Becoming a Monster

Chapter 290: Chapter 290: A Vengeful Zombie

Noah no longer was merged with Arachne. Despite this, he still stood composed, as if the battle had only been a warm-up. If it wasn’t for the total destruction of the landscape around him, Mark wouldn’t believe that Noah had come out of a battle, a battle confronting a creature that had the strength to destroy them all.

What truly shocked Mark, was that very creature was not only standing obediently at Noah’s side, but Noah had somehow made it even stronger.

”Monster...” Mark swallowed.

The Kaiju had almost reverted back to its form before its chest was fully exposed. But now, fine cracks of energy were pathing through every seam and every crack of its black matte scales, and this time, the energy was changed to the same violet hue as Noah’s own.

Mark had already accepted the fact that Noah was better than him in almost every way, but seeing Noah do what he couldn’t with seemingly no effort was a huge blow that would be hard to recover from.

And not only did this prove that Noah had become much more powerful than when they last encountered him, this also meant that they were in more danger than Mark initially believed.

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When Noah saw Ava suspiciously reverting back to her non-expressive behavior, returning to Eve’s side as if nothing happened; he returned his attention back to the Kaiju.

He didn’t need the system to tell him that the creature was powerful, its aura alone was enough to signify its strength. The Kaiju was still inflicted with the wounds of their earlier battles, but its gaze was filled with a desire to fight Noah again even though it should under the effects of his bond.

But Noah didn’t see that look as defiance. He could sense the Kaiju’s feelings completely. It still had a personality of its own, and what it was feeling right now was its desire to prove its strength now that Noah had made it stronger.

The way it was defeated left it feeling disgusted with its performance, and deeper than that, it was guilty of showing such disgrace with the power that it obtained from the sacrifice of its brother.

Noah did not know about the background of its twin, but he could feel that the creature had a lingering bond to the giant husk that was still standing. He recognized that the Kaiju’s lingering feelings were unresolved as he turned towards it.

”I’ll give you another chance to redeem yourself, but fighting me doesn’t have to be the only way to prove your worth.” Noah tried to reason, but the Kaiju was adamant about solely fighting him.

Wanting to say more, Noah stopped when Arachne next to him scoffed disdainfully, catching both his and the Kaiju’s attention.

For a moment, Noah thought she was going to say something but suddenly she held herself back from speaking, but this led Noah to think of a perfect ploy as he turned back to Kaiju who was clearly dissatisfied with Arachne’s admonishing gaze towards it.

”How about this? Only when you can defeat the others will you get the chance to fight me again. But!” He placed a palm on the Kaijus’ chest when he noticed the creature about to openly attack without much thought.

”You can only fight when I allow it. And if I catch you attempting to harm anyone in our family, then...” The Kaiju felt something stir within him, it was a pressure that completely took hold of its entire body. A binding force began to move it against its will, it found itself trying to fight against its body that was attempting to kneel but it was useless.

As it knelt on one knee, it looked up to Noah as though his presence was far out of its reach. In its eyes, Noah was the symbol of absolute power and authority. It should’ve been fearful of the total control Noah wielded over it, even Noah found himself mildly confused when sensing the creatures feelings.

’Did I just get myself a masochist?’ Noah thought to himself in disbelief. He was so surprised by the Kaiju’s reaction that he had forgotten to react himself. Yet, the screams in the distance helped him regain his focus.

The Kaiju felt the pressure leave his body, yet it still didn’t move. Its respect for Noah instantly became higher than ever as it waited for Noah’s orders.

”The perfect soldier huh?” Noah muttered to himself, his eyes briefly glistening as the action made him think of a name for the creature.

Looking at the creature, Noah placed his hand firmly on the Kaiju’s head as it continued to look up towards him expectantly.

”For someone who only believes they can prove themselves by battle, I have the perfect name for you. For someone whose strength came from suffering, and whose purpose was gained from their strength; from now on, you’ll be called Kratos. If you want to prove yourself to me, then when fighting under my name, never lose.”

The Kaiju, no, Kratos, lowered his head solemnly beneath Noah’s hand. Noah’s hand lingered on Kratos’s head for a moment longer before he pulled away, eyes scanning the remaining zombies.

”Come,” Noah said, already stepping forward. ”There’s more to do. And this is the perfect place to show off your strength.”

Only a few steps were taken when his hand moved out to his side, eliciting for Arachne to stop in her tracks.

”How about you sit this one out and stay with me this time, it’ll just be like old times.” He said with a smile that made it hard for Arachne to refuse.

Her eyes flickered from both Noah and Kratos disappearing to go fight. She wanted to fight, not only to prove herself, but because she understood that those who fight would grow stronger. At the same time, she wasn’t able to say no to Noah’s warm smile towards her.

Her reluctant nod was all Noah needed as the two stood next to each other to watch the others. His goal in making Arachne stay wasn’t just to observe Kratos’s new power but it was more so for Arachne’s only benefit.

Since the time he merged with Fenrir and he had attempted to try to merge with Fenrir right after the initial merge he sensed a crisis stirring in Fenrir’s soul that even made the oblivious beast shriek in pain.

Noah may not understand the entire implications of the matter, but he at least believed that merging placed a heavy burden on his creatures soul, whether they realize it or not.

So, just to air on the side of caution he wasn’t going to allow Arachne to fight until she had time to recover.

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On the other side, Raven had decided to unleash her trump card against the tree-like titan to save her soldiers, reverting back to human form and no longer capable of fighting creatures of the same proportions.

Meanwhile, Levi was running on fumes as he retreated to safety in hopes that Mark or the others had anymore reserved mana portions.

That left a certain someone without the aid that he so desperately needed.

”SHITT!” Peterson roared, his voice vibrating from the excessive gunfire that rang out.

”You idiots! What are you thinking? Get out of here, now!” Peterson barked towards the two people who were useless in a fight but stood by him till the end, taking on the job of reloading the discarded weapons.

Even now, they were still frantically grasping at the empty guns to replace the clips/magazines. The periodic, fearful glances they took towards the shadow coming near showed that they were aware of the dangers and yet still decided to stay out of loyalty for Peterson.

Their loyalty didn’t go unnoticed. Peterson could already foresee his death after realizing that no one was coming for his aid. His leg came crashing towards the nearest person, kicking the woman to the side to stop her from reloading any more weapons. If he was going to die, then he wouldn’t let these two die with him.

His hand quickly reached at his belt, his other hand grabbing at the assault rifle hanging from its straps.

He began to fire the moment his hand touched the trigger, the shadow was just feet away from him, it was impossible to miss.

The zombie no longer found the bullets threatening to it as it continued to cover its eye and advanced in a straight line. The zombie had already started to look like a hedgehog but with bullets lodged into its body, but none of them even close to being lethal.

But suddenly it felt pain, pain that riddled throughout its body wherever a bullet landed.

The gun in Peterson’s hand was glowing from the infused bullets. All this time, he waited just long enough to generate enough mana for this moment.

The first few bullets went towards the zombie’s heart and then its lungs, followed by its throat. He was doing everything he could to find a way to kill the zombie that was continuing to protect its head.

However, the creature never stopped. In fact, its speed picked up even more. Peterson wasn’t able to react to the zombie’s speed when he found him impaled by the zombies’ fingers that pierced through his stomach. His gun continued to fire on the tenseness of the pain, but his mana was long gone.