Elimination

"Damn it! They're too arrogant. They're only a dozen or so people, yet they're actually demanding we kill each other every day, five dead?"

A wizard apprentice who sounded rather righteous shouted.

As if to show his fury, after roaring with his face flushed scarlet, the steel blade in his hand struck the deck with a clang.

Being able to chop a steel blade into the deck—one had to admit this fellow did have some strength.

However, even more people were utterly disdainful of this. Only after that group of sailors had left did this guy start showing off his might.

Despite their disdain, the many wizard apprentices still gathered into a cluster with this person at the center. After all, everyone had a common enemy.

In the depths of their hearts, the wizard apprentices looked down on those filthy sailors, believing those sailors to be a rank beneath people like them.

They had not yet become wizards, and were still only wizard apprentices, yet every wizard apprentice already possessed the pride that belonged to wizards!

Even if they thought about it another way, those sailors numbered a dozen or so no matter what; they would be enough to keep the many wizard apprentices safe and sound for three days.

"Since five people have already died today, then forget it. Tomorrow, we'll..."

The next day, the Faceless Mask wizard stood on the deck, counting the number of people aboard.

After a moment, the wizard shrieked with laughter. "Five fewer. It seems you already have the preliminary ideological awareness needed to become a dark wizard. Jie jie, not bad, not bad. Looks like I won't need to make a move today."

After saying this, the wizard returned to the tent he had built and no longer paid attention to the people.

Solam, Yun Li, Bibilionna, and the boatswain also left one after another. For a time, only two clearly divided camps remained on the ship.

The sailor camp and the wizard apprentice camp!

Although the sailor camp only had a dozen or so people, each of them was strong and sturdy and knew some methods of killing. Three to five ordinary wizard apprentices would not be able to beat even one of them, let alone in a true fight to the death.

On the wizard apprentices' side, there were nearly four hundred people. They held an overwhelming advantage in numbers, but their camp was divided into many small groups, and from the looks of it, they were not very united.

The sailors also sensed the atmosphere of confrontation. They did not directly charge at a small team and start hacking like they had yesterday. Instead, the strongest-looking sailor stepped out and shouted, "What, still haven't prepared five scapegoats?"

"We won't let our companions die. If someone has to die, you'll die first!"

The leading wizard apprentice shouted inflammatory words from within the crowd, but he himself showed no intention of stepping forward.

There really were some foolish wizard apprentices—or perhaps they had been pushed by the people behind them—who charged toward the dozen or so sailors in front, while the people behind, not knowing what was going on, shoved each other forward.

"You're courting death!"

With a roar, the sailor nimbly avoided a wizard apprentice who had rushed up. A fierce look flashed across his face, and with a turn of his hand, he chopped off that wizard apprentice's head.

Gulululu!

The apprentice's head rolled into the crowd, while the corpse charged a few more steps before collapsing.

On the other side, three wizard apprentices likewise rushed out first, only to be hacked to death by the strong, sturdy sailors in almost the blink of an eye. Seeing that four people had already died, the sailor leader could not help aiming his gaze at the person among the wizard apprentices closest to him.

At this moment, the wizard apprentices at the very front had also been frightened into stopping where they stood. After all, no one was stupid enough to throw their life away for nothing.

The wizard apprentices behind them shoved one another, some anxiously asking about the situation ahead, whether those sailors had been killed yet or not.

The one the sailor leader had fixed his eyes on was none other than the helper Bayi had called over after clashing with Yorkris on the first day aboard—Rat.

Rat was being stared down by this sailor leader, who was a full head taller than him, and he was extremely nervous. The axe in his hand trembled nonstop, and he could not help roaring inwardly, Which bastard pushed me?

He looked behind him. No one was willing to keep charging forward, and the humanoid monster Andrew, whom he had once regarded as a backer, had already been killed by a true sea monster. At this moment, no one could help him.

Rat's pair of triangular eyes darted around. Watching the sailor leader continuously walk toward him, watching the blood drip from that long blade, Rat let out a loud cry and, in his desperation, actually came up with an idea. With one swing of his axe, he chopped at a female wizard apprentice behind him.

With a bang, the female wizard apprentice fell to the ground at once, half her head a bloody pulp.

"That makes five! That makes five! We don't need to kill each other anymore!"

He shouted loudly in excitement. The sailor leader had clearly not expected Rat to be so decisive either. After freezing for a moment, he let out a cold laugh and led the dozen or so sailors away.

"Ah! Bastard, I'll kill you!"

Among the wizard apprentices, a male apprentice roared, staring at Rat with blood-red eyes. This male wizard apprentice clearly had some connection to the female apprentice Rat had killed.

Rat was also startled, but that male apprentice who wanted to come over and take revenge was stopped by the many wizard apprentices.

What kind of joke was this?

Right now, every wizard apprentice was a precious resource, because no one wanted to die.

