Repeating his previous movement, Astaroth willed more mana to correlate around his balled-up fist. Upon contact with the wall, the glowing surface rippled again, this time more noticeably.
To verify if the strength of his attack varied the results, Astaroth simply apposed his hand on the wall, before infusing it with mana. This time, the result differed.
Instead of rippling, the wall this time seemed to bend inward almost like it was made of a taut fabric instead of stone.
Putting both hands on the glowing part of the wall, Astaroth pushed harder, infusing more and more mana into his hands, as the wall bent further inward with every ounce of extra mana.
At some point, he was halfway into the wall, with the surface still not giving in to him. Frustrated that his efforts weren't yielding more results, Astaroth gritted his teeth.
"Fine! You want to play hard to get? Then get a taste of this!"
Astaroth breathed in all the surrounding mana, condensing it within his Mana Lobe, until it reached a critical point. Then he sent it through his body, and into his hands, refining it as it went, transforming it into pure Aether.
He had yet to show anyone this technique, since he was still figuring out how to use it. But he had found out a little while ago, not long before the siege, that he could condense his mana into Aether.
But the ratio of mana to Aether was just abysmal. When he refined it, an Aether bar temporarily appeared on his status screen, so he could deduce the ratio from there.
But at a rate of a thousand MP for one Aether point, he wasn't willing to use that in combat just yet. Especially since his meld with Luna allowed him to channel Aether directly from the surrounding air.
This way was more beneficial to him, for now. But what if he could reduce the ratio?
Or if he could get a mana supply large enough that it no longer mattered. Or better yet, although far out of reach for now, what if he ended up being able to store Aether in his body?
How would that affect him? He wondered.
But for now, he figured it wouldn't be wasted, since he was stuck here either way.
When the refined Aether reached his hands, something changed.
The wall, which had previously felt like pushing into a trampoline, suddenly became fluid, sending Astaroth tumbling through it like falling into a lake.
Feeling the surrounding gravity suddenly become jumbled, Astaroth quickly started looking for a surface he could swim through. He hadn't caught his breath before plunging through this, since he hadn't expected it.
And now, he could already feel his lungs burning from lack of air. But, look as he may, he couldn't see any direction that looked like up.
He focused on the surrounding mana, which was so highly saturated that it looked like a wall of white, and could see the particles moving in one direction.
Bursting into action, Astaroth started swimming vigorously in that direction. But he couldn't see any change in scenery, and he was running out of air.
He did something risky hoping to extend his survivability. Focusing on the mana within his body, he forced mana into his lungs before forming a light wind spell inside his own body.
Feeling the rush of air expanding his lungs, Astaroth's body was already reacting positively. But there was too much air being generated.
Astaroth opened his mouth in his panic, letting a bit of the air escape. But he almost swallowed a mouthful of the gelatinous substance he was swimming in when the air suddenly stopped expanding in his lungs.
Nonetheless, he had bought himself at least a minute. And could repeat the feat if needed.
But he still couldn't see where the surface was. It was strange how the viscous material seemed endless, and how hard it was for him to swim through it.
Astaroth tried using Sky Step to propel himself upward, but didn't feel like he was going up at all. And he quickly noticed why.
The air that should have formed under his foot, to use as a stepping stone, had only formed a bubble. And that bubble was now slowly rising next to him.
Or so he thought. But then he noticed something weird.
Air bubbles usually wavered as they climbed to the surface of a liquid. Yet, this air bubble was static as it rose next to him.
He found this incredibly weird. Even though the surrounding substance was thick, it should still follow the laws of physics.
Slicing his hand in the middle of it, he quickly understood why. The bubble, which should have separated into two parts, stayed in one full piece.
This meant the material surrounding it was thick enough to suspend it fully in one place. But then that brought up another issue.
That air fully consisted of mana. So wouldn't that mean the mana in this substance shouldn't be moving at all?
Yet, he could see the mana go up in one direction. It hardly made sense.
Then a dark dawned in his head.
The only other explanation was that it wasn't moving. He was moving down.
The thought of sinking deeper into this transparent sludge sent his mind into overdrive.
'I stepped out of a trap and into another one!'
Astaroth swam desperately in the same direction as the mana. He could only slow his descent, though.
He tried using Propel to push himself higher. Still no progress.
As his mind tried working out a solution, something started appearing in his view under his location. When he focused on it, what he saw drained the blood out of his face.
A few hundred meters below him, a pair of eyes were looking at him. The slit pupil in the middle of them, and their forward-facing position, signalled this was a predator's eyes.
'Can this get any worse?!' he cried internally.
And, as if fate was taking his laments as a challenge, it did.
A mouth suddenly appeared, opening right under the set of eyes. Once it was fully opened, a whirlpool started spinning in front of it.
'Fuck! It's sucking me down faster!' Astaroth panicked, as his body suddenly felt pulled.
'I am not dying here! Not like this!'
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