Everything was white in Matt’s vision. It was like staring directly into a neon light, or being stuck in a colorless room. He tried casting [Sense Mana] but the skill refused to activate, leaving him with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

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  Rubbing his eyes or attempting to heal himself didn’t seem to do anything either, only serving to worsen an already devastating headache. The skill did turn on, unlike [Sense Mana], it just did nothing to fix his throbbing head or nonexistent sight.

  He needed time to recover. To try to figure out what the hell had gone wrong, but from the commotion he was hearing from the beach, time was not on his side.

  A sudden crashing sound coming from the balcony startled Matt once more, bringing him back to reality and causing his head to turn towards the noise. It was a knee-jerk reaction as he still couldn’t see and his ears were still blocked by mana to protect him from the howls, meaning barely anything was reaching him, but that only served to show how loud that crash had been, making him feel a sense of dread he had never felt before.

  Immediately, Matt started channeling mana in both palms, pushing as much as he could as fast as he could, ignoring the throbbing headache as much as was possible. He had no way to tell what was going on, whether it was a random attack or if the wolves had found him. The only thing he knew for sure was that fighting blind and deaf was almost a death sentence, so he needed to get out of there. Now.

  Pointing his palms towards the balcony, he unleashed all the mana he’d been channeling, hoping to get rid of whatever had made there. He tried to cast [Sense Mana] again, but still, nothing happened, as if the skill wasn’t even there anymore. Trying to make use of what little time he had, he closed his eyes and dove inwardly, towards his chest, where the skill trigger was.

  And that’s when he realized how badly he had fucked up, because what he saw made absolutely no sense.

  Matt didn’t know the first thing about mana. Everything he had done so far had been a combination of instinct and game knowledge. The problem with relying on half-baked information was that, more often than not, it was worse than having none at all. However, it had worked for him so far, so he had no reason to stop. Now though, with his back against the wall, and no clue what was going on, he was shit out of luck.

  The area in his chest where the [Sense Mana] skill trigger was located was now completely barren. No skill trigger. No mana. No mana pathways. A complete and utter dead zone.

  Matt was ready to panic. He had no idea how fucked he was, but it was fair to assume royally. And yet, he didn’t. Because as he was about to, he remembered something he was told once when he was in a similarly shitty situation, though not as deadly.

  ‘If you have time to panic, then you have time to do something about it.’

  And something was exactly what Matt planned on doing.

  He took a deep calming breath. He wasn’t out of time. His time was endless, especially since he didn’t plan on dying anytime soon.

  Mana started gathering in Matt’s palms once more, not for mana wave, but for something he had only used once before in his fight against the Guardian of the Sands. It was slow, inefficient, and incredibly limited, but also, it was enough.

  Pressing his hands on the carpeted floor, a gentle blanketing wave of mana left his palms. This time, he wasn’t scanning his surroundings, just sending a cone aimed towards the balcony and the beach. It was risky and might paint an incomplete picture, but he had to know what was going on, and this was the fastest way to do so.

  “Come on, come on, come on,” Matt muttered in a barely audible whisper as he pushed more and more mana, its blanketing effect inching ever so slowly towards the balcony. He had forgotten how incredibly slow this scan was, but it was the only one he had access to, and he needed to make it count.

  After a few long seconds that felt like a lifetime, he finally reached the balcony, giving him a first look of what he was up against, which was… nothing. The only mana he found were the remnants of his mana wave.

  He kept the scan going as he tried to get a good look at the beach as well, but just as the tension was about to leave his body, a gigantic body, radiating mana, jumped into the balcony. Its head aimed straight at Matt.

  Matt stopped pushing mana into the skill. The worst-case scenario had already happened, because there was no shred of doubt in his mind who that mana signature belonged to.

  The alpha had found him, and judging by the low, threatening growl he was feeling in his bones, it really wasn’t happy.

  Time slowed to a crawl as Matt’s brain went into overdrive. While his mana was now at 80%, his health was at 50%, and his stamina, for some reason, had dropped to 60%. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear, and worst of all, he had been found.

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  The only thing missing that would really hammer in how shit out of luck he was would be if intense boss music started playing, and the door behind him closed shut, locking him in.

  But… he wasn’t though. He wasn’t locked in.

  Even then, one thing was for sure, whether he could see or not, he could never run faster than a wolf.

  But that was the thing. He didn’t need to run faster than it, he just needed to outrun it.

  The alpha seemed wary of him. The mana orb had clearly been more destructive than Matt had thought, and it was obvious that mana was pouring out of his hand, which he had yet to stop, giving him the advantage of being able to make the first move. However, once the slightest of movements was made, the wolf would undoubtedly pounce, as it would signal the true start of the battle.

