27. The Raid
Camellia narrowed her eyes and thought.
‘Whose thoughts are these? A monster? No, that can’t be right. There’s no way a monster would call me the Lord of the Territory. Then, is it an adventurer?’
No matter how vast the Tower was, it wasn’t infinite.
The lower floors were roughly the size of a city, so it wouldn’t be strange to accidentally run into an adventurer party while wandering around.
The problem was that the vast majority of them harbored ill intentions.
When they started spouting nonsense about monsters and exuding hostility like this, there was a 99.9% chance they were planning a raid.
If someone heard this, they might say:
“An adventurer party raiding the Lord of the Territory? Isn’t that just a forced plot device?”
They would throw out all sorts of logic, like how it’s something only an idiot would do since it would inevitably lead to trouble with the Adventurers’ Guild, or that it’s irrational to harm the Lord who manages the Tower.
To all that modern, logical thinking, Camellia wanted to reply:
‘You guys aren’t playing “Dark Fantasy” at all.’
In this genre, the common-sense reaction is, “The Lord of the Territory reincarnates even if they die, so isn’t it fine to stab them?”
The intelligent reaction is, “Anyway, don’t Lords drop loot when they die? Let’s just rob them and think about it later.”
And the moderate reaction is, “Whether the Tower collapses or not is none of my business. Yep, as long as I don’t collapse, I’m fine.”
Most adventurers were not in their right minds.
The few who were actually sane could only be seen once the middle floors opened up.
‘They might only be harboring hostility without the actual intent to raid, but still…’
Because Camellia trusted the common sense of this world more than the reason of a modern person, she sent a hand signal to Netanel, who was at the back of the party.
It meant to stay alert.
It was a makeshift solution she’d come up with since she couldn’t move her companions with a mouse click like in the game, but it was better than nothing.
Indeed, Netanel showed exactly the reaction she wanted.
He cast the “Blessing of Sensory Enhancement” on himself, closed his eyes, and began to listen to the sounds around them.
A moment later, he opened his eyes and whispered.
“...It seems there are about two parties nearby. Three humanoids and four humanoids. The group of four seems well-equipped. I can hear the sound of metal.”
Nash, who seemed to take Netanel’s words as a signal to prepare for an attack, started looking around in a panic.
Lohengrin, who had steadied Nash by gripping her shoulder, glanced around lightly before turning back to Camellia.
“...Shall we engage?”
“Hmm.”
Camellia fell into thought for a moment.
If there wasn’t just one party, but two, it was worth investigating.
Usually, one would send a stealthy rogue or use a spell like “Shadow Eye,” which some mages possessed, to scout them out.
However, Camellia’s party had neither.
‘I left the mage behind, so it can’t be helped. As for a rogue... ugh, I really do need to find one.’
Without a rogue—the flower of CRPG games and the ultimate jack-of-all-trades—there were countless inconveniences.
The problem was that the compatibility between a rogue and a Mind Sorcerer was the worst.
True to their nature as embodiments of rebellion, most rogue-class companions hated being controlled or dominated by others more than death itself.
That was why she hadn’t been able to reach out to any of the rogues available for hire at the Adventurers’ Guild.
‘It’s a shame, but what can you do? That’s just how a trash build is.’
There was no point in lamenting what she didn’t have.
Camellia decided to make do with the resources she currently had.
“We’ll move for now. If they follow, we engage. If not, we put some distance between us.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
Lohengrin took the lead and began to walk.
Nash looked somewhat anxious, but seeing the rest of the party looking calm, she tried to do the same.
“Netanel, let me know immediately if they get close.”
Netanel stepped a bit closer to Camellia’s side and replied.
“Yes, Employer.”
He might have asked something like, ‘How did you know there were other parties nearby?’, but unlike usual, Netanel kept his mouth shut and focused solely on the sounds reaching him.
He knew that if things went south, it would be a dangerous situation.
‘He didn’t waste his levels. He moves well on his own.’
It was a bit less convenient than controlling them with a mouse, but he moved exactly as much as she had hoped.
This was true even when they moved away from the Seal Chamber and she decided to check on them once they had come this far.
Before Camellia could even ask, Netanel spoke first.
“Neither of them is following us.”
Even if it wasn’t both, she had expected at least one party to follow, so it was hard to say they were lucky.
The luck in The Darkness Tower never worked in the player’s favor.
If an event that had a 99.9% chance of triggering didn’t happen, it didn’t mean they were lucky; it meant an even more dangerous event was currently in progress.
Camellia asked, tensing up.
“Did those two parties move at all?”
“One party followed us when we moved, then stopped. The other party didn’t move from start to finish.”
“Ah,” Netanel added.
“It seems they stopped near the Seal Chamber, though I’m not certain.”
Only the Lord of the Territory could interact with the Seal Chamber. It was normal for adventurers to just pass by it even if they saw it.
Yet, they had deliberately stopped in front of the Seal Chamber?
A specific event began to swirl in her mind.
‘Wasn’t the spawn rate 1%? Did that just trigger now?’
When in doubt, it was faster to check for yourself than to worry.
“We’re going back.”
“W-what? We’re going back?”
Unlike a bewildered Nash, Lohengrin and Netanel turned around without a word.
Camellia followed behind Nash, who had started running in a fluster, and prayed.
‘It’s not that, right? It’s not the Pantheon event, is it?! Please, let it not be that...!’
Ken Schmidt, a top-tier adventurer, had been having a hard time lately.
He had managed to endure the Tower suddenly exploding and monsters pouring out, but the aftermath was the real problem.
