Becoming a Monster

Chapter 177: Chapter 177: Feeling Betrayed

The stare down only lasted for a few seconds, but within that small timeframe, the two instantly made their own judgements.

”Stop!” A small sound was released from within the horde. The voice was barely audible, not even surpassing the sound of the zombies’ stampeding steps. Such an order shouldn’t have been possible to reach each zombie through the background noise, and yet after her order, each and every zombie’s eyes flickered with the same silver energy like the last zombie.

Every zombie, even the evolved ones, immediately stopped at her command. With only one word voicing her command, not one zombie performed differentiating actions from one another; they all snapped their heads towards the little zombie, waiting for the next order.

Witnessing the spectacle, Arachne had half the thought to stop Fenrir from advancing. The simple minded dog was seemingly unaware of the threat that stood behind that small frame, nor was he fazed by the overwhelming numbers. In fact, Fenrir was even more spurred on to attack. To him, the more creatures he can kill means the greater the praise he would receive.

Arachne didn’t want a repeat of the last battle. She thought that if they were to fight, then they should at least wait for Noah’s arrival. The argument was sound; her judgment wasn’t really wrong in this sense, but as she pondered over her options, she began to doubt herself.

They had chosen to approach the horde, fighting a battle that was already disadvantaged against them. If they were already going to go this far without Noah’s approval, then they couldn’t back down now, showing cowardice, brandishing themselves as failures in Noah’s eyes. They needed to at least show Noah that the power he graced them with was worth his efforts.

With that thought seeping into her very being. She clenched her fists while the many legs within her spider form began to exert more force onto the buildings she leaped from, eliciting shards of glass to break apart from the windows.

”Fenrir!” Arachne almost screamed out his name. Her rare tone momentarily caused Fenrir to stumble, irritating his mood greatly, yet he still glanced towards her, willing to listen to whatever she said as long as it involved continuing their fight.

”We can’t let Noah down this time! Your fun doesn’t matter to me! Use everything or leave!” Her eyes blazed in his direction with an underlying threat.

Fenrir’s blood boiled. It wasn’t because he was alpha, nor was it because he felt whatever hierarchy they had was being challenged. He was eager, too eager now that he got Arachne to want to fight just as much as he did. ’Use everything he had?’ He was planning on doing that from the start. He didn’t want to bring Noah toys; he wanted to bring him trophies of his hunt, and he needed to collect them before Noah arrived.

Her warning was the signal. Fenrir’s steps increased in speed while strangely enough, his thunderous steps were only just as audible as the zombies’ while he still wore the feathered collar. Not only did his pace change, but the pupils of his eyes constricted that signaled the start of his transformation. The patches of hard shell that enveloped his figure began to gradually stretch out, eventually covering almost sixty percent of his body. The thorns that aligned his spine began to extend, the spaces within each of them was being filled with a similar material that interconnected all of them together, forming a long, spiny mane that ran down his back like a beetle’s defensive ridges.

His legs and forelimbs followed suit, making his limbs look more like the powerful limbs of a monstrous insect than a wolf. Finally, the exoskeleton around his face changed. The hardened armor near his horn spread out away from his face which eventually looped back to create a makeshift helmet that outlined his eyes.

Despite the completed transformation, Fenrir’s body mass hadn’t visibly changed; his overall size remained the same. However, the ground beneath him told a different story. Every step he took left deep paw prints, and cracks splintered out from where he landed, it was a clear display of the massive weight that he gained from the dense armor.

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”Attack!” Again, the little zombie ordered her minions with the same high pitched voice that lacked any emotional nuance.

To her order, every zombie surged toward Fenrir, their sanity almost as crazed as before. Although her command was directed to every zombie, not only did she remain behind, but the skeletal figure still remained behind. However, he was no longer behind her, his position was off by her side facing the threat that still was poised to take out the little zombie.

Moments before Fenrir engaged, he released a bloodthirsty roar, a roar that was as eerie as it was powerful. With his current form, his once predator roar mixed with the underlying sounds of layered, rumbled growls that was more vibrating in nature. A vibration that was loud enough to release its own noise that sounded more like a series of clicking sounds of a thousand insects.

His massive form toward the unevolved zombies; a casual swipe or punch from his giant paws could easily send them flying or cut them into pieces. Yet, his next actions didn’t suit his style at all; in fact, it made him look timid in the face of the hordes’ numbers. Each of his four claws casually swipe at the small zombies that attempted to take him down. His aim wasn’t to kill them outright, for once, Fenrir had a plan.

Despite his plan, he still found himself unable to only subdue all of the zombies; his lethal talon-like claws made sure of that. With his comparative size, just one claw alone was almost the size of someone’s entire head.

The situation for Fenrir was maddening. For such a seemingly simple task, he needed to concentrate more in his efforts just to hold back his strength. But the approaching titan-like zombies prevent Fenrri from being able to focus on such a task. His impatience left him giving up on being careful, and he went on a rampage, impaling each zombie with a single claw before throwing them away.

It all seemed like a wasted effort, only if one didn’t pay attention to the special violet coating that lingered on each individual claw. And if one were to observe the wounded zombies, the fist size wounds weren’t just gaping holes of blood and innards. There was an abnormal festering around the entire wound. Their injuries were rapidly turning into a bubbling mess similar to acid eating away at its skin. A viscous, deep shade of the same purple on Fenrir’s claw oozed from the edges.

No one paid attention to how the afflicted zombies jutted and squirmed on the ground despite not receiving wounds that should have put them down.

Not every zombie was able to be defended against, but none of that mattered. There was a reason why Arachne only viewed the girl zombie and its skeleton counterpart as threats. If the lesser zombies could barely breach Fenrir’s muscles in the past, then now they would be lucky to make a scratch in his armored hide.

The towering zombies weren’t going to allow Fenrir to continue. The titan zombie with the beady eyes and pointed nails reached him first, squashing the zombies that didn’t avoid its advance. Its hands reach out to grab Fenrir’s face and throat, hoping to secure him in place so it could feast on a heavenly meal. The momentum of its gait caused the collision between the two to know the surrounding less zombies off balance. The sound of metal grating against metal, with potential sparks, flew as the titan zombie’s blade fingers attempted to pierce through Fenrir’s outer layer in order to fasten him in place.

Fenrir’s head snapped back from the backlash, the claws of his feet ripping into the concrete of the street to secure himself, while his secondary arms further scraped into the ground, causing the rest of his body to remain unmoved. The titan zombie didn’t receive the winning end of the clash; seven out of its ten nails broke from impact, and all of it only amounted to giving Fenrir whiplash.

The giant wolf angrily shook his head, reposturing himself. Fenrir quickly realized that he had no reason to really take this fight seriously. But then he remembered Arachne’s face from before; clearly, she believed that creatures were strong enough to threaten them. That’s when he realized that Arahcne was taking on the best part of the fight for herself.

”Traitor!” Fenrir roared aloud. He truly believed Arachne was partnering with him so they could both share in Noah’s praise, but now he realized Arachne’s betrayal. Even if he killed these weakings, Arachne’s trophy will easily trump his.

His eyes grew incensed. He was fighting with the intent to never let his guard down. But he didn’t care anymore, he was going to kill them all, screw his plan. He liked it when fights were simple, attack, get attacked, keep going until the other dies.

His new resolve showed in the dilation of his eyes, his pupils almost becoming extremely thin vertical slits. Besides the crimson jewel that rested inside his pupils, a subtle white luster glowed within.

And as Fenrir’s savagery made him lose his sanity completely, small feral growls began to sound around him.