Anomaly

The thought crossed my mind in an instant... and, a moment later, my body moved purely on reflex, before my thoughts could even catch up with my movements. I ducked my head so quickly that, if I had bones, they probably would have snapped from the sheer force of the motion. It was so sudden and anything but subtle that, for a brief moment, I had the distinct feeling that my survival depended entirely on that single movement.

As a matter of fact... it really did. Or at least, my instincts seemed to think so, considering the alternative would most likely have been my head spinning through the air, completely separated from the rest of my body. I froze for a moment, processing what had just happened. I definitely wasn't thrilled about that possibility.

Just as quickly as I had ducked, I heard a whooshing sound pass over my head, something like the sound of the wind being ripped apart by an object moving at incredible speed. My eyes blinked several times, still trying to process what had just happened. What the hell was that? It didn't take long for my senses to finally locate the culprit.

One of the fibrous tentacles had just passed directly through the spot where my head had been a moment earlier, slicing through the air hard enough to make a few strands of my hair flutter. Where had that come from? Honestly, I had absolutely no idea. I hadn't even noticed it moving until it was practically on top of me. There had been no warning, no noticeable change in the environment, nothing that could have prepared me for it.

It had simply happened. The only thing I could be certain of at that moment was that if that thing had hit me, having my head go flying would probably have been the least of my problems. The thought made my entire body go cold almost instantly... Yeah. Definitely not an experience I was particularly interested in trying.

I thought I'd at least have a few moments to reposition myself and, maybe, think of another way to approach the mushroom colossus. After all, my previous attempt had ended in a fairly obvious failure. Unfortunately, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Barely two seconds had passed since the first attack, the one that had almost taken my head off, when my senses went off again. My body reacted before I even had time to process what was happening, trembling in an involuntary reflex as my perception sharpened to its absolute limit.

For an instant, it felt as though time itself had slowed down. My eyes lifted on instinct, just in time to see another fibrous tentacle coming straight at me. There was nothing subtle about the attack. Its purpose was obvious. Crush me. If losing my head would already be a pretty unpleasant experience, it didn't take a genius to imagine that being turned into a smear on the ground probably wouldn't be much better.

Actually... I'd already been crushed once. When I hit the asphalt hard. Just remembering the sensation seemed to make my body recall it on its own. It hadn't been pleasant. And it definitely wasn't an experience I intended to repeat. I threw myself to the side as desperately as possible, practically hurling myself away like a five-year-old kid who had just realized something terrifying was coming straight at them.

Dignity? What the hell is that? Is it food? Is it going to stop a tentacle from crushing me? I couldn't care less about something like dignity right now. Besides, who the hell would look at my current situation and have the nerve to criticize me for looking like a five-year-old? If anyone actually wanted to do that, I'd be more than happy to hear their criticism... After the damn mushroom colossus stopped trying to turn me into a pancake.

Anyway, putting my intrusive thoughts aside, my absolutely unsophisticated aerobic footwork continued as I slowly tried to close the distance to the mushroom colossus again. Every attempt to get closer was met with another attack. Whenever a tentacle came crashing down on me, I somehow managed to avoid it.

Sometimes, I simply threw myself to the side, rolling across the ground in the least graceful manner imaginable. Other times, I jumped over the attack at the very last second, feeling the displaced air pass dangerously close to my body. And when even that seemed too risky, I simply disappeared into the shadows.

It was almost like a dance... An extremely ugly, desperate, and probably humiliating dance, but a dance nonetheless. One step to the side. A jump. A dive into the shadows. Another tentacle passed through the exact spot where I'd been standing a moment earlier, making the ground tremble from the impact.

And then I kept moving forward. Inch by inch, blow after blow, I slowly closed the distance to the stupid humanoid mushroom again. It didn't matter how many times that thing tried to drive me back. I needed to get close enough to do something.

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Naturally, I considered using my teleportation again to get closer to the mushroom colossus. However, there was a strange problem: whenever I entered the shadows, the mushrooms reacted abnormally, abandoning everything around them and rushing back toward the colossus as quickly as they could.