  It did give him a few precious seconds to think, but there was no plan he could come up with in a situation like this that would make sense. Also, his mana was dropping with every second he kept the scan going, even if he was no longer increasing its radius. Which meant the sooner he made his move, the better.

  Matt took a deep breath and steadied himself. His heart was hammering in his chest, and he could feel every heartbeat in his bones, and yet his mind was calm. He needed it to be if he wanted his gambit to work.

  And then… he cut off the mana flow.

  Several things happened in quick succession.

  Matt dove out of the room just before a loud crashing came from where he had just been. He then responded by summoning a hastily channeled mana wave right through the room door before bolting, with [Repair] and [Revitalize] already working on his body.

  The suite’s layout was, thankfully, navigable. The balcony, room door, and suite door were all in a single line that led directly to the hallway. That was where it would get trickier. While he did know the hotel’s general layout–a habit that came with the job was studying the layouts of places he visited and seeing what he would improve on it–navigating it while blind was an entirely different story. Which meant he’d have to make his final stand somewhere in the hallway.

  Matt rushed through the living room, feeling the crunch of glass under his shoes, before almost tripping on what must’ve been the remnants of the table that had been there. He steadied himself and dove, shoulder first, towards the suite door, breaking it off its hinges. His resilient body and boosted stats were truly showing their worth.

  He immediately switched to channeling mana into his palms, preparing another mana wave. Once he was a few feet away from the room, he turned around and unleashed the mana before running again, [Repair] and [Revitalize] already on once more.

  Matt was only able to make it a few more steps when a soundwave, holding a devastating amount of power, stopped him in his tracks, as a howl, infinitely stronger than the one he had experienced before at the resort’s entrance, hit him.

  His muscles tensed up, his bones rattled in protest, and he was sure his eardrums would’ve ruptured from the sheer intensity of the howl. The alpha must be struggling against Matt’s mana wave and was trying to delay him.

  Matt feared the condensed mana marbles wouldn’t hold against the indomitable howl of the alpha, but to his relief, they held, giving him a confidence boost in his ability to come out ahead.

  He continued on, pushing through the commanding power the wolf was unleashing, feeling less strain the further he managed to get away from the source.

  He was alternating between [Revitalize] and [Repair] with his right hand while keeping his left on the wall as he sprinted. It gave him an estimate of how much distance he had covered based on the distance between the rooms and how much further he had to go.

  Soon he felt his left hand touch nothing, signaling that he had made it to the staircase in the middle of the long hallway. He started channeling mana into his palms, readying another mana wave, only to find his bottom half slamming into an object that sent him flying a few feet across the hall as he attempted to roll himself back onto his feet.

  He immediately turned and fired his barely channeled mana wave, but when there was no follow-up he turned back and started sprinting once more, more mana channeling in his palms, summarizing that he must’ve ran into a seating area. Hotels liked having those near stairs, and he had been too close to the wall at the time. Thankfully, it hadn’t damaged him enough or wasted much time.

  He could’ve taken the stairs and attempted to leave the hotel, but it was unrealistic of him to expect that he’d be able to navigate the entire structure in his state. So far he'd only seen the alpha, but he was sure others were still out there.

  No, he’d have to fight. And for that, a narrow, straight hall was the best option. It made it so Matt only needed to cover his front and back, while severely limiting the alpha wolf’s ability to attack and maneuver. The perfect place if it did come down to a fight, which Matt had no doubt it would. He just hoped he’d be able to recover his resources and come up with a semblance of a plan before he was ultimately cornered.

  Turning around, he threw another mana wave, blocking the way once more, buying him even more time. He didn’t know if the alpha was following him or not. He could hear a slight and distant shuffling, but his blocked ears could barely make out any sound at all.

  Unfortunately, it wouldn’t matter for long, as he was soon coming up to the edge of the hallway, which meant he was now truly out of time. He’d have to make do with whatever resources he had right now.

  Matt slowed down his sprint and pulled out the Scepter of Life from his spatial ring, mana already charging it. He didn’t know exactly how much was left in the hallway, but right now he was at the far end, and running head-first into a wall wasn’t part of the plan.

  Feeling he had made it far enough, he turned around and slammed his palm on the floor for a quick mana scan. His mana, stamina, and health were at 60%, 80%, and 70% respectively. Not ideal, but he’d have to make do.

  He felt as his mana slowly enveloped the hallway, covering every inch of it. He was wasting a lot of it, but right now he had to know. To get a visual. To see where the wolf was. Because he won’t be getting a second chance.

  Soon enough, his scan came in contact with mana, and Matt immediately fired his orb, signaling the start of the battle.