We passed through the gate, having expected the viewers'' collective intelligence but instead watching self-proclaimed "females" transform big data into dick data.

    Going from the 66th to 67th floor took not even days, let alone a week—the speed was ridiculous. If it weren''t for Katie and me being thrown as bait, viewers would have been launching a chat revolution to lynch Han Se-ah by now for advancing at this pace.

    The starlight finch''s mana opened the gate, the mages recorded something, Han Se-ah checked the Amber Lantern before crossing, and then we received guidance from the beast-kin as we headed straight toward the next village.

    "This way. This gate thing is indeed near the village."

    "The Stone Hoof tribe is right ahead!"

    As the action-oriented wolf beast-kin and predatory beast-kin took the lead, the dying mages gave up on using their bodies and began floating through the air, being dragged along.

    Unable to properly move their limbs to run with correct posture, they chose to cast levitation magic on their bodies and be pulled along. As expected of practical lunatics who''d entered the Tower themselves—they pursued rationality over honor and dignity.

    The mages followed the beast-kin like children trailing with balloons at an amusement park. Whether you''d call it following or being dragged, they were somehow keeping up with the beast-kin''s running by consuming mana instead of stamina.

    "What kind of place is the Stone Hoof tribe?"

    "It''s a tribe that serves Stone Hoof, who protects the righteous. Most residents are cow and horse beast-kin, making them excellent warriors and messengers who can run tirelessly even in rough terrain."

    As Han Se-ah and the wolf beast-kin began conversing while skillfully running with enhanced bodies, Katie subtly quickened her pace.

    Her body twitched as if torn between wanting to stay by my side and satisfying her curiosity about the Stone Hoof tribe. She looked like a loyal dog who''d been told to "wait" with a treat right in front of its nose.

    Finding her quite adorable, I slowly moved forward, and Katie''s face brightened as she matched my steps and approached Han Se-ah. Fortunately, we were running on the ground after crossing the gate rather than in the trees—otherwise, she might have looked as dejected as a puppy whose treat had been taken away.

    "Stone Hoof who honors justice, huh. So each village has different beast-kin?"

    "Mostly. Not completely, but each village has many different beast-kin."

    Han Se-ah and Katie listened with perked ears to the explanation of each beast-kin village''s composition. Although no village was 100% populated by a single species, the blessing they received tended to attract certain members.

    It seemed that the type of spirit beast they served and their sacred relics determined the distribution—the 66th floor with the Amber Lantern had mostly agile carnivorous beast-kin, while the 67th floor with the Crystal Shield had many horse and cow beast-kin.

    The mention of cow beast-kin made immediate sense. There had been one sturdy bull beast-kin woman who''d carried Irene in the 66th floor village, but she was just one among many. The majority were like the wolf beast-kin leading the way now or the feline predator beast-kin who had made way for Katie.

    "So what kind of sacred relic is the Crystal Shield? Don''t tell me you don''t know, like with the Amber Lantern?"

    "...You''d have to ask the warriors of the Stone Hoof tribe about that."

    "You don''t know."

    "That''s right, I don''t."

    Just as Katie''s ears perked up at the mention of the Crystal Shield, only to deflate at the confession of ignorance, our vision suddenly opened up. Perhaps the Stone Hoof tribe, being mostly cows and horses, didn''t build roads in the trees.

    The dense forest path, which should have been difficult to run through, parted to reveal a wide-open road. Just like a trail formed by hundreds or thousands of human footsteps, this enormous forest path had been stomped and packed down by hundreds of thousands or millions of steps from the Stone Hoof tribe''s beast-kin.

    Thanks to this, the mages who had been suffering from motion sickness while dangling in the air looked relieved—and at the same time, we found ourselves surrounded on both sides as we ran.

    "Hmm? How did the ones who serve the World Tree get all the way here?"

    "We''ve come with a story to tell."

    Cows on the right, horses on the left.

    A large woman with sturdy shoulders and horns on her head, and a slender woman with ears on top of her head like something from a horse racing game. The Stone Hoof tribe was said to be mostly cow and horse beast-kin, and their builds were no joke.

    As these two naturally took positions on either side of the wolf beast-kin and Han Se-ah and conversed, various beast-kin surrounded us from both sides. As if to show that "cow" and "horse" could mean diverse species, beast-kin with different characteristics surrounded us, revealing at a glance the Stone Hoof tribe''s distinctive features even as we ran.

