Becoming a Monster-Chapter 48: Why are you Running?

Lucas’ form underwent a drastic change, almost matching the size of the new Zombie King. His dark gray fur turned to a midnight black, and he now sported a mane cascading down his spine, retaining the dark gray hue. Though he still bore the sword mark on his thigh leading to his shoulder, the scar now resembled a tribal tattoo that repeatedly glowed from green to black.

If the King’s hands were considered huge after its transformation, then compared to Lucas’s palm, its size would be deemed average. Lucas’ palm was enough to grip around Noah’s waistline, while his fingers and claws exceeded the length of his palms. His face appeared even more feral than before.

Everyone was forced to realize that Lucas was clearly a Zombie now. There was little time to contemplate why he changed so rapidly and why the change permanently made him into a werewolf that was clearly a mutation from what he once was.

"Awwwhhhhooooo!"

Lucas’s overwhelming howl caused the King to momentarily pause in its tracks, it felt as if it had met its natural enemy. When it turned its gaze towards Lucas, it was met with an intense, territorial stare that seemed to challenge its authority.

Crunch!

While the two zombies may have been acknowledging one another, there was still one person who didn’t care to notice the new foe. With a roar, the King diverted its attention from Lucas to deal with its tormentor, who had just taken another chunk out of its thigh.

"Awwwhhhhoo!"

As Lucas interpreted the King’s withdrawal from the staring contest as a sign of weakness, he seized the opportunity to strike. With the King momentarily distracted, Lucas lunged forward.

Bam!

However, the attempt didn’t go as everyone watching perceived. While the old King may have allowed itself to be taken advantage of, Lucas was only around level five. Although its strength and appearance magnified after its mutation into a were-zombie, that didn’t correlate to meaning a higher level. Despite his new states from the mutation, Lucas still couldn’t match the higher level King and its buffed stats.

With his body now huge and heavy, the sound of Lucas’s claws digging and scraping into the court amidst his strides was unmistakable to the King. Before Lucas could attend Noah’s buffet, he was swiftly kicked right between the eyes, crashing back to his original spot by the wall.

Seizing the moment, Noah lunged forward and took another bite out of the same leg that the king had managed to heal. With each successive attack, it became increasingly evident that the king’s ability to stand would soon be compromised if Noah’s relentless assault persisted.

Instinctively, the King knew that going after Noah now would be useless. It must quickly take care of the wolf, or the slippery worm would continue to take advantage of it.

With its sword in hand, the King sprinted towards Lucas, who was pulling himself out of the wall. Despite being blasted, Lucas appeared unfazed; his werewolf qualities had been enhanced after mutating.

In his bloodthirsty state, Noah couldn’t tolerate that his food was running away. He couldn’t allow this to go on anymore; he reached down for the nearest weapon. After having to dodge attacks and move around so much, the closest weapon at hand was a simple long sword. He quickly retrieved it and chased after the King.

Bang!

At the other end of the room, the doors burst open with a resounding bang, and a group of students rushed in, their weapons gripped tightly in their hands. Leading the charge, a girl with a furrowed brow scanned the chaos, her eyes searching frantically for someone amidst the turmoil. However, how could she ignore the chaos occurring at the end?

"Why did you stop? Are you afraid now? You should be glad that you hea...me?"

Mark’s voice trailed off as he approached from behind. He had been irritated at having to come here without being able to rest, and he was looking for any reason to nitpick at Bailey. But even he fell silent when confronted with a scene that would stay with him forever.

Bang, bang, bang!

One by one, the rest of the group filtered in, only to be rendered speechless by the same sight.

Staring ahead, they all witnessed the Zombie King locked in combat with a massive wolf. However, their eyes struggled to keep up with the otherworldly pace of the battle. The King’s sword swings were too fast, and the werewolf’s tenacious life force made them incapable of discerning who was winning.

