I Possessed a Game Where I Die If I Don’t Clear the Tower - Chapter 28

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 28. The Pantheon (1)
The Dark Tower is a game with a time limit.
The time limit is ten years.
But filling those ten years completely is difficult.
Around the third year, the ‘evil’ trapped within the Tower stirs and causes all manner of incidents, and by the fifth year, various external forces scheme to bring the Tower down.
The variety of external forces is truly endless.
The Fallum Empire, coveting the abundant mana stone resources the Tower produces.
The Holy Alliance, viewing the Tower’s existence as blasphemy and seeking to destroy it.
The Iron Kingdom, World Tree Kingdom, and Dragon Alliance—a coalition of non-human races hoping to recover their hidden treasures somewhere within the Tower.
The Shadow Assassins, Witch Circle, and Holy Grail Knights, whose purpose is to sow chaos across the world.
And finally.
The Pantheon—a cult of evil god worshippers who revere the ancient ‘evil’ sealed within the Tower and seek to liberate them.
As the name suggests, each faction has its own backstory, but the lore hardly matters.
What matters is that they are an extraordinarily troublesome group.
‘The apostles of the Pantheon possess the means to weaken the Seal Gates.’
Ten Seal Gates open each year, ninety-nine over the decade.
They don’t open during the festivals in July and October, so roughly one opens per month.
The Pantheon could twist this cycle or accelerate it by several days using their special power.
If it happened during strategy preparation, I’d genuinely lose my mind. With bad luck, the entire game could collapse.
But their primary stronghold is the Upper Floors.
The probability of a Pantheon event occurring on the Lower Floors was extremely low.
Statistically speaking, one percent.
On Hardcore difficulty, the appearance rate would increase, but even then it was around three percent.
Of course, Camilia, with her somewhat obsessive playstyle, didn’t dismiss three percent lightly.
To prepare for any contingency, I pestered the Adventurer Guild Master into bringing a top-tier adventurer to the 2nd Floor Seal Gate.
But that was merely precaution.
I didn’t genuinely believe such an event would occur.
What in the world did this cursed die roll do?
‘This is genuinely unfair…’
The Grim Reaper, the Pantheon—why must they torment a virtuous possessor? Why can’t they leave me alone?
‘Stay calm for now.’
I prayed that my trait, Clear Mirror Mind, would work overtime and quickly set my thoughts in order.
Unlike in the game, I couldn’t confirm the enemies’ levels, but their party composition was obvious from appearance alone.
One tank, two dealers, one caster.
‘When a Pantheon party appears on the Lower Floors, their average level is five.’
Occasionally, with bad luck, a high-level NPC called an ‘apostle’ would be among them, so I burned that into my memory without fail.
My forces consist of two tanks, one healer, one support. Everyone except the 15th-level priest has comparable levels.
Ken’s party has two at level five and one at level four.
But it’s hard to call that proper combat strength.
Ken and the archer Lena absolutely despise mental magic.
There’s a backstory tangled up in that, but it’s not important. What matters is that every time I use mental magic, both Ken and Lena either suffer status abnormalities or their affinity plummets.
‘Ah, forget it. I’m not even recruiting them as allies, so whether their affinity drops or not doesn’t matter.’
If I can’t control them, I’ll just treat them as mobile objects and fight accordingly.
The moment I decided to enter immediately—
【That monster… how on earth did it detect our presence?】
Another tingling wave mixed with hostility flowed in.
The wave seemed to come from quite a distance away to be from the Pantheon party right in front of me.
It didn’t seem to be coming from Ken’s party either.
‘If that’s the case, there’s someone hiding… Did those Pantheon bastards come with two parties instead of one?’
Even Netanel’s ears, amplified to their maximum sensitivity, didn’t catch it—these weren’t ordinary opponents.
But I couldn’t avoid combat just because the enemy was unknown.
If I hesitated, the elite adventurer party would be wiped out first.
Then the battle would become even more difficult.
‘Even if I can’t end it in one turn, I can see the angle. Let’s go.’
Once I decided, I had to execute without delay.
Camilia gripped the Dream Amulet and flicked the Frame Ring hanging from the chain with her fingertip.
Click.
The magic embedded in the necklace activated, accompanied by a dreamy music box melody like a lullaby from within a dream.
The target was the Pantheon party’s tank.
[‘Camilia Lord’ casts ‘Fragment of Dreams’ on ‘Apostle of Pallas: Darius Grim’.]
Success: 5
‘I’m already irritated by the Pantheon event trigger, and now I got an Apostle too?’
What kind of ridiculous luck was this.
Fortunately, his mental magic resistance seemed low—the success roll was generous.
As expected, the moment the dice tumbled, the success message appeared.
‘Perfect.’
Camilia retreated backward and shouted.
“Rohengreen, Nashu! Help Ken!”
While the two tanks helped the warrior Ken suppress the Pantheon Apostle, Camilia cast ‘Domination’.
[‘Camilia Lord’ casts ‘Domination’ on ‘Apostle of Pallas: Darius Grim’.]
Success: 5
[Judgment begins!]
[Mind Sorcerer] privilege adds 1 twelve-sided die.
[Mind Sorcerer] privilege ignores the opponent’s mental magic resistance roll.
[Mind Sorcerer] grants +6
[Hostile Group] grants…
The system window glimmered, spewing out dazzling numbers.
Result: 23/5
[Critical Success!]
The result was naturally a success.
Even as seconds ticked away, Camilia extracted information from the system window’s text.
A success value of 5 for the mental weakness debuff meant a resistance value of 10 or less—level 5 to 6 range.
An Apostle wielding a shield and one-handed sword meant the class was either a Holy Knight or Holy Warrior.
When that class faced three close-range combatants, the highest-probability skill to emerge was….
‘Judgment Strike!’
Camilia shouted urgently.
“Darius Grim! Turn back!”
The Apostle’s descending blade spun around as if by magic.
Even when the target changed, an already-activated skill couldn’t be canceled. The fan-shaped critical strike of Judgment Strike engulfed his allies instead.
“…!”
“Ugh…!”
The two dealers, caught defenseless, erupted in blood and flew backward. The caster, who had been summoning flames, was shoved by her party members and tumbled across the ground.
Camilia calmly assessed the attack’s range and rapidly counted the opponent’s remaining skills.
‘From the range, level 5. Judgment Strike is spent, and now Purifying Aura and Superior Blessing are gone.’
As if reading Camilia’s thoughts, the Apostle stomped and unfurled a translucent aura.
Crimson-tinged blessings cascaded down, enveloping the party members.
Camilia counted again.
‘Neither party member is ranged. Remaining miracles: one superior miracle, one enhancement blessing, one or two attack blessings. The caster is a flame mage.’
Information interlocked like gears meshing together.
‘I can win this.’
Just as Camilia was about to issue another command to her party, Ken staggered backward and stared at her.
“My lord, weren’t you a mage? H-how do you know the puppet techniques of those accursed witches…!”
Fear gleamed in his eyes.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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