 324

Intelligence- 248

Magic Power – 967

Magic Resistance Lv 6

Wind Magic Lv 4

Wind Dart Lv 2

Skills

Poison Sting Lv 9

Intimidation Lv 4

Etiquette Lv 4

Special Skills

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

(Too Young to Activate Skills)

Items Equip

Succuba Harness

Blessing- Communication

Titles- Amoris' Divine Creature

Devotee of Amoris

Shit, I could check her skills. I hadn't really meant to, but think a thought and Gamer Glass delivers. Wait, wasn't she super overpowered? I mean her stats were nuts and she was just a baby.

What was with this Succuba Harness item? Damnit Amoris, you left out something rather important. If the harness worked the same at Succuba Star my pet bee would end up stronger than all of us in no time. She'd bee the hero of this story! HA!

"RUUUAAAAGGGUUUHHH!"

Fuck, now wasn't the time for lame puns and checking stats. We were busy running for our lives. As soon as Amisi landed on my head, I took off. Lucky for us the bear got caught up behind the ditch and the brambles. He was working his way around during my inattention. Another shot of water blasted by us to the left.

Good thing I had made a sharp turn right. Amisi was great at warning me when to do a sudden direction change. It was nearly as good as being able to see behind me. Buzz, turn, Buzz, turn, it was a simple system that was working for us. Until the moon became hidden by the clouds.

I'd been able to get by maneuvering in the dark by the light of the partially full moon. It felt like I'd been running for hours, but it had only really been about fifteen minutes. I was doing good. I'd gotten a rhythm going of find obstacles that would hinder the bear. All that ended when I no longer had enough light to see.

What was I supposed to do now? I couldn't make out the outlines of tree branches or roots. I was beginning to slow down. I was tripping over things. I couldn't see where to place my feet. I'd slowed to a bumbling jog holding my hand out in front of my face to knock any low hanging branches out of the way.

Amisi wasn't much help she couldn't see in the dark either, but she was still able to buzz at me for a turn maneuver. I needed help. I couldn't keep doing this with no light. I had hoped the cloud would move, but glancing up it was a long one and it would take a while.

I checked my map. I'd accidentally done an odd looping pattern around the camp. Should I head back? Had I given them enough time?

"RUUUUUAHAAHHUH!" From right behind me. Shit, We'd all run out of time. I made a beeline towards the camp and the more open area. I sincerely hoped they were ready.

"INCOMING!" I yelled as loudly as I could given that I was running and most of my wind was used for breathing.

"ERI, OVER HERE!" I couldn't tell who yelled it, but I swerved a bit in the direction of the voice. I broke through the tree line and adjusted my path again.

I could make out three figures standing on top of an area of the semi-circular vertical rock formation that lead to a dead end. I understood the plan immediately. I'd lead the bear into that area and hopefully, be able to get up on the rocks with them. From there we'd attack from above. The only flaw I could think of was that bears could climb too. Could they climb rocks? No idea.

I ran into the path leading to the dead end.

Buzz.

I had nowhere to turn. I couldn't dodge, shit.

A streak of lightning magic arced through the air and exploded a few feet behind me. Good save Illia!

Crue was waving at me from atop a particularity tall rock, he had a rope dangling there. Great, a way up! Good save Crue!

I ran as fast as I could for the rope taking a running jump. The plan had been to grab the rope during the jump like in an Indiana Jones movie. That didn't work out. I slammed against the stone full force then dropped to the ground on my butt. Amisi was smart enough to take flight when I'd attempted my jump. Smart bee.

"What the hell are you doing get up here!" Crue yelled. Another bolt of lightning hit behind me. That spurred me to get off my butt and start climbing. For the first time in my life, I was grateful for the torture they'd put us through in grade school gym class. I could climb a rope. Look at me now Mr. Ghetts!

