Becoming a Monster

Chapter 367: Chapter 367: Stop Transforming Please

The drake had noticed the change first. Its eyes widened when it felt the ground stir. It could feel so much life beneath it, a life force that seemed to surpass even its own. The force wasn’t one of power, but life so abundant it felt as if the forest was breathing.

That life force was even stronger as it peered towards the earthen structure that served as the demon’s home. It had no idea what the demon planned to do next. This was the first time that it had ever encountered such an abnormal being.

Noah’s creatures weren’t excluded from the life exuding from Noah’s direction.

Their gazes peered into the doorway, only for their vision to be consumed by layers of weblike patterns of roots. These roots all were extending from the walls of the home, all intertwining and diverging from one source.

It was too dark to make them out, only the pulsing streams of violet energy could truly be made out.

But as their eyes traced the web toward its heart, they found a figure, suspended, half-ensnared, its body lifted from the ground by the roots.

Noah’s form emerged as a silhouette whose body pulsated with a strong intense light of energy. With the roots pulsing around him, he resembled a living, breathing generator. His body was a distorted reflection of his once humanoid form.

It was then that they realized that the reason they couldn’t make out the roots wasn’t because it was too dark to see, but because the roots weren’t the same as Pandora’s roots at all. They were appendages made of Noah’s armored slime.

His lower half vanished into a mass of thick roots that anchored deep into the ground, lifting him as if the forest had claimed him for its own. He seemed less of a demon, and even less of man, but the heart of some twisted machine created by the forest’s darkness.

Before any of them could think about calling out his name, a figure appeared in front of them, a spitting image of Noah’s usual self.

They were surprised for a moment. The Noah in front of them didn’t radiate the connecting comfort he usually gave. His body didn’t radiate a hint of power or smell because the Noah in front of them was only an illusion.

Noah couldn’t indulge in their surprise, and neither did their awe last very long.

The ground quaked heavier than before. The trolls’ pace quickened, their marching was like war drums, each one of the troll’s legs stretched in awkward lunges that could barely be called a sprint. Noah didn’t realize it, but it wasn’t just the drake and his creatures, who were affected by the effects of his blood. Their hunger, their agitation, it had doubled the instant Noah’s essence triggered their instincts.

At first, they had come only to investigate. The drake’s wounded cry had carried far through the forest, and the trolls had scented opportunity. They sought to test the beast’s weakened state, seeking to tear out its precious core, to nourish their bloodlines, gouging themselves on its nourishing blood and strengthening flesh. Unlike the goblins, they had no desire for territory, only for the value within a slain foe.

But now, something eclipsed the drake’s allure. The moment they sensed Noah’s evolutionary essence within them, their focus on the drake was long forgotten. In fact, they were driven in a mad frenzy. They ran with an expression of both fear and anticipation. Fear that the drake’s opponent was the owner of that scent, and if they didn’t hurry, the drake would take what belonged to them. Or even worse, the goblins would beat them to it.

Their presence soon emerged from forest depths. Once they reached the clearing, their heads instantly snapped towards the drake. They first noticed how the drake released a murderous glare their way, yet despite its hostile intentions, it never made a move. The trolls didn’t care, they were aware that something was already wrong with the drake just to be able to make it this far without the drake’s interference.

They quickly saw through the way the drake held itself, the slump in its body as it laid there.

Their eyes glistened to the sight of its injury, but they didn’t get excited. Their eyes darted towards Noah’s creatures. Their ugly combative stares eyed each and every one of them. They could sense that the creatures across from them were strong, they had to be if they were able to have driven the drake into that state.

Snarls escaped their tusked mouths as their grips tightened on the crude weapons they carried. Barbaric things, splintered wooden clubs studded with jagged stone, rusted blades scavenged from ruins, bones sharpened into spears. There was no artistry to their tools, yet in the hands of a troll, even a branch thick as a man’s arm became an executioner’s axe.

The trolls leaned forward, their steaming breaths together sounding like a broken turbine engine. They pounded their weapons into the ground, yet they still didn’t initiate the battle. As warlike as they were, they still held themselves back, they were waiting, waiting for their leader to announce the fight.

Their leader’s gaze was steadily looking past Noah’s creatures, its stare settled briefly on Noah’s illusion, confusion flickered in its eyes as it didn’t notice an ounce of power from Noah’s form. Its eyes moved onward, landing on the construct made from earth. It didn’t know what exactly was in it, but it could feel it, the dense vitality in the structure was heavy.

Its nostrils flared. The weight of that vitality pressed against its instincts, filling its mind with one clear thought: their prize lay within.

A grunting growl rolled from the leader’s throat. A command that one would think would be the trigger before the battle, and yet the trolls began to maneuver away from them.

Noah was confused by their action, but soon he understood. Although the drake was wounded, they still took precautions towards it. They moved to a position where Noah was positioned between the two, so if the drake did interfere, it would be forced to attack Noah’s group first. For such brutish looking creatures, they were instinctively sharp.

Noah let the trolls do as they pleased as he scrutinized what he should do. After merging with Pandora, his attunement with nature was even greater than before. Although his home disrupted him from being able to analyze them with his Nexus Eye, he was able to more accurately sense their strength through the power they radiated, the vibrations they sent through the earth.

From that alone, compared to his own, their physical strength surpassed all of his creatures. With the exception of Fenrir, there was no contest. But compared to the drake, it was still manageable. And their magical aura was almost negligible compared to their own, unlike the drake’s, whose mana naturally radiated from its body.

Noah started to see these creatures not as opponents but as whetstones for his family.

His body churned with volatile energy. He wasn’t going to remain idle throughout the fight. The creatures were still strong, he wouldn’t risk their lives just to temper, but neither would he squander this chance. He would support them, and with Pandora, he became the ultimate supporter.

He didn’t want the trolls to take the initiative. His roots were about to ascend from the ground to tether themselves to his creatures, giving them a power boost to keep up with the trolls’ abrasive strength.

But even the trolls were forced to hesitate in their approach.

Ailetta’s body released a magical aura almost identical in power to Noah’s, as both divine and malicious energy enveloped her figure. No matter how small her divine aura may be, that divinity still caused the overzealous trolls to calm down in the face of her transformation.

And it didn’t stop there. The trolls then witnessed the birth of another strong force suddenly emerging. The small, fragile-looking girl disappeared into a toxic mist of death energy, from which emerged a being whose body radiated a stench similar to death itself.

The trolls began to have second thoughts. They still believed their overall capabilities were stronger than their opponents. And when it came to their own strengths, the trolls would never back down.

But... they had to wonder.

Was this the limit of their enemies’ strength? Or would each of these creatures undergo a transformation, becoming more dangerous than before?

Warily, they eyed the other creatures, doubt creeping into their scrutinizing gazes. A sense of relief was noted when one of the trolls stopped holding its breath.

That illusion shattered the moment their attention snapped to Kratos.

His body was behaving unnaturally. Veins bulged, his scales threatening to pop off as his frame continuously expanded, almost bursting as if he were a balloon filling too fast. Light, thin, transparent beams of red energy, shot from cracks across his scales and flesh, searing through his skin like his body was rejecting his own shell. His muscles swelled with every pulse, stretching every bone and muscle until each flex threatened to rupture him apart.

The trolls snarled in unease, shifting their weapons tighter in their grip.

One troll spat into the dirt, as if to ward off the omen. Another shifted its weight, tusks gnashing nervously. Their leader’s eyes narrowed, but even it could not deny the crawling sensation prickling its spine.

What manner of beasts were these?