Proofreader: M_W Miss Fierce

The instant Princess Tifa and Princess Tila's voices died down, the barrier surrounding the map from the corner started slowly moving inwards. 

Similar the second game, 'The Maze', everything in front of the barrier was pushed forward, creating a tsunami-like wave made of different debris. The consequences of getting caught by this tsunami are undoubtedly going to be disastrous for anyone, and there is also a very high chance of them immediately dying. 

Unlike the rest of the players, Leo and the others were wearing communicators. Hence, they were made aware in advance of the announcement made by Princess Tifa and Princess Tila about reducing the size of the map. And as such, they swiftly started distancing themselves from the barrier. 

"Prepare everyone. This is not yet the end," Leo warned Elmont and Osborne to remind them that reducing the size of the map is merely the beginning of the first obstacle. 

"I almost forgot that every time the hosts throw an obstacle, they will also simultaneously reduce the size of the map as well," Elmont heaves a sigh of relief.

"I really hope that the first obstacle wouldn't affect us greatly," Osborne expressed. 

"Hopefully," Leo really wished that things wouldn't immediately become bad in the early phase of the Survival Games. 

Contrary to Leo and Osborne, Elmont confidently claims, "Trust me, it won't," 

As expected, after announcing that the size of the map is going to be reduced by twenty-five kilometers, Princess Tifa continued, "Next, it is time to choose what obstacle we should give to our beloved players," 

Turning to look at Princess Tila, Princess Tifa asked, "Do you have any idea what obstacle we should give them, sister Tila?"

"Of course!" Princess Tila nodded in excitement. After that, she revealed, "The first obstacle for our players would be, thunderstorm!"

Hearing the mention of 'Thunderstorm' from Princess Tila, Elmont's face immediately turned ugly. It wasn't only him, but also Leo and Osborne as well.

Looking up at the sky above the stage, numerous clouds gathered together and formed into a single huge cloud. Right after that, the huge cloud slowly darkens from the center before spreading outward. Subsequently, the surrounding turned a bit dark. 

The moment the huge cloud hanging above everyone's head turned completely dark, numerous raindrops immediately started falling, soon drenching everything wet and forming small puddles of water on the ground.

Not long after the rain had begun, a series of lightning strikes lightened up the dark surroundings before quickly followed by a loud booming sound. 

BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! 

Some of the lightning hit the ground, causing the target to be burned. But since it was raining, the fire was quickly extinguished, soon leaving only a charred ground and a big hole caused by its powerful strike.

Fortunately for Leo and the others, before the rain even started, they already found a perfect place for the three of them to use as their roof to avoid getting drenched.

"Though this thunderstorm is not very dangerous in our case right now, but it can still cause us a lot of trouble," Leo furrowed his brows together as he watched the ground turned into mud. 

Following Leo's gaze, Elmont and Osborne quickly understood what he meant. 

With the ground turning into mud, traveling from one place to another would become really slow. That is because the wet surface of the soil would immediately give up after being stepped by their heavy feet, causing their shoes to sink a few inches deeper within.

Not only that, as they continued to travel, the mud would slowly cluster on their shoes. As a result, it would make their shoes increasingly heavier the more they stepped on mud. Though they could easily remove the mud by simply using broken twigs or anything else that could wipe the mud away, it could still delay them nonetheless. Moreover, this would also become a lot worst as the rain continues.

However, their most important problem at this very moment is their surrounding. With the huge dark cloud hanging above their heads right now, the entire map had subsequently also turned really dark. In addition to that, because of the rain, the place started fogging a bit. This causes everything to be vaguely seen by everyone, thus making it even more difficult to find other players and the chests hidden in already difficult places to find.

"For the first time ever, I don't like the rain," Elmont complained. 

"It isn't all that bad. Even though the rain makes it difficult for us to move and find other players and chests. That also applies to everyone as well, which means to say that everyone would be experiencing the exact same problem as us," Osborne said. 

"Everything has its pros and cons. But in our case right now, we mostly have cons," Leo objected to what Osborne had just said.

Their plan is to look for other players and eliminate them in order for them to easily get more items. However, because of the rain, it is now extremely difficult for them to achieve that. Even worse, they can't even ask for help from Ash and the others in the control room as Elmont would undoubtedly stop them from asking for help. Though they could easily solve this problem by simply not following Elmont's order, but then, what would that make them in the end? 

A sore loser? 

An embarrassment? 

Incapable? 

Obviously, Leo, Elmont, and Osborne wouldn't want to be labeled in such a way. So, their only choice remaining now is to accept and move forward.

And that is literally what they are going to do...

"Continuing to complain about the thunderstorm is not going to help us in any sort of way. Rather than doing that, let's just continue moving forward to our destination," Leo suggested, as he also added, "Also, things would just become even more difficult for the three of us if we really continue to remain in this place. So, let's go!"

"But how do we plan to solve the problem about the mud?" Elmont still can't refrain from asking how they should solve the problem concerning the mud delaying them. 

"Indeed," Osborne thought the same. 

"Who says that we have to walk in the mud to travel?" Leo said as his lips turned into a mischievous smile. He slowly raised one of his hands up and soon pointed towards the branches of the trees above them, "We are going to use the trees to travel,"