Becoming a Monster
Chapter 200: Discerning the Main Players

Chapter 200: Chapter 200: Discerning the Main Players

The weaker creatures immediately fled; any unevolved creature was unable to resist the fear brought onto them. And even the evolved creatures wanted to flee; the only thing keeping them in the fight was the aura that commanded them to continue. Despite their insistence to fight, their hesitancy was broadly visible in their actions. Just a split-second difference in their attacks and their reaction to being attacked was enough to make them effortlessly lose their life.

With Arachne joining the fight, the constant disruption towards Fenrir was quickly uplifted. With each leap, she took down a dragonfly in a blur of motion, her strikes clean and unerring. She moved as though she had found her calling among the branches, weaving effortlessly through them and leaving a trail of fallen foes in her wake. The dragonflies were forced to quickly scatter; staying together made them easy pickings. They needed to take down Arachne or else all of them would soon die by her hands.

However, despite their own blurring speed and coordination, each dragonfly that entered her sights were momentarily drawn towards her. Their speed and ability to fly was proven worthless when they were unable to use their natural traits.

And now that Fenrir was free from the constant barrage, he surged forth with a ferocious fury. His strikes became heavier, each blow was fueled by the fury he had bottled up. His movements and actions became merciless; even after clawing a creature apart, he would still find a way to step on their dying bodies while fighting another creature.

With Diablo in the middle of the action with them, the close proximity of his skill activating among their ranks only further made their actions more sluggish while his movements went unimpeded. His sword that was created and coated with his miasma, sliced into any nearby creature. Each slice radiated the dark energy he commanded, and the agonized shrieks of those struck by it cried out with a horror that surpassed even the violent fate dealt by Fenrir.

The numbers of corpses began to pile up, and it the increasing number of corpses were all that Ailetta need to shine through the battle.

________________________

Her slimes knew no fear, and because of it, they rampaged through the opposing creatures, who had no knowledge of how to intercept them. The living animals of the forest continued to attack, biting, clawing, stabbing; they tried everything in their arsenal to take the rising army down. If any of them were there to witness how even the Ant Queen struggled to deal with mere puppets, then Noah was certain that they would resist the orders forced upon them even more.

The ants and beetles’ pincers and mandibles stuck within the puppets’ interior slime. Overgrown raccoons and other forest creatures joined the assault, their furious attacks slowly dissipating in the face of Ailetta’s army, which seemed to swell in power with each fallen enemy.

For Noah, this was the first time he could properly witness Ailetta’s prowess, and his intense, unbroken gaze was a testament to how much he respected her strength. He analyzed every detail, committing each moment to memory; the subtle waning of the slimes’ auras over time, the heightened intensity of the abyssal slimes after they consumed a corpse, and the stark contrast in power between a puppet creature and its living counterpart. Under different circumstances, he might have taken a moment to appreciate the spectacle of Ailetta’s mastery. But certain aspects of the battle demanded his full attention.

The looming presence of the snake above was chief among them. Despite covering nearly a tenth of the forest in their path of destruction, the snake had not once made an overt move against them. Noah’s instincts told him it was deliberate; he hadn’t felt even a hint of hostility from it, even as they decimated creatures that might have been the snake’s kin. And yet, its massive body slithered above them with a quiet persistence, tracking their every step. Noah wasn’t certain what the creature’s true intentions were, but he knew better than to trust its silence. There was an unnerving purpose in the way the snake lingered, an intention he couldn’t ignore.

As they continued deeper, Noah noticed the snake’s movements shifting, almost anticipating their path as it loomed closer. The closer they edged toward the source of the aura they had sensed before, the quicker the snake became, like an unspoken warning of what lay ahead. He couldn’t shake the feeling that its interest wasn’t in them at all, but rather in the destination they were approaching.

