How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 90: Flame Ring (5)

Name: Seion.

No skill, no connections—just a useless hanger-on lingering beside the Fifth Prince.

That was all Verof knew about the mage.

And frankly, that alone had been more attention than the man deserved.

"......"

Verof narrowed his eyes and stared at the mage.

Even surrounded by the entire knight order and over a hundred hunters poised atop the cliffs, the man didn’t show a trace of tension. He simply looked around calmly.

‘...Did he just say there were more than he expected?’

Had the bastard lost his mind?

With death staring him in the face, was he trying to bluff his way out?

But then Verof glanced at Jurein and Sephiel—and their expressions were strange, too.

Tense, yes, but their eyes showed no trace of fear or despair. Not the slightest flicker of resignation.

That was not the demeanor of people facing imminent death.

Verof wasn’t a warrior promoted for his strength—he’d risen to command through cunning and politics.

And right now, his instincts were screaming.

“You’re the one, aren’t you?”

The card Jurein Marhargel had been hiding from everyone.

Karl turned his gaze on Verof and curled his lips upward.

A clear answer without words.

“So that mage’s the one we should be cautious of?”

The hunters above the canyon had been listening ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) in to the exchange.

They, too, were warriors with senses honed far beyond that of ordinary men.

“Even if he is, he’s still just one guy. With the knights here, this’ll be over in no time.”

“Don’t let your guard down. He’s the one who wiped out the Regbill hunters.”

A wave of murderous intent spilled down the canyon walls from the cliffside hunters, all directed at the three below.

Verof glanced at them briefly before speaking again.

“So the Fourth Prince’s warning about a hidden magic tool was off the mark.”

"......"

“Still pretending to be calm? You think you can handle this alone?”

Dozens of knights in full gear.

Over a hundred brutal underground hunters.

Even if Karl had been hiding his true ability, no single person could deal with that.

‘Unless he’s on the level of the Royal Guardian Commander himself, there’s no way out of this.’

Yes—logically, that should be the case.

And yet...

Verof’s brow twitched faintly.

Karl still looked utterly unfazed. That man’s demeanor wasn’t some act.

An inexplicable sense of dread crept into the back of Verof’s mind.

It was the same instinct that had kept him alive through countless political backstabbings.

"Getting this many heads together wasn’t a bad move."

Karl looked around as he spoke.

"But if they’re all just fodder, it’s meaningless. You should’ve gathered a few real threats instead. Not that it would’ve changed anything."

At those words, a few knights twitched with irritation.

"I’m curious to see how long you can keep that smug face."

Verof raised his hand in signal.

But instead of ordering an attack, it was a gesture to pull back.

There was no need to sacrifice knights when they had the hunters. Let them take the risk first.

More than anything, Verof couldn’t shake the growing sense of unease.

"That damn mage just called us fodder?"

The bald man who had spoken earlier scowled, locking eyes with Karl.

The woman with the massive bow laughed and nocked an arrow.

"Let’s see if his skills match that mouth of his."

The long-haired man frowned.

"The knights haven’t signaled yet."

"So what? Pulling back like that just means they don’t want to go first. Who cares?"

It was just three people. No need to hold back and take criticism later.

Crack...!!

The archer woman’s arm ballooned as she drew the string, the bow flexing so far it looked like it would snap.

Red energy coiled around the arrow, sharpening its edge.

Through all this, Karl didn’t move an inch.

"Idiot."

The woman smirked—and released the string.

BOOM!!

A thunderous roar.

The enormous arrow shot forward in a red streak, screaming toward Karl with devastating force.

Fired from a black ironwood longbow with over ten times the draw strength of a normal bow—reinforced with aura—it was a blow that even high-level knights or mages would struggle to block head-on.

And it was far too late to cast a shield.

It was pathetic, but this would be the end.

The woman was certain that Karl’s body would explode, beyond recognition.

But the scene that followed didn’t just betray that expectation—it crushed it completely.

"...What?"

The arrow stopped.

The monstrous projectile that should’ve torn through solid rock—halted midair, lifeless.

"Judging by that bow, are you from the Revellica school?"

Karl murmured, eyes flicking between the stunned woman and the arrow.

Revellica—an archery sect that valued destructive power in a single shot above all else.

‘The main school was somewhere in the southern part of the Rune Continent, if I remember right.’

He briefly wondered how someone from that sect ended up doing hunting dog work here—but it wasn’t important.

Crackle!

The hovering arrow shattered into powder from the pressure of Karl’s force.

The woman shouted in panic.

"W-What are you all doing?! Attack, now!"

