His mind was racing, trying to come up with a solution. Matt had to dodge the incoming attack, there were no two ways about it. He had felt the power behind the solid projectile before, and thinking he could keep his leg in place against the force it exerted was nonsensical.

  There was no time to waste. He could always recast the skill, but taking more damage would just put him in needless risk.

  Deciding not to overthink it and waste time, he took his foot off the ground, shifting his weight slightly while turning to the side, grabbing and pushing the pouncing wolf into the incoming projectile’s path.

  The spiked rectangular object rammed into the wolf with enough force that it tore a hole through its side, sending flesh and blood flying everywhere before, undoubtedly, dissipating once more.

  Matt had started casting his mana domain under his right foot as soon as he had shifted his weight, not wanting to give the alpha an opening. He didn’t know whether whatever skill it used had an internal cooldown or not, but he wasn’t in the mood to find out.

  As soon as the domain had reached its full height, he saw the outline of a clawed paw coming for his head.

  He involuntarily took a step back to dodge the surprising attack. He had thought all the wolves were dealt with, so he hadn’t expected the swipe, but apparently there was at least one more besides the alpha.

  Matt’s domain was already forming once more, and thankfully so, as another swipe was coming for him from the back. This time his thigh was the target.

  With not much room to maneuver, he spun on his heel, doing a full 360, and meeting the incoming form of the wolf with a punt kick that held all of his anger, breaking the wolf in half and sending it flying to its final resting place.

  The alpha, sensing Matt’s distraction, came in with another attack as mana once more coalesced inside his domain, and again, it was aimed at his left leg.

  Matt side-stepped the incoming skill, making sure his right foot stayed in contact with the floor and mana that formed his domain.

  A few seconds passed with no follow up attack coming, which Matt used to recover as much mana as he could, however, the lull didn’t last for long as another projectile soon came from the ground and towards his midsection, which he was able to dodge by turning to the side.

  Turns out, seeing when a skill was being formed helped immensely with dodging it. It also helped that the projectile’s trajectory was easily discernible thanks to how the shape forming was always aimed towards its intended target, turning the dangerous attack into a mildly annoying one.

  The alpha appeared to be keeping its distance, either sensing that Matt was stuck in place or simply preferring to stay as far away as possible. Either way, it was showing signs of intelligence, which worried Matt, a thought that was soon confirmed with its next attack.

  The skill started forming within Matt’s domain. He prepared himself to dodge out of the way only to notice its direction. His right foot.

  Matt gritted his teeth. The wolf was smart, and not just on an instinctual level, which was proving to be a problem. He couldn’t dodge the incoming attack without taking his foot off of the ground, which he did, jumping out of the way, mana already gathering under his foot for another sphere, only for something to slam into his side like a truck, sending him flying back into the pool.

  Matt hit the water with a splash, feeling the cool liquid wrap around his weary body and pull him deeper and deeper. It wasn’t that he couldn’t move, his skills were already fast at healing his health and resources after all, he just wanted to use that time to think. To come up with a plan.

  The alpha was a problem. It had figured out that Matt needed to be stationary for his skill to function, and if it could intuit that much, then it had no reason to get any closer. It could just whittle him down little by little, throwing spells at him until either of them eventually ran out of resources. And while Matt was confident he’d win a battle of attrition against most opponents, he didn’t know if the wolf even used mana or a resource of any kind. For all he knew, it could keep firing spells at him for the next six months, which was a major issue.

  Also, the wolf running out of resources meant nothing if Matt couldn’t capitalize on it in any way.

  He needed to get close to the alpha, and for that, he had to locate it first, and then find a way to approach it somehow.

  The wolf undoubtedly knew that, which was why it wasn’t in any hurry. It was taking its time, knowing that Matt was the one on the back foot.

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  He couldn’t simply rush head-on. It wasn’t feasible, and no plan he could come up with would change that, which meant he needed a trick, and a good one. Good enough that the wolf would never see it coming.

  Matt started slowly swimming towards any of the pool edges he could reach, a plan forming in his head. It had flaws, drawbacks, and countless limitations, but it was also workable, and something he hoped the wolf would never see coming, which was the important part.

