Chapter 32

    The Monster of the Sea

    “This might make you a little dizzy,” 

    Möbius grinned. It was the kind of smile that always came before one of his crazy stunts—like jumping across cliffs, scaling buildings, or flying into the back of a helicopter. Leia instantly felt a surge of fear.

    Cronos

    Möbius reached over and yanked Black Lightning's steering wheel hard toward himself, causing the car to spin wildly at high speed even as they were about to plunge into the sea. This led to a spectacle that left Teppanyaki and the others gaping in disbelief.

    Splash, splash, splash.

    Black Lightning skipped across the water like a flat stone spun at high speed. Möbius had used Cronos to perfectly calculate the angles needed to bounce across the water and land right on top of Bust.

    Gravita

    As soon as the car’s wheels made contact with Bust’s shrimp-like tail, Möbius increased more gravitational pull than usual, securing the car in place. With precise calculations, the sleek black car stopped perfectly atop Bust’s body. However, what he forgot to calculate was...

    “Uh… now’s the time, fire away…” 

    Möbius, his head swaying, eyes swirling like spirals, signaled the two fox girls to cast their magic again. Meanwhile, he fired his Thompson submachine gun aimlessly into the sky in a daze.

    “Which way is it...? Ugh.”

    Gumiho cast her fireball in the opposite direction of the seafood boss.“

    There, there. Maybe it’s that way.”

    Leia, still dizzy, pointed in yet another direction where the boss wasn’t.

    “Definitely that way.” Inari fired a fireball that accidentally splashed into the water right beside Black, sending a spray of water into the air.

    Swoosh… !!!

    “Hehe, I told you it’d be a little dizzying.” 

    Möbius smiled awkwardly. Fortunately, the fox mother’s missed fireball caused enough of a splash to jolt everyone back to their senses.

    [Uh… maybe you guys should attack sooner rather than later. Being stuck on a shrimp tail like this doesn’t exactly feel safe.] 

    Black Lightning began to feel uneasy, sensing the boss was about to do something.

    “This is bad. Black, hurry, go forward. Run along its body.” 

    Möbius noticed the boss monster shaking its head oddly and quickly ordered Black Lightning to move. As it sped forward, the ranged attackers resumed their assault. Seeing that the rockets were effective, Möbius continued launching them.

    Boom, boom, boom.

    2000×4

    “Next up, time to target the shrimp section.” 

    Leia, who had regained her composure, leaped out of the car. She coated her nails in a thick black aura, extending them longer than usual, and aimed for the areas where Möbius’s rockets and the beams from Inari and Gumiho had already stripped away much of the shell. With her fingers pressed together, her long black nails turned into a black sword. She slashed into Bust’s shrimp-like body, executing one of her signature moves that she had used many times before.

    Demon's Moon-Slaying Aura.

    Slash!

    15000 (Critical hit on a vital spot)

    Leia successfully severed Bust’s tail, leaving only its crab-like head with squid tentacles and fish fins. Meanwhile, the sleek black car, carrying several passengers, was racing toward Bust’s head.

    “That crab claw is so huge. Möbius, I want it.” 

    Gumiho exclaimed, eager to claim the delicious-looking crab claw. Unable to resist the fox girl request, Möbius pulled out his trusty Thompson, aiming at the joint he had shot earlier with the shotgun.

    “Huh…” Even Möbius was surprised that he hit the exact spot where he intended again. He couldn’t help but think his increased accuracy was coming in handy. However, with little time to spare, he switched to his rocket launcher and fired at the crab claw’s joint.

    Repeat shot.

    Whoosh… Boom.

    1000×4

    The shell covering the joint shattered. This time, Möbius didn’t have time to attach C4 to the rockets, so the damage wasn’t as high as before. As Black Lightning zoomed past the claw—

    “I’ll take the whole thing, root and all.” Inari unleashed her ultimate move, ‘Foxfire Piercing Nine Heavens’, targeting the area Möbius had weakened.

    12000

    The crab claw was torn off, and Black Lightning leapt gracefully from the crab’s body, landing perfectly on the beach next to Teppanyaki’s group. Soon after, Leia emerged from the shadows of the black car, rejoining the team—everyone except Möbius, who had who had disappeared without anyone noticing.

    “Whoa, that was so cool.”

    Kujikatsu had gotten a clear view of Black Lightning.

    “All right, time to finish this.” Möbius was floating in the sky above Bust, having jumped out of the car as Black Lightning leaped from the boss. In his left hand, he held his Cosmo Custom.

    “The sky above is a beautiful blue, and below us, the sea is breathtaking. But you, you're like a black stain between beauty and grace.” As Möbius spoke, he summoned a massive golden hammer.

    Gravita

    “I am Möbius, the man who protects all that is beautiful. Whatever you are, your existence is an eyesore to me.”

    Using Gravita, Möbius increased the weight of the enormous golden hammer as it fell from the sky, smashing down onto Bust’s shell.

    Boom... 

