I Possessed a Game Where I Die If I Don’t Clear the Tower - Chapter 31

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

Chapter 31. In Our Industry, That’s High Praise
Rohengreen Ashen and Nashu Shumel had already positioned themselves at the front, shields raised, so her words were effectively directed at Ken’s party.
Aware of this fact, Ken wiped cold sweat from his brow and asked back.
“If we hold for three minutes? Then we can really all survive?”
“Would I have said time was necessary otherwise?”
“Honestly, those witches… damn it, I’m not even sure if trusting the lord is the right call….”
Ken’s pupils trembled finely as anxiety crashed over him in waves.
His dry lips moved repeatedly as he searched for words, and he gripped the handle of his greatsword tightly.
“Still, the lord… even though we idiots broke the contract and made a mess of things, you gave us a chance to save my comrade.”
I’ll trust you.
With those words, he took his stance for battle.
His party members, archer Lena and rogue Bella, exchanged glances and nodded before tightening their grips on their weapons.
Three minutes in name only—holding back an 8th-level Necromancer for three turns was no simple task.
‘It’s fine. Netanel is here.’
Camilia fixed her gaze on the party’s only healer, her eyes conveying the weight of expectation.
Fortunately, the priest responded not with displeasure but with a faint smile, immediately grasping his scepter.
[You dare put fledglings in the front lines against me?! How arrogant…!]
As Camilia withdrew entirely from combat, stepping back, the Necromancer raged and began casting spells.
[Rise, knight!]
First, the knight whose head had been crushed.
[Fall into corruption! Merge and twist!]
Then the two half-pulped damage dealers from the Pantheon Party convulsed and merged together, rising as a massive flesh golem.
“Shumel, angle the shields!”
“Yes, yes!”
The two knights moved in perfect coordination, deflecting the first assault of the lurching corpses.
Ken, the party’s most powerful attacker, then charged forward, and the second phase of combat began.
[Fall! Foolish creatures!]
Ken barely dodged a blackened arrow imbued with the mana of decay and cried out.
“Three, gasp, is three minutes still not up!?”
“Who knows! Who’s counting that!?”
Lena answered sharply, her hand reaching into the quiver at her thigh before she cried out in alarm.
Her arrows were gone.
In her stead, the rogue Bella rushed at the flesh golem. Her daggers would barely leave a scratch, but at least she could buy them precious seconds.
Grrrrgh!
The creature, as if annoyed, suddenly shot spikes of flesh outward, piercing through Bella’s arm and leaving it shredded.
Rather than scream, she retreated toward the half-elf priest.
The priest, as if waiting for this moment, raised his scepter and healed Bella’s wounds.
Then he expanded the range of light, instantly restoring the battered knights and Ken in one sweep.
It was hard to believe that this priest performing such impossibly magnificent miracles was once a mere clerk who traded jokes with him.
Yet even this priest could only keep their lifelines intact, unable to do anything against the Necromancer floating overhead and attacking them one-sidedly—a situation equally hard to believe.
What in the world had he done to endure in such a corpse-like state?
“Ken! Stop getting distracted!”
Bella snarled, noticing him losing focus.
Ken struggled to steady his breathing as he brought his blade down on the grotesque flesh golem’s leg—a limb he’d already battered countless times.
Crack!
Flesh tore and blood sprayed.
But within moments, it writhed and reformed.
‘Damn it.’
Ken cursed himself.
He shouldn’t have been swayed by some bald man’s tears.
He shouldn’t have surrendered to the Lord after staring into those jewel-like, luminous eyes.
He’d believed the Lord would have some way out, but did such a method truly exist?
The Lord had said there was a way to survive, but was that really true?
If some grand spell was being prepared, shouldn’t mana be pouring out in waves?
Resisting the urge to turn and check behind him, Ken swung his sword with renewed force.
Flesh splits. It reattaches. Flesh splits. It reattaches again.
‘Damn it, damn it, damn it…!’
He chewed on his regrets over and over.
If I’d just prepared my equipment and items properly, this wouldn’t have happened.
I shouldn’t have underestimated the 2nd Floor—I should have brought at least a few fire scrolls.
‘If I’d known I’d die like this, I should have held the children one more time…’
I knew I shouldn’t think of family during combat, but facing death, only my youngest’s face—still nursing—came to mind.
Yet instead of gaining strength, my entire body went limp.
My arms trembled violently.
My legs too, and my sword—all shaking terribly.
‘Stop thinking such useless thoughts…!’
Ken gritted his teeth, trying to shake off thoughts of his family.
But it wasn’t just his hands and feet trembling—now the floor, the walls, even the ceiling shook.
Had my mind broken from being cornered?
Was that why everything seemed to be trembling…?
“What?! Why is it shaking so much!”
“Lena, be careful not to fall!”
‘…It really is shaking!?’
Hearing his party members’ screams, Ken realized the Tower was genuinely trembling—not a trick of his mind.
Even knowing he shouldn’t lose focus, he instinctively turned his head.
Beyond the crumbling stone walls, the Seal Chamber came into view.
But the magical circle that had been brilliantly illuminating the sealed door was nowhere to be seen.
The chains blocking the entrance were gone as well.
Instead, black smoke billowed out from beyond the closed door.
‘Why the Seal Chamber? It was fine just moments ago…’
Ken’s eyes widened as he spotted Camilia with her hand pressed against the Seal Chamber door.
