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  “There it is, the camp,” said Urbosa. “It's probably the rgest area where people are living in this entire world, and it ’t even pare to any city we’ve visited so far.”

  “Only held together by the God Cultists themselves, by the orders of their God,” sighed Merkite. “Apparently, the Barbarian God doesn’t want it when everyone dies miserably, so this camp is both a way tahe troops and also to heal those that were wounded and survived.”

  “Huh…” I nodded. “Then this beautiful little camp with the three fgs—it’s the only damned pce where people rest?”

  “Yes, and most of those inside are then forced outside anyways ohe War Games begin,” said Urbosa.

  “War Games?”

  Ding!

  [Wele to the Sed Floor, Pyer Katherine!]

  [To plete the Sed Floor Trial and be allowed to advao the Third Floor, you must plete two of the following Requirements]:

  [Participate in the War Games and Win in Any Fa]: [0/3]

  [tribute to the War Games by earning Points]: [0/10.000]

  [Sy an enemy Fa General in the War Games]: [0/1]

  [Rewards will be given based on your performand how many Requirements you plete.]

  [There is no time limit, so the Tod {Battle-Loving Barbarian King} invites you to get fortable with the camp of the three fas and to learn of the War Games from his faithful believers.]

  [Good luck! And may Lady Victory shine upon your path to Glory!]

  “So these are the requirements.” I looked at the system notification. “Who else has these?”

  “I did as well; I haven’t e here after all,” Seth said, waving away the system notifications.

  “We haven’t pleted our requiremeher, as we ended up running away with our tribe,” said Urbosa.

  “Yeah… This War Game is just too wicked; they treat the lives of people like nothing but a game,” Merkite sighed.

  “D-Do I really o kill people?” wondered Peperina. “I thought we could always just sy monsters.”

  “To earn points, you must sy an enemy fa soldier,” Seth expined. “Usually it's between 500 and 2000 points per foe, depending on how strong they are.”

  “A-And these people just die? They won’t revive if it’s a game?” wondered Peperina.

  “That’s where the Points e into use; although you use them to purchase neons, skills, and food, you also use them to revive after death; the costs increase the more times you die and are revived,” Seth expined. “It only works on the sed floor, though.”

  “So that’s a way this god made so people won’t die so fast, right?” I wondered. “What a wicked bastard; this only iivizes people to kill each other even more.”

  “That’s what the god wants; he’s a barbarian, the embodiment of war and bloodshed.” Urbosa sighed, looking into the skies. “Are you going to sy him right now?”

  “I kind of want to explore the pce first and learn more about him before anything else,” I said. “Is there a schedule for the War Games?”

  “Yes, they start once every week on the seventh day of the week,” said Merkite. “The three fas wage war against each other for that day only, the for the following six days. Because there’s a stant surge of Pyers ing from all other Worlds ected to the tower and Floor 1, there’s never a she of new soldiers. Albeit the fas of the three tribes still lead them.”

  “Who are these tribes?” I wondered.

  “The Orc Horde, the Beast Alliance, and the Thralls. Eae of them offers special perks when you join them,” said Seth. “Based on the fa you choose; you get exclusive equipment and even skills or items handled for free. Of course, yiven all of this because you’re expected to fight and die most of the time.”

  “It is a very huge trast to the requirements of the first floor.” I analyzed my surroundings.

  “See? And you said we were ruthless and evil! pared to this floor, Eclipse was the pce out there!” said Estrel.

  “I wouldn’t go as far as saying that sister... We both did bad things,” Umbra sighed.

  “Ugh, shut up already, Umbra! Nobody asked for your opinion!”

  “Why are you so harsh with me?”

  As the fairy and the little skeleton wyvern discussed, we made our way to the camp.

  They weren’t wrong; to be ho, the sed floor was a huge ge from the first.

  It makes me wonder if it’s the gods who decide the requirements to climb or if it's the tower itself.

  “Are the gods the oo decide the requirements of each floor, Seth?”

  “Yes, that’s right; they decide everything. This is why it sometimes ges. Before the Barbarian God of the sed floor was born, the requirements were different, I think,” said Seth.

  “Our world has been ected to the Tower sint times,” said Urbosa. “The gods of old were the Divi Spirits, and they were fair and good. It is said that the requirement to climb the tower was somethied to participating in a hunting petitiohree fas hunted down wild beasts; the fa with the biggest beasts would win.”

  “Now that feels a bit more normal,” said Peperina. “So that evil barbarian God ended up twisting it all into War between people?”

  “Indeed,” nodded Merkite. “But we’re here to ge that nht?”

  “Of course,” I said. “And we’re here.”

  There were several guards in front of the camp; most of them were giant, three-meter-tall orcs packed full of muscles. Their skin colors were varied; some were green, others were red, and a few were gray. It showed how they were from different areas of the world.

  They were usually bald, although some had long hair instead; their hair color varied between red and bot iween. They had sharp fangs ing from their lower jaws and small, red eyes.

  There weren’t only male orcs; there were also many female orcs; their appearances were slightly different, although they had the same size and immense muscuture. Although they were a lot like males in terms of their physiques, they still had beautiful curves and rge chests. Most dies had long hair as well, made into braids, yet their expressions were just as serious and domineering as males.

