Chapter 6

    Two Tigers in the Same Cave

    "Miho, help, I can't shoot fast enough."

    Möbius asked for help from his partner, who had returned to her fox form, as a large group of monsters marched towards him.

    (Crouch down, Möbius)

    The fox girl immediately intervened in the fight, wondering why there were so many monsters. She hadn't seen such a large number on her way here, but now there was no time to think. Gumiho unleashed a burst of fire from her golden tail at the group of monsters in front of Möbius.

    The large amount of fire that came out of the fox girl's tail burned down a large group of monsters in front of Möbius, giving him time to reload and catch his breath. Now, in this part of the Cave of Fate, it was just him and Gumiho, but the monsters kept increasing. Although they moved slowly, their numbers were sufficient that there was no space left in the passage in front of him, forcing him to periodically seek help from his partner.

    Möbius guessed that it might be because it was nearly midnight, which was why these monsters were coming out in unusual numbers. Fortunately, there was a chamber ahead that offered a place to rest. Möbius ran forward, shooting to clear a path for himself and his partner to the next resting place.

    "Thanks, Miho."

    Möbius, now heavily panting, seated on a large rock, slowly reloading his gun. He turned to thank the fox girl who had helped him several times before reaching this rest area.

    (It's okay~ If something happened to you, I’ll be in trouble too. A boxed lunch must be preserved well. Mom would be really happy that I’m bringing someone as tasty as you back. But when I came here earlier, there weren't this many monsters, and I feel like the ones up ahead might be even stronger.)

    Gumiho candidly shared her thoughts with a cheerful expression, then her face turned slightly more serious as she detected an unusual scent. It was the pungent odor of a predator that shouldn't exist in this cave.

    Meanwhile, the young man sighed, unsure if he was lucky or unlucky that Gumiho didn't eat him but intended to present him to her mother instead. He then sat checking his weapons and set up a tent designed for two.

    "Don't worry, Miho. We're at level 17 now, and we've got plenty of supplies. If you don't count the overwhelming number of monsters, why not come into the tent first?"

    Möbius signaled for the fox girl to join him in the newly erected tent, which she did because she hated sleeping on the cold, hard ground. Despite the large form of a nine-tailed golden fox making the tent seem cramped, she laid her head on his lap to prevent him from escaping.

    (How much ammo do you have left? There are no shops in the Illusion Forest.)

    Gumiho lay on the young man's lap and asked with concern because if they ran out of bullets, Möbius would only be able to fend off the monsters with his gun. After a while, she felt something gently stroking her tail.

    "Don't worry, Miho. We still have seven thousand bullets for the machine gun and three hundred for the shotgun. It should last us quite a while."

    Möbius picked up a wooden comb he had bought from the market and began grooming Gumiho's tail, not mentioning his concern about the durability of the shotgun, which might not last long enough to fire the remaining bullets. Although the fox girl was intent on taking him to her mother to eat, he wasn't afraid at all, believing her mother must be as nice as her.

    (Hehe... It feels so good. What are you doing, Möbius?)

    Gumiho turned to see a wooden comb in Möbius's hand, gently brushing the fur on her back. The fox girl let Möbius continue, before falling asleep from the exhaustion of their journey. Seeing Gumiho asleep, Möbius sat pondering how to improve the reloading of his Thompson and the durability of his shotgun, before falling asleep himself.

    'Mr. Möbius, your affinity level with partnership has increased to 45/100.'

    The next morning,

    Möbius woke up to strange clanging sounds outside the tent where he was sleeping. Not finding the fox girl next to him, he stepped out of the tent to see where the sound was coming from.

    "Good morning, Möbius. Eat first. It should be edible by now."

    The fox, now in her beautiful human form, was cooking what she thought to be porridge from the rice that Möbius had bought before entering the cave. One hand stirred the porridge, the other intermittently lifted a bottle of blue potion to her lips, then poured the rest into the pot until the bottle was empty. After stirring for a while, she served some porridge into a bowl for Möbius.

