I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game

The arrow, tearing through the air, glinted in the sunlight, shining in a bright silver hue.

Hearing the unsettling sound of the wind, the Sword Saint stopped mid-swing and turned his head.

A massive arrowhead was flying directly toward the Sword Saint’s head.

A sniper shot from the great commander, Ariel, from outside his line of sight.

Had it been an ordinary soldier, they wouldn’t have even been able to recognize the arrow before their skulls were crushed.

Even an exceptional soldier would have had their head shattered the moment they realized the arrow was coming. And even someone as excellent as a top-tier warrior would have been unable to make any significant countermeasures due to the perfect timing of the shot.

The Sword Saint, however, was reaching out with his blade to sever Laguel’s lifeline.

Ariel’s arrow was aimed with perfect precision, striking exactly when the human consciousness would be focused entirely on the ‘attack.’

What made it worse for the Sword Saint was that his body was suspended in the air with no footholds beneath him.

‘Impressive.’

At first, he considered using his sword to deflect the incoming arrow. But soon, the Sword Saint changed his mind.

‘...The arrow has considerable force. If I block it, how far will I be sent flying by the recoil?’

On the ground, he could deflect an arrow with his sword and absorb the shock with his legs, but in mid-air, that wasn’t an option.

Even if he perfectly deflected the arrow, the Sword Saint would be launched far away from the center of the battlefield.

‘At this angle, if I deflect the arrow, my body will be sent much higher into the air. It will take at least three seconds before I return.’

Three seconds.

The moment he blocked the arrow, the Sword Saint would be forced out of the battlefield for three seconds.

For some, three seconds might be insufficient to rise from a fallen position, but for the great commanders, it was more than enough time to recover from their injuries and flee the battlefield.

He couldn’t afford to take the arrow head-on.

‘It’s better to avoid it.’

As soon as this thought reached its conclusion, his body moved without hesitation.

He kicked off from the air, twisting his body mid-flight, and the arrow, flying like lightning, merely grazed his hair.

Whoooosh!

A cold breeze passed in front of the Sword Saint’s eyes.

"...You crazy!"

As the Sword Saint performed an acrobatic dodge, Laguel’s damaged body had almost completely healed. Demonstrating the terrifying regeneration speed of a great commander, Laguel swung his long claws toward the Sword Saint’s neck.

Without showing any emotion, the Sword Saint swung his blade again, severing Laguel’s arm and leg.

While wielding his sword, the Sword Saint’s gaze was not on Laguel.

Behind him, the sonic boom created by the arrow that had flown at an immense speed reverberated across the battlefield.

"..."

The Sword Saint had been focused on tracking the trajectory of the arrow since it had first been fired. Laguel, standing right before him, cursed at the Sword Saint for not paying attention to him, but the words didn’t reach his ears.

‘I found it.’

Soon, he was able to spot a black shadow hiding beyond a mud hill.

The great commander Ariel, upon making eye contact with the Sword Saint, instantly felt a paralyzing fear run through his entire body.

He was over two kilometers away from the Sword Saint.

Despite the fog lifting and the sunlight brightly illuminating the battlefield, to have pinpointed the sniper’s location, hidden behind the shadows and over the hill, was something only a being far beyond normal human perception could achieve.

It wasn’t a typical human level of observation.

‘Laguel has lost all his forces. He’s not very intelligent and his skills are below par. I can kill him anytime. But what about that sniper?’

Even in this split second, the Sword Saint’s mind never stopped working.

Though his instincts were enough to dominate the battlefield with his sword alone, the Sword Saint was desperately searching for the fastest way to resolve this situation with minimal casualties.

‘According to the report, the sniper’s position is nearly impossible to detect with the naked eye, as he’s completely cloaked in shadow. I might not be able to find his position so easily next time.’

The Sword Saint’s eyes moved rapidly as he scanned the battlefield. Even as enormous chunks of poisoned flesh rained down from the sky, he remained composed.

‘Moreover, that great commander still has many forces under his control. He is clearly a more dangerous presence than Laguel, right in front of me.’

Calmness, composure, and caution.

‘My priorities are changing.’

Once his thoughts were concluded, his body moved swiftly.

The Sword Saint reached for Laguel’s head, grabbed it, and kicked both of his legs into Laguel’s chest, sending him crashing to the ground.

As the Sword Saint’s body plummeted, Laguel’s chest shattered, and a rose made of blood and bones blossomed in mid-air.

Deep inside Laguel’s chest, the black core that had been hidden momentarily revealed itself.

‘The most troublesome thing on this battlefield is that sniper.’

To conceal the core, flesh and bone began to grow wildly around the shattered chest, covering the area.

As flesh and bone intertwined and the grotesque masses swirled behind the bloodied rose, the Sword Saint grimaced in disgust.

Crash!

