I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game

The sound of something small and fragile settling on my shoulder reached my ears. Anxiety and fear triggered my peripheral nerves.

Before my brain could fully identify what the fragments were, my peripheral nerves, prompted by the rising anxiety and fear, moved my body on their own.

Thud.

Instinctively, I grabbed Lir’s shoulder and jumped to the side.

A strong, sudden conviction filled my mind: if I didn’t move, I would lose my life.

The unexpected shock caused Lir to lose her balance, and she raised the end of her staff towards the sky, falling with me.

The lightning flashing from the tip of her staff hit the ceiling.

A bright white flash of light collided with the ceiling, where a spider, with long fangs exposed like a vampire’s, clung. It was a monster nearly twice the size of Lir and me.

The spider, crossing paths with the lightning, leaped from the ceiling, landing directly where we had been standing moments ago.

The floor was punctured by sharp holes, and brick fragments shot up in every direction.

“Damn it, Triane...!”

“I know! Hold on, Rex! The mage comes first!”

On the battlefield, mages are like fragile glass cannons. Powerful spells can turn the tide of battle, but the mage’s survivability is abysmally low.

They lack the agility to react to sudden situations and have low stamina, so even a small threat can easily take them down.

That’s why battles in this world usually revolve around protecting mages.

But this situation was far from the norm.

Though the number of monsters had decreased, they were still twice as many as we were. And each one was no joke in terms of strength.

If we had placed Rex near the mages for protection, it was likely that the enemies coming through narrow doors would overwhelm us.

...This was a kind of paradox.

If you place infantry to protect mages, the battle itself becomes unfeasible. If you place infantry in the front for battle, the mages are exposed to rear attacks.

It was a frustrating paradox.

Where did things go wrong?

Was it a mistake not to have anticipated the possibility of walls collapsing?

In the game beyond the monitor, there had never been a scenario where the dungeon walls collapsed.

I thought those walls were made of some indestructible special material, like an impenetrable barrier.

Once again, I painfully realized.

This wasn’t a damn game; this was reality.

No systems, no game-like allowances, no invisible transparent walls or experience points. It was a damn cruel reality.

The spider, with its long fangs like a vampire’s, extended its long legs and pressed down on me and Lir, who were lying on the floor, showing its fangs.

Lir hastily passed her staff behind her back and aimed it at the spider with calm precision.

But it was too late.

Her magical power was converting into lightning, but there wasn’t enough time for it to form into a bolt before the spider was upon us.

Even though elves are agile, that’s physical agility—magic casting speed is a separate ability altogether.

And in the sudden situation, her staff was shaking wildly, proof that her focus had been thrown off.

I’m going mad.

I couldn’t breathe properly, and my tongue wouldn’t move as I desperately tried to focus on using Bloom in this emergency.

My tongue wouldn’t cooperate.

I felt like I was losing my mind.

Even though the scythe of death was already brushing against my carotid artery, my body remained paralyzed.

What’s worse, unlike my completely useless body, my mind was coldly and calmly analyzing the situation.

Death felt so much more vivid.

If I didn’t have the Composure trait, I wouldn’t be able to feel the fear so clearly, but here I was, with the bitter realization creeping in.

...Damn it.

‘In this situation, if I use [Bloom], Lir will definitely get caught in it. There’s no shield, and the wound won’t be light. On top of that, Rex and Triane could be in danger as well. I must exclude this option.’

It wouldn’t be surprising if my neck were pierced by those massive fangs in the next second. In less than a second, my vision would go dark, and Lir, lying beneath me, would surely be fatally wounded by the fangs that pierced through my neck.

Magic is impossible.

In that moment, despite my body being a wreck, my head made a calm and precise judgment.

Click.

I grabbed the mimic’s door handle.

In the chaos of life and death, this was my only remaining option.

Creeeek...!

The black void between the door creaked, almost as if it was going to suck both me and Lir in. I pulled Lir, who was lying on the floor, into my arms and rolled to the side.

It was only possible because I had exhausted almost all of my strength, just barely pulling it off.

I didn’t have the time or attention to worry about whether the mimic was reacting.

In the game, mimics were always programmed to attack only those who touched them.

But this is a damn reality.

