Three shield symbols appeared above everyone. They didn't need an explanation to know that those shields were the lives Aglea just mentioned. She confirmed it soon.
"Those shields are your lives. If you lose all three, you die. Those shields will only break if an attack hit your head, body, or other vital parts. It has to be a solid hit, of course. However, don't think you can just use your limbs for defense. You will get hurt even if you don't lose your shields. You can be incapacitated."
Aglea stopped for a moment to let them absorb the information. She then announced, "The game starts now! Happy hunting!"
She floated upward and her body slowly turned transparent. Before it completely vanished, she said, "Better go search your queries now… before they find you."
Everyone just watched the sky even after Aglea was gone.
It was Stefan who finally uttered something first. "I don't want to contradict the b*tch when she was here, but isn't battle royale a free for all match without any team-up?"
"Whatever, man. They own this place, they can call it whatever they want," Winson said.
"What now? Do we have to go and kill those people from the other teams?" Naomi asked. "They are just people who are trapped here like us. Are we to kill innocents to save ourselves?"
"So what? We just let the other teams come and kill us?" Stefan asked.
"Even if we play their game, we will still not be free. What's the point?" Dina uttered gloomily. She sat on a nearby rock with a defeated look. "It's the same anyway. Let them come and kill us. Perhaps this can end faster and we don't need to suffer longer."
"Easy for you to say, outworlder. We, natives, die for real!" Glover said.
"Hey, where is that a*shole?" Jack asked. He just found out that Master was already not with them.
Everyone looked around. Master was nowhere to be seen.
"Must have slipped away. F*ck him then. We don't need him," Stefan said. "He can't hurt us anyway."
Jack didn't worry about Master harming them. Master was bound by the rules here the same as everyone else, but Jack didn't believe Master just up and disappeared for nothing. Jack believed the guy must have some sort of a plan. But was his plan aimed to help them win this battle royale? Or was it for another purpose?
Jack stopped thinking about Master and looked at the others. They were all not in the mood. They were forced to play a game where they had to murder a bunch of strangers, and the reward was simply to stay alive without any promise of freedom. Some of their targets might not even be strangers. They could be someone they knew. Dina mentioned he came here with a friend. Perhaps that's why she was so gloomy because one of the people she was told to kill might be her friend.
Jack was also aware that Grace could be in one of those teams. He wasn't exactly all sunshine about their situation either, but after spending several days with these people, going through the horrors together, he already considered them his friends. He couldn't just let them fall like this.
"Listen up, everyone!" Jack called.
The others turned to him.
ƥαṇdα- ηθνε|·ƈθm "I know how you feel. I know that some of you think that there might be no point to keep on fighting, but we didn't fight so hard all the past few days just to die here. If you don't want to kill the strangers from the other teams, that's fine. I have the same thought, but I also won't let them kill me. If they try to, I will fight back. I will not stop fighting as long as I am still alive, and I believe we will get our chance as long as we stay alive. We might not see the path to our freedom now, but I believe we will as long as we keep on looking. Do not lose hope! We will find a way. Maybe not today, but someday. For that day to arrive, we first have to stay alive! Those of you who want to stay here and do nothing, I won't blame you. Those who want to live, come with me. We will fight together!"
Kramer came to Jack's side. "I'm with you, Your Majesty!" He declared.
Stefan and Naomi also came over. Glover and Kerry followed behind closely, these two natives of course wanted to stay alive.
Winson was standing beside Dina. He said to her, "Come on. You shouldn't be alone."
Dina reluctantly stood up. She and Winson then walked over to Jack.
"Okay, let's make this clear," Jack said. "I'm not interested in playing this sick game. If the others come and want to play the game, we will entertain them. Otherwise, we leave them alone. As long as they don't attack, we also won't bother them. Does everyone agree with this? If not, we better separate into two teams."
Everyone looked at one another. Several nodded. Glover asked, "If we wait until they attack first, we will lose the initiative. High chance of us suffering casualties."
"I know, but I will still go with this. If you have a problem, we better split now," Jack replied.
After a few more seconds of thinking, the rest agreed to Jack's terms.
"Okay, we will move in a wedge formation," Jack said.
"What's a wedge formation?" Glover asked.
Jack looked for a patch of soft soil and used his wrench to draw on it. He drew an upside-down V-shape.
"I will be on the tip so everyone is aware of my position. You will all move along according to me. One thing to note. The ones on the two ends should be the ones with the fastest speed. I believe I qualify for that. But since I'm at the front, these positions fall to the second fastest in this team. Stefan and Winson, you will guard our rears."
"Man… Even if it's the truth, do you have to slip in praise for yourself like that?" Stefan grumbled.
"You two have to pay attention," Jack said to Stefan and Winson. "In the case that we are attacked, I'm the most likely to be attacked first and you two will be the least likely for the enemies to be aware of. Which also meant you are the most ideal to flank them. Your position at the end of this wedge formation will allow you an easier time moving to the enemies' backs when they focus their attention on me at the front. That's why you need to be fast. Do you understand?"
Stefan and Winson nodded.
"Everyone else will act accordingly. If you are spotted, come and join me in the fight. If you are not, follow Winson or Stefan to flank the enemies. We move slowly and always use covers. Only move after seeing the one in front of you move. Maintain eye contact with the ones adjacent to you. Now, everyone put a space around five meters from one another. Let's move out!"
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