They got to the dungeon just before sunset. Despite being further from the capital than most of the more popular dungeons, the adventurer's guild was careful to ensure it was cleared on a semi-regular basis to prevent dungeon breaks, so they had no trouble locating the dungeon itself. It was an open-air dungeon, and the translucent blue dome that demarcated the dungeon's edge glowed faintly in the twilight.
They had enough glowstones to clear the dungeon at night, but they had no intention of making it harder for Tiana than it needed to be. They set up three small tents in a semicircle a dozen yards from the dungeon's edge before lighting a fire, heating a pot of tea to go with their cold dinner of cheese and jerky.
The walk to the dungeon had started strangely, at least for Cayden. It probably was just in his head, but it felt weird seeing two previously distinct worlds collide as Tiana and Jeremy interacted. While Tiana had always spent time with Elise growing up, this was the first time she’d spend more than a few minutes with one of his ‘new’ friends.
Thankfully, the awkwardness had faded as the day passed. Now, they sat in companionable silence as they sipped from their cups while staring into the flames.
Eventually, Jeremy stood from the log he'd claimed as his perch.
"I'm gonna hit the hay," he said. "Make sure to put the fire out after you go to bed."
"Will do," Cayden responded. "Night."
"Goodnight," Tiana added.
A few moments later, after Jeremy made his way into his tent, Cayden's vision abruptly cut off as Jeremy deactivated his skill.
Cayden sighed. With the alternative points of view, he hadn't been able to convince himself that he'd actually had his sight back, but it had been nice to pretend for a bit. Regardless, he could still feel the cozy warmth of the fire against his hands and wasn't yet tired – he would stay up and enjoy the night for a little longer.
For thirty minutes, he and his sister simply sat as the fire slowly died between them.
"...were you scared?" Cayden was startled from his stupor by her quiet words. "On your first delve, I mean."
"What, having second thoughts?" he joked. But when Tiana didn't respond, his smile faded. "Well, yeah. Of course I was. I told you what happened, right?"
"Yeah," Tiana answered. "You were scared of getting hurt?"
Cayden winced. He didn't want to lie to Tiana, but he wasn't sure if his experience would be as reassuring as she hoped. "I was scared of Elise getting hurt, for sure. I was terrified. Regardless of what she might claim, she wouldn't have been in that dungeon if not for me, and I was terrified I'd be responsible for getting her killed. But scared of getting hurt myself...? Not so much."
For a few seconds, the only sound was the soft crackling of the fire.
"...how?"
"How was I not afraid?" Cayden asked, and Tiana made a small sound that could have been affirmation. "It's...hard to explain." How could he say what he truly thought? That he'd already lost one life, and death had lost much of its terror in the wake? Sure, he had no idea how he'd been reborn in this world, and he wasn't even sure that he'd died in the previous. He certainly couldn't remember dying. But much of the fear of death – the fear of losing everyone and everything he'd ever known – he'd already experienced. Even before leaving Earth, he'd gone through a 'rebirth' of sorts, starting over after prison.
When every breath felt like a second chance he didn't deserve, it was easy to live fearlessly.
At least for himself. He still had plenty of fears, but they were typically reserved for those around him.
But how could he explain that to Tiana? He'd never admitted to or even hinted at his memories of another life, but neither did he have any true reason to keep them secret. Especially after fighting Duke Vass, who seemed to possess other-worldly knowledge of light magic and bomb creation. The existence of other worlds – and people who could be reborn with their memories from those worlds – could be important.
But that wasn't something he wanted to spring out of the blue on his sister. Not right before a dungeon run. At the very least, he wanted Elise to be present for that conversation if and when it ever happened.
"I just wasn't," he finally said, deciding on something still true but less paradigm-shifting. "Violence has never been something scary for me. Fighting, killing monsters – even in that first delve, when everything went wrong, I enjoyed it." He paused, taking a deep breath. "But Tiana. That's not what I want for you. It's healthy to be afraid, sometimes. Especially in a dungeon. I want you to be able to fight and defend yourself – which is what we'll be working on tomorrow – but you don't need to be an adventurer. It's not a life for everyone. And truthfully? I'll be happy if it's not something you want for yourself.” He snorted. "Although, perhaps I shouldn't have told you that. Now you'll for sure want to be an adventurer."
Tiana chuckled, although the sound was small and weak, and they lapsed back into silence.
For ten more minutes they sat silently, hands held out toward the fire, until eventually Cayden heard Tiana stand. "I'm going to bed," she said, before walking to her tent and fiddling with the straps keeping the entrance closed. And then, almost too quiet to hear, Cayden heard one more word. "...thanks."
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While dungeons could wildly vary in almost every aspect, containing an almost infinite number of different biomes, monsters, and dangers, all dungeons had a few commonalities, the largest being that they were all dangerous. Most had monsters, some had traps, but all required care and forethought before entering. Regardless of the level or power of an adventurer, a dungeon should always be respected. Because when that respect disappeared, mistakes happened – mistakes that could lead to death.