    "Uh, thanks, Miho..."

    Still groggy, Möbius took the porridge from her hands before looking down at it. It would have been great to have a beautiful girl make breakfast for him. And this morning would have been a wonderful one if the porridge in his bowl wasn't green with red, white-spotted mushrooms floating all over it.

    "I got up and tried making this porridge—it's for relieving fatigue and also boosts magical power. I added mushrooms to increase its nutritional value, and it's made from bone broth too."

    The fox girl said proudly, while Möbius instantly guessed what the ingredients of this so-called porridge were. He could only look at the porridge in his hand, blinking.

    "Aren't you eating with me, Miho?"

    Möbius tried to stall for time, hoping to preserve his life a little longer before getting a response.

    "What kind of fox eats regular food? Besides sweets, I only eat meat."

    Miho shook her head. Now, nothing stood between him and the exciting green porridge adorned with red-spotted mushrooms. Möbius thought to himself that from now on, he would never sleep in late again—at least he should wake up before Gumiho, and he braced himself to eat the porridge.

    Hmm... it doesn’t taste like porridge at all. He thought it tasted more like a bizarre mix of pineapples and blueberries, blended with fragrant mushrooms in bone broth. Möbius silently thanked the system that made this meal somewhat edible.

    "How is it? Tasty, right?"

    The beautiful fox girl tilted her head cutely. Möbius, who was now quickly eating the porridge before the fox girl could try the porridge she made.

    "Um, it's quite good~~"

    The fox girl smiled as she scooped some porridge into a large bowl and sat down to eat beside Möbius.

    "What happened to only eating meat besides sweets?"

    Möbius asked Gumiho because he doesn't want anything to happen to her. If it was just him committing suicide and being born again, his suffering would be gone. However, he then received an unexpected response.

    "This counts as a dessert, so it's not really meat and can be eaten. As for the meat, well, it's right here eating porridge with me."

    The fox girl answered, grinning mischievously at him, making Möbius quickly finish his food in his hands, ready to continue their journey, as he didn't know what might happen next if he was late.

    "Miho, how much further until we get there? What's ahead?"

    Möbius engaged in conversation with his partner after finishing their meal. The fox girl closed her eyes and sniffed the air before turning to Möbius and saying,

    "We're almost there. It seems like the cave is getting narrower," which was good news for Möbius.

    "But it looks like there might be something quite tough ahead, so we need to be cautious."

    That was also very bad news for Möbius. The Cave of Fate truly led those who entered it to the exits they hoped for, but some exits that were not cities were guarded by bosses, as if warning players to choose another path, a fact unknown to Möbius. As he stood up to continue their journey, a system notification sounded:

    'You and your partner have acquired Level 5 poison resistance.'

    Möbius paused immediately, pondering. The food they had just consumed was poisoned with Level 5 toxicity? Since neither he nor Gumiho were affected at all, it was considered a mercy from the fairness of the system. Then he followed the fox girl to continue the journey.

    The sound of gunfire echoed all along the way that Möbius walked through today, as if it were truly his lucky day. Whether it was a lucky shot hitting more often than usual, monsters appearing in just the right numbers—not too few or too many— or money and items were dropping in abundance. By now, he had surpassed the monsters in the cave in terms of level.

    Today Möbius had advanced to level 18, while Gumiho remained at level 30. The path ahead was getting brighter, signaling the approach to an exit, as Möbius walked toward a room about half the size of the room they had rested in. But just as his foot was about to step into the room, Miho transformed into a fox and grabbed his collar.

    (Be careful, Möbius.)

    The fox, with her sharper senses than Möbius, grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him back from where he stood, just as the sound of a monster echoed.

    "Roar...!!!"