Crue grabbed me as I got near the top and helped lift me over the edge. Another bolt of lightning hit. Crue left me on my stomach to sort myself out as he pulled the rope up. It's not like a bear could use a rope to climb, but why risk it?

I got to my feet in time to see Illia blast another bolt at the bear. He'd only been about five feet behind me. I was damned lucky. The bear's fur was smoking in places from where Illia had hit him. Then the bear did the same thing I did and smashed himself against the rock. Shit, we needed to be attacking!

Crue had his bow out and was shooting arrows. Lotte was too. Would arrows penetrate the hide of something not even a Death Bee stinger could get through? The answer was no, the arrows were just bouncing off.

The only damage being done to it was from Illia's magic. I pulled out Raven and the special arrows Edomael had given me. He'd said not to use them on just any monster, well this wasn't your average run of the mill monster.

"Crue you need to use magic." I tried to pass him some of Edomael's arrows.

"My water attack is only at level 1. Unless you upped it when you did my archery?"

"I'll up it now. Take a few of these you can use them with magic attacks." I handed him a handful of arrows and opened his status to level up his water attack.

"What do you mean?" He yelled at me. The bear had just shot a torrent of water at him that he just managed to dodge.

"I don't know. He said that they conduct magic. I haven't used them yet. Liquid Bullet at level 5"

"Right," Crue took some of the arrows and placed them in his quiver. With one of them he focused on the bear, the arrow began to glow a dark blue. He shot the arrow.

I waited with my breath held as the glowing arrow streaked through the darkened night. Great, they were easy to use no manual or instruction video needed.

"IT HIT!" I cheered when the arrow struck the bear and stuck in his shoulder.

*Skill Gain- Water Magic~

"RAUUUUUUUUUAHAHH!" The bear batted at the arrow breaking it at the shaft, but it had done some damage. Then the arrowhead exploded with a dark blue light.

"RUUUUUUAAUAUAUAAHHHH!" The bear bellowed.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Lotte yelled as Illia launched another lightning bolt.

"MAGIC ARROWS!" Crue yelled back. At that Lotte made her way across the rock formation from 20 feet away. She was coming to fetch some of the magic arrows.

Without asking I upped Illia's Lightning Magic and her Static Shock attack. Her next blow gave a huge BOOM when it hit, knocking the bear over for a moment. I'd nearly used up all their Exp but it looked like it would be worth it.

My turn, my magic power was still sadly low even though I'd leveled up the skills. I pumped Exp into it bringing it up to 100. My MP rose along with the level up. Great. I leveled up the single attack magic I'd had any experience with, Metal Rain. Let's just hope I didn't pass out when I used it this time.

Lotte had come for the arrows and was standing beside Crue. Her arrows were glowing white.

*Skill Gain- Wind Magic~

Her arrow shot through the night and when it hit the bear it didn't explode like Crue's arrow rather it glowed whiter. The glow expanded from above and below the arrow in a line. When the glow stopped it appeared like someone had sliced at the bear with a sword. Was her wind magic some sort of sword magic that she used on the arrows?

"Crue, I'm going to use Metal Rain." I gave him some warning so that he wasn't startled when the canopy went up.

"You passed out last time," he unleashed another exploding water arrow.

"We have our magic reserve. If it drains me too much I can leech off it and not use it again."

"What are you idiots talking about?" Lotte called angrily, "keep attacking if you're done with your tea party." She released another arrow. Illia followed up with another lightning attack from her spot further along the formation.

"He's going to use a magical attack, so don't freak out," Crue called to her.

Ok, I could do this. I could use Metal Rain with the arrows. How did I do that? Metal Rain used metal needles to attack something. I couldn't shoot multiple arrows. Maybe the arrow could split up like scattershot on the way down?

If I was shooting an arrow did I need the canopy? The needles weren't coming straight down this time. I didn't have to worry about them falling and hitting us. Illia was behind the bear though. It was possible that the scattershot could miss and hit her, but I could only do a canopy, not a shield. Shit.

