Becoming a Monster

Chapter 488: Chapter 487: Abandoned For a Greater Cause

If it were to be destroyed before its summoner, then its body would remain behind, and allowing the enemy to obtain it would be a greater failure than the mission itself. But if the summoner were to die first, then its form would collapse and return to its origin, leaving nothing behind for the enemy to claim.

Every action that followed was decided in that instant, because it no longer sought victory. It chose the only outcome it could still control.

—

The cleric’s gaze never left the archon, and he saw the change the moment it happened, because the barrier that formed around it carried the same structure, the same presence, and the same divine imprint as the one that had been protecting him.

Confusion set in immediately, because in all the years he had relied on that summon, it had never once created a shield like that over itself, and the sight alone did not make sense.

He wanted to believe it was because he had never summoned it in a situation as dire as this.

But as he tried to understand it, his body picked up on the clues before his thoughts could settle. He felt the wind brush against his skin, and the scent of blood immediately rushed into his nose without anything dulling it.

And when he thought the creatures’ auras were powerful before, he now felt the full brunt of them without obstruction, pressing against him from every direction and making it clear just how much had been kept from him until now

His heart faltered as the pieces came together. There was only one explanation left that he could not deny, no matter how much he wanted to.

It wasn’t that the archon had created another barrier, but it had taken the barrier for itself.

As the truth began to fully become reality, the cleric stumbled back to the ground. Frantically, with what little strength he had, he reached to grab the dropped cross.

He didn’t want to believe it. Part of him held onto the belief that there was a purpose behind the decision.

There had to be a purpose!

But as the cleric despaired, he realized that if the archon stayed within the barrier, what would become of him?

His gaze shifted to the battlefield, as he looked at each dead companion, then shifted to the corpses, and finally to the monsters.

It was then that his beliefs began to weaken. Not a single one of them had been brought down despite everything that had already been sacrificed.

Those who had fought beside him had died for nothing. And the only one who could seek justice had given up on them.

Where was their vengeance?

The indignation that rose within him was more overwhelming than his grief, because it came from everything he had believed in and everything he had devoted himself to, now clashing against what stood in front of him.

If this was the will of God, then it was not the justice he had spent his life serving.

His thoughts were distraught beyond repair. It became impossible to tell whether the doubt taking root within him was truly his own or if the sin already seeping into his soul had begun to feed on what he feared the most, drawing out the very thoughts he would have once condemned.

Before his faith was truly shaken, his attention was set on what would happen next after the archon took the barrier. He watched as the monster’s leader, taking on a new and powerful form, had suddenly appeared behind the archon.

Just looking upon the creature made him shudder.

At that moment, Noah’s presence had reached far beyond what it had been before, rising to the level of an S-rank creature, and standing before him felt no different than being placed in front of a predator that he had no means of resisting.

Noah’s appearance mirrored the time he had fused with Arachne, yet with her mutation, every trait that once defined that form had become far more domineering, pushing past what it had previously been capable of.

His spider limbs extended outward, nearly three times the proportion of his body, and each one carried a density and durability that far exceeded what Noah alone could achieve, making them feel less like extensions and more like independent weapons bound to his will.

Barbs lined the length of each limb, and along those edges flowed a violet energy that pulsed like a living current, yet it was not simply energy, because what moved through them was a concentrated poison.

The glow did not remain contained within the limbs, because thin streams of that same violet current traveled through his entire form, threading through his arms, his torso, and into his hands, where it gathered more densely.

Each of his hands was layered with the same barbed ridges seen along his limbs.

—

With the barrier suddenly enveloping the archon, Noah did not believe it could still hold him back. Every one of his appendages erupted with energy as he committed fully to ending the fight.

His strikes came from multiple angles at once, yet each one was stopped before reaching the barrier itself. That same unseen resistance denied even contact, but that alone did not slow him.

At point-blank range, he drove both palms forward and pressed them against the invisible field. In that same motion, two massive spheres began to form as he poured mana into them without restraint.

The spheres would grow denser with each passing second as he continued feeding them more power, fully intending to destroy everything within range if the archon chose to remain inside.

As he maintained the flow of mana, his attention shifted when he saw Eve approaching the barrier.

He did not have time to fully process her transformation, but the change was undeniable. Despite everything, there was a sense of approval that surfaced within him because she had resisted Ava and grown stronger from it.

Even as she moved toward the barrier, he did not believe she would be able to break through it.

This time, however, he did not interfere because she had earned the right to act on her own. Once his attack reached its limit, he intended to force her away before releasing it, since he did not believe any of his creatures could survive the blast.

Eve did not slow as she approached, and Noah watched her closely, expecting her to prepare some form of attack against the barrier before attempting to break through it.

He was already expecting to see her fail, but he noticed quickly that she had yet to raise her weapon, nor did she gather any power to strike. Instead, she continued forward without a sign of stopping, and when she should’ve collided with that invisible barrier, the three directly passed into the barrier itself.

No resistance met her as she made contact, and the barrier failed to react in any way, allowing her to pass through as though it had never existed in her path to begin with.

Noah’s focus narrowed on that exact moment because what caught his attention the most was not simply that she had gone through, but that she had never once attempted to break it.

There was no adjustment in her approach, and her phantoms followed the same path without deviation. The only conclusion he could draw was that somehow she already knew she would pass through it.

The archon should not have expected her to succeed either, and yet it showed it didn’t pause to reassess the situation as it moved the instant all three entered its range.

Its blade was already in motion as it advanced directly toward Eve, having already discarded the phantoms as primary threats after determining that its previous strike had failed to eliminate them.

Diablo intercepted first, placing himself directly in the path of the strike and meeting it with a controlled parry that forced the archon’s blade off its intended line. That single motion narrowed the space it had to operate in, and the pressure escalated immediately as both Ava and Eve closed in from opposing angles.

Ava’s claws tore forward without the slightest intent of caring for her own body. She nearly lunged toward the archon with reckless abandon, and although its barriers intercepted the first few swipes, she did not withdraw or adjust, instead forcing her attacks through tighter angles until one finally slipped past the timing of its defenses.

Her claws raked across its side.

The contact was shallow, but Ava could still feel the portion of energy being drawn into her. Her expression twisted further as the power reinforced her. The feeling sensation pushed her forward with even greater ferocity.

Again, the archon didn’t register the damage as if it couldn’t care less. But the cleric, on the other hand, the one who has been watching the interaction all along, his hands cusp his side in agony.

Meanwhile, the exchange continued. Eve’s blade moved between the timing of her two guardians, guided by their shared consciousness so that every strike aligned with theirs.

It turned each opening created by Diablo and Ava into a coordinated attack that carried far greater threat than any of them could achieve alone.

This would be their final clash.