How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 68: Prisoners of the Ship (5)

Now some brat had shown up out of nowhere, looking down on them all. It was an insult they couldn't stand.

Still, no one dared approach him directly like the prisoner who had exploded earlier.

They only glanced nervously at each other... or toward Aguf.

“Sir Henry, are you alright?”

Karl’s voice rang out again.

Henry, chest throbbing with pain, looked at him in a daze.

What he’d just heard was ridiculous.

Forget the other prisoners—Aguf and especially Bahon were a different breed entirely. Yet Karl intended to face them all by himself?

But Karl’s gaze was perfectly calm—like what he’d just declared was a natural outcome.

Was he really asking if it was okay to kill the prisoners?

Many of his comrades were dead.

The ones who’d survived were either on the verge of death or doomed to suffer and die at the hands of these animals.

Of course it was okay. If it were truly possible, Henry felt like he’d drop to the floor and beg Karl to do it.

He nodded with effort.

“...Alright.”

A subtle twist appeared at the edge of Karl’s lips.

By the time a few prisoners began to feel uneasy, it was already too late.

Bzzzzzap!!

A blinding blue flash.

Fierce lightning thundered across the deck’s left flank.

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen prisoners were reduced to corpses, unable to resist.

Those barely outside the blast radius shrieked and scattered.

Whooom!

At the same time, a gray mist surged outward and enveloped the area.

Karl glanced toward Aguf and cast a shield.

The gray energy clung to the shield, obscuring vision, but failed to pierce it. A pathetic little trick.

Fwoooosh!!

Flames surged around the shield and burned away Aguf’s conjured mist instantly.

A few prisoners trying to sneak in under cover were also swept away and incinerated as a bonus.

Aguf bit his lip as he watched it unfold.

Unbelievable as it was, this young mage’s power clearly surpassed his own by a wide margin.

“You useless bastards! Don’t you know how to fight a mage?! Time your attacks between spells! Don’t let him rest—keep up the pressure!”

At someone’s shouted command, the prisoners snapped out of it and charged.

Warriors spread out to attack from all directions, while the mages kept their distance and launched lethal spells.

But it didn’t take long for them all to realize it was meaningless.

KRRAKOOOOOM!!

The entire deck lit up like daytime.

A web of massive lightning arced through the air, ripping through the incoming spells and blanketing the area.

Prisoners nearby were disintegrated instantly—and even those at a distance were charred to pitch-black husks.

“......”

The power gap was overwhelming.

A few survivors stared at Karl, completely broken in spirit.

Sparks still danced across the deck, the aftershocks of the blast.

And in the center of it all stood Karl—arrogant and unmoving, like a god of war.

The result had been obvious from the beginning.

Most of the prisoners were somewhere between levels 30 and 40. Aside from Aguf and Bahon, none surpassed level 50.

No matter how many of them there were, they were hopelessly outmatched against Karl—an upper-tier high mage.

The wide-open deck offered no cover, no terrain advantage—only the sea beneath the black sky as an escape.

The illusion of hope they’d clung to—their escape wrought by blood and violence—was now crushed beneath a far «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» greater force.

All that remained for the prisoners was death.

For the first time in their lives—men who had lived by making others fear them—they felt fear creeping into their eyes.

“G-Get away!”

Someone screamed and tried to bolt for the sea, thinking death by drowning would be better.

He only managed a few steps before lightning tore through his back, ending him instantly.

“Sh-shit... stay put! Don’t move! If you twitch so much as a finger, I’ll—!”

A prisoner tried to use a fallen knight as a hostage—only for his head to explode, ending him mid-threat.

One by one, death came for the survivors.

Had they been caught in that massive earlier blast, at least their deaths would’ve been swift.

Instead, unable to fight, unable to run, they were left to tremble in terror—until they were all dead.

“......”

Silence settled over the deck.

Blood dripped down from the blood-soaked planks, pattering into the sea below.

Meylin, Henry, and the fallen knights were so thoroughly overwhelmed they couldn’t even breathe.

“...So.”

Karl turned toward Aguf and Bahon.

“All the prisoners are dead. When exactly do you two plan to make your move?”

The two had simply watched Karl slaughter everyone after casting a single spell at the beginning.

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Bahon shrugged and slid his sword back into its sheath.

As if to say he had no interest in fighting alongside anyone else.

Aguf, on the other hand, grinned.

“It’s too late now. You should’ve come for me first instead of showing off.”