"Illia might get hit. I have to move," I told Crue. He nodded and pointed to the area Lotte had come from. That would work. No one would be in the shot pattern if I took the bear from the side. I left Lotte and Crue with the majority of my arrows. I wouldn't need many. I couldn't shoot this magic off multiple times.

I worked my way as quickly as I could across the stone. Amisi followed along behind me.

"RUUUUUAAAAGGGHH!"

She suddenly flew to my side and took a water jet head on.

Fuck, the jet pushed her into me, I caught her, but we both went down on top the rock. She'd blocked most of the damage from hitting me. She buzzed in my arms letting me know she was fine. I checked my damage. I'd lost a fourth of my HP but I was ok.

"ERI!" Crue and Illia both yelled.

"I'M FINE," I yelled back. I picked myself up and continued to move along the top of the rocks.

Finally in place, I readied my arrow and pictured the image of a scattershot in my head. I didn't bother thinking about a canopy since it would be useless.

My arrow began to glow a bright iridescent purple. I was startled when nearly a dozen similarly colored phantom arrows with needle cores appeared around me. It wasn't exactly scattershot, but it would work.

"What the hell is that?" I faintly heard Lotte gasp.

I focused on the arrow on my bow, trusting that the rest would follow my aim. Focus, focus, wait for the shot.

"RUUUUUUUAAAAAAUUUHH!"

NOW!

I let loose my arrow and fell to my knees when I felt the magic drain. Last thing I needed was to topple off the side of the rocks because I'd passed out from magic drain. At the same time, 13 arrows hit the bear right in the neck. Some of them pierced all the way through and stuck into the rock on the other side. A few of them got his shoulder and chest. Only one had missed entirely.

I was feeding my MP from the MP I had stored in the Succuba Star. I wasn't going to pass out this time, but I was still a tad woozy. I braced myself up on my hand to watch the Cave Bear. Had it worked?

The bear stopped his bellowing and began to make coughing noises. Blood was spraying out of his neck wounds covering his bright purple fur. He wasn't down though. Damn.

Illia shot a bolt of lightning that hit the monster right where I'd wounded it. The bear fell over but was still moving. Hell, we might actually be able to do this!

Lotte and Crue managed to synchronize their arrows. Both hit its neck about at the same time. So while one was cutting the other was exploding. There was an explosion of blood.

We all stood there, waiting. The bear didn't move.

It wasn't dead. A bear this strong would surely give us a level up.

"Illia hit it again!" I called to her. She obliged with another hit, but nothing.

The Cave Bear began to glow.

"It's healing!" Crue called. Shit! I readied another arrow. I was going to try Metal Rain again using the MP from Succuba Star.

Amisi took off. She flew right towards the bear.

"DON'T SHOOT!" I yelled. "AMISI, get back here." What was that insane bee doing?

She landed on the bear. It moved a bit trying to swat her away. She dodged and circled around to its wounded neck. Then her butt needle, that up until this point had been really tiny, grew. It was as if one moment her stinger had been baby sized and non-threatening the next it was almost as big as she was and looked like a sword attached to her butt. She jammed the needle into the Cave Bear's wounded neck. The tip of the needle came off and lodged inside.

Done with her task Amisi flew back to me, with a thankfully retracted butt sword. We all waited a minute, all thinking the same thing. Amisi had used the opportunity of the open wound to get past the thick hide and fur and poison the bear. Damn smart bee. She'd even waited until it was down before she flew in.

*You have leveled up please check your status~

*Illia level up~

*Crue level up~

*Amisi level up~

*Title Gain- Fortune's Fool~

*Amisi Title Gain- Intelligent Child~

*Illia Title Gain- Lightning Apprentice~

*Crue Title Gain- Water Apprentice~

"It's dead," I called to the others. Fuck, it was dead. We actually did it and survived. We were all ok.

No, wait. During the attack I'd failed to notice, but where was Sturgis?