Chapter 487 – From despair, hope is born [68]

(POV - Protagonist)

Faced with the sight before me, the only reaction I could manage was to swallow hard. On the outside, I probably looked like the very image of Buddha: sitting silently, wearing an extremely calm, serene, and composed expression, without the slightest hint of panic or fear. That said... who was I kidding? I had absolutely no intention of pretending this wasn't getting to me.

On the inside, I was a complete bundle of nerves. Every part of my body seemed to be on high alert, while my mind desperately tried to process the situation in front of me. This was completely, absolutely, undeniably terrifying. No matter how I tried to look at the situation from a different angle, every conclusion led back to the same point: I was staring down a colossus.

Actually... did I mention that it was terrifyingly huge? For God's sake, this thing was easily over fifty meters tall! And to make matters worse, I couldn't even see its entire body. I was practically standing at the feet of this monstrosity, having to tilt my head all the way back just to try to follow its sheer height.

The enormous body of the mushroom rose before me like a genuine living wall, blocking part of my vision and making my sense of scale completely meaningless. It was like standing in front of a mountain that had, for some reason, decided to grow mushrooms.

For comparison, my current average height was somewhere between 1.40 and 1.50 meters... Yeah, I know. I'm not exactly tall. Even considering my recent increase in height, which left me looking somewhat like a teenager at the beginning of high school, I was still below average.

And if you compared me to any other teenager, even naturally shorter ones, the difference would probably still be pretty obvious. It's not exactly something I'm particularly proud of, but it's not like there's much I can do about it either. Anyway, better put those thoughts aside.

My attention returned to the real problem standing before me. I seriously wondered just how much power it would take to send this thing flying. I didn't want to release too much energy and end up blowing everything around me to hell, but I also wasn't planning on merely tickling the thing.

Well... something equivalent to an atomic bomb, only with the force much more concentrated and, consequently, far less destructive to the surrounding area, should be enough, right? As long as I could control the energy release, I should be able to keep the entire impact focused directly on the colossus... Probably.

Taking a deep breath, I began drawing the nuclear energy my body could naturally generate thanks to one of the anomalous powers I had recently absorbed and integrated. Well... "recently" was relative. It had already been some time since it happened, but I rarely had any opportunities to use this power, considering just how absurdly destructive it could be.

Still, in this situation, it seemed perfect. At least in theory, the amount of energy should be more than enough to cook the humanoid mushroom with relative ease. And, sure enough, I began accumulating the energy along my arm, concentrating it into a smaller area before allowing it to spread throughout the rest of my body.

It was a simple and quick way to gain control over the power before releasing it completely. The energy pulsed beneath my skin, making every muscle in my arm feel as though it were charged with an absurd amount of power. Then, little by little, I began expanding it. The energy traveled up my arm, reached my chest, passed through my torso, and spread into every part of my body.

The more it accumulated, the clearer the sensation became that I could release everything at any moment. All it would take was a single thought. At that moment, I was no different from a walking nuclear power plant. The only difference was that, unlike an actual power plant, I could simply decide where all that energy would be released.

However, even after reaching the "Charged" state, I continued containing all the thermonuclear energy my body was generating. I needed to wait until the very last possible moment, until the mushroom humanoid colossus was only a few steps away from me. My objective was simple in essence, but terrifying in scale: maximize the damage. To do that, I needed to let this thing get close. Very close. Too close.

And, I have to admit, I started regretting my decision the moment the colossus's shadow began to engulf my body. It was downright terrifying. The sensation was similar to standing still while an entire building collapsed directly on top of you. I knew that, technically speaking, I'd be fine even if this monstrosity stepped on me and literally turned me into a puddle on the ground. My body could withstand that.

Still... A shiver ran down my spine as I looked up at the colossal mass made entirely of mushrooms. Maybe I didn't need to wait quite this long: "Yeah... no. We're definitely not letting it get to that point" My resolve wavered for a brief moment. Then, before the colossus could take another step, I began gathering the accumulated energy, preparing to release it all at once.

