I Possessed a Game Where I Die If I Don’t Clear the Tower - Chapter 81

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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 81. Jailer and Prisoner (1)
True Dragon Calamariare sensed the approach of a tiny warm-blooded creature rushing toward him and felt fury ignite within his being.
Trapped within the Altar and rotting away after being betrayed by his own offspring was already unbearable—and now an inferior species dared to approach him?
[Creatures more worthless than rats… how dare you!]
Calamariare sought to tear the presumptuous beast asunder in a single motion, his tail lashing with lethal intent.
In that very instant, a blade of words cut through the air from the despicable Schemer.
“Stop, Calamariare!”
[Ugh…!]
As terrible agony seized his body and froze him in place, the small warm-blooded creature bounded toward the Altar and seized the chain with both hands.
[Curse you… Schemer! With that pathetic frame, you cannot… argh!]
Calamariare was slammed against the Altar floor before he could finish his words.
And it did not end there. The small creature, as if intent on shattering his skull entirely, yanked the chain with brutal force and repeatedly smashed his head against the stone with resounding cracks.
[Ugh, gah!]
The pain was so severe that one head lost consciousness, while the remaining head throbbed with such agony that coherent thought became impossible.
In that moment, the small creature released the chain and leaped atop the Altar.
[Screech…!]
Unable to endure such treatment passively, Calamariare lashed his tail with all his might.
The small creature, apparently unprepared for such a close-range tail strike, went rigid.
“Hah, gasp…!”
“Shumel, be careful!”
At that moment, as if waiting for the opening, the larger creature interposed his shield and deflected the tail strike at an angle.
“C-Captain!”
“I warned you that the moment after a successful attack is the most dangerous.”
“I-I apologize….”
The larger creature continued to harass Calamariare with his shield, buying time for the smaller one to recover as he spoke.
“As I climbed up, I noticed he seemed to suffer more when the jewels on his head were struck. Did you observe that?”
“N-Now that you mention it, yes…!”
“Let us test that theory.”
Calamariare’s scales bristled at hearing this exchange.
The jewels on his head the creature spoke of—they were his life stones. His spare lives. The very source of his power.
[These wretches…!]
Since he could not afford to lose them, the two-headed serpent decided to strike first before being completely surrounded.
He tensed his neck and wielded his unconscious head like a club, swinging it with devastating force.
Unable to withstand the crushing mass of flesh, the small creature was sent flying beyond the Altar’s edge.
Yet even as he flew through the air, the larger creature snatched the chain around Calamariare’s neck and hung suspended, refusing to let go.
With his remaining free hand, he raised his shield and drove it toward the eye of the head still conscious, piercing inward.
Calamariare hastily drew his transparent eyelid shut, but the damage was done—wisps of mana leaked from the wound like smoke.
[A mere gnat, and yet you dare defy me!]
As he thrashed his head violently to dislodge the creature, the larger beast used the chain’s momentum to swing like a pendulum, rotating half a turn to position himself above his head.
‘Is he targeting the life stone? What a tenacious creature!’
Desperate, True Dragon Calamariare thrashed his unconscious head, attempting to strike again. But the creature moved first.
It seized both chains and leaped downward with a sharp motion.
The two chains tangled, and both sides of the head were suddenly compressed with a sickening crunch.
[Ugh…!?]
While I thrashed in panic, the large warm-blooded beast hurled the chains toward the small creature that had just crawled from the lake.
“Shumel, now! Pull!”
The small creature spat water with wet, choking sounds, then seized the chains and gnashed its teeth savagely.
“You, you threw me!? I, I’m dead, you serpent bastard!”
[This cannot be…!]
“Come, on!”
The small creature pulled the chains with all its might.
Crash!
With a sound like an artillery shell detonating, both heads slammed into the ground simultaneously.
Crash! Crash!
As if venting its rage, the small creature continued to whip the chains.
[Grrrrgh…!]
Their relentless assault finally shattered one of my life stones.
It was terribly agonizing and humiliating.
But it was not over. My heads were injured and I had lost one spare life, yet not a single scale had been shed.
If I could tear the chains from the Altar, those beasts would no longer be able to act so freely.
[I will not forgive you. I will never forgive you…!]
Even as my head spun, the two-headed serpent rallied my will and tensed my neck with all my strength.
But contrary to my expectation of a test of strength, my head was suddenly lifted upward.
What? Where did the beasts holding the chains go?