At least, that's what Cayden had been taught. He was finding it a bit hard to hold onto that respect as they proceeded through the Honeyhive Dungeon.
"Gah!" he yelled in a combination of frustration and anger as he slashed out at the buzzing monsters harrying him, once again hitting nothing.
The F-ranked monsters of the Honeyhive dungeon were called dire bees – large, angry honeybees whose stingers induced mild paralysis. Get stung enough times, and the victim would freeze completely. Including their heart.
It was unusual for such mobile monsters to be so lowly ranked; typically, the ability to fly automatically bumped a monster up to at least E-rank. But the dire bees had a few qualities that kept them from receiving the same treatment.
While their stings had the potential to be fatal, it took about a half-dozen for someone with an unboosted vitality to get to that point. Any adventurers with a lick of sense would have plenty of time to turn around and retreat or drink a weak healing potion after getting stung, which would immediately remove the paralyzing effect. And while the dire bees technically could be considered 'swarming' monsters, their instincts demanded they protect the 'queen' boss monster rather than punish attackers of individuals or small groups of bees. So as long as an adventurer moved slowly and carefully, not engaging the queen until they were ready, the danger could be mostly mitigated.
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Of course, that didn't mean the dire bees weren't without certain advantages. They were quick and nimble, as well as deceptively light for their size. If an attacker wasn't precise with their strikes, the slipstream of any slashing attacks was enough to pull the monsters from the paths of incoming blades.
And without his vision, Cayden's attacks were anything but precise.
He slashed out at the three dire bees that buzzed around him. Each was close to the size of a dodgeball, so he would've thought he'd eventually hit them, even if only out of luck. Unfortunately, that had yet to be the case.
He wanted to again scream his frustration but tamped down on the impulse. The constant buzzing of the dire bees' wings provided a useful target for his boosted hearing, but only if there weren't other distractions. It was hard enough to ignore the muffled laughter of Jeremy, watching on from twenty yards away.
"On your left, trying to pull one more," Tiana called, and Cayden responded with a nod. His sister, at least, was taking this seriously. If she still harbored any of the fear from the previous night, it didn't show in her demeanor. Thus far, she'd been professional and effective, her dagger attacks quick and precise enough to efficiently take out the bees.
Cayden held still as he heard Tiana approach from his left, the dire bee that was buzzing on that side shifting its attention to the new target. Just as quickly, she retreated, giving Cayden the space he needed to swing freely – though at the moment that wasn't entirely necessary. One of the other bees buzzing around him had taken advantage of his stillness to land on his right shoulder and attempt to sting him.
As had happened with every dire bee that had tried it previously, the stinger pierced through his thin leather armor before stopping cold against his skin.
While keeping his upper body as still as possible, Cayden swung across his body with his left arm. The firm pressure of the stinger was enough to properly mark his target, and while the bees were quick in the air, they were slower taking off. The dire bee wasn’t quick enough to respond to his attack, and his claws turned it into a satisfying mush against his armor.
Cayden smiled at the victory, even if it wasn't exactly what he was looking for. The inability of the dire bees to hurt him already took away any of the danger that Instructor Barry had encouraged; simply waiting for the monsters to land on him before killing them would remove any of the remaining challenge of the dungeon. Though this trip had turned into more of a babysitting job for Tiana's first delve, Cayden didn't want to completely abandon his own training.
So rather than encourage the final bee to land on him, Cayden attempted to pinpoint the location of the bee using his hearing and the slight breeze generated from its buzzing wings before striking out with his claws. Again. And again. And again.
Each time, missing by just the slightest amount.
"Hold still, I've got it," Tiana called a few seconds later, and Cayden sighed as he allowed his claws to fall to his sides, waiting until there was a slight whoosh of air, the buzzing of the final attacking dire bee falling silent.
"Can you at least tell me how I'm missing? Am I aiming too high? Too low?"
There was a beat of silence.
"...it kinda looked like all over," Tiana finally said.
"I'll watch closer on the next batch, and let you know," Jeremy added.
"...thanks," Cayden said, before turning to his sister. "Any injuries? Need a potion? Or ready to move on?"
"I'm good."
Cayden waited a moment, giving Tiana a chance to add anything or amend her statement, before he nodded. "All right. I'll lead...let me know if I'm walking too close to the central hive."
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They slowly made their way around the outer edge of the dungeon, taking out smaller swarms of five or fewer bees at a time until there was nothing left but the largest swarm surrounding the hive at the middle of the dungeon.
Jeremy used his [Share Senses] skill for a minute to let Cayden get a look at their final target, and Cayden was grateful for the opportunity. In the very center of the dungeon was a truly massive tree, equivalent to the largest of redwoods back on Earth, the top of the canopy stretching all the way to the translucent blue dome arcing overhead. And in the base of the hollow trunk was the hive.
