Xod was looking at the projection in front of him while gnashing his teeth. He had been paying close attention to William’s whereabouts, but he couldn’t find him. This was why he had once again returned to the Guardian Hall and sought out Oogwei’s assistance for a second time.
“So this is the person that scammed you, right?” Oogwei chuckled. “Indeed, he has the face of a scammer.”
“I know, right?” Xod hatefully munched on peanuts as he glared at William. “I hope he gets beaten up to a pulp!”
“Hey! Those are my peanuts!” Oogwei pounded its small foot on the table. “Get your own!”
“Why are you a cheapskate? It’s only peanuts.” Xod grumbled as he ordered a platter of peanuts from the Babylon Shop using his tokens.
The two Guardians ate as they looked at the projection with different expressions. Xod’s expression was that of irritation, while Oogwei’s was full of interest.
Xod hated William for playing a trick on him.
Oogwei on the other hand was interested in William because very few mortals dared to antagonize a God. He was hoping to discover if the red-headed teenager had other interesting qualities aside from being a scammer.
“Well no matter how good of an actor he is, he won’t be able to pass the Second Floor.” Xod sneered. “The Agnis Family will keep him there forever.”
Oogwei smirked because he had a feeling that something different was going to happen this time around.
“Do you want to make a bet?” Oogwei asked.
“A bet?” Xod tilted his head. “What kind of bet?”
“I will bet that the boy who scammed you will be able to clear this tower.”
“Hahaha! You will bet on him? Okay, I accept this bet. What shall we bet on?”
“A bowl of lettuce!” Oogwei raised its head and gave Xod the “You can back down if you’re scared” stare.
“… I agree to the bet, but not the prize,” Xod shook his head. “How about this? If you win, I’ll give you a bowl of lettuce. If I win… you will help me negotiate with Tony to hand that scammer to me.”
Oogwei nodded his head. “Very well. We have a deal.”
Tony was the Guardian of the Second Floor and Oogwei’s good friend. Xod knew that if the little turtle were to ask his friend a favor, the scamming Half-Elf would be served to him in a silver platter.
However, before that happened, he must win on the bet first.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Xod thought. ‘The one winning this bet is me anyway.’
The green-skinned man sneered at William’s projection who was currently looking around his surroundings. Xod’s hand was itching to get his hands on William. Once he had dragged him back to the First Floor, he would make sure that the Half-Elf would regret crossing a Guardian of the Tower of Babylon.
——
A pretty lady stood on top of a floating artifact and glided towards the center of the Arena. She started the countdown and the crowd joined her in chorus.
“The battle will begin at Five!”
“”Four!””
“”Three!””
“”Two!””
“”One!””
A bell rang to signify the start of the Battle Royale.
As if a spark was ignited, everyone in the arena started attacking each other. The battle was fierce and those that had died turned into particles of light.
Originally, William thought that the Agnis family were pacifists because they prevented others from dying, but the information he read from the Merchant’s Guild made him realize that there were worse fates than dying.
Every time they went to the Arena, they had to pay two hundred tokens upfront. The five survivors at the end of the match would receive a thousand tokens each.
In short, the Agnis family was using the Arena as a means to farm tokens from the players who wished to climb the Tower. Once their tokens ran out, and could no longer participate in the battles, they would have no choice but to stay on the Second Floor for two years, before the tower automatically kicked them out.
These people that had been kicked out may challenge the tower once again, but due to the trauma they had received on the second floor, the majority of them refused to step foot inside Babylon again.
During those two years, these players would have no choice but to work for the Agnis Family to earn a few tokens in order to live, or to challenge the Arena again.
Either way, the one profiting from the whole deal was the Agnis Family, which had turned the Grand Arena into their Golden Goose.
There were over five thousand participants in the battle. Some of them had known each other for a very long time and had already formed their alliances. This way, they worked with each other in order to eliminate as many challengers as they could.
After an hour, the number of players inside the arena had shrunk to only three hundred. The fifteen people that William identified early on had all survived, and the Half-Elf made a startling discovery.