Somehow, it was almost as if these things knew, at least to some extent, what I was capable of. It was inconvenient, but that didn't mean I was out of options. I still had methods I could use. As long as I could buy enough time for Selyra to keep working on the giant mushroom, our true objective in this battle, we'd win one way or another. I just needed to keep these things occupied long enough.

As I formed that thought, one of the tentacles came dangerously close over my head. I ducked purely on reflex at exactly the right moment, feeling the displaced air rush through my hair: “Damn...!”

I didn't waste even a second. The moment the tentacle passed, I took advantage of the opening and threw myself back into the shadows, disappearing from the fibrous tentacles' field of vision. The dark world enveloped me once again, and I felt that familiar sensation of swimming through an endless open ocean wash over me.

A simple glance upward, unfortunately, confirmed what I had been thinking: the tentacles were, in fact, behaving strangely. They had completely changed their movement patterns, as if something had altered their priorities. Well... whatever. Actually, maybe this was even better. If they were all focused like this, I could take them all out at once.

For a brief moment, I had the distinct impression that the corners of my lips curled into an evil grin. The kind of smile that would make any sane person take a step backward. But that was probably just in my head. My expression was normally completely impassive, after all. Anyway.

The next instant, I teleported just a few yards forward, directly toward the gigantic humanoid colossus made entirely of mushrooms. The moment my feet touched the ground, I put my plan into action. First, there was an ability I had acquired some time ago that would be the key factor in making all of this work. [Anomalous Presence]. I wasn't completely sure it would work.

In fact, there was a good chance the fibrous tentacles would simply detect my presence and ruin the entire plan before I even had a chance to begin. But it wasn't like I had much to lose anyway. Besides... for some reason, I just didn't feel like these things would be able to see through my ability.

And considering the tentacles' strange behavior, perhaps I was about to find out whether my intuition was right. Sure enough, I emerged with the ability already active. I didn't feel all that different from before. Maybe a little less... noticeable? It was hard to put into words. It was as if an extremely thin mist surrounded my body, almost imperceptible, slightly distorting my presence within the environment.

It wasn't exactly invisibility, but it gave me the strange sensation that I was somehow a little more distant from the world than I was supposed to be. Anyway, I didn't have much time to think about it. The mushroom humanoid was approaching, and in just a few moments, it would pass directly over where I was standing.

And the exact moment it got close enough... Thermonuclear Pulse would take care of the rest. I had no intention of keeping it charged for very long. After all, as much as I wanted to test the limits of the ability, I definitely didn't want this entire place going up in flames along with my target.

That said, I was certain of one thing: This was definitely not going to be a pleasant experience for the giant mushroom colossus. For a brief moment, I actually wondered whether my body could withstand the explosion. After all, even though I could use this power, I don't think I'd ever actually tested just how immune I was to its effects... Maybe I should have thought about that beforehand.

For some reason, I was starting to feel like I'd been a little too hasty with this decision. That said, it wasn't like I could simply change the plan at this point. The giant mushroom-shaped colossus was already only a few steps away from me, advancing with such an overwhelming presence that there wasn't exactly any time left for second thoughts.

Whatever... I'll leave the consequences of my decisions to my future self. Good luck, future me! And... sorry if this is too much and your body ends up turning to ash! My regeneration should be able to handle it, right?... Right? It should. At least, that's what I wanted to believe. Honestly, I felt like I should have been much more confident about this.

After all, I'd already survived some ridiculous situations before. But right now, as I stared at the gigantic creature made entirely of mushrooms and felt the energy of the explosion building up inside me, I simply couldn't shake the feeling that I might have made a terrible mistake.

Well... it was too late to turn back now: “Everything's going to be fine... probably.”

I tried to reassure myself, but the harder I tried, the less confident I felt. After all, it sounded like I was trying to convince myself that everything would be okay, and somehow, that only made the whole situation even stranger. It was almost as if one part of me was desperately trying to reassure the other, while neither of them actually believed it.

Okay... that was pretty weird too. Regardless, at this point, I decided to put the matter aside and started reflecting a little on my life choices. Honestly, I never imagined that, at some point in my life, I'd end up turning myself into something resembling a nuclear bomb. Life really does have a strange sense of humor sometimes. I guess you never really know where the path it's taking you will lead.