    In front of Möbius, yellow eyes that glowed in the dark emerged from a gap between two rocks on the right before the owner, a fully-grown red tiger with yellow flame patterns all over its body, stepped out, its roar echoing through the cave, causing Möbius to wince.

    "I think we can handle this."

    Möbius muttered to himself, as the tiger in front of him didn’t seem any stronger than the tusked boar he had previously fought, and now that he was level 18, well-armed, and with Gumiho ready to fight, it seemed manageable. Nevertheless, things were not going to be easy because…

    "Roar...!!!"

    The same scene replayed, but this time on the left—a tiger similar to the one on the right, but with yellow fur and red flame patterns, emerged from the rock gap on the left.

    'You have encountered a pair of Flame Patterned Tigers, Level 30 mini-boss monsters.'

    "Still manageable... maybe?"

    Möbius hadn't expected that two such tigers could exist together in the same cave. One was already bad enough, but two? Could they handle them? It made sense why everything had gone so smoothly all day; the system's sense of justice was playing a heavy hand with him.

    Now, the two tigers in the middle of the room were slowly advancing towards Möbius and Gumiho, who was in her fox form. The glow in their eyes intensified as they spotted their favored prey. Realizing that he couldn't overcome this enemy with brute force alone, the young man quickly formulated a plan. Despite the high risk of his strategy, he had no other choice in this critical moment. Möbius immediately communicated the plan telepathically to the female fox beside him.

    Gumiho, upon hearing Möbius's plan, nodded in agreement to the plan maker in this place. In this situation, his strategy was indeed the best approach. Fortunately, today she didn’t have to breathe fire to assist Möbius, so her energy remained fully intact.

    Möbius quickly opened the status windows for both him and his partner to check their conditions.

    Window: Status (Summary)

     Name

     Möbius

     Level, Profession

     18, Gunslinger

     Health, Magic Power

     650/650,280/280

    Partner Window

     Name, Species

     Gumiho, ???

     (Celestial Fox)

     Level, Age

    30 , 183 years

     Health, Magic Power

     2500/2500, 1500/1500

     Relationship Level

    45/100

    "Now!!"

    Möbius shouted loudly and began to run quickly towards the right wall of the cave, while the fox girl sprinted along the left wall simultaneously. The two tigers only looked at each other for a moment before splitting up to chase their respective prey, one-on-one.

    Möbius found his side quite challenging, as monsters of this type are incredibly fast, forcing him to pull out a regular pistol that he seldom used. He fired randomly at the yellow tiger, his partner's adversary, because it was the only firearm that didn’t slow him down while holding it. In a fight where evasion was key, speed was what decided life and death.

    "Arrgh...!"

    45 (Critical hit from the ability)

    A bullet from the regular pistol hit the yellow tiger with his lucky shot, causing the tiger roar in pain and significantly reducing its running speed because the bullet hit its thigh. Möbius seized this opportunity to sprint as fast as he could to increase the distance from the yellow tiger before taking cover behind a rock about waist-high. He then propped his Thompson gun on the rock to stabilize and improve accuracy and unloaded bullets at the approaching yellow tiger relentlessly.

    The yellow tiger, running towards him, couldn’t dodge the numerous bullets fired from Möbius’s gun as Möbius had thought, allowing the young man to manage to inflict some damage to the tiger. But what he didn’t expect was that the tiger didn’t slow down at all. It endured the pain, closed the distance to Möbius, who was momentarily stunned, and prepared its claws for an attack.

    200 (Remaining 400/650)

    "Ouch...!!!"

    Möbius screamed in pain when the large tiger clawed him, leaving three deep, long gashes across his chest. Although he was in severe pain, he knew that of he just let this happen, he would be fatally wounded again for sure. Möbius clenched his teeth, pulled out his nearly shattered shotgun, and fired directly at the mini-boss in front of him.

