Becoming a Monster-Chapter 45: The Kings Arrogance

Noah’s mind raced with frustration and pride. How long had he endured being looked down upon? No matter where he went, people of all statuses would regard him with disdain. And now, even a zombie dared to treat him the same way?

Tightening his grip on his axes, he took a defiant step forward, ready to face the challenge head-on.

"No, you two, I’ll handle him alone..." Noah indifferently declared to his companions, who were eager to join him in battle. He tried not to show it, but he was angry. What he also didn’t want to happen was for the zombie king to reject the duel if he allowed his creatures to assist him.

"Grrwwrr! Grrrrrw!" Noah halted in his tracks as the zombie king roared once more, lifting its sword and gesturing towards both Arachne and Grim in turn.

"Really?" Noah muttered, sensing the challenge implied in the zombie king’s actions. Arachne and Grim maybe didn’t know what the zombie was implicating, but Noah did. The zombie king was challenging all three of them.

If the zombie was intentionally trying to get under Noah’s skin, then it was doing a good job of it.

"Fine, have it your way." Turning back around, he called out. "Arachne, Grim, let’s fuck him up!"

When the zombie king saw the two monsters about to approach, it re-entered its stance and initiated the duel. The king decides the fight and decides when it starts. Its footsteps were heavier than before and so was its aura. Its towering height enabled it to close the distance in just three calculated strides.

Despite Arachne’s inherent speed advantage as a spider, her instincts prompted her to pause and observe before making a move. On the other hand, Grim didn’t enjoy the pressure the king was emitting. A mantis, even in the presence of its predators, would not show fear. The king’s aura spurred the creature to beat its wings harder than before, taking to the air to do what it does best.

Ding!*

However, this would be the second time since it mutated that it missed its target, and the first to be outright blocked.

The scene was undoubtedly shocking, particularly for Lucas and his companions, who struggled to keep up with Grim’s incredible speed. Only Zoe managed to perceive Grim’s movements with any clarity while he was in flight. Though the others were more concerned with Grim’s alarming speed, Noah was surprised by something else.

’It clearly raised its guard before Grim attacked...can it predict the future or is it actually faster than Grim?’ The scene sparked a flurry of thoughts in Noahs mind as he recalled the ’king’s’ preemptive defensive stance before Grim’s attack.

At the same time he was thinking, he dashed towards the zombie king to enter the fray. This time he wasn’t planning on using his instincts skill, at least not yet. There wasn’t enough information to go on. If the monster could predict the future ’and’ was faster, then clearly this isn’t something he could handle alone. He would most likely die without being aware of it if he used the skill now because he wouldn’t be able to think logically.

The king observed Noah’s approach with disdain, its lack of vigilance betraying the contempt it held towards its challenger.

Ding ding ding*

Without being under the influence of his skill, Noah could only perform heavy swings without a shred of technique. While technique wasn’t crucial against regular zombies, this encounter highlighted the limitations of relying solely on brute strength against a more formidable foe. Nonetheless, Noah had no other option but to continue with said crutch, utilizing whatever agility he possessed to quicken the tempo of his attacks.

As Noah’s swing toward the giant’s leg was blocked, he quickly followed up with a strike aimed at the king’s stomach, only to have it effortlessly deflected, throwing him off balance. If he had considered runner zombies strong before, this creature was on an entirely different level.

While Noah’s body was forced to turn after being deflected, Grim made his second appearance, aiming for the head once again. Having never had its attacks blocked before, Grim, with his simple thinking, figured that if one was blocked then why not use two?

However, the zombie king grew tired of playing defensively. Upon deflecting Grim’s first incoming blade, it swiftly rotated its shoulders, not only throwing Grim off balance but also setting itself up for a counterattack.

Bang!

Everything happened in a moment. In the time it took Noah to regain his balance, Grim was sent flying. The king capitalized on the momentum of its deflection, lunging forward with its shoulder to strike Grim’s body while still mid-air. Grim soared through the air, landing meters away on one of the training mats in the middle of the room. This sudden turn of events provided Arachne with the opening she had been waiting for.

"GRRWRRR!"

The king roared loudly in pain before glaring down at its thigh. Arachne waited for the time the zombie shifted all its weight onto its leading foot when it used its shoulder to attack Grim. In that brief interaction, she sprung into action, sinking her fangs into its back leg.

