How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 62: Sky Sword Castle (7)

A sword swung at full strength—shattered in a single hit, aura and all.

To a martial artist, a weapon was more than just a tool—it was a part of their soul. This was pure humiliation.

She raised her head to look at Karl.

He, too, had withdrawn his magic and was looking at her with a detached expression. That cut her pride even deeper.

"From the look on your face, I guess you’re pretty surprised."

"......"

"Like I said—what, you really thought you’d never lose? No matter how talented you are, the world’s a whole lot bigger than your smug little ego. If you take this loss to heart, you’ll train more—"

Karl’s taunt, spoken to fulfill Bashon’s request, came to an abrupt stop.

Because the emptiness in Akion’s aura was suddenly replaced with a dangerous intensity.

Crack!

"It’s not... over yet."

Dark red aura surged down the hilt in her hand.

In an instant, it solidified and sharpened into the shape of a blade—replacing the one that had broken.

A sword formed entirely out of pure aura.

Karl’s eyes widened slightly.

Just like the way she had launched aura blades earlier—she was showing techniques far beyond what her level should allow.

"You sure you can maintain that for long?"

Akion didn’t answer. She launched forward.

Her form blurred—reappearing right in front of Karl.

But she had to retreat immediately, as razor-sharp stone pillars suddenly erupted from the ground beneath her feet.

Crackle!!

She tried to close in again, but this time, arcs of lightning surged wildly around her.

Even just brushing past the strands sent tingling pain through her body.

The intensity was nothing like what Remic had used. It was sinister.

Charging in carelessly with aura would be suicide. She knew that.

This wasn’t something you could just endure and push through.

'Goddamn it...!!'

Gritting her teeth, Akion slashed her sword.

An arc-shaped wave of aura sliced through the air toward Karl.

BOOM!!

But it slammed uselessly against a magical shield.

She’d have to land a hit up close. Long-range attacks weren’t going to cut it.

Realizing that, Akion focused everything on closing the distance. She exploded her leg strength with aura.

But it was useless.

It was as if Karl could read her every move—each time she twisted direction, the lightning was already there waiting, a split-second ahead.

She couldn’t get anywhere near him.

All she could do was desperately dodge and defend against the barrage of spells.

To not even be able to trade a single proper blow—just dodging, scrambling?

This kind of helplessness... Akion had never experienced it before.

She had always been the one overwhelming others. That made this reality all the harder to accept.

Meanwhile, the senior warriors of Sky Sword Castle could only watch with awe.

"I can’t believe it. That boy is... what on earth is he?"

One of them murmured under their breath.

Even the castle's officers knew the true intent behind Bashon’s friendly duel.

But none of them had expected this.

They all knew Akion’s monstrous talent better than anyone.

Her genius was beyond conventional understanding.

Even if it was Altius, they couldn’t imagine anyone capable of standing toe-to-toe with her.

But this?

What they were seeing was hard to believe even with their own eyes. That young mage from Altius was facing Akion effortlessly.

He hadn’t moved a single step from his original spot—he was overwhelming her with lightning magic alone.

Unless there was an enormous gap between them, this would’ve been impossible.

"Mmh."

Only Bashon was watching with a satisfied smile, stroking his chin.

'He’s doing even better than I expected.'

Karl’s strength was beyond what Bashon had predicted.

His rapid-fire spellcasting clearly wasn’t something a mere 5-circle mage should be capable of.

But Bashon didn’t dwell on it.

Geniuses, like his daughter Akion, were meant to defy all logic and expectations.

"......"

Meanwhile, the young martial artists who had pinned all their hopes on Akion looked like they’d lost their souls.

The duel was too fast for them to follow clearly—but they understood the general picture.

Which side was winning. And which was losing.

'...She’s losing? Akion?'

That wasn’t supposed to happen. Not within the bounds of their reality.

Every gaze locked on Karl, who continued to cast spell after spell with a blank expression.

"......"

Remic and Sharon also stared at Karl without blinking, absorbing every movement, every spell.

Memorizing how he was handling Akion—how he was weaving magic against a martial prodigy.

BOOM!

Akion was struck by another shockwave and tumbled across the arena floor.

Karl paused, waiting patiently for her to get back up.

He could’ve ended it long ago.

