Aster narrowed his eyes, looking at the mana flow within his view. The mana density varies from above to below, almost as if the massless mana is "heavier than air" for so reason.
"This can only be that, right?" Aster whispered, his lips puckered into a frown. "... So sort of mana-made gas—probably a poison of so sort."
Mana is present in the air, but seeing the difference in density between high and low positions, there was obviously "sothing" that was heavier than the air below. Of course, there's a chance that it wasn't poison, but thinking of the worst possibility made Aster unable to go down.
"..."
Right then, Aster began to think. Can he move through the maze without reaching the ground? The answer... was sothing he had already done earlier.
"Wall run...!"
He settled on a plan the next mont and started to gather mana in his body. Despite his short rest, not all his fatigue was relieved. But, at least, it was able to let him recover about 70% of his lost stamina.
"This much should be enough," he muttered, nodding to himself. "Haste!" And cast his support skill without delay.
With Haste's support, Aster reached an astounding speed. He jumped through the hole, and smashed against the wall, before kicking powerfully, sending himself to the other wall, spinning mid-air as he switched, turning his orientation 180°.
*THUD!* *DASH!*
And while he wasn't losing traction on the wall, he skipped diagonally upward and forward. When he could feel that his body was starting to move away from the wall, he would send a powerful kick, switching his running path over the other wall.
With this thod, he could maintain his altitude above 25 ters, maxing out at 50 ters, while going around the walls.
Since he had no idea which path was the correct one, or had sothing that could tell him the correct path, he could only follow a weak solution—the right-hand thod. Whenever he encountered a split in the road, he would go to the first path to his right. He followed this thod until... He found himself going in circles.
"I knew it wouldn't be so easy..."
Aster sighed, before extending a hand, creating a "marker" using ice in the middle of the path. It was unique in that it was angled to point toward the first right turn, making sure that he wouldn't get confused if he saw it once more.
Since he didn't know which intersection was the start of the loop, he decided to set the one marked as his first branching point. From there, he continued to the second-right point instead and started continuing on his right-hand rule.
Right, Aster was brute-forcing the maze's solution! He would try all paths he could, and leave markers over the areas he already visited. The ice marker in the middle could have up to three pointed edges, markers for seeing them more than once. Aster used that to determine that he found the correct path—the last possible path—adding to his confidence.
But still, Aster was too weak, rely at level 101. With his CON, he couldn't run for over an hour straight without getting tired. Unlike before, when he forced himself due to the danger to his life, there's no need to excessively punish himself.
When he felt that he was "too tired" to continue, he would set up an icy platform about 10 ters tall, and use that as a resting point. Of course, just that much wouldn't cost him a fraction of his life either.
As he rested, he would stare at the ground, checking the situation. As he expected, everything below two ters was covered in that dense poison, but...
"Is it starting to rise?"
He could feel that the earlier height of the dense mana was lower than it was currently, making him feel slight danger. "Does this an this maze would get filled with poison if I take too long to clear it?!" he realized, making himself panic.
He was using a brute-force thod, a thod that guarantees a solution, but would take a "long" ti. For sure, the paths would fill up with poison faster than he could find the exit at his current pace.
"I can't continue like this!" He grumbled. "I need to use my head and think of a solution, or this place will beco my graveyard!"
However, just because he tried to think of a solution doesn't an he'd co up with one so easily. He just kept staring at the poison, watching it flow gently and spread all over the place.
"... wait, a flow?"
With that as the keyword, Aster found a probable solution. "The poison should have a source, and it would surely flow from the source to everywhere..."
And of course, the more "free" the road ahead was, the faster the flow should be.
"And flow stops completely when an area is already saturated, with no exits..."
In short, the direction where the flow is heading for the fastest must lead to so exit! Aster grinned excitedly, not realizing that he was this smart. He wasn't a fan of puzzles, but thanks to the increase in his WIS stat, his mind was more "active" than before. Hence, it wouldn't be a lie to say he got smarter!
After his rest was over, Aster didn't delay.
He identified the major flow of the poison and began to follow it. Of course, he made sure to keep himself clear of the poison gas, maintaining his altitude around 15 ters from the ground at the least.
At every major intersection, where the flow gets confusing, he would use ice markers and point to the path he took, preventing himself from getting lost.
His thod seed to be working quite fine, as he didn't encounter a dead end anymore. Furthermore, he could see that the poison's density was dwindling. He was convinced that he was going in the right direction!
*WHOOSH!*
"...!"
But then, sothing approached Aster's face at blinding speed, making him almost slip from the wall from surprise!
*TING!*
By reflex, he pulled his sword from his Fanny Pack and quickly waved it toward whatever it was. After he felt solid feedback in his hand, and earned a few milliseconds to see the situation clearly, he frowned.
*GURAAA!*
Below, within the poisoned area, small beings holding bows were present. From their size, about as tall as a human is, they weren't goblins, but they sure do look as ugly as them.
*GURURU!*
With the indecipherable growls as a thod of communication, the leader-like one among them waved his hand, ordering a barrage. Arrows flew like rain, not giving Aster space to dodge!
"Fuck...!"
Of course, this situation was bad. He was doing a wall run so that he could stay clear of the poison below. However, the goblin-like things were standing within it, as if it wasn't harmful to them.
'Is it not poison?'
Such a thought entered his mind, but he didn't dare test it. The risk wasn't sothing he could take.
"Crysta, please!"
Although he could multitask, he didn't want to overburden himself. As such, he left control of his defenses through Crysta, who rapidly deployed ice shields to block the arrows heading for him.
With his defenses covered, Aster could focus on his offensive instead. He pointed his sword forward, using it as an aiming tool, and chanted. "Secundi Flarre Spicht! Fla Lance!"
As he finished the chant, a single flaming lance appeared above his sword. After a short delay, hovering in place, the spear then flew straight toward the middle of the group of monsters.
*Gasp!*
But the resulting damage from his casual attack wasn't sothing he predicted.
As soon as the fla lance touched the "poison gas," the fire around it started to expand explosively. In a millisecond, the entire intersection turned red.
*CRACKLE!*
And as if in response to this, Crysta quickly deployed a spherical ice barrier around him. Then, a short delay of stillness, before... Everything turned white.
*BOOOOM!*
In a flash, the entire maze exploded—no, it was more accurate to say that the "gas" caused the explosion. He didn't think that the thing he thought was poison was instead a flammable gas!
His attack of the fla attribute ended up becoming the trigger, destroying "everything" covered by the gas.
Right, everything, even the walls! As for Aster himself...
"Ugh..."
He could only groan lightly, trying to feel his entire body. Thanks to Crysta's last-second shield, he wasn't injured by the explosion. However, he ended up getting blasted right against the ceiling, opening a hole through it that was a couple of ters deep.
With his high vantage point, he could see how the paths cleared up, giving Aster a different path to take.
"But first..."
He was currently at the ceiling, roughly a hundred ters from the ground. Although he wouldn't die falling from that height due to his high CON stat, he would still break almost all the bones in his body.
"... How can I get down?"
He couldn't help but feel faint-hearted. He doesn't have a skill that would allow him to fly, after all. Furthermore, he might be staying in place with how the rugged ice sphere's surface hung tight against the hole, but if it began to lt, then he would begin to fall. Explore more at empire
It took him a full minute before deciding to do the sa thing as when he jumped from his room in the Twister Hotel before—an icy slide spiraling downward.
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