I Became the Genius Mage of the Martial Academy

…is what I thought. Until the bandit group returned.

When night came, the entire mountain fortress became noisy.

“The leader is here!”

The wooden gate opened, and Bae Ho-cheol, with a very angry expression, headed inside with an iron mace on his shoulder.

And behind him, his subordinate bandits were dragging two men covered in blood.

‘They’re the escorts.’

I enhanced my vision as much as possible with mana and observed them.

Although they were faint because of the distance, judging by their attire, they were definitely the escorts.

‘They’re not dead.’

Both of them were still breathing. In the first place, if they were corpses, they wouldn’t have been dragged this far.

‘It’s both a relief and a misfortune.’

Judging by their reaction, it seemed that one of the escorts had succeeded in escaping, so the probability of help coming from the family had increased, which was a good sign.

In addition, the fact that all the escorts were alive was also positive news.

The problem was that the captured escorts were also still breathing.

‘If they reveal the plan, a pursuit might come late.’

Since they were captured by a group from the unorthodox faction, there were many ways to make a prisoner’s mouth open, such as torture or feeding them drugs.

‘Should I leave the mountain fortress now?’

If Bae Ho-cheol were to find out that I was in the carriage, the search range would be readjusted around the carriage and the path the carriage had taken.

Considering such a worst-case scenario, it was right to leave right now.

“Throw these bastards in a corner! I’ll pull out their limbs as soon as they come to their senses!”

But it felt unsettling to leave the captured escorts behind and go. Wasn’t it me who had brought them this far?

‘If I leave the escorts behind and leave, they will die.’

Whether they die during torture or later as a way to vent anger.

They were ruffians who had shouted for revenge, saying they wouldn’t even take my ransom. It was obvious that they would be merciless to the escorts.

But the wall of reality was high to follow only loyalty.

‘I have to think calmly.’

I quietly crossed between the trees and observed the enemies.

The immediate problem right now was that I didn’t know when the plan and my whereabouts would be discovered.

Then, besides running away, there were two ways to guarantee my safety.

‘Either I kill the escorts to silence them, or I let them escape.’

The former was not only a matter of conscience, but the act of silencing them itself could plant unnecessary suspicion in the enemies, so it couldn’t be a consideration.

‘I’d rather have run away.’

Then the remaining method is to let the escorts escape. And secretly at that.

‘Can I do it?’

I took a deep breath, looking at the bandits who were moving busily.

Night will come soon. Since the escorts were already subdued, the security wouldn’t be that tight.

‘Let’s give it a try.’

It’s not that I’m just going to save them recklessly. The reason I couldn’t step out recklessly was because I didn’t know the geography of this area well.

If I could take the escorts with me, I might be able to escape, avoiding the bandits’ pursuit.

‘Where is Bae Ho-cheol?’

I don’t care about the other guys, but I can’t get caught by him.

Fortunately, Bae Ho-cheol quickly reorganized the bandit group, saying he had to track the remaining escorts, and then headed in the opposite direction from where he had come.

‘Was this just a brief stop on the way to tracking the other escorts?’

It was a very natural logic. If even one of the escorts were to be missed, the elites of the Zhuge family would flock in from then on.

‘The timing is good.’

Now that Bae Ho-cheol has just left, it will be a long time before he returns. And on top of that, since he took most of the remaining bandits with him, the surveillance has also decreased.

‘Then I should start moving soon.’

I had to rescue them before the remaining bandits in the mountain fortress could get information from the fallen escorts.

I used the Spirit God Steps and secretly infiltrated near the wooden building where the escorts were being held.

‘Two bandits guarding the outside of the building.’

I checked the plan, raising my qi sense to the maximum.

As a result of observing persistently from a while ago, there was only one torturer inside the building where the escorts were trapped.

‘I just need to take care of a total of three.’

And so, I waited for an appropriate time and hid for a long time.

A faint moonlight settled on the mountain range, and in the darkness, the bandits who were on guard duty switched with each other.

‘Now!’

I quickly climbed onto the roof of the wooden building where the hostages were and stepped on the Spirit God Steps.

In order not to attract attention in the middle of the night, I had to take care of it secretly without using fire magic.