Noah’s mind raced through possibilities. Was the snake a guardian, protecting whatever lay at the heart of the forest? Or perhaps it was waiting for the opportune moment, its patience signaling an intelligence that set it apart from the other creatures here. He felt certain of one thing; they were closing in on something significant, something powerful enough to warrant the snake’s attention and his wariness. And whatever awaited them, Noah knew he’d need to have his strength at its top peak; his mana and stamina needed to be close to being full. More importantly, he also needed the creature that Ailetta was planning to create, to be strong enough to take on a creature

However, that mysterious entity was precisely why Noah needed to stay vigilant. In the heat of the battle, Fenrir’s rampage tore through the forest, splintering nearby trees with his fierce strikes. Oddly, the forest did not retaliate. No vines lashed out; no branches moved to shield themselves. Yet Noah’s attention was caught by an ominous change in the fallen trees. As each one hit the ground, it seemed to wither before his eyes.

The vibrant brown hue of the wood, once rich with life, began to fade, drained of some invisible essence. The trees took on a desolate, charcoal texture as though burned from within. Along the bark, deep red veins emerged, pulsing faintly, as if some unseen force was carving its mark into their dead vessels. The glow intensified, and the once robust trees had become hollowed, darkened shadows of their former selves.

It was as if the forest itself was transforming under the influence of the entity lurking within. The sight sent a chill down Noah’s spine, reinforcing the seriousness of their predicament. He realized that this force didn’t need to act directly; it was twisting the very environment around them, perhaps to reshape it into something even more sinister.

Noah couldn’t be sure. The fact that the plant life hasn’t retaliated in any way could mean that the entity was only absorbing the broken trees’ energies as a way of recycling. The fact that its aura was mainly tethered to the trees in the area, more so than the grass and flowers, made an image of a certain mythological creature pop into his mind. But he couldn’t be sure, and he wouldn’t make any conclusions until he witnessed it himself.

He needed to venture deeper into the forest, and that brought about the next problem.

"I wondered why they never attacked; they’re much smarter than what I gave them credit for.... Or maybe the one leading them is the one that planned this..." Noah briefly looked away from the fighting to see layers of thick transparent ’wires’ in the trajectory they were headed. From the distance, the webs should be unnoticeable, but the second pair of Noah’s eyes that were peering around his surroundings could pick up anything that reflected even a hint of light. The webs were no different, blending with the shade of the tree’s coverings, the light that was able to shine though was impossible not to be intercepted by the overflowing number of webs laid out.

"Does it matter? In the end they are still foolish. So many wasted creatures. They could’ve been the first layer of defense for our future home. Now it’s up to me to make sure that they are useful even in death." Ailetta playfully mocked the creatures, talking as if she was starring in a drama.

Noah’s cold, unyielding gaze was enough to puncture her playful facade, a reminder that they were in the midst of a battle that demanded focus. Yet, even as seriousness washed over her, a small giggle escaped her lips, betraying her delight in the mayhem. She stretched her hand toward him, shifting the mood with practiced ease.

"I’ll need to be recharged again soon. The skill is about to wear off."

Her words worked like magic; Noah’s glare receded instantly now that his thoughts were tunneled to reactivating his skill. This has been his role during the entirety of the battle.

While his skill appeared to grant overwhelming power, the reality was much more nuanced. The time limits reminded him that it was still at a beginner level. The skill only lasted a meager fifteen seconds, with the potential to double to thirty if he was willing to expend a hefty thirty mana overall. However, thanks to his spirit’s influence, he could stretch the duration to forty seconds, but that came with its own price.

Noah quickly assessed his mana reserves, calculating how much he could afford to use. The skill didn’t replenish Ailetta’s mana directly, but he knew that magic was a tapestry of attributes. A higher magic attribute meant not just greater mana reserves but faster regeneration as well. With his skill active, Ailetta could recover her mana at an accelerated rate.

As he activated the skill again, her aura brightened, the eyes and mouths within her showed a euphoric sensation being had as the infusion took effect. Ailetta glanced back at him after being ’recharged’, her mischievous mile returning, but this time she was radiating gratitude.

"I know, I know, be serious. I’ll be serious," she promised, though her tone hinted at a playful defiance. However, her smile faded when she caught the annoyance etching itself onto Noah’s face. It wasn’t that Noah couldn’t understand her. Oftentimes he found himself so immersed in a fight that he couldn’t resist relishing every moment of it. But currently he doesn’t want to continue using his mana for small fry. They needed to end this quickly.

And it seemed that the enemy was of the same opinion, both the spiders and the bees had finally begun their attack.

"We’re finally getting closer to the boss..."