Bet

"Huu…"

Des stood at the mouth of the cave, his slightly long brown hair dancing as a result of the updraft as he stared down.

The cold wind poured on his naked body, and his cloak danced around as he remained in his position—completely motionless.

Having done this for two years now, he wasn't particularly fazed by yet another morning of training. He had hoped that this special day would be a break from the usual monotonous schedule he had grown used to, but Eve was having none of that.

'I even begged so much, but…' He turned a little and looked at the imposing figure of Eve that watched him from behind.

A single glare from her told him none of his pleas would work.

The only real way out was to finish the task as flawlessly as possible, and then continue with everything as quickly as he could.

'If I finish early, I should have some time for myself.' Des thought to himself.

Of course, this was only going to be possible if Eve didn't add even more work for him to do after completing his usual tasks faster than usual.

'What the hell am I even thinking? This is my birthday, right? Things should be different…' 

"Hey, Eve! Why don't we make a bet?"

"Hm? A bet?" She raised her brow as she stared at him with a certain look of suspicion.

It seemed she had already caught on to the fact that he somehow found a way to ensure he slacked off on his birthday, so her guard was up a little.

Des was not going to back down just yet, though.

"Yeah. I'll complete this whole thing in half the time I normally use. If I do that, I get to have the rest of the day off. How's that?" 

"Half the time? Really?"

"Yeah! What do you say to that?" He smiled fearlessly.

Of course, he also realized how absurd his proposition was. Every single Horror down there—from the Bats to the Centipede—had to be handled in specific ways that would be time consuming, no matter how he went about it.

Halving the time necessary for all that was going to greatly compromise his usual tactic.

"Aren't you being a little too desperate?" Eve sighed as she stared at him with skeptical eyes.

He expected this much.

However…

'I have no intention of losing. This bet… this scenario… I wouldn't have brought it about if I didn't have a way.'

Yes, his usual strategy wouldn't make this viable, which was why he would be relying on a slightly different approach. And as for his capabilities—all of which had to be taken into account for the time frame—he had a workaround.

All he needed was for Eve to agree to this bet, and he would show her.

"Fine then." Her skepticism instantly vanished, and she raised both hands in surrender, smiling widely at him.

"I accept your bet."

Upon hearing this, Des nearly jumped for joy, but he controlled himself and cleared his throat.

"Hehe! You better not eat your words by the time I'm done!"

"I won't."

They both stared at each other in silence for a bit, then Des began to take steps back… his eyes still on Eve. As he took more steps back, he approached the steep cliff that would send him falling down.

He embraced the thrill, felt the updraft for a little longer, inhaled deeply and flashed one final smile… before finally initiating his descent.

~WHUUSH!~

As Des fell, his cloak flapped, dancing with the wind, as he perfectly coordinated his body so that it completely absorbed the pressure of the chilly air around him.

'Alright, Des… let's do this!'

"SKRIIIIAAAAKKK!!!" The loud howls of the Bat Horrors, accompanied by the flapping of their wings, violently echoed in the air as soon as Des completed his thoughts.

Just as he expected, they were charging towards him at breakneck speed.

Normally, he would deal with them by distracting them with loud explosions, making sure they remained as high as possible, while boosting himself down even more so he perfectly escaped any of their attacks.

This was usually the easiest and fastest level to clear, and he had done this so many times that he could probably do it in his sleep.

However, at this moment, Des had a much different approach.

~WHUUUM!~

Rather than waste the few seconds that would normally be spent on the Bat Horrors, he kicked the air above and propelled himself downward, further increasing the speed of his descent.

At this point, the air hissed—which was accompanied by the horde of Bats silencing the rushing winds as they flocked towards their prey.

Des was calm through it all, though.

They closed in—mere inches from him—yet he continued with his descent, absolutely unbothered by these creatures that could completely devour anyone in a second if they were to surround them.

Then… as soon as they reached a hair's breadth from him, already circling around him to begin their feast, he stuck two stones together.

~ZZZTZZZZZZ!!!!~

That very instant, a burst of electricity flowed through Des' body, spreading out as far as it could through the horde of Bat Horrors that currently filled his vicinity.

Within a mere moment, all of them were fried beyond recognition, with the loud echoes of electrical currents paralyzing them while the jolts of the whitish blue charges burned them to crisps.

—All of this while Des was still descending.

The smell of roasted Horrors was easily dispersed thanks to the rush of wind, so no lasting aroma tainted the cool breeze around him.

Before long, even the corpses of his adversaries were scattered by the winds, and only Des continued his descent to the ground—now close to the ground, signifying the start of his second phase.

'Now then…' He had managed to save a few seconds here, but this was usually the most time-consuming part of his entire training.

Des kicked the air multiple times, due to his velocity, allowing him to slow down enough to land softly on the ground.

Once his feet met the cold ground beneath him, he felt a slight shiver course through his body, but all of that was soon eliminated once he feasted his eyes on the hundreds of Worm Horrors that littered the area around him.

He intentionally landed amidst them, so all of them were already moving towards him like the predictable vermin that they were.

'... Let's finish this in one shot.'

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[A/N]

Thanks for reading!

Sorry for the delay in upload. I know a few were worried that I dropped this, but don't worry…

I am still here.