"Did you see that girl that's what it takes to climb the tower" Kazuma heard the Egiptian-looking creature say to the blond girl who began to cry in front of it.
'Bamm that boy stole everything from me!" she screamed as jealousy and regret filled her.
'Calm down." he says to her as he approaches the pair.
'He Egyptian creature, you look like you're in charge can you tell me where I am?" he asks the creature who stares at him.
"You're from Erth.' it answers him but Kazuma ignores its words and looks at the girl who's kneeling on the floor crying.
'Hey why are you crying?" he asks her but the girl just glares at him.
"She wants to go up the tower, everything that anyone wants or desires is at the top. Including the answers that you seek." the creature says to him.
"Okay, so how do we go up? Are there stairs, an elevator maybe?" he asks as he walks closer to the girl and places his hand on her head.
"You can only take the test one at a time and you can't help each other." it answers him.
"Liar, I just saw that guy get help from two different people. So that means that we can help each other." He says to the creature whose eye begins to glow as its presence grows inside the room.
Kazuma stares into the creature's blue eye and feels his skills warning him about the danger that he is in, but he forces himself to stay in place.
The creature lets out a frustrated breath and summons what looks like a minotaur.
"This beast knows nothing of pitty and its speed is faster than that of any mere mortal, its body is stronger than any weapon that can be forged on this floor."
Kazuma can't help but smirk, he's already fought this thing before and it has the same weakness that every man does.
"So do we have to kill it?" he asks the creature, who glares at him even more.
"Yes, now let the test."
"Waite, just one more question, do we both have to beat it, or do we both pass if just one of us beats it?" he asks the creature who looks at him, its glare is gone and Kazuma swears that the thing is laughing at him.
"Just one of you is enough for both of you to pass."
The creature is gone and Kazuma can't help but smile, in the past, he would have run away and tried to think of a way of escaping, but he wasn't that person anymore and he needed a way out of wherever this was.
In the past, he would have tied the Minotaur up and had the girl hit it in the balls so that they could win.
But Megumin would never forgive him if he did that.
So he began to chant, even while he teleported himself and the girl away from the creature, and appeared in the same spot where he had woken up.
He ignores the girl's screams when the Minotaur turns and charges at them again, but it's too late.
The mana of this world begins to turn as it's forced into itself, faster and faster it spins before vanishing and detonating from within the minotaur.
"Hu, it's weaker now." he says to himself before turning to look at the girl who is sitting on the floor with wide eyes.
A light from the ceiling circles them and the feeling of weightlessness takes over.
"Looks like we passed, so what do you say partners?" he says to the girl before giving her his hand \.
Yeah," she weakly answers him, before she grabs his hand and shakes it.
"Partners," she says as the world around them turns into a field full of grass that is so tall that they can't see anything except for what's in front of them.
"Attention Regulars you need to survive to pass to the next floor.' they heard someone say but Kazuma ignored it, right now he needed answers and the girl in front of them had some of them.
He sits on the dirt floor and leans back, he doesn't bother running or hiding, not even as the sounds of gunshots, and explosions along with the screams of injured or dying people reach his ears.
"Sit down." he orders the girl who is looking around in panic.
"Your blond hair sticks out like a sore thumb here, so sit down that way no one can see you." he says to her.
"Look if we are going to be partners I need information because I have no idea where this is and what I'm doing here.' he says to her.
He looks at the girl who stares at him for a moment, he can see that her fear is now replaced with confusion and finally acceptance, it's only now that she lowers her guard and sits next to him.
he listens to her take a deep breath before she tells him about the tower and how it grants people all sorts of powers, weapons, and fortunes, but it is a place where everyone kills and betrays each other.
She tells him about the guardians, the gods, and devils that live inside of it and she even tells him about all of the beings that live in the tower.
"Okay, so why are you here? I mean there's a reason why you came here isnt it." he says to her.
"I want to see the stars." she answers hi, as she blushes.
"Yeah, that's a good dream." Kazuma says to her as he remembers the times that he and his party looked at the stars together.
When you are alone the night sky is dark no matter how many stars the sky has, but when you are with your friends those same stars light up even the darkest night.
'You've seen them?' she asks him with wide eyes and an even wider smile.
"Yeah, but it's better to look at them with friends." he answers her.
By the way, my name is Kazuma, what's yours?' he asks her.
'Rachel." she answers him, before saying partners, her words were more of a question but he repeated himself and said partners.
The screaming and the fighting are slowing down, only the strongest, and luckyest remain.
The grass around them begins to dry and wither away revealing six more people, Kazuma ignores the dozens of dead bodies. It's not that he isn't disgusted by how many people died here, but they all fought and killed others in this place.
he does look at the different kinds of creatures that are lying around, some look almost Human while others are monsters.
"All of you survived, congratulations, you can pass." the same voice from earlier says as a door opens and the flood beneath them starts to move to force them to leave