The first thing he did, of course, was to hide the orb. With how valuable salt was for cooking a passable dish, there was no way he’d forgive himself if he lost it—or let it fall into someone else’s hands –errr, claws.

  After stashing it in his inventory, Luca decided to stay out of sight until he figured out who was heading his way. With such goal on mind, he pressed himself against the tree, and slipped between the roots and shadows. Then, he stayed quiet.

  This turned out to be the right call because the noises soon grew louder, more violent. The ‘chat’ was no longer a simple conversation—it had escalated to shouts and, from the sounds of it, displays of brute force. The Legacies could be unlocked —if they were even locked first— and as long as no one died, a lot of damage could be done before crossing the line.

  As expected of such situation, the eyes soon appeared, flying out from the roots of other trees.

  Hmm. He was certain they hadn’t been there before, so it was more likely they had some way of detecting chaos –aka, the scenes that the host had hoped to get.

  As the seconds ticked by, the noise eventually died down. He didn’t see how it ended, nor did he know everyone involved, but he had his suspicions, and no wish to be involved with this. The text bubbles didn’t lie—someone over there had ingredients. The question was who ended up with them in hand.

  There was nothing left for him to do here. It would be better to use the last minute and a half he had on something more productive. Sliding further into the shadows, he turned around and headed deeper into the forest, moving away from where the commotion had come from.

  He still needed some protein. If he could find some, he might be able to put together a decent dish. Well, they might, he supposed.

  His eyes sharpened as he continued scanning his surroundings, moving forward cautiously. The distant murmur of voices reached his ears, but they belonged to other demons—they were coming from an entirely different direction, and their voices sounded different.

  What happens if both groups run into each other? Luca wondered, feeling like the host really wanted to see blood spilled.

  A text bubble emerged from behind a cluster of crimson flowers.

  Oh? That sounds interesting, he thought.

  Luca approached the flowers, grimacing as they shifted toward him, stretching open their petals. He could see they had teeth. A demonic flower, of course. How charming. Glancing around, he grabbed a stick and used it to nudge the orb loose, avoiding being bitten—but losing half the stick in the process.

  Those flowers bit harder than anyone would expect. Or at least, harder than any human would expect. Luca hadn’t seen anyone approach them back when he was still with the group, so it was likely they already knew these were dangerous.

  … How humiliating would it be for demons to lose because of something like this? He was sure that someone had been caught for it in some previous season.

  Almost smiling, he bent down to pick up the orb and turned to continue on his way.

  “PARTICIPANTS: FIVE SECONDS REMAINING!”

  The host’s voice shook every creature that might’ve been sleeping in the forest –and perhaps even beyond that zone.

  Rubbing his ear against his shoulder, Luca froze as he spotted at least ten text bubbles converging in his direction. Without thinking, he quickly made the orb in his hand vanish into his inventory. Just in time.

  Imuit and the dark-winged demoness emerged from behind one of the trees. Jackal Head’s eyes were glowing blue, but upon spotting Luca there, a glint of confusion flickered across his face. He seemed to search for something on Luca—most likely an orb—and his brow furrowed when he found nothing.

  Luca was certain that Jackal Head had been tracking the orbs with his magic.

  Well, it didn’t matter. One, because he technically had nothing on himself, and two —there was no time to say anything.

  Light enveloped everyone, and in the blink of an eye, they found themselves standing in another part of the forest. Only this area was different than the previous one, with the table and chairs. This one had three cooking stations, each fully equipped for a group to cook at, and of course, beyond that, the judges’ thrones facing the stations. But there was no sign of the chefs—only the host stood there in the center.

  "Welcome back to the kitchen, Participants!" they greeted them with exaggerated cheer, and with a wave of his hand, eyes of various sizes emerged out of thin air and floated around the stations. "Did you enjoy the Treasure Hunt? I called it Blink Chicken Hunt on my mind!" Laughing to themselves, they didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. "I hope you gathered enough ingredients for a meal, because the loser of this final part of the First Challenge will end up sleeping in the stables—"

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  Murmurs of horror rippled through the participants.

  Luca heard someone barely avoid a scream. Probably because carnivorous fire-breathing horses slept in those stables. And shitted. A lot.