    15000

    The sheer weight of the golden hammer shattered Bust’s shell instantly. As Möbius descended, he reabsorbed the golden hammer into his left hand mid-air and landed atop the broken shell of Bust.

    “And this is your punishment for what you’ve done.” With those final words, Möbius fired his Cosmo Custom, loaded with fire crystals, into the cracked shell of Bust.

    Cool shot

    25000 (Critical hit on a vital spot)

    Möbius jumped down from Bust’s body, landing in front of his group of ladies. Meanwhile, seeing its enemies distracted, bust attempted to escape by burrowing into the ground, just as no one had seen it at first because it was hiding in the ground.

    “Miho, how do you like it cooked?” Möbius smiled at the fox girl, asking a question that left the Teppanyaki group thoroughly confused.

    “Medium, I guess.”

    Gumiho replied, not really understanding why Möbius was asking but answering out of habit.

    “Right away, miss.” Möbius bowed theatrically, and moments later, flames erupted from the spot where Bust had burrowed.

    Whoosh...

    10000 (Critical hit from element)

    ‘Congratulations, you have successfully defeated Bust.’

    Whizz... thud 

    The remains of Bust—one large crab claw and four perfectly cooked squid tentacles—came floating down, landing right where their dinner table had been. The smell was so enticing that Gumiho couldn't resist. Among the loot dropped from Bust was a notable item: a Level 7 heavy crab shell armor. Although it was categorized as heavy armor, it was surprisingly light. However, the only downside was its poor design, making the wearer look half-human, half-crab. Teppanyaki reluctantly put it on due to its high defense stats.

    “Phew, looks like it’s time to cook again.” Sashimi sighed as he eyed the squid tentacles and shrimp tail that Teppanyaki had hauled up from the sea. Thanks to Bust’s enormous size, they now had more food than before. Before long, the Japanese food group had finished preparing the meal, and everyone began to eat once again after their exertions.

    “Wow, this is so delicious. Kujikatsu, you’re really good at this.”

    Inari praised the fried calamari the archer had made. The compliments came so frequently that Kujikatsu ended up frying everything to please Inari, so much so that he didn’t get to eat anything himself. The speed at which the mother-daughter fox duo devoured the food was faster than he could cook. Soon, the sun dipped below the horizon.

    Möbius returned to their lodging—a special request of his. He had asked for only one room, but the largest one available. Thanks to Inari’s charming ways, Möbius got a luxurious, expansive suite as he requested. Even the bathroom was enormous, where the three girls were currently bathing together.

    Though they usually didn’t need to bathe since their bodies remained clean naturally, this island was designed to provide a tropical vacation experience, requiring guests to bathe for cleanliness. Möbius had bathed first and was now dressed in a red shirt adorned with palm tree patterns and the short pants provided by the hotel.

    "...”

    Möbius sat alone in the room, the only thing separating him from the beautiful women bathing was a thin wall. Despite the luxurious furniture and full amenities—the gentle classical music playing, the faint aroma of sweet fragrances, the bed, as enormous as Möbius’s bed, decorated with rose petals in the shape of a heart, and the dim lighting that remained soft even at its brightest—yes, this suite was clearly designed for people who were going on a honeymoon in the game. And of course, everything in this room was tailored for what honeymooners typically do, leaving Möbius in deep thought about what to do next. He decided to go for a walk outside, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to let the girls finish bathing and get dressed before returning to sleep together.

    “Hmph… sniff…”

    As Möbius strolled along the beach, holding a bottle of red energy-booster potion in his hand, he heard a strange sound coming from a peculiar rock sitting in the middle of the beach. Möbius kicked it gently with his foot, suspecting it might be a sea creature stranded on the shore. Feeling sorry for it, he realized there wasn’t much he could do.

    “Sigh… poor dugong.”

    Möbius stood quietly for a moment beside the creature. But it seemed that the dugong wasn’t dead, Möbius quickly poured the red energy-booster potion into what he guessed was its mouth.

    “Glug, glug.”

    The dugong seemed to regain some strength. Möbius, wanting to return it to the sea, tried lifting it, but even with just the tail, it was too heavy for him. However, weight wasn’t much of a problem for Möbius.

    Grativara 

    Möbius rendered the dugong weightless and, using a giant swing, spun it around using the Giant Swing technique.

    Whiz, whiz, whiz… whoosh... Boom.

    “I…not…gong…?” Möbius thought he heard something, but he shrugged it off. After catching his breath for a while, Möbius prepared himself to face his greatest challenge yet… women.

    When Möbius returned to his room, he found all three girls already fast asleep.

    “They must be exhausted from today,” Möbius smiled at the three girls who had spent the entire day catching shrimp, crabs, and fish, and battling Bust. It was only natural they’d doze off. The only problem now was where he would sleep, as the bed was full. But Möbius wasn’t one to fuss over such things. He found a spare blanket in the hotel wardrobe, dragged it next to the bed, and lay down on the floor. After all, he was just as tired as the three women.