Looking down from the roof, the enemies were on guard with their backs to the door, looking bored.

Screech-

I drew my sword without a sound, dropped from the ceiling, and got behind the enemies.

“Huh?”

The moment the two bandits who were standing at the entrance felt a sudden change in the airflow and turned their heads.

Swish-!

I immediately cut their necks with a horizontal cut that took advantage of the subtlety of the Six Harmonies Sword Art.

“Gurgle…!”

The bandits who collapsed in a surprise attack in an instant. At the same time, I extended one hand and activated ice magic. It was to freeze the gushing blood so as not to leave a trace.

I grabbed the falling enemies with both hands, placed them on one side without making a sound, and then opened the door as it was.

Creak!

“What?!”

Then, the sight that unfolded was one bandit who was preparing for torture and the two escorts who were tied to a chair.

“What do you mean, what? It’s the person you were looking for.”

Crackle!

Along with those words, the electric magic I had prepared exploded. I finished off the fallen guy’s breath and then checked the condition of the two escorts.

It was a relief that it was still before the torture.

Although their complexion was not good due to their injuries, as a result of checking their pulse, it didn’t seem that their lives were in danger.

‘Their acupoints are held.’

Since measures had been taken so that they couldn’t use their internal energy, I used the knowledge I had learned from Maeng Dong in the cultivation method class to release the acupoint pressure.

“Are you conscious?”

“Ugh?”

“Young Master…!”

Not long after, when their internal energy circulated, the escorts, whose complexion had recovered, looked at me with a face that was half surprised and half moved.

“How in the world…?”

“We’ll talk about that later. Can you move?”

I casually looked over their whole bodies.

Both of them had several scars that looked like they had been hit by an iron mace. Since one arm each was broken, they couldn’t be said to be in a sound state at all.

“We can move.”

What was fortunate was that their two legs were not completely broken.

‘They probably didn’t touch them in preparation for when I revealed my whereabouts. Since it was an urgent situation, they must have been planning to have me guide them directly.’

Originally, in an injury of this level, just acupoint pressure and binding would have been enough, but a variable had occurred because I had stepped up.

Because they would never have thought that the target would come directly to save the hostages.

“Let’s move before the next shift comes.”

Along with my words, we hid the fallen bandits on one side and then secretly left the mountain fortress.

Although there were guards in the middle of the escape route, since it was the middle of the night and the security was lax, it was easy to get out.

‘Judging by the shift cycle, it’s once every four hours, and since the person on duty wakes them up, if we’re lucky, they might not notice until morning.’

Since it was said that it would take three days to bypass the mountain range without getting caught by the enemy, just buying half a day was a great help.

We walked for a long time in the mountain path at night, receiving the morning dew.

How long had we walked? The dawn was breaking in the distance.

Originally, if you escaped this much in this wide mountain range, you could say you had shaken them off. But it was dangerous because there were several mountain fortresses belonging to the Green Forest Eighteen Fortresses along this mountain range.

‘I can’t be careless.’

I walked like crazy. On the downhill path, I took large strides and went down, and on the slope, I distributed my stamina evenly to minimize the stagnation time.

“Phew.”

Walking without even getting proper sleep, it really felt like I was going to die.

Fortunately, although the escorts were injured, they had the stamina and mobility befitting peak masters.

What was terrible was that my stamina couldn’t keep up.

[Long-term Stamina Decline], [Durability Weakening], etc. As various debuffs began to overlap due to long-term activity, it became increasingly difficult to pick up speed.

‘Damn it.’

I clenched my teeth at my thighs, which were trembling as if they would collapse at any moment.

This kind of survival-type movement was a bigger crisis for me than a short-term battle.

“Are you alright?”

It was to the point where I would hear such words from people who were more seriously injured than me.

Walking, secretly resting, and walking again.

And so, as we were walking for two full days, being wary of our surroundings.

“Shh-.”

I lowered my posture because I felt a presence in the distance.

“Judging by their appearance, they seem to be a bandit gang from another point.”

It seemed an order to search on a mountain range scale had been given.

‘Did they mobilize personnel at the fortress master level?’

I narrowed my brow, thinking of Jo Dong-hong.

Since he was a powerful person who could move up to a thousand bandits, he would have been able to create such a wide-ranging encirclement.

