Becoming a Monster-Chapter 75: Are Zombies growing too Fast?

"Can we just get a break already?" Agitation seeped into Noah’s voice as he voiced his frustration, his weary tone betraying the toll of their relentless battles. Despite Fenrir’s unwavering stamina, both he and Arachne showed signs of weariness, their injuries and fatigue impossible to ignore.

Noah couldn’t ignore his injuries right now, and even though he healed Arachne’s leg, he could tell she was growing tired too. The excessive jumping she had to do was taking its toll.

"Fenrir, it’s up to you, boy," he said, patting the wolf’s side before motioning towards the door, preparing to open it. To be safe, he retrieved his small dagger to defend himself; he couldn’t be too sure if there might be an unknown factor. The sudden emergence of the giant zombie had made him a little paranoid.

Before Noah opened the door, he switched the amount of experience he shared with his creatures to 10-90% from the 80-20% before, letting himself only receive ten percent of the experience from now on. Having reached his goal of reaching level 10, his next focus was to have his creatures acquire a new class or what he believed to be an evolution, just like the zombies.

This was also why he was waiting to use Arachne’s points. He knew the description of the class he was going to get, but he didn’t exactly know how he was going to help his creatures through his skills. What if he increased her strength, only to find out that his new advanced class would supplement it instead? Or what if her evolution led her to become more of a magic user? Then wasting points in her strength would be all for naught. So, to err on the side of caution, he decided to acquire his skills first before distributing her attribute points.

When he was preparing to open the door, he noticed Arachne was edging closer to the door alongside Fenrir, eager to fight still even though Noah could tell that she was growing fatigued. He wanted to stop her, but he hesitated. He was beginning to realize even more that his spider was very proud and didn’t like to feel like she wasn’t useful. Her behavior encouraged him, knowing that the class he was going to choose would help her in her goal.

"Go!" Noah ordered, forcing the door open. It was a tight squeeze, but Fenrir rushed in immediately, unintentionally knocking the door off its hinges. Noah didn’t have to look inside to see what was in there. The heavy stench of blood filled his nose, causing it to scrunch in distaste. He usually enjoyed the smell of blood, but this blood smelled as if it was spoiled.

Above the sickening scent of blood, Noah could hear the growls emanating from the other side of the door, accompanied by the unmistakable sound of flesh and bone being chewed through.

Right behind Fenrir, Arachne quickly accompanied, but the area wasn’t big enough for her to jump around as she darted into the cramped space, while Noah trailed behind.

The first sight Noah took notice of were corpses on the ground and mangled zombies without a lower body still moving. Fenrir still hadn’t fully learned his lesson that a zombie isn’t dead if the brain wasn’t destroyed. However, Noah did notice that the zombies who incurred more blood loss were a lot less active than the others.

But it was challenging to argue this point when the injured zombies likely moved slower due to physical limitations.

Arachne was eager to clean up the zombies left behind by Fenrir like she always did. She would eagerly walk over to any moving corpse and pierce their skull with her leg. With the small area given to them, it was almost impossible to tell if the zombies here were regular walking zombies or if any of them had developed the ability to run.

Either way, the trio swiftly took care of the zombies in the first-floor lobby area. There were still zombies further down the hall, but it would be counterintuitive for Noah to send Fenrir into an even smaller space to fight them.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t wait it out; the noise they created was a trigger for the zombies in the halls to make a break for them. There were only about eight zombies left in the hall, and even then, five of them were runners while one was definitely a sprinter.

’At this rate, will all the zombies evolve by tomorrow?’ Noah couldn’t help but wonder. The ratio of running zombies to walking zombies was increasing by the hour. But it made sense when he once again saw the corpses on the floor missing their hearts.

The rapid evolution fueled Noah’s curiosity. Why were the cores able to allow zombies to advance so fast while everything else had to kill in order to grow? Noah just couldn’t place his finger on it, but deep down, he felt that his skill ’Budding Feeder’ might have the answer.

’Or I can try to talk to them now that I have that skill, but are they even capable of communicating yet?’ While deep in his thoughts, Noah didn’t bother to pay attention to the zombies coming to give him free experience. Just the huge increase in Fenrir’s strength caused him to be unmatched by any zombie under level 10, unless it turned out to be some form of unique zombie like the Zombie King from before.

After dispatching the zombies in the first section of the floor, Noah decided it prudent to ascend at least one level before initiating his class change. Despite his anticipation of the impending transformation, he remained cautious, mindful of the potential risks posed by attracting unwanted attention.