  Reaching the edge, Matt repositioned himself into a sitting position. Still underwater, he needed to be quick and meticulous in his actions if he wanted to make it out in one piece. He touched the pool’s tiles with one hand—the other one beside him—and slowly started pushing and controlling mana, casting his mana sense.

  Next was raising his nose out of the water, just enough to be able to breathe. The wolf hadn’t made a move yet, but that probably won’t be the case for long, and for that, Matt had his final trick which he hoped would be enough. His bandana.

  Cloth of the Unseen Huntress (Rare)

  A simple cotton cloth.

  Reinforced: Indestructible by anything Tier (9) or below.

  Immaterial: Does not occupy physical space once worn.

  Enchanted: [Patient Predator].

  +2 agility

  +1 endurance

  [Patient Predator]: When activated, the user’s presence is erased, rendering them invisible to most senses for as long as they remain unmoving.

  Matt was unsure what senses would detect him, which was why he was relying on two things to help keep him hidden: the chlorine in the pool masking his smell, and [Repair] closing up his wounds, so he wouldn’t just bleed around everywhere.

  He knew the wolf would eventually lose patience and either leave or take more drastic measures to locate him.

  Not finding anything would leave it confused and, hopefully, vulnerable enough for Matt to take advantage. But before that, he needed to throw his net wide enough to catch a whiff of its mana, at least before it completely lost patience and did something unexpected.

  Come on, come on, come on… he urged as he pushed more and more mana out, creating a cone shape that extended from his back and covered the rest of the pool and the poolside. It was where he had last sensed the alpha, so odds were, it would be closer to that direction.

  Not finding anything, he started extending mana from both sides, trying to widen the range. He had tried rotating it clockwise, like a radar, but the amount of effort, concentration, focus, and mana control it took to shift that much mana even a foot was simply beyond him. It would be incredibly slow and inefficient, and leave him vulnerable. Wasting more mana to widen the net was just the safer option, at least for now.

  The strain his body, mind, and soul were under was immense. He couldn’t slow down or risk the wolf making a move, and he couldn’t speed up and risk the invisibility breaking due to his inability to handle the strain.

  Seconds felt like hours as the radius of his mana scan kept increasing, inch by inch.

  A loud crashing came from a few feet away from him that had almost startled him. He didn’t know if it was one of the wolves, or the alpha making a move, but he couldn’t change course right now. Both his hands were already occupied, and attempting to cast another scan would definitely shatter his concentration and break him out of stealth, revealing him. No, he had to stay the course.

  Come on… no need to hide, I just wanna talk, he kept imploring as worry started creeping in that the wolf had left, or that he had missed his chance, or a thousand other things.

  Bingo!

  He had found it. The massive mana signature was unmistakable as it warily approached the pool, caution evident in how it moved. The only setback was its position. The other side of the rectangular, hundred foot long, structure.

  Matt had a plan to traverse the pool while invisible, he had just hoped the distance would be shorter. Much shorter.

  The wording on [Patient Predator] had been… ambiguous at best. He had tinkered with it while driving, and learned that using mana didn’t break the invisibility, not even [Sense Mana], and neither did being on a moving buggy, as long as he didn’t as much as twitch. And while he wasn’t sure it would work the same way in the pool, he saw no reason why it shouldn’t. If nothing else, the system had always been consistent with minute rules and details, at least from what Matt had seen.

  The only problem he for sure knew he had to address was oxygen. Right now he could breathe, and breathing didn’t break the stealth effect, but as soon as he lets go of the edge of the pool, the oxygen in his lungs would cause him to float, and that wouldn’t work for his next step. He had to deflate his lungs and reach the other side while holding his breath, which served as only another timer to add to the rest.

  It’s just a swim. It’s just a swim, he kept telling himself as he took in another deep breath before letting all the air out of his lungs.

  Next, he dropped mana sense and let go of the edge, feeling as he started sinking to the bottom of the pool.

  With everything in place, he switched from [Repair] to [Revitalize] to recover his dwindling mana before starting, ever so slowly, to let out short bursts of mana from both feet, holding utterly still while creating a very slight push, propelling him in–what he hoped was–a straight line, away from the edge and towards the cautiously approaching alpha.

  Time was of the essence, and his only hope was to reach the other side before the wolf lost interest or changed position. Because if this failed, he didn’t know what else to do, and without his sight, he really hoped he wouldn’t have to find out.