Although it would be useless if they didn’t notice and moved away like this.

And so, just as we were catching our breath, waiting for the bandit group to disappear.

“Woof! Woof!”

Suddenly, the sound of a hunting dog was heard from the middle of the bandit group.

“Did you find them?!”

“Where are they?! Over there!”

‘This is!’

A hunting dog was running. And behind it, the bandit group that had almost passed us was also following.

‘I can’t win in my current state.’

After grasping the difference in power at once, I cut down the rushing hunting dog and shouted.

“Close your eyes!”

And then I shot a light magic of maximum firepower at the bandits.

“Keuk!”

“My eyes…!”

After blinding the enemies’ vision with a flash, I shouted loudly.

“Run!”

Since the distance with the bandits was quite far, if we were lucky, we might be able to shake them off.

Thinking so, just as I was about to cross the mountain ridge, a trumpet sound was heard from behind.

Bwoooong!

‘Don’t tell me they’re trying to lure other bandits?’

At this rate, enemies would flock in from all directions.

‘I have no choice but to break through.’

If they had even mobilized a hunting dog, there was no other way. Because I couldn’t hide the smell with a hastily made stealth formation.

And most of all, if we just go a little further, the plains of Hubei will come out.

A place full of righteous path families to ask for help. It was right to break through and pass before the encirclement narrowed.

“Here!”

“Damn it!”

I ran forward, cutting down the rushing bandits.

Although the escorts also helped with all their might, that was it.

It was inevitable that my stamina would be worn down.

“Haa… haa!”

My already rough breath was panting as if it would be cut off.

There is a limit to cutting down bandits and shaking off the pursuit. The encirclement will gradually narrow, and in the end, we will be surrounded.

At this point, I might have regretted saving the escorts, but surprisingly, I was calm.

It wasn’t because of the possibility of being caught by the bandits’ hunting dogs while hiding, nor was it that I hadn’t grasped the situation.

It just seemed that I had become somewhat resigned to death. Perhaps it was because I had been acting like a martial artist until now.

I prepared for the end and activated flame magic, beginning to burn the surrounding trees.

Fwoosh!

“Kuaaaak!”

The other bandits who were chasing from behind were engulfed in the flames and fell or collapsed. With this, there would be no one to shoot an arrow from behind my back.

I have no intention of dying alone.

I ran with all my might, as if my two legs would break, with the burning forest as my background.

‘Anyway, it’s quite noisy.’

I clenched my teeth, listening to the trumpet sounds coming from all directions.

Now, hundreds of bandits would be chasing this way as if to surround me.

“Phew! How… much is left?”

I narrowed my brow, looking at the bandits who were gradually flocking in.

“If we cross over there, the mountain will end, and it will be the Hubei plains.”

A situation where only one mountain was left.

‘Just a little more…!’

Just as I was running to shake off the bandits who had chased me right up to me.

“Hey!”

A shout containing internal energy was heard from the top of the hill in the distance.

‘Shit.’

I cursed inwardly.

A large, shaggy man was standing there. Bae Ho-cheol, the damn bandit.

Before I knew it, we were surrounded.

“Catch those guys! I’ll give a reward to the one who kills them!”

Clang!

Swords were drawn from all directions, and just as the enemies were about to rush in.

“Screech!”

A high-pitched bird’s cry that spread through the sky rang in my ears.

“A hawk?”

As I unconsciously lifted my head, a single hawk was circling in the middle of the sky where the smoke from the fire was scattering.

“Don’t tell me…!”

Just as one of the escorts next to me muttered in a cracked voice, a trumpet sound, incomparably grand to that of the bandits, shook the mountain range.

Bwoooong-!

“Kuaaaak!”

The reason I noticed the anomaly was because the direction of the scream was heard from behind Bae Ho-cheol.

“What, what is it?!”

The various screams that were suddenly heard from beyond the bushes. The moment the leaves of the trees swayed in the wind and the intermittent death throes that were heard gradually got closer in all directions.

Along with several figures that were rushing in at a tremendous speed, several flags broke through the bushes and revealed their identity.

A fan pattern that was fluttering elegantly.

It was the mark of the Zhuge family.

(End of Chapter)