Bloody Cruelty

Legendary Knight Balon had been killed by Yun Li, and it became the hottest topic of private discussion among the leaderless Wizard Apprentices aboard the Hailun.

No one knew why Balon had suddenly attacked Yun Li, but everyone understood that the great Wizard Dila must have been behind it.

Otherwise, Balon could not possibly have ambushed Yun Li for no reason.

Yet who could have known that Yun Li, who had been idly teasing a white mouse, seemed to have been prepared all along and engaged Balon, his attacker, in a fierce battle.

After several exchanges of bizarre witchcraft and an axe carrying tremendous force, Balon's head suddenly vanished. The cut across his neck was as smooth as a mirror, and his headless body collapsed forever.

Yun Li remained indifferent. After breathing slightly harder for a moment, he seemed utterly unconcerned by Balon's attack and continued teasing the white mouse in his hand as if nothing had happened.

Yun Li's expression left everyone who had witnessed the fierce battle dumbfounded. To them, he was a monster, not a human at all.

No one wanted to provoke a monster.

One day later.

As an enormous shadow blanketed Lilith's Cottage Wizard Academy's ocean liner, countless Wizard Apprentices emerged from their cabins and stared in horror at the patch of darkness in the sky, formed entirely of black crows.

No one knew whether Wizard Dila was dead or alive.

A mysterious wizard slowly descended from the dark cloud. As he fell, countless crows transformed into two torrents and crowded into his wide sleeves. The space within those sleeves seemed endless; in the blink of an eye, the dark cloud vanished from the sky.

The mysterious wizard landed in the center of the deck. Once everyone saw what he looked like, they all drew sharp breaths, terror rising in their hearts.

The wizard had no eyes, no nose, and no mouth. His entire face was smooth and featureless, as though a layer of skin had been spread over his head. It was horrifying beyond measure.

"Hehehe, little ones, welcome to Black Isotta Wizard Academy!"

The ocean liner that had originally been bound for Lilith's Cottage Wizard Academy had actually been hijacked by another, seemingly more powerful, "evil Wizard Academy"!

After his eyeless face swept across the surroundings, the mysterious wizard stopped on Yun Li and Bibilionna. Then he said in an eerie voice, "You may call me Nielmaza, or you may call me the Faceless Mask. Hehehehe, I don't care."

Just as everyone was feeling uneasy, a Wizard Apprentice calmly stepped out from the crowd, handed a crow to the wizard, and said solemnly, "Mentor."

"Mm. You did well."

The Faceless Mask praised the Wizard Apprentice. The crow flapped its wings, flashed once, and likewise burrowed into the wizard's wide sleeve, disappearing without a trace.

The Wizard Apprentices on the deck stared fixedly at that apprentice.

How could anyone fail to understand now? This Wizard Apprentice had been the inside man who had plotted against Wizard Dila.

It sent chills through their hearts. Just where had this fellow come from?

Elsewhere, Green, Lafi, Yorkris, and Yorklianna had long since gone wide-eyed, cold sweat running down their backs. The Wizard Apprentice who had stepped out before everyone was actually Kiram—the man who had disdained even speaking to Green and the others!

Yet even now, Kiram still had no intention of acknowledging Green's group. It seemed that he had never regarded them as worthy of notice. Instead, he began watching Yun Li and Bibilionna with great interest.

The Faceless Mask had no interest in the thoughts of these Wizard Apprentices.

After laughing coldly and sinisterly for a while, the Faceless Mask said in a chilling voice, "Black Isotta Wizard Academy is a Dark Wizard Academy in District Twelve of the Seven-Ring Holy Tower. It believes in competition, the survival of the fittest, and natural selection!"

Having said that, the wizard let out a low, sinister laugh.

"Hehehe, so, to help you better adapt to your future academy life, and to eliminate some of you useless defective products, I will establish a rule aboard this ship from today onward..."

