Becoming a Monster

Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Headless Battlefield

Without his mana, the bullets fired to its useless state, however, the zombie still took the fired shots as a threat.

”Aack!” Even with his insides being stabbed through, Peterson was still able to release a groan while being slammed into the pavement. The moment of impact allowed the zombie’s fingers to dig deeper through his stomach until it almost exited from the other side.

Blood erupted from his Petersons mouth from the combination of both his injuries. Yet, his body jerked once again, and again. His entire body uplifted from the ground as the zombie continued to stab into him without relenting.

Peterson should’ve died a long time ago, yet, with each grimace elicited from the blows, his eyes were filled with a resolve that defied reason.

The zombie seemed to take pleasure in Peterson’s suffering, each groan fueled it to stab him again. Every time Peterson’s body tensed around its fingers, it encouraged it to attack again, assured that Peterson could take on a bit more pain. But with its last attack it felt no resistance at all. Looking at Peterson’s almost blank expression, the zombie could no longer relish in tormenting the body. There was only one last thing for it to do.

Its mouth gaped open, revealing teeth cruder and more lethal than its fingers as it leaned in, prepared to feast. Blood and flesh meant nothing to it now, it wasn’t hunger that instigated its next action but the instinct of its unique mutation. It felt an instinctual sense of ownership over its prey, as if killing its prey would give itself an identity that would make it feel more complete.

But just as its mouth neared Peterson’s face, life regained in Peterson’s eyes as his closed fist came hurling towards the zombie’s face.

Peterson’s attack was slow in the zombies’ eyes. The zombie simply changed its target, enveloping Petersons arm into its mouth. Its teeth clamped down, bones snapped, and with a simple tug, Peterson’s arm was cleanly bitten off.

The pain should’ve been enough to kill him from the shock alone when attributed with the massive amount of blood lost he sustained. But Peterson didn’t scream. His face twisted, not in agony, but in sheer defiance.

Blood poured freely from the mangled stump where his arm had once been, but Peterson didn’t care, nor did he attempt to do anything else. His eyes were filled with a clarity that he never had shown before, smiling through the pain with contentment as he looked towards the others fighting to survive.

”At least this stubborn old man was useful one last time. At least with them there’s still ho-” His words were shortened when an explosion erupted above him.

The zombie didn’t just eat his arm, a grenade had been clenched in his hand all along. A tool that would barely do anything to such a creature who was fast enough to avoid the blast.

A flash of light engulfed the upper half of the zombie’s body. Its head was vaporized. Its body twitched violently before it collapsed.

Peterson, half conscious, was splattered with the creature’s blood. The blood trickled down his face, layering over his glazed eyes that didn’t blink. The blood entered his mouth, coating his tongue and still he was unfazed.

Black veins were already protruding from multiple areas of his stomach. It was unknown whether he would turn into a zombie before he died, but since he was already infected, since he was about to die, his emotions were almost numb to the situation.

There wasn’t much time left, his seemingly lifeless eyes found themselves trying to look around, his body twitching, but not moving. The gun still tethered around his other arm was too heavy to move. In his last moments, he at least wanted to end his life before he was turned into the creature that he oh so despised.

His finger moved again, and then his hand, desperate to lift it. But that was all he could muster.

A gurgle escaped his throat, it was not quite a sob, and not quite a laugh as his vision dimmed. The black veins were growing, he could feel something crawling beneath his skin before the area went numb.

”I fought...too damn hard...for this.”

His eyes turned to the sky one last time, not in prayer, but in frustration.

Then, the faint sound of footsteps approached.

Peterson couldn’t lift nor turn his head, but the person who arrived didn’t shy away from his vision despite the fact that he was turning.

”Old man,” Levi’s disheveled state would have elicited a fit of laughter from Peterson if he still had the strength.

Levi looked over Peterson’s wounds, understanding what was happening. And as he looked at Peterson’s fingers still twitching at the handle of his gun, he had a deeper understanding of what Peterson wanted.

Peterson felt his body grow lighter, but that was only due to Levi removing the gun from his body.

”For a righteous jackass, a stubborn prick, and a government’s lap dog, you were still someone I can say I respected. If no one else will, I’ll make sure to remember you.”

Bang!*

Levi shot the moment he said his peace. After nearly surviving against his last opponent, he didn’t want to risk a chance of Peterson turning into a zombie before he could kill him. With his limited experience he had already witnessed those with unique traits turn into zombies with troublesome abilities, he didn’t want to imagine what kind of zombie Peterson would have become.

