Becoming a Monster

Chapter 58 Beware Of The Dog

A/N: I was just made aware that this chapter doesnʼt have spaces. It wasnʼt like that when it was uploading. Will fix it when I get off work today, sorry everyone.

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As of now, it doesnʼt matter what everyone else thought. Neal could convince them that Noah ate their mothers. But what could they do about it if he did?

”Everyone stands down, heʼs not a monster, heʼs….” Neal walked towards the ledge and looked down to Noah and said with a smile. ”An old friend of ours…”Hearing that, everyone instantly became relaxed as if Nealʼs words were gospel.

Noah noted how easily everyone believed Neal, it was just like before. If Neal gave the word, he was sure everyone would give up their lives to attack him. This would be a good time to play along, but Noah didnʼt want to waste time here. He knew that Neal would try to test him. But would he try to test him after he summoned Fenrir?

Just as he had the thought, he decided to bring the wolf out. Fear is a powerful tool to negotiate with. If Neal wants to play mind games then Noah would rather change the playing field to who had the bigger dog?

”No-Noah! Whatʼs the meaning of this?” Neal asked in his panic, he tried his best to stay calm when the ten foot werewolf appeared out of nowhere. Not many people have yet to tame a creature and even if they had, there was no way they would feel confident enough to store the creature within themselves when danger lurked everywhere.

More importantly they would never expect anyone to tame a monster of Fenrirʼs proportions. The people hiding in the back began to cry, they had just finished going through an ordeal with the horde and the monster in front of them appeared more horrifying than having to fight hundreds of walking zombies.

The group with the weapons once again brandished their weapons, but if you listened carefully you could hear the clicking sounds of metal as their hands shook feverishly in fear of confronting the beast.

Fenrir didnʼt have to do anything to show Noahʼs prowess, his appearance was a demonstration in itself.

Arachne felt peeved that Fenrir received so much attention when they barely paid attention to her. She was scary too!

Before looking towards Neal, Noah observed the archers wielding their bows with the arrows nocked. He made sure to get a little bit closer to Fenrir before addressing Neal. Before the penalty he wouldnʼt have to be vigilant against ranged attacks from people who most likely had inferior stats then him. However as of now, he knew his weakness and he wouldnʼt allow his pride to put him in danger.

”I donʼt know what you mean.” Noah spoke without fear of the people pointing their weapons at him.

”If I want to summon my dog then I can summon him without your permission. Iʼm not the one pointing my weapon at you. Now tell me ʼfriendʼ.” Noah exaggeratedly looked around the room.

”What is the meaning of this?”

The power move stumped Neal who usually always had a response while the people in the surrounding were also stumped. ʼYou know damn well why we are pointing our weapons at you!ʼ they all had the same thing on the tip of their tongues.

Neal took this short respite to formulate his next thought into words when he felt a tug on his clothes.

”Ne-Neal…th-thats Lucas!” Regina struggled to tell him. She couldnʼt forget the man she spent most of this hell hole with. Especially since he always took the opportunity to transform in front of them. Even with the changes Lucas went through after being mutated, something told her that he was the same person.

Ignoring everyone else and turning towards her, Neal spoke in shock. ”Lucas? Are you sure? But he was just summoned, it shouldnʼt be possible.”

”Itʼs him! Iʼm sure of it. I donʼt know how he did it, but I think Noah is controlling him somehow..”Neal felt that he could use this information to his advantage. Besides, after what theyʼve been through, taking down one creature shouldnʼt be hard and if they had to they could just kill the person controlling the werewolf if that was really Lucas.

”Coughs! Well letʼs not point fingers at one another, we were in the wrong. But your wolf friend is scaring everyone else. Do you mind putting him away?”

”No, I feel more comfortable with him around since this is now the second time you pointed your weapons at me. Just let me see the shop and then Iʼll leave.” Noah was quick to respond, the visible annoyance could be seen on his face, but the people in the area were also becoming emotional. Neal put his head down before shaking it in disappointment.

”Iʼm sorry you canʼt trust us, but we also canʼt trust you with that thing around to let you stay here. Unless….I was told that the wolf was actually someone we also know. If thatʼs the case then I can convince them that the wolf is harmless if thatʼs actually our dear friend Lucas or if you killed him…I donʼt see any other way you could tame him.”

Neal finally revealed his shady smile. He felt that he had put Noah into a trap, if he unsummons the wolf then he could still convince everyone that he was controlling Lucas and they could attack him. If he admitted to controlling Lucas then they could still try to kill him to ʼsaveʼ Lucas from Noahʼs control. To Neal, it didnʼt matter if Lucas was the wolf or not, all that matters was getting rid of the ant pretending to be a lion. They also had a tamer within their group who has yet to tame anything. If they played their cards right then they could get a valuable weapon.

The spectators were shocked upon hearing Neal. They all became more fervent to attack Noah after making Neal made him out to perhaps being a murderer.

Noah was struck with surprise that they knew Fenrir was once Lucas, but then he remembered that Regina was once in Lucasʼ group before. But they were mistaken if they thought he was going to play along.

”I donʼt think you are understanding ʼNealʼ…”

”Aaawwhooo!”

As if on cue, Fenrir roared oppressively, spreading fear into those who heard him. Arachne could feel from Noah that a battle was gonna break out. It would be her job to protect her master while Fenrir went rampant since he could kill a lot faster than her and wounds barely affected him. She wanted to prove her worth too, she was reluctant to stay behind, but she was surprised that she was able to contribute more than Fenrir before the fight started.