Thanks to the ability I affectionately nicknamed Anomalous Presence, which essentially allowed me to completely conceal my existence, it was almost as if I simply stopped existing for a few moments. Even though I was technically standing right in front of the giant mushroom and the tentacles that continued relentlessly hunting me, none of them had even noticed I was here.

Not that I had any intention of complaining about that. In fact, it was incredibly convenient for me. Still, I couldn't deny that I was a little surprised by just how absurdly effective this ability was. I didn't use it very often... Well, at least not in battles.

Aside from that, I usually have much less important uses for it, like inside the facility, where I sometimes activate it just to scare some unsuspecting guard or scientist. I’ll admit, it’s pretty simple entertainment, but it’s still fun. That said, I was never really sure how practical this ability would actually be in a combat situation.

After all, completely hiding my presence while no one is trying to find me is one thing. Doing it while I’m surrounded by enemies desperately searching for me is something else entirely.

But apparently, I had been seriously underestimating this ability. Because right now, I’m literally standing in front of a monstrous creature that should be capable of sensing any intruder in its territory... and yet, as far as it’s concerned, I simply don’t exist.

And just like that, the moment the gigantic humanoid mushroom raised one of its legs and slammed it violently downward, ready to crush me completely, I released all the thermonuclear energy I had been storing inside my body in a single burst. Everything happened in an instant.

With my body at the epicenter, an absurd amount of energy exploded outward, engulfing the surroundings in scorching heat and deafening noise. The shockwave expanded in every direction, accompanied by a flash so intense that it seemed to turn the entire world white.

Rocks were pulverized. The ground split apart. The air itself seemed to scream under the monstrous temperature as flames consumed everything in their path. And, naturally, that included the humanoid mushroom.

However... if I’m being completely honest, I hadn’t really thought through how I was supposed to see after setting off an explosion like that.

Technically, I was standing right at the center of it. Even with my Unique Vision, seeing anything at that moment was practically impossible. All my eyes could perceive was my own explosion, a relentless torrent of light, fire, and thermonuclear energy stretching as far as my perception could reach.

For several seconds, I simply couldn’t make out a single thing: “...Maybe I should’ve thought this through first”

Oh, and in case you’re wondering how the hell I’m managing to withstand a potentially nuclear explosion... well, the truth is, I’m not. My Alter Ego created a dome around my body and, thankfully, it was holding against the explosion without any major problems.

Aside from the constant trembling beneath my feet and the deafening roar that seemed to penetrate every inch of my body, I was perfectly fine. I also made sure Victor, Rupert, Arthur, and, of course, my little sister weren’t caught in the blast.

Even if my calculations had been wrong, my Alter Ego would protect them in my place. So, at least in that regard, I wasn’t worried. Anyway... the tremors and thunderous roar of the explosion continued for several long minutes before finally beginning to die down.

Inside the cocoon created by my Alter Ego, I blinked several times as I tried to make sense of the situation around me. There was still a strange pressure in the air, and my senses seemed to be struggling to process everything happening around me. I raised my hand and tapped the dome twice.

Tap. Tap. As if it had received an order, the structure slowly began to dissolve. The surface of the cocoon lost its rigidity, transforming into a strange form of energy that flowed back into my body until it completely disappeared inside me.

Even so, I still couldn’t see much of anything around me. A thick cloud of smoke had taken over the entire area, completely obscuring my vision and making the air feel heavy and difficult to breathe.

Well... considering an atomic bomb had just gone off, I suppose that was perfectly logical. The ground was still trembling slightly, and the thick cloud of dust and smoke made it nearly impossible to tell what was happening around me. Now came the moment of truth.

I needed to find out whether my plan had worked or not. Because if it hadn’t... Well, to put it simply, we were seriously screwed. Honestly, if even my most destructive attack had failed, I might just have to go back to my original plan and cut this thing into little pieces.

Just thinking about it already makes me tired. It sounds like an absolute nightmare, and, frankly, I’d much rather avoid all that effort if I had another option. However... if that’s the only way to finish this thing, then I won’t have much of a choice, will I?

I couldn’t think of a single other way to stop this mushroom colossus. If even my Plan B wasn’t enough, then I genuinely had no idea what we could do next. Please... Let this have worked!