Leveling Up by Seducing Milfs-Chapter 171. Descent Into The Astral Deep

When Thalor blew his whistle, the water around them started to move with purpose. Rick could feel the megalodon’s muscles tense up as it answered its master’s call.

The descent started out slowly, almost gently, as the huge shark turned down and began to sink into the Astral Deep.

At first, the water rose around Rick’s legs, then his waist, and then his chest. As soon as the water reached his neck, the Thalassic Crystal turned on completely.

Breathing became the strangest thing he’d ever felt. His lungs took in water, but instead of drowning, oxygen flooded his body like regular air.

It felt so weird and wrong on so many levels, but his body got used to it in a matter of seconds.

"Holy shit..." Rick said, but the sound came out strange and muffled underwater. "This thing really works like it became part of your body instantly."

Before anyone else could do anything, Liora was already moving. The priestess raised both hands to the sky, and even though she was in the water, her voice was perfectly clear.

"Divine Gods, let us through the sea of corruption... Sanctified Sphere!"

Like a tiny sun going supernova, golden light burst from her hands. The divine energy spread out in a perfect sphere, getting bigger and bigger until it completely covered the megalodon and everyone riding on its back.

Rick thought the barrier had to be at least twenty meters wide, which made a huge bubble of holy power around their whole group.

The barrier itself was odd. Water flowed freely through it, going around their bodies without any trouble, but as soon as it crossed the golden threshold, the quality of the water changed.

Rick could see it happen in real time. The water that was getting close to the barrier looked thick and sticky, with that familiar purple-black murk in it.

When it touched Liora’s divine magic, the corruption burned away, leaving behind clear seawater.

"My goodness... that’s actually brilliant," Thalor said, his ocean-blue eyes wide with real admiration.

"That barrier won’t stop physical attacks, but it does keep the corruption stuff in the water from getting to us."

"We can pay attention to threats from outside instead of those from corruption in the environment."

Liora maintained her calm smile, but Rick sensed the tension in their bond network. "I can’t keep this up forever, though... I’m sorry..."

"I can only sustain this for six hours before I have to stop due to exhaustion. That’s why we need to act quickly."

The megalodon kept going down, getting faster as it went deeper into the ocean. Rick pushed off a little from the creature’s back to see if he could move, and he found out that the Thalassic Crystal’s current negation wasn’t just a marketing gimmick from Zephyra.

He could move through water just like he moved through air, with no trouble at all. It felt like flying, but in every direction at once.

He murmured, "This is crazy," as he executed a small loop in the water before returning to the megalodon’s back.

"I’m really flying underwater."

"I can truly feel the vibe of a real fantasy world...! God! I’m loving this so much!"

They got through the first hundred meters quickly. Even though the corruption storm on the surface was very loud, sunlight still came through from above.

As they went down, the water temperature dropped quickly, going from pleasantly cool to freezing cold in less than a minute. Rick didn’t notice the change at all because the crystal kept the temperature steady, but he could see ice crystals forming on some of the debris that was passing by.

As the megalodon swam by, tiny glowing creatures ran away. Fish with purple-glowing eyes that had been corrupted ran away from Liora’s barrier as if it were burning them.

The tentacles of a school of jellyfish crackled with what looked like purple electricity, and the jellyfish pulsed with sickly light. Corruption had touched everything down here in some way.

Sebastian appeared on the megalodon’s head in a puff of golden smoke. Even though he was underwater, he was somehow perfectly dry.

The chibi butler took out his notepad and quill and floated easily in the water. "Ah yes," Sebastian said in his usual sarcastic way.

"Going down into a dark, corruption ocean to get an empress who doesn’t care about anything to care again."

"Thursday was just like any other day, right? Like what exactly could go wrong?"

"Are you going to stay for the whole trip?" Rick asked.

"Are you seriously asking me that? I’m documenting this disaster for future generations to see."

"Your pain is my entertainment—a little bit of polished trash."

"What a fucking dick..." Rick sighed.

They went past the hundred-meter mark and into what Thalor called the mesopelagic zone. As the sun set, darkness quickly grew stronger. The Thalassic Crystal’s hydro-vision turned on by itself, and all of a sudden, everything glowed with a ghostly blue light.

Rick could see clearly in all directions, but the world looked strange and dreamlike because of the magical enhancement.

At that point, they saw their first real sign of corruption. A huge school of barracuda came out of the darkness ahead.

Each fish was at least two meters long and had teeth that were very sharp. Their scales had purple veins that pulsed like broken blood vessels, and their eyes were solid black holes that didn’t reflect any light.

The barracuda swarm went around the megalodon once, then twice, clearly interested in the glowing barrier. Rick got tense and ready to fight, but the fish didn’t attack.

It seemed like Liora’s Sanctified Sphere pushed them away on a gut level. After the third circle, the school broke up and went into the dark to find easier prey.

Carmilla said, with one hand on the hilt of her sword, "They’re testing us."

"They’re smart enough to see a threat."

"Corruption doesn’t just change bodies," Thalor said, his voice heavy with sadness. "It mutates the minds too."

"Those barracuda used to be simple predators. Now they hunt in coordinated packs with actual strategy."

"I see... it’s going to be a huge problem if there are hundreds of fish trying to attack us all with coordinated packs."

As they went deeper, Thalor looked out into the dark. "Mother used to patrol these depths personally like almost every single day so that there’s no threat coming to the Meridia Citadel."

"She would swim the whole Astral Deep border every week to check on the wards..."

"When I was younger, I would go with her sometimes... and she would tell me about the old wars, the peace she had made with the kingdoms on the surface, and the future she saw for Meridia."

Thalor’s voice faded away into silence. Rick waited, feeling that there was more.

"Now she sends subordinates," Thalor said in a low voice. "For fifty years, she hasn’t left Meridia Citadel... Not even once..."

"She monitors the wards from her throne room using her magic, yet she no longer inspects them in person. She doesn’t patrol or engage with her subjects beyond what is strictly necessary."

Rick felt that familiar knot in his chest. The loneliness and the withdrawal from everything that used to be important.

He knew that feeling very well.

Rick said carefully, "Thalor."

"We’re going to make an effort to help your mother, and while I can’t promise that it will work, I will still do my best!"

"Thank you... Rick Rolland. Your help meant so much to us all."