"You did what!?" Arianna whisper-shouted as they made their way up the mountain.

Cassis was grateful she didn't raise her voice. Sound carried far in the Rikler Mountains, and shouting here could get you killed. Though he and his team had killed off quite a lot of monsters, so who knew how safe it really was right now.

The rest of the team turned to look, but quickly averted their eyes. Those who had been with him before were grinning; the others, though pretending not to listen, were clearly eavesdropping. Cassis had no idea why. He also couldn't understand why Arianna was reacting like this. She should be excited for him.

"Yes, I got a phoenix blessing! Look!" He proudly showed her the tattoo.

Yesterday, they had all exited their respective dungeons, but he and Arianna had been too tired to talk about anything personal. There'd only been a short conference at Samuel's to report on how everyone's levelling went. Thankfully, they'd managed to get all their charges to at least level ten. Then the two of them had snuggled up in bed and fallen asleep right away.

Now, the old team was back together to clear the dungeon bosses of Rikler Mountain and The Hive. Cassis hoped it would be quick. He was so tired of this mountain.

Arianna, though, seemed to enjoy the scenery, her eyes wandering as if she were soaking it all in. Still, right now, her focus was entirely on him.

Quietly, but firmly, she said, "No. Before that."

Ah.

"You'd be proud of me! I infused my mana into the egg, evenly and in one go," he said, brimming with pride.

"That's great. But before that."

Hmm. Then it had to be that.

"Okay, I'm sorry about that. I went off alone and killed the high priest of the troll tribe. But in my defence, it came for us first. It was trying to kill the others. They were a liability, so I sent them to safety and fought alone. I really hate smart monsters."

The fox gave a short disgruntled bark. "Ok, not all smart monsters. Only those who try to kill off my weakest team members." He quickly told her. And it was true. He didn't hate her, but had now accepted her as part of the team. Talk about strange events!

Arianna sighed. "I understand. You probably needed to let off some steam. Congrats on fighting an E-rank by yourself and winning. But I mean between those two events."

Between those two events? Cassis thought long and hard. Then he heard his mother sigh, muttering, "The lava."

Ah!

"Right, I had to jump into some lava. But I was smart about it. I took off my clothes first so they wouldn't get ruined. Josh healed me right after."

Satisfied, he looked at Arianna. She looked… constipated. Then she sighed.

"You know what? I won't even bother. Sorry, Danielle. I can't right now."

Shaking her head, she quickened her pace.

What was going on?

Cassis looked around for answers, but no one would meet his eyes. As a last resort, he glanced at the fox. She stared back, then snorted. Twice.

He didn't understand, but oh well. Arianna had said she wouldn't pursue the matter, whatever it was. So he hurried to catch up with her. He needed to explain his blessing, and he wanted to know about her dungeon, too.

"So, I've got an extra life now."

Arianna still looked mildly irritated, but she nodded. "That's good."

"So, what happened with you guys?"

Her half of the team collectively groaned.

"It was really annoying," Arianna began. "We were in The Hive. It's a tunnel system ruled by an ant queen, but there were other insects and spiders, too. It was always dark and we had to use torches. Nadine had to map the place as one of the objectives. And the gathering quest was to get lumen crystals. Guess where they were? In the last cavern we explored."

Cassis grimaced. That didn't sound fun.

But in typical Arianna fashion, she found the silver lining. "Well, at least we got to fight a lot, level our charges, and practice stealth."

She practiced stealth? Cassis glanced at Helen, who was doing a poor job of hiding her expression of dread. The rest of Arianna's team looked equally pale.

Cassis had a suspicion but needed to confirm it. "That's great. Did you get the spell?"

Arianna grinned, clearly excited. "Yeah! It's already at Beginner rank. I asked Helen to teach me, and once I had it down, I thought about what a great opportunity this was! So, of course, everyone else learned too."

While she spoke, Cassis watched her teammates. A grimace here, a facepalm there. She'd tortured them again, unintentionally, just by being a genius and wanting to teach. Poor souls.

"I'll teach you too. It's really useful for your awareness."

Cassis forced a smile. "How great!"

Inwardly, he winced. Headaches were coming, again. He knew she meant well, and truthfully, he was stronger thanks to her mana training. But she just didn't understand how difficult it was for normal people.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. A few fights here and there, but since they had already cleared most of the monsters, the area was relatively safe. It hadn't been enough time yet for the creatures to reproduce naturally.

They cleared the second objective by gathering several golden feathers scattered near the mountain's peak before making camp. The troll settlement was close, and they needed to be in their best condition to take down the Troll King quickly. They still had to visit the Hive afterwards. Better to rest inside the dungeon; that meant less time lost in the real world.

Once he and Arianna settled in their tent, she seemed… nervous. Lying beside him, she opened her mouth twice but stopped each time before a sound could escape.

Cassis frowned. "What's wrong?"

Arianna shook her head, then seemed to steel herself. "Okay, so… I might've left something out. But it's not really about the dungeon."

He raised a brow.

"So, you see—well…" she hesitated, then blurted out, "I had that nightmare again. The one after the first wave, with the loop. Do you remember?"

