Becoming a Monster

Chapter 354: Chapter 354: Returned as a Monster Even Monsters Fear

A wall of roots immediately sprang up. Roots that not only were deeply rooted in the ground but also the roots that enveloped the structure of their home.

The cluster of dense foliage aimed to halt Dummy’s approach. The entrance barred with such speed that defied its earlier display against the hybrids. The roots based within the confines of Noah’s home shined brighter than all the others, and they were denser and radiated an aura unlike their other counterparts.

Dummy slammed into them.

The momentum he had was ferocious as he tore the initial barrier, breaking through the roots with force alone.

They cracked, bursting outward at the point of contact, while the sludge layered across Dummy’s body made him impervious to any of the roots to take hold of him.

Yet... even as he broke the first layer, another emerged in its place. And then another.

Dummy couldn’t make it far at all before his momentum was crushed before he could even make it halfway towards the core.

He was forced to ground himself as his wings no longer supported his flight, and it was then that Pandora was able to go on the attack.

The roots twisted and spiraled around him, changing shape and direction with every step he took.

Still, Dummy pressed forward. The beast didn’t know the meaning of fear, it only knew the difference between what it could or couldn’t eat.

And lately, everything was on the menu.

And with the Queen’s conscious implant, Dummy’s instincts overrode what little inhibition he had.

For the first time, Dummy swiped at his enemy. His limbs tore the wood. Every one of his mouths split open, biting through the tendrils with little to no regard about their taste.

The roots surged endlessly. At first Dummy was able to defend himself. The sludge made his body almost impossible to grasp. But Pandora, despite her still young, inexperienced mind, was a fast learner.

Her roots were propelled into the sludge, digging until it reached Dummy’s hardened exterior, and it was then that her roots latched themselves in.

The roots bridged through the crevices of his armor, penetrating any opening they could find. And at the same time, prepare to drain him of his essence. Each root tip glowed faintly with power drawn from the energy that differentiate them from the others.

Dummy roared in rage. A distorted screech of a creature that hated being denied. So it did the only thing it knew how. It devoured.

The time it took to eat through its holdings was enough to free it. More and more roots surrounding him, rooting themselves to him.

And they began to absorb.

Fenrir was unaware of Pandora’s ability, but he could feel his body growing weaker. His muscles were growing weaker, his bite force fading.

It was a suspicious sight. The beast who didn’t understand the meaning of giving up was more lifeless than before. His maw didn’t extend, yet he was chewing contentiously. And he smiled despite the weakening of his life.

Although he couldn’t understand what was going on, there was someone who did. The Queen sensed that Pandora’s roots held another weapon besides draining the essence of her victims. It wasn’t all of the roots, only the ones that glow more lustrous than the others. The roots were inputting toxins into Dummy’s body. Toxins that acted no different from hallucinogens.

Right now, Dummy was under the impression that he was winning, that he had managed to fight his way through the hundreds of deadly roots to reach Pandora’s main body.

It made the Queen realize that the tree was much deadlier than she had ever imagined.

In the end, brute strength couldn’t overcome an army, especially when that army never intended to fight fair.

It wouldn’t be long before Dummy perished...

If not for the Queen.

The Queen wouldn’t allow her plan to fail. She would use everything to obtain the core. At the same time she gave the command for her children sitting outside the perimeter of Pandora’s domain, she also forced Dummy with a simple command.

With that command, the balance of power shifted once again.

Dummy’s body, which still contained chunks of roots within its jaws, began to assimilate Pandora’s traits with his own.

The sludge that coated his entire body abruptly stopped its endless flow, revealing the changes underneath.

And those changes were something that even surprised Pandora.

Dark patches of bark like armor had begun to grow, replacing the exoskeleton underneath. Veins that pulsed with the same ominous glow as Pandora’s roots glowed within the seams of his barked armor.

His body grew. No... it nearly doubled in size. If Pandora was a living fortress, with miles of terrain under her domain then Dummy’s size increased in order to make himself his own domain.

His frame not only widened, his limbs were twice as long as before. His hands, even larger. His greatest weapons became even deadlier. The mouths on his palm could swallow a child whole, while his torso could devour almost anything half its size. His silhouette was no longer just monstrous, it was monolithic.

Pandora could sense that Dummy’s strength was growing. She had to put an end to the battle before he finished his mutation.

But... her toxins were no longer working on him. And her ability to absorb his essence...neutralized. She wasn’t aware of it yet, but a dryad could not absorb the essence of another dryad.

Dummy, meanwhile, was so consumed with a delirious rage that he didn’t care about his change.

His arms flailed and crashed through the roots that surrounded him. His four arms nearly destroyed half of the tendrils that had imprisoned him.

And he didn’t simply destroy them. His arms reached for the power of broken tendrils, devouring them within his palms in heaps.

Pandora’s roots recoiled instinctively now, reacting more like nerves than limbs. She hadn’t felt this moment since the time she faced Noah, to face against a creature she had no way of winning against.

Yet she wasn’t ready to give up. Instead, her roots drifted towards the core hovering in the center of the room. She hesitated to use it, the trump card Noah left for her. Only if her life was in danger should she use it, and only if it was in danger.

The core’s mana that built up wasn’t enough to perform the miracles she had witnessed Noah perform with it, but he had told her that the mana reserve in the core was enough to fill her three times over.

Her roots quivered as they reached the core, not wanting to use something that was so important to Noah. But if she couldn’t stop the beast, then she would not only lose the core, but also would perish.

Death drove her to fight, death inspired her to take advantage of any and everything to survive, so she could still find her purpose.

But now, letting Noah down filled her with dread more than the thought of death. With that resolve, she was willing to use the lifeline he had left for her. She would just have to work tirelessly without rest to make up for her failure.

To make up for the fact that she wasn’t strong enough on her own.

Just having her roots near the core made her feel reverence for its purity. She was surprised that such a small thing held so much mana... so much power.

She felt her resolve shaking once again after truly understanding how valuable the mana was that she was about to use.

And suddenly, seconds before she was about to go through with it, the core shined on its own. A weird symbol formed under the core, shining with an ethereal light that gradually grew larger. Eventually, that light spread far enough that it even overtook her.

A new enemy? she thought.

It wasn’t just her. The Queen’s focus was also directed towards the light. The details of the core were still unknown to her. Seeing the diagram, the Queen believed that Pandora was attempting to use the power of the core to stop them.

She had to stop it before it was too late.

Dummy was urged even more to attack. Disregarding the roots that still threatened to entangle him, he shot forward, bulldozing through the roots. They could barely slow him down. Roots the size of tree trunks suddenly came out of nowhere.

And yet Dummy continued to stride ahead without fear. The Queen was aware of Pandora’s illusion. Even if she wasn’t, she would continue to force Dummy to fight his way through with brute force.

The diagram spread much faster than expected. The glow intensified even further.

And then, when the Queen was expecting an attack that could tear down all the effort she put in to get this far, what she witnessed was something far more devastating.

_______________

The glow vanished, taking the diagram along with it. In its place were figures she recognized.

But there were also creatures she had never seen before. And yet, one creature stood out to her the most. A creature whose face was darkness itself, eyes that felt as if they could see everything.

That was when she noticed the eye in the center of the creature’s chest. The eye unblinkingly stared in her direction. Her instincts flared.

Fear.

She didn’t have proof, but she just knew... that eye could see her.