How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 26: The Mage Is Too Strong (4)

“I actually saw that guy’s face up close once.”

“And?”

“Total snake eyes. Just one glance and I got chills.”

He gave a little shudder.

“If you ask me, the Dwayne family head didn’t die of illness. He was poisoned.”

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“The second son did it? Come on, even for him, killing his own father...”

“Heh, yeah? Then what about now? The guy slaughtered his older brother and little sister and is trying to devour the whole house.”

“...That’s fair.”

“I seriously wonder what his endgame is. There’s no way House Paul’s gonna let this slide.”

“A guy who kills his own father and siblings probably won’t hesitate to go against his uncle either.”

“Yeah, I guess if he wipes out every loose tongue, Paul won’t have any solid proof to move on Dwayne.”

Then the man seemed to remember something.

“Anyway, I heard from the branch chief earlier—they still haven’t recovered it.”

“What?”

“The family head’s insignia. That red jewel.”

“Oh, that thing. But does it really matter? Once this is all over, won’t the house be his anyway?”

His colleague clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“Idiot. You think nobles are like us? To them, appearances and legitimacy are everything. If he ascends without the ancestral seal, do you know how loud the backlash will be?”

“Honestly, it already feels like a shitshow... but yeah, maybe you’re right. Still weird, though.”

“What is?”

“They’ve already caught the siblings—so why haven’t they recovered the insignia? Did someone hide it?”

“Ah, apparently one of the youngest’s escort knights ran off with it.”

“What? Why?”

“To divert pursuit. And if the youngest couldn’t escape, then at least the seal would reach the uncle. There’s no clearer justification for Paul to step in than that.”

“...Wait, then isn’t that bad? If it gets into Paul’s hands, we’re screwed too.”

The other man chuckled.

“You worry too much. How’s a single knight gonna evade an entire organization’s pursuit? I heard all the branches are already mobilized and chasing hard. He’ll be caught any mo—”

He stopped mid-sentence, whipping his head toward the front.

A figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the hallway ahead.

Long silver hair dragging, unsteady footsteps.

The men hastily drew their weapons—then froze when they recognized her.

“...Uh, Branch Chief Elze?”

The one they had casually called a mad bitch moments ago.

Elze—Chief of Branch 1 in Kerry District.

Relieved at first that it wasn’t an intruder, the men quickly sensed something was off.

She had no reason to be in Kerry right now, and even less reason to barge into Branch 3 at this hour.

‘The Branch 1 personnel should all be stationed at Lord Dwayne’s estate with HQ right now. So why is she here...?’

More importantly, the bartender stationed on the first floor as a lookout had apparently let her down without saying a word.

Even for a branch chief, crossing into another sector’s branch without contact was against protocol.

And that infamous hothead had never once broken that rule.

“Chief Elze, what brings you he—”

One of the men began to ask—but recoiled instantly.

Now fully exposed under the light, her appearance was anything but normal.

Eyes dyed pitch-black, hands burned jet-black.

And what the hell was that ridiculous robe draped over her?

“Grrrk...”

Instead of a response, a low growl—not unlike a beast’s—rumbled from her throat.

By the time they realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

SHRAAANG!!

She lunged like a demon, cleaving into the man on the left.

His body split clean in two, a fountain of blood erupting into the air.

“Huagh...!!”

The man on the right panicked, swinging his sword wildly.

She tilted her head lightly to dodge—then swung her opposite arm.

The man’s skull burst like a watermelon under pressure.

Thud.

Two corpses in an instant. Then she stopped moving.

Another figure stepped into the hallway behind her.

Karl.

“...No different from when she was alive.”

Karl murmured, staring down at the dead men.

It was his first time raising a human as an undead, so he had sent her ahead as a field test—but there didn’t seem to be any degradation in ability.

‘She still knows how to wield a sword, and even if she’s lost her reason, her memories don’t seem entirely gone.’

If she’d lost all memory, she wouldn’t have been able to find her way here in the first place.

So maybe becoming undead didn’t lower one’s cognition to animal levels—it was just a change in behavior.

Shuffle shuffle...

Activating detection magic, Karl sensed numerous presences all around.

He gave Elze a nod.

“Go wild. Don’t leave a single one alive.”

Snap!

She immediately darted forward into the depths of the hideout.

Karl followed at a steady pace.

A long, narrow corridor opened into a fork.

From the opposite passage, more personnel came rushing in, likely hearing the commotion.

Karl didn’t hesitate.

【Ray Buster】

FLASH!!

A white beam flooded the hallway, vaporizing the entire group in an instant.

No question about it—this was a spell with awe-inspiring destructive power.

Karl stepped into a wider corridor and continued walking.

Like rooting out ants in an ant nest, he spread his detection spell, tracking every single presence.

BOOM! BOOM-BOOM!!

And eradicating them didn’t take much more effort than squashing those ants.

They burned, were electrocuted, their bodies shattered by shockwaves.

