I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game

"Run, run, you bastards!"

Breath is coming fast. Damn mask keeps obstructing my vision, and everything in front of me is turning blurry. An alarm blares right in the middle of enemy lines, signaling that soon, a horde of # Nоvеlight # monsters will come rushing toward us.

The time for quietly and carefully moving between cover is over.

"Damn, damn..."

"Hah... Hah..."

Rough breaths and curses spill from the soldiers’ mouths. They ran with all their might, their lungs burning, and the sound of their own breath echoed in their ears. The soles of their feet, poisoned, burned with pain. Their skin had probably stuck to the soles of their boots.

They wanted to tear off their masks immediately, but they held back.

Bell was just as exhausted, his legs trembling, breath ragged.

"Damn it."

Though he had trained his body regularly to avoid becoming a burden on the battlefield, he was no match for these elite soldiers, handpicked from the best.

Worrying about the mage falling behind, watching for enemies – Bell was losing his focus.

Whoooom—

An unknown, colossal sound echoed again. When heard from far off, it resembled the sound of a ship’s horn, but as it grew closer, it began to sound more like the roar of a great whale.

"Another 100 meters to the target. Bell, take out the parchment!"

At Menes’s command, Bell pulled the parchment out from under his robe.

"Finish it in one minute!"

Menes ordered almost as if informing Bell. There was no need to elaborate on the danger of staying in one place for too long in this situation.

"...I’ll try, as best as I can."

Bell barely managed to answer, steadying his breath.

The inside of the mask was humid, and the skin on his feet was in agony, but he didn't show it.

"Infantry! No time to rest, quickly form up and get ready! We hold this position for just one minute and then retreat!"

As soon as they reached the target point, Menes began commanding the soldiers. The sound of their masks ringing could be heard.

"As we discussed, Bell will not participate in the battle! Consider him a noncombatant, we have no general-level forces, understand?!"

Under the current circumstances, Bell could not use any magic.

Mages were valuable resources on the battlefield, yet their mobility and survivability were weak. For Bell, one of the most powerful and dangerous mages, to infiltrate enemy lines was far from ordinary.

The demons would immediately sense something unusual upon seeing Bell’s face... No, even just catching a glimpse of his mage robe. They would start scrambling and search their formations.

It would be a matter of time before Bell’s hidden scrolls were found, and the strategy using the highest-level bait, “Bin,” would become useless.

Bell could not be discovered under any circumstances. That’s why he couldn’t participate in the fight.

"Shit, Astella, shit, please!"

The meaningless cries burst from the soldiers’ mouths.

The feeling of death creeping up the skin was becoming vivid. They couldn’t ignore this sensation.

"Pillars, mountains. Canceled space..."

Bell set the final scroll on the ground and began chanting the spell. Menes pulled a small scroll from his pocket and tore it next to Bell. The parchment split in two, releasing yellowish smoke that enveloped Bell, obscuring his figure.

"...This is the worst."

The soldiers drew their blades and set up around the smoke.

‘Should’ve worn armor,’ thought one soldier, his regret coming too late.

Once again, that eerie howl echoed in the distance, followed by a scream from Private Citadel.

"Ahhhhh! Ha, ah... Ahhhhh, alright. I get it. Just shut up, Denny, this is all your fault!"

The other soldiers, including Ed, reacted calmly, as if they had been expecting this. No one seemed to have thought that he would hold out.

"Right, we can still save him, right? We can get him out with the mask, right?! I’ll go now! Just please shut up!"

Private Citadel screamed into the air and suddenly started walking out of formation.

A few soldiers tried to grab his shoulder.

But Private Citadel shook them off and glared at them with sharp eyes.

"Traitors! Leaving your comrade behind!? Leaving your... leaving your comrade behind!!!"

With those words, Private Citadel raised his blade high and quickly ran off into the distance.

Ed and the others stared at him with pale faces.

In this dire situation, there was no one with the luxury to go after a soldier who broke ranks.

Whoooom—

Once again, the ominous sound reverberated in their ears.

The infantry froze, their legs stiffened.

Behind the deep, vibrating sound, a heavy silence descended.

Only the harsh, unstable, and trembling breaths settled in the cold battlefield.

"Sleep... no, no! Please!"

Citadel’s voice came from the runes etched inside his mask, desperate and filled with fear.

"Get lost, damn it! Please, please... get lost... please..."

The sound of something breaking could be heard. The mask seemed to crack, and then Citadel’s curse echoed again.

"..."

Soon, the desperate voice fell silent.

