Becoming a Monster-Chapter 105: That’s what I’ve always wanted

Noah felt conflicted when seeing the zombies that could net him so much experience. He wanted to initiate the fight, killing the monster before anyone else was able to lay a hand on his potential loot. But in doing so he would be doing exactly what everyone wanted, which bothered him greatly since it wouldn’t feel like his decision.

"Master, let me show you how strong I am!" Fenrir spoke as if almost begging, his paws were already itching with excitement.

"Noah, I also want to prove myself, and I haven’t eaten yet." Arachne followed behind.

Hearing his creatures helped to clear Noah’s internal struggles. ’What do they have to do when it comes to what I want to do? My goal has never changed, I’ll continue to keep getting stronger. If they believe that I’m saving them then so be it, if they want to hide behind me then that’s even better, and if they die? Well then they should’ve been stronger..’

Thinking of strength, Noah checked to see how close Fenrir was to going up a level after his nightly adventure. It made him remember that he still had to change the way they were sharing experience. Since his creatures were now getting bonus experience, he chose to do a 60-40 split for each. The extra experience would make up for the difference while not interfering with his own growth.

Turning towards Ailetta, he noticed that she was already looking towards him with the intent to fight.

"Are you willing to fight with me?" His question caused her eyes to widen in shock before she eventually smiled.

"That’s what I’ve always wanted!"

Noah couldn’t help but smile in return, his smile faded just as quickly as it came before addressing her.

"For now, just stay close to me and use your skills. We will slowly raise your level as we go. Now that I think about it, are you able to control one of the zombies without "killing" it?

"Hmm I should be able to if I try hard enough. But..." Aitletta’s gaze turned towards the floor, her voice turning more into a whisper. "I could only possibly control it for a few minutes if it were one of the regular ones. If it’s something like ’those’, she then gestured towards the evolved zombies. "I think the best that I can manage is just immobilizing them. She dejectedly explained having to voice her own inabilities. Cursing herself that even now she was showing such weakness in front of Noah who continued to effortlessly become so powerful.

Despite how she assumed Noah would view her lack of ability, instead, he hummed to himself, thinking of the next best course of action to allow her to participate.

"What about if I took out one of those special zombies? Would you have any problem controlling its corpse? He inquired instead. There was a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he voiced the question. An enlightened thought opened up to him, one that could potentially aid Ailetta, but could also be frowned upon.

Oblivious to his ominous schemes, she quickly responded in turn. "There shouldn’t be any problem, but is it fine?" She asked while shifting her gaze towards everyone ahead of them.

Noah was quick to catch on to what she was referring to since he was just thinking about it not too long ago.

"Yes...its fine...." He stated with a calm mind and looked at his creatures once again.

"They may think they are using me, but in the end, when the warning from that ’God’ transpires, they will soon find out why they should’ve been fighting this entire time."

Ailetta appeared to be hit by a sudden revelation. ’How could I have forgotten?’. Everyone, including her that were within their group, didn’t pay any heed to the ’Gods’ words after they got over his ominous declaration. They were barely surviving against the regular zombies, they didn’t have the comfort to entertain something out of their reach. Ailetta couldn’t stop herself from glancing over to Jasmine and the people she still considered friends.

"Shouldn’t we tel-no....is it fine if I tell them?" She asked with an expression full of worry. If she planned to leave them like she said she would, then wouldn’t they become fated to die if they continued like this? To her question, Noah only indifferently shrugged.

"It doesn’t matter as long as they don’t try to tell me what to do. But you need to wake up." Noah’s response gave rise to confusion to appear in Ailetta’s expression. Although she pretended to not understand what he was referring to, deep down she felt ashamed of herself.

"I’m not going to tell you to stop caring about them, but you need to focus on yourself more because they are doing the same thing. They will do any and everything to try to keep themselves and the people they love alive. And because they are weak, that could mean sacrificing the people around them to make sure they survive." He didn’t have to say anything else to make Ailetta understand.

It wasn’t something that she wanted to accept, but it wasn’t something she could deny either. But the words ’because they are weak’, constantly replayed in her mind before she found herself another goal to grow stronger.

"That’s the look you should have, as long as you are strong, then you can do whatever you want." Noah stated, pleased to see that Ailetta was gradually maturing by. He then turned towards his two anxious companions. "Fenrir, Arachne, it’s your turn now."

