Becoming a Monster

Chapter 248: Chapter 248: Whisper Before the Roar

Seeing the scattered mess the group was in, running without self vigilance or even a hint of intellectual caution that maybe, just maybe they would blindly run into another enemy, Noah could already guess where they came from.

The most common and most intelligent thing to do right now was to approach the group of people, calming them down while also ascertaining the events leading up to why they were so frantically fleeing. Yet, not only Noah, but every single one of his companions held any desire to communicate with them. In fact, they were more engaged to attack them.

”Don’t bother,” Noah instructed, despite that he remained cautious towards them, with there being people within their circle that held an amount of mana similar to Peterson, Levi and Raven, depicting that they were awakened; Noah wasn’t necessarily worried that they would be attacked. Even if the person happened to be frightened of their monster group; first, the people would have to dispel their fear and attack a group of monsters that even Noah would find himself doubting to do if he was to come upon such a group.

Secondly, the battered and somewhat malnourished state of the women and children made sure that the group wouldn’t want to resort to violence, further putting their most vulnerable in danger.

”Just let them pass, only if they try to attack us then you can kill them.”

Ailetta, standing beside him, glanced towards him, deeply reading his expression before glancing back at the people. She wasn’t surprised by his decision, but his lack of hatred and aversion towards humans, even now, made her question his true thoughts.

Her mind went back to when he had truly transformed into a monster with the entity’s influence, where he fully acted on his true instincts, filled with violence, rage, and resentment. She wondered even now if he was holding himself back.

There was a dangerous thought to encourage Noah in subtle ways to start letting himself give into his hidden nature, to allow himself to truly be free. But as she thought of this, the entity’s image resurfaced, dispelling such a thought. In the end, Ailetta chose to do nothing. For now, she needed to just worry about getting stronger. When she had enough strength, then she could think about helping Noah resist the entity inside of him.

As Ailetta was deep within her thoughts, the humans finally closed the distance enough to spot them. Originally, their eyes continued to nervously dart to the darkened street behind them, but once they saw the monsters in front of them, the group stopped dead in their tracks.

The people that Noah viewed to be awakened quickly stepped in front of everyone, wielding their weapons. Their bodies shivered from their internalized fear, but their determination to protect what they held dear to them gave them the courage to at least stand their ground.

The humans could only view Noah’s group as monsters, even Noah could no longer be considered a human at first glance. And although that should give them grounds to attack, the scene went just as Noah predicted. The people were too hesitant to initiate. Not only were they hesitant, but the combined danger radiating from Noah in the others made the awakeners understand that they didn’t stand a chance against the monsters in front of them. But they were still conflicted, still considering to advance forward. The Creature they just ran away from still lingered in their hearts, the horror they experienced from it made their impression of it much more frightening, making Noah’s group appear as the lesser evil in their perspective.

”They’re debating if we’re more dangerous than what’s behind them,” Ailetta scoffed under her breath. ”It’s almost insulting.”

Noah didn’t respond, but his focus didn’t waver. He thought about what Ailetta said, what she said aligned with what he was thinking. But that only confirmed his reasoning for coming here. The stronger the monster, the better.

One of the awakened, a woman with a bloodied face and cladded with weird medieval type armor took a hesitant step forward. Out of the others, her senses were the sharpest; and just barely was she able to pick up on what Ailetta said. For the woman, she didn’t care about the contents of what was said, but more so the fact that she was able to understand. After weighing her options, she chose to attempt communication with the monsters, running back wasn’t a choice, and neither was blindly charging forward.

”Leave.” Despite taking the time to muster the courage to address them, the monster that appeared to be their leader spoke to them first, no, he commanded them.

This took the others who were unaware that the monsters could speak by surprise. Their already horrified nerves are spiraling out of control. Some instinctively took a few steps back, while the children cried ever so loudly after seeing the adults succumbing more to their fear.

The woman’s grip on her weapon tightened. Her instincts screamed at her to run, but a small, reckless part of her wanted to ask why. Why were monsters, who could perceivably kill them without much effort, telling them to leave instead of attacking?

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to meet Noah’s cold, apathetic gaze. ”We-We can’t go back,” her trembling voice conflicted with her urge to not break down. ”You don’t know what’s behind us-”

Her words faltered when she saw the monster let out a helpless sigh before he murmured something to his companions, and despite her disbelief, the space they made for them was evident to her that the monster was letting them pass.

The woman felt her heart pulsating. She looked over her shoulder at the trembling faces of the children and the awakeners like her. The awakeners, like her, were also of disbelief at what they were witnessing.

At first, they remained standing, skeptical of some kind of trick. But as the woman noticed the monster’s impatience, especially the giant wolf beast beginning to growl, its teeth snarling more and more aggressively, she took initiative to spurr the others along.

The steps were still slow, everyone but the awakeners tried not to look in the monsters direction, even the awakeners made sure not to make eye contact, despite making sure they could keep the monsters in their sights.

”Than-thank you...” The woman quietly whispered, bowing towards Noah the moment they made it past. It was at that moment that she felt they had escaped death.

The others followed suit, giving small fearful nods as they were still vigilant towards the monsters.

Despite their actions of trying to show their thanks, Noah didn’t acknowledge them in the slightest. His gaze was focusing on something else.

On the other hand, Eve never took her eyes off of the people. Her curiosity peaked above her normal state. Blurry memories of when she was just a regular zombie surfaced, instinctive desires tested at her urges to eat the humans in front of her. She couldn’t understand why Noah was allowing food to get away, especially the ones with the strong auras, she was certain that they would taste the best. But the fact that Noah let them pass meant they were off limits. That didn’t stop her from fantasizing her desires, her drool escaping her lips as she scarily stared at them down.

”Noah!”

”I know...” Noah responded to the cold, yet cautious warning from Arachne. Her senses quickly picked up the threat, unsure what exactly it was, but she understood that if she felt it, it could only mean one thing; whatever made her feel danger meant that it was something powerful enough to threaten them, possibly even Noah.

”!”

The woman turned away after being ignored, their group’s steps quickened so they could get further away from the monsters, particularly from Eve’s voracious gaze. Their hushed whispers resumed, leaping from the monsters that let them pass, to where they should go next, all the while, the woman kept looking back, feeling that she should at least tell them about the true monster in the direction they were going.

But as she struggled with her doubts, a booming roar caused her to jump. A sound that echoed deep within her bones. Her heart raced, thudding in her chest as if trying to escape. The weapon in her hand fell through her trembling fingers as her mind spiraled back to the horrors she and the others were running away from. The memory of that beast imprinting a trauma on her soul that would never fade. Her little brother, not even old enough to properly tie his shoe, was absorbed by that thing right in front of her eyes.

Her breath quickened, the world around her blurring as the weight of her fears closed in. She wasn’t ready to confront that thing again, there was no hope to avenge her brother. And she wasn’t alone; most of the others were trapped in the same state of despair.

Without hesitation, their gazes snapped in the same direction. They needed to know, was there still a chance to run, or had that thing already caught up to them?

Fear-stricken eyes soon widened in surprise as they watched the monsters that had once spared them now fanning out across the streets, slowly advancing toward the source of the horrifying sound.