Becoming a Monster

Chapter 11 Is It Worth It?

Pl-please help him! If he dies too then what will happen to us? We canʼt fight that thing without him!”

The frightened expressions that appeared within the group convinced Isabelle that her words had convinced them, she just didnʼt realize that she convinced them in an entirely different way.

Clang!

Her facial expression froze when she saw some people in the group who held heavier weapons drop them to the ground, their facial expressions showing only fear.

Isabelle couldnʼt understand why they would drop their weapons after she just explained to them that they could die if they didnʼt fight. She wanted to question them but words werenʼt forming from her sheer confusion, thankfully and unfortunately, someone cleared it up for her.

”Sh-sheʼs right! Weʼll only die if we continue to fight! This is our chance while itʼs distracted, why should I continue to fight and die when clearly you all are the ones fighting to save someone you know?”

His words inspired the fearful ones who wanted to leave but didnʼt have the confidence to leave on their own, but now that someone had spoken up for them they gained the courage to speak out as well.

”Weʼre clearly going to die even if we all stay, we lost more people than we wouldʼve if we didnʼt decide to fight it in the first place!”

”That guy with the shield and her.” A bystander pointed to Isabelle. ”Are the reason weʼre in this mess. Iʼm outta here, I donʼt want to die!”

One by one they started to fold and then scatter right in front of Isabelleʼs eyes.

”W-wait….” She weakly called out to the group with an outstretched arm, but her voice didnʼt seem to reach them. Her vulnerable side caused most of the rest who were still undecided to leave as well, but hope wasnʼt all lost since there were still people who stayed, not only because they felt guilty but also because they still had people to save among the victims.

Out of a group of around 25 students, there were only 8 left including Isabelle.

The longer she watched the people leave the more emotional she became.

”Fine, you piece of shits! If you couldnʼt fight this one creature without us then how would you manage if you run into something like this again? I hope you all die!”

The ones who ran were too focused to hear her screams but the few who stayed gradually calmed their hearts when they realized they may have made the right choice in staying. Of course they all hoped that what she said wasnʼt true, who would want to believe that there could be something more dangerous than what they were fighting now? But it didnʼt take common sense to realize that what they were fighting was a giant spider and after seeing the zombies and the mouse/rats that were now humongous compared to their original counterparts, they could only imagine what other animals changed in the world.

”BRANDON! YOU FUCKER, ILL KILL YOU!”

Isabelle and the group who stayed all turned their attention to the fight transpiring. What they witnessed caused Isabelle to gasp. They were able to force the spider back as Derrick was now standing before the body of Justin. From the distance, they couldnʼt tell if he was still alive after the spider sunk its fangs into him for the second time, but that wasnʼt what made her gasp.

When she looked in the direction of the spider she noticed the spider posing in a defensive stance. Its upper body was raised in the air showing five of its legs threateningly even though one of the six was cut in half while it supported itself on its two back legs awkwardly.

But what horrified her more than the stance of the spider was the last leg that wasnʼt raised because what was under it was the last person of her group that she knew personally was now skewered under the spiderʼs sharp leg. Anyone could see he was a goner as he held onto the spiderʼs leg in a needless attempt to take it out of him and from there they could see that the leg of the spider penetrated the middle of his stomach outside his back.

It seemed the occasional action of Brandon spitting out blood and crying due to the pain was causing Derricks already deranged emotions to tilt over.

Clang!

”Derrick….?” Isabelle started to become more worried when she saw Derrick drop his shield and rushed towards a giant two handed ax lying near a body. He was giving her the sense that he was going to throw his life away in order to kill the spider. Not only would she lose the person she loves but she would also lose her protector in this hellish environment, she couldnʼt begin to imagine what she would do if she let him go through with his actions, she had to stop him before it was too late.

”DERRICK!” She screamed at the top of her lungs to get his attention and at the same time it attracted a small group of zombies behind them, but no one was able to notice that the zombies that were in the direction of the boys dormitory were focusing on something else during this moment.

Her scream managed to grab hold of Derricks attention, he turned to look at her