The incoming enemies—members of Branch 3—were all obliterated without even a single proper counterattack.

There may have been only one intruder, but the gap in power between Karl and these men was vast.

This wasn’t a battle—it was a one-sided slaughter.

Karl, ever cautious even out of habit, kept his guard up. But even he was starting to feel deflated.

‘This is it?’

So this was the strength of a single branch?

He had expected mediocrity—but this was downright pathetic.

There were no high knights, of course—and only three who were even at knight level.

Back when Karl was still 4-circle, they wouldn’t have posed much of a threat. Now that he’d reached 5-circle, it was barely even worth mentioning.

Not that these guys were objectively weak.

In plenty of minor nations, noble houses didn’t even have a single proper knight to their name.

Knight-class power was never something to take lightly in this world.

It was just that Karl had become far too strong.

“Grrrkk...”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Karl lowered his gaze.

Lying there was a member of the organization, barely clinging to life, a gaping hole torn through his abdomen.

“Why... why the hell...”

The man coughed up thick mouthfuls of blood, mumbling in dazed disbelief.

It was a question without context, but Karl understood it well enough.

“Venting.”

Slice.

He gave a simple answer, then severed the man’s head.

No enemies remained in this corridor.

Further inside, the path connected with the opposite tunnel where Elze had gone.

Spreading detection magic again, he sensed that everyone there was already dead—and Elze was locked in combat with someone.

‘The fight’s dragging on. Must be the head of this branch.’

The sharp clanging of steel rang out in erratic bursts.

As Karl approached, he soon caught sight of the two.

Elze was hacking and slashing like a wild beast, while a middle-aged man was barely managing to parry her strikes.

Karl stood at a distance, watching them for a moment.

‘Her raw physical ability is clearly superior.’

And yet, the battle hadn’t ended.

Karl wasn’t some swordsmanship expert, but even he could tell the reason at a glance.

Elze wasn’t fighting with any technique—she was just swinging wildly, like an animal.

‘Ah... so that’s it. That’s the side effect.’

Karl realized the penalty of the undead spell.

Losing rationality meant she also lost all precision in swordsmanship.

Now she fought like a beast, relying only on instincts and muscle memory.

Had there not been such a gap in their base stats, her head would’ve already been lopped off.

Slash!

And sure enough—it soon happened.

The middle-aged man saw an opening and cut /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ clean through Elze’s neck in one swift strike.

Her head rolled and stopped near Karl’s feet.

The man, catching his breath and lowering his sword, finally noticed Karl and flinched in alarm.

“Goddamn it, now what...”

Karl silently looked down at Elze’s fallen body, then back at the man.

From his reaction, the man—Galler, Chief of Branch 3—understood instantly.

That this was the bastard who had turned the Branch 1 chief into a horrifying monster and caused this entire mess.

Galler was surprisingly quick on the uptake.

Even just glancing at the situation, anyone with half a brain could figure it out.

He started backing away, speaking cautiously.

“...Who are you? What the hell are you after, doing all this? Don’t tell me you’re from the Paul fa—”

“Does it matter?”

Karl cut him off, tone detached.

“You’re going to die anyway.”

【Bind Swarm】

Shhhh...

A new spell acquired upon awakening to 5-circle.

Darkness spread rapidly outward from Karl’s feet, blanketing the ground.

Galler panicked at the bizarre sight and tried to leap away.

But it caught him—his legs were swallowed by the darkness and stuck fast.

“Ngh—agh! Hrk!”

He thrashed, trying to pull free, but lost his balance instead, falling flat into the spreading shadow that now bound his whole body.

‘So this is how it works.’

Karl observed for a moment before walking forward.

Toward Galler, completely pinned to the floor.

“...Please, spare me!”

His tone flipped into groveling in an instant.

Unlike Elze, who had resisted to the end, this guy was clearly the opposite type.

“I—I’m sure you’re doing this because you want something, right? I might have the information you need! I’m sure of it!”

Karl had been about to kill him without a word, but paused.

Now that he thought about it, he didn’t even know the name of this organization.

He was planning to wipe them out anyway, so it hardly mattered, but... curiosity about what the hell was really going on still lingered.

Karl squatted down in front of the man.

“Your organization’s name.”

“...Excuse me?”

“I said, start by telling me your organization’s name. Ask anything unnecessary and I’ll kill you.”

Galler stared up at him in disbelief.

‘...Wait, what the fuck—he did all this without even knowing who we are?’

He almost exploded in frustration, but Karl’s deadly expression made him shrink back again.

Galler smiled pathetically and answered.

“W-We’re an underworld group called ‘Montoul.’ We’re a fairly sizable force in the Kerry area...”

“Don’t care about that.”

Karl wasn’t interested in that part.

What he really wanted to know was something else entirely.

He pulled a red jewel from his pocket.

The object at the center of everything.

“Explain what this is. What the hell is it that makes you all go rabid trying to take it?”

“......!!”

Galler’s eyes shook violently the moment they landed on the jewel.