Since they did not want to die themselves, then someone else could only die in their place. Rat and this male wizard apprentice who wanted revenge had nothing to do with them. Logically speaking, it would be best if both of them died.

Unfortunately, enough people had already died today. If one more died, it would simply be a shameful, enormous waste. Thus, everyone "kindly" stopped this male wizard apprentice.

Another long day passed. Green and the other three still stayed together in one room. In this tense situation, no one dared to be alone.

The next day, after the Faceless Mask wizard once again said a few words praising everyone for completing their task, he left.

After the scene was quiet for a moment, without any need for the sailors to act, the wizard apprentices' side fell into chaos on its own. The center of the chaos was, of course, Rat and the male wizard apprentice who had roared about taking revenge yesterday. At this moment, this male wizard apprentice had actually called over a helper.

On the other side, Rat had likewise called over a helper: none other than Bayi, who had clashed with Yorkris on the first day.

The two sides soon began a battle as irreconcilable as water and fire.

Although Rat looked somewhat wretched, in a life-and-death battle, he was actually not the least bit weak. The two sides fought quite fiercely.

However, victory and defeat always had to be decided. A few minutes later, following a scream, Bayi was unexpectedly the first to be struck in the back by the opposing side and suffered a serious injury. Afterward, under the combined attack of the two across from him, he died miserably.

In his despair, Rat unleashed the last of his strength, dragging someone down with him before he died. The duel ended with the victory of that vengeful male wizard.

Pfft!

However, before the male wizard could even feel the joy of revenge or the pain of parting from his friend, a short sword stabbed into his back and emerged from his chest.

In the crowd, the killer vanished in a flash.

Almost at the same time, Yorkris, beside Green, let out a roar. "You're courting death!"

It turned out that in the chaos, someone had actually set his sights on Yorklianna!

No wonder. Yorklianna herself was a girl who looked rather frail, and on top of that, one of her eyes was injured right now, so she could only stay beside Yorkris. Naturally, she had become a target for certain people with designs.

After all, four had already died just now. They were only one short of the five people required for the mission.

The one who wanted to ambush Yorklianna was a man about one meter eighty tall. He looked extremely calm, and after his strike failed, he immediately put away his dagger and prepared to flee into the crowd.

Just then, a huge vine suddenly appeared beneath the male wizard apprentice's feet, then wrapped him up tightly. Amid his terrified, despairing muffled cries, Yorkris took his life with one swing of his axe.

"Bastard!"

Yorkris cursed.

White and red matter splashed all over Yorkris's face. Green hurried over at a jog, glared viciously at the people around them, and pulled Yorkris back to the group.

However, because the five deaths had already been met today, no further accidents happened. It was just that quite a few people looked at Lafi in shock.

Clearly, the influence brought by a wizard apprentice who knew sorcery was enormous. In the future, no one would dare provoke Green's small team lightly.

When the sailor teams saw that someone among these wizard apprentices could actually cast sorcery, they were also greatly shocked, and their gazes toward Lafi carried a grave weight.

Time passed day by day.

Everyone on the sea vessel was hoping the ship would reach its destination quickly, because every morning was a journey through hell for them.

Three classes had formed aboard the ship.

The first class was, of course, the terrifying Faceless Mask wizard, the boatswain, Solam, Yun Li, Bibilionna, and the others. These people were the absolute ruling class, the absolute masters of the ship. Counting heads each day and distributing the limited mushrooms were their only duties.

The second class consisted of a dozen or so sailors and small groups of wizard apprentices similar to Lafi's, who knew sorcery. As the days passed one by one, other wizard apprentices who had mastered "sorcery" finally began to stand out, stunning everyone with a single brilliant feat.

Including Lafi, there were five wizard apprentices who knew sorcery in total.

Because no wizard apprentice dared provoke these five, the other wizard apprentices on the ship secretly called them the Five Great Casters.

The third class was naturally all the remaining wizard apprentices.

Every morning, after the wizard finished counting the number of people, five people had to die in mutual slaughter. Because of this, those sailors mockingly called these wizard apprentices meat pigs, while the slaughter each morning was called pig-butchering.

Thirty days later.

One hundred and fifty wizard apprentices had been thrown into the sea, and the ship no longer seemed so crowded.

Every wizard apprentice who could remain alive on the ship had an astonishing Sha Qi and coldness in their eyes. Smiles had practically become the most extravagant thing on the sea vessel.

In such circumstances, every person was almost like the reincarnation of a ferocious evil ghost, worlds apart from the childish arrogance they had worn when they first boarded the ship.

It was almost a necessary maturation in the transformation from ordinary people into wizard apprentices.

Late that night, Green, Yorkris, and Yorklianna followed Lafi onto the deck. By now, nearly twenty people brought by the other four Great Casters had already gathered there.

The small teams of the Five Great Casters had gathered together, as if they were about to make some major decision.