Anomaly

(Well, now that I'm here and have everyone's attention, what exactly am I supposed to do?)

Honestly, it wasn’t as if I had decided to help after coming up with some miraculous plan. In fact, I didn’t even believe I could escape if something went wrong. But I just couldn’t stand by and watch as my last hope of getting out of this cursed forest was devoured by these monsters.

By the way, besides not feeling pain—which, honestly, is pretty comforting—and my newly discovered ability to see weak points, I have one more power. Unlike the other two, this one was discovered in a rather peculiar way.

From the start, for some reason, I was able to use this last power. It’s not like I knew exactly what it did, but I just knew it was there, and I could activate it whenever I wanted. For me, activating this power was as natural as breathing.

As if connected to my thoughts, a golden field began to expand from my body, stopping exactly a meter away from me. Honestly, I had no idea what this field actually did. To be frank, it seemed useless. Besides the fact that, for some reason, I was the only one who could see it, there was nothing to suggest that it could help me in this situation.

Anyway, I decided to keep the field active—after all, it was better to use everything I had at my disposal. I really didn’t want to regret it later if something went wrong and I ended up dying.

(But why aren't they attacking?)

As if they sensed my thoughts, the monsters started to back away slowly, like a top predator had just arrived. Wait, they were afraid of me? On the outside, I looked like just a defenseless little girl who glowed a bit in the dark, but observing how they were acting, it was clear they were genuinely scared of me.

For a moment, I thought I could get out of this situation without doing anything. But, as usual, things rarely go the way we expect. And, to confirm that, one of the monsters started moving toward me. Its steps were slow and cautious, but still, it was definitely coming closer.

As the monster approached and realized I wasn’t attacking, it seemed to gain more courage. No, seriously, it was really coming toward me. My bluff had been called. At that moment, I was probably making a horrified face, but to be honest, it was hard to move the muscles in my face. So, my expression remained as always: a perfect poker face.

Even the three soldiers and the scientist who were still alive were watching me with worried expressions. I didn’t know exactly why, but I imagined the sight of a little girl being torn apart, even if she wasn’t human, wouldn’t be pleasant to watch.

The next moment after my thoughts, the monster leaped at me. At that moment, it occurred to me that my happiest moments were when I was sitting on a tree branch, swinging my feet. Was this the famous situation described by the phrase "your life flashes before your eyes"? Ironically, it seems the only "life" I had was getting to this forest.

I closed my eyes, waiting for my sad end, but no matter how long I waited, the end never came. When I finally opened my eyes, the scene before me surprised me. However, since I couldn’t change my expression, my face remained impassive as always.

The monster was frozen in the air, its bizarre mouth, located in its belly, wide open, revealing rows of sharp teeth as it tried to approach me. It was as if time had suddenly stopped. Looking closer, I realized it had stopped when it entered the golden field emanating from my body.

Looking around, everything seemed completely normal, which was strange. No one seemed surprised by the fact that there was a monster floating right in front of me. My first explanation for this phenomenon was the golden field emanating from my body. I had never tried using it on monsters before, and honestly, after the first time, I dismissed it as useless.

Anyway, although I didn’t know exactly what was happening, this was definitely my chance. With the monster paralyzed, I started to walk slowly towards it. Up close, it was even more terrifying, especially with its mouth open at an angle that revealed all of its sharp teeth.

Anyway, my goal was clear: the glowing orb inside that thing. It seemed to be where the heart would be, though I couldn’t be sure if this monster actually had one. I carefully circled around it and positioned myself behind it, at what seemed to be the ideal spot. With my hand raised, I prepared to act.

(Is it around here?)

With that thought in mind, I threw the hardest punch I could. My arm penetrated the monster’s body with precision, stopping only when it touched the glowing orb. Without hesitation, I pulled the object out of the creature. Now, in my hand, I held a pulsating heart that radiated the colors of the rainbow.

As I held what seemed to be the monster's heart in my hand, I reflected intensely on what to do next. Honestly, I hadn’t planned what to do after pulling the orb out of the creature, and I never imagined I would actually get out of that situation alive.

Suddenly, while pondering what to do next, I felt something strange above my head. Confused, I looked up and saw a golden orb spinning gently. Without understanding why, I watched as the orb began to absorb the colors from the heart in my hand. I had no idea what was happening, so I decided to wait and see what would happen.

After the orb absorbed the colors from the heart, it returned to its original state. It didn’t seem like the heart had undergone any significant transformation; it simply went back to being an ordinary heart, devoid of any color. Additionally, it no longer pulsed like it did the first time I touched it.