Cayden didn't know how far up the tree the hive stretched, but the intel Elise had looked up had stated there should be close to a score of dire bees in the final swarm defending the queen, assuming they successfully culled all the patrols throughout the rest of the dungeon. That wasn't too many more than each individual patrol, but it was enough that, as they moved closer, Cayden could feel the buzzing of the swarm in his bones, the noise feeling more and more overwhelming as they drew closer. He'd been able to hear the buzzing of the main hive throughout the rest of the dungeon, but it had been nothing more than a subtle, low hum. He wished he could've blamed his previous misses on the distraction, but that would've been a lie.
"I'm not sure how much help I'll be," he said before they were close enough to attract any of the monsters' attention. "I doubt I'll be able to distinguish any individual bees in that. And you'll have to yell or use [Dual-Speak] if you want my attention." Not that his ability to distinguish individual bees would change much – he'd managed to slash a grand total of three bees out of the air, and that was luck as much as anything else.
"No worries. Just keep them off me and we'll eventually get through them," Tiana said, and Cayden nodded.
"Be careful. I won't be able to use [Taunt] this close to the hive, not if we want to avoid drawing the whole swarm at once. So be prepared to face more than one at a time." That was the largest benefit, in Cayden's mind, for his own growth from this delve. After holding the attention of so many monsters for so long while Tiana slowly killed them, he'd reacquired the [Taunt] skill, replacing the [Walking] skill he'd taken during their journey to the dungeon.
"Understood," Tiana replied, and Cayden nodded.
"Okay. Wait here, I'll try to grab a small group and be back in a minute." Then he focused on the [Bind Minds] channel with Jeremy.
"You ready?"
"Ready."
Cayden was glad his friend was nearby. He hadn't been needed, as Tiana had been able to handle the ones and twos of dire bees she'd thus far faced with ease. But he'd always been close by and alert, ready to jump in the second things went wrong.
He stepped into the clearing that surrounded the tree, carefully edging his way forward one step at a time. The buzzing increased in intensity and he slowed even further, barely moving at a crawl. Until finally, he heard Tiana's message through [Dual-Speak].
"That's far enough," she said. "You've got what looks like a dozen coming toward you. Come back."
Cayden froze before turning in place and walking back the way he'd come, at a significantly faster pace than his approach.
"Oh. Now it looks like the rest of the hive is chasing you, too," Tiana added. "Yep, that's the queen too. Hurry."
Cayden's fast walk shifted into a run until he felt the ground beneath him shifting to a soft bed of leaves, in contrast to the more open ground in the glen surrounding the central hive. The other, smaller trees would hopefully provide at least some cover against the swarm. Whirling in place, he activated [Taunt].
"Careful," he sent to Tiana. "[Taunt] doesn't always work against stronger monsters. Keep an eye out for the queen." And then the swarm was upon him, and everything was chaos.
There were only supposed to be a score of dire bees in this final swarm. And perhaps there were – Cayden had no way of knowing exact numbers without asking. But the buzzing from these bees was so much more overwhelming than the smaller patrols, and he had no way of tracking individual bees within the swarm when the buzzing was everywhere. Luckily, that wasn't necessary for [Taunt] to work. He could feel the bees flying into his arms and legs, attempting to sting him much more aggressively than they had before, and he flailed wildly with his claws. He wasn't sure how many he hit, or if any of his hits were solid enough to take the bees down, but he certainly connected with more than in any of the earlier fights. The density of the swarm made accuracy less necessary.
"How's Tiana?" he sent to Jeremy. "Is she holding up okay? You're still watching?"
"I've got eyes on her," Jeremy instantly sent back. "She's doing fine. Worry about yourself."
Cayden grimaced but accepted the gentle rebuke. As much as he worried for his sister, if she wanted to learn, he needed to treat her at least partially like a real adventurer. Which meant trusting her to handle herself, and if she ran into issues, to call for help.
He focused back on the buzzing around himself. It had lessened since the start of the attack. Not enough to reliably target individual bees with his attacks, but enough for him to try. Was the queen still nearby? He couldn't hear any buzzing that sounded different from the rest, but that didn't mean much. He swung out with his claws at where he thought a bee was and missed, then swung out with his other hand – this time hitting. It wasn't a solid hit, and he couldn't feel any dire bee innards coating his claws, but he heard some angry buzzing around his feet, so he hoped it was at least disabled. He stomped toward the noise while he continued to strike out around his head with his claws.
It was probably only a few minutes, but it felt like much longer to Cayden as he continued punching the wind, waiting for an update from his sister. Until finally he breathed a sigh of relief as he heard her voice in his head.
"The queen is down," she said, a note of triumph in her mental voice. "Hold still for a second, coming closer to pull one or two off you. Just a half-dozen left and we'll be done."