Noah’s decision to move to a higher floor was motivated by a desire to minimize the likelihood of encountering any creatures drawn to the commotion. While acknowledging the possibility of threats still breaching the second-floor windows, he reasoned that the chances were significantly reduced compared to remaining on the ground level.

"But before that..." Noah arrived in front of the silver chest that dropped. He was half expecting a gold chest since most of the zombies they killed seemed to be runners and some sprinters, but it didn’t upset him in the least.

"This is probably what happens when the fight is too easy... or maybe it has to do with me being level ten... Hmm, I won’t really know until Fenrir and Arachne reach that level too." With a shrug, he decided that answers would come in due time, and turned his attention to the chest before him.

He continued to open the chest while he was thinking and saw that the chest only had three items, not including the gold. But he was already satisfied when he saw one of the items being another mana potion. He looked towards the other two items. One was a dark green cloak that Noah could wear, going down towards his elbows, with a hood attached and a large button to keep the cloak secured.

Without hesitation, Noah slipped the cloak over his shoulders, but his excitement waned when he noticed no immediate change in his stats.

"Looking good is fine and all," Noah muttered to himself, "but I don’t want anything hindering my movements."

’Maybe if It came with an ability or effect of some kind, then I can still use it...I’ll just save it for later, maybe I can get that skill to identify items or find someone who can.’ Noah placed the cloak in his ring before moving to the last item.

As he laid eyes on the final item, a mixture of emotions flickered across Noah’s face. His lips formed a frown, yet his eyes sparkled with a hint of nostalgia. Carefully, he withdrew a relatively long weapon that bore an uncanny resemblance to the hammer he had obtained at the outset of his journey.

In a moment of introspection, Noah found himself lost in memories of the journey that had brought him to this point, his thoughts drifting as he cradled the hammer in his hands before gently placing it into the ring.

’I may not ever use you, but I’ll carry you with me for a little longer, old friend.’

While he was busy collecting the gold, he realized he had another notification. This time he just quickly glanced at it since he had a gut feeling that he knew what it was pertaining to.

[Your tamed creature Fenrir Leveled Up! +5 attributes!]

[Your tamed creature, Fenrir, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in agility, perk based on class Lycan obtained; ’Predatory Acceleration’]

[Predatory Acceleration-You enjoy the thrill of the hunt and a nice chase. Agility is increased by 20% when your prey is running away or hiding in fear of you.]

’I almost forgot that he was close to getting 50! This skill won’t help much against the zombies, but if humans planned to mess with me....Well let’s see them try to run, wait? What am I saying? They would have to escape Arachne first.’

Noah smiled to himself, reminded of how strong he was becoming, but he knew that time waited for no one. If he became complacent, he could see himself being left behind before he realized it.

Feeling a sense of urgency to advance his class, Noah hastened to locate a suitable room, his mind racing with anticipation. Yet, the task of retrieving the cores remained unfinished.

The area was too small for Fenrir’s "delicate" touch, so Noah had Arachne help him retrieve the hearts. She couldn’t help him extract the cores without hands, so he had to settle with what she could do. It took them another few minutes to accomplish the task, and the night was quickly becoming darker.

With the door busted down from Fenrir’s entrance, Noah’s paranoia grew as they were retrieving the cores. He opted to use his webs to secure the door, but his mana was running on empty. However, with one command to Arachne, she was able to set up a wall of webs. Although Noah was unsure how her webs compared to his own, he was positive of the fact that it would prevent most creatures from wandering in.

And this time, Noah tried to begin his new habit of creating better habits. For every core he removed, he just stuffed them in his mouth in one motion. The time required to do so would just be a little bit longer than just collecting them, but at least he wouldn’t delay using them.

"I’m sorry Fenrir, but you’ll have to stay down here. We’ll just be one floor above; you’re just too big to follow us. If you’re hungry, then anything you see down here is yours." Noah spoke to the wolf with a gentle patience, as if he was saying goodbye to a family pet.

Noah could tell that Fenrir wasn’t sad in the slightest; maybe it was because Fenrir could tell how close they were through their bond. Still, Noah instinctively felt compelled to coax Fenrir to stay, driven by his lifelong desire for a pet dog.

Arachne led the way towards the steps while Noah followed, not without glancing one last time towards Fenrir before heading up. He saw that Fenrir was still up on all fours, silently watching the two leave, before he laid down where he stood as Noah’s figure disappeared up the stairs; making sure to be there for when Noah returned.

Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m