Becoming a Monster
Chapter 203: Calming the Masses

Chapter 203: Chapter 203: Calming the Masses

"Don’t chase," Noah ordered the others, seeing how their creatures’ retreat spurred them on to become more aggressive. Fenrir was the first to stop, his irrational predatory instincts that would normally have him so engaged with continuing his blood bath were quickly erased with Noah’s firm command. It wasn’t that Fenrir was learning, but more due to the fact that Noah’s last stern reproach was still fresh in his mind.

It was Arachne, however, who was less responsive to his orders out of the two. Her humanish face sharply turned towards him, and a heated glare peered his way. A glare not meant for him, but a look of both hatred and anger that was deepened as the pheromones being released was heightened the closer they became to the source.

Noah’s eyes narrowed as he noticed her continuing barely contained rage. "Arachne!" He called out, more forceful than when he addressed Fenrir when seeing that she might ignore him entirely, her body tensing and poised to continue her attack, especially since she had yet to attack any of the spiders that held a similar smell to the one trying to attract her.

Although he could use words to have Arachne stand down, Noah continued with their little stare down. He couldn’t hold her current feelings against her; he could understand why she was filled with so much resentment to kill everything. In fact, her anger was so strong that he too couldn’t escape from being affected by her frustration, the same way the others were affected by his own overwhelming emotional outage from earlier.

He didn’t push her any further. Instead, he waited, giving her the space to calm herself. Slowly, painfully, Arachne’s rage began to ebb, and her defensive posture shifted ever so slightly into one of begrudging compliance. Her limbs were still tense, and her gaze occasionally flickered back toward the enemy, but she was holding herself back...for now.

"Good," he murmured aloud. "It’s better if you conserve your energy, especially since it seems as though you want to fight it on your own. Am I right?"

Arachne’s eyes widened at Noah’s remark; her surprise evident in the way she momentarily stiffened. Her mandibles twitched slightly, and she tilted her head as if to silently question how he had known her desire to take on the enemy herself. The look of shock softened a moment later, replaced by a begrudging acceptance as she remembered that Noah had an uncanny knack for reading her intentions.

Fenrir, having already submitted, watched the exchange with a tense stillness. The towering, destructive beast now sat obediently, trying to give the implication that he was the ’good boy’ out of the two. But suddenly, his eyes darted, following which he began to fiercely growl with a foreboding warning. He saw Dummy hungrily eating the surrounding dead prey, mainly the spiders that it strove over to help him with. Although Noah didn’t say not to eat the food, Fenrir didn’t want to entertain the possibility of that being part of his order.

"Stop eating, Dummy!" Fenrir barked at the creature, exerting his authority as the leader of the pack as he spoke. Dummy was in the midst of inserting half of the body of one of the spiders in its mouth when it paused mid-motion. It was an amusing, if unsettling sight; the dangling spider in its mouth while its disturbing form gave off a sense of confused hesitation.

Dummy reluctantly retracted the half-eaten spider from its maw, allowing the corpse to slump to the ground with a resoundful thud. Its fearsome appearance looked almost disappointed, as much as a beast with two giant mouths could appear that way. Fenrir let out a final warning growl before huffing and sitting back down, satisfied that its pack follower wouldn’t soil its good boy appearance.

"Now....Le, you too." He turned behind himself when he could still hear fighting in the distance, following which he noticed that Ailetta’s small army wasn’t nearby. Looking over, he noticed that Ailetta’s intention was entirely focused, making him realize that she was consciously still controlling them but from afar. "There’s no reason to maintain the others anymore. Now should be the time you merge the rest." He continued with his orders, but this command in particular was something that Ailetta couldn’t understand, making it hard for her to instantly comply.

"Noah?" Her bewildered expression already told Noah what she was about to ask. "Why are we holding back? If it’s because you think I won’t have enough mana for the final fight then don’t worry, I’ll have enough even if you don’t use your skill on me anymore. Just let me continue; I’m so close! If I could just take down a few more th-"

"I know Le, but.... " Noah interrupted calmly. His acceptance to her statement surprised her, making her quietly stand down to listen to what he was thinking.

"We could potentially kill them all...even if you still had enough mana, that I don’t doubt....But, I came to thinking...should we really kill them all?" As he asked the question, his Nexus eye continued to peer towards the direction the creatures were escaping to.

"If we were to take over this place, if....this place not only became our home, but our own dungeon...What would happen to the creatures that live here? Will they become monsters trapped within the dungeon? Will they become our allies? Either way, I don’t want to exterminate all of the creatures here, at least not yet until I find out my answer. When this place becomes our home, I’d rather have them live here, becoming a layer of defense for us so we don’t have to stress about intruders even in our own home."

Ailetta’s eyes widened slightly, processing Noah’s unexpected perspective. His reasoning felt out of place considering the fact that they would’ve most likely killed them all if they never retreated. But the more she considered it, the more sense it began to make. Her gaze softened, the impatience and eagerness to strike dissipating as she allowed his words to sink in.

"So that’s what you’re thinking..." She murmured, her voice was more contemplative rather than just understanding. She hadn’t considered how much of the forest would become their territory when using the heart in Noah’s possession. Nor did she think about how to maintain that territory. Her thoughts were only focused on reaching their goal and at the same time, satiating her curiosity of her abilities and strength, but Noah’s outlook made her thoughts begin to race on how to improve their home, while also thinking about what changes she could do to the place.

The same time that her gaze softened, the situation with her army took on a drastic change. No longer were her puppets and abyssal slimes attacking and absorbing the fleeing creatures, but they were now "attacking" each other. The fleeing creatures were unable to process what was happening, nor did they want to understand. All they cared for was that the "immortal" predators stopped their chase, allowing them to dart deeping into the thick of the forest with desperate speed.

While that was happening, Noah strolled over to a few of the spiders that were put down. Although his eyes were looking at the corpses, his Nexus eye continued to look around himself. In a way, Noah would confidently say that he trusted the information of what his Nexus eye sees, far more than the detailed information given to him by the pair of his two eyes.

His primary vision allows him to see things at face value, while his unique vision allows him to uncover the secrets of what his primary vision was unable to see.

Then there was his Nexus eye, which transcended both his primary and unique vision. It bypassed the need for deciphering layers and instead presented the raw, unfiltered essence of the world. It was as if he was viewing the universe as a complex digital system, reading the underlying code, the flow of mana, the truth of magical constructs, the connections binding different energies together. The Nexus eye interpreted the reality of existence as strings of energy, patterns of power, and foundational laws, exposing the mechanics that governed the physical and mystical alike.

With this level of sight providing him with the comfort to continue unhindered. Noah aimed his armless shoulder towards one of the corpses, shooting out a net of slime that stayed attached to his body that quickly enveloped the entirety of the spider’s body, absorbing the creature, mana core and all.

He could feel his body being replenished, at the same time, he felt his mana recovering, but only just slightly. The mana recovered felt like a small drop in a bucket, but it was a drop nonetheless. What he was aiming for wasn’t just the normal substance acquired from eating; his aim was to meet the criteria for activating his ability that allowed him not only to replenish his mana but also empower his stats for one hour.