Tilly and I lay relaxing with each other in one of the cave's honeycomb outlets. After we had kissed and rubbed noses, which was beyond cute, we slid down the wall.
"Do you think any of these tunnels lead anywhere else? I asked Tilly, running my hands through her hair as she lay on my shoulder.
Tilly peered down the tunnel we lay in and then looked across to the other side before speaking.
"Each tunnel is only fifteen meters deep with holes that look like they go up to the other tunnels."
"Really? You can see that well? I can't even see the end of the one we're in!" I exclaimed.
"Well, It's cuz I'm a Cat-Kin, yeah know," Tilly buried her face into my neck, and her ears and whiskers tickled my face, making me laugh.
"Alright, Alright, we better get up and look around. I also think we need to get back and check on the girls. I'm worried about turning up your power for that short time," I told Tilly as I pulled away from her.
"Hmph, I guess you're right," Tilly pouted as I helped her up.
I patted her on the head as we walked to the center of the cave and asked her, "do you see any open paths?"
Tilly looked around and then pointed to the left of the tunnel ahead of them. We both walked in that direction for about fifteen minutes in the soft green glow of Lumimoss. The glowing stuff seemed to be a demon dungeon signature trademark.
At the end of the tunnel was a small room filled with Lumimoss and a copper chest. We both approached the chest, but I stopped short and pushed Tilly towards it. She turned back to me with a puzzled look on her face. It was a cute face that made me smile.
"How many treasure chests have you got to open?" I asked.
"Well, none, but," Tilly tried to argue, but I put up my hand.
"Please, Kitty, I want you to have all that's in this one. It's only a bronze chest, so there shouldn't be a lot of items inside, so it would be hard to split."
I saw Tilly's ears, and tail twitch when I said that pet name, but my reasoning also helped to win her over.
"Alright, then Darling, if you insist. You still have to get excited if I find something cool," Tilly laughed, using the pet name she gave me and turned to the chest.
"wait!" I called, jogging over to her.
"Hmm?"
"I have my SELFLESS HERO Skill, so if I help you open the chest, you will have a better chance of getting something better. Just put your hand on top of mine."
"Mmm, that's a good idea," but when Tilly put her hand over mine on the chest, a purple screen with flashing text appeared, and I heard Tilly gasps in astonishment beside me.
SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP EVENT ACTIVATED
Special +80 Connected RELATIONSHIP bonus awards random epic items for each partner involved!
The chest in front of us began to shake and changed a kaleidoscope of colors. Both of us stepped back and looked at each other.
"Did you get that message?" I called loudly over the violent chest to Tilly no more than a meter apart from me.
In response, she smiled broadly, showing her sharp incisors to me, and walked over, taking my hand and getting close.
"We are connected now," Tilly purred to me, rubbing into my arm.
"That's all you read?" I tried to sound indignant, but Tilly kissed my cheek and then dragged me back to the now white treasure chest.
"I wonder what you're going to get?" I mused.
"Help me open it since it was your idea to do it together," Tilly half accused me, giggling.
I leaned forward to help her open it, but as soon as both our hands touched it again, it burst open with confetti. We both jumped back but then started laughing together. Then two purple boxes with bold text above them appeared.
RANDOM R-FUSION-TYPE EQUIPMENT
Before either of us could question what any of that meant, the boxes began to spin like slot machines. The images flew by too fast for me to see, but I wondered if Tilly, with her improved eyesight, would be able to identify anything. Suddenly, both boxes stop one after another, making an audible noise as they did.
THUNK, THUNK
Both of us stepped forward together to examine the images in the boxes. On Tilly's side, it was a picture of a massive hammer with a curved spike on one side and a flat head on the other. Interestingly enough, It was silver, except for the white tip of the spike.
"I think it suits you," I said as I patted Tilly's head and looked at her ears.
When Tilly touched the floating box, a gigantic two-meter tall silver great hammer appeared. I gaped as Tilly effortlessly grabbed it out of the air and stepped back a couple of steps, and turned away to try her new toy out. I stepped back to let Tilly have some room while she spun her new hammer like a baton.
While Tilly enjoyed herself, I crept closer to my box and examined the item I got. The image in the box was of a silver shield. The metal plates overlapped and seemed to weave together, so I decided to take it out and take a look at it closer.
I touched the box and what looked like a smooth silver bracer fell out. I caught it awkwardly, looking at it a bit mystified, considering I was expecting a shield of some sort. I could see Tilly out of the corner of my eye jumping around the ten-meter-wide room and decided to be a good sport and slipped on the weird metal bracer.
I felt weird pulling it on because it felt and acted like a cloth armband, but when I knocked on it, I could hear a metallic sound. Tilly's voice brought me out of my thoughts.
