"This is bad," Ophelia said to Crystal. "Even if the apprentices mastered the fireball in a short period of time, they would be no match for these beasts. The mages must be crazy, oh my god, we're gonna die here, no, no, that doesn't make sense, this is a test, right? Oh my god, then why did they give us the runes, my god..."
Crystal steeled herself and comforted Ophelia while focusing on the fireball rune, attempting to learn it.
Adam stopped and replied, "There are two possibilities really- One: the monsters will leave eventually; two: not all monsters can use magic."
Ophelia quickly took Crystal to the centre of the deck, discovering that William had already started to organise people to build a bunker. Having shelter was more comforting.
"Get out of the way betrayer," an apprentice snarled while carrying a large box.
In the face of life and death, Ophelia's face turned dark. There were more than enough boxes to go around.
Bang!
With a swift kick, Ophelia kicked the apprentice to the side, and grabbed the box to pile items inside, but found that supplies on the ship were quickly fading.
"Hey Crystal, help me out..."
"Quiet! I'm about to succeed!" Crystal shouted.
Ophelia pursed her lips and looked at Adam pleadingly.
"Those supplies won't be useful. You're a knight, so you have enough skill to avoid the attacks. Hiding behind cover just makes you an easier target." Adam said simply.
For ordinary people, they would need to copy the fireball runes again and again, but Adam didn't need to. He could perform multiple operations at the same time, coupled with his extraordinary mental strength, he can copy runes and use new ones immediately after the first one is exhausted.
However, it wasn't infinite. Based on his calculations and his mana recovery, he can probably maintain this for twelve fireballs in a row.
"Then what should I do? I can't use these spells, I'm useless!" Ophelia felt powerless. She doubted the Black Mage. He had highlighted that a refiner had advantages in the apprenticeship stage, but it was a burden to her now.
"If your soul cannot carry magic power, that doesn't mean your body can't!" Adam said with urgency. "Direct magic power to your body and you will succeed!"
Meanwhile the mages enjoyed luxurious food and sipped wine, "So how many of these little guys do you think will survive?"
Mage Robert cut his steak into bite-sized pieces to eat, "I don't know. Depends on their wisdom."
The Black Mage and Mage Jerome didn't eat, and looked outside the window. Mage Jerome said, "There aren't that many beasts this time. Did we use too little bait?"
"Well, we did just lose a big battle at the Academy. We need to minimise the losses," the Black Mage replied.
All the mages were apathetic to the apprentices' wellbeing. The world of mages was vastly different from the world of mere mortals -- knowledge and power could help them transcend the clutches of life and death. Mere mortals are nothing but seeds for mages to plant for the next generation of mages.
But there were a lot of seeds. Human life meant nothing to them. If these apprentices die, they have another batch to go through.
"Duke Alfred is too foolish. Rallying that many ordinary people is meaningless in front of magic. Perhaps he thought that his little magical trinkets would save him?" Mage Erin said indifferently.
The Black Mage laughed, "They're just like us. Didn't we join the organisation at that time? What was the name of our leader back then? It's been too long."
Mage Robert finished his steak, "Look at those children," pointing towards Adam, Ophelia, and Crystal.
"Worlaston, the super-dimensional archmage," the other three suddenly remembered their former leader. He had already transcended humanity.
The Black Mage waved his hand gently, "The battle is about to begin, let us toast for the good luck for our apprentices!"
Meanwhile on the deck.
The monsters in the sea stirred the water, forming a wall more than ten metres high. Some of the monsters surfed the walls of water, shooting down to devour any unlucky apprentices.
"Help!"
The screams of the apprentices who witnessed their friends' corpses being flung in the air and eaten alive, rang across the deck. The beasts rushed towards the deck, destroying everything in the way.
Destroy.
"Help me! Please! I don't want to die!" A male apprentice latched on to his companion's feet as he was being dragged off the deck.
"Get off of me!" his companion shoved him away. The male apprentice disappeared off the deck into the beast's clutches.
Another wave surged onto the ship and a magical beast flew into the air, conjuring a giant ice cube and slamming it into the deck.
The large cube of ice crushed several apprentices into pink mush and shattered instantly thanks to the special material of the boat.
Disaster.
A few apprentices were unable to shield themselves from the icicles and their bodies were sliced in half. Their corpses, frozen stiff, were devoured immediately by the hungry beasts. The feeble bunker they had built fell instantly. Everyone scrambled towards safety.
Fortunately, there weren't that many magical beasts, and it seems like they couldn't continually cast the magic.
William kicked an approaching monster aside and shouted, "The ordinary monsters aren't that strong! The real threat is the magical beasts, kill it!"
Hearing him, the apprentices who didn't have any magic items on them hid themselves, while those equipped with them were gloomy. This was life and death, and nobody wanted to sacrifice themselves.
The magical beasts ran rampant on the deck, devouring any apprentice that came before them. The more apprentices it ate, the faster they could cast their magic.
Another wave shot up, and Adam saw that it was the giant fish who shot out the arrow, its mouth bloodied with dense teeth lined up against it. It leapt on the deck, and flew straight towards Adam.
It's a miracle that those fish were able to move so freely on the deck.
This fish had vengeance coursing through its blood.
William shouted, "Get out of the way! Don't block the fish! Its not our business!" Randy hesitated, though, wondering if he should stop the beast.
But William thought that it was a great opportunity. The monsters were killing its own kind too, as they were fighting for food. Since Adam refused to join his side, then he didn't care about his state of being either.
Ophelia's face turned pale, she saw that Adam still had that expressionless face; Crystal was still studying the runes intently. Ophelia gritted her teeth, and rushed forward towards the big fish without hesitation.
She didn't know if she could stop this fish, but she didn't want to feel useless anymore. She put life and death behind her and rushed forward.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Three explosions sounded one after another, and Ophelia was knocked aside by a magical force. The big fish was hit by two fireballs head on, cooked to a barbecue.
"I did it! I can cast magic!" Crystal shouted.