I awkwardly swam through the shadows, trying to get as far away from the giant skeletal wolf as possible. To be honest, my attempt to swim looked more like someone drowning than actually swimming, which, from my perspective, had a kind of cute touch. Anyone watching from the outside would probably think the same.
In any case, after swimming enough to feel safe, I looked back — although it was just a habit, as I could clearly see what was happening. In the portal I had dove into the shadows, the monster was snarling in my direction, but it didn't take a step to try to reach me. However, half of its body was already crossing over.
Initially, I thought about luring it in, and while it tried to follow me, I would simply exit, leaving it alone in the shadowy world. I had no idea what would happen to it when I closed the portal, but to be honest, I didn't care at all. I mean, that thing had been trying to devour me just moments ago; feeling sorry for it was out of the question.
Unfortunately, my plan failed the instant the skeletal wolf decided not to follow me. Of course, I had known from the start that this plan had several flaws, and one of them was manifesting right now. Fortunately, I had already prepared a plan B in case the first one went wrong. Moreover, I was lucky: everything I needed for plan B was exactly where it should be.
I kept swimming under the watchful gaze of the skeletal wolf, passing beneath the portal it was using and continuing a bit further ahead. An interesting curiosity about this place is that I can exit at any point, even where there is no shadow.
Putting that aside, after getting far enough away, I began to swim upward. Slowly, I emerged into a new portal that appeared in the room, with only my head surfacing. I watched the monster, which still seemed to be searching for me in the first portal I opened to escape.
That was exactly the chance I had been waiting for. With a simple thought, the portal through which the monster was trying to reach me closed, separating the front part of its body from the back in an instant. A relatively loud thud echoed through the room as the back half collided with the ground.
Noticing that the monster wasn't moving, I completely exited the portal and turned briefly to see it closing behind me. Although I had used this power several times, I still found it completely mysterious. What, after all, was that place I entered and could swim through? Although I called it the "shadow world," was that really its name? In fact, I didn't even know if that place had a name.
Moreover, at the time, I hadn't really thought much about it. But entering that shadow, where exactly did I end up? That place was completely strange and defied all logic. Well, it wasn't like I needed to worry about it anyway.
With those distracted thoughts, I approached the fallen body of the monster. Driven by curiosity, I activated my eye power again while observing the part of the skeletal wolf that had remained on this side.
(Ah! It's still there)
I was referring to the bright point that, under normal circumstances, would indicate the enemy's weak spot. Although it had been moving erratically across the wolf's body before, for some reason, that small, sparkling light, shimmering in rainbow colors, was now fixed on a specific part, right in the middle of its body.
In any case, the hardest part was already done, even if it required cutting the skeletal wolf in half. As I got close enough to the monster's body, I began to circle around it until I found a good angle. I wasn't sure if the thing inside the wolf's body could see me, but considering it wasn't moving even with me just a few centimeters away, it seemed unlikely that it had that ability.
I pushed those thoughts aside and focused on the bright light within the wolf's body, which radiated in rainbow colors. At that moment, it was likely that my eyes reflected the same intensity. With my hand positioned, I pierced the monster's body using all my strength. Unfortunately, I had to choose a specific spot since almost the entire wolf's body was covered by bones.
Although I was above the spot, I was still a bit off to the side. In the end, I missed the bright point by a few centimeters, which finally noticed my presence and began to run wildly across the wolf's body. However, I had anticipated this reaction, and as soon as it headed towards the side I was anticipating, I prepared to act.
I tore through the wolf's flesh, and the bright point, which was moving too fast to stay still, ended up breaking free when I lifted the flesh, causing it to fly out. I glanced briefly at the small bright point as I deactivated my eye power.
As for its appearance... well, to be honest, it was grotesque. It was the size of a child's arm, and no matter where you looked from, it completely resembled a worm, its body covered by bones except for its head.
I carefully descended from the huge wolf's body, holding on to whatever I could. Again, I looked at the creature's weak spot. My feet moved slowly as I began to follow it. While it was extremely fast inside the wolf's body, outside here, its movements were so slow that they were almost imperceptible.
I watched that creature for a few seconds, tilting my head to the side in an attempt to understand what it was. I didn't think much more about it before stepping on the creature's head, causing a murky green liquid to gush out, spreading through the environment like a cloud of dust, even covering my body with several green stains.
Above my head, the golden sphere appeared again. I activated my eye power and calmly watched it as it absorbed the colors around me. A brilliant synergy unfolded before me, revealing the involuntary action of acquiring even more anomalous powers.