Right after the words left out of Levin's mouth, another round of silence fell in the forest as tension suddenly rose astronomically. No one answered his question immediately as if he just talked to himself. However, even though he was still in the middle of exhaustion and the headache he suffered from the last fight against the illusionist kept getting worse, Levin would never even for one second stop trusting his instinct.
He knew that there was someone – or something watching him. The spy did a good job concealing his presence during the entire fight between Levin and the illusionist. However, when the situation heated up, the spy somehow accidentally revealed himself, and Levin couldn't forget about it since then.
"You know, even though I don't understand about magic, priest, illusion and whatever outside there, but technology is something that I am familiar with. You can probably see it from my laser gun." Levin started monologuing again, the laser gun in his hand changing its shape into a normal one again after he revealed that it could shift into shotgun mode. "Come on! You heard it yourself before! You know that my hearing is far better than any normal person! Do you think I will not be able to distinguish the sound of a real bird and a mechanical one?"
There was another round of silence before a few seconds later, something came out of the dark. Levin narrowed his eyes quickly, bracing himself for whatever was coming next. To his surprise, the shadow of an eagle suddenly flew at a high speed and a low altitude, and if not for the buzzing sound from its internal machine that drowned the natural sound of wind under the real eagle's wings, Levin was sure that he wouldn't be able to notice it before.
"Man, I know I still cannot mimic the real creature perfectly, and this starts to annoy me. However, right after you said to that illusionist that your hearing sense is beyond normal, I am sure you will be able to notice the flaw of my baby." The sound coming out of the eagle was rough with a thick accent, but Levin was sure it was a disguise. "Sure enough, you can find it in a heartbeat right even in the middle of your fight. As expected as one of the strongest warriors in the multiverse." There was no hint of mockery behind the praise. However, Levin didn't dare to lower his guard at all.
"So, what do you want?" He asked directly, not beating around the bush.
Honestly, after the fight against the illusionist, Levin realized that the players here had different motivations to compete. There was the kind like him who wanted to win to make up for the regret they had in their past just as the game intended to be, the kind of a psychopath who enjoyed the thrill of having to kill each other like the illusionist, and maybe there would be a battle-junkie kind who wanted to climb the rank by challenging the strong player they met. Before Levin knew what kind of a man behind the eagle robot was, he didn't dare to lower his guard even for a second.
"Oh, don't worry, I am not going to do something dangerous! If anything, what I am going to ask is a bit embarrassing." The voice coming from the eagle said. The fact that it could mimic human movement like scratching the back of its neck so perfectly told Levin how advanced the technology behind this robot was. "Well… It is like this… Can I join your team too?!"
A pin-drop silence fell once again as Levin blinked his eyes repeatedly, trying to make sure the headache didn't affect his hearing at all. "Um… Excuse me?" He asked, unsure.
"Well, as you already know, not all the players in this game are combatants. Even though the ruler himself said that we all are the strongest warriors in our world, it is pretty embarrassing to say that most of us are far from that description. I mean, look at the little girl who latches into your thigh instantly after the game starts! Can you say with confidence that she is the strongest in her world?"
Of course, Levin knew about that. However, for his sanity, he decided not to think about something complicated like the ruler's reason behind this and something like that. Not for now, at least.
"So, you want to hitchhike?" Levin asked once again for confirmation.
"Exactly!" The eagle robot bobbed its head up and down excitedly. "I mean, I have been following you all days and saw how you killed the fire wizard and the illusionist, and I have to say that your combat ability is impressive! Moreover, you have already achieved the goal for yourself and the little girl who is hitchhiking you first, so one more baggage wouldn't trouble you that much, right?"
Levin could feel his mouth twitch a little at that. Inwardly, he also thought about heightening his guard once again as even though he had already been cautious enough, it seemed he still underestimated his enemies here. If there was an illusionist who could ambush him and a crazy mechanic or investor or whatever job he had who spied on him for all days without him being able to notice it, everything should be possible right now.
Levin pondered for a moment before asking another crucial question. "With this eagle robot in your hand, why did you decide to go with me? I mean, I am sure that you have already observed this world from the eagle view and figured out the other players' positions and mapped their strengths too. There should be far stronger people than me, right?"
"Well, honestly, out of six strong players who I have been observing since the day started, you are the one with the least kill only two." Levin didn't know if he had to be embarrassed or not. "However, out of everyone else, you are the least cruel and the one who I can negotiate with the most. As for the others, they are either too stupid to listen to me or too scary for me to start a conversation, so you can see the image here."
Yeah, Levin could see that. After all, if what the ruler – the crow man said was right, the players here were the strongest warriors from their own dimension, and those strong people always had a unique temperament that made them different from the other people. It was no wonder that they didn't look approachable in the daylight.
He pondered once again, thinking about the pros and the cons before finally asking, "So if you really want to hitchhike, what kind of benefit do you want to get? And what kind of advantage could you bring for me?"
If Levin could see the person behind the stupid robot eagle, he could see a wide grin formed there as that person chuckled loudly. "Now, we are starting to talk about the real shit!"