I Was Mistaken as a Genius Mage in a Game-Chapter 75

The wizard, Bell, with black hair and a wine-colored robe, lightly tapped the map on the wall with his palm before bringing his focused gaze back to the front.

“Bin is excluded. His current skill level may not differ much from ours, but... his growth potential is far superior. If he were to get injured while clashing with a Great Overlord, it would be a huge loss for the continent.”

“But the situation is dire, isn't it? Don’t we need to use every resource, even a cat's paw?” Grisha asked, as if she didn’t quite understand Bell’s explanation. She seemed to be hoping that I, as a general, would be able to make a significant contribution.

Given how unfavorable the situation was, it was only natural for her to have such an expectation.

And, naturally, I silently prayed in my heart that the Saintess would keep her mouth shut.

...How could I possibly fight on equal terms with a Great Overlord? I’d be dead for sure.

“I’ll explain that part, so be patient. There’s a way to kill the four Great Overlords without using Bin.”

“...Kill them? You’re not suggesting that we abandon protecting the land of Valerand?” Alter asked, seemingly surprised by Bell’s words.

“In a situation like this, the idea of killing four Great Overlords might sound like a dream, I suppose. I thought we were discussing retreat plans today.”

“It seems you’ve forgotten how to dream over the long years.”

Bell responded lightly to Alter’s question with a provocative tone.

Alter, hearing the provocation, shrugged indifferently, but Lir, who was sitting beside him, glared sharply at Bell with clear displeasure.

“What is it?”

Bell looked down at Lir with his characteristic cold and chilling eyes.

Naturally, as soon as their eyes met, Lir couldn’t make a sound and lowered her gaze.

...Well, even the attempt was commendable. Considering her personality, she deserved at least a hundred compliments.

I patted Lir’s back and refocused on Bell’s story.

“Then let me continue explaining.”

Bell cleared his throat and quickly withdrew his cold gaze from Lir.

Lir, once Bell turned away, only glared at him sneakily, as if hoping to catch him off guard.

“The Great Overlords will start actively attacking from today. Once they gain the upper hand, their strategy is the complete opposite of the type who likes to slowly and relentlessly kill their opponents without any variables.”

A thick hand rose behind me. It seemed Rex had a question.

“Right, what’s on your mind?”

“How do you know the enemy will begin their attack?”

“Because of Bin.”

Bell pointed his pen toward me.

“They saw Bin appear on this battlefield and wreak havoc. He was flying around on a spirit, causing complete chaos. According to the officers, seven high-ranking demons were killed, and six of the mutated squads made by the Great Overlord were wiped out.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t me but Dajin who handled them, but... I didn’t feel the need to correct that.

“...Yes, I saw it with my own eyes.”

“That little kid was reading Understanding Intermediate Magic in our camp. A book I read when I was nine.”

“Pardon?”

“He's someone who’s been learning magic for less than three months. And yet, he suddenly rides a spirit and turns the battlefield upside down. What do you think the Great Overlords would be thinking?”

“...You mean, even if it ruins the war, they’ll try to kill General Bin?”

“They’ll start their offensive today. The Great Overlords will also make an appearance on the battlefield.”

Bell picked up his pen again and started placing dots on the map. Soon, there were about nine dots evenly spaced along the demon formation.

“The places marked on the map are where I’ve secretly planted parchment through a certain operation.”

“And that parchment has a kind ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ of barrier magic engraved on it. Once the enemy pushes the front line far enough, I’ll activate the magic on these parchments to prevent the four Great Overlords from leaving this land of Valerand.”

Bell marked the same nine dots on our formation. Then, as he connected the dots, a massive shape that covered both the enemy’s and our formations was completed.

“...You mean, you’re going to trap that entire area?”

Alter looked at Bell with suspicion.

Even to someone like me, who wasn’t very knowledgeable about magic, it seemed impossible.

The shape on the map looked to cover at least 30 square kilometers. To create a barrier that large...

“I understand that you’ve expanded the barrier range through the parchment. But I’m worried about its strength. The larger the barrier, the weaker its power tends to become.”

“Sharp observation, but you don’t need to worry. I’ve prepared a special method for that.”

Bell spoke with a confident expression.

Alter asked what the “special method” was, and Lir seemed eager to chime in, as if she wanted to support Alter’s questions, but with courage.

“I’ll trust you,” I said, unable to avoid speaking as the argument became more heated.

“...General Bin?”

Alter looked at me in disbelief.

“The fact that he’s not explaining his method means there’s nothing good to be gained from it, right? Alter, please just trust him this one time. He’s not a fool, so I’m sure he’s prepared a solid plan.”

“...”

Alter still seemed uncertain, but he didn’t press further.

“Fine, let’s assume we trap all four Great Overlords in an ‘absolute indestructible barrier.’ What do we do next?”

How.

This was the same question I had when I first arrived on this battlefield and heard about the plan.

Even if we lure and trap the four Great Overlords, if we don’t have a safe way to deal with them, the whole plan would be pointless.

Fighting against four Great Overlords would be a near-impossible task unless we brought the Sword Saint with us...

“Two weeks from now, the Sword Saint will arrive.”

