Becoming a Monster

Chapter 665: Chapter 664: A Humiliation Never Forgotten

Morvyr’s gaze subconsciously moved across the remaining creatures, almost as though he needed to make sure there weren’t any more surprises waiting for him.

Unsurprisingly, his attention returned to the devil’s other mistress more than once.

Morvyr wasn’t willing to believe Ailetta was somehow so inferior to Arachne. If anything, from what he had observed since entering the territory, there were times when the slime appeared even closer to Noah than the Spider Queen was.

That alone made her current lack of reaction interesting.

If Morvyr understood their relationship correctly, Arachne should’ve been something of a rival for Noah’s affection. Yet even after revealing strength that now rivaled the drakes, Ailetta didn’t appear bothered by it in the slightest.

Morvyr noticed no frustration or envy. She seemed perfectly content standing beside Noah as though nothing noteworthy had happened.

It made Morvyr wonder whether he had misunderstood their relationship entirely.

Perhaps there was no need for the two women to compete for Noah’s affection in the first place. Their relationship with him could be very different from what Morvyr assumed, or at least from what he was used to.

Or Ailetta was hiding something too.

Morvyr’s eyes lingered on the slime a little longer at that thought.

After everything he had learned about the creatures serving Noah, he was becoming increasingly reluctant to believe that any of the ones closest to the devil were as straightforward as they appeared.

Between the two possibilities, Morvyr found the latter considerably easier to believe.

But now that they had all finished their transformations, he understood that the preordained battle was finally about to begin. He needed to get his own thoughts in order, because if the plan remained as they had discussed, he had an important role to play.

His attention shifted toward the approaching humans as he thought about his target.

Soren.

Ever since Morvyr told Noah about the man’s ability, the devil had become dead set on having him. That had changed Morvyr’s role considerably. Rather than joining Noah against the strongest enemies among the humans, he was expected to seek out Soren and secure his body while Noah dealt with Thalric and Malachi.

Initially, the arrangement had unsettled him more than he cared to admit. It almost felt as though Noah didn’t believe Morvyr was strong enough to make a difference against the enemies who actually mattered.

Only now did Morvyr understand that wasn’t the case.

Noah’s subordinates were simply that strong.

The realization put more pressure on Morvyr than he expected. He had already discovered that some of the devil’s creatures were comparable to him, and for the sake of his remaining pride, Morvyr wasn’t particularly interested in discovering whether any of them were actually stronger.

What he could do was make certain no one had reason to question the value he brought to this battle.

If Noah wanted Soren, then Morvyr would give him Soren. Even if the devil wanted him alive, he would do everything in his power to accomplish it.

And with Noah occupying Thalric and Malachi, there was no reason he had to limit himself to accomplishing only that.

A growing excitement began to replace the pressure he felt.

This battle had already created the conditions necessary for his Queen’s plans to succeed, but Morvyr’s ambitions didn’t end there. If Thalric, Malachi, and Soren all died here today, and Morvyr played his role well enough in making that happen, his contribution would surpass anything the other Arbors had accomplished.

And there was still something he wanted even more.

Noah had yet to give Morvyr an answer to his request.

The possibility alone caused his excitement to grow. If he could prove his worth here, Morvyr found it difficult to imagine the devil refusing him afterward.

“Don’t disappoint me.”

Morvyr finally turned away from the approaching humans and looked toward his elves before his attention settled on the goblin chieftain.

“Perform well here, and perhaps I could even give you troops from the main tribe.”

The chieftain’s eyes immediately shone with greed and excitement. He didn’t need Morvyr to explain what such a reward would mean, but whatever response he was about to give disappeared when he noticed the expression on the elf’s face.

Morvyr wasn’t finished.

His gaze had already moved past the chieftain, slowly passing over the surrounding goblins and trolls. The chieftain followed his eyes, and the excitement on his face quickly became restrained as he understood what Morvyr was looking for.

“Kill any deserters,” Morvyr ordered. His gaze returned to the chieftain. “If I have to be the one to do it, I’ll have your head instead.”

The elf watched the chieftain for another moment as it began to release its own warnings to its troops before turning his attention forward again.

There was nothing else he needed to prepare. His target was decided, his men knew what was expected of them, and Morvyr was fully prepared to play his part once the humans arrived.

Until then, he only needed to wait, and he had no intention of allowing himself to become distracted again.

Unfortunately, something happening to the devil drew his attention almost immediately.

His gaze snapped towards Noah. For a moment, Morvyr thought the devil had decided to attack before the humans could get any closer, but that assumption disappeared the instant he saw what was happening.

Morvyr’s pupils dilated until they could barely be recognized.

Without realizing it, his mouth slowly fell open as he stared at the figure in front of him.

After everything he had just witnessed, somehow it had never occurred to Morvyr that when Noah told the others to transform, the command hadn’t necessarily excluded himself.

The devil Morvyr had grown accustomed to seeing looked nothing like the one standing before him now.

—

Noah disregarded hiding his flesh form in this fight, revealing even his human-like face.

It wasn’t as though his slime form was weaker, but in this instance it would only hold him back. His natural flesh and draconic scales are stronger against magical attacks than his slime, and his slime is even more susceptible to holy energy.

Everything was now in place. Noah’s confidence was high, but he always doubted that anything could go wrong, because in his experience, if something terrible or unexpected could happen, it usually did.

Only when the enemy grew closer could he use his Nexus Eye to fully determine how strong they were. Until then, he would assume the worst case imaginable.

He looked to his side; Bolas never once took his eyes off where the humans were coming from. Apparently, even he had his own experience with these humans, especially from the one called Thalric.

Years ago, Bolas had fought against Thalric and his party and lost. They had defeated him badly enough that his life was entirely in their hands, yet rather than killing him, the humans decided to spare him.

However, that mercy came with a condition.

Bolas was allowed to continue living within the forest, but if he ever rampaged or began hunting humans outside of it, Thalric and his party would return to kill him.

For someone as prideful as Bolas, there were few moments in his life more humiliating than that day. Even leaving his birthplace hadn’t affected him as deeply as being defeated and then allowed to live by the humans who defeated him.

It wasn’t as though they controlled what Bolas did within the forest. He was still a monster, and any humans who wandered into his territory were no less likely to become his prey. If anything, Thalric and his party saw a benefit in allowing him to remain there. A creature as powerful as Bolas naturally kept many of the other monsters in the area under control.

But that only made their decision more humiliating to him.

They had decided that Bolas could live because his presence served a purpose, and as long as he remained within the forest without becoming a threat to the humans outside, they were willing to leave him alone.

In Bolas’s eyes, that made him little different from a chained dog. He was free to do whatever he wanted within the reach of his chain, but the moment he stepped beyond it, the humans who had spared him would return to put him down.

The humiliation ran deep enough that Bolas had never once told Noah about what happened.

It was only when Noah began discussing their plans with Morvyr that Bolas finally brought up his history with Thalric. Even then, it wasn’t because he suddenly felt comfortable talking about something he would’ve rather forgotten.

He wanted Thalric.

Bolas wanted to be the one to fight the human who had defeated him, and more importantly, he wanted to be the one who killed him. As long as Thalric was alive, Bolas would always remember that his life had once continued because that human decided to allow it.

Killing him was the only way Bolas believed he could finally rid himself of that humiliation.

Because of this, Bolas didn’t want to merge with Noah immediately, and Noah respected his wish, as long as nothing unforeseeable changed.

Even so, he still had to be prepared for the possibility that his and Bolas’s combined power wasn’t enough.

That’s why, even now, his soul body was talking to the soul spawn within him.