Upon realisation just how enraged the Withered were, I was stunned for a mont. That hadn’t been part of the plan, not that I actually had a plan for such a massive reaction. The biggest reaction I had expected was sothing equivalent to the tis I had tried to use Mind Magic to ss with their psychic connection, but this was bigger by an order of magnitude, with a massive amount of bloodlust added on, for good asure.
“Let’s run,” Lia suggested, looking down at our approaching foes. They hadn’t noticed us yet, but the sheer number of gathered Hunters, and the additional number that was moving towards us, ant that they would soon catch us.
At least if they managed to flush us out.
“No, quiet,” I shook my head, pushing the four of us deeper into the shadows. We were above the Hunters, leaving them only a narrow staircase as primary access. Sure, they might be able to climb the facade of the building but that would require extra effort. Given that there were hundreds of buildings it was unlikely that they’d pick this one. Our best bet was to stay hidden and wait for them to scatter as they searched or until their bloodlust abated sowhat, giving us more air to breathe. But if they noticed us now, it would be very much like a deer getting caught while surrounded by a pack of wolves. They’d almost certainly hunt us down.
The next ten minutes were spent in quiet, rather fearful, silence, my mind completely focused on the single, simple task of keeping us all hidden. No words were spoken, I didn’t even bother paying attention to the Withered below, I rely focused on the magic I circulated around us, the inner layer of wind, keeping all scents in, muffling the faint sounds of our bodily functions, and the outer layer of darkness, hiding us from sight and concealing us from every other sense.
The inner layer was borne from a previous experint of mine, about the limits of my magical concealnt. Naly, how far did it reach? I had already known that it would muffle my footsteps, but what about my tracks? Would it hide a footprint of mine, or worse, would it conceal the signs of my passing if I walked through the snow? What about other traces I left behind, like the tiny particles that constituted my scent?
It turned out that the Concealnt was focused on the area around , muffling anything within it. That ant sound wouldn’t easily travel through it but if I dropped sothing, it would simply remain behind and leave the area. Or it could get caught by the wind and get carried out of the area, aning my scent wasn’t concealed, at least not really. But the thin shell of Wind I had conjured was quite useful, keeping the tiny particles shedding from my body contained, while also adding another muffling effect to the sounds we made. It was quite useful.
Though, the way I had used the Concealnt concept the night before, applying it in reverse to conceal the world from the captured Withered was making wonder. What else could I conceal that way? Could I, theoretically, conceal my physical presence, making sothing akin to a wraith or ghost, literally untouchable? Could I conceal myself from gravity, allowing to float? There were quite a few rather fascinating areas of inquiry to explore but at a later date. Especially as it not only applied to Concealnt, but to every rune, if I was willing to push things and was willing to make my spells less efficient.
But maybe that was the crux of the matter. If the more specific runes rely made the related magic less taxing, wouldn’t that an that I could, theoretically, achieve any effect with just the foundational rune of an elent and a lot of Astral Power? Or maybe Astral Power and my will?
A realisation washed over , almost making fumble the concealnt spell I was still maintaining. What if it wasn’t so much my will that counted, but the related skill? On Mundus, there had been instances where I had conjured up Ice with nothing but my Ice Magic and a bit of Astral Power, no need to invoke the rune of Ice. The only downside had been that I needed a little more Astral Power, just as I now postulated for the less-related aspects of an elent.
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If I took that idea and followed it to the logical conclusion, it would an that the only thing truly needed for magic was Astral Power and the will to change the world. To alter it according to your imagination and Mind.
Runes, or even just the basic Magic skills, might provide nothing more but a structure for the mind to apply itself, to bring the Astral Power to bear in the attempt to alter the world. Making the attempt more efficient, thus lowering the amount of Astral Power needed.
It was a truly fascinating idea, leaving with an incredible amount of things I wanted to try out.
“We should get going now,” Lia quietly prodded , drawing from my racing thoughts about the fundantals of magic. Maybe I should look for a better ti to enter my magical reveries, not while we were hiding from hundred-odd lion-sized monsters that were out for our blood. But then, it actually did trigger my Titanic Ambition, so maybe it wasn’t so bad. Swings and roundabouts and all that.
Looking down into the streets, I realised that Lia was right in this case. While my focus had been split between thinking about those fascinating implications for my magic and keeping us hidden, the Withered down in the streets had been hunting for us, slowly spreading out all area. Now, there were only a few remaining down there, giving us a window of opportunity to get going.
After a nod to my companions, we moved to our originally planned escape route. Given that Silva needed to be near so I could keep her concealed, while Lia could briefly work the concealnt by herself, I had to climb onto Silva’s back, riding her like so sort of canine pony just like I had occasionally mounted Ylva while we were travelling on Mundus. Just like it had been back then, it was a strange experience, though luckily, Silva’s dense, sowhat poofy fur was far more comfortable than Ylva’s narrow back.
With my Cloak of Shadows spread out and draped across Silva to the best of my ability, she leapt off the roof, sailing through the air for a mont, before landing on the other side with a painful jolt. Sure, Silva did her best to absorb the impact of our landing and her high physical attributes helped with that, but she was no mount and I was served a painful reminder of that.
But we were off the roof and could keep going, staying hidden as we moved from one rooftop to the next. The further we got, the more I realised just how extre the reaction of the Withered had been and the more often I thanked the Astral that there were no flying Withered. Down in the streets, we’d have been caught for sure, not only were there dozens of Withered Hunters, but I also noticed similar numbers of Withered Skulkers, hiding on ledges and in windows. They were looking for us and they wanted to kill us, badly.
Sadly, we couldn’t make it to the edge of Racoon City by staying on the rooftops. Eventually, we had to return to the ground and given the amount of Withered still in the area, it was nearly guaranteed that we’d get noticed. For a mont, I considered Shadow Stepping sowhere else but without being in a state of Titanic Ambition it would wipe out my Astral Power, leaving vulnerable.
Before I could decide how we would proceed, Alex pulled out one of the ubiquitous cans they used for their more interesting concoctions and held it out to so I could light the fuse. I had no idea how they had managed to make one but by now I refused to be surprised at Alex’s inventiveness. They were incredibly clever, especially when it ca to alchemically, or chemically, induced mayhem. Projectile prepared, Alex put it on their slingshot and launched it into the air, away from us.
The mont the can was in the air, Alex started to make urgent signs, telling us to move down the stairs and into the streets.
We hadn’t quite managed to down there when a rather sizable bang echoed through the streets and I could see light reflected off a few nearby windows, making wonder just how bright whatever Alex had cooked up was.
But whatever the case, the loud noise and bright light created a deep shadow for us to hide in, as we moved past the many Withered that had been drawn to the explosion. They didn’t even glance in our direction, allowing us to flee unhindered.
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