Whoosh!*

Out of fear, an arrow slipped from one of the peoples fingers before being released towards Noah. Everything happened so fast, after the first arrow soared, they all watched in horror while some in suspense. Neal for instance was hoping for the arrow to take Noahʼs life.

However they were let down when Arachne appeared in front of him and slapped the arrow away. She had the same sensory hairs as Noah, and with her perk to anticipate an objectʼs movements. She easily swatted the incoming arrow, shocking the people in the area.

Noah looked towards the person who shot the arrow, obviously the guy didnʼt mean to shoot it, Noah could tell from visual regret on the manʼs face. However Noah still made a mental note of his appearance, if he regretted it then he shouldnʼt have pointed the arrow at him to begin with.

He then returned his gaze to Neal who was now holding the horrified Regina. The two froze when they saw Noah slowly walking towards the steps while Fenrir and Arachne walked by his side, Noahʼs gaze never leaving their figures.

”Everyone always assumes that Iʼm asking for their permission. If it was your possession then I can understand, but you donʼt own whatʼs behind those doors.” Speaking up till here, he left Fenrir on the bottom of the steps. Even if he somehow reached the top floor, Noah was sure Fenrir wouldnʼt be able to move around as much as he wanted. Noah would prefer if Fenrir was left to cause chaos on the bottom floor.

”Donʼt come any closer or weʼll be forced to attack! You werenʼt here when the monsters attacked. We protected this area with OUR lives, so we have everyone right to say the shop is ours! I swear Noah, one more step and youʼll regret it. We arenʼt people who you can push around.

Somehow, Neal made the situation appear as if Noah was the aggressor. The people behind Neal who were reluctant to fight before due to the fear Noah and his group radiated, now were riled up from Nealʼs words preparing to go all out. They were just waiting for Neal to give the order.

This however brought a sinister smile to Noahʼs face. ʼMaybe I can use this chance to check their hearts…ʼ He tried to hold in his excitement, but when he thought of such a scam as a way to increase his skills he just couldnʼt contain himself. His excitement was giving off bad vibes to the people opposing him. His appearance was creepier than the zombies they have been encountering.

”Come on, go ahead.” Noah took another step, but nothing happened. Then he took another step and surprisingly, the people began to retreat.

”Why arenʼt you attacking already!” Noah was beginning to grow impatient.

”If you donʼt want to fight then just stay out of my way then.” At this point, his disappointment was turning to frustration. He felt that everything that had happened and was said up till now was worthless. He was ready for a fight, he wanted to see blood. Somehow he was missing the smell of fresh blood in the air as he wore it like a cologne.

Whoosh!

Apparently his presence mixed with his frustrated tone alarmed one of the archers again and it just so happened that the same man from before let slip another arrow.

This one clearly soared for Noahʼs face and was once again struck down by Arahcne. Noahʼs gaze narrowed on the man with the intent to kill. He was already considering killing the guy the first time, but now it was personal. He was clearly behind Arachne and the arrow still aimed towards him?

”Bring him with us.” Noah ordered in a cold tone. Arachne knew exactly who her master was referring to.

”Noo Ron! Quick! Save him!” A woman from below screamed while wielding a sword. The whole time Fenrir has yet to move from the stairs and even then he barely moved a muscle. In her panic, the woman ignored Fenrir and tried to race up the stairs.

Crunch!* However before she made it up the first step, Fenrir, who was sitting on his back legs had bent over, suddenly engulfed her in his mouth before biting through her waist. The bottom half stood with one leg pressed on the step while the other was still on the floor before it plopped over and began to gush blood.

The people became hysterical to the events that just occurred. The people on the bottom of the stairs who were focused on Noah no longer cared for what was happening on the second floor after seeing what occurred.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Arrows after arrows descended on Fenrir as it continued to chew apart the body in its jaw without a care of the arrows flooding its surroundings.

It was then that the people shooting the arrows noticed that only a few of the arrows were breaching the werewolves fur and skin, even those that did seemed to not affect the beast at all.

The melee group were all prepared to rush Fenrir before they noticed what was happening. If arrows didnʼt work then would their weapons make a difference?

Meanwhile, Neal and his group were prepared to defend the man being targeted by Arahcne, but when the screams descended from the bottom floor, the small lapse of distraction was taken advantage of by the spider.

”HE-HELP MEEEEE! NEA-URRRGHG OLIV-sobs*

Arahcne sprung into the group of archers and grabbed hold of her target before jumping back with the assistance of her tethered web. By the time Arachne returned with the man in her grip. The man tried to escape and run back towards his group before both of his legs were impaled by Arachneʼs legs.

In that same motion, she held him down and started to spin him around and in place, quickly wrapping him in a few layers of her webs.

His screams made the others aware of what just happened and turned only during the time he was being wrapped up.

”Yo-you….youuu…” Neal couldnʼt believe what was happening. Everything happened so suddenly. He didnʼt believe Noah would try to contest all of them, he even went so far as to kill someone and was still planning to kill another.

His eyes couldnʼt leave Noahʼs figure, his voice was stuck in his thoughts and his mind couldnʼt find a way to address the issue as he began to stammer.

They all could only watch as Noah walked into the room housing the shopkeeper with Arachne trailing behind now while pulling along the tragic male behind her crying in pain and distress. It was an unbearable sight to see.

The sound of crying stopped inside the doors entrance when they saw Noah appear back to the door and looked towards them.

”BOO!”

Noah said, sporting his creepy smile from before, before he slammed the door shut in their face. He was going to use the man to find out if his discovery included humans too and he didnʼt want to be bothered.