  The host pressed on with a more sinister smile, muzzling any whispers. "Don’t worry, my dears~ Don’t lose and everything will be alright! The winning team won’t just get to stay at the Nightmare Paradise Hotel for two nights—all paid— they’ll also gain an advantage for tomorrow’s challenge." The shadowy figure let the words hang in the air for a moment before adding, "Which is important. Why? Let me remind you that starting tomorrow, all challenges will have an Elimination.”

  They smiled. “We’ll keep throwing you into the fire until only the devilish winners remain."

  This time, no one said a word, but the tension was palpable.

  It was to win or to die, after all.

  "Now," with a single clap, flames roared to life beside each station. Each flame burned in a different color. "Head to your stations and combine your resources. You have five minutes to decide what to cook before your time starts. Consider it a small reward for the show you put on earlier," they laughed, leaning back into a shadowy chair that formed behind him. "Begin!"

  Luca headed straight for the station with the purple light, where he ran into the demon he’d met before. Well, ‘met’ was a stretch since he didn’t even know the guy’s name. But at least this one felt more familiar than the other two. The exception, of course, being the dark-winged demon who clearly had some bad blood with the imp –which he didn’t knew the name either.

  Knowing his was enough.

  "Tell me you got something—" one of the unfamiliar demons demanded, squeezing their hands. He had an impressive red mane, and sharp teeth. “I lost the one I found.”

  "Same here," another sighed. It seemed to be a female, with a short red top and leather pants. She could have passed for a human woman if not for the pair of short, sharp horns on her head and her slightly bluish skin. "No doubt the program is playing favorites. I couldn’t use my Legacy at all, but others didn’t seem to have the same problem." Her gaze shifted toward the other group, where Imuit stood amidst the rest, satisfied with their spoils of the ‘war’.

  "Uh, it’s a tough situation, but it doesn’t look like we’re the only ones struggling," the more familiar demon pointed out, gesturing with a clawed hand toward the third cooking station. It was clear the demons over there were in a panic. They had nothing.

  For his part, Luca decided to call that demon ‘Claw’.

  "Their strategy makes sense, but I still can’t believe it," the dark-winged demon grumbled bitterly. However, he took out an orb from their pocket. “Here. I was able to keep this one.”

  “Fuck. One. We’re in trouble anyway.” Claw rubbed his noise.

  Luca cleared his throat. "It’s not all lost." He placed the five orbs he’d managed to gather on the table, earning surprised looks from the rest.

  "By Angra! Where did you come from—?" the female demon asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Hah! I knew you were a slippery punk." Claw leaned over the orbs, all smiles, and tapped the closest one with a claw. Then, looking at them, he asked, "does anyone know how to open these?"

  "Why don’t we use the flames?" Luca suggested, nodding toward the fire. "

  "Isn’t that a bit risky?"

  "We need to know what we’ve got so we can plan our dish."

  "We’ve got less than half the time left," Red Mane said.

  Luca didn’t wait for further permission. He simply grabbed one of the orbs he’d placed on the table and turned toward the fire, stretching it toward the flames. The fire immediately surged toward it, forcing him to drop it. The orb was absorbed by the flames, and less than a second later, a vial appeared on the table labeled Sea Ash.

  "Let’s hurry up." The dark-winged demon followed his own advice and picked up three more orbs.

  The other two were taken by the more familiar demon.

  "Sea Ash, Mermaid Gills, Deepthseeds, Maideneyes, Forbidden Fruit, Fairy Seeds,” the black-winged demon muttered.

  Luca glanced at the text bubbles hovering above them, thoughtful. Salt, monkfish, garlic, olive oil, dragon fruit, rice.

  All things considered, the combination didn’t seem too bad.

  "We’ll be able to make something good." Claw rubbed his hands together with a smile.

  And then, everything changed in an instant. With a sudden, violent motion, the demon who had seemed so affable up until that moment raised his arm and struck the face of the demon who had managed to sneak up behind him, elbowing him with full force. Something cracked.

  The struck demon staggered backward and collapsed to the ground, eyes wide with shock.

  They were one of the members from the group that had been left with nothing.

  There was no doubt about what his intentions had been.

  Luca took care of their precious ingredients without a second thought, preparing himself to use Acid in any moment. However, there was no need.

  A fireball crossed the air and struck a second demon, causing they to scream –and the rest to scram away.

  "Your five minutes are up!" Acting as if nothing had happened, the host continued cheerfully, "Start cooking!"

  A red countdown emerged out of thin air, floating in middle of the place.