Upon realisation just how enraged the Withered were, I was stunned for a moment. 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 something equivalent to the times I had tried to use Mind Magic to mess with their psychic connection, but this was bigger by an order of magnitude, with a massive amount of bloodlust added on, for good measure.

“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, meant 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 somewhat, 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 merely 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 experiment of mine, about the limits of my magical concealment. Namely, 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 Concealment was focused on the area around me, muffling anything within it. That meant sound wouldn’t easily travel through it but if I dropped something, it would simply remain behind and leave the area. Or it could get caught by the wind and get carried out of the area, meaning 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 Concealment concept the night before, applying it in reverse to conceal the world from the captured Withered was making me wonder. What else could I conceal that way? Could I, theoretically, conceal my physical presence, making me something akin to a wraith or ghost, literally untouchable? Could I conceal myself from gravity, allowing me 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 Concealment, 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 merely made the related magic less taxing, wouldn’t that mean that I could, theoretically, achieve any effect with just the foundational rune of an element and a lot of Astral Power? Or maybe Astral Power and my will?

A realisation washed over me, almost making me fumble the concealment 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 element.

If I took that idea and followed it to the logical conclusion, it would mean 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 me with an incredible amount of things I wanted to try out.

“We should get going now,” Lia quietly prodded me, drawing me from my racing thoughts about the fundamentals of magic. Maybe I should look for a better time 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 me so I could keep her concealed, while Lia could briefly work the concealment by herself, I had to climb onto Silva’s back, riding her like some 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, somewhat 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 moment, 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 extreme 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 moment, I considered Shadow Stepping somewhere else but without being in a state of Titanic Ambition it would wipe out my Astral Power, leaving me 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 me 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 came to alchemically, or chemically, induced mayhem. Projectile prepared, Alex put it on their slingshot and launched it into the air, away from us.

The moment 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 me 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.