He had just realized who the culprit was that had opened the seal.
So “hold the line” meant we all die together?
‘She said she’d save us.’
She said she’d save us!
Something in my mind snapped clean in two.
“You crazy damn lord—!”
I was about to scream, unable to hold back, when the lord cried out.
“Why are you standing there like idiots!? Run! Come to my side!”
The priest was the first to react.
After scattering protective barriers to everyone, she spun around and bolted toward Camilia.
The Knight Order commander likewise grabbed her gasping pink-haired subordinate by the side and fled like lightning.
“Ah, I, ah—!”
Ken shouted at his party members, swallowing the curses threatening to burst out.
“I’ll cover you—run!”
Following the two sprinting figures, Ken ground his teeth together.
This crazy bastard of a lord!
I’ll never trust her again!
[Ken Schmidt has been permanently removed from available recruitable allies.]
A notification about 0 confessions and 1 betrayal popped up, but Camilia didn’t even glance at it before closing the window.
She had no time to worry about such things.
[Unstable Seal Chamber (2nd Floor)]
Boss: Discarded Homunculus (Level 5)
Boss Effect: Ratman spawn rate increases.
※Time until seal release: 0 days 0 hours 0 minutes 15 seconds
The numbers were counting down in real-time on the Boss Room information window.
Because Camilia was forcefully pressing the seal release button.
But it didn’t end there.
As Camilia ran toward the Seal Chamber, she spotted a gem gleaming like a Quest item and snatched it up.
‘I’ll use this too.’
A hologram window visible only to her shimmered into existence, as if it had been waiting.
[Pallas’s Wrath]
Enhances the ‘evil’ of the Seal Chamber by +1 level.
Apply enhancement?
[Yes] / [No]
Camilia chose ‘Yes’ without hesitation.
At that moment, the numbers that had been frantically counting down reached 0.
[!!WARNING!!]
[!!危險警報!!]
[!!DANGER ALERT!!]
Holographic windows materialized in all directions, shrieking warnings with frenzied urgency.
The murky darkness that had been nothing but shadow instantaneously transformed into a flood of monsters.
[Shrieeeeeeek!]
A horde of foul-reeking bipedal rats poured forth, consumed by madness.
The only sanctuary lay within the Seal Chamber, protected by ancient magic and mystery.
Fortunately, my party and Ken’s party both reached the Seal Chamber’s entrance just before the Ratmen could descend upon us.
“Huff, gasp—what in the world were you thinking—!”
Ken moved to protest immediately, but I ignored him and gestured to Rohengreen Ashen, pointing toward the door.
The loyal knight asked no questions.
Despite his labored breathing, he threw the Seal Chamber’s doors wide open at my behest.
Clang, clang, clang!
Torches ignited in succession, as if being lit one by one.
Light found its way into the Seal Chamber, which had been consumed by darkness.
At the center of that radiance, a grotesque mass of flesh—whether rotted or melted, none could say—writhed as if welcoming guests.
[Ahhh… our poor sister has come! You have returned to the Tower seeking the truth!]
Ken’s party, having witnessed a sight too horrific to bear even in nightmares, clapped their hands over their mouths or retched.
They were not the only ones shocked.
The Necromancer, too, seemed to have received a blow, releasing a mental wave thick with confusion.
[You… unsealed it? Yourself? Why? Are you not the Tower’s warden!]
The Necromancer, who had planned to slaughter all his subordinates, rush forth, mock the lord, and break the seal, found himself lost in bewilderment.
Had he not sacrificed his subordinates to protect the Tower by rushing to the seal?
Yet instead of reinforcing it, you broke it yourself?
Why on earth?
The possessed Necromancer erupted in fury.
[What in the world were you thinking—!?]
I stepped into the Boss Room without offering any response.
Then I immediately cast Charm on the charging boss monster.
Result: 14/16
[Failed!]
The first attempt failed, but I calmly cast Charm a second time.
The die spun, yielding its number once more.
Result: 14/14
[Success!]
The mass of flesh that had nearly reached me came to an abrupt halt.
The boss monster’s face, twisted like that of a malevolent spirit, glistened with rapturous fervor.
[Ahhh… ahhhh, sister… how can you be so pitiful and beautiful…?]
I extended my pale, beautiful hand and caressed the grotesquely crumbling flesh, whispering softly.
“Sister, you will protect me, will you not?”
[Of course. Of course I will! What else should I protect if not one as beautiful as you?]
Having received such an ardent confession, I smiled coldly and turned to look behind me.
The possessed Necromancer felt a shock that sent chills down even his true body’s spine.
Because he had finally grasped what this mad monster was after.
[Y-you… this monster… how could you…! Do you have no honor!? No sense of justice!? How dare you humiliate one you’ve sealed in hell until the very end!]
A wave of fury resonated with a deafening ring, yet it held no terror.
In short, wasn’t it just ‘playing dirty’?
In this industry, that was high praise.
Camilia caressed the mass of flesh and murmured.
“Did you hear? That filthy wretch is desperate to harm me.”
A terrifying killing intent crystallized in the boss monster’s eyes.
Responding to the boss monster’s will, the Ratmen surged forward in unison toward the Necromancer and his summon.
It took mere moments for the creatures—climbing over and clawing at one another to overcome their insufficient height—to seize the mage’s body.
[Ahhhhhhh…! Thousand-Year Skill! You… you monster bastard destined for this hell…!]
Watching the screaming Necromancer, Camilia reflected.
Repeated praise—I’m truly grateful.

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