  Though I have to admit, they’re quite attractive.

  “Halt.”

  The guards quickly crossed their spears, stopping us from advang as they eyed our entire group.

  “Are you from floor 1? Pyers from other worlds?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Hmph, then why are ying those two with you? They’re from here.”

  “We already tell! They’re deserters!”

  The guards poi Urbosa ae, their spears overflowing with their Auras of Mana.

  “And so what? If they want to participate in your War Games, they , right?”

  “To participate, Deserters have to pay a fee.”

  “Yes, pay a fee.”

  The green-skinned orale and one female, smiled maliciously.

  Oh, they are trying to scam us, I believe.

  “Y-You shameless orcs! Stop this!”

  “There are no such rules!”

  Urbosa ae tried tue, but the two wouldn’t budge.

  “Of course, how much do you want as a fee?”

  “Wait, Bing Xue, you don’t o pay anything!” said Urbosa.

  “Yeah, we always just e back at aime whewo assholes aren’t here,” said Merkite.

  “I don’t think I want to waste my time like that, dear,” I said. “What’s your fee?”

  “One huhousand credits for both!”

  “Yeah, like that, you step in.”

  They were very greedy, weren’t they? That many credits are not easy to e by at all withiower.

  “Oh, that’s very cheap! You have all of these if you want,” I smiled, quickly materializing two bags with Credit s, and handling them to them.

  “Oooh! So much money so easily?!”

  “Gahahaha! Stupid human!”

  As they ughed, they let us in without issue. Urbosa ae looked slightly sad and disappoihat I ended up paying them.

  “I’m surprised; I thought you would have ended up crushing their noses or something.” Urbosa ughed a bit, trying to lighten the mood.

  “You didn’t have to pay them.” Merkite sighed.

  “Now, now, violence is not always the answer!” I said. “Sometimes, it’s better to scam the scammers, right?”

  “Wait, did you scam them?” Seth wondered. “But those were genuine s.”

  “Oh yes, genuinely made out of my own Photon Essehey’re perfect replicates,” I smiled. “And well, they might disappear in ten minutes from now.”

  “EH?!”

  “I was never going to give some scammers a dime! But it would be too barbaric to just punch them,” I said. “So I pyed their game instead. I hope they enjoy it!”

  As we made our way through the camp, we saw all kinds of people. There were thousands of Pyers here, from all races, probably ing from different worlds.

  But there was also a great abundance of the three types of orcs: green, red, and gray-skinned. I noticed slight differences between them aside from skin color.

  The green orcs seemed much taller than the rest; they were also mild-mannered and aggressive when provoked but otherwise calm, if not even slightly ing.

  Then there were the red orcs, smaller thahree green ones by a few timeters; their bodies were much wider, and both males and females had rge bellies that sometimes glowed with red color.

  They were very temperamental and would rage at one another or at other people who just looked at them; they also seemed like the mious towards the Barbarian God, and I think they had some sort of fire-breathing ability.

  Lastly, the gray-skinned orcs were the smallest, only as tall as a very tall human; their bodies were nkier and quite slehey all had long bck hair; and they seemed silent most of the time. They weren’t as sociable as the rest, only talking with one another.

  And then there were the beast people—there were many! A lot of wolves like my wives, but also cats; the Silver Moo tribe has wolves and cats after all. I also saw rabbit people and bird people resembling crows. The tallest and most robust were the giraffes, lions, and tigers.

  They all looked so fluffy, though.

  Ah! Right, and stly, the enigmatic third party, the Thralls. They were beings around the same size as humans, with pale white skin and long white hair, pointy ears, and usually long noses and sharp red eyes.

  They had unusually big hands with sharp bck cws; they wore bck robes and clothes; and they seemed always angry and mysterious.

  “The Thralls are people that live in the underground,” said Urbosa. “Acc to what Grandma has told us, they thrive undergrouh the faint light of giant mushrooms and crystals but are still voracious and ferocious fighters on the surface.”

  “They look not s, but their strength es in numbers; they make ies of millions,” said Merkite. “Acc to old legends, they were always a stant threat to our people because they fed on blood the most and would hunt down children who, for them, tasted the best.”

  “Oh! So they’re like vampires? Prehistoric vampires…” I said. “How iing! This world, Elios, was it? It is quite incredible; there are so many varied people here!”

  “Vampires? What’s that?” wondered Urbosa.

  “They are a race of blood-sug demons,” said Seth. “Before the Tower, in our world, they were also part of our fi, but they seem to be real beings iower.”

  “Oh, so they’re sidered demons?” I wondered.

  “Yes, or, well, desdants of them,” said Seth. “I have fought a couple of them; they’re incredibly strong, even if their level could be lower than yours. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like there’s any here. They are more on on floors twenty and above. Thralls seem simir, but vampires are even stronger and, well, “refined” in their wicked ways, like demons.”

  “Iing,” said Urbosa. “I could never imagihe Thralls ag refihey’re all very barbarid aggressive little midgets.”

  “Well, here we are. Is this where we register for the War Games?” I wondered.

  We finally arrived at our actual destination: three rge buildings separated by the fgs representing each fa.

  Tister for the War Games, it's necessary to choose a fa here.

  -----

  Pach