.......

"What should we do? Should we turn back?" Bailey was the first to ask, her recent trauma of losing Blake making her more fearful of losing anyone else. Everyone else was also beginning to have cold feet as they looked towards the group of zombies loitering about. Their eyes were not able to move away from the zombies that Noah would consider to be ’evolved’.

"And if we turn back, then what? What if we encounter even more? Should we then just stay in the dorms and wait for these things to find us? He was right to call us pathetic," Mark argued, irritation filling his voice, though unbeknownst to the rest, he was more angry with himself.

"This isn’t something we can just charge into. I’m not sure about the weird ones, but do you think those other zombies would be like the rest and start ru—"

"Awhhoo!"

Jasmine froze in the middle of her sentence upon hearing a beast howling behind them. Just like before, the others froze in place, their recent fear amplifying under his roar. ƒгeewebnovёl_com

"Just one time, can you not start a fight without making so much noise?"

In everyone’s panic, they saw a blur and a giant wolf charging past them, with Noah’s figure following behind, carrying a stunned Ailetta in his arms. Her paralyzed state caused Noah to frown in contemplation.

’Is there no way to stop her from being affected by that? Earplugs maybe? Or...’ Noah stopped when his thoughts seemed to be heading down a drastic route. Instead, he turned his attention toward his creatures, the fighting already underway.

What he thought would be a battle was, in reality, a slaughter.

Any zombie or creature that hadn’t evolved yet didn’t stand a chance against Fenrir and Arachne. The unevolved zombies couldn’t put up a fight. With a swipe from Fenrir, their bodies were either broken apart by his overpowering strength or easily torn apart by his claws.

Arachne was even more fearsome. For every zombie she passed, a hole appeared in the center of their head. It was only when the next one was killed that the previous one would finally succumb to gravity, falling lifelessly to the ground.

Fenrir held back from using his newly improved Rulers Fury skill. Just like Noah, Fenrir wasn’t fully conscious of his actions and couldn’t allow that to happen when he wanted to fully enjoy himself while also showing off to Noah. Despite this restraint, his prowess was undiminished.

It was only when he encountered a zombie unlike any Noah had seen before that Fenrir finally put in some effort. This zombie shared the same size as the ordinary ones, but the similarities ended there. Its legs were grotesquely twisted and reversed from the knee down, resembling the limbs of a nightmarish creature. Instead of eyes, it had two massive, swirling pupils that seemed to pick up every movement with an unsettling intensity.

Its feet and hands weren’t merely pointed; they were wickedly sharp, like freshly forged blades made from rusted metal. Each finger and toe sported these blade-like appendages, gleaming with a sinister, dark sheen. The appendages were so unnaturally sharp that its feet had pierced through its shoes, leaving a trail of shredded leather and blood in its wake.

Its mouth was a gaping maw filled with jagged, broken teeth, each one resembling a dagger waiting to tear into flesh. This was no ordinary zombie; it was an abomination constructed with a specific purpose, exuding the presence of a hunter.

As Noah and Ailetta approached, Ailetta prepared to cast her spell to reanimate one of Arachne’s fallen victims. However, just as she was about to initiate her spell, the grotesque zombie vanished from Fenrir’s sight.

"Where did it go?" Ailetta whispered, her voice tinged with fear.

To the current Ailetta, the zombie appeared to have briefly vanished, but Noah was able to catch what happened. The zombie was unbelievably fast, at least faster than what they had encountered so far. It was at the same speed as the past zombie’s tentacles.

Since he was able to keep up with the zombie’s speed, Noah noticed a disturbing fact. ’That thing is coming here. Will even evolved zombies target us first?’ Noah thought as he brought out his sword, his actions confusing Ailetta in the process. It took but a moment for Noah to recognize that it wasn’t ’them’ that the zombie cared about.

Realizing that Noah could be seen as the zombies best option for evolution, not including when under the effects of his skill, he braced himself, stepping forward to confront the zombie. With his skill that could possibly control zombies, alongside his newly inherited vision and sensory ability, Noah had nothing to fear against foes superiorly faster than himself.

But just as he was about to activate the skill, he noticed the blur from before passing by, slamming into the zombie targeting him. When the blur stopped, everyone could see Arachne towering over the undead with two of her legs planted inside of it. On those two legs, the emerald green pattern at the tips began to glow, secreting a liquid that flowed into the zombie’s wounds, making it squirm as she looked down on it in disdain.

