Not long after Jora went in, a series of clangs and bangs rang out from inside. Moments later, Jora came scrambling back out, panic written all over his face, muttering, "Too terrifying... way too terrifying."
"What kind of monster is in there? No matter how I hack at it, I can't cut through." The second he spotted Bai Chuan, Jora started complaining.
"That's exactly why I made it your training target. If I let you breeze past that easily, would it still count as training?"
Bai Chuan said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He was a bit surprised himself—Jora had actually been completely helpless against that centipede. It couldn't help but pique his own interest.
"I'm going in to try too." Seeing Jora fail, Yuristine's interest was sparked as well. His strength was roughly on par with Jora's. He wanted to see for himself just how terrifying this thing Jora had described really was.
"I'll go with you," Salar said.
"Me too," Abro chimed in.
Since Jora alone couldn't beat it, fighting solo was clearly not going to work for them either.
"Mm." The three of them lined up and walked into the cave together.
"Captain, I'll bet you they come out in less than ten minutes."
Watching their retreating backs, Jora declared with absolute confidence.
"Is that so? What are we betting?"
"Washing each other's socks. How about that?"
Hearing the stakes, Bai Chuan let out a light chuckle and said, "You really do know how to scheme, don't you."
Any clothes Bai Chuan wore seemed as if enchanted. Even if he were to fall into a pig manure pit, he'd still emerge spotless and pristine.
Jora, on the other hand, was a different story. Training every day, sweating buckets—the moment he took off his boots, his feet gave off such a... distinct aroma that a single spark might just set him ablaze.
"Heh heh." Having his scheme seen straight through by Bai Chuan, Jora laughed a little sheepishly.
"Fine, we'll bet on the socks. If they come out within ten minutes, I'll give you a month's worth of my socks. If they come out after ten minutes, you wash my socks for a month."
"No problem."
Jora already felt like he'd won. His mind was practically tallying up how many pairs of socks he'd saved up recently, and whether handing them all over to the captain to wash might be a tad unfair or something.
A faint smile also tugged at the corner of Bai Chuan's lips. No matter how he thought about it, he was absolutely certain he'd win this bet. Jora himself had only lasted about five minutes inside the cave. Bai Chuan believed that the three of them holding out for ten minutes should be more than enough.
Soon, the sounds of battle began echoing from the cave.
There were thud, thud, thud sounds—that had to be Abro's axe slamming into the centipede's body.
Then came bang, crack, bang, crack—if Bai Chuan wasn't mistaken, that was Yuristine firing his gun, bullets striking the centipede.
Right after that, shing, shing, shing sounds followed—most likely Salar's kitchen knives scraping against the centipede's carapace.
"Seems like this centipede's defense is pretty formidable."
Bai Chuan couldn't see it with his own eyes, but he could tell from the noise alone that fighting in there was no easy task.
"That's right. That beast's greatest strength is its defense. Its attack power isn't too high. The only other thing worth watching out for is the poison it releases."
This time it was Dorry explaining to Bai Chuan. The two of them had already clashed with this centipede several times, so naturally they were very familiar with it.
Nine minutes passed in no time, and Yuristine's group still showed no sign of coming out.
"Jora, just get ready to wash my socks."
"Hmph, we'll see about that," Jora retorted stubbornly, but his clenched fists made it clear he was nowhere near as calm as he pretended to be.
"Ten, nine, eight, seven..." Bai Chuan had already started the countdown.
"Wait, they're coming out!" Just at that moment, Jora suddenly pointed ahead, eyes wide, shouting.
"I won! He won!" he was cheering inwardly. Only five seconds left—they were finally going to come out!
Just then, Bai Chuan silently drew his blade and sent a flying slash straight behind them.
The slash struck the centipede pursuing them, halting their movements for just a second or two.
And it was those one or two seconds that sealed Jora's defeat.
"Hey, Captain! You cheated!"
Jora shouted at Bai Chuan, absolutely indignant. How could he do that? How could he wound my pure, innocent heart like this?
"Cheat? I didn't cheat. I simply saw my crewmates in danger and stepped in to save them. Jora, you wouldn't happen to be a sore loser, would you?"
Bai Chuan shot him a look of feigned suspicion.
"Who said that? Who says I'm a sore loser? A bet's a bet. I'll wash them, fine. Hmph."
But even as he said it, he still found Bai Chuan's cheating utterly disgraceful.
"I have an announcement to make—good news for everyone," Bai Chuan suddenly called out to the others.
"What good news, Captain?" Yuristine, seeing the frustrated look on Jora's face, immediately knew it was about him.
"From now on, for the next month, Jora will be washing everyone's socks free of charge. Everyone, a round of applause—let's celebrate, and also celebrate Jora's noble and lofty character!"
"Alright!" Sparse but genuine applause trickled from their hands.
"Hey! Since when did I say I'd wash theirs? Captain, I only said I'd wash yours."
"Oh, is that so? Well then, everyone, just hand your socks over to me, and I'll pass them along to Jora."
"Captain—you... you... you're pushing it way too far!"
Jora pointed at Bai Chuan, his voice seething with fury.
"This bet wasn't my idea, you know. You proposed it yourself."
Then everyone burst into hearty laughter. Bai Chuan went on to explain what the bet had been about and what the stakes were.
"Jora, the whole point of this is to teach you—stay away from gambling. Otherwise, you're just helping everyone else at your own expense."
Yuristine walked over to Jora, patted him on the shoulder, and spoke with heartfelt gravity.
"Get lost." Jora swatted his hand away. Can't you see I'm in a foul mood right now?
"Hahaha." Yuristine just laughed a couple more times.
Right at that moment, they all sensed it—the thing inside the cave seemed like it was about to come out.
"Looks like our two waves of disturbance have thoroughly pissed it off."
Everyone's joking expressions vanished.
"All of you stand back for now. I've been wanting to test its strength myself anyway."
After watching Jora, Yuristine, and the others fight earlier, Bai Chuan's hands had long been itching for action.
"Alright, Captain, it's all yours."
The group then retreated together, pulling back about three or four hundred meters.
"I forgot to mention, Captain—its size is absolutely massive!"
Even as he ran, Yuristine made sure to turn back and warn Bai Chuan.
"Don't worry. I've got a handle on it."
/-\
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