I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game

The carriage ran nonstop for half a day.

Even the sun that had raced alongside it began to sink beyond the horizon, allowing the moonlight and starlight to gradually cast their dim glow upon the sky.

Perhaps the horses were exhausted, as the carriage's speed had slowed to a crawl compared to when they had first left the city.

"We should start looking for a suitable campsite soon."

At the very front of the formation, leading the group, stood the Hero Orc, Rex. Determining that the weary horses needed rest and that his subordinates should get at least a short sleep, he ordered a temporary halt.

It would take at least three days to reach the capital from Strathus, even if they traveled day and night without rest.

Though Rex’s troops were well-trained elite soldiers who could endure three days without sleep without significantly diminishing their combat prowess, their horses would not fare as well without periodic rest and proper care.

“Feed the horses and let them rest.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood!”

As the surrounding area grew noisy with activity, a masked thief, Balder, silently stepped down from the carriage.

“……”

“Scout the surroundings for a suitable campsite.”

At Rex’s words, Balder gave a slight nod before his figure seemed to dissolve into mist, vanishing in an instant.

The group had stopped in the heart of a dense forest.

Massive, thick trees stood densely packed on all sides, making it risky to camp there, as they would be vulnerable to ambushes from enemies who could creep up through the foliage unseen.

Understanding this, the soldiers dismounted from their horses, drew their weapons, and remained vigilant of their surroundings.

From inside the carriage, a boy observed the soldiers, their sharp blades and polished armor faintly reflecting the moonlight. The sight reassured him.

Unlike the city guards stationed in Strathus, these were elite agents dispatched from the capital.

Each of them was undoubtedly above level 20, and the Orc Hero leading them, Rex, was over level 40.

The only threats in these parts were various mutants discarded by the demons as “failures” and the occasional stray wild dog.

At most, the creatures that appeared here were level 1 or 2, posing no real danger to the squad.

‘So, in two more days, we’ll reach the capital…’

The boy absentmindedly watched Rex affectionately stroke his Komodo, calmly thinking through his upcoming plans.

‘I managed to get through the most dangerous stretch of the journey under the protection of these high-level troops. The rest of the trip to the capital should be uneventful. Once I arrive, the first place I need to visit is…’

Crunch.

Just as he was leisurely organizing his thoughts, a vivid splash of red bloomed at the edge of his vision, like a flower unfurling its petals.

His focus, which had been fixed on Rex’s unusually affectionate Komodo, wavered.

The boy’s gaze snapped toward the blood that had suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision.

There, a soldier collapsed to the ground, an arrow piercing straight through his throat.

“……”

Time seemed to slow.

A heavy silence fell over the soldiers.

The stench of blood, so pervasive in Strathus, once again assaulted his nostrils.

The lifeless body, blood spilling like a blossoming flower, crumpled to the ground.

Clang!

Steel clashed against steel, the sound splitting the night. It was followed by frantic shouts from the soldiers.

“Ambush from the east!”

“The arrows are imbued with magic!”

“Enemy position unknown! We can’t pinpoint their location!”

Despite the sudden attack, the well-trained soldiers swiftly relayed concise information to their commander.

“Damn it, Balder! Where is Balder?!”

Rex bellowed the name of the masked thief.

“…Here.”

Behind Rex, who gripped his axe tightly, Balder staggered into view, his body drenched in blood.

Three deep stab wounds marred his abdomen, and a massive spear was embedded in his back.

His injuries were laced with deadly poison, his skin already turning a sickly green and blue. Blood streamed from his eyes like tears.

“The demons ambushed us… About a hundred mutants… Not a large number, but…”

“What the… Medic! Get a medic here, now…!”

Rex turned his massive body toward the formation, roaring for aid.

But Balder, trembling, grabbed Rex’s arm and shouted, his voice strained.

Blood spewed from his mouth, yet he refused to stop speaking.

“Don’t interrupt me, Rex…! Relaying information takes priority.”

With shaking hands, Balder ripped off his blood-soaked mask. His tongue was already going numb, and the mask—now saturated with blood—only made it harder to speak clearly.

As his face was revealed, old scars and burn marks marred his features.

“All of the mutants… They’re not only intelligent… They know how to wield weapons. Not just swinging them wildly… They have precise archery… and spear techniques…”

Balder’s voice gradually faded.

His life was slipping away, but conveying information to Rex seemed far more important to him than his own survival.

“Weapons…?”

Rex’s expression twisted in disbelief.

It wasn’t unheard of for some mutants to retain fragments of intelligence. The demons sometimes allowed this to instill hesitation in their opponents.

