Astaroth immediately activated Thousand Thoughts, slowing down his perceived time, and giving himself time to think of a way out of this situation.
As everything slowed down around him, Astaroth started thinking of a way to escape this thorny situation. He had already tried using Propel and Sky Steps, both of which did nothing much for him.
He thought of melding with Morpheus, giving himself extra appendages to swim up, but he wasn't sure that would change anything.
But a thought occurred to him. What if he could give himself a boost?
Would the gelatinous liquid stop him or only slow him down? He had only one way of knowing.
But he would need more room to move than with just his Sky Step air bubbles. A mage like Gale would have no issue whipping up a tornado, or a massive air bubble, for him to breathe in.
But he wasn't that good with wind magic. Nonetheless, he had to try.
Since he wasn't good at conjuring massive magics of any element, he would have to make do with small ones in massive quantities.
Since he was still under the effects of Thousand Thoughts, Astaroth put his plan into motion. He melded with Luna, not waiting for the transformation to occur, only for the stats to boost.
Once his agility and intelligence shot up, he pulled out Ad Astra, changing it to spell-slinger mode. With the weapon now affixed to both his hands, he started firing air bullets everywhere around him.
Astaroth positioned his arms so that the firing's recoil would pivot him slightly, allowing him to spin on himself without effort. Before his Thousand Thoughts skill even ended, Astaroth already had fired hundreds of air bullets around himself.
This created a large pocket of air all around him. Which only grew bigger with every bullet fired. In next to no time, his air pocket was a hundred feet across.
He received a notification, but was too busy to look at it now, so he brushed it aside. He was almost inside the vortex created by the giant beast below him, but it no longer bothered him.
Concentrating all his mana under his feet, Astaroth used Sky Step, using both feet to launch himself, before switching to one foot at a time. He was using as much mana as he could to boost his acceleration.
By the time he reached the top of the bubble, he was already generating wind rings around his body, with the speed he was going at. And as he entered the gelatinous substance, he felt the resistance pull on his body.
But he kept using Sky Step, trying to maintain as much momentum as he could. Judging by the speed the particles of mana were passing next to him, he was relieved to see that he was ascending quite fast.
As he looked down, He could see the beast's giant eyes squinting at him. Seeing as it wouldn't get a meal out of the pointy-eared humanoid, it shut its mouth.
Smirking, Astaroth looked back upward. He was starting to see a difference up ahead.
The glow all around him was slowly getting brighter. Whatever was casting light through the gelatinous substance was getting closer, that much he could understand.
He never relented on his Sky Steps, making sure he always kept ascending, until he burst through the surface of whatever he was lodged inside.
Soaring in the sky, Astaroth noticed that the light all around seemed to emanate from the white walls that limited the room he was in. Looking above, he couldn't see the ceiling, but he couldn't see the sky either.
The bright white glow was too blinding to see where it stopped. But down below him, a small white platform, made of what looked like alabaster, was floating in the middle of the transparent gelatinous lake.
Sky Stepping his way there, he landed on the platform. He looked at his notification before he proceeded anywhere else.
Opening his notifications, he smiled like a kid opening a Christmas present.
*Your Ingenious use of Thousand Thoughts, to maximize spell output on wind blade/bullet spell, has produced results. Mastery level 1 attained for Wind Blade. Congratulations, Player!*
Astaroth hurriedly opened his spell list.
Wind Blade (Level 5/5) (Mastery Level 0/5 -> 1/5): You shoot out a blade made of condensed wind, at very high speeds, cutting through anything that stands in its way. Damage: 250% magic damage. MP Cost: 50 MP. Cooldown: 5 seconds -> 4 seconds.
Your ingenious use of thought acceleration has allowed you to find a way to fire many Wind Blades, without cooldown, creating a new spell. New Spell Created: Wind Blade; Cyclone of Blades.
Wind Blade; Cyclone of Blades: Using centrifugal force, you spin with a high velocity on yourself, launching an incredible amount of wind blades out. Channelled time: 5 seconds. Blades sent out: 100. MP Cost: 1000 MP. Cooldown: 5 minutes.
Seeing the new values to the mastery spell, Astaroth was extremely pleased. This was his second spell mastered, and all this was thanks to a simple pointer on how to do it from Morticia.
He took a mental note to thank her later, when he was no longer stuck in a weird cave. But for now, closing his spell list, Astaroth started looking around himself.
He did not know where he was, or if he was even still inside the dungeon controlled by Aces High. The only thing he was certain of was that this place was so chock full of mana, it wouldn't surprise him to find a legendary being or artifact nearby.
He cautiously stepped forward on the small platform he was standing on, making sure with every step that he wouldn't suddenly fall back into the gelatinous lake.
But there wasn't much to explore around him. The platform spanned about ten metres by ten, with three steps leading to a small pedestal at its center.
There seemed to be something on the pedestal, but at the angle Astaroth was from it, he couldn't see it. Walking the few meters that separated him from the first step, and put his foot on it.
Once he was certain nothing would happen, he climbed the other steps. He was now standing in front of the pedestal, with on it, a ring.
The ring looked like it was made of a dark obsidian, with at its top part, a flat surface with a green gem inlaid.
Inspecting it visually, from up close, Astaroth could see etchings on the flat surface, and under the gem. It looked like a six-sided star, with a circle or runes around the star, another at the base of the gem, and a last one, extremely small under the green gem.
Whoever had etched on this ring had done so with extreme talent and attention. But what captivated Astaroth wasn't even the etchings.
From the gem, he could feel a familiar power that was calling to him. The power of souls!
It was calling out to him, like a soft chant or relaxing melody.
His greed got the better of him, and before even inspecting the ring with the system, Astaroth grabbed it in his hand.
It was only when everything around him disappeared, and became pitch black, that he noticed he had fucked up.
'Shit.'
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com