When I shook my head, I felt the warmth of the two creatures that had been wielding the chains emanating from outside the lake.
They had returned to their original position.
Into True Dragon Calamariare’s bewildered ears crept the sinister voice of the Schemer.
“True Dragon, do you still refuse to hear my words?”
[….]
I should have cried out in defiance, but suddenly my shattered life stone and the scratches on my neck weighed on my mind.
The Schemer, taking my silence as an answer, laughed once and spoke.
“I did not come to this place to humiliate you. I came to repair the seal beneath you.”
[…The seal?]
“Indeed.”
The Schemer approached the lake’s edge, his transparent soul gleaming as he whispered.
“Will you withdraw willingly and comply with my will? Then you shall find peace once more.”
Peace?
Days spent eternally bound by chains, endlessly brooding over my children’s betrayal—did he dare call that peace?
What difference was there between that and being told to surrender after being thoroughly beaten?
[Heh, heheheh… heheheh!]
True Dragon Calamariare trembled with scales as he laughed for a long time. Then, suddenly, his voice erupted with fury.
[Silence, you Schemer! If you wish me to follow you, then force me to kneel with your own hands! Make me beg for mercy!]
“How strange, Calamariare. You were pinned here precisely because you pleaded that you didn’t wish to be annihilated. Have you forgotten so soon?”
[Silence! None of this would have happened if you hadn’t deceived my children with lies and turned them against me!]
As Calamariare thrashed his neck violently, the chains rattled and swayed in response.
Watching the chains gradually pull free from the Altar with a dull sound, the Schemer exhaled a low sigh.
“It was you who was the liar. Didn’t you deceive your children, telling them they would gain eternal life by becoming one with you?”
[If I achieve eternal life, then my children—born of my blood and flesh—would also achieve it. Where is the lie in my words!?]
“…How ignorant. Very well, so be it. If you truly refuse to back down, then I have no choice.”
The Schemer raised his long arm and pointed at Calamariare. I tensed, thinking he would command his subordinates to attack, when suddenly a sharp pain pierced my skull.
[What… magic… are you…?]
“Not magic—plague. A recent guest to my Territory gifted it to me.”
[Plague?]
“According to an alchemist, it’s a disease where one writhes in agony as if one’s entrails are being torn apart for three days, before death claims them.”
The Schemer laughed sharply and continued.
“How fortunate, then? They say losing a child tears at one’s entrails like nothing else. Now you have the opportunity to experience it yourself.”
Perhaps through this suffering, you’ll come to understand the hearts of those children who bound you here.
The moment the Schemer finished speaking, an intense agony descended. It was as if my very brain was being shredded, my organs burning with unbearable fire.
[Aaaahhh! Aaaaaahhhhh!]
Calamariare thrashed wildly, pulling at the chains with all his might.
Whether by throwing himself into the Lake or by slaughtering those terrible beasts, he felt the pain might finally cease.
But the chains never broke. They never came free.
‘Why! Why won’t this cursed chain break!?’
In the mind of the wailing two-headed serpent, an old memory surfaced.
The memory of the moment he was bound by this terrible chain.
This chain was forged from molten metal heated by an elderly parent who lost a child, an adult who lost a spouse, and a child who lost parents. It was cooled by the tears they shed.
It will not break unless you understand the flames of anguish that burned their hearts.
It will not come free unless you take pity on their tears.
Yet if you truly seek forgiveness with all your heart, The Tower shall set you free.
Repent, sinner. Thus save yourself.
Calamariare wailed in agony and contemplated.
I had repented. I had begged for forgiveness.
But even after pleading for so long that my mind grew distant, the chains still bound me.
So I gave up. If I would never be forgiven, why should I ever seek mercy from my own children?
I was Calamariare, their parent. Having birthed them, I had the right to take back everything.
So I did as I pleased—nothing more, nothing less—and yet…
[Aaahhhhh! Krrrraaahhhhh!]
But all that indignation and rage meant nothing before this agony.
Calamariare thrashed with his entire body until finally, still bound by the chains, he drove his head into the Altar.
[Forgive… forgive me, I cannot endure this. It hurts, it hurts! I will do anything! If you would just leave me be, I will do anything! So please, forgive me!]
The Schemer responded as if he’d anticipated this very moment.
“How unfortunate. Even the pain of losing a child cannot sway you toward redemption.”
Then there’s no help for it. I shall seal you away once more.
The Schemer added this with an almost ceremonial whisper.
“Sleep now, True Dragon Calamariare.”

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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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