Becoming a Monster

Chapter 621: Chapter 620: A Stronger Inheritance

The moment Noah finished explaining the importance of his blood for Eve’s growth, he noticed a subtle shift in Eve’s expression.

The desire within those eyes had become considerably stronger than before.

It wasn’t the mindless hunger vampires experienced after smelling fresh blood. Noah had seen that look enough times to immediately distinguish between the two.

Her look was almost desperate.

Since coming to this world, where they repeatedly encountered strong monsters after another, Eve was forced to understand an underlying truth.

She was the weakest when it came to the monsters that were connected to Noah’s soul.

Even after her recent awakening, she doubted that had changed very much. Perhaps if she merged with both Diablo and Ava at the same time, she could finally contend with someone like Kratos.

But that wasn’t enough for her. She wanted strength that belonged to herself.

Now Noah had just told her that she could not only grow stronger, but even have the possibility of evolution as long as she continued to consume his blood.

How could she not want it?

Noah understood exactly what she was thinking. Under any other circumstance, he probably would’ve allowed it without much hesitation.

This time, however, he couldn’t.

His blood had changed a great deal after being influenced by his Draconic Dreadbeast bloodline. And with the awakening of his Evolutionary Guardian, that meant his blood could again have a chance to influence everyone else.

And that was even more important because every one of them would need his blood before the coming battle.

Allowing Eve to drain his blood while preventing everyone else from growing stronger wasn’t something Noah could justify, especially when he doubted she could reach another evolution after only a day or two of drinking it.

After answering Eve’s curiosity, Arachne briskly stepped forward. The spider didn’t say anything, but looking at her expression, one would think she had.

“Arachne, yours is a bit more special…” Noah started off. Instantly, the Queen frowned in worry.

Her thoughts instinctively drifted toward the worst possible conclusion. Seeing Noah raise his hand toward her only reinforced that misunderstanding. She genuinely believed he was about to comfort her after telling her there was no clear path for her to grow stronger.

Instead, slime emerged from his skin out of his palm, slicing across his finger.

The first drop of blood hadn’t even fallen before an invisible wave seemed to spread throughout the territory.

The scent was noticeably richer than before. And far more intoxicating.

Outside the lair, countless monsters abruptly froze before turning toward Noah’s lair.

Of course, Noah’s creatures were aware of what the smell was; their reactions were still intense.

Morvyr and the beings that came with him reacted more intensely. Unlike Noah’s companions, none of them carried his blood within their bodies.

To them, that single drop of blood was no different than an incomparably precious heavenly treasure.

The weaker goblins and several of the boars immediately lost themselves.

Every trace of reason disappeared from their eyes as they charged straight toward Noah’s lair, caring only about reaching the source of that irresistible scent.

Morvyr’s own breathing became noticeably heavier.

The blood called to him just as strongly, especially when that blood now had the vitality and energy of a dryad.

Every instinct within his body urged him to seize it.

Fortunately, his strength, and perhaps more importantly, the purity of his bloodline, allowed him to retain enough clarity to recognize what was happening around him.

The moment he saw his own troops rushing toward the devil’s lair, his expression drastically changed.

His body tensed as overwhelming killing intent erupted from him. He was fully prepared to kill every single one of them.

Whether they had acted of their own will no longer mattered. They had already charged Noah’s home with every intention of forcing their way inside.

If he allowed something like that to go unpunished after everything that happened, then every bit of trust he had painstakingly built would disappear.

Just as Morvyr was about to move, a powerful wind sounded, created by a fast, powerful force being swung through the air.

Several miserable cries rang out almost simultaneously before heavy impacts crashed into different locations.

After the sounds, one could see Bolas slowly lowering his tail.

The drake wasn’t in the best of moods to begin with.

Noah’s blood tempted him just as much as everyone else.

Fortunately, his draconic bloodline, already mixed with Noah’s blood, and his soul were powerful enough to suppress those instincts before they completely overtook him.

That restraint, however, did nothing to improve his mood.