The Lord, who had been holed up in the castle performing suspicious magical rituals, must have eaten something wrong, because he kept pestering the innocent Adventurers’ Guild.
He would try to kick them out for not completing quests properly, and even after things were resolved well, he seemed intent on devouring the guild.
Just recently, he had summoned the Guild Master to the castle and spent two whole hours berating him, asking, “What exactly is it that you do?”
Thanks to that, Ken had to spend half the day comforting the pot-bellied, bald man who was sobbing in his arms about how terrifying the Lord was.
It was truly an experience he never wanted to repeat.
But the most annoying and irritating thing was the task the Guild Master, who had been thoroughly broken, dumped on them, saying he could only trust top-tier adventurers like them.
‘He told us to patrol the Seal Chamber on the 2nd floor. For exactly one month, no more, no less.’
The main floors where top-tier adventurers operated were the 30th floor, the top of the Tower.
To demand that they run errands on the mere 2nd floor? And without even telling them the reason?
It was absurd, but it was hard to turn down the Guild Master’s hand when he was begging for help as if it were a matter of life and death.
Still, he hadn’t wanted to be the first one picked in the drawing of lots.
Grumbling, Ken had set out to monitor the 2nd-floor Seal Chamber with his party.
“It’s the Lord.”
“Oh, it really is.”
And on the second day of surveillance, the Lord appeared in front of the Seal Chamber for some reason.
He only checked the surroundings briefly before leaving, but his movements were inexplicably unsettling.
Lena, an archer and Ken’s companion, was chewing on some beef jerky as she muttered.
“Isn’t the Lord acting really weird lately?”
Ken, who had been thinking about the purple hair that resembled the evening glow as it disappeared around the corner, replied belatedly.
“Huh? What?”
“I said, isn’t the Lord acting weird lately? He didn’t use to act so rashly before.”
“That... is certainly a bit strange.”
“Do you think something is going to happen on the 2nd floor, too?”
It was hard to dismiss as groundless anxiety.
After all, just a few days ago, a seal that hadn’t been broken even once in over a thousand years had been shattered.
Still, as a party leader, he couldn’t fuel the anxiety. Ken shook his head.
“No way. If there were a problem, the Lord wouldn’t have just left earlier...”
“Shh.”
Bella, who had been quiet the whole time, put a finger to her lips to stop them.
It was a party rule to unconditionally follow the words of their rogue, so Ken and Lena shut their mouths at the same time.
Bella silently gestured toward the corner of the Seal Chamber.
‘What is it?’
Ken gasped in surprise.
Some suspicious-looking figures draped in black cloaks were loitering near the Seal Chamber.
He had been watching the whole time, even if he’d been distracted for a moment, so when did they get there?
Regardless of what anyone said, he was a top-tier adventurer who frequented the 30th floor.
There weren’t many who could move without being noticed by him.
“Suspicious.”
Bella whispered, and Lena and Ken nodded in agreement.
“Get into position. I’m going.”
Ken grabbed the greatsword he had been leaning against the wall and rushed over to block the suspicious figures.
“Stop right there. Who are you, and why are you loitering in front of the Seal Chamber? Don’t you know the guild rules? Adventurers aren’t allowed to stay in this area for long.”
They took a step back instead of answering.
He had thought they were people who could understand words, but it was the opposite.
Because a blazing flame was forming in the hands of the one standing at the very back.
‘What the hell...!’
Just as Ken, startled, raised his greatsword to block, a sharp voice rang out from somewhere.
“Ken Schmidt! Duck!”
It was a voice that carried a power he couldn’t possibly resist.
He instinctively ducked his upper body, and the flame that had grazed his head collided with the Seal Chamber’s barrier and exploded.
Even though the heat was flickering behind him, his back felt like it was burning. If he had taken it head-on, it wouldn’t have ended with just a minor injury.
Ken felt cold sweat pouring down as he gripped his greatsword.
Who was it?
Who had helped him?
As he rolled his eyes, keeping his guard up toward the front, he saw those standing at the end of the hallway.
It was the fierce-looking Lord and her party members.
Ken was moved before he knew it.
‘It’s the Lord!’
He had called him the Lord, or that bastard Lord, whenever he was bored, but in this moment, he was truly the Lord.
The Lord’s help didn’t stop there. He even revealed the identity of the suspicious cloaked party.
"To think that a mere minion of an Evil God is still breathing is an act of great blasphemy, yet you dare to touch my Tower? I shall not forgive you."
'A minion of an Evil God? Those terrifying bastards were targeting the Tower!?'
While Ken was struck with shock, he felt a sense of respect for the Lord welling up inside him.
To not be intimidated even while facing such fearsome beings—it was incredible.
He had always wondered what use a foul-tempered Lord who only ever squeezed taxes out of people could be, but so this was what he was for!
Gaining courage, Ken shouted confidently.
"I shall join you, my Lord!"
The Lord nodded with dignity, as if to signal that he would allow Ken to assist him.
At that gallant attitude, Ken felt his heart ease.
That’s right. The Lord will handle everything.
He must have known something, which was why he had ordered him to monitor the second floor.
Surely, he must have brought a magnificent and incredible countermeasure to stop the minion of the Evil God.
'I believe in you, my Lord!'
Ken’s thoughts were not wrong.
Inside Camellia’s head, there was indeed something magnificent and incredible.
'Aaaargh, seriously! Why is a 1% event triggering now? This is pure malice! It’s insane, malicious trolling!'
……Mostly screams and shouts.
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