How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 19: Orc Invasion (4)

This was the power of shamanism, forged in silence and suffering, cultivated steadily over the long years in the Forest of Gwangrim.

* * *

Right after the Hawk Riders, the main orc force surged forward in the blink of an eye.

“Hold the line! Don’t let a single one climb up!”

“The barrier’s weakening! Reinforce the gates, starting from this side—!!”

“GYAAAAHH—!!”

Everywhere you looked, the scene was urgent and hellish.

A literal apocalypse.

Karl had taken part in noble turf wars as a mercenary before, but a full-scale war of this magnitude was a first even for him.

KWAANG!

“...Ugh!”

The soldier who had nearly taken a spear to the face dropped to the ground in a panic as Karl blocked it with a shield.

“Th-thank you!”

Muttering his thanks to Karl, the soldier quickly nocked another arrow and resumed firing at the orcs scaling the wall.

Karl’s eyes flicked toward the direction the spear had come from.

A cluster of enormous orcs—hanging back from the wall, not climbing, just launching spears in volleys.

‘Orc Warriors.’

They were monsters that, through endless battle, had come to instinctively wield the power of aura.

They couldn’t control it with refined technique like humans using cultivation methods, but just the combination of their superior natural physique and aura gave them monstrous brute strength.

The spears hurled by those orc warriors were blowing up the front-line soldiers like firecrackers.

Of course, just as many orcs were being taken down by arrows and spells from soldiers and mages—but the sheer difference in numbers was overwhelming.

It was a rain of arrows, spears, and magic bombards across the line of the wall.

BOOOOM!!

All the while, Hawk Riders charged endlessly, ramming themselves into the city gates like living battering rams.

Several mages were stationed at each gate, pouring sweat as they maintained the defensive barriers.

‘It might look like we’re holding out for now...’

Karl swept his gaze over the battlefield again, a dark look on his face.

Because he knew the future. He already knew how this war would end.

A perfect, absolute defeat.

This city, overrun by orcs, would become a lifeless ruin. Not a single human survivor.

And of course, knowing the future meant knowing the underlying reason it would turn out so horribly.

That reason was directly connected to why the orcs—normally incapable of organizing large-scale alliances—had gathered in such massive numbers.

[Lv.50]

[Level requirement met.]

[A Circle Awakening Quest has appeared.]

<5th Circle Awakening Quest: Hero of the Battlefield>

Lead this battle to victory and defend Bard City.

Quest Reward: 5th Circle + 3 Random 5th Circle Spells

A Circle Awakening Quest, triggered every ten levels.

Thanks to leveling up earlier after massacring a pack of Hawk Riders, Karl had just hit level 50.

And of course—because the situation was complete shit—the quest was an absolute nightmare.

‘You want me to turn the tide of this war? Seriously, what kind of conscience do you people have?’

He was just a puny 4-circle poser. He wasn’t some legendary 7-circle archmage who could single-handedly wipe out legions.

But the most aggravating part was... he knew it was doable.

Quests never demanded something beyond your ability.

Karl clicked his tongue and turned his head sideways.

He spotted Darkan, commanding the troops from a vantage point beneath the wall.

As Karl approached, Darkan turned his head and met his gaze.

“What is it, Sir Karl?”

For a Margrave to speak formally to a man so young might have seemed shocking, but none of those nearby found it strange.

Karl had done more than enough to earn that level of respect.

And now that he’d recovered his mana and revealed his identity, everyone knew he was a mage from the Altius School.

Still—respect and agreement were two very different things. Especially with what Karl was about to say.

After a moment’s hesitation, Karl spoke.

No preamble. Time was running out.

“Margrave, I know how to end this war.”

“...?!”

What kind of bullshit was that?

Darkan, his knights, and the surrounding mages all made the same face. Understandably.

Karl hurried to add context.

“Haven’t you found it strange? That orcs—who can’t even work together—have banded together like this to invade a city?”

“...Of course it’s strange. And you’re saying that has something to do with how we end this war?”

Darkan’s face was skeptical, but he immediately grasped the implication.

Karl gave a small sigh of relief and turned to the nearby mages.

“There’s no time for a long explanation. Use expanded vision magic. Scan the plains.”

“We’ve already been surveilling them...”

“No, not the orcs near the wall. Farther out. Somewhere out there, there’s a person. A human.”

“...A person?”

The mages looked at Karl like he’d gone mad.

But then Darkan spoke, ordering them himself.

“Do as he says. Search the plains.”

This was the man who had already saved his daughter’s life once.

The situation was dire, but the request wasn’t unreasonable. There was no reason not to hear him out.

And more than anything—Karl’s expression was unwavering.