Every Wizard Apprentice listened to the Faceless Mask with rapt attention, afraid of missing even a word.

"From today onward, every other morning, I must find that five people have already been thrown into the sea. Otherwise... hehehe, I will randomly kill ten of you!"

After calmly stating those cruel words, the wizard raised a hand and casually pointed at a sailor in the distance.

Without any warning whatsoever, the sailor suddenly exploded with a bang, blown into pieces. Countless chunks of blood and flesh splattered in every direction.

The Wizard Apprentices drenched in blood and minced flesh screamed loudly, and the deck descended into chaos. Yet the wizard paid them no heed at all and said blandly, "Just like that."

Every Wizard Apprentice aboard the ship felt icy cold all over as they stared at the wizard in terror, as if they were looking at a man-eating demon.

Ignoring the terrified looks of the Wizard Apprentices entirely, the wizard shrieked with laughter. "From today onward, my words are the rules aboard this ship, unless one of you can defeat me and kill me! Hehehehe, little ones, see you the day after tomorrow!"

With that, the wizard ignored everyone and directly created a luxurious, comfortable-looking tent at the edge of the deck. He beckoned the captain inside, seemingly to plan a new sailing route.

Everyone on the deck warily watched those around them. They all seemed uneasy, and even Green could not help glancing at Yorkris, Yorklianna, and Lafi beside him.

Yorkris grabbed his sister and hurriedly said, "We won't do as the wizard says, will we?"

"I don't want to die! To stay alive, who knows?"

Lafi seemed to glance at Green intentionally or otherwise. Yorkris and his sister appeared shocked that Lafi could say such a thing, but Green accepted it calmly, because he too was seriously considering the matter.

Yet Green felt somewhat bitter inside.

If it took forty days to reach Black Isotta Wizard Academy, wouldn't that mean two hundred people would have to be thrown into the sea?

And if it took sixty days, would someone of his strength even have a chance of surviving?

"Ah..."

A sudden scream rang out across the deck. Everyone turned to see a female Wizard Apprentice holding a sharp knife, which she had viciously plunged into the chest of a male Wizard Apprentice.

The female Wizard Apprentice's once-pretty face had become utterly twisted as she screamed, "If it weren't for you, Rhea wouldn't have died yesterday! I'll kill you!"

The female Wizard Apprentice was somewhat crazed, stabbing the male Wizard Apprentice in the chest again and again.

Upon hearing this, everyone knew that some conflict had likely occurred between the two before. Coupled with the female apprentice's madness, no one was willing to meddle.

Of course, it was also possible that the female apprentice was carrying out the "task" set by the wizard.

In extreme caution, all the apprentices began leaving the deck. Green's group also planned to discuss their countermeasures in Lafi's room first. Before long, only three people remained on the deck... Yun Li, Bibilionna, and Kiram.

Yun Li and Bibilionna's strength needed no further mention after they had killed so many sea monsters. Kiram had been accepted as a disciple and trusted subordinate by that terrifying wizard, so he was surely no ordinary character either. Something might well happen among the three.

Still, it was best not to get involved in such matters. If they happened to develop murderous intentions...

"What should we do? I never expected that Kiram guy to be the trusted disciple of the Faceless Mask. Oh, right, he's called Solam now."

Inside the room, Yorkris furrowed his brow and looked at Lafi and Green.

With a cold snort, Lafi said, "What else can we do? We'll take things one step at a time."

As she spoke, Lafi took out a small, exquisite hand crossbow and said coldly, "It may not be a magic-conducting witch tool, but the deadly poison coated on it is enough to kill an adult elephant!"

Green shivered and hurriedly said, "There's no need to rush into that. We still have to sail across the sea for a long time, and Solam hasn't shown any hostility toward us. He doesn't seem to care about us at all."

Lafi nodded and put away the exquisite hand crossbow. The four of them then squeezed into one room and went to sleep.