Yet, amidst the two giants, a lone figure stood out, bathed in blood, hacking at both creatures. The figure didn’t seem to have a specific target; they attacked indiscriminately, striking at whatever was closest.

The figure was covered in blood, bearing a monstrous demeanor no different from the two monsters themselves currently locked in combat, making it difficult to identify the figure from a distance. However, the two insects watching helped the group connect the dots.

"Noah...?" The sudden utterance of his name snapped the rest out of their stupor. All eyes turned towards Ailetta, who was the first to recognize him. His image in his current state mirrored the one she had imprinted in her mind when she watched him fighting the horde of zombies outside. There was no way she would not recognize him.

"Noah?" Mark voiced out in disbelief. "You mean ’that’ Noah?"

No matter how much he looked at the figure, he couldn’t bring himself to accept it. It hadn’t been that long since the last time he saw him.

What he was witnessing now was a completely different person from before. The way Noah danced between the two giants made Mark doubt everything he was doing up till now. In his mind, there was no way Noah could have progressed this fast in such a short amount of time. He couldn’t accept that.

"Haha~ That can’t be right. Look! His creatures are just standing there. If that was really him then they would be fighting with him. Wake up!" Mark’s voice wavered as he attempted to delude himself into believing the words coming out of his mouth. Yet, even as he spoke, his fist clenched harder and harder after each word, the whitening of his knuckles betraying the turmoil raging within him.

Ailetta’s gaze hardened as she fixed her eyes on Mark, the loathing she looked towards him before still hasn’t changed.

"It IS him!" She snapped before quickly returning to the fight. She could see how powerful Noah had become, but she couldn’t help but worry.

Ailetta also could barely follow what was happening in front of her. All she knew was that if she tried to approach, she would be dead without even realizing it.

From the gazes of everyone else watching, they too felt the same. As Mark and the group entered, those already in the gym finally noticed their arrival.

"Bailey...? Bailey! A woman from one of the groups tasked with fighting off one of the King’s subordinates cried out in distress, rushing towards Bailey with tears in her eyes. "I thought we were gonna die!"

Bailey’s attention remained fixed on Noah’s fight, her mind swirling with countless thoughts. She was taken aback when she was suddenly hugged out of nowhere. Instantly, a genuine smile of relief washed over her face, erasing the overly worried expression she had worn since hearing of the attack. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

After checking on her friend’s physical condition, Bailey was soon briefed on everything that had happened. From the mysterious death in the showers to the arrival of Noah, Lucas, and his entourage, followed by an army of zombies, she heard it all. However, none of that information seemed as crucial as what they heard during Ibby’s rambling.

Bailey’s voice trembled as she struggled to make sense of Ibby’s cryptic revelation. "Ib-Ibby...Wha-what do you mean....he was eating it? You’re not making sense..." Bailey’s voice faltered while stumbling over her question, not only her, but the rest shared in her disbelief when Ibby mentioned Noah consuming the zombie king’s flesh.

The thought of eating zombie meat was so repulsive that they felt the need to hurl. Who in their right mind would cater to such an idea even if you were able to gain something to gain from it? And how could they possibly avoid infection when a mere scratch alone was enough to turn someone.

"What do you know??" Ibby’s voice rose, frustration unknowingly building upon her traumatic experience being doubted. "We all saw it! Wait! What if he’s just like one of those things? Those zombies...?" Ibby’s emotions overwhelmed her, leading to a mumbling rant. However, her question resonated with everyone else, prompting them to ponder the same question. Someone, in particular, was more than intrigued to entertain the possibility.

"Yes...yes! That could explain everything." Mark exclaimed, his voice unable to contain his sense of satisfaction at the realization. "There’s no way he could become that strong unless he turned into those things and mutated like that overgrown zombie. But instead of size he probably got faster...HA! Jas, we came here to find answers to avoid turning and he actually became one of them? You can’t make this up!"

Mark began to chuckle to himself, and no one else offered to respond. Even Ailetta herself found herself at a loss for words. More than anything, she didn’t want to believe it, but what other explanation could there be for Noah actually consuming the flesh of a zombie? What sane person could do such a thing?

"Aaawwhooo!"

"!"

"Everyone! Now’s not the time, it’s coming!"

"Wha-what happnened to Noah?"

"Who cares? Worry about yourself first!"

From a distance they could see the enlarged beast running towards them on all fours. Deep cuts were visible on every one of its limbs, though the wounds weren’t bleeding as profusely as they appeared. The wolf was slowly regenerating its injuries. Compared to the current humans, the pace of its recovery was abnormally fast.

Ailetta prepared herself to fight for her life, but not without casting a worried glance towards Noah. She couldn’t help but wonder why the wolf had decided to make its way here.

Before they confronted Lucas’ zombie transformation, Noah at the time was relentlessly attacking both monsters. The King found itself under assault from both Noah and Lucas, though it barely received any damage from Lucas’s strikes. However, it couldn’t finish off either opponent; for every swing it dealt, a sword would hack at its lower limbs.

Surprisingly, the damage from the sword was slightly less than Noah’s bites. The sword had endured so much that after hacking into the new thickness of the King’s skin, it dulled extremely fast.

Noah couldn’t bother himself with this observation, he just had to swing harder and faster. The swings grew in number but while this proceeded, the King had to change its priorities once again.

Since it couldn’t finish off the wolf fast enough, the King needed to remove it from the fight temporarily. It kicked the wolf as far as it could, resulting in the wolf becoming distracted when it noticed the large groups of potential food. The constant loss of blood and continuous use of recovery further stimulated its appetite. Despite being considered a zombie, its bodily functions were still active.

As a result, the group now found themselves battling the were-zombie while Noah re-engaged with the King.

Arachne observed that Noah was no longer consuming the King’s flesh and felt it was appropriate to join the fight. However, the overwhelming aura emanating from the King was still preventing them from intervening.

Speechlessly, they both agreed to redirect their frustrations towards the were-zombie instead.

Noah on the other hand, was gaining an overwhelming advantage against the King. Both of the King’s legs were badly damaged, no matter how hard it tried, its swings were less powerful and fast as before without having a proper posture.

He proceeded to stay on top of the King, leaving it with barely any chance to swing his sword now that it couldn’t move properly. It had to resort to stabbing towards Noah in a downward motion. However Noah continued to maneuver around through the King’s legs while he unceasingly hacked at it before...

Snap!*

With a sharp snap, the weight of its own body caused the severely damaged bones of the King’s legs to give way, rendering it unable to support itself. Mindlessly it attempted to prop itself up yet was unable to, soon it saw the little monster heading towards its face.

The imminent threat of death spurred the King into a frenzy of defense, swinging its sword wildly in an attempt to keep the little monster at bay. Its feeble struggles gnawed away at Noah’s frustrations with each attempt to hold him back. Noah’s rising impatience didn’t interfere with his ability to evade the incoming strikes, though his urge to feed on the king was being replaced with a new priority. Now, he just wanted to stop it from moving altogether so he could finish what he wanted to do from the very beginning.

Each swing the king delivered, Noah dodge while steadying closing the distance between them. Noah’s gaze was seemingly oblivious to the king’s eerie sword as he danced with death, his gaze remaining fixed on the king’s head. Even though Noah was a bloodthirsty wreck under the control of his skill, his body instinctively knew the most effective way to neutralize his prey. And now that he was finally able to reach it, he aimed directly for the kings brain.

The zombie King, realizing the imminent threat, finally had to relinquish its hold on its sword if it planned to prevent Noah from getting closer. With an open hand, it made a swiping motion to keep Noah at bay, but then it saw a black substance that it hadn’t seen since the very beginning of its confrontation with Noah.

If the King were able to talk, it would have only two words to say.

"Fuck me..."

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