Becoming a Monster-Chapter 92: I’ll Snitch if you Leave Me

Whoosh!

Noah sped towards the zombie with his sword drawn to his side, the expression on his face was ice cold, but his eyes were telling a story.

Lash after lash, tentacles spearheaded towards him, but just like with Mark, their speed diminished before reaching him. Noah adjusted his body before the speed of the attacks were even affected. Utilizing his sensory hairs, he realized he didn’t even need to use his elusive skill at all.

What seemed to be effortless still didn’t change the way Noah was feeling at the moment. He didn’t feel the least excited as he did when he was anticipating the fight before. He just wanted something, anything that would distract his mind and that something just happened to be the zombie.

Their movements became a dance, Noah gracefully navigating through a barrage of attacks. It was a spectacle made possible by his skill, which hindered the zombie’s control over its own body.

There still was a catch, the more the distance between the two were bridged, the less error was allowed in his movements.

The zombie lacked the capacity to ’feel’ emotions, but its instincts were stirred as it sensed its body being oppressed. As the source of that oppression drew nearer, the zombie’s survival instincts drove it to unleash every available tentacle to eliminate the threat.

The onslaught of tentacles formed a menacing wave hurtling towards Noah. With most of his routes blocked off, he found himself in a precarious position. However, he was prepared. Despite the shaky spell, he charged a manabolt in his free hand after dodging the initial round of attacks.

As the wave of tentacles shot out, he unleashed his attack towards the center. His aim was never the zombie itself; with the web of appendages in front of him, he couldn’t be certain his attack would penetrate them all.

Simultaneously, he chose to unleash his trump skill, allowing it to take over.

Boom*

A small explosion erupted between them, but neither took a moment to assess the situation. Multiple branches of the zombie’s tentacles were blown apart and scattered in the air, accompanied by a loud, obnoxious screech.

Lacking a regeneration ability, the zombie couldn’t recover from the damage inflicted. The strain of repeatedly forming and replacing her tendons and muscles was taking its toll.

As the remaining tentacles edged closer, they mysteriously halted just before reaching their target. Noah’s eyes gleamed with a crazed intensity, yet his expression bore deep resentment towards his enemy. Every ounce of pain and conflicting emotion he endured, he attributed to the zombie. Under the influence of his ’Killing Instincts’ skill, these feelings surged, empowering his subservient skill to forcefully stop the zombie in its tracks.

Now that his skill was active, Noah’s sword granted him benefits previously unavailable. The black and red mist enveloped the handle as before, but there was a slight difference in its new appearance. The edges of the blade seemed to absorb the mist, turning a dark red and releasing a sheen that appeared to glow in the natural moonlight.

Noah wasn’t aware of the sword’s physical changes, but in his current state, he wouldn’t have cared even if he were.

With the attack halted before him, Noah activated his elusive skill, granting him a 25% burst in speed. Combined with his Killing Instincts skill and the extra thirty points added to his attributes from the sword, his agility soared past 100.

With a quick lunge, he bypassed the initial wall of tentacles. Gripping his blade with both hands, he swung underhand, slicing off a huge portion of the tentacles that struck out.

The pain seemed to be the trigger for the zombie to resume moving again, but it just happened to be the limit of the amount of time Noah was able to control it.

Another loud screech resounded through the night.

The commotion was loud enough to draw the attention of the students who had already taken refuge in the dorm. Ishi and Alicia were among the first to rush out, eager to offer whatever help they could. Meanwhile, others crowded around the windows, watching from a safe distance. As they gazed upon the fresh corpses of their former companions, their emotions were not rooted in fear, but in relief, grateful that it wasn’t them lying lifeless on the ground.

Meanwhile, Alietta was being carried to the dorm’s entrance, while Mark received treatment from Isabelle and two other priests from Ishii’s group. His injuries were too severe to wait for further retreat to safety. His cries had ceased after the initial treatment, but his condition was dire. With a hole in his cheek, three in his midsection, and several scattered throughout his limbs, it was evident he had narrowly escaped death. Had he not used the sword to protect his vital organs, particularly his heart and throat, he likely would have perished instantly.

The sound of the second screech halted everyone’s action. No matter what they were occupied with, no one could ignore the supernatural fight happening before their eyes. Though the courtyard was poorly lit, the movements of Noah and the zombie were too fast for most to follow. However, the sight of meters-long appendages being severed was clear to all. These were the same appendages that had dispatched the guards without a challenge.

"He really is in a different league than us...." Ishii deprecatingly smiled to himself. Despite his aspirations to reach Noah’s level one day, Ishii couldn’t shake the feeling that he was leagues behind.

Alicia, however, observed the scene with a critical eye. While impressed by Noah’s prowess, she couldn’t shake a sense of unease at his relentless aggression. As Noah barbarically rushed towards the zombie, Alicia shuddered at the thought of what he had become. "He really is in a league of his own," she murmured, inadvertently voicing her thoughts.

Catching herself, she turned towards Ishii, wanting to support her friend before he entertained any misguided comparisons. "Don’t bother comparing yourself to him... You’re you, and he’s... well, you see his appearance," Alicia muttered, her gaze still fixed on the scene unfolding before them.

"I really doubt if he can even be considered human anymore.." she added, her voice tinged with disbelief.