    The reason why phrases like "cow breasts" and "horse thighs" existed became clear, as did the fact that true to the name "Stone Hoof," their ankles ended not in human feet but in actual hooves.

    ...When they start interacting with humans, we should probably spread some clothing culture. I might want to see bouncing, but I don''t want to see dangling.

    ※

    The Stone Hoof tribe was like a village that had brought stereotypes directly into reality.

    The sound of "Stone Hoof," cow and horse beast-kin, the Crystal Shield, and the image of a tank.

    ''What is this, the Netherlands?''

    A village of large people with an average height of about 190cm. Men and women, even teenagers, were so developed that words like "sturdy" and "voluptuous" seemed inadequate.

    The male cow beast-kin looked like they could bench press 700 pounds at the gym, while the female cow beast-kin were so bouncy it was almost ridiculous. The horse beast-kin were more slender but still had such toned muscle that you couldn''t help but think of phrases like "horse muscle" and "horse thighs."

    "This is warriors'' business. Go back inside."

    "I''m grown up too!"

    "Ha, you?"

    That teenager who wasn''t recognized as a warrior was about my height, which said it all. A village where being 180cm tall meant you were still treated as a child who hadn''t fully grown.

    They were only wearing leaf skirts, but if you put steel armor on these beast-kin, they''d be the strongest heavy infantry capable of crushing orcs with their bare fists. Considering they were 67th floor beast-kin warriors, they might even withstand artillery shells from lower floor orc javelineers.

    When looking at wolf or feline beast-kin, they seemed agile but not necessarily strong, but these ones were beyond sturdy—they were intimidating. This made me wonder:

    ''...If NPCs friendly to players are this strong, how powerful must the Orc Champion be?''

    How were they balancing things if the beast-kin were this strong?

    The harpies weren''t exactly NPCs friendly to players. They were a different race that kidnapped stone dwarves and expanded imperialistically, and depending on players'' choices, they faced either the empowered Harpy Empress or the mutated underground monster.

    In the plains afterward, there were no friendly NPCs. The plains were vast, the dark wizard kidnapped civilians, and the evil dark magic forced players to choose between a speedrun to reduce victims or building up strength to minimize troop losses.

    But in the higher layers, where difficulty should have increased, there were surprisingly many friendly NPCs in the deep forest.

    The vegan tiger that didn''t attack players, the starlight finch that helped despite its temperament, the forest fairies who gave us emblems after seeing holy power, the fairies born from their hands, and even the wraith who helped us after tasting life force from the lich''s skull.

    Except for the single shadow fang tiger that attacked adventurers and ran away without showing itself again, and the poor tiger that got roasted in the forest, hadn''t all neutral NPCs become friendly?

    ...When a game goes this smoothly, it actually makes me uneasy.

    Though Han Se-ah was known for her good luck, there was a reason I called it "strange luck." While she used the strategy of taking detours to reach Seoul thanks to her good fortune, didn''t she also get blindsided and draw blanks when her luck was bad?

    For example, quests getting tangled while freeloading, gimmicks getting messed up, or what seemed like the shortest route turning out to be a miserable slog.

    "Hmm, you''re giving the tribe''s sacred relic to these human children?"

    "And that sacred relic responded to the human children. With the forest fairy emblems as well, this must be Mother World Tree''s will."

    The conversation between the wolf beast-kin and bull beast-kin continued as I pondered.

    As the representatives of the 66th and 67th floors began talking, all the beast-kin who seemed to be of the warrior class gathered in the clearing.

    If the 66th floor had a village in the trees made of woven vines, this place was a massive clearing village created by brute-forcing the forest with hooves. These beast-kin had torn trees out by the roots and tamped down the ground with their hooves to create a vast plain in the dense forest, and now they formed a curtain of muscle with their sturdy builds.

    "Hmm, hmmm, hmm-"

    "What are you dissatisfied with?"

    "Obviously, everything!"

    Meanwhile, one bull beast-kin who appeared to be the Stone Hoof tribe''s representative snorted roughly and flexed his impressive muscles. If not for the large horns on his head, I might have believed he was a gorilla beast-kin rather than a bull.

    With forearms thicker than Han Se-ah''s head and thighs thicker than Grace''s waist, the male bull beast-kin glared at me and stepped forward.

    "If you want the sacred relic, prove your ability!"

    """Prove it! Prove it!"""

    As they showed off their muscles and strength.

    ...For me, this was actually very welcome news.

    I get nervous when things go too smoothly.

    Enjoy the chappy!