An eternity seemed to pass.

Or maybe it was less than a second.

It was hard to tell.

The infantry stood frozen, their breaths rough, sweat trickling down. Their skin, soaked with sweat, began to stick to their leather outfits.

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

"...It’s over. Move," Bell’s quiet voice reached the infantry’s ears.

The tension in their bodies suddenly relaxed, as if the world’s weight had been lifted.

They could go back.

Now, all they had to do was run.

That thought crossed the soldiers’ minds.

But that was the problem.

In that moment, something flew through the weakened guard of the soldiers.

A white line cut through the air, heading straight for the brow of one of the soldiers. It was the perfect timing, as if it had been waiting for just this moment.

"This...!"

The soldiers, who had momentarily relaxed, quickly raised their blades to block the bone shard.

The sharp bone shattered upon impact with the blade, and the soldier, stunned as if he had forgotten how to move, stood frozen in place.

The wind.

The wind was picking up.

The air that had been frozen for so long finally began to move again. Toxic gas spread in all directions, and the smoke grenades Menes had deployed began to dissipate.

Bang!

Menes tore another piece of parchment and tossed it into the thinning smoke.

Though he had now used up all the smoke grenades prepared for escape, it didn’t matter.

No matter what, Bell’s presence could not be discovered by the enemy.

Boom!

A nasty tremor shot up from the soldier’s feet.

The muddy ground rippled like the sea, and the eyes of the living instinctively turned toward the source of the sound.

Ed looked west, the elven sergeant looked east, and the other soldiers looked south and north.

...The unknown sound was coming from all directions.

Soon, a giant arm entered their field of view. It was so enormous that even a young dragon could be crushed in a single hand.

Its body, too, was massive, and its proportions were overwhelming. Its mouth was big enough to swallow a small dragon in one bite, and its eyes were vertically slit like a cat’s.

Despite its massive upper body and arms, its lower body was unimpressive. The legs of the mutants, connected by a few orc limbs, hung limply on the ground like tails.

Ed froze in place, paralyzed by the mutant’s overwhelming presence.

"Soldiers, break through to the south."

Bell’s cold voice came to Ed’s ears.

As the voice reverberated, Menes’s arrow whizzed past Ed’s ear.

The sharp arrow first flew toward the mutant’s right eye.

Five arrows struck the right eye of the mutant, each piercing through. Another five arrows followed for its left eye.

The mutant, seemingly unaffected by the pain, did not flinch as blood and fluid from its eyes dripped down, and its eyelids didn’t even twitch.

Menes quickly changed direction and attacked the mutant to the east in the same way.

His obsession with the eyes was simple – they were the easiest target, and Bell’s robe could not be exposed through the smoke.

If the enemy realized a mage had infiltrated their ranks, the entire mission would fail.

That must be prevented at all costs.

"Soldiers, south. Fight. Open the way."

Bell’s cold command settled over the battlefield again.

"...Shit, I knew this would happen. In the end, we’re all dead."

"Citadel, that bastard... I should’ve slit his throat when I first had a bad feeling."

"...It’s already happened. Don’t think about it. Empty your mind and focus on what’s in front of you."

The soldiers’ mouths sang of despair, but their eyes and blades were cold and precise as they faced the monster before them.

They moved forward.

They were perhaps not quite the brave and heroic warriors they should have been. Their arms and legs shook, their eyes were red, and their mouths cried out despair.

But they moved forward.

One step at a time.

"Everyone, die here."

The cold pressure that disregarded the soldiers’ hearts rang once again in their ears.

Ed suddenly felt the impulse to turn his blade and stab the mage hiding in the smoke.

"Please."

But that impulse, born from deep within, soon faded.

"Hah."

"Guess you hear all sorts of things when your time is up."

Splash!

Their boots hit the thick mud, and the surrounding dirt splashed everywhere.

Whoooom—

The giant roar covered their ears, but they didn’t stop moving.

Once again, the mud splashed up, revealing a bone hidden beneath.

Soon, the giant monster with the whale-like presence faced the small human blades.

"..."

The soldier at the front felt despair.

The monster’s shadow was so large that it seemed impossible to even scratch its skin with the blade they held.

"Ahhhhh!"

The soldier let out a mighty roar to shake off the despair, raising his blade and charging forward, stomping through the thick mud.

The mutant lifted a hand large enough to crush a house or two. Tremendous amounts of mud fell from its palm.

Boom!

The hand came down with incredible speed, striking the ground.

The soldier who had roared disappeared.