Becoming a Monster

Chapter 497: Chapter 496: I Can See You

He should have seen it.

But his attention had been fixed on the structures, leaving the massive cave unnoticed.

Bolas had been watching him the entire time.

Back within the domain, Bolas unfurled two massive wings that spread outward with overwhelming energy, yet that energy remained perfectly controlled, never spilling out to disturb anything around him.

Before taking flight, his gaze shifted briefly toward the entrance of Noah’s home, landing on the golem that stood there.

He knew Noah was watching. That only made it worse.

”If I let him get away, I’m never hearing the end of it.” Even as he muttered under his breath, there was a clear glint in his eyes.

He had just been waiting for a reason to fly.

–

’Faster, faster!’ Ethaniel’s thoughts spiraled as he pushed himself forward. His remaining mana burned away at a rate he could no longer afford, but he also couldn’t afford to slow down either.

Facing Noah had been different. Even at his worst, even when the pressure had mounted and the situation had turned against him, he had never felt this close to death.

Ethaniel didn’t know what Noah was truly capable of; he had left the fight before he could experience Noah’s ability to fuse first hand.

All he knew was that Noah’s presence was overwhelming, but there had still been a sense that what he was facing was something he could measure, even if he couldn’t overcome it.

So, from Ethaniel’s perspective, Noah and the drake existed on the same level of power.

Yet the fear he felt now far surpassed anything Noah had forced out of him.

That fear wasn’t baseless.

Ethaniel had faced drakes before. He fought against lesser drakes, and he’s been a part of an expedition to face true drakes.

He knew what they were capable of and the limits of what they could and could not do. No matter how powerful they were, they were still creatures that could be measured, creatures that followed a pattern that hunters like him could learn and adapt to.

That was why, when he fled and reached the trees, a part of him felt relief.

A drake, no matter how strong, was still bound by what it was. As long as he created enough distance and stayed within the cover of the trees, there were limits to how it could pursue him, and that belief alone gave him enough confidence to keep moving forward without looking back.

But that relief didn’t last.

As his mind began to settle, the image he had caught before fleeing became clearer, and the more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

He hadn’t stayed long enough to properly observe it, and he had fled too quickly to take in the full picture, yet what little he had seen was enough to unsettle him.

That drake wasn’t a species of drake that he recognized.

It wasn’t just its presence, and it wasn’t just the pressure it gave off. The drake’s appearance was completely different from any of the drakes he had seen or heard before.

It certainly wasn’t the drake described in the guild’s reports.

If it had been, then the guild would have never allowed such a creature to exist so close to any established territory.

What high-ranking adventurer wasn’t aware of the drake’s role? The guild only allowed it to live because they believed that they could handle it if the creature ever acted outside of the forest.

This creature was not something they could deal with so easily.

Which meant there were only two possibilities.

Either the guild didn’t know... Or whatever that creature was had changed into something far beyond what it had once been. And all of it happened when reports of that ”demon” suddenly appeared.

Neither answer brought him any comfort.

If anything, it only made the decision he had made seconds ago feel like the only correct one.

And now, as he forced himself forward with everything he had left, he knew that if he had hesitated for even a moment longer...

He wouldn’t have made it out at all.

—

Only after putting a considerable distance between himself and that place did Ethaniel finally allow himself to slow down.

He dropped onto a thick branch, his body unsteady as he caught himself against the trunk, and for the first time since fleeing, he let out a strained breath. His hand moved almost immediately, retrieving the last remaining mana potion he had.

This one had to be used carefully.

Not just because it was his last, but because his body had already been pushed too far. Downing three vials in such a short span of time had already placed a heavy strain on his core, and taking in too much more too quickly could destabilize it or even cause permanent damage.

He didn’t need much, no more than a fourth of the vial, would be enough to steady him, enough to give him just enough mana to react if something went wrong again.

Even if he believed the drake wouldn’t give chase, he knew better than to let his guard down. The spell he had released earlier had been far too loud and far too destructive. There was no way it hadn’t drawn attention; it would only be a matter of time before something else came looking.

Maybe even the leader of the den and its monsters would come looking for him.

It was only then that his thoughts finally shifted, back to the fight he deserted.

He had acted without hesitation to save Gwen, and in doing so, he had left the other two behind to face everything alone.

There had been other groups, but even he knew how those alliances worked. When things turned dire, everyone chose their own. No one would focus their attention on another team when their own was at risk.

And from what he had seen before he fled, they had already been outnumbered. After losing two members before the fight even began, Ethaniel could only guess how the rest went.

”I’m sorry...”

The words left him quietly as he lowered his head, grieving them before he could even confirm their deaths.

He wasn’t going back.

Not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. He wasn’t strong enough, and he wasn’t in any condition to help even if he tried. The truth sat heavily in his chest because, beneath the fear and exhaustion, he felt like a coward.

His grip tightened slightly around the vial as he lifted it, ready to take a small sip in silence, but before it could reach his lips, his entire body stiffened.

A presence moved above him.

There were many creatures that could fly, but a creature whose shadow was this big was very rare, especially within this forest.

A massive shadow moved across the tree line, blocking out the light that filtered through the trees. The sudden shift forced his eyes upward as he tried to see through the thick foliage. The light that broke through only made it harder to focus, blinding him just enough to delay what he was looking at.

And when his vision finally adjusted, his heart jolted violently.

His body went cold, and his hand holding the potion went rigid along with the rest of his body.

The vial slipped from his fingers, falling from the branch as the silhouette of the creature finally registered.

”I—it can fly...? Since when...?”

The words barely left his lips, broken murmuring as his mind struggled to process what he was seeing. He barely got a glimpse at the drake back then, but even then, he knew he wasn’t so terrified of the creature that he didn’t recognize that it had wings.

Just how could he miss something that important? And more importantly, just how uninformed were the guild to even believe that anyone under S-rank could accomplish this mission?

The thought of escape no longer felt real. He had barely rested, and it had already caught up to him.

His first instinct wasn’t to run. Outrunning a creature like that would be impossible with his minimal mana. Even if his reserves were full, he still doubted he could get away.

Instead, it was to press himself against the tree, holding his breath as he forced himself into complete stillness. He clung to the faint hope that it had only followed his direction and hadn’t actually pinpointed his location.

If that hope failed, then he would have no choice but to drop to the ground and run, conserving what little mana he had left. Because even if he had the cover of the trees to protect him, he knew that he was only a breath away from becoming scorched.

But before he could move—

”Come out, human. There’s no point in hiding.”

Ethaniel’s was drained of any color left. His worst fear had just been confirmed.

His body already started moving to jump down from the trees. But he caught himself when he thought about what the drake had said.

’Maybe it doesn’t know my exact position.’ He was willing to make the gamble. What he was about to do was no different than suicide anyway.

With the last bit of his mana, he created a thin veil over himself to mask his presence as he waited.

–

Meanwhile, Ethaniel didn’t realize that although he masked his presence with mana, Bolas found him by the very magic he used to mask himself.

”... I can see you.”