Warlock of War: My Ares System

"But I won't last much longer… I have to escape… I have to get out of this body of water," I muttered, looking up. Darkness. Straight darkness. It was abysmally demoralizing yet I had no choice but to suck it up and lay on the grass patch. 

A day passed. Two days passed. Three days passed. Slowly, I was gathering my stamina. I needed just enough to be able to spread my senses thin, allowing me to form an almost string-like tool made of my own skills that can hopefully reach the surface. 

On the tenth day, I sat in the middle of the grass patch and closed my eyes. My body almost instinctively went into a meditative state and began to circulate mana, but just before that could happen I snapped myself out of it. I then gripped my hands into two tight fists, balled them up, and set them easy in my lap. 

In and out, in and out, in and out, was the proper circulation. I honed my senses to the max. I made sure I could feel each individual water molecule slide against my skin, moistening my hair, and wetting my nails. It was an almost surreal feeling that only the most skilled of individuals would be able to comprehend. 

With another series of deep breaths, I compressed my senses into a tight ball, holding it deep inside my chest. At that point, I couldn't feel anything. If something snuck up on me, I was bound to be killed yet thankfully it seems nothing was down here. And after rolling out that ball of senses that I had condensed, I targeted it upwards until I found it. The surface. 

It was tight and pressurized like a film was preventing me from puncturing the surface of the water. Yet, with my determination, I pressed forward and punctured the surface, making sure to condense the tip which was instantly assaulted by a thick amount of mana. 

"Huff huff Huff huff Huff huff Huff huff Huff huff Huff huff Huff huff… it… it hurts…" I muttered, grabbing my chest as the senses I had expanded out instantly whipped back into my body, instinctively spreading amongst my flesh and skin. "There's no fucking way I'll survive. Even just swimming up is impossible… I'm fucked…" 

I attempted to rack my brain over and over again, trying to find a way out of this place, but the only thing that came to mind was giving up. If I wanted to get out and save my sanity I would need to discard my pride and become a slave to that creepy fucking demon lord… which was the last thing I wanted to do, yet I was already on my last wits. I had no choice but to admit defeat. 

"Hey. I know you're watching me. I'll help you, just get me out of here," I muttered into the darkness, my stamina nearly draining to zero, causing me to drop to my side. "Beezlebub… did you hear me?" 

"Yes, I heard you," A black figure appeared in the void, shrouded by the surrounding darkness. 

"Then get me the hell out of here." 

The figure floated towards me, his white hands stretching out to cup my cheeks. That pale face of his with those two swirling whirlpools of darkness one could hardly call eyes approached me, nearly touching his nose to mine. 

"No," He smiled, and just as I was about to rip my hands through his throat, he disappeared once more. 

"Fuck… fuck… fuck… get me out… get me out…" I muttered, the dark energy around me seeing my moment of weakness. It surrounded me and began to swirl at the very surface of my skin, seemingly stalking for the right time to penetrate my body. 

Continuously I looked over my status, trying to find a skill that could help me, but unlike Cy, I didn't have any cheat skills that allowed me to teleport. I didn't even have a way to travel up quickly like Findir who had [Flight]. 

"I seriously need to evolve," I grit my teeth. 

'Evolve? I can help you with that.'

"Huh? Who said that?" 

[You have been blessed by the Ancient Lord of The Sky]

[The Ancient Lord of The Earth stares in confusion]

[The Ancient Lord of The Ocean cackles with amusement]

'To the west, you shall find me. If you find me I shall teach you. That destiny of yours intrigues me…. I would like to help you with that, but of course, you must find a way,' The voice that echoed through my mind began to trail off instantly, dispersing through the outer folds of my brain. 

The voice was very deep and held absolutely no malice or deception meaning it couldn't be Beelzebub. Well, it could be some kind of grand scheme of his, but everything just seemed too far apart from each other that I could only wonder what he would gain from this. Didn't he want me to lose my mind down here? In addition, there were the panels that followed after, reinforcing the idea that this wasn't just some grand scheme made by that asshole. 

Although it was a harsh request given by some unknown being, I could tell that being was strong. I could instantly tell that if I followed this voice, an unsurmountable amount of power could be granted to me. And hopefully, with a good teacher, a chance to evolve could follow right after. 

"This is a good opportunity… I have to use this-" I was instantly cut off by a chill getting sent down my spine. It grasped each section of my spinal cord and cupped it with an icy grip, sending goosebumps to erupt through my moistened skin. 

An overwhelming sense of dread filled my body and ravaged my mana veins. The fluid that kept me alive began to boil within my body, yet there was no pain, just fear. And as I slowly rose my head upwards, staring off into the abyss, the appearance of two dark red eyes as large as mountains looked at me. 

[The Lord of The Ocean is intrigued by your presence]