    At such close range, the shotgun pellets from the shotgun, 8 out of the 12 steel pellets in the red cartridge, hit their target easily. The yellow tiger was blown backwards by the force of the shotgun blast. Möbius, having a moment to breathe, quickly looked for what he needed to ensure his plan worked. He switched to his Thompson, hurriedly reloading it.

    The fox girl's side was doing better than Möbius's since her level matched that of the red tiger, her adversary. Moreover, the tiger resembled a large cat, and when faced with Gumiho, akin to a large dog, neither would yield, making their cat-and-dog fight far more intense than Möbius's side.

    200

    The damage numbers appeared above the yellow tiger that lunged at the golden fox swiftly but encountered a barrage of golden spears from Gumiho's tail. With the red tiger's high agility, it dodged at the last second, yet the golden tail still managed to graze and leave a long wound on the red tiger.

    150 (Remaining 2850/3000)

    The red tiger, willing to endure pain to close in on the large golden fox, did not let this opportunity slip and countered with its sharp claws, scratching the side of the golden fox, leaving wounds. Fortunately, Gumiho dodged in time, so the wound wasn't deep.

    Even though both the red tiger and the golden gumiho were at level 30, Gumiho, fundamentally being a magical creature, was not adept at close combat. Additionally, as an ultra-rare monster, she had relatively low health compared to the mini-boss level tiger facing her.

    But since Gumiho was from a high-class lineage, she could hold her own, though not for long as the difference in close combat experience soon began to show. Gumiho was struck by the red tiger’s claws in the midsection once again.

    300 (Remaining 2550/3000)

    The fox girl, thrown against the cave wall by the red tiger's claws, was fortunate to brace for the impact, preventing her from being dazed but still unable to stand. The red tiger that chased after her lunged in with its claws, aiming to inflict several wounds on the prone fox.

    Suddenly, a barrage of bullets halted it in its tracks, accompanied by the young man's shouting,

    "Over here, you color-faded tiger."

    Having found what he needed for his plan, Möbius had to stop firing at the yellow tiger in front of him to shoot at the red tiger, helping Gumiho to avoid further danger. However, this action cost him blood.

    300 (Remaining 150/650)

    Möbius’s adversary, the yellow tiger, now unhampered by annoying gunfire, seized the chance to attack its prey with its claws, sending the young man crashing into a wall in an open area with no rocks to hide behind. This meant he had no place to dodge or hide anymore.

    The red tiger, angered by the interruption during its play with its prey, joined its yellow sibling to deal with the annoying little one before returning to the golden fox, who was still struggling to stand.

    “Hah, hah..."

    Now standing, Möbius tried to press himself against the wall as much as possible. The yellow and red tigers slowly approached, their eyes filled with a sense of power and impending victory. As for Möbius, he was smiling. That's right, he was really smiling.

    "Almost died getting the plan to work, huh?"

    The cornered young man smiled as the two tigers felt the heat from a sudden burst coming at them from the side. Before they knew it, both mini-boss tigers were struck by a blast of golden light from the side, simultaneously hit by Gumiho's deadly final move.

    'Nine Penetrating Heavenly Fox Flames.'

    4500 (Critical hit from an attack by an unaware target)2500 (Critical hit from an attack by an unaware target)

    This was Möbius's plan: "One beam, hit two tigers." He began by running around to find a clear area without any rocks to ensure nothing would block Gumiho's beam. Then, Möbius lured both tigers to attack him by leaning against the wall, forcing them to line up directly in front of him.

    Meanwhile, Gumiho, pretending to be unable to get up, was actually gathering magical power for her finishing move. With an unsuspecting attack, it would guarantee a 100% critical hit, meaning it would be 1.5 times more powerful than usual. His plan was nearly perfect, but he forgot one detail: both tigers were named "Flame Patterned Tigers." Using a fire elemental finishing move against fire element monsters probably wouldn’t be very effective.

    The two tigers, thrown against the opposite wall, got up in a battered state comparable to Möbius's, moaning in pain. Their bodies were covered with burn marks, especially the red tiger, which was closer to Gumiho and thus more severely burnt than the yellow tiger.