As for Binhanson, no one knew whom that fellow had latched onto in the lowest level of the ship's hold. He had vanished without a trace.

The next morning, Green's group came to the deck amid a burst of commotion.

By then, almost everyone on the deck had formed small groups. The groups kept considerable distance from one another and watched the people around them warily, as though they would strike the instant anything went wrong.

After standing there for a while, the Faceless Mask suddenly smiled calmly. "Hehehe, three are missing. Still short by two? Then..."

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The Faceless Mask casually pointed four times into the crowd without even looking. Four people suddenly exploded for no reason at all. Blood and minced flesh nearly covered everyone on the deck, and one of them had even been in the small group beside Green!

"Ah..."

As that person exploded, a female Wizard Apprentice in that small group immediately collapsed onto the ground, letting out piercing screams and sobs.

Green, Lafi, Yorkris, and Yorklianna stood frozen as they wiped the bloody water from their faces.

Green even found bits of flesh on his clothes. Together with the heavy stench of blood, everything told him that this was real!

"Urgh..."

Lafi and the Yorkris siblings vomited at the same time. Green felt sick as well but did not vomit. Supporting the three of them, he watched the others around them warily.

The Faceless Mask ignored the crowd's turmoil completely. Though he had no eyes, everyone could feel as if he had swept his gaze over each of them.

The wizard shrieked with laughter. "Black Isotta Wizard Academy is also part of the Seven-Ring Holy Tower, one of the Elemental Wizard academies, and under the jurisdiction of the Wizard Alliance, so it will not slaughter human commoners. Hehehehe, but remember this: you are Wizard Apprentices now, no longer commoners. The path of wizards seeking truth is filled with thorns and hardships."

As he turned to leave, the Faceless Mask suddenly added coldly, "Other than the captain Labu, Solam, Yun Li, and Bibilionna, if any of you little ones don't want me to kill you for no reason the day after tomorrow, you'd best kill five people first."

Solam and Yun Li turned and left without looking back. Bibilionna gave everyone a cold glance, then an intensely interested smile appeared on her innocent face.

At that moment, nearly everyone on the deck was covered in chunks of flesh and blood, reeking heavily of gore and looking like villains who had crawled out of hell. Yet no one dared to wash themselves rashly.

Because everyone knew that if they did not first decide which five people would die today, no one could guarantee that tomorrow their own bodies would not suddenly explode with a bang, turning into bloody chunks.

"Kill!"

After a roar, the dozen or so sailors who had survived the sea monsters suddenly went mad. Wielding short knives, they charged at a small group of Wizard Apprentices not far from them, and everyone was caught off guard!

That small group happened to contain exactly five Wizard Apprentices, and they possessed no witchcraft abilities. To put it bluntly, they were merely children whose families could afford a gold coin and who had been lucky enough to qualify. How could they possibly be a match for more than a dozen sailors whose strength was fully at knight level?

In almost the blink of an eye, those five Wizard Apprentices were slaughtered amid wails of agony.

With bloodshot eyes, the dozen sailors unhurriedly threw the five Wizard Apprentice corpses into the sea, then swept their cold gazes across the crowd.

One leading sailor said in a grim voice, "No one wants to die, but the Wizard World is this cruel. Hmph. From today onward, you are no longer the noble Wizard Apprentices aboard this ship who can order us around."

As he spoke, the sailor leader weighed the bloodstained knife in his hand.

"From today onward, you'd better find five scapegoats yourselves. Otherwise, we don't mind putting in a little effort."

After saying that, the sailors entered the ship's hold, their bodies radiating murderous intent.

The faces of Green's group of four turned deathly pale, because their group had just been right beside those ferocious sailors!

Wade had gone into a sea monster's stomach, Binhanson had temporarily joined another small group, and Solam had become a lofty powerhouse. The small group Green belonged to had undergone quite a few changes.

At the same time, a problem appeared before the many small groups of Wizard Apprentices: how were they supposed to decide which five people deserved to die?