Snapped out of their daze, the hunters launched their assault.

Arrows, spears, daggers, chains—every kind of sharp weapon flew toward Karl from all directions, darkening the air with steel.

But it was all pointless.

Screeechhh—

The paths of the weapons suddenly twisted at impossible angles.

A harsh, grating noise filled the canyon as metal clashed and scraped in midair.

All of it tangled and spiraled together—until the weapons formed a massive, floating ball of iron.

"......"

An overwhelming, irrational spectacle.

Even the knights and hunters—even Jurein and Sephiel—could only stare blankly at the floating mass.

"Your crime: attempted regicide."

A low voice drew all eyes.

Karl, expressionless, delivered his judgment.

"All are sentenced to death."

BOOOM!!

The massive iron ball exploded, launching shards in every direction like a storm of blades.

The hunters and knights were shredded before they could react. The canyon turned red in an instant, bodies torn to pieces.

Some tried to swing weapons or dive behind cover—but it was useless.

Reinforced by Karl’s force, the weapons struck back with far more power than they had been launched with. No one could withstand it.

"You son of a biiitch—!!"

One hunter barely survived the blast and charged, swinging a fist at Karl.

It was the bald man—the leader of the hunters.

His momentum and skill weren’t bad. But he should’ve run.

STAB!

Spikes burst from the ground and impaled him through every limb, killing him instantly.

Karl didn’t even glance at the corpse. His gaze turned elsewhere.

The bald man wasn’t the only survivor.

Fwoosh—!!

Far off in the sky, the long-haired man unfurled black wings and flew, desperately fleeing.

That wasn’t magic. Nor a magic tool.

"...Dark Soaring Wings—shamanic flight?"

An archer, now flying with shamanic spells?

Even for assassins, this group had some rare characters.

Karl chuckled and raised his hand.

Blue lightning crackled from the sky—and a bolt struck down.

CRASH!!

The long-haired man burned to ash midair—gone without a trace.

Thanks to Overload, Karl could now use Calling Thunder without needing stormy weather.

"......"

Silence blanketed the canyon.

Jurein and Sephiel swallowed, scanning their surroundings.

The canyon walls had collapsed from the blast, burying the dead like a mass grave.

Thanks to Karl’s shield, the two of them had remained untouched.

They had witnessed Karl’s power during the royal ceremony—but this was still overwhelming.

They might’ve gotten used to having him around—but now they were reminded again, painfully, just how far removed from normal Karl really was.

And how fortunate they were to have such a monster on their side.

‘Just... what kind of mage is he?’

Could he really be a dragon?

Sephiel glanced to the side.

"...That one’s still alive."

Beyond the swirling dust from the collapsed cliff, a figure twitched.

Karl raised a gust of wind to clear the dust—revealing Verof.

His entire body was drenched in blood.

"......"

He stared blankly, as if unable to comprehend how his knights and hunters had been annihilated in an instant.

Then, slowly, his gaze turned to Karl.

His torn lips moved, and a ragged voice croaked out.

"...You really kept a monster hidden well."

Now, he understood everything.

How the Fifth Prince had survived the royal ritual.

Why he’d been able to walk so boldly afterward.

It was all thanks to that unbelievable monster standing behind him.

Shing—

Jurein wordlessly drew his sword.

He stepped forward.

Stab!

And, without hesitation, drove the blade into Verof’s neck.

The man’s eyes widened, blood gushing as he crumpled to the ground.

A pitiful end for the commander of a royal knight order.

"Was it really okay to kill him? The capital’s going to explode when they hear about this."

Karl asked, though he’d already killed the rest of the unit. It was a rhetorical question.

An entire royal knight order had been wiped out.

This wouldn’t be something they could quietly brush aside like the poisoning incident.

"He knew about you, didn’t he? They couldn’t be allowed to return alive."

Jurein muttered, flicking blood from his sword and glancing around at the corpses.

"And besides, I doubt there’ll be any serious trouble. My brothers will want to keep this quiet, too."

Karl agreed and nodded.

"What now?"

Sephiel asked, looking at Karl.

She meant—would they just return to the capital now?

"We came here for a reason. Let’s finish the job. We still have to deal with the Minotaurs."

Then...

【Reading Earth Memory】

Karl’s eyes glinted coldly as he scanned the area, reading the lingering traces of the hunters.

Many had participated—but this wasn’t all of them.

Just as he’d planned before leaving the capital, this was the perfect chance to wipe out the Fourth Prince’s shadow guilds once and for all.

"If we don’t want to be late getting back to the capital, we’d better get moving."