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“...”

At Bell’s words, the entire room fell silent.

“...What about the northern front? If the Sword Saint leaves, the Demon King will make a move...”

Rex, the only one among us who could see the bigger picture of the war, carefully raised his hand and spoke.

Currently, the Sword Saint was facing the Demon King on the northern front while the four Great Overlords were rampaging in Valerand.

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

If news spread that he arrived in Valerand, every soldier on the northern front would be wiped out by the Demon King’s hands.

“I’ve already planned an operation that will allow him to leave the northern front. The surrounding defenses around the fortress have been cleared up, and if we take down a couple of high-ranking demons, we’ll be able to make sure the enemy won’t realize that he’s coming here.”

Bell paused for a moment before speaking with gleaming eyes.

“Probably about 15 minutes of fighting time.”

Fifteen minutes.

That’s how long it would take for the Sword Saint to turn the tide and take the heads of the enemy commander four times.

Hope, expectation for the future, and the desire for victory swirled around the hut.

“Any questions?”

“...”

After hearing this, no one raised any further questions about the plan.

The Sword Saint was that kind of person.

No matter how absurd a suicide mission seemed, he would turn it into a mission of certain victory.

The true hope of the continent.

“I’ll say it again. This conversation must never leave this hut. The moment the enemy hears about this, they’ll invest more high-ranking scouts in the northern front. The Great Overlords in this land will retreat.”

Bell took out a pipe from inside his robe and put it to his mouth as he spoke.

“Don’t laugh. Always stay despondent. Never raise your head. The more we seem desperate, the more confident they’ll be in their attack.”

Soon, a spark ignited in Bell’s pipe.

The familiar smell of tobacco smoke began to slowly fill the air.

“Dismissed.”

Bell finished speaking and left the hut first, followed by Grisha. Her face was a mixture of emotions: ‘Finally, this war is ending’ and ‘We still have two weeks of this madness.’

Rex quietly took a deep breath before standing up, followed by Alter.

Lir and I exchanged a brief glance before being the last to rise.

I couldn’t quite grasp what I had just heard.

If the Sword Saint and the four Great Overlords were trapped in one ‘region,’ he would undoubtedly deal with all four of them within 15 minutes.

If everything went according to plan, the number of Great Overlords, currently at nine, would be reduced to five.

The number of high-ranking demons would be halved.

This operation would not only change the situation in Valerand but would also be a major turning point in the war between the demons and the alliance.

...Maybe we were standing at the heart of history.

Thinking that, I felt a chill run down my spine.

As expected by Bell, the demon army began to actively push forward the front lines the day after I had caused chaos on Dajin’s back in the battlefield.

“Watch the front! Raise your shields high!”

“Shoot! Use everything you’ve got!”

Without any cover or shields, the mages and archers did their best to stop the enemy by unleashing their weapons as they crossed the unmanned zone.

However, the mages’ magic ran out, and the archers' arrows were just as depleted. The only thing that was infinite on this battlefield was the demons and the mutants they created.

“Retreat! Fall back!”

The front line began to steadily retreat. The continent’s army managed to block the demons' advance by crossing the rear trenches while minimizing casualties. But the demons, pushing forward recklessly, lost three high-ranking demons and even a powerful mutant created with a dragon.

“...This is pointless.”

Then, starting from the fourth day, the Great Overlords began to appear on the battlefield. With a mere gesture, they twisted the terrain of the unmanned zone and even combined the bodies of fallen soldiers into a huge mutant.

Every time the Great Overlords showed up on the battlefield, Bell also made an appearance on the front lines. With a mechanical, cold expression, Bell burned the corpses of soldiers that had turned into mutants, and the muddy ground of the battlefield, once covered in thick sludge, became as solid as ceramic under his touch.

The battle between Bell and the Great Overlords never truly reached a conclusion. In a simple one-on-one power comparison, Bell held a slight edge, but because other Great Overlords might be lurking somewhere on the battlefield looking for an opportunity, Bell could not take an aggressive approach.

The Great Overlords also seemed to be fully aware of this, deliberately guiding the battle into a war of attrition. They were waiting for Bell’s magic to run out.

No matter how powerful Bell Artua was, eventually, fighting in a battle of attrition with the Great Overlords every day would wear down his mana.

Waiting for a mage’s magic to run out and then hunting them down was the demons’ most typical and reliable strategy against mages.

They continued to pressure Bell with delicate yet suffocating pressure, and within ten days, Bell’s magic was near exhaustion.

On the night of the thirteenth day, Bell began to show signs of dizziness and hyperventilation. It was unsettling to see that mechanical human crumble.

Then came the fourteenth day. The morning of exactly two weeks since I had begun riding on Dajin’s back to sweep through the battlefield.

The daylight broke through the clouds without any hesitation, shining on the battlefield.

“...Sigh.”

I exhaled softly as I looked at the sun breaking through the clouds and walked out of the tent early in the morning.

“We’re ready.”

The orcs, elves, and an elderly man, who had finished preparing long ago, greeted me.

I quietly swallowed my saliva and walked slowly toward the front line, following the officer’s guide.

It was time to retrieve the traps I had left by the water.