Levi stared into Peterson’s eye that was still completely open, a trace of a smile was etched into his dead expression.

”Even when you’re dead you still found a way to annoy me. What’s the point of being happy when you’re dead? Everything you did, everything you worked so hard for, what was the point? Even now,” Levi looked around to the others, everyone was so busy saving themselves that he doubted that anyone even realized that Peterson was dead.

”Tch!” Levi angrily clicked his tongue and turned away. He wasn’t sure if he was frustrated with everyone else or himself, but he couldn’t find it in himself to finish his sentence.

”Stubborn bastard...”

Looking around, he noticed Jasmine fighting a towering zombie that was built like a tree. He didn’t feel as if he could help her much, but for now he just wanted to survive, and the safest place was with the people that Mark valued the most.

He was about to sprint to her direction, but he found himself paralyzed in place. Fear, shock, disbelief? He didn’t know what he should feel after what he was seeing. One moment he saw someone fighting a zombie and then the next he swore that he saw the very same monster that Noah was fighting. And in that fleeting moment, the monster disappeared, but the zombie that was initially there, now was completely headless.

If it was just once, perhaps his shock would be something he could shrug off as Peterson’s death was causing himself to see things. But then it happened again.

And again.

Each time, that monster, Noahs’ monster, appeared for only a second, no more than a blink. And each time it vanished, whatever it touched was no longer whole. Zombies were being effortlessly killed with no signs of a struggle. Just clean, brutal annihilation.

Levi’s breath caught in his throat. The battlefield had turned surreal.

”What the hell....” He whispered, slowly stepping back, half-forgetting his initial plan.

But even through his panic, a realization settled deep within his gut. It wasn’t just the monster that caused his trauma. It was the fact that Noah not only tamed the creature, but he somehow made the creature even stronger than it was before.

And that meant Noah’s power wasn’t just dangerous anymore. Danger was something that was implied that it was something they could avoid.

”Hahahaha!” Levi released a laughter that sounded as crazed as his distraught feelings.

”Is that really what it is? Is that really the answer? Is being human what is holding us back?”

His laughter grew historical as he continued to watch the battlefield become quieter and quieter with each second that passed.

It wasn’t just him who noticed the monster beheading the zombies. Those who were once facing the zombies that suddenly became headless were also traumatized by the experience. And those who didn’t know who Noah was, they were horrified beyond belief.

________________

Ishii was aware of the disturbance happening around him, but he couldn’t focus to determine the cause. He was in the middle of a battle, reengaging against the creature with four bone bladed arms. The creature had already taken the lives of too many people after Ishii had chosen to run away. And now, Ishii felt that it was his responsibility to finish off the creature.

The problem was, the zombie’s movements and strength never dwindled. While Ishii was left to fight with an inferior sword with worse attributes and his stamina and mana were now playing a factor.

He wasn’t able to gather enough stats from fallen victims to overcome the fight through stat checking alone. But that didn’t mean he was at a disadvantage either. His swordplay was nothing short of breathtaking. His one blade against four made it feel as if there were four of him fighting the creature at one time.

Multiple slashes were embedded into the creature, wounds that were being healed just as fast. After so many exchanges he succeeded in cutting off an arm. He expected the arm to regrow just like the rest of its wounds, but to Ishii’s astonishment, only the stump healed. He couldn’t decipher the reason, but he didn’t care. He could win if he was able to cut off another arm.

He was just waiting for one moment, one slip up from the creature.

However, just when his momentum was picking up to deliver another devastating blow. The creature’s movements stopped.

Ishii’s eyes widened as he caught the sight of the headless creatures.

His gaze was solely focused on the creature when suddenly he took a stance while stepping back when he noticed the creature next to them all this time.

The creature was the same creature that both him and Mark had tried fighting together. He was yet aware of the outcome of Noah’s battle, but seeing the creature now, he was trying hard to decipher if it was under Noah’s control or if it was still an enemy, or maybe even both!

Kratos merely looked towards the human that had drawn their weapon against him. It felt a strong desire to kill him the moment Ishii drew his blade against him but held himself back. Ishii’s species wasn’t what his Master wanted to kill, at least not now.

It was about to resume its orders when it sensed movement behind it.

The zombie was still alive.