Anomaly

Naturally, the three of them had very different reactions to the scene before them. Not long ago, the things in front of us had been nothing more than fibrous tentacles twisting through the air at incredible speeds.

Now, however, they practically seemed to be moving in slow motion, as if time itself had been slowed down around them. Arthur, in particular, seemed far more fascinated by the phenomenon than he was disbelieving.

That much was obvious from the subtle glimmer of curiosity in his eyes as he followed every movement of the tentacles, as though he were trying to figure out exactly what was happening. In fact, his expression reminded me quite a bit of the look Emily and Laura always wore whenever one of their experiments ended in success.

Personally, that kind of look had always made me a little uncomfortable, especially when Emily and Laura directed it at me. So, just like I normally did whenever I noticed something similar coming from either of them, I simply decided to pretend I hadn't noticed anything.

Victor and Rupert, on the other hand, seemed far less fascinated and much more anxious. Considering that neither of them had the slightest idea what was happening, their reaction was perfectly understandable. Their eyes darted back and forth across the tentacles, probably trying to find some logical explanation for the sudden change.

However, that anxiety lasted only until they both realized that I was the reason the fibrous tentacles were in their current state. The moment their gazes turned toward me, I could practically feel the atmosphere change. The confusion on their faces gave way to a mixture of surprise and curiosity.

Victor was the first to recover. If he'd been watching the tentacles with an expression completely consumed by anxiety before, the corner of his lips was now slightly raised, forming a subtle smile that, coming from him, said far more than it seemed to.

“I have no idea what you did” Victor commented, finally tearing his eyes away from the tentacles as he pulled one of the pins embedded in his weapon.

The weapon immediately emitted a strange noise, a deep, mechanical sound, as though some internal mechanism were compressing or storing something. The small click that followed made Victor adjust his grip, clearly pleased with the result.

My observations, however, came to an abrupt end at his next words: “But if there's one thing I do know...” Victor paused briefly, and his smile widened slightly: “It's that I'm not about to let an opportunity to take out all the frustration I've been building up over the past few days slip away” His tone sounded subtly different from before. It wasn't just confidence. For the first time since this whole situation had started, Victor seemed genuinely excited.

He then stepped forward, planting his feet firmly on the ground as he raised his weapon: “Rupert, Arthur. With me!”

Neither of them needed any further explanation. The moment they heard the command, they immediately moved to Victor's side, ready to advance. The next instant, Victor, Rupert, and Arthur took their positions almost simultaneously.

The three of them raised their weapons and aimed directly at the fibrous tentacles twisting through the air. For several seconds, they remained perfectly still, adjusting their aim as they waited for the right moment.

Then, they opened fire in rapid succession. Victor's shot was the first to hit its target. Thanks to my golden world, I was able to follow the bullet's trajectory perfectly. It was completely ordinary ammunition, the kind of bullet you could find just about anywhere.

Within my golden world, however, the bullets themselves still moved at normal speed. Anything Victor, Rupert, and Arthur touched was included within my golden world, but unlike them, those objects weren't affected by the slowing effect. Because of that, I could observe every detail.

Victor's bullet traveled through the air until it finally struck one of the tentacles. The instant it made contact, however, something extremely strange happened. There was no explosion. There wasn't even the usual impact of a bullet piercing through a surface. It was as if the space surrounding the point of impact had simply been sucked inward.

The section of the tentacle that came into contact with the bullet vanished in an instant, ripped out of reality without leaving behind blood, fragments, or any other trace. It was like watching a small section of the world itself being consumed by an absolute void. For a brief moment, I simply stared at the scene, trying to understand what had just happened.

That didn't look anything like a plasma bullet. In fact... it looked much more like a black hole bullet. If a comparison like that even made any sense. Rupert and Arthur weren't far behind. The two of them began firing their weapons as well, causing the same process to repeat over and over.

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Whenever a bullet came into contact with one of the fibrous tentacles, a small implosion occurred at the point of impact, distorting the air around it for an instant and practically causing the affected section to disappear before the rest of the tentacle even had time to react.

I watched the scene, genuinely surprised internally. Their shots were precise, and considering the speed at which the tentacles were moving, their performance was impressive. Still, after a few seconds, I shook my head and refocused on the situation around us. It was true that the three of them were doing surprisingly well.