"Arachne, wait!" Noah called out, stopping her just in time. She was poised to reach for the center of its chest, likely intending to remove its core.

"Just finish it off, but don’t damage it too much. I’ll need its body," Noah instructed.

Arachne seemed displeased at not being able to mutilate the zombie that dared to attack Noah. Instead, she used her hand instead of her legs to destroy the zombie’s brain, allowing herself to fully experience the feeling of finishing off the pest. She then looked towards Fenrir, who was still running around, killing everything while fully enjoying himself. Arachne was disappointed in Fenrir for allowing its own prey to attack the person they were supposed to protect, the one who enabled them to grow this powerful.

"Don’t worry about him, just go, or do you want to get left behind?" Noah’s voice came, pacifying his queen from gaining any animosity towards her own.

Arachne’s expression became horrid at the thought, speeding away to outperform Fenrir, showcasing that she was right when she said she was stronger.

"Hehe~, I can see why you care for them so much." Ailetta giggled after seeing the frightening spider behave so innocently.

"Wha-what?" She panicked when meeting Noah’s gaze.

"There’s a body for you. Your skill is to reanimate, right? Just go after the weaker ones with that one there," he ordered sternly, ignoring her attempt at humor. When it came to gaining experience, Noah wasn’t fond of playing around. Grinding was a mentality, not a hobby.

As he looked over the corpse once more, he felt a tinge of regret. The creature would’ve been a perfect specimen to allow Fenrir to turn into one of its creations, potentially forcing the zombie to mutate into its race. If that were to happen, he could just imagine how strong the zombie would become after such a transformation. Despite the fact that Fenrir wouldn’t be able to control it, if Noah were to kill it afterward, the quality of its corpse for Ailetta would be prime material to be used as a top-tier weapon, however....

’Who knows how long it would take for the transformation to actually finish. By that time Ailetta would no longer need the zombie, Fenrir and Arachne would probably be done by then." He continued to contemplate his options, the zombie was already dead now so he had no reason to ponder about the what ifs. Instead, he thought about what he should be preparing for.

’As long as I can at least recover two of the unevolved zombie’s then it’ll still be worth it."

........

"I-I thought he wasn’t going to help us!" Someone cried out, their voice a mixture of fear and expectation. No one knew who said it since they were all watching everything transpire. There was only one person who didn’t like what they were seeing.

"He’s not..." The contradicting and ominous words caused everyone to turn towards the voice, finding Mark at its source. Jasmine thought Mark was having one of his jealous fits again and asked worriedly, "What do you mean?"

For a few moments, he didn’t bother to respond to her question, occupied with watching Ailetta reanimate the zombie that even he could barely visibly keep up with. Then, as if the zombie were never dead to begin with, it robotically rose to its feet before speeding off into the midst of the other zombies. it clawed at the nearest undead creature’s face and attempted to gnaw through its skull before swiftly moving on to its next target. Although part of its physical limits have diminished after being reanimated, giving its attacks purpose only elevated its danger potential.

Mark could understand why everyone assumed Noah was helping them.

"He’s not helping us...he’s helping himself and... her." His gaze was stuck on Ailetta, who was concentrating diligently to control such a creature.

It only took Mark pointing it out before the others began to realize what he meant. Most of them still didn’t care; if Noah was dealing with the situation, that meant they didn’t have to fight. But the smart ones had different opinions.

"I say we should fight too!" Ishii exclaimed, brandishing his sword. He didn’t want to get left behind either.

"But do you think he would like you interfering?" That question caused the fire in Ishii’s heart to die down quickly.

"I don’t think so....he said it himself, we are pathetic for not trying to fight. He wouldn’t get upset if we decided to fight now. He may seem like the devil, but he’s true to his word," Isabelle stated while watching the carnage unfold with Noah’s creatures.

But everyone was more interested in how she could insult and compliment a person at the same time.

"Tsk! There’s no point in thinking about it. I’m not going to let others fight for me. If there’s anyone else who also thinks the same, then follow me!" Mark charged without any hesitation towards the fight.

Surprisingly, as soon as he left, the small woman from earlier followed right behind him, as if she was already prepared for him to leave.

Seeing this, Ishii grew excited again and rushed off after them, which led to the others following behind.

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