As the mages began scouring the plains with expanded vision magic, one of them suddenly cried out in disbelief.

“T-There! There’s someone! There really is someone out in the plains!”

All eyes turned in that direction.

Through the spell, they could clearly make out the figure’s features.

A monstrous being with long, ragged hair trailing down.

Alone, standing in the middle of the blood-soaked battlefield, staring silently in their direction.

His presence was nothing short of unnatural.

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

"...How did you know that?"

Darkan and the others stared at Karl as if they’d just seen a ghost.

Karl, eyes fixed on the grotesque figure, answered calmly.

"That’s the shaman controlling the orcs."

"A sh-shaman?"

"I came across something similar in a book with ancient records. There was a case like this, where a grand shaman rallied a massive horde and led an assault on human cities."

Of course, that was total bullshit—he’d only learned it while playing another class.

Karl shamelessly lied, all while recalling what he truly knew about that freak.

‘Grand Shaman Garduka.’

The chieftain and sole survivor of the Bison Tribe, which was wiped out by the Empire long ago.

If you played as a shaman, the main storyline involved stopping his madness before he destroyed the Empire.

This border invasion? Just the beginning.

Starting with Bard City, Garduka would spend the next ten years razing several major cities before finally being brought down. And in the process, the Empire would suffer a catastrophic loss of national strength.

Whether or not his revenge was justified had nothing to do with the current situation.

Karl needed to survive—and he needed to complete the 5th Circle Awakening Quest.

Those two reasons were more than enough to stop him.

"That’s one of the ancient forbidden shamanic rituals—‘Ritual of Madness.’ It lets you control aggressive, low-intelligence beings like orcs. He must’ve spent years in the Forest of Gwangrim slowly bewitching them."

"Hah! You’re saying he bewitched that many orcs?"

"It’s a contagious curse. It wouldn’t have required enormous effort. The more intense the shaman’s emotions—things like hatred or rage—the stronger the resonance in the cursed, and the more control he gains. Eventually, you end up with a horde this massive."

That was also the reason monsters like gnolls and cyclopes—normally found only deep within the forest—had come spilling out onto the plains.

The Ritual of Madness, true to its name, required a constant fuel source to keep the madness burning.

He’d probably been pushing the orcs around the forest, forcing them to slaughter every other monster they came across to the brink of extinction.

As Darkan listened, his head had been nodding almost in a trance—until he suddenly snapped out of it and asked:

"Then the way to end this war is...?"

"Yes. Kill the shaman who’s controlling the orcs. Once he’s dead, the curse will lift. The orcs will snap out of it, get confused, and retreat back to the forest. Even if some keep attacking, they’ll be disorganized. The war will end quickly."

Gasps of realization rippled through Darkan and those around him.

But the joy didn’t last. Their expressions darkened again almost immediately.

The orcs were thickest around the eastern and northern gates—exactly where the shaman was located.

In other words, getting out of the city and reaching him would be insanely dangerous.

“The southern and western gates are still relatively clear. We might be able to break out from one of them.”

At a knight’s suggestion, Karl shook his head.

“The shaman’s commanding the orcs. If we move out with a full force, we’ll just become a prime target and get wiped out.”

Darkan nodded in agreement.

“A small group slipping out and circling around to ambush him from behind would be best. The question # Nоvеlight # is... how powerful is this shaman?”

Still—it was a risk worth taking.

If just killing him would end the war, then it had to be done.

The strike team was assembled quickly.

‘Three elite knights, one 5th-circle senior mage.’

Karl stepped forward.

“I’ll go with them.”

To complete the Awakening Quest, he had to make the most decisive contribution to this war.

If he skipped out on killing the shaman and missed his shot at quest completion, it’d be a disaster.

And sure, Garduka would be ridiculously powerful as a Grand Shaman—but since he was also controlling a massive army through the Ritual of Madness, the power gap shouldn’t be that overwhelming right now.

“There’s no need for you to take such a risk, Sir Karl. You’ve already done more than enough for us...”

“I know a lot about shamanism. I’ll be a huge asset in taking him down.”

Darkan reluctantly nodded.

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Karl had been the one to identify the shaman’s presence in the first place.

“...Please, just be careful.”

Lette, who had quietly stood by Darkan’s side, looked at Karl with concern.

Karl gave her a nod, then turned and headed with the strike team toward the southern gate—opposite from where the shaman stood.

<5th Circle Awakening Quest: Hero of the Battlefield>

Lead this battle to victory and defend Bard City.

Quest Reward: 5th Circle + 3 Random 5th Circle Spells

Time to end this war.

And get a hell of a lot stronger.