1697 Skill-queuing
Gorgoth, surrounded by an aura of searing flames, silently roared with [Skill: Infernal Roar], attempting to overwhelm Eren.
His mouth was open wide and there were vigorous expressions on his face. It was just that no sound came from his mouth. It was as if the Existential Concept of sound itself had been affected by Eren's [Skill: Sound Devour].
Of course, the loss of sound and sight could not deter a Dreamweaver like Gorgoth. His Path to Power as a Dreamweaver had also allowed him to blur the lines between what was real and daydream to some extent.
His Path as a Dreamweaver allowed him easy access to one of the most sought-after and reliable powers in Labh Salem– Skill-queuing!
***
Skill-queuing was a lot like Spell-stacking in that it allowed the casters to cast multiple forms of evocation at the same time by expending mana at a higher rate. However, unlike spell-stacking, it did not matter which Skills were used in Skill-queuing. One could use Skill-queuing with Skills that used completely different forms of elemental mana or Elemental Attainments from each other.
Plus, it was easier for one to launch Skill-queuing if one decided to queue Skills belonging to a particular Skill Tree. The effects generated by such a Skill-queuing would be greater than the summation of its parts.
Of course, if the Skills belonging to a particular Skill Tree were also related to one particular element as well then one would achieve a synergetic effect while casting Skill-queuing. It allowed the casters to go beyond their limits and unleash something that challenged the norms set by the Mesh.
This was provided the Mesh accepted the Skill-queuing arranged by the casters trying to achieve this mythical synergistic effect, which was a rare instance in Labh Salem. In most cases, some special conditions needed to be fulfilled for the Mesh to validate an extraordinary form of Skill-queuing.
Of course, the conditions were set by the Mesh. The level of difficulty in fulfilling the conditions would increase exponentially as one tried to unlock higher forms of Skill-queuing for themselves.
The existence of the Mesh had made it easier for the regular Practitioners of the Path to achieve similar effects to spell-stacking without burdening their Centre of Power.
The easy access to the regular folks didn't mean that Skill-queuing was always easy. The difficulty of Skill-queuing increased exponentially as more Skills were added to a single queue. One could say that spell-casting was tough for regular folks.
However, the difficulty of spell-stacking didn't increase much if the caster decided to add more spells into a singular stack. As such, a wide variety of spells could be stacked together without practically no repercussions whatsoever.
This was not the case with Skill-queuing. It was easier to achieve Skill-queuing with the help of the Mesh but things would get more difficult for the caster as they kept on adding more Skills into a queue.
The immediate repercussion of casting the Skill-queuing was the fact one would burn through their accumulated Menaka's Runes. The cost one would have to pay for such Skill-queuing would rise exponentially as they kept on adding more Skills into the queue.
There were other repercussions of using Skill-queuing as well. For example, one would attract a debuff on themselves in some form if the Mesh was overused past a certain extent due to the abusing Skill-queuing.
Of course, these repercussions existed because the Skill queue put a strain on the Mesh. It overloaded the Mesh and made it unstable for the caster's own use. So the repercussions were the Mesh's way of trying to set things in their rightful place.
In the worst case scenario, misuse of the Skill-queuing one would be temporarily kicked off from using the Mesh, preventing them from casting Skills altogether. In this case, the user would not be able to use any of their Skills until their connection with the Mesh was re-established.
One could also face Skill-related debuffs or injure their Centre of Power while using the Skill-queuing if they decided to skip on spending Menaka's Runes. Plus, the option to burn Menaka's Runes to use Skill-queuing itself had a lot of limitations based on an individual and their real-time situations.
The instance of Skill-queuing through the Mesh was a lot easier to use than spell-stacking at the initial level. However, as the stakes increased, spell-stacking proved to be more manageable and affordable to use than its counterpart.
***
Gorgoth deployed his arsenal of Skills one after the other. He used two defensive-type Skills and three offensive-type Skills at the same time, which highlighted his Skill-queuing capabilities.
The surroundings of the den became a huge mess when Gorgoth unleashed his Skills. They also ended up damaging the bodies of his deceased allies. Only Lilithra managed to get away from him in time as she moved in the dark with pure instincts alone.
Due to Gorgoth's peculiar Skills as a Dreamweaver, the ground beneath his feet changed its properties and started acting like a quicksand. The air in the surroundings started to adopt rubber-like properties, compressing and stretching in a manner that was unthinkable for a regular mortal.
The onyx flames he generated around him started making everything they touched to change their properties as well. His defensive-type Skills also made use of his Path to Power as a Dreamweaver.
His Skills had basically allowed him to turn his surroundings into someone's nightmare. The most dreadful thing about his Skills was the fact that they couldn't be countered using regular elemental Skills.
Of course, the shadow element was not a regular element to begin with. As such, the assassin that appeared inside the den was a bad match for Gorgoth.
Undeterred, Eren retaliated with [Skill: Flame Devour], extinguishing the demonic flames and cloaking himself in darkness. Gorgoth, blinded by the sudden obscurity, swung his flaming sword wildly.
Eren, using [Skill: Phantom Shadow Blades], summoned ethereal blades from the shadows, countering Gorgoth's onslaught. Closing in, Eren executed [Skill: Shadow Evisceration], a precise strike that extinguished the fiery essence within Gorgoth.
All of Gorgoth's efforts into strategically casting his most powerful Skills had been turned wasteful because of Eren's way of dealing with his powers. It was as if he already knew what Gorgoth could or could not do.
