In the Gifnora Seatre Forest, which teemed with danger beasts, the man‑eating flytraps could prey on animals and even danger beasts. That alone proved the bite strength of their petals was no joke.
But strong compared to what? Against Broly, it did not amount to much. He easily pried open the petals of the trap that had swallowed the crying girl and pulled her out.
She tumbled to the ground and scrambled on hands and knees to the edge of the flower patch, to the twin‑eyed sisters' side, still shaken.
A line flashed through Broly's mind: Doing good without leaving a name—just call me Red Scarf!
He hopped down from the flower's petals, but before he even landed, the trap he had robbed of its meal snapped wide again and swallowed him whole.
The bud quivered once after Broly disappeared inside, then went still.
"That idiot."
Akame waited at the edge of the patch for a bit. When the boy did not come out, she could not help cursing.
"Kurome, you stay here."
"What are you going to do, sis?"
"I'm going to save him."
Akame said.
"Why bother?"
Kurome grabbed her. She did not want her sister taking risks.
"He saved us. I owe him."
"Then I'm going too."
Akame could not talk her into staying in safety and had no choice but to take her along.
Luckily, trap flowers were only dangerous when hungry. Once they were eating, they ignored creatures that passed by.
The one that had swallowed Broly was on the outer edge. All the nearby flowers had prey in their mouths. The sisters reached the huge blossom without trouble.
They could not open the mouth by brute force the way Broly had, so they hacked at the stalk with their knives instead.
Plants felt no pain. Even as danger flora, the trap did not react. After some effort, the sisters finally chopped off its upper half.
Then they started stabbing into the thick petals. After another round of hard work, they managed to cut a small "window."
"You okay in there?"
Akame called into the opening.
"Yeah."
Broly's voice came from within.
"If you're fine, what are you doing in there? Why haven't you come out?"
Kurome rose on tiptoe and peered at the slit.
"I'm drinking something. Almost done. I'll come out in a moment."
And he did. A heartbeat later, the swollen bud bulged and split as Broly pushed his way out from inside.
"What were you drinking?"
Relieved, Akame let out a breath. Kurome asked the question.
"Don't know. But I saved some for you. It's sweet and smells nice. Really good. Try it."
Broly held a soft inner petal cupped like a bowl, filled with clear liquid that carried a floral scent.
It was the trap flower's nectar. Normally, the plant lured creatures with that nectar. The strong ones drank for free; the weak became food. It was something like a cross between a pitcher plant and a Venus flytrap.
The twin‑eyed sisters: …
They had rushed in to save someone, only to find the "victim" drinking inside.
"It's sweet, sis. Tastes good."
Young as she was, Kurome could not resist a sip.
"Don't just drink anything. What if it's poisonous?"
Akame scolded, but still took a taste herself.
The pair clearly had a bit of glutton in them. In no time, they had shared all the nectar Broly had brought out of the bud.
The rescued girl watched, dumbstruck, then snapped out of it.
"Can you help me save my sister too? One of the other flowers ate her."
She pleaded.
Akame and Kurome traded a look. They had already noticed that while the big flowers were feeding, they would not attack people.
Just as they were about to agree, Broly beat them to it. He went straight to the neighboring trap, dragged it down, and wrenched its maw open by force.
He reached in and grabbed a leg, hauling the girl inside out in one pull. But by then she was no longer breathing.
"Big sis!"
The first rescued girl ran to her, sobbing as she hugged the limp body. Akame stepped over.
"I've seen people who drowned. She probably suffocated on whatever was inside the bud."
"Can you save her?"
"Don't know. But I can try."
Remembering how she had once seen an adult revive someone who had drowned, Akame did her clumsy best to copy the resuscitation.
By the time Broly had finished draining another bud of nectar and squeezed himself back out, the girl's sister was actually coughing.
"Any more?"
Broly loved sweet things. Nectar that both tasted good and let him save people was a win‑win. He had no reason to refuse.
The trap flowers in that patch paid the price. The meals they had only just pulled in were now being stolen back out.
By the time he finished, seven children had been rescued. Aside from the first girl, who had gone headfirst into a pool of nectar and almost drowned, the others were still alive when they were dragged out.
Broly ended up with five more nectar‑filled buds. He did not drink them on the spot, but tore off the central cups holding the nectar, clearly intending to pack them out.
He had meant to harvest more, but when he cut open a bud that still had half‑digested beast bones inside, the stench of its digestive nectar made him give up on further "prize draws."
Trap flower nectar was, in essence, a digestive fluid. While something was being dissolved, it was corrosive and foul—bad to smell and worse to drink.
"How are you going to carry all that by yourself?"
Akame asked, watching him try to take everything.
"Mm…"
It was a real problem. Light enough, but bulky.
"Got it."
In the next instant, Broly simply handed the basin‑sized nectar cups to the rescued kids.
"You carry these for me and follow me. I'll let you have a bite later."
The three boys and four girls looked at each other. Having all just been pulled out of trap flowers by Broly, none of them objected.
"Wait. Where are you going? That's not the way to the center of the forest."
Akame pointed out that his direction was off.
"I heard something over there. There should be prey."
The tasty nectar had flipped Broly's hunting switch. He wanted to look for more game.
He did not know exactly where the prey was; the forest's overlapping auras were too complex.
But his ears worked fine. His hearing was sharp enough to pick up movements in the woods.
So Broly led a group of children about his age into the danger‑packed Gifnora Seatre Forest and began a one‑sided hunting spree.
Of course, only he did the hunting. Everyone else just carried meat.
"He—"
Smack.
"Help me carry this. I'll give you a bite later."
As he went, children being chased by danger beasts survived because the beasts hunting them were killed by Broly.
They, too, naturally became porters for his odd hunting party.
Compared to blundering alone through a forest full of death, following a terrifyingly strong Broly was obviously safer—especially when he promised to share food.
Gifnora Seatre Forest was huge. Tossing a few hundred kids into it was like dropping stones into a lake—no ripples.
Many of them had died not long after entering. The ones still alive by now were those with decent skill and luck.
…
"What's going on? How is it nobody's come out yet?"
As evening approached, Bill grew restless in the clearing at the forest's center.
"Relax. This forest doesn't have high‑level danger beasts, but the density of low‑level ones is extremely high. That makes it hard on kids who've made it this far on luck alone. It's normal no one's arrived yet. Give it more time."
Gozzi replied.
Only when the sky had already darkened did a few children finally break through the trees into the clearing.
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