If anything, watching creatures who had no business coveting Noah’s blood foolishly charging forward, while he himself wasn’t going to get a single drop, only irritated him further.

The moment Morvyr’s troops tried to rush past him, Bolas didn’t hesitate. His tail swept with enough force to send them all hurtling through the air.

The goblins flew the farthest, their bodies vanishing between the trees before crashing into the forest beyond. Others smashed into nearby homes, while the luckiest merely tumbled across the grass until they finally came to a stop.

Whether any of them had survived…

No one immediately knew.

—

Inside, Noah immediately noticed the commotion that erupted outside. Only then did he remember just how dangerous his blood had become.

His attention returned to the drop of blood resting upon his fingertip.

Mana instinctively flowed toward it, wrapping around the blood in a thin, nearly imperceptible layer.

The process happened so naturally that Noah barely had to think about it. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of doing this before.

If he could conceal his own aura using his mana, then there was no reason he shouldn’t be able to do the same with the scent released by his blood.

Within moments, the alluring fragrance disappeared.

At least… As far as Noah could tell.

Unable to smell it himself, he instead turned his attention toward the others.

He could already see the longing that had clouded their eyes noticeably diminish. The blood still attracted them, but as long as the scent wasn’t interfering with their reasoning, then it no longer felt overwhelming.

Only one person barely changed.

Eve’s gaze remained firmly locked on the drop of blood.

Noah looked toward her curiously.

“…Can you still smell it?”

The little vampire barely spared him a glance. Her eyes remained fixed upon the drop of blood as she slowly nodded. However, almost immediately afterward, her expression gradually shifted.

Her brows drew together while her small nose wrinkled as though she were trying to make sense of something that shouldn’t have been possible. After several moments, she slowly shook her head; this time she looked to the blood with a deeper, noticeable confusion.

Noah watched her reaction in silence before understanding dawned on him. His mana had successfully concealed the scent, yet Eve was probably confusing being able to sense the blood with being able to smell it.

Whether that was unique to Eve or an instinct shared by all vampires, Noah couldn’t yet tell. But it did explain her confusion.

But one thing had already become clear.

Masking the scent might fool almost anyone else. It would never be enough to hide it from her.

—

After masking the scent, Noah waited a while longer to make sure the earlier commotion hadn’t caused any other problems outside.

Only when nothing else happened did he return his attention to the ever-curious spider.

“Arachne, when I said your situation was special, I was referring to how similar you are to me.”

That alone was enough to turn her earlier dread into anticipation.

“I want you to take this blood, but when you do, focus on the blood I gave you a long time ago. There’s no reason for you to keep carrying such a weak version of my blood anymore. At this point, it’s only holding you back.”

Noah extended his finger toward her.

“When you take this, focus on replacing it. You’ll understand the rest once you do.” He was about to give her the drop, but he suddenly stopped, pulling his finger away.

The look he gave Arachne was enough to force the spider to control herself and listen properly.

“Only focus on replacing my old genes with the new one. Don’t try to absorb anything else; I have something else planned for your last gene.”

This was another difference Noah had gradually discovered since losing the system.

In the past, the system had made changes involving bloodlines impossible to overlook. Whenever a stronger version of an existing bloodline became available, both Noah and the creature receiving it would immediately become aware of the possibility.

That convenience no longer existed.

Simply introducing stronger blood into someone’s body wasn’t enough to force an existing bloodline to change. Unless the foreign blood was actively harmful, the body was perfectly capable of allowing it to exist without attempting to assimilate everything it contained.

This became even more important when accepting that blood would overwrite part of the creature’s original bloodline. Without the system deciding the process for them, the creature had to consciously accept that change.

It was because he overlooked something so obvious that he naturally assumed that his blood couldn’t be overwritten, given the number of times he gave her his blood without her ever adapting his new genes to her body.

But now he understood what to do, and he vowed to fix that as soon as possible.

Is everyone still interested in hearing about the skills the way I’ve been doing them, or would you rather hear about them when they’re being used?