However, those mutants typically only repeated the same mechanical phrases. They lacked true cognitive ability and were nothing more than puppets responding to the demons’ commands.

Most mutants couldn’t even grasp objects properly, let alone execute complex swordplay or spear techniques.

“Run, Rex…”

Yet Balder insisted the mutants could wield weapons, and even as Rex looked at him in disbelief, he did not retract his words.

And with that final warning, the thief with a face marred by old scars and burns collapsed to the ground, breathing his last.

“……”

A fallen comrade’s dying words. Magic-imbued arrows aimed at his soldiers.

It didn’t take long for Rex to assess the situation and make a decision.

“All troops! Mount your horses immediately! We’re advancing north—get out of the forest now!”

“…What the hell is happening?”

From his seat in the carriage, the boy watched the battlefield, now reeking of blood, with growing unease.

Mutants wielding weapons? Magic-infused arrows?

Something was clearly, terribly wrong.

Mutants capable of wielding weapons were high-tier monsters, usually only encountered in the game's final stages during battles against the regional overlords. They were not enemies that should be appearing on the forest path leading to the capital, an early-game area.

"Get down!"

As the boy frantically processed the situation, Herion grabbed his shoulder and pulled him down onto the carriage floor.

Whoosh—!

An arrow embedded itself into the carriage wall. Naturally, every arrowhead was coated in deadly poison.

The fear of death.

It flew alongside the hail of arrows, yet the boy's mind did not stop thinking.

His breath did not quicken, nor did his senses blur.

Instead, he coldly analyzed the situation, searching for the optimal decision.

"Mage! Contact the capital immediately! A Grand Lord has appeared!"

"W-what... Grand, what?!"

Flattened against the carriage floor, Herion questioned him, unable to assess the situation as calmly as the boy.

"A Grand Lord has appeared! Only a Grand Lord can create mutants capable of wielding weapons! This is not an enemy we can handle alone! Hurry! Every second counts!"

"Aaaahhh!"

As the boy explained the situation to Herion, another agonized scream echoed through the air.

A soldier’s horse collapsed after being struck by a barrage of arrows fired from the forest.

The impact sent a heavily armored soldier rolling dozens of times before he was left behind, separated from the formation.

"Wait, wait!"

The fallen soldier desperately called out to his retreating comrades.

"Captain, Felix is—!"

Someone in the formation spotted the stranded soldier and was about to alert the leading commander, Rex.

Whoosh!

A human-shaped mutant wielding a massive black greatsword effortlessly decapitated Felix before anyone could react.

"……"

The soldier who had attempted to call for help fell silent upon witnessing his comrade’s death.

Clatter, clatter!

The horses pulling the carriage, overcome with primal fear, began galloping wildly.

The boy clung tightly to the carriage’s corner with his uninjured arm to avoid being thrown out.

Beside him, Herion, still lying prone, pulled a hidden crystal orb from her robe and began chanting a spell.

The rattling of the carriage and the soldiers' despair-filled shouts drowned out Herion’s murmured incantation, making it inaudible to the boy.

"I can't establish contact with headquarters! There’s some kind of magic interference disrupting communications!"

After struggling with the crystal for a while, Herion’s voice trembled with fear. Like the other soldiers, despair had begun creeping into her mind.

"Damn it…"

A curse slipped from the boy’s lips.

For some reason, the Grand Lord had set up a meticulous plan to annihilate them in this location.

'Bloom won’t be enough. The Grand Lord’s level is at least 80, even at the lowest estimate.'

Even Rex, the Orc Hero currently fighting at the forefront to carve out an escape route, was no match for the Grand Lord. Their levels differed by more than double.

In actual combat power, the gap was even wider—so much so that even ten of Rex wouldn’t be able to leave a scratch on the Grand Lord.

The boy clenched his teeth and reached a conclusion.

"If it’s a magic interference field, I might be able to do something! So—"

Crash!

Before he could finish speaking, the carriage carrying him and Herion was violently launched into the air.

Once again, time seemed to slow.

Out of the corner of his eye, the boy caught a glimpse of the legs of a horse crushed beneath the overturned carriage.

Then, the countless arrowheads reflecting faint moonlight flew straight toward him.

Soaring beside him, Herion hurriedly channeled her magic into the crystal orb to erect a barrier.

'...Death.'

The chilling thought crossed his mind again.

His frail body could barely withstand a simple fall, his bones easily breaking from even minor impacts.

If such a fragile body were to be flung from a speeding carriage in what amounted to a massive traffic accident—

Without question, every bone in his body would shatter, and his internal organs would rupture.