    Shortly, both tigers stood up to gather their last bit of strength for an attack, determined to trade their lives with Möbius and Gumiho.

    Möbius quickly grabbed a red potion to drink and ran towards the fox girl to regroup, while Gumiho also ran towards him. However, the tigers were much faster than Möbius at this point, as they were ready to make a life-for-life exchange. Seeing that the yellow tiger would reach him first, he threw a blue and yellow potion to Gumiho, who had just run up.

    As Möbius turned back, the yellow tiger, not severely wounded, was already upon him. It raised its claws, ready to deliver a devastating blow to Möbius, aiming to finish him in one strike. But Möbius, not easily defeated, immediately used his last-resort move.

    ‘Hands of Möbius, White Hole, Long Sword’

    Möbius unleashed a long sword with 100 units of magical power, hoping to hear the sword pierce the yellow tiger to send it flying. He intended to then collaborate with Gumiho to finish off the nearly dead red tiger, but...

    The highly alert yellow tiger, already wary, switched its claw target to the long sword, and when the long claws clashed with the blade, the steel sword broke instantly. However, this managed to extend Möbius’s life for a little while longer.

    Gumiho, who caught the two bottles of potion with her tail, quickly uncorked them with her free tail and drank down the blue and yellow liquids to prepare for the imminent threat.

    The red tiger, racing past Möbius in a bid to buy time for the yellow tiger to kill Möbius first, charged at the fox with all its might. Gumiho slid to the right to dodge the incoming red tiger, then spun to the left, using all nine of her tails to strike it from behind.

    500

    The red tiger, struck by the combined force of Gumiho’s tails and its own momentum, crashed into the wall behind her with great force. She turned to survey the result of her attack but forgot that she had also turned her back to the yellow tiger.

    The yellow tiger did not let this golden opportunity slip away. It immediately gathered all its power into its fangs, glowing red and emitting heat, which even Möbius could feel nearby, signaling the danger of the move.

    The young man, despite witnessing the scene, was unable to run to the fox's aid, who had her back turned to the yellow tiger. His feelings told him that if Gumiho were struck by this attack from behind, she might die.

    Thump! Thump!

    His heart pounded faster and harder, adrenaline coursing through his body, all his five senses heightened, his brain working at full speed. If one could become stronger to protect something precious, now was the time for him to become formidable to protect his dearest Gumiho.

    "No matter how powerful you are, or what you are, you have no right to harm what is precious to me."

    Möbius declared, extending his right hand forward while bracing it with his left. His eyes, full of determination, were fixed on the target in front of him.

    "Even if it costs my life, to protect her, who are so dear to me, I will never regret it"

    His right hand glowed with a brilliant white light, but the light did not hinder his vision in the least, as it came from his own heart's desire to protect what was dear to him.

    ‘Hands of Möbius, White Hole, Shotgun’

    A shotgun blasted from his right hand, faster than the yellow tiger’s approach, as Möbius used almost all of his magical power to fire this long gun.

    "Pay for making my Gumiho bleed with your lives."

    The gun, traveling at high speed accompanied by a brilliant white glow that illuminated the dark cave as if bathed in sunlight, was fired in just a fraction of a second before the butt of the shotgun exited the range of his abilities. He immediately used that ability.

    "Miho, get down."

    Möbius shouted to Gumiho and the fox girl, though she was turned away, heard every word Möbius said. She followed her partner's instructions by crouching low, all nine of her tails lay flat against the ground. Strangely, Möbius’s words seemed to cause her face to flush with heat.

    Gun control + Cool shot.

    The shotgun, now aimed at the yellow tiger's face, seemed to fire by itself due to the Gun control ability. The shotgun pellets, glowing with white light, struck the yellow tiger’s face just as it turned to look back. The nearly broken shotgun then exploded due to its durability hitting zero.

