Becoming a Monster

Chapter 285: Chapter 285: Consequences of Friendly Fire

Something inside the Kaiju snapped. Scales along its torso fell one by one. Its frame grew taller, its tail thinned and stretched farther. Its arms elongated past its knees, and its hands expanded, becoming monstrously large.

Noah could sense a change in the Kaiju’s aura, its power was growing out of control, but he was determined to see what other abilities it was hiding. Now, the small imperceptible smirk was reveling in his excitement.

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As the Kaiju underwent another transformation, Mark stopped in his tracks, sensing the foreboding energy. Ishii’s buff had worn off, but with the main threat being handled and most of the evolved zombies out of the picture, he could manage against the others without the drastic attribute enhancements.

Hope flickered within him. He couldn’t believe it, but Noah had defied their tragic fate once again. Mark fought alongside his friends with renewed vigor. Yet, the eruption of power drew his attention elsewhere, giving the unique zombie he was fighting an opportunity to grab his shoulder.

Mark’s breath caught as he became aware of his mistake. He was fighting alone so the others could fight together. His heart raced. Not now, he thought. His sword still covered in his holy aura stabbed through the open mouth that was preparing to bite off his face. The sword seared through the it, making its own unconventional path to shoot through to its brain that allowed him to kill the creature.

He gritted his teeth, baring the pain of his almost crushed shoulder underneath the zombies’ strong grip, his breath labored as he caught his baring’s whilst standing near the zombies’ corpse.

His mind was revisiting his near-death experience when a large explosion converged not too far away, reminding him why he had gotten distracted in the first place.

”I’m still not strong enough...” Mark’s fist clenched around his sword. From the aura he witnessed before, and with the explosion just now, the fight had turned into a battle that was out of his league. His pride took a mental hit, but it reminded him that even as his strength grows, he always has room for improvement. He thought about how strong Noah was before they parted and compared it to now. He understood that Noah, despite his monstrous strength, was never contemptuous and continued to grow stronger.

There was a deep desire to watch Noah’s battle, but a scream triggered him to run to those who needed him. His hand reached out, a ring on his finger glowed, materializing a blue potion in his free hand that he quickly downed.

He was preparing to use his ability to strengthen everyone again, but when he approached the yells, his heart rate dropped, and his eyes bulged with fear. He had forgotten that it was only the people that came with him from the prison that were aware of Noah’s presence.

The guards had opened fire on Fenrir!

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In the beginning, Fenrir was left alone, hunting down every zombie that entered his sight. Few were able to last even a round against him despite being unique zombies. But his mood was plummeting when he had fewer and fewer targets to attack. He quickly realized that the annoying one was taking his prey.

Eve was converging them into one place to kill them in groups. Fenrir planned to retaliate in kind, but then he noticed her helper. With Ailetta aiding Eve, Fenrir gave up on his revenge, focusing only on the targets that Eve was unable to affect.

However, his frustration was reaching its peak. At this rate, the amount of targets Eve would have killed compared to his own would certainly receive more praise than his efforts. And as he released his frustrations on the surrounding zombies, that’s when the bullets came.

The volley of bullets ricocheted off his hide harmlessly, initially he didn’t pay any heed to the attack.

He didn’t know that his lack of retaliation encouraged the armed guards to attack even more. Their earlier fear and helplessness finally finding an outlet. It was when the group began to throw grenades at Fenrir, whilst he was in the middle of killing off another target that finally incited his ire.

Fenrir hesitated only for a moment, remembering that humans were beings that Noah normally didn’t allow him to kill, but he remembered Noah’s earlier commands.

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”No, no, no, no! Stop! All of you stop!”

Mark sprinted with everything he had, ”Hold your fire, he’s not the enemy!”

But the damage was already done. Fear was already controlling everyone, and after witnessing Fenrir eating and killing the guards, the civilians ignored Marks’ cries, fear causing them to lash out against the wolf without understanding what their actions were leading them to.

