I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game

With the sound of a detonator activating, the world is covered in a blinding white light.

My senses are paralyzed by the constant barrage of heat, light, flashes, and storms, and my entire body burns with intense heat.

The hem of my black robe is aflame, and my white hair is twisted by the flames as it curls.

My brain couldn't even form the thought of death at the sudden explosion. A normal mage would have deployed a protective shield to minimize damage, but I had no such option.

...No, perhaps even a normal mage couldn't have blocked this explosion with a shield.

Lir couldn’t deploy her shield either.

Even the elf, known for her agility and fast reaction time, couldn’t deploy a shield.

It was an unexpected and sudden appearance, so maybe it was inevitable.

Now, I feel the searing heat from my skin under the robe.

The delayed pain crawls up my peripheral nerves and begins to torment my brain.

It feels like my ribs and left wrist are broken.

Soon, this pain will spread throughout my entire body. Then, my world will soon turn dark, like a television that has been turned off.

...Thinking about it like that, despite being caught in the massive explosion, I still feel chills running through my body.

Fuck, I don't want to die.

"...Focus!"

Through the ringing in my ears, I hear Rex’s voice.

Did you die too?

Damn, the mine’s performance is impressive. Even if the mage's health was low, I didn’t expect it to take out an orc barbarian in one hit.

Could it be that the demon was quite high-level? The mine’s quality seems pretty high...

“Damn it, is this really the time to wake up the unconscious ones? Hurry, throw him over your shoulder and move!”

Through the intense ringing in my ears, I can also hear Triane's voice.

Something's wrong. Triane must have been several meters away from the explosion’s epicenter.

“Shit, move already!”

“...Ah, alright, just a second!”

I faintly hear Lir’s voice too.

Wait, did the demon have some kind of nuclear weapon in its hands?

One mine and the whole party is completely wiped out...

"...Ugh!"

A sharp breath escapes from my mouth. I hurriedly open my eyes and look around, trying to find the source of the sudden pain.

My blurred vision is shaking wildly. I see the bright red skin of an orc.

I try to rub my eyes with my hand to clear the blurry vision, but I can’t because something thick and hard is tightly binding my body.

Turning my head, I see lifeless bodies staring vacantly into the air, like toys that have been discharged. The blackened floor and walls of the dungeon come into focus only after that.

‘...Am I still alive?’

"Clear the way, Rex!"

Without even having the time to savor the thrill of survival, my vision shakes violently, far more than before.

The sound of an axe cutting through flesh and the toxic-filled chunks of flesh brush past my face.

"...Rex?"

"Stay still!"

I mutter Rex’s name, who is swinging the axe with his mechanical arm while carrying me like a sack of potatoes on his shoulder.

I can’t understand how I’m still alive, so I blink rapidly.

As I keep blinking, my off-focus vision slowly returns, and with my now-clear sight, I see Rex's back, which is bubbling like a witch’s cauldron soup.

His skin is melting, and into it, the blood of the demon and mutants, full of poison, is seeping in.

I lost my words upon seeing it.

The reason I am still alive is simple and clear.

It’s because Rex blocked the explosion of the magical mine at nearly point-blank range with his massive back.

Once again, I owe my life to Rex.

The pain in my ribs and wrist intensified as my focus returned. I tried to suppress my moans and twisted my head to assess the situation.

"We're retracing our steps! Damn it, Lir! Lower your head and close the gap! Stick close to the orc!"

Triane’s clear curse echoed, and a faint vibration sound began to emanate through the bodies of flesh.

It seems the giant explosion has finally disturbed the natives here.

“Just to be sure, you mages! Don't cast big spells unless your life is on the line! If we attract more attention, things will get complicated beyond our control!”

Triane yelled as soon as he realized I regained my senses on Rex’s shoulder.

"Ha... Hah...!"

Rex’s heavy breathing pierced through my broken ribs, shaking my frail body.