Her words struck a chord with Ishii, who nodded in silent agreement. Noah’s transformation seemed to transcend mere physical changes; it was as if he had shed his humanity along with his former self. The realization left Ishii feeling both disheartened and determined to carve out his own path, regardless of the comparisons to his idol.

Now that the zombie had regained control of itself, it hastily attempted to retract all of its tentacles back within itself to prepare for another attack.

Yet, it failed to realize that this would be its undoing. With each step, Noah exploded further with the use of his elusive skill. Each use demanded more stamina than before, risking extreme muscle fatigue and wear and tear. However, the 25 added stamina and all his other bonuses compensated for the repetitive usage, allowing him to reach the zombie’s side simultaneously as the tentacles retracted in its desperate attempt to seal the wounds inflicted, reforging her tentacles with the remaining appendages it had left.

Once Noah turned the fight into a close-quarters battle, victory was all but assured. Instead of aiming for a clean kill by severing the zombie’s head, his resentment for the creature intensified. Bringing his sword above his head, he swung it down with force, as if trying to hammer the zombie into the depths of hell.

If Noah had retained his rational insight, he might have hesitated to strike, considering the zombie’s potential reaction, especially since it was also a tier one zombie. However, life, even in its evolution, always found a way to bring balance.

The zombie’s strength relied entirely on its tentacles, minimizing the need for a robust physical body. This also explained why the tentacles were not only tough but also extremely fast and lethal.

Perhaps if it evolved further, it could eject tentacles from other parts of its body to defend itself more effectively.

As Noah’s sword closed in, the zombie attempted to summon its few remaining tentacles, but they froze once again due to Noah’s skill.

The sword effortlessly sliced through the zombie’s skull, instantly killing it, before cutting through the rest of its body down the center.

Just as the zombie left its prey and victims motionless after killing them, its own body remained still for a few breaths before splitting apart. Blood sprayed from every seam where the sword had struck, and tens of objects resembling disfigured worms dropped out of its body.

The fight was over, and everyone watched in shock as Noah easily dispatched the creature that had brought them so much fear and helplessness. However, the result didn’t shock them as much as it did Pam and the others.

"Ah! Why did yo-"

"Are you crazy!" Pam interrupted Regina’s complaint as she screamed in her face, shocking not only Regina but the last three guards.

"He is just as much of a monster as that wolf and you didn’t bother to mention any of this to us??" Her face showed how angry she was, but her voice held a tinge of dread. She recollected the time that she proclaimed that Noah was not only a freak, but she would defend him from Regina at all cost.

"What did you do that would make him want to kill you like that girl said earlier?" Pam demanded, the memory of Ailetta’s warning echoed in her mind. "This is not something I want to risk my life over."

As Pam took a few steps back, distancing herself from Regina, it was clear that her priorities had shifted. Money was important, yes, but not at the expense of her own safety.

Yet Regina didn’t remain shocked. The question made her look towards Pam in confusion, but then, without warning, she began to laugh hysterically. The others initially thought she had gone crazy.

"I’m disappointed in you Gina..." Pam shook her head in disappointment seeing the proud and selfish girl she had watched over being reduced to such a state.

But Regina’s laughter only intensified, her eyes gleaming with a manic energy that sent shivers down the spines of those around her. "Disappointed? Disappointed in me?" she repeated, her laughter bordering on hysteria. "You are really a fool..."

Pam’s brow furrowed in confusion as Regina’s words made her fully realize her blunder. "Do you not know who he is?" Regina continued, her voice dripping with contempt. "No-Ah! Noah! Does that still not ring any bells?"

At first, Pam stood unmoved, not caring to ponder over what seemed to be a sad attempt to persuade them to stay. However, the name began to sound oddly familiar to her. It wasn’t until she remembered why that name was familiar.

’It’s ’that’ boy??’ Her eyes revealed her immense shock when she recalled the times she helped Regina "hire" some thugs to beat him up periodically. Initially, they were random people they bought off, but when that didn’t go as expected, she had actually used some of the guards under her to fulfill that role.

"It seems that you finally remember, it took you long enough. Now..." Regina walked over to one of the beds and sat down, resuming her arrogant demeanor.

"You can leave me, but I’ll also tell him how you were an accomplice to everything we did to him. Or you can continue following me until we reach the meeting place. I’m sure there are many of my dad’s friends who could help us get rid of him. You don’t have to worry about money; my father has a lot of it. I’ll make you rich in the end."

....

Outside another shocking scene was taking place, but the longer they watched, the more fearful they became.

The fight was supposed to be over, yet Noah showed no signs of halting his attacks. He continued to raise his sword again and again, cutting the zombie’s corpse into pieces. Everyone felt a growing sense of dread; it seemed as though he would never stop, and soon the corpse no longer resembled a body.

Crack!*

Just when it seemed that Noah would never cease his psychotic phase, cracking sounds echoed nearby, startling them all. Their panicked minds could only hope that their fear had caused them to mistake the sound, but the cracking persisted. Their eyes were drawn towards a cocoon of webs, which sounded off like an eggshell.

Arachne’s awakening reached Noah from that dark place. His ceaseless attacks faltered as he looked over in her direction. His cold stare began to show clarity; now that he was self-aware, he couldn’t prevent himself from collapsing on his butt after overloading his muscles. He sat there, temporarily exhausted, his earlier conflicted gaze replaced with expectation as he watched Arachne fully emerge from her cocoon. He couldn’t help but wonder what changes had occurred.

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