Clutching onto the zombie’s limb, Arachne unleashed as much venom as she could. Faced with this unexpected assault, the zombie king had to make a split-second decision: attempt to shake her off, use its hand to strike her, or try to stab her with its sword. However, the length of its sword made the last option impractical with Arachne clinging directly to its leg, so it opted to use its fist. Viewing the feeble human as the weakest threat, the zombie prioritized dealing with the spider first, especially after feeling the function in its leg rapidly deteriorating from the spider’s venom.

The king’s keen gaze observed every detail around it, including Noah’s unexpected action of dropping his weapons just as it prepared to strike the spider. Was the king confused about his actions? Yes, but who wouldn’t be afraid to fight in the presence of a king? The zombie king could only assume Noah had surrendered his life.

"Bad decision!!" He heard the human scream while at the same time black silk quickly shot out of the human’s wrist. In a synchronized move, just as the king lunged forward to attack Arachne, she deftly evaded the strike, as if anticipating the outcome. Despite their relatively short time together, Arachne and Noah displayed remarkable coordination. Their bond, stronger than Grim’s, proved to be their advantage in this crucial moment.

The zombie king missed its opportunity to cut through the approaching webs when it chose to attack Arachne instead. The sticky substance swiftly encased its arm wielding the sword, while simultaneously wrapping around its torso without resistance. Struggling against the constricting silk, its arm remained tightly pinned to its sides, unable to move.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, the spectators remained frozen in place. They couldn’t believe what they were witnessing: less than ten exchanges between Noah and the zombie king had revealed a shocking reality. It became clear to them that Noah and his creatures were being effortlessly toyed with by the king zombie.

When Lucas witnessed Noah being thrown off balance and Grim being knocked out of the fight in rapid succession, he felt a sense of relief and immense satisfaction.

’I was right! He’s nothing without those two. This is what he deserves, but don’t worry, I’ll still avenge you because that’s what a bigger man would do.’ A smug grin spread across his face, his body subtly leaning forward in anticipation of Noah’s downfall. He couldn’t wait to prove to everyone that Noah wasn’t as great as they thought he was.

That’s when Noah’s following action tilted the predetermined outcome Lucas had been anticipating.

"??? Did you see that? It’s the webs, the same webs that were blocking the door! Maybe he really can defeat it. We need to help him!" LeRoy was preparing to aid Noah but Lucas held him back, his expression unreadable.

"Lucas...? What are you doing? This is our chance! Are you not the one who said you will be the one to put Nathan to rest? Well now’s the time—"

"Rrrroooaaarrrr!"

Before LeRoy could finish, an overbearing roar, more intimidating and domineering than the previous one, echoed through the room. The sound sent shivers through the spectators, causing Joe, the weakest among them, to collapse to his hands and knees, his face drained of color.

"Wha-what’s happening!" LeRoy’s voice trembled.

"It... it didn’t do this before..." Fear gripped them all as they watched the zombie king with dread.

Just as Noah and Arachne were prepared to take advantage of the bounded zombie, four zombies, two from both sides of the king, stepped out of their ranks. The zombie king started to glow, a green aura formed around it before turning into a dark ghastly green gas that flowed into the four zombies.

Noah wasn’t sure if attacking right now would be the right decision. If the zombie king’s ongoing transformation made it vulnerable in the process then he wouldn’t hesitate to attack. But the greenish gas surrounding the king felt eerie enough to make him reconsider. If it was poisonous then he would be running to his death.

He observed the gas flowing into the four zombies’ bodies. Since the zombie king was no longer moving, he used this chance to check on Grim. The mantis was clearly struggling to recover; the attack had taken its toll. Grim’s right blade was visibly bent at the point where it connected to the rest of his arm, and his wings appeared to be damaged from the impact from the blow. During the attack, Grim had been unable to retract his wings, resulting in them bearing the brunt of the impact when he crashed into the mat at an alarming speed.

As Noah watched, the gas enveloped the four zombies, triggering a chilling transformation. Their eyes shifted to a menacing blood-red hue, mirroring the glow emanating from the king!

’No... don’t tell me...’

"Arachne, we need to go, now!" Noah roared. He couldn’t fully grasp what was happening, but he sensed danger. From what he saw, it appeared that the king was going to create miniature versions of itself. While he may have had a chance when fighting the king alone, he knew he was way out of his league to fight the king and the new contenders.

Noah’s first priority was retrieving his bag, giving up the thought of retrieving his two-handed axe. The last thing he needed was a repeat of the treasure chest incident, risking someone stealing his bag containing all of his hard-earned loot. Next, he planned to place Grim into his soul cage, but there was a problem.