How many times did my vision sway? Rex, swinging the axe with all his might, is retracing our path to get as far away from the source of the sound as possible.

We passed through mutated bodies with lifeless eyes, and soon, we reached the next room.

"It's coming! One from the 9 o'clock direction!"

As Triane's warning echoed, a long spider leg crashed through the door, and a giant spider appeared.

"Don’t stop, Rex! The priority is to stay as far away from the blast area as possible!"

We hadn’t gotten far enough from the explosion’s origin. Triane yelled at us to keep running straight ahead, knowing we couldn’t afford to be caught here.

Boom!

A huge spider, about 10 meters in size, shoved its legs through a small door and forced its way into the room we were in.

Its massive poisonous fangs aimed at Rex and me, and at that moment, a steel-tipped arrow shot straight into the spider's eye.

“Run! Run!”

Rex trusted Triane’s cover fire and kept moving. Triane shot arrows at an incredible speed as he dashed between rooms, while Lir stuck close behind Rex, keeping her head low.

Clink!

With the sound of steel hitting shoulder armor, Rex opened the door and moved to the next room.

The giant spider, momentarily stunned by the steel arrow to its eye, gave chase without any sign of weakness.

"Dammit... Rex! Axe up! There's one in front! One big one and two smaller ones!"

After pushing through two or three more rooms, Triane cursed again, giving another warning.

"Manifestation!"

I bit my tongue, focusing on the discomfort in my chest as I swayed on Rex’s shoulder.

Fortunately, the artifact was working properly.

Clunk!

As soon as I opened the door, four massive eyes and legs greeted me. This smart and agile monster was standing right in front of the door, its massive jaws wide open, as if it had predicted our path.

“Rex! Lower your head!”

The orc obeyed my command immediately, and a thin red line shot past the back of his head, creating a large hole in the spider’s mouth.

Whoosh!

With the sound of wind splitting, my vision shook. Then, bright blue blood covered me as Rex’s giant axe sliced through the spider's mouth and split its body in half.

Fortunately, the spider monster’s blood was not toxic. That was one of the few advantages over mutants.

Whoosh!

Every time Rex swung his axe, my vision swayed, and I saw steel arrows whizzing past my face.

At the same time, I heard the sound of thin flesh and entrails being pierced.

The two baby spiders that had been riding on the split mother spider’s body lunged at Rex’s head, but two arrows from Triane shot them down with deadly precision.

"Move!"

Before we could even finish cleaning up, Rex started running again.

"Ugh..."

I heard Lir’s disgusted voice as she saw the burning innards and body parts of the spider. Despite the ringing in my ears, her small voice cut through clearly.

We continued running, with spider carcasses still clinging to us. Lir seemed out of breath, but there was no time to consider her discomfort.

Bang!

From behind, the sound of meat crashing into meat echoed. It seemed like Triane had forced Lir to get back up after almost tripping on a spider corpse.

“Dammit, should I have told you to watch your feet?! Are you not paying attention?!”

If we lost focus for even a moment, the elf, who specializes in agility, would quickly fall behind. I was honestly glad that I was hanging like a sack on Rex’s shoulder. If I had been in her shoes, I’d have already fallen behind and lost my life before I could even grasp what was happening.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

From behind, the massive spider, still with arrows in its eyes, was crashing through the doors, chasing after us.

"There's one to the left in the next room, ignore it and keep running!"

We kept running and running.

After retracing about 40 to 50 rooms from the blast's epicenter, we had almost reached the first room we entered.

Ignoring all the monsters we encountered, we had about seven giant spiders on our tail.

After about 10 minutes of chasing through two or three rooms, the number of monsters on our backs hadn’t increased.

“Damn it, I think there are about seven following us...”

Making a loud noise in a dungeon to attract the attention of the natives is crucial, especially in high-level dungeons.

The best approach is to reach your objective quickly without fighting, and if combat is unavoidable, it’s best to lure them in one by one.