Did he remember? He could still hear her crying, feel her hot tears soaking his shoulder, see her trembling in his arms.

He tried to sound casual. "Yeah, I remember."

Then it hit him. She'd had it again.

"Are you alright!?"

Arianna blinked, surprised by his sudden urgency. Then she smiled softly. "Yeah, I'm fine. I killed the hobgoblin. But, uh… well…"

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"What more was there?" he pressed. "Come on, tell me."

She sighed, then spoke quickly, like ripping off a bandage. "Well, I kinda had the nightmare the night before we went into the dungeons. And every night inside."

"What?!" Cassis nearly sat up. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want to worry you. You were tense enough about me going in alone. I didn't want to add to it." She looked away.

That wouldn't do. He reached out, resting his hand on her shoulder. "Talk to me. Always."

"Only if you do the same," she countered immediately.

He smiled. "Then always."

Her answering smile made his heart stutter. It was breathtaking. "Always."

"Then now tell me about the nightmare."

Arianna nodded. "So first, there was the hobgoblin. I killed that sucker easily once I realised I could use mana in the dream. But then the room filled with water and my parents and I drowned. Then Helen had a great idea, so now I can breathe underwater."

Cassis's head was spinning. She could what now? No, that wasn't the point. At least she'd talked to Helen about it.

"Then we somehow ended up in a lake or sea full of murderous giant fish. I got eaten by one!" she said, sounding almost offended.

He shouldn't find that cute. She'd been eaten! But… she was fine now.

"Once I killed all those fish, a whirlpool appeared. That sucked…" She grimaced. Her peppy tone was forced. She was trying to spare his feelings.

"Then I met a dragon. A water dragon, you know, the eastern kind. It was massive, one of its eyes was about my size, and its scales gleamed like deep sapphire gems. It was beautiful, and it didn't feel hostile. More… comforting, I think. But then, while I was watching it, I was attacked from behind."

Her jaw tightened. "So in the last loop, I played along, pretended I was still fascinated by it, but kept my awareness at full. And that's when I found out it was my mother, or, well, someone disguised as her. A man named Trickster."

She took a breath. "He attacked me. I killed him, or thought I did, but he just dropped the disguise once the dragon scolded him. Then he told me I'd passed his 'test' and conquered something called the Maze of Delusions. As a reward, I got a new unique feature: Mental Resistance (Basic)."

Cassis stared at her. That was so much worse than he'd expected. Recurring nightmares were bad enough but a mystery man toying with her subconscious?

Arianna went on, oblivious to his alarm. "I thought I'd seen that name somewhere before, so I checked the patron chat." Her eyes sharpened. "Guess what I found. Trickster is the name of a chaotic deity. Why was he messing with me? I even sent him a message under my Sapphire account asking, but he's ignored me."

She looked aggravated. Cassis, on the other hand, felt a chill crawl down his spine.

A deity, one who wasn't her patron, had taken an interest in her. That was never good.

"That's… not good," he said slowly. "He could've had a reason, or maybe he just wanted to mess with you. You never know with deities."

"I know! I just hope I don't see him again."

Then, ever the optimist, she sighed and added more calmly, "But at least I got a nice feature out of it. No idea what it does yet, but it's still a power-up. And the nightmares stopped, so it was definitely him, not my psyche."

Cassis nodded, though he wasn't sure which was worse: mental instability or the attention of a chaotic god.

Still, Arianna had that weird being a deity but also being human thing going on. She wasn't unprotected. He hoped.

Arianna looked relieved after talking. She snuggled closer to him, and soon, her quiet snores filled the tent.

Cassis stayed awake a while longer, staring at the tent's ceiling. He tried to piece together why that deity was interested in her, and how they could stop him from interfering again.

Unfortunately, he came up with no solutions. All he could think of was having her dig deeper into the patron chat for answers.

They were staring at the troll king, a two-meter, green-skinned brute packed with muscle. The stench of blood and iron filled the air. They'd fought their way through the settlement; most ordinary trolls had fled, dragging their children into crude huts. A few shamans had tried to block their path but were swiftly cut down. Only the king's honour guard, stationed in the small fort's foyer, had offered any real resistance. Now they, too were dead.

The troll king stood alone. It hefted a massive bastard sword, easily larger than its own body, in one hand as though it weighed nothing. Its eyes gleamed with hatred and the thirst for battle.

No words were exchanged. Everyone already knew their roles. The warriors and Arianna charged forward while the mages and archers unleashed their spells and arrows from behind. Helen vanished into stealth, her presence flickering out like a shadow in flame.

The fight was straightforward, brutal, but lacking the sheer terror of their first boss battle or the dread he'd felt after being surprised by that turtle. They were stronger now, sharper, faster, and they weren't holding back. The troll king swung its sword in wide arcs that shattered stone, but the coordinated rhythm of their attacks wore it down quickly.

When it finally fell, crashing onto the stone floor with a ground-shaking thud, the silence that followed felt almost wrong.

That was it.

Well… anticlimactic. But Cassis was grateful. It meant they truly had grown. Maybe now he didn't have to worry so much about sending others to clear dungeons without him. Due to their time constraints, they needed to do that anyway, but he felt better about it now.

