There was another round of silence there as once again, only the sound of the waterfall behind them falling down to the ground and fire crackling loudly could be heard there. The wind suddenly breezed gently, sending shivers as it bruised Levin's skin. However, he couldn't care less about that. No, his attention right now was completely on the elephant in front of him, staring at the creature with the solemnity that he had never shown except in a dangerous situation.
This reaction was understandable, since after spending two days – this was his third day here – trying to survive and save his life, this was the first time Levin got a clue about this game itself in general. The curiosity he had of the crow man at the beginning of the game suddenly surged from inside him together with so many questions he tried to bury inside his head during his survival time such as who was the crow man and what was his purpose.
"Sir, Azzar, can you repeat it? You said that you are our obstacle in the second round?" He asked first for a confirmation. It wasn't like the soldier didn't believe the elephant, but the content itself was too outrageous. Even Mira leaned her body down so that she could hear better from the elephant's back, finding this topic to be interesting.
"Indeed, we are going to be your next obstacle." The elephant nodded its head slightly, confirming his words once again. "Just as you might notice this time, in the next few days, you and the other players will suffer from food scarcity. At that time, even though you are not on the brink of death, you will find everything – even your own friend – to be appealing. That is the time when the ruler would announce the second round and release us all to the wild, playing our role as your prey." The bitterness in its voice couldn't be hidden anymore.
"WHAT?!" Mira exclaimed in horror. "But that is so cruel! Why would you agree to that?!"
"Do you really think we are willing to do that?" A bird that was a bit leaner and had longer wings compared to an eagle – it should be a falcon if Levin had to guess – said for the first time during the conversation, his tone mixed in between sarcastic and bitterness. "We don't even know why would we agree with this shit. If we could, we would've run away as far as possible from this bastard ruler's grasp!" It chirped agitatedly, stomping its talons to show its anger.
Levin had a sweat dropped when he heard that, not knowing from where did the falcon learn how to talk shit like that. Well… He should've guessed it if the bird itself was a veteran in this game. It should be learning all of those bad words from the other participants.
However, he still caught something in its words. "What do you mean you don't know why?" He asked sharply.
"It is exactly what he said!" This time, the deer answered the question. "We don't know what happened, but suddenly, one day before we lost our consciousness, and the next time we woke up, we lost our ability to think clearly, becoming a mindless beast whose thoughts filled with attacking everything in front of us! We became stupid and were forced to fight against the players of your stupid game! Then, when we finally regained control of our minds, we found ourselves in pain with so many horrible wounds and scars on our bodies! More than that, we also had to bury the corpses of our companions, and that was only if they weren't eaten by the players first!"
Levin shifted a bit from the spot where he sat, trying to hide his discomfort over this conversation. Even though the falcon didn't talk about him and he hadn't committed anything, the keyword was 'yet'. Even if he had the food supplies from the animals after this conversation and had no urgency to hunt them in the future, he would still do that if the ruler suddenly said that the rule for the second round of this game was to kill the animals. So, to hear his 'potential' victims talk so agitatedly about their experience being prey in the past, he definitely felt uncomfortable about this.
Inwardly, he also cursed Chen Ze for being irresponsible and disappeared from this conversation. He didn't know where the scientist and his robot mouse went, but right now, he so much hoped that the man would be there. At least, knowledge-wise, the scientist was far better compared to the soldier, and Chen Ze would probably have some ideas of what kind of drug would make so many animals lose their consciousness in one go and go berserk the next day.
"This is too much!" Mira suddenly spoke, jumping from the elephant's back and stomping the ground angrily. "Uncle Levin, we have to help protect them! After all, they could be our friends in the future, and friends help each other, right?! Also, if the ruler could do something cruel like that to animals, what stopped him from doing that to us?!"
Levin was startled for a moment, and then a wry smile formed on his face after that. Honestly, if the animals in front of them would be the prey for the next round, he was reluctant to try protecting them from the other players. Not only did that action mean that he would do something against the rule of the game which would put him on the crow man's attention immediately, something he didn't want to do, but doing that would also mean he would have to fight against so many players who he was sure would be far more powerful than the ones he killed in the past.
However, Mira also brought up a good argument. Those animals were potential allies, and this was his biggest chance to cement that foundation between them all. Moreover, what Mira said hit him straight to his heart. If the ruler could do something so cruel as that to a bunch of animals, what stopped him from not doing that to the other players?
In the end, after weighing the pros and cons, Levin let out a deep sigh and said, "Fine, we will try to help them. But that is only if our lives are not in danger, okay?"
"YEAH!" Mira squealed happily, tackling down Levin's body and hugging him tightly to express her feelings.
Little did they know, though, that the decision to help the animals survive the second round of the game would change the landscape of this battle royale itself in the future.