’There’s not enough time! Who knows if it would take just as long as it did with Arachne.’ Noah’s thoughts raced as he hovered over Grim, he could tell that Grim was in pain, but the mantis still mustered the will to continue the fight. He really was like a soldier through and through, but Noah couldn’t allow him to throw his life away.

"Not now, Grim... We will pay him back soon, but not now. We need more than just us to fight." With a reassuring pat on Grim’s belly, Noah led the retreat towards the door he had originally blocked. From a distance, he spotted Lucas and his group watching from afar, their faces betraying fear and confusion at his approach.

As Noah approached, he couldn’t help but wonder, ’What were they planning to gain by sitting here? No matter... Even if they didn’t want to fight, I plan on involving them all.’

————————————————

|Flashback: At the cafeteria|

In the shelter, Jas and Mark’s voices clashed in a tense exchange.

"Mark, stop being stubborn, this is your life we are talking about! We need to find him, he’ll definitely know how to avoid changing."

"So you think he’s better than me too? We don’t need him! I feel fine..."

Jas and Mark could be heard arguing with one another. Besides the issue with Mark being infected, they now had another problem.

When returning they weren’t prepared for the sight of such an influx of students seeking refuge. While food wasn’t an issue initially, with the increased amount of people sheltering at their location, who knows how long it would take before food becomes an issue. Thankfully, most were too scared to bother about their hunger, but jas anticipated that once the initial panic subsided, infighting over resources would inevitably ensue.

Amidst their discussions, they learned about a mysterious shopkeeper on the second floor rumored to sell all manner of fantastical items and more. This revelation sparked hope within the group.

Mark, Jas, and Ailetta eagerly made their way to the designated room, trailed by the group that had recently battled with them against the zombie horde.

To their surprise, upon entering the room, there was already a group of four interacting with the said shopkeeper. Among them stood someone Jas recognized all too well: Bailey, the school’s renowned sports star.

"Bailey? Thank goodness you made it out alive... but I can’t talk right now, Mark has been injured. I need to see if that ’person’ has anything that could cure him!"

Jas impatiently attempted to push past Bailey. But to her surprise, Bailey stopped her, causing Jas to furrow her brows in confusion.

"What’s the meaning of this, Bailey?"

"Don’t get upset, Jas, I’m not trying to stop you... but we already checked for something similar while looking. There is something that could help you, if he’s infected like I think he is then there’s a potion that can cure a ’lower ranked’ zombie infect-"

"That’s it! That’s what we need! Now move, Bailey! I don’t know how much longer he has!" Jas interjected, her desperation overshadowing her decorum.

"Wait! Before you check, just know that it’ll cost 1,500 gold. If you have that much then be my guest, I just didn’t want you to waste your time and get your hopes up since even we don’t have that much gold right now..." freeweɓnøvel~com

Unlike the depression and despair Bailey and her group thought Jas would show, instead she seemed relieved. ’Did they really have that much gold?’ But then they found out the answer for her relief.

"Ca-can you let us borrow what you have then? And we can pay you back in the future?" She asked hopefully, but soon she began to panic when she saw the unsettling looks exchanged between Bailey and her comrades. But Mark also saw the hesitation and he felt aggrieved. Was his life worth less than these people’s gold?

"Jas don’t worry about it. I told you before, I won’t change. If ’he’ couldn’t become infected after being bitten then how would I? No need to beg these people, they aren’t worth it." Jas wanted to argue back. She noticed Mark’s mentality and judgment has been becoming worse and worse ever since he met Noah. Thankfully the other side spoke up to defend themselves.

"It’s not what it sounds like, believe me!" Bailey bowed her head while she pleaded. Jas couldn’t help but notice the tears falling down her cheek when Bailey lifted her face. The resentment that was building towards her friend started to diminish.

"Even if we lent it to you, we don’t think we will survive that long if we don’t use it for ourselves... how will you be able to pay us back then?" The question really shocked not only Jas, but also Mark and the small group that followed.

"Wha-what do you mean by that? If we can heal Mark then we can stick together. Surely we would all have a better chance to live if we stuck together." Jasmine wasn’t sure why they would be so assured of their deaths, but from the looks of her companions, even they seemed to believe it.

Silence stretched between them as Bailey struggled to find the words. Just the thought of the creature that would haunt her dreams only made her emotions run high. The silence would’ve continued to drag if it wasn’t for the biggest guy there taking a step forward, breaking the silence with a heavy heart.

"We are... all too weak... if we don’t become... stronger... we will... die..."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