"I… You… Mammoth… Elephant… How…"
Levin was too speechless to make the words coming out of his mouth coherent enough to express his mind. After all, the scene in front of him was too magical to be true. How could a mammoth that had the height of a skyscraper suddenly shrink into the size of an elephant, and not only that, but the thick fur enveloping its body also disappeared! Hell, even its trunks shrunk, not at the exaggerated size that could pierce his body anymore when he got hit by it. Everything was too magical as if he had just been transported into a fantasy novel just like the main character in the fictional story that he read in his old world.
Wait.
Those seemed to be the right words to describe this situation right now. After all, he really got transported into something he always thought to be fiction, right? Now, the main question was whether he was the main character who would triumph over everything or would be just a side character who would just die for the sake of the plot.
"What is wrong with you, human?!" Levin's thought was snapped when the mammoth – no, it should be the elephant right now – spoke to him. This time, even its voice wasn't as majestic as before, not giving the creature the impression that it was the leader among the animals here. "Come on, sit here! We will help you get your little friend back!"
For that, Mira's eyes shone brightly. The girl had been so quiet since she saw the mammoth for the first time, a bit intimidated by its gigantic size. Now that the creature shrunk, even though it was still so big compared to her, at least it looked normal for the girl to approach it with a little bit of confidence.
"Uncle Elephant, are you sure you have Eggly with you?! Can we see that now?!" She asked, bouncing on the spot excitedly.
Levin felt that his view of the world suddenly collapsed. While he himself still didn't know how to address the mammoth – or the elephant – in front of him, calling it uncle was a bit outrageous. Even though she was still a kid, the girl should know that it was not normal to have an animal speaking in a human language, right?
However, when he saw the girl was more concerned about the robot eagle, the soldier clicked his tongue in annoyance. It seemed that the girl had been hanging out with Chen Ze too much in the last few days. Oh, and speaking of Chen Ze, where was the scientist – or at least his robot mouse right now?
'He better not create any trouble here that will force me to clean up his mess, or I will kick his ass later.' He grumbled softly while also following Mira and the elephant from behind.
Fifteen minutes later, Levin had already considered his heart to be calm. After what he had just seen during his time here, he knew that it would take an Armageddon level of disaster for him to be shocked anymore. Still, he didn't know whether he should laugh or cry when the soldier saw Mira chatting with the animals here casually like they were old friends while she herself was sitting on top of the elephant's back like she was royalty.
'She sure knows how to get closer to the other living being, huh? Is this another part of her charm as a priest?'
A moment later, Levin found himself sitting on the ground in front of a campfire while waiting for the bear – yeah, the bear – in front of him grilling so much meat that the smell would make anyone in the radius of a mile droll in starvation. For the sake of his sanity, Levin decided not to question how strange it was to be served by a bear as the chef, and he also didn't ask about whether the meat came from their companions or not. He just followed the old saying, don't ask a question you don't want to hear the answer to.
In the end, what started as a rescue and exploration operation suddenly turned into a happy family camp with a bunch of animals, and even though Levin was still confused, he would prefer this rather than having to fight for his life again.
"So… Urgh… Great Mammoth?" After a while, Levin finally asked. However, he was a bit awkward, not knowing how to address the creature in front of him.
The elephant just sighed – how in the hell could it do that?! – before saying, "You can just call me as Azzar. Also, I am just a normal elephant, not a mammoth like you thought before."
This only added more questions inside Levin's head. If this Azzar was indeed an elephant, how could it turn so big and resemble a mammoth's appearance? He knew that what he saw earlier was not an illusion. Then, what was its secret?
Still, this was a sensitive question, and since they didn't know each other well, Levin didn't dare to ask something like that. In the end, he just saved his list of questions inside his head and asked what he thought would be appropriate here. "So, you said it before that this damn game is finally here again, right? Is this not the first time the game happened?"
To his surprise, it was the bear – the chef – who had a scar from what Levin thought might come from a sword slash who answered his question. "Yeah. To be more exact, this would be the seventh damn game that we have experienced in our lives." Even though the bear tried to hide it, Levin could hear the bitterness in its voice.
"Seventh time?" Mira who was still on the elephant's back widened her eyes in surprise. "That is a lot!"
"Yes, and it always ended up cruelly." Now, the bitterness was clear here. "Are you also the participant in this game, Mira?" It asked her with the softest tone it could muster.
"Um!" Mira nodded, confirming probably the bear and the elephant's worst guess here. "The game and the players here are scary! Fortunately, Uncle Levin helped me chase away all the mean players! Still, I don't know why the ruler makes the rules so cruel to each other! Would it be better if it were an eating competition or something like that?"
The elephant just laughed boisterously at Mira's innocent question, but at the same time, it also started to see Levin in a new light. "Unfortunately, things are not as simple as that, Young Lady." Mira didn't notice the complicated gaze sent by the elephant and the bear for her and just pouted on top of the elephant.
Levin frowned when he noticed that the conversation had gone astray and cleared his throat, intending to bring back the conversation to the original topic. "So, you both have been here since the first-ever battle royale game was held? Then, what is your role here?"
"Oh, yeah, our role." The elephant sighed helplessly. Then, to Levin's surprise, the creature suddenly dropped a bomb out of nowhere. "So, to put it simply, we will be your obstacle in the second round of this game. So, you better get ready, okay?"