Laying my eyes on the hounds for the first time was not a pleasant experience. After about twenty minutes of dodging them, I had become quite accustomed to their chittering and used the noise to stay away from them, but now, there was no way to circumvent this one and I found myself face-to-face with it. Given that I only had the psychic chittering to go by, I had assumed that the hounds hunting me were Withered Skulkers or maybe green-eyed Undead, but that assumption was obviously wrong. The creature I was facing was something else entirely. The only commonality between these things and the foes I had faced before was that they, too, had their eyes lit up by an eerie green glow.

But where the Undead were, mostly, still shaped like a human, though one that had been on incredibly hard times, and the racoons retained their physique, these things most certainly did not. Or maybe they did, and I was looking at a panther that managed to escape from the zoo. The feline was almost the size of Silva, almost a metre at the shoulder, though slender where Silva was bulky. But just that didn’t mean I wasn’t looking at a formidable foe that prowled through the night, making strange sounds between the meowing of a house cat and the chuffing of something bigger.

The feline I had noticed was moving in my direction, not with purpose as if it had noticed me, but simply moving along a path that would bring it far too close to my position. Glancing around, I realised that there were no paths open to me, not unless I wanted to break open a window in the building behind me and leap up.

Shifting deeper into the shadows, I focused on hiding. No movement to draw the eye, no sound to catch their attention, and even the air around me stopped moving, containing my scent. leaving nothing to give away that I was here, making me nothing but a deep shadow in the night.

The feline kept moving and I decided to take a risk. Knowing that it had worked before and hoping it would work again, I activated Observe, focusing on the concealment Runes still active on my body, hiding the ability to gather information. Scowling, I looked at the blue box that told me I was facing a Withered Hunter, level twenty-five. The name made a connection between them and the racoons obvious, confirming my previous assumption that the green glowing eyes symbolised some sort of connection. On the other hand, the level was somewhat worrying, not for me, I had no doubt that I could kill a creature over ten levels below me, but worrying for others. Most people would be hard-pressed to deal with such a beast on their own, and with the amount of psychic noise I could hear, I highly doubted that there was only one.

But on a positive note, I had a feeling I now had a grind spot for my group, I only needed to find a way how to grind these Withered Hunters without getting us all swarmed and killed in the process. With their bestial traits, using ranged attacks sounded like an excellent idea, just like hunters had killed physically superior prey since time immemorial. No need to get into range of a bear’s claws, if you can simply throw stones at the beast until it falls over, running away as you do.

Though, the advantage humans used to have in that regard was that of opposable thumbs, the ability to easily craft tools and use them. Sure, some animals had started to make use of simple tools before the change hit and might have become a tool using species if humans hadn’t taken up that niche and dominated it. However, tools weren’t the only way to project force any longer, magic could easily fill that niche and I had no idea what these Withered could do, other than psychically chitter and communicate across long distances. If they had some sort of offensive magic, or a psychic equivalent however that worked, trying to hunt them as if they were just beasts could backfire spectacularly. And fatally.

More testing was required before I would dare to go after them openly, testing to ascertain their abilities and, if possible prepare a few contingencies if things didn’t work out as planned.

The Withered Hunter had almost bypassed the shadows I was hiding in, only to freeze, paw still raised in the middle of a step. Unsure of what was going on, I froze, too, trying to become one with the shadows I had wrapped around me. Maybe it was a bit of panic, maybe it was the need to truly hide, but a familiar sensation washed over me, and I could feel the eerie presence of the endless shadow swallow me.

The shadow was everywhere and nowhere, infinite and empty, trying to stretch me to fill it in its entirety. It would tear me apart and render me into nothing but a faint trace, spread out across eternity, lost in space and time. Focusing my mind, I sought to understand and immediately, I felt the pressure around me lessen as my Titanic Ambition strengthened me. The greater power gave me room to breathe and allowed me to consider my next step. And there was really only one step I could take. Pulling my magic tightly around me, I took that single step, focusing on the shadows that had to be above me, on the roof across the street.

I didn’t want to risk stepping out where I had started, not with the creature that close and I couldn’t stay in the shadows, my magic would quickly get drained away and I would be lost within them.

Panting, I returned to reality, a good chunk of my Astral Power gone but I wasn’t where I had started. A wide smile spread across my face as I controlled my breathing, I had managed to travel through the shadows once again. It wasn’t easy, not yet, but a quick glance at my log told me that my move had been quite successful. Darkness Magic had gained a whopping two points, jumping up to twenty-nine and even Darkness Rune Mastery had gained another point, likely for the constant channelling of the Cloak of Shadows I had wrapped myself in, reaching twenty-nine as well.

Looking around, I realised that while I had managed to escape notice, I now had a different problem. It didn’t look like the roof I had appeared on was supposed to be reachable, at least not for ordinary people. There was no obvious access I could see, no stairwell to allow maintenance workers access, only a flat expanse with a few air-con units. Looking at those, I realised that there had to be some sort of access, if only for their maintenance.

Quietly moving along the rooftop, I kept glancing down, trying to make sure I wasn’t spotted, searching for my way out. The feline I had noticed just earlier wasn’t the only one prowling the streets, they were gathering. Maybe they hadn’t found me, but from the amount of chittering I could hear, I had a feeling they knew roughly where I was. The noose was tightening and I needed to get away from here. Now.

Panic could do quite impressive things, especially when it came to magic. Instead of trying to run, I focused on another shadow, down at street level and as far away from the building as I felt comfortable with. Forcibly aligning my mindset with the spirit of discovery, I repeated my experiment and took a step forward, only this time, it was deliberate. Again, the shadows surrounded me and I felt their power start to pull me apart, the cloak of shadows wrapped around me the only thing keeping me together. Another step and the sensation vanished and I was back on the ground, the Astral Power I stored in my hair completely depleted, along with some of the power within my blood. Efficient, this form of travel was not. But it was fast and, apparently, quite stealthy, so I wouldn’t complain too much.

Instead, I kept moving as quickly as I felt confident to keep it silent. Only, it didn’t seem to help. Maybe it was the amount of Astral Power I used, maybe the shadow travelling wasn’t as concealed as I would like it to be, whatever the case, I could hear the felines start moving in my direction. And I couldn’t keep travelling through the shadows, not in anything but a dire emergency.

Instead, I kept moving, hoping that I could get some distance. I wasn’t confident it would work, but I wanted to keep the stealth up as long as possible, as soon as they truly detected me, the hunt would be on. And I hated to be the prey, being the predator and ambushing your prey was so much more comfortable.