The boy didn’t need to think deeply to realize that the Grim Reaper’s scythe was already at his throat.

"Bloom."

Without hesitation, he uttered the word.

A massive lightning bolt struck beneath the clear moonlight.

The incoming arrows instantly turned to pure white ash upon contact, and flames erupted among the dense trees surrounding them.

"……"

Barely shielding herself from the impact, Herion stared blankly at the enormous lightning bolt that had just descended—and at the boy who remained standing despite it.

Whoosh!

A sharp gust of wind split the air, sending a fresh volley of arrows hurtling toward him, their deadly tips gleaming.

Sizzle…!

Yet, they never reached him.

The electric current radiating from his body disintegrated them into white ash before they could touch him.

The white dust swirled around him, obscuring his form.

"…Try contacting headquarters again. The interference magic should have been destroyed along with the first lightning strike."

"Ah… Y-yes!"

The red-robed mage, Herion, hurriedly channeled her magic into the crystal once more.

Fortunately, the crystal orb functioned properly. Despite being smeared with mud, it emitted a red light as the voice of a communication mage from the allied headquarters came through.

―Ah, ah. Communication secured. Communicatio—

"Capital Guard Division, 1st Infantry Battalion, 6th Squad, 4th Circle Mage Herion Criatis! Requesting immediate reinforcements from headquarters! Current location: Coordinates 07—11.36!"

Herion screamed into the crystal, her voice nearly a shriek. There was no time for formalities like communication security protocols.

―Uh… What is the situation? Please provide a brief explan—

"Mutants wielding weapons have appeared! I don't know why, but a Grand Lord seems to have shown up! Immediate—"

Before Herion could finish her plea, a magic-imbued arrow shot towards her side.

The mutants had realized that their arrows were ineffective against the boy and had adjusted their strategy to target the communication mage instead.

Snap!

Seeing this, the boy flicked his fingers in the arrow's direction, releasing a thin bolt of lightning.

Traveling at 100,000 kilometers per second, the streak of electricity intercepted the arrow midair and, in an instant, expanded into a massive thunderbolt, engulfing the surrounding forest in flames.

"Contact established with headquarters! Reinforcements are en route!"

Having completed the transmission, Herion shouted at the top of her lungs. Despite her slender frame, her voice boomed with an unexpected intensity.

"How far is headquarters from here? We’ll all be dead before they arrive! Get up and mount your horses, now!"

A soldier clad in silver armor ran over, yelling.

"Did you relay the situation clearly?"

Unlike the shouting soldier, Rex remained calm as he addressed Herion.

"Yes! I made it clear that there are mutants wielding weapons and that a Grand Lord has appeared!"

"What…? A Grand Lord? It's here?!"

The soldiers, who had just begun reorganizing, turned pale. They scanned their surroundings in growing terror, their fear deepening into despair.

"Damn it… That monster left no trace for three years, and now it appears out of nowhere…!"

"Estella, watch over us. Please!"

As her comrades drowned in despair, Herion raised her voice again.

"It’s been three years since a Grand Lord last appeared! There’s no way ‘He’ will let this opportunity slip! We just need to hold out. I’ve marked our location for ‘Him’—under no circumstances should we abandon this position, Rex!"

Rex, halting his Komodo, furrowed his brows and started thinking rapidly.

'If headquarters learns that a Grand Lord has emerged, ‘He’ will undoubtedly come to our aid.'

The problem was whether his squad could hold out against these mutants until then.

Fighting those monsters here versus continuing to flee on horseback—

Which choice had the higher survival rate? Rex weighed the options carefully.

'No matter how fast ‘He’ moves, it’ll take at least three minutes for Him to reach us from the capital.'

Could they last?

Three minutes?

With the squad’s current condition?

Rex’s unit was well-trained and more than capable of handling ordinary demons and their mutants. But against a Grand Lord and its elite creations, they were woefully underprepared.

These were monsters of a different caliber.

Even if he staked his life, taking down just one of the Grand Lord’s mutants would be a struggle. His subordinates? They’d be slaughtered like autumn leaves caught in a storm.

'…But.'

Boom!

Behind the red-robed Herion, another massive lightning bolt crashed down, setting the entire forest ablaze.

The white-haired boy stood amidst the flames, completely unshaken, as if this destruction was nothing to him.

Rex saw hope in that boy.

A bright light.

Like lightning itself.

'…If that boy fights alongside us, maybe—just maybe—we have a chance.'

"All troops, prepare for battle!"

Rex gripped his heavy battle axe and dismounted from his Komodo.

The time for resistance had begun.