But dragging it out like this was part of fulfilling Bashon’s request.

If he finished it too quickly, she wouldn’t feel the difference in class.

'Still... I think this should be enough.'

Karl looked down at Akion as she staggered to her feet and made up his mind to end it here.

She met his gaze with vacant eyes—and spoke.

"You... this wasn’t even your full strength, was it?"

Karl hadn’t moved from his starting position the entire duel.

Only a fool wouldn’t have realized.

That was what made the humiliation she felt so unbearable.

Her first attack—her strongest swing—had been utterly crushed. From then on, she’d understood the gap between them.

She just hadn’t wanted to admit it, which is why she kept forcing herself to continue.

Karl raised one corner of his mouth.

"You didn’t draw your sword against the first two duels either, did you? Call it a fair trade. If you’re unhappy, then you should’ve made me want to move."

"......"

Realizing she was getting her own arrogance thrown right °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° back at her, Akion began trembling.

Clang.

Then, as if everything had become meaningless, she dropped her hilt onto the floor.

The appointed judge glanced at her standing motionless and let out a deep sigh before announcing:

"Then, the final winner of the friendly duel is..."

And so, the friendly duel between Sky Sword Castle and Altius came to an end.

* * *

As promised, Altius was granted access to the distribution route for the mana stone mine.

Karl and Bashon sat down to finalize the details, and oddly enough, even though Altius had technically won, Bashon was in unusually good spirits—which allowed Karl to negotiate a few additional perks.

After spending a few more days at Sky Sword Castle, they planned to descend the mountain range.

Once everything had been squared away, Karl was finally able to speak to Bashon alone again.

"I’m truly grateful to you."

Bashon spoke with a broad grin.

Unlike when they’d first met, there was no longer any trace of stress on his face.

The gratitude felt strange, and Karl gave an awkward nod.

"If you’re satisfied, that’s good to hear. Though I’m not sure I really did that much..."

"You certainly did. Do you know what I was told this morning? She was out meditating at the training ground before dawn. Haha! That girl used to barely function before noon, you know."

Bashon, clearly delighted, began to tell more stories.

Karl, of course, had absolutely no interest—so he listened with one ear and let the rest drift away.

"So... the item you promised me?"

At the right moment, Karl brought up the real reason he’d come.

Bashon, realizing he’d gone off-track, nodded and stood.

"Of course. Let me hand it over right now. Follow me."

He led Karl out of the room, down the halls and stairs, and into the underground vault of the castle tower.

They entered one of the many rooms down there—clearly used as a storage space. The room was full of what looked like old junk and relics.

Karl followed behind, glancing around curiously.

"Let’s see... I think I left it somewhere here..."

Bashon eventually found an old rusted box in the very back and began rummaging around.

He was looking for a key.

After digging into a nearby ceramic jar, he pulled one out and opened the box.

Clack.

Inside was a pile of random odds and ends.

"These are relics we found while exploring the ruins in the Heavenly Wolf Mountains. We took out the important stuff and threw the rest in here. The stone you’re looking for should be... here it is."

He pulled something from the bottom of the box.

A stone that emitted a faint, bluish glow.

A Fragment of Dimension.

Karl swallowed as he took it.

And in his head, it’d been a while—but a system message popped up.

[You have found a Fragment of Dimension. (2/4)]

[Currently inactive.]

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

"Well? Is that the item you were looking for?"

"Yes, that’s the one. Thank you for handing it over so willingly."

That makes two down.

Karl examined the fragment carefully, then tucked it away inside his coat.

He’d move it into his inventory later when he was alone.

"Ah, right. There was this too."

Just then, Bashon pulled something else from the box.

A small slip of paper.

"When we found that stone, there were some strange characters drawn on the wall beside it. I copied them down. Thought maybe it was some kind of ancient language."

"Ah, I see..."

Karl wasn’t particularly interested now that he’d gotten what he came for.

He glanced at the note absentmindedly—and then his eyes flew wide open.

"......!!"

Without thinking, he snatched the slip out of Bashon’s hand.

Bashon blinked in confusion.

"...What are you doing all of a sudden?"

Karl didn’t answer.

No—he couldn’t.

Because the writing on the note wasn’t some ancient language.

It was Korean.