Fighting seven high-level monsters in a dungeon with just a handful of people is the worst-case scenario, but we had no choice now.

...If I had known, I would have brought a large army.

“Next room, prepare for combat! Mages, I’m repeating myself, don’t use any thunder magic!”

“Ha... Hah...”

Lir seemed too out of breath to respond. She nodded, wiping the sweat dripping from her chin.

We were nearly at a place that resembled the dungeon’s entrance. If we attracted attention here with loud noises, we would be running blindly into unfamiliar, dangerous territory.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

Running into rooms full of traps and monsters, with something chasing us, would be the quickest way for our party to be wiped out.

Clunk!

As Rex opened the door ahead of us, he set me down at the corner.

In this situation, I couldn’t expect a gentle touch. He dropped me unceremoniously onto the floor and immediately gripped his axe, positioning himself tightly by the door.

“Lir, Bin! Take positions on the left wall! Quickly!”

Triane quickly pointed out where Lir and I should position ourselves and then pressed against the right wall.

With mages on the left and the ranger on the right, the narrow entrance was prepared for concentrated fire. Despite the hasty setup, it was a fairly logical and ideal formation.

Even in such a tense situation, Triane’s experience was undeniable.

“Uh.”

But then, as I leaned against the wall and concentrated, my vision began to shake for no reason.

My legs buckled, and my arms and legs started trembling, but I couldn’t figure out why.

“Are you okay?! Can you move?”

Shit, did I get injured somewhere I can't see?

Even though Rex had carried me all that way, my body wouldn’t move as I wanted.

It seems the slight exposure to the magic mine explosion was affecting me. Every time I moved my right shoulder, a groan escaped, and my legs shook.

My vision kept swaying. While Rex set me down, I almost fell twice on the way to where Triane pointed.

“Damn...”

Lir, already in position, saw my trouble and moved closer, offering her shoulder to support me.

“Move, mage! If you collapse here, we’ll all be wiped out!”

Triane shouted at me with a booming voice.

“...Hah, hah.”

Even a properly statted mage who has invested some points into stamina can become a burden on the battlefield when unexpected accidents happen.

A well-organized formation can collapse in an instant, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) and in chaotic situations, mages are like ants caught in the firestorm.

Moreover, my body’s stats are at rock bottom, not just stamina but agility, strength, and even luck.

I had been aware this moment would come.

...I knew it, but...

“...Damn.”

But now that I was causing trouble for the party, something stirred inside me. It might be embarrassment, guilt, or maybe even anger at myself.

What good is a mage who can’t show their full potential in a life-or-death battle, all because of something as ridiculous as a lack of stamina?

I breathed harshly and leaned on the wall, forcing my fallen legs back up. My legs screamed in protest, but I didn’t care.

If I didn’t pull my weight here, everything they’ve done for me so far would be for nothing.

They sacrificed for me, and now it was my turn to repay them...

“Uh.”

As I moved, something felt strange under my feet. My nerves were sharp from the tension, and I could even feel something stuck to the thin sole of my shoe.

I glanced down to remove whatever it was—could it be a stone? Whatever it was, I had to clear it out in case I tripped and caused more chaos.

...But the thing I felt wasn’t a stone.

It was a scratch.

A huge scratch left by a large axe, freshly made.

An instinctive unease made me slowly turn my head.

Right next to where I was standing was a door, one that Triane had specifically warned not to open, and where Rex had left a marker, preparing for any possible moments.

No, it wasn’t just a door. It was a mimic disguised as a door. A huge, level 40 mimic that could swallow even Rex whole.

...Damn it. Amid all this confusion, there’s a mimic right next to us.

“It’s coming!”

A chill squeezed tighter around my throat.

Before I could even warn Lir about the mimic, a heavy, dull sound echoed from beyond the door, where Rex was pressed close.

Boom!

The massive, spiky legs started forcing their way through the door again.