‘Those three teams are in cahoots with each other.’ William clicked his tongue in annoyance.
William had asked the system to monitor these people. After watching their battles, the System had formed a conclusion and passed it to William. This was what caused the Half-Elf to feel irate.
< Host. It seems that the rumors are true. >
‘Indeed. Looks like this isn’t going to be easy.’
There was a rumor flying around in the City of Babylon, that the Agnis Family had secretly formed three teams to prevent others from clearing the trial of the second floor.
Although they were just rumors, the Merchant Guild had stated that the possibility that this rumor was true was high.
After seeing the proof in front of his eyes, William had to agree that this was an effective way to keep the players stuck on the Second Floor of the Tower, and to keep them there for as long as possible.
Some of those that had lost all of their tokens had ended up as servants, prostitutes, shop owners, and guards for the Agnis Family. The talented Challengers were then scouted and placed in high positions within the family in order to gain their allegiance.
William had no intention of getting stuck inside the tower, so he decided to take action.
“Everyone, listen up!” William shouted. “Those fifteen people over there are thugs of the Agnis Family. They are here to prevent us from climbing the tower. If you don’t want to become their slaves, work with me to eliminate them first!”
The fifteen people whom William had accused all glared at him.
“What nonsense are you talking about?!”
“That’s right! Us? Working for the Agnis family? Preposterous!”
“Nice try, boy. I bet you are doing this to make the others become your cannon fodder!”
The remaining players glanced at William and the so-called dogs of the Agnis family. Some of them had also heard the rumors about this nefarious act, but they were still half in doubt whether it was true or not.
“Everyone, let’s eliminate that Half-Elf first,” the man wearing a black robe said calmly. He was the Black-Ranked Warrior that William had been wary of. “After we dispose of him, we can resume our battle.”
The black-robed man didn’t wait for anyone’s reply and immediately attacked William. He had already sensed the boy’s rank earlier. He was quite surprised that the red-headed teenager’s rank was higher than expected. However, William didn’t pose any threat to him.
When the black-robed man was only twenty meters away from the boy, his sixth sense kicked in and immediately stopped his advance.
The man’s battle sense had been honed after fighting at the Grand Arena for so many years and he had already developed an ability that alerted him if anything that endangered his life was near him.
‘Strange, just where is this feeling coming from?’ the black-robed man thought as he eyed William from his location. ‘His rank is still the same, but this feeling just won’t go away.’
William observed the man with a calm expression on his face, but deep inside he was giving the black-robed man the middle finger.
‘Just one more step and you would have been blown away.’ William’s eyes glared at the man in front of him. ‘Why did he stop?’
William had equipped his Runemaster Prestige Class and had planted several landmines around him. These landmines were infused with the Earth Element, similar to Aslan’s Earth Bombs, which were very hard to detect even by magic.
Although they weren’t as powerful as the Earth Bombs, they were still strong enough to injure anyone that would step on them.
‘Deal with the others first,’ the black-robed man ordered. He used an artifact given to him by the Agnis family to communicate with his team members. ‘Don’t come near this Half-Elf and his companion. We will save them for last.’
After receiving their orders, the fourteen-men team charged at the other players and started to eliminate them at a rapid pace.
—–
High above the Grand Arena, in the VIP box exclusive for the Agnis family…
“It seems that someone did their research,” a middle-aged man said with a smile. “These kinds of people appear every now and then, but the end result is always the same.”
The people around him nodded their heads in agreement. This was not the first time that this had happened. There had been several instances in the past, but due to the strength of their undercover agents, none of them were able to pass the trial.
Only one fate awaited them and that was enslavement. Human trafficking was a very easy way to earn tokens inside Babylon. Although some of the ruling families looked down on this practice, that didn’t stop the other families, like the Agnis Family, from doing it blatantly.
In their eyes, William and Chiffon were already slaves that were waiting to be sold. All they needed to do was wait for their agents to end their lives, and rob them of the precious tokens that they needed in order to survive within the confines of the Tower of Babylon.