Another guard’s scream rang out as Fenrir claws were descending, potentially about to tear the person into multiple pieces. Mark’s hand flew forward, light flaring from his body that enveloped the guard in his aura. With Mark’s support, he hoped that the guard would at least be able to survive the attack, but he was wrong. The guard’s body remained intact, but now his body was experiencing a pain like now before, and his body was going through a reaction that Mark and the others thought they would never see again.

The guards fleshed wounds were bubbling at the point of contact. Three long gashes moved as if his flesh was coming alive.

”Isabelle! Stop the infection!” Mark roared. His speed increased, finally managing to step in between Fenrir and the others.

The aura around his body became more potent than before, yet it was also surprisingly calm.

”Stop attacking!” His voice intentionally mixed with his aura. Even under duress, everyone under his influence faltered. But his words were nothing but air when it came to Fenrir.

”Fenrir, it was a mistake” He shouted, both hands gripping his sword, his aura converging around his legs as he was more focused on dodging the attack instead of purely attacking. Not once did he believe he could defeat Fenrir; however, he would also not even entertain the idea, it wasn’t Fenrir he was worried about.

Hearing the person call his name elicited a strong reaction from the beast as it came to an abrupt halt. Its nostrils flaring, sniffing strongly towards Mark’s direction as it tries to remember his scent. Humans all looked the same to Fenrir to allow him to remember Mark’s appearance.

Fenrir’s face scrunched up as he took in the scent of Mark’s holy energy, his lips curled back from the repulsion of Mark’s smell, yet that same energy, it also was familiar.

Seeing Fenrir baring his fangs, Mark was beginning to believe that confronting the creature was unavoidable.

”Fenrir,” His name was called again, but this time the sound of the person’s voice caused his ears to perk. His head sharply turned to the source, noticing a zombie whose body was enveloped with slime, containing abnormal eyes and mouths filled with ominous teeth.

Fenrir was confused by the sight, but as he heard the familiar voice coming out of the creatures’ mouths again, he was affected more by what the words entailed than the source of the speaker.

”Noah only gave permission to attack those who attacked you. Attacking anyone else would mean disobeying him.”

The creature’s mouths moved in eerie harmony, but it was unmistakably Ailetta’s.

Fenrir’s gaze drifted towards the guards still trembling with their weapons raised, then to Mark, then his eyes sneakily peaked towards Noah’s direction, hoping that he didn’t mess up again.

He turned back to the guards, releasing an annoyed snort at the fact that he almost got him in trouble. The next second, he saw another zombie and prepared to continue his earlier hunt when his fur suddenly spiked, standing on end.

His eyes turned toward the origin of the powerful aura, back towards Noah.

The Kaiju’s body not only changed again, but it was storing up energy within itself that made Fenrir instinctively feel threatened even at a distance.

His body turned abruptly as he sped off towards Noah’s location. He was aware that Noah wouldn’t want anyone to interfere, but Fenrir felt that he should at least be by his side just in case.

As Mark watched the danger leave, his legs were about to give out knowing that they avoided death. Yet, powerful energy building up in the distance, coupled with the worry in Fenrir’s body language, didn’t allow Mark to relax just yet.

He wanted to see for himself, just how strong Noah had really become, but a sudden cry from behind him took higher priority.

Rushing to Isabelle’s side, he saw what used to be a human. Time barely passed and it seemed that Fenrir’s infection was already taking effect. What Mark couldn’t believe was that even Isabelle’s healing prowess was unable to cure it.

Not being able to treat the infection was the least of his worries. He remembered what those who were infected by Fenrir would turn into. And now that Fenrir was even stronger, he didn’t want to fathom how strong a beast this poor soul would become once the transformation was complete.

Mark’s actions were quick as he moved Isabelle aside, his sword already drawn and covered in his aura. He didn’t have time to explain as he drove the sword into the transforming humans’ chest, shocking those who had yet to understand the hell that was about to be unleashed.