"Watch out!" Tilly cried as a wave of earth spikes rushed towards me.
They came so fast, so all I could do is put up my arms rather than try to dodge and get skewered. Suddenly, thread flew from my new armband that spread into thin plates. They formed a half-cocoon around me, and I felt a slight impact as the rocks crashed into the shield.
Once the impacts stopped, the immovable shield unwove itself and pulled the threads back into place. Tilly had dropped her hammer and was running over to me, crying. She rushed to me and grabbed my shoulder with tear-filled eyes.
"Are you ok?" Tilly asked me this in a choked and quiet voice as she scanned me over.
"I'm one-hundred percent fine, Tilly. You didn't hurt me at all. This shield I got comes in handy for your hyper moments," I laughed, getting up and putting my hand on Tilly's cheek.
She leaned into my hand, putting her own over top of mine, pressing it to her face more. "I could have killed you because I was reckless, and with the power, you gave me," Tilly's voice was small, and she looked away from me as she spoke.
I used my other hand to turn her head back, and I stepped closer. Our eyes met, and I wiped the tears from her eyes. Tilly leaned into me, and I pulled her head to my shoulder, then wrapped my arms around her.
We stayed like that for a while, Tilly's tail entwining between our legs, but then she "hmm?" like noise. We pulled apart, but Tilly was still looking behind me. I turned around, and after looking hard, I noticed what she had seen.
A large crack had formed in the wall, but there seemed to be a space behind it. I turned back to Tilly, but she was already walking to pick up her new hammer. I didn't need to ask what was about to happen, so I scrambled back to get behind Tilly.
"Tehehe," Tilly giggled as I scrambled around her.
"Haha," I laugh dryly, giving Tilly a tickling squeeze at her waist.
Tilly whirled on me after jumping and letting out a girlish squeal. She still had the hammer in hand as she turned, so I backed up, throwing my hands up.
"Woah, Kitty! Just jokes, just jokes!" I wave my hands in surrender as I plead with her.
She gave me an adorable pouting face and turned back to the crack in question. The massive silver sledge whipped through the air, pulverizing the section of the wall around the rift. After the dust cleared, I stepped up beside Tilly.
"Very impressive, my Kitty!" I say with excitement as I run my hand through her hair.
Turning to me, Tilly gives me a wide smile.
"Thank you, Darling. Let's get going through. I bet the other girls are already back."
"Lead the way. Your eyes will be better."
The tunnel was smaller than the other ones we had walked through before, so much that we both had to walk hunched. This area must have been here before the snake demon because only the two smaller ones could have fit. The tunnel started to angle down, and our favorite Lumimoss started appearing to light the way.
The tunnel angled down for twenty meters and then flatten out again for another thirty meters. We arrived in a cave that was so big that even with the Lumimoss crawling up the wall, I couldn't see the ceiling. I turned to see Tilly looking around like I was, but then we both froze from the sound of a deep and echoing syrupy hiss from above.
"So, You found my lair."
The voice belonged to a titanic silver snake that crawled down the wall. Its body was over six meters thick with a head the size of a rock truck. As it coiled onto the ground, Tilly and I were frozen, unable to move.
The presence this demon projected was so oppressive that I had to fight to keep conscious. Tilly stumbled and gripped my arm, using me for support. I looked up at the snake with one eye partially squinting.
The pile of coils was like flexible skyscrapers turned sideways. We were ants beneath this god-like creature, nothing we could do but to try and hold on. The only problem was I didn't know what I was waiting for, but then it came. The pressure released, and the god snake spoke again in that deep sultry hiss.
"Sorry, you know, it's been a while since I have had guests."
"We are guests?" I questioned warily.
"Of course, you killed that slippery vixen and her brat children, did you not?"
"Yeah, I guess so, but what does that mean for you?"
"It means I can stop constantly waiting for revenge. That legless lizard and her vile spawn trapped me down here long ago, and even now that they are gone, I can still never leave."
"Awe," Tilly cried, dropping her hammer and pulled away from me, running to the huge snake's coils. "That must have been awful! I must have been pretty lonely!"
"Hmm? What is this little one? A Cat-kin?"
"Mhm!"
"Well, since I can finally sleep, I will offer you a reward that is rare and unique. My name is Greshaha, The Stainless Demon Snake."
With that, he tore ten scales the size of dinner plates and as thick as my hand. The scales were like a mirror up close. Tilly put them into her inventory because she was the best person to have them.
"Thank you for this gift," I spoke to the snake.
"I thank you for being the knife that sliced through my revenge so I can rest in peace now. Take these scales to forge masterpieces, young Cat-Kin. I can sense your potential. Finally, here is the door to leave."
A door appeared in the wall far to our left, and the massive silver snake crawled into the shadows.