Becoming a Monster

Chapter 214: Chapter 214: More Than Just Winning

Eve’s cry became a trigger for both hers and Diablo’s mana to materialize into a visible energy, showing the connection between the two. Her silver glowing eye released a ray of silver light that traveled directly towards Diablo, a ray that was the same size as his core that acted as his heart.

At the same time, as Diablo now lost his other arm, and his head was being squeezed and wrestled from his neck, his core released its own ray of light, a light that was also purely made of energy, a light that resembled a void of darkness. The two opposing energies seamlessly connected with one another, connecting a bridge between the two.

The moment those two energies connected; Diablo’s form immediately crumbled over himself. Despite his body lifelessly falling apart in the ant’s grasp, his head and hand remained intact. This caused great confusion to the ant who was only moments away from destroying its adversary. But then it saw Diablo’s core, a core that was full of immeasurable energy, an energy that would greatly benefit its Queen. The core floated in the air, tethered inside the bridge of energy. The core reacted as quickly as the idea came, reaching out for it with a sudden outstretched hand.

”?”

Its confusion rose when it couldn’t bypass the energy enveloping the core. Its determination increased; it needed to acquire the massive energy conduit that would potentially spur on its Queen’s evolution. Its hands that still held Diablo’s skull that was voided of its crimson, gem-like eyes and the hand that continued to cling tightly to the bone hilt that no longer carried with it the blade created from Diablo’s ominous mana; unhesitatingly released its trophies.

However, the moment before it was about to reach out for the core again, the core gravitated towards a certain direction with a speed that would require the ant to move at its peak speed in order to catch it.

Noah didn’t know rather to watch Eve’s ability that left him highly eager since the moment he read it, or to observe Arachne’s battle. If not for the tree’s interference, he wouldn’t have to worry about Arachne’s battle ending prematurely. His attention flickered between the two events.

He quickly checked on Arachne first, the behemoth spider wasn’t on the offensive as it was before. It stood almost motionless while the crimson-like veins webbed across its entire body. Although it was seemingly vulnerable, just a quick glance with Noah’s vision was enough to pinpoint that the spider was perhaps more difficult to deal with than it was before. Its thorns that branched out from all of its webs were no longer just a trait that was granted to only its legs.

All around its figure, sharp physical protrusions began to emerge. Each thorn acted as Noah’s spider appendages, moving, extending, and stabbing on their own. And now that Arachne’s buffs expired, she was now finding herself troubled each time she tried to go in for an attack. It was then that her eyes glowed violet, enveloping the spider within the aura that allowed it to both drain and reduce its two highest attributes, giving her partial stats as a temporary boon to herself.

”Le,”

”Don’t worry Noah, I’m already on it.” Ailetta’s voice was calm, almost reassuring. In moments like these, she was more attune to Noah’s thought process. He could help Arachne, but he was unwilling to. In fact, he was unwilling to help any of them. It wasn’t just because of the snake that was constantly watching, waiting above the trees. Nor was it the absence of the potential queens of both the ants and the bee’s that had sent their most powerful soldiers. Noah’s reason was simpler than that, he wanted his companions to continue to gain their own self-worth. To be able to fight dangerous adversaries and overcome them without the constant reliance on his intervention.

His approach was deliberate, however deep down, he was aware that this choice was more for himself than for them. If he didn’t let them confront the threat of death, if he didn’t let them make decisions on their own and go through their own independence, then he felt that he didn’t have the right to call them family.

Ailetta may not fully understand his feelings that he didn’t want to acknowledge, but she was at least knowledgeable of the fact that he wanted ’them’ to be the ones to fight, to aid one another instead of him intervening.

The moment Noah decided to not destroy the tree, allowing it to empower the spider that was already powerful in its own right, she had already called back her creation. Only a quarter of the forest army was destroyed and absorbed, but Ailetta understood her role well. If she wanted to continue to proclaim herself as the person closest to Noah and most deserving of the title of being the most important to him, then she needed to prove it by at least making sure she could fill his position, to prove that she could alleviate his burdens. She needed to be a pillar, someone who could step in when he couldn’t or wouldn’t.

If Noah chose to let the tree remain, to allow the empowerment of the monstrous spider that Arachne now faced, then Ailetta would respect that decision. She wouldn’t interfere unnecessarily, even if her instincts screamed otherwise.

_______________________

Arachne remained oblivious to the silent exchange between Noah and Ailetta. Her focus was solely on the behemoth spider before her. Every movement she made was calculated, graceful yet relentless, as she dashed atop its massive body. The thorns protruding from its figure lashed out like a living barrier, constantly attempting to skewer her. Yet, despite the unyielding assault, she danced through the trap of death thorns, only being granted a minimal margin of error without fear.

Her bladed appendages, usually her weapons of choice, were now being used defensively. They hacked and parried the sharp, thorny protrusions that sought to pierce her. If not for lowering the spider’s strength, further empowering her own, as well as receiving the skill ’parry’ to reduce the strength of the attacks aimed at her even further, then the feat of cutting and deflecting the thorns wouldn’t be achievable as it is now.

And even then, she found herself barely avoiding the death trap, layers of her exoskeleton chip after near misses. In contrast, her elongated limbs took on the offensive role, alongside the wrists of her humanoid arms, which shot strands of webbing that seemingly appeared as if they were shot without a goal in mind.

Her webbing was used to restrict the creature’s movements. Instead, her webs embedded themselves into the open wounds already inflicted on its body. The threads released an eerie mana that began to slowly but persistently start to weaken it. Arachne spewed more webs in this battle than she has ever done before, planning to use every last drop of her mana to put the creature down that offended her in front of Noah.

However, as she continued her tactic to wear the creature down, the tree wasn’t fully done empowering it. The thorns were just the beginning. It was almost unnoticeable at first, but as the tree absorbed the vitality of all of the spider’s offspring, transferring a portion of it back to the spider, its many wounds were slowly being healed.

Arachne wasn’t able to pinpoint the change yet, her sights were still insistent to impair the creature as much as possible. But then, her body fidgeted, her head snapped to the side as she felt the vibrations coming from her left, signaling the arrival of something large.

Ailetta’s creation slithered with defying speed, The earth groaned beneath its weight as deep impressions were left in the grass and soil by its twisting, massive body.

As soon as it entered the clearing it barged straight into the spider, uncaring of the spider’s thorny weapons. Its entire body was pierced by a surplus of sharp blades, juices oozed from the deeply penetrated wounds, liquids that were naturally there from the bodies used for its creation.

Pain was an alien concept to the abomination. Its unnatural existence rendered it immune to suffering as long as the attacks remained purely physical.

Its grotesque form shifted constantly as it pressed its assault. Each time a thorn punctured or sliced through it, the damaged sections reformed themselves, though at the cost of its mana reserves.

The serpent slammed into the spider with full force, its coiled body constricting around the spider’s thorned limbs and abdomen. Though its mass was repeatedly skewered by the protruding spikes, it continued to tighten its grip, its fangs plunging into the spider’s hide. The spider quickly viewed the new contender as a threat, but not as more threatening than Arachne even though, the creature continued to attack, undeterred by its retaliations.

Moments later, the spider quickly regretted its assumptions, and began to thrash violently, its legs that were connecting to the ground to allow the tree to feed its energy were forced to lift off of the ground. The spider couldn’t understand what was happening. It couldn’t understand why it felt its body being eaten by more than just the area where the creatures mouth bit into it.