    6000

    The body of the yellow tiger was flung past Gumiho's head, along with the red tiger that had been struck by Gumiho's tails against another wall due to the young man's ability. After using a skill that drained all his magical power, Möbius quickly took a blue potion and used the Hands of Möbius again.

    “Grrr...!!!”

    Despite the severe attack, the yellow tiger was still able to move. Furious, Möbius was determined not to stop until both tigers vanished in a flash of light.

    "Don’t even think you’ll escape. Take this."

    ‘Hands of Möbius, Full Power Shotgun Blast’

    Nearly 300 shotgun pellets clumped together and surrounded the unfortunate tigers like a swarm of red wasps attacking their prey. The fox girl turned and ran towards Möbius as soon as she realized what he was about to do.

    "Miho, I need some fire."

    The female fox unleashed the fire magic she had been gathering, igniting the swarm of bullets as she ran towards Möbius with the highest speed, enhanced by the recoil of the fire magic she had just released.

    The bullets exploded upon contact with the fire. So, what if there were over 300 bullets, each with 12 pellets, and the red and yellow tigers were trapped inside the group of bullets? Mobius would soon have the answer to this question.

    "Die now."

    Möbius turned away from the two tigers and extended his left hand sideways in a finishing move of Cool shot. The frequent explosions from the shotgun pellets inside the yellow tiger exploded, and the red tiger nearby also suffered.

    The golden flames from Miho that struck both tigers that were still not dead and the swarm of bullets the young man had released earlier made all the pellets explode simultaneously.

    The explosion resulted in countless 1 cm diameter metal balls flying around the cave like a swarm of wasps breaking from their nest. Unsurprisingly, the two tigers at the center bore the brunt of it.

    10×1589

    10×1460

    Miho used her tails to grab Möbius's extended arm, pulling him away from the flying metal balls towards the back. They took cover behind a rock, and she transformed into a human to better hide behind the column. In the next split second, the rock on the explosion side was riddled with holes.

    “Möbius, even if we didn’t get hit by the bullets you shot, you were hit by your own. And about what you said earlier, you’re responsible for that, too.”

    Gumiho avoided Möbius's gaze as she spoke these words, even though she herself didn't know what she was feeling.

    "Um... let's see what the tigers dropped."

    The young man suggested, stepping out from behind the rock and quietly speaking to the blushing beauty behind him.

    "I promise, with my life..."

    The room where he fought the two tigers was severely damaged; the walls were embedded with numerous shotgun pellets. The two tigers lay in a large crater created by the explosion, small flames clinging to them before turning into white light and disappearing. Möbius was not sorry to miss tasting the two tigers since he wasn't keen on picking out nearly 1,500 pellets before eating.

    ‘Congratulations, Mr. Möbius, you have successfully eliminated the paired of Flame Patterned Tigers.’

    ‘Mr. Möbius, you have leveled up to level 20.’

    ‘Ms. Gumiho, you have leveled up to level 31.’

    ‘Mr. Möbius, your affinity level with partnership has increased to 55/100.’

    The loot from the tigers included 12,785 reals, two medium-sized Fire Crystals, three small purple energy potions, four small green potions, one level 3 steel armor suit, and a pair of leather shoes with small fangs embedded in the soles. A level 3 red axe, and one level 4 close-combat power-enhancing leather bracelet.

    Primarily, the shoes caught his interest; upon activating their special ability, he discovered they could adhere to objects that the tiger fangs could penetrate, and they increased his running speed by 10%. He immediately put on the shoes.

    He stored the red axe, the steel armor, and the bracelet in his fourth dimension. Meanwhile, the female fox playfully consumed the potions, leaving Möbius to reflect that the only truly useful item he had gotten was the tiger leather shoes. He wondered why the system didn’t drop guns or lighter armor before continuing on their journey, leaving behind the items the system’s justice had imposed on him.