However, all it took was a closer look around us to realize that we'd badly underestimated the mushroom. Before we even had a chance to notice, we were completely surrounded. Dozens of fibrous tentacles twisted through the area, sliding across the ground, weaving around obstacles, and advancing from different directions.

Some moved slowly, while others suddenly shot toward us, like predators waiting for nothing more than the perfect moment to strike. Naturally, I didn’t just stand there and watch everything happen.

The very next moment, the shadows beneath my feet began to writhe, spreading across the ground like a living stain until my [Alter Ego] emerged from them in a single leap, coming fully into view.

At the same time, one of my hands began to emit a warm, destructive glow, a golden radiance that quickly intensified as I activated my [Thermonuclear Pulse]. The energy building within my hand caused the air around it to vibrate, while an oppressive wave of heat spread throughout the surroundings.

That was when the fibrous tentacles coming from behind finally collided with my golden field. The result was instantaneous. To me, it looked as though time had simply stopped for them. The movements that had been fast and impressive only moments ago became sluggish, almost motionless, as if they were trapped in an invisible layer of resistance.

Each twisted fiber advanced inch by inch, completely unable to break through my defense. I didn’t waste another second. I extended my arm and released all the accumulated energy at once. A powerful beam of heat erupted from my hand, tearing through the air in an intense flash before striking one of the tentacles directly.

The concentrated energy sliced it in half with ease, causing both pieces to writhe violently before falling to the ground. At the same time, my Alter Ego had already begun doing its own work.

Moving through the shadows at a speed that was almost impossible to follow, it darted between the tentacles, its blade carving precise and vicious arcs through the air. One after another, the appendages were severed before they even had a chance to react.

While I destroyed the ones trying to reach me through brute force, my Alter Ego eliminated the rest. For a few moments, the chaos surrounding us seemed to transform into a perfectly coordinated dance between light and shadow.

Victor, Rupert, Arthur, my Alter Ego, and I continued like this, maintaining a sort of improvised defensive line around the mushroom. Whenever a new tentacle emerged, we dealt with it immediately, whether by severing it, cutting it into pieces, burning it, or using whatever other method we had at our disposal.

We couldn’t afford to let them pile up. Charlotte, on the other hand, remained focused on whatever it was she was doing. I had absolutely no idea what she was trying to accomplish, but one thing was certain: it was working.

The giant mushroom trembled uncontrollably, its entire body shuddering as the trunk gradually began to lose its vitality. The once-moist, seemingly living surface dried out before our eyes, cracking and slowly falling apart until it took on the appearance of an old, rotting shell.

Still burning some of the approaching tentacles, I noticed something resembling glitter spreading through the air and drifting toward where Victor, Rupert, Arthur, and I were standing. It only took a quick glance for me to recognize those tiny, sparkling particles.

They were the mind-control spores. Fortunately, we didn’t have to worry about them. Just as Selyra had pointed out earlier, I seemed to be immune to the spores, although I still had no idea why. I knew it had something to do with my Authority, but beyond that vague certainty, I had no concrete information about how, or why, it was able to protect me.

At least Victor, Rupert, and Arthur seemed to be safe as well. I could actually see the spores attempting to infiltrate the three of them, landing on their clothes and trying to push through their defenses.

However, whenever one of them came into contact with their bodies, a whitish glow appeared precisely at the point of contact and repelled it almost instantly, causing the spore to disintegrate in the air like a tiny spark.

I slightly furrowed my brow as I watched. That protection had to be coming from Selyra. The problem was that I had no idea how she was doing it, much less what method she was using to prevent the spores from even having a chance to affect them.

Still, this wasn’t something I could afford to investigate right now. With more tentacles advancing toward us, I clenched my fingers and turned my attention back to the battle. Anyway, putting that aside, the process of burning and cutting through the fibrous tentacles was already becoming seriously exhausting.

Their numbers never seemed to decrease, and although we were still making progress without any major problems, I was beginning to grow tired of the repetitive action. Even so, I figured that if we kept going like this, we would eventually be able to finish off the mushroom without too much trouble.

Naturally, considering the kind of luck I had, the moment that thought crossed my mind, the ground began to tremble. I blinked almost immediately. This was different from the tremor we had felt earlier, when the first fibrous tentacles had begun emerging. This time, it didn’t feel like something was spreading through the underground... It felt as though something enormous was moving beneath our feet.

Then came a second tremor, far stronger than the first, causing small rocks to break loose from the walls and tumble down around us. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have been more right about my assumption. Something enormous was emerging from the ground.

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