So, maybe this will work.

If it doesn’t, we die.

Click!

As Lir and I rolled to the side, the spider with long fangs like a vampire changed its trajectory, slamming its razor-sharp legs into the ground and adjusting its jump.

I pulled Lir even closer into my arms, making sure she wouldn’t get caught in the mimic’s range.

“Hah... Hah...”

My vision blurred.

The fight wasn’t over, but I was on the verge of passing out from hyperventilation.

Hah...

The filthy, wet breath that could have come from a giant monster’s mouth seeped through the crack in the door, brushing my cheek.

From the slightly open door, dozens of eyes gleamed in unison.

Clunk!

The mimic, disguised as a door, opened its mouth wide. The door handle hit the wall and bounced back.

Whoosh—

A wrinkled, dark red tongue shot out, sharp as a spear, and pierced through the spider’s body.

The spider, suddenly impaled, spasmed in agony.

The mimic’s wrinkled tongue slowly coiled around its prey, dragging the spider into the abyss like a massive hook.

The spider tried to stab the mimic’s tongue with its fangs and legs in a desperate attempt to break free, but the mimic didn’t budge.

Boom!

The mimic, dragging the spider into the abyss, closed its door-like mouth as if it had no relation to the battle unfolding in the room.

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

The sound of the spider’s body breaking echoed through the walls.

I felt nauseous, and my head spun. If we had missed the timing, we might have been the ones sucked into that mimic instead of the spider.

“Get up! You idiots, it’s not over yet!”

Triane’s urgent curse snapped me out of my daze.

Finally, I saw Rex’s back, holding off two spiders on his own.

“Help... me...!”

Rex seemed to be struggling, blocking both spiders’ attacks.

The two spiders were charging at Rex’s head with their venomous fangs.

Lir quickly rose, swinging her staff and shooting bolts of lightning at the spiders. Triane also fired the last of his arrows. Rex, finding an opening, slowly began to retreat.

I entrusted the cover fire to the others and was the first to open the door and retreat into the back room.

I had never been good with the crimson gem’s manipulation. I might’ve made a mistake trying to attack alongside Rex, and he could have been dragged into a disaster.

“Hurry!”

As I °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° signaled, Lir gathered her staff and dashed toward the door I was in.

“I... I’m here!”

She pressed herself against the door and shouted to Triane, and only then did Triane run into the room.

Lir, who had entered first, continued providing cover fire for Rex.

Soon, Triane was able to hide behind the door and quickly nocked an arrow, shouting loudly.

“Run, Rex!”

Rex, who was still struggling with the spiders, immediately turned and started running toward us when he heard Triane’s shout.

The spiders, who had been holding Rex back, reached out for their fleeing prey, but each time, Lir’s bolts and Triane’s arrows stopped them.

Rex practically rolled into the room, immediately pressing his back against the wall and preparing for the next battle.

Lir and Triane, as soon as Rex entered, stopped their cover fire and spread out to the far ends of the room, preparing to funnel their fire toward the entrance.

Boom!

The two giant spiders slammed against the wall at nearly the same time. They each pushed their legs and heads through the door, trying to get into the room.

“Hah...!”

Exhausted, Rex took a deep breath and raised his axe again.

Like a condemned man awaiting the guillotine, Rex’s axe swung towards the exposed head of the green spider. The green spider’s head flew into the air in an arc.

The second spider, who had only poked its legs into the room, began pushing the body of the fallen green spider aside and forcing its way through the door.

Creeeek!

The sound of mechanical parts clicking into place rang out. After removing the green spider’s head from its body, Rex quickly fell back, moving out of the line of fire.

Whoosh!

The sound of the air burning echoed in my ears. A red streak pierced through the green spider’s head, burning its chest and abdomen from the inside out.

Because the spider’s body was lodged in the door, aiming for the vital spots wasn’t difficult, even with a crude aim.

The second spider soon joined the first as a corpse, collapsing onto the floor. Only then could we catch our breath.

“Is it... over...?”

I collapsed to the floor almost in a faint.

Breath.

Finally, the opportunity to catch my breath had arrived.

Ah.

My vision began to fade to black.

The price of pushing my cursed body too far had come.