Its hide sparkled like obsidian shards, with yellow stripes akin to molten gold etched across its monstrous frame. The creature in front of them was unmistakably a bee... beautiful and warped beyond the bounds of nature.
For a moment, it just hovered there, frame the size of a full-grown Rottweiler, studying them; all six eyes like black diamonds, locked on a single target.
Han.
『The Hive watches this battle.』
『Prove yourself.』
'Fuck no. Don't tell me it's just after me?'
Nolan took a step forward, sword brandished in a crouched posture. "What are we standing around for?"
"Buccaneer!"
With that, his entire body glowed purple, veins bulging all over his body.
He took another step forward. And he was gone.
An instant later, he was in front of the bee, his rusted sword a purple blur as he slashed for the bee's head.
The bee dodged backwards. Not even bothering to consider him for a moment.
Its eyes were still locked on Han.
Chul stepped forward, fixing his glasses. "I think it's after you, Han."
"No shi-"
Han couldn't even complete his sentence before the bee rushed towards him. Its stinger, the size of a curved halberd, glinted as it zipped through the air.
Han dove to the side.
But with a single flap of its monstrous wings, it changed trajectory.
"Fuck!"
"Fireball!"
A fiery bolt came to Han's rescue, exploding mere inches away from the space the bee was about to fly through.
However, it wouldn't be so easy.
A single flap was all it took for the bee to lose all its momentum and come to a complete stop.
"Great stuff, Chul!" Han shouted. He flipped his dagger, locked onto the bee's eyes, and hurled it with every bit of strength he had.
He had learned from his last fight.
However, as sharp as the dagger was, it just bounced off the creature's eye, leaving not so much as a dent.
The bee barely registered the attack, instead turning its attention to Chul.
'Why does it keep pausing in between attacks?' Han thought. However, he wouldn't have time to mull over it before...
"Buccaneer!"
Nolan appeared again.
This time, right behind the bee, out of its line of sight. He thrust his sword upward, purple aura boiling into the air.
However, with a twitch of the bee's backside, its stinger parried the strike.
Sparks flew into the air, as if steel had just met steel.
The weaker of the two shattered. And Nolan was left staring at the broken fragments of his sword.
"What the living fuck is this thing?!" he shouted, right before being swatted away by a gust from the bee's wings.
It flapped its wings once again and tore through the air towards Chul.
"Fireball! Fireball! Fireballllllll!"
Chul sent bolt after bolt at the thing; however, the bee tanked each attack like they were mere candles against a solid brick wall.
Han tried rushing to his rescue; however, he didn't have any long-range abilities, and his speed couldn't even begin to compare to the bee's.
His mind raced for an answer, grasping for solutions at what felt like a million thought cycles per second.
A phrase came to mind. An image from his trait screen. The only skill he still had at his disposal.
Would it work? It didn't matter; Chul would be a painting on the wall in a few more seconds.
And so...
"Scent of the sun!!"
Golden light tore out of Han's mouth, engulfing the room in a sweet-smelling yellow mist.
It smelt of... honey.
The bee paused, as if caught in a daze.
And Han's nose was hit with several dozen different scents at once.
The salty odour of his own blood and sweat. The caramel scent from the chocolate bar in his pocket. And even the charcoal smell of the fireballs Chul was still unleashing on the creature.
His brain was overloaded. He fell to the ground, eyes rolled back, body shivering.
"Buccaneer!"
This time, it was Chul who activated the skill; filling his last remaining copy slot.
He appeared right beside Han. Before activating it again, and appearing beside Nolan.
"Wake the fuck up, dude!" he shouted, slapping Han back to consciousness. "This is a bee, right? And you're the beekeeper, aren't you?"
The world spun around Han, light dimming as his nostrils were attacked.
"Do something!"
Han couldn't think properly. Golden light was still shooting out of his mouth. And that alone seemed to keep the bee at bay.
"What the fuck is actually going on here?" Nolan screamed, his back bruised from slamming against the wall.
The light from Han's mouth was slowly dying, and the bee seemed to be regaining control of its body. "Han! Do something! Now!" Chul shouted.
Han tried to fight the stimulus overload; however, it was too much.
By the time his mind was beginning to recover, the effects of Scent of the Sun had died down. And the bee was turning around to observe them.
Its stinger began glinting.
Nolan opened his mouth to activate his skill, but instead, blood shot out of it.
He had reached his limit.
Chul shook his head. "We can't just keep running, Han."
The bee flapped its wings and shot off.
Time seemed muddled. The voices around Han were but mere echoes and whispers.
Chul was shouting something, Nolan was tugging at his shirt, begging for something else.
All the while, Han's mind wandered. Strangely, it wandered back to his father, back to the peaceful days when he helped with the beefarm.
He remembered his first encounter with bees. He'd been stung. Said he hated them.
His father had kissed the sting; he had explained something. However, Han couldn't recall.
What he could recall was the feeling of satisfaction, watching the bee roll around in agony as it died.
"Stinger!" Han shouted weakly.
"Chul! The wall. The bee should sting the wall!"
Chul nodded, as if having grasped exactly what Han meant in those short breaths.
In the last moment, Chul touched both Han and Nolan and activated Buccaneer and appeared right behind the bee, mid-flight.
Han stumbled away from the group, rushing for the bee.
With all his strength, he pushed against its back. Disrupting it from halting its flight path.
And with a loud thwackkkk, the bee impaled itself into the wall.
Han's skin was grated mess, the obsidian hair on the bee's back having sliced his arm. A painful warmth spread through his body. However, he couldn't care less. Instead, his focus was on the bee.
The thing buzzed its wings erratically, trying to pull itself out of the wall.
And all the group could do was wait and pray. Their attacks couldn't pierce its carapace, and running would only take them so far.
'Please.'
The bee jerked free, and a wave of despair tugged at Han's heart.
But it had left its stinger behind.
It rolled on the ground, much like the bee from Han's memories.
The group held its breath, waiting....
Until eventually.
『A higher-level creature has been slain!』
Silence filled the room.
『+70 XP』
Han fell to his knees in exhaustion.
He turned to the others with a weak smile. "Well," he whispered, breathing laboured. "That was exciting, no?"
The rest of the group just rolled their eyes at him, falling to their knees in exhaustion too.
『The Hive has taken favour towards you.』