The next moment, the Sword Saint’s legs slammed into the hardened ground with a massive shockwave.

Leaving a trail of debris behind, he pushed off the ground and started running toward Ariel at full speed.

"...Damn."

Wrapped in shadow, Ariel’s vision was suddenly filled with darkness. Death was rushing toward him from over two kilometers away at terrifying speed.

Every living being has its strengths and weaknesses.

For Ariel, his remarkable concentration and shooting skills, coupled with his ability to hide his body in the shadows, were his advantages. From dozens of kilometers away, he could perfectly aim and shoot at his target’s neck.

But even the best sniper in the demon army, Ariel, had his drawbacks.

A sniper’s life depends on concealment and cover. When the Demon King created Ariel, he was granted special skin and immense tensile strength to better carry out his “sniping” mission, allowing him to hide in shadows.

However, every evolution comes with a price. Ariel had lost his magic and flying ability in exchange for his special skin and immense strength.

Ariel’s purpose existed solely for sniping.

‘I got him.’

In direct combat, Ariel was far below the standard of a typical great commander.

"Fight!"

Ariel, from under his feet, summoned numerous mutated creatures he had buried for protection.

Horrific creatures, assembled from gigantic mushrooms, ancient trees, and countless fish, rushed toward the Sword Saint.

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

Thud.

A light, weak sound echoed.

The Sword Saint’s slender blade had already swung. Though countless flesh-covered creatures charged at him with their claws and fangs bared, he didn’t flinch.

He swung his sword at the black fog, aiming for the great commander hiding within.

The thin silver blade tore through the dark shadow. The Sword Saint’s hand was filled with the sensation of cleaving through flesh and bone.

In less than a second, the Sword Saint swung his blade fifty-one times.

Normally, he would focus on analyzing the rate of recovery of the severed limbs to pinpoint the core’s location. However, Ariel, cloaked entirely in shadow, made it impossible to distinguish the subtle difference in the speed of the recovering body parts.

The method he had always used to find the core was no longer effective.

Therefore, the Sword Saint decided to break Ariel down into smaller pieces, even if it was inefficient and much more physically taxing.

Instinct told him that this was the best way forward.

After about the 102nd strike, the Sword Saint felt a different, alien sensation as he sliced through flesh and bone.

He paused his continuous barrage of strikes for two seconds and wiped the blood off his blade.

Silence.

The battlefield was filled with an eerie stillness.

A cold shiver ran down the spines of all beings, whether they were demons or allied forces, equally.

At that moment, all living creatures on the battlefield began to feel both awe and terror for the one human dominating it all.

"One down."

1 minute and 20 seconds.

Barely a minute and twenty seconds had passed since the Sword Saint arrived in Valerand.

Great commander Ariel was dead.

Ariel’s death left a deep impression on everyone on the battlefield.

To the continent’s forces and the generals commanding them, it brought courage and hope. To the high-ranking demons and mutated creatures under Ariel’s command, it was the end. To the other great commanders, it brought fear and despair.

"Ariel’s dead, we don’t have much time."

The great commander Maltyel, watching Ariel’s death from a distance, let out a quiet sigh.

"Michael, what’s the analysis?"

"It’s definitely a special school of magic... But beyond that, I don’t know. To analyze it and find a countermeasure, we’d need at least ten minutes."

Michael, being one of the nine great commanders, was particularly knowledgeable in magic and the arcane.

Even among the demons using unknown magic, Michael’s spells were more complex and special than most.

"Ten minutes? That monster could kill us all three times over by then. It’s better to forget about breaking through the barrier. Is there another way? You know magic better than I do."

Maltyel, sounding anxious, asked Michael {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} sharply.

At this rate, they would meet the same end as Ariel soon enough.

"Certainly, Bell is an exceptional magician. But the complexity and scope of this barrier have exceeded the limit. There’s definitely some risk involved."

"Risk?"

"Most likely, his brain is burning out in real-time. Even now, he’s likely running extremely complex magical calculations."

"With Grisha around, I don’t think the brain burning part matters. She’ll heal him immediately once it melts away."

"That’s why I said the scope and complexity of this barrier have exceeded the limit..."

Michael, clearly also growing anxious, continued with an irritated expression.

"The magic surrounding us can’t be something that can be implemented just by risking the brain melting. There must be other risks involved."

"Have you not identified what those risks are yet?"

"I haven’t identified them."

Michael answered bluntly.

"But there’s definitely a risk. And it’s likely a very dangerous one."

Hearing Michael’s certainty, Maltyel grimaced and smirked bitterly.

"I don’t like gambling, but..."

The oldest and longest-surviving of the nine great commanders, this monster’s mind was filled with countless tactics and strategies.

"It’s much better than waiting for death."

Thus, even in this desperate situation, with death looming before him, the monster began moving, searching for the most efficient and likely way to survive.