He pried the king's bracer from its corpse, a thick piece of engraved iron that shimmered faintly with mana. It was their key to leaving the dungeon according to the system message. That bracer was way too big for one of them, but their smith could study it. Once they had one…

As they walked out of the fort, dozens of troll eyes followed them from the shadows of the huts. None attacked. The trolls clutched their young, silent, watching.

Cassis's chest tightened. Trolls were an uncomfortable enemy. They had families, structure, a primitive civilisation. For a fleeting moment, it felt like they were the monsters.

He pushed that thought away and forced his tone to stay steady. "Let's rest a bit at camp, then move on," he said. "We still have to deal with the hive."

Everyone nodded, though Arianna's team groaned in unison. Cassis raised a brow. He'd find out what that was about soon enough.

Plunged into total darkness, broken only by one torch at the front and another at the back, Cassis could finally understand the other team's groans. The tunnels were enormous, yet the shadows pressed in like a living thing.

Nadine led the way confidently. She'd mapped the place before, after all. That reminded him. "Nadine, did you get a skill for your effort?"

She beamed; at least she sounded like she did. He couldn't quite see her face. "Yes! It's called Cartography. Only basic rank for now, but it lets me make a mental map of any area. Later I can transfer them into physical maps and sell them through our Awakener Bureau. If I get a few other rangers trained in it, we can help people clear dungeons a lot more safely."

Cassis nodded approvingly. Dungeon maps were priceless. He'd never had the patience for mapping. Strange, considering he could spend hours carving wood. But somehow, maps bored him to tears.

He sighed quietly. He didn't need to see Arianna to know she was grinning that smug "I told you so" grin. She loved teasing him about his old lone-wolf habits. In the other timeline, she'd been furious about it, but she hadn't understood, not back then. Trusting teammates had nearly gotten him killed more than once. He'd rather fight alone than risk betrayal again.

Besides… he hadn't really been alone. He'd had her.

Still, best not to look her way now. Her grin could be insufferable, and far too cute for his peace of mind.

Nadine suddenly halted at a bend. "That's where the queen is," she said over the party chat. "I scouted the cavern before. She's massive, takes up half the chamber. Has a few warrior ants and some flyers guarding her constantly. We'll need to fight them all at once. But the queen herself doesn't move much. She just… lays eggs."

"Then she probably fights with mana," Joseph said grimly. Everyone agreed.

On Cassis's signal, they rushed in.

The cavern opened before them, vast as a football stadium. Over half of it was taken up by the queen's monstrous body, a black mountain of chitin and twitching antennae.

The nearest ants screeched at their intrusion, and the swarm charged.

They weren't strong, even the flying ones that dove at them went down quickly, but Cassis felt the vibrations in the ground. Reinforcements. "It's that damned ability again!" Arianna had told him about it, but it was annoying. Now, she announced. "They're calling for help with their antennas!"

"Then we just need to kill them faster," Cassis replied through gritted teeth.

They cut their way through the swarm until they stood before the queen. The ground suddenly rumbled. "Earth spikes!" his father yelled. Everyone jumped back just in time as jagged rocks burst upward.

The cavern shook again, this time stalactites fell from the ceiling, crashing down like spears. They dodged a few close calls, but no serious injuries.

"Was that her?" Benny asked. "Probably," Elena answered.

They pressed on. Once they'd cleared the rear, Cassis's father and Elena raised earthen and flaming walls to block off new attackers. The rest focused on the queen.

The problem was where to strike. Cassis was still searching for a weak spot when Joseph shouted, "At her back end where she's laying the eggs! That's the only vulnerable spot I see!"

"I agree," Nadine added. "The rest of her armour's too thick."

So they aimed there. Elemental blades, arrows, and Arianna's mace. Everything focused on one point. Earth spikes shot up from below; stones hurled through the air, but the team pushed through, relentless.

Egg after egg spilt out until suddenly… she stopped.

A low hum filled the air, then silence.

[System Message: Ant Queen defeated.]

Arianna wrinkled her nose. "We need to bring her heart with us? Ugh. And where even is it? She's huge."

Cassis sighed and glanced behind them, half-expecting another attack. But the other ants were retreating, scurrying into tunnels. Only one flyer remained. It swooped down, and for a moment, Cassis tensed for another strike.

But instead of attacking, it scooped up the last egg the queen had laid; a strange one, shimmering purple instead of blue, and darted away into another tunnel.

"Was that… a queen egg?" Luke asked, echoing Cassis's thought. "Probably," Cassis muttered. "Strange ecosystems..."

Helen suddenly appeared at his side, as silent as ever, his only warning a small spike in awareness. Maybe learning stealth from Arianna wouldn't be the worst idea. "Oh well. Here." She tossed something at him. A heavy, pulsing red lump bigger than his head. "The heart. Found it while the rest of you were standing around staring."

Cassis blinked, then chuckled. "Sorry." "Don't be. Joseph pointed me to it. His hunting skill is seriously useful."

Cassis nodded, impressed and relieved.

Another dungeon cleared. Only… far too many still ahead.

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