Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 181 Mission: 03-1 Hunter in the Forest
Gifted game name: "Hunter in the Forest"

List of contestants:
【Wild Fire】Aisha Ignefast

【Unnamed】Kasukabe Yo
【Hamel】Nero Fortuna

……

Game rules: There are a lot of traps in the game area. You can eliminate other contestants by making them fall into the traps by any means.

Conditions for a contestant to win: Eliminate all contestants except yourself and persist to the end.

Notes: 1. Each community can only send one contestant; 2. After the game starts, leaving the game area midway will constitute a forfeit and elimination; 3. Game participants must wear a special wristband, which will periodically display the direction of the nearest other contestant; 4. All game participants must wear swimsuits, otherwise they will bear the consequences at their own risk.

Oath: Respecting the above, each community participates in the Gift Game in the name of honor, flag and organizer authority.

【Thousand Eyes】Community Alliance
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When Nero landed in the game venue and saw the contract, he was a little confused.

The rest of the contents in the contract are relatively simple and easy to understand, but what does this "you are responsible for the consequences" mean?

It seems to be saying that if you don't wear a swimsuit, you will be in danger in the game. It is really suspicious and gives people a bad feeling.

But Nero was someone who listened to advice. Since the rules were written down, she would naturally follow them, just like when she listened to Leticia's advice and bought a swimsuit in advance.

She had checked before coming here, and it was just as she'd suspected. If she didn't prepare a swimsuit in advance and rented one from Thousand Eyes, she'd be stuck in a bikini for the entire game. Leticia's reminder was incredibly helpful.

Nero, of course, wasn't planning on wearing a bikini, so she opted for a conservative one-piece swimsuit. Even this was her first time wearing one—Fortuna, though an island, was incredibly conservative, and certainly wouldn't allow young women to engage in something as immoral as swimming outdoors.

Therefore, Nero always felt awkward in his swimsuit.

I can only hope that the game ends soon.

This small game can accommodate between ten and thirty participants, and this time, the number of participants was somewhere in the middle, totaling twenty-two. Interestingly, there were only three male participants, one of whom was still underdeveloped, and the other two looked completely unrecognizable as male. It's unclear if there were some hidden criteria to screen the participants.

Among them was Kasukabe Yō, from [Nameless], whom Nero had met last time. She was wearing a school swimsuit, showing off her short, flat figure. Nero nodded at her from a distance, and received the same response.

Because the rules are similar to a battle royale, the participants must be separated before the game officially begins. The entire game area is a circular area with a diameter of five kilometers, with the registration point as the entrance. Although the area is small, it is a rainforest divided into several areas by numerous narrow rivers, and the terrain is quite complex.

By the way, the game area has a height limit. The highest tree in the area is used as the standard, and if you go beyond this range, it will be considered as leaving. After all, if you keep flying in the sky, you will not fall into the trap.

The game uses this complex terrain to allow contestants to hide themselves and find enemies.

At the start of the game, Nero was randomly sent to a location in the jungle. She immediately hid herself there, carefully observing her surroundings. Because the rule was "falling into a trap means losing," even if Nero was stronger than the other contestants, she could still fail. What she needed to find out most quickly was what exactly this so-called "trap" was.

First find the trap, then find a way to make other contestants fall into it, and repeat this many times until you are the only one left.

That's how this game is won.

"Traps" are deep, sunken holes or pits used to capture wild animals, a fitting reference to the game's title, "Hunter in the Woods." However, these traps aren't meant to capture wild animals, but rather other hunters. If the only traps were sunken holes, then staying grounded in trees or staying within the riverbed would guarantee an escape.

Then, we should also consider the possibility of a "capture net," which, in a broad sense, is also a type of trap.

Are there any other possibilities?

That was all Nero could think of for now. So she began to move, moving slowly while carefully observing the ground.

It wouldn't be funny if you didn't notice the trap and stepped on it, thus being eliminated.

There weren't many weeds on the ground, and those that did were dense and tall, dense enough to obscure his figure. The soil was covered with moist, decaying leaves, and twisted, gnarled tree roots entwined among them. Nero pushed through the low-growing banana trees with his bare feet, the broken leaves pricking his soles.

But there was no way. Nero was a person who followed the rules. If she was told to wear a swimsuit, she would not rashly wear shoes and socks, which were not part of the swimsuit. She didn't want to know what would happen if she was found to be in violation.

There seemed to be no wild animals in this area, perhaps driven away to prevent them from accidentally triggering traps and disrupting the game. Nero passed through another thicket and faintly heard the sound of flowing water. Looking out, he saw a riverbed several meters wide.

The clear river water was very turbulent, and the splashing water hit the shore, hanging water droplets on the green leaves.

Nero slowly retreated, not intending to appear in a relatively open area until she discovered the trap. However, as she took this step back, Nero immediately felt that her heel had lost its footing, as if it had fallen into the air.

She retracted her foot and turned back, leaning down and carefully scraping away the rotten leaves on the surface of the soil near her footprints. Sure enough, underneath was a fine net woven from vines, holding them in. It was pitch black beneath the net, and although she couldn't see what was inside, it was clearly a sinkhole.

A faint grinding sound could be heard from inside. Nero's heart stirred, and he reached out and pulled Echidna from his arms.

Nero hadn't thought about it just now, but suddenly remembered that in this environment full of plants, this was the time when it was most useful to be able to control the plants.

"Can you sense what's inside?" Nero asked in a low voice.

Echidna shuddered, then extended her sword and plunged into the trap. After a moment, it retracted and gave its own answer.

"It's snakes." It spoke in a very low voice, as if it was afraid of disturbing anyone. "Ordinary snakes, lots of them."

(End of this chapter)