Chiiiiing!

In an instant, gray energy condensed around Karl, forming a perfect cube.

A sealing ritual—<Binding of the Indestructible>.

Aguf’s smile curled wider.

“It’s a barrier-type ritual that seals off everything inside and out. No matter how strong your mana is, you won’t be able to break it. You’ll suffocate slowly, trapped inside until death.”

“......”

Karl looked around at the gray cube surrounding him.

He recognized this spell too.

It was certainly something Aguf had reason to be confident in.

The long cast time made it impractical in real combat—but once someone was caught inside, escape was nearly impossible.

However, every ritual had a countermeasure.

Rituals were dangerous to those who didn’t understand them—but once you knew the counter, they were surprisingly easy to deal with.

<Binding of the Indestructible> had two counters.

One: smash the barrier with overwhelming power that defied the spell’s logic.

Two: leave the faces untouched and strike only the corners precisely.

CRACK!

A razor-thin burst of wind pierced the corner of the cube—shattering the entire barrier like glass.

“......!!”

Aguf’s eyes went wide.

Karl gave him no chance. A blast of lightning shot forward.

The barrier shuddered and shattered again, and Aguf inside was charred black in an instant.

A pitiful end for a shaman who had orchestrated a prison ship riot and engineered one of the boldest escapes ever attempted.

Karl immediately cast his next spell.

Bahon, who had disappeared from sight, reappeared at Karl’s side with a sword strike.

KRAAAK!!

Icy spears erupted from Karl’s magic circle, stopping Bahon’s advance.

At the same time, Karl activated his Magic Booster and widened the distance.

“Huh...”

Landing lightly on one side of the deck, Bahon exhaled a low sigh.

“I thought it was a perfect ambush.”

Karl smirked.

“Funny, you were acting like you wanted a fair duel earlier.”

Bahon’s lips curled.

“You knew all along. That’s why you reacted so quickly, wasn’t it?”

He had never planned to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Aguf.

The other prisoners were trash, and he didn’t understand Aguf’s techniques well enough to coordinate effectively.

Even if he’d fought from the beginning, it was only a matter of time before they ended up like this—just the two of them left.

So he’d decided to wait—watch Karl fight, look for an opening, and strike from the shadows.

That’s why he’d even sheathed his sword—to make Karl let his guard down.

But...

It didn’t work at all.

In fact, Bahon now realized, he’d been the one baited.

If Karl had shown even the slightest hint of caution, Bahon would’ve attacked sooner—knowing his ambush wouldn’t work.

But Karl had deliberately pretended not to care.

He’d lured Bahon into waiting so he could deal with the trash more efficiently.

Subtle psychological warfare within battle.

He wasn’t just an absurdly strong young mage—he thought like a seasoned veteran of countless wars.

Bahon clicked his tongue silently and studied Karl.

More than anything, the magic itself had felt... unnatural.

No delay between spells... is that even possible?

Even knowing what was coming, Bahon’s ambush had failed because Karl’s casting speed was simply too fast.

His mind whirled—but Bahon stopped overthinking it.

A powerful foe had appeared unexpectedly.

This ending had always been inevitable.

Now, he just had to give everything and face him head-on.

Level 57... huh.

Karl, meanwhile, felt no particular danger from Bahon.

Bahon was two levels higher—but with his seamless spell chaining and the +25% mana boost from the Ancient Circling, Karl was confident the gap could be closed.

“Can I ask who you are?” Bahon asked, compressing his sword aura.

Karl answered calmly.

“Karl, of the Altius School.”

“I see. Altius, huh... That explains it. A mage from an exceptional school indeed.”

A brief silence passed.

Then Bahon spoke again.

“Isn’t this the part where you ask me something? Like my name, or how I ended up here?”

There was resignation in his face—but also a strange kind of longing.

Karl stared at him, then replied flatly.

“Criminal. Escaped prisoner. Soon-to-be corpse. Why should I care who you are?”

“......”

“Or did you expect some kind of touching finale? Hoping I’d listen to your sob story—how none of this was your fault, and you’re actually a tragic victim?”

“I...”

“I already heard enough about you from Sir Henry. So wake up. You’re nothing but a lunatic butcher who’s murdered countless innocents.”

A cold sneer tugged at Karl’s lips.

“So save the pathetic lines and let’s get started. Many sailors and knights died unfairly tonight. This is all I can do for them.”

He raised his hand.

“The other prisoners are already in hell. Now, there’s only you.”