Becoming a Monster-Chapter 67: Destruction of the Soul

Noah’s acceptance of his specific race had grown over time, as he had come to terms with who he was. What concerned him was what he had done to finally prompt the system to question his race.

’Hmm...but I don’t feel different at all...’ He thought, even as blood continued to drip from his mouth after the hearts he had casually snacked on.

’Screw it, that’s not too important so it can wait. But how could I forget about the fact that absorbing the cores is penalized? Noah grumbled, feeling aggravated by his oversight. "I was really looking forward to breaking my mana stats with those cores.....Ugh that’s so aggravating...Even my level one skills didn’t progress as much as I hoped they would’

Noah went back to check over the stats one more time, just to be sure. Despite the disappointment of the exploit not working as expected, he couldn’t help but feel satisfied with how well his stats panel had progressed compared to before.

’My two newest skills have reached 100% and I still was able to gain a decent amount of mana despite that stupid penalty. Not to mention that this isn’t the end. The zombies will only get stronger, which means their cores should be of better quality righ? Hehe! I’m getting excited all over again.’

Observing that his companions had finished their tasks, Noah decided it was time to move on.

’But before that, I need to reset the ratio of our experience again. If ten means what I think it means, then I need to hurry and reach it.’

With the weight of the godly beings’ words heavy on his mind, Noah felt a growing urgency to boost his strength as quickly as possible. He shifted the ratio from 20:80 to 80:20. His plan was to enlist the help of his creatures to power level his way to level 10. Assessing the amount of experience required, he realized he had a long journey ahead of him. However, he was confident that by facing more advanced creatures and zombies, he could reach level 10 before the day was over.

"Wait Ishii!"

The girl who could control flying objects tightened her grip on Ishii’s arm when she noticed he was about to call out to Noah again. Determined to distance herself as much as possible from that man, she also wanted to prevent Ishii from becoming corrupted by Noah’s feral behavior. However, to her dismay, it already seemed that Ishii was being heavily influenced by him, despite Noah’s gruesome display.

"Bu-but Alicia, did you not see what he was doing? And that bag he pulled a freakin bow out of? The guy definitely knows things that could help us. He doesn’t seem bad, it wouldn’t hurt a-"

Before Ishii could get another word out, Alicia was triggered by what he said. Her expression morphed into one of livid anger and disbelief, a storm brewing behind her eyes. Unable to contain the intensity of her emotions, the volume of her voice exploded forth. "Doesn’t seem bad?? He was LITERALLY eating hearts for crying out loud! AND he was smiling while doin- Mpmh!"

Realizing the potential danger of her outburst, Alicia quickly covered her mouth, her eyes darting around anxiously to ensure she hadn’t attracted any unwanted attention. She couldn’t believe she had broken character like that, but Noah’s actions had pushed her to the edge, unleashing a torrent of raw emotion she hadn’t known she was capable of.

Ishii stood there blankly, recalling the past events, and finally came to a realization that she was right. But maybe Noah had a good reason, at least that’s what he wanted to believe. Alicia observed the inner struggle he was going through and sighed once again. She knew Ishii’s character; he was just too kind.

"Let’s not think about it," Alicia suggested, trying to redirect their focus away from Noah’s disturbing actions. "Remember, he mentioned the people at the cafeteria. If he knows them, then that means they might also have the same knowledge that he does. Let’s hurry before we miss them."

Under her insistence, the group gathered what little belongings they could and began to trek their way back from where Noah had come from.

Meanwhile, as Noah slowly made his way to the center building, where students typically enrolled and inquired about financial aid, he braced himself for potential confrontation. However, upon reaching the backside of the building, he was met with a grim scene: corpses littered the ground, and blood and bodies led into the open doors of the building.

However, it wasn’t just corpses that he saw, but also the scavengers attracted to them. Flocks of birds were preying on the dead bodies, their caws mingling with the sickening sounds of flesh being torn apart. Among them included two gigantic vultures towering above human size. These birds were clearly different from their original counterparts. Noah could discern that the crows, now at least a foot taller, their beaks adorned with jagged, teeth-like protrusions, visible with his enhanced vision.

He planned to avoid the birds since he had no means to chase them in the air. However, as his gaze landed on the vultures, Noah felt an irritating twitch in his eyes, a hidden anger threatening to overcome all his senses as he vividly remembered the vulture from before. He knew he needed to at least take down one of them, remembering the promise he made to himself.

"Maybe I can see if I can still tame another creature..." Noah muttered, an evil smirk emerging on his face as he basked in the revenge he could perform to the creature.’Hopefully I can’t, for its sake.’ Noah turned towards Arachne, noticing that she was also eyeing the vulture’s with animosity.

"Arachne, try to capture one. I don’t care what happens to the other. Fenrir, just kill as many of these things as you can. Arachne, You can attack whenever you’re ready, we’ll go when you start." After giving orders, he watched Arachne situate herself, habitually tethering herself to her original location before her legs visibly bulged, ready to leap at a moments notice.

Whoosh!

Arachne exploded faster than a cannonball, leaving Noah impressed by her speed. He knew that such an explosive move would likely drain a considerable amount of stamina from her, but that’s what Fenrir was for.

Screech!*

Before Noah could even react, he heard the overlapping flapping of wings. Despite the flock of birds growing in size, they still retained the instinct of birds and took flight as soon as a predator emerged. Amidst the jarring sound of wingbeats, Noah could clearly discern the distress call emanating from the vulture Arachne had targeted.

It’s been awhile, but Arachne has finally found a prey that wasn’t immune or resistant to her venom. With predatory instinct, she made sure to sink her fangs into the vulture’s body, purposefully avoiding its wings to ensure her venom had maximum impact.

Hiss!*

Arachne hissed angrily as the vulture struck her in its last-ditch effort to fight back. With its sharp beak, it managed to puncture her backside, which was almost equivalent to body armor. It was perhaps the deepest injury she had received so far, highlighting the dangers posed by the vulture who was able to utilize its most lethal weapons.

After the attack, the effects of the venom became evident. The vulture’s body stiffened, and slowly its head and neck began to lower.

Meanwhile, the vulture’s partner screamed from the side. Initially startled like the rest, it jumped away, but upon witnessing the distress of its partner, it cried out in vengeance and returned to attack Arachne.

Arachne sensed that she had already accomplished her task in incapacitating the first creature. Though the prey wouldn’t die immediately, it was effectively out of commission. Now, she had to find a way to subdue the next one for Noah without causing it fatal harm.

"Awwhhhoooo!"

Soon, however, Arachne could easily feel the tremors in the ground and hear the sound of the food thief approaching. When the vulture attempted to rip into her body, she quickly pulled herself away by jumping and retreating with her web.

Boom!

After the vulture missed its target, Fenrir pounced upon it, pinning it to the ground with his overly large paw that was half the size of the bird’s body. Despite the bird’s size, its wings were still only meant for flight; lacking muscle or appendages, it was impossible for it to use its "arms" to free itself. And although Fenrir was incredibly strong, he had no need for his strength when he was a big boy, his massive size naturally came with the weight to match it, making it difficult for the vulture to escape being squashed under his weight alone. Sensing the bird still struggling beneath him, he pressed his other paw onto its back, causing the vulture to gawk in pain.

Noah wasn’t expecting the other birds to leave, especially given their sizes and new features of teeth. He had assumed they would be more aggressive, so their first instinct to escape helped him feel relieved for the future. Dealing with insects was bad enough; he didn’t want to have to constantly deal with birds too.

He quickly made his way over to Fenrir and the pinned vulture while Arachne kept a lookout for anything approaching. Noah noticed that despite being held down, the vulture’s neck was still moving freely. Its sharp beak that was already proven to bypass Arachne’s dense exterior hacked away at Fenrir’s paw. Observing this caused a rise of concern for his beast, worryingly, he glanced over to Fenrir to see his expression, realizing that his concerns were unneeded.

The silly beast seemed oblivious to the pain being inflicted on him, his attention fixated on the bird’s body while salivating. Although Noah’s concerns weren’t entirely necessary, he still proceeded to attempt to tame the animal. He shot his webs along the bird’s neck and face, fully tethering it to the ground to commence the taming process.

To his surprise, he found himself in that familiar space again. ’Does this mean I can tame another creature? Wait! What happened to... me?’ He was momentarily distracted before his attention was drawn to the sphere symbolizing his soul or consciousness, still unsure of what it was.

His sphere emitted an eerie aura compared to before. Noah recalled that his sphere was originally white with specks of black and red that were slowly gaining volume. However, now it held an almost unnoticeable translucent purple halo around it, casting an eerie glow surrounding his sphere. The most obvious changes occurred when he could see that the black and red were slowly mixing, resembling gaseous lightning clouds similar to something like Jupiter.

Realizing he would never make sense of what was happening in this space, he focused on the sphere in front of him and continued to advance, determined to complete the taming process.

’Something’s not right...’ He thought to himself as he progressed through the vulture’s barriers. In this world, of course the orbs didn’t have mouths, but Noah could sense the bird’s "screams" of agony as he advanced closer. The pain was becoming more clear as he approached a considerable distance, and even the vulture’s resistance began diminish

The vulture’s orb grew increasingly unstable, its lights flickering dimly before intensifying and shooting off flares erratically.

Noah paused, considering whether he should give up his attempt to tame the creature. But a dangerous thought entered his mind. ’What would happen if I continued?’ That thought alone was enough for him to disregard any concerns about the potential consequences. After all, the bird was in pain, not him, so it should be safe for him to continue, right?

Intense vibration!*

Noah approached the vulture’s consciousness and attempted to still connect to it. Yet, as he drew near, the ethereal realm around him began to tremble,, and the orb pulsated as if it were a beating heart. Noah’s own sense of unease grew as he braced himself for what might come next. That’s when Its glow began to flicker repeatedly before suddenly bursting out with a blinding white light.

During this time, Noah could sense the vulture’s feelings, and the pain seemed more unbearable than being skinned alive. Before Noah could fully process what was happening, the orb dispersed into a glitter of particles, and he was abruptly kicked out of the space.

Noah stood there, hovering over the vulture’s head, still wearing a confused expression as he contemplated what had just occurred. When he regained his senses, he looked down at the vulture’s face and noticed it was covered in blood. Blood oozed from its mouth to its eyes, obscuring its pupils from view, and part of its tongue lay beside it, accidentally bitten off during the struggle.

’So....Maybe it’s a good thing I tried it now before I actually tried to tame something I liked. But don’t blame me, blame your brethren before you that tried to eat me.’

After his failed experiment, he went to check his loot from the silver chest that dropped. While he gathered his belongings, he assigned Arachne and Fenrir a mission: to retrieve the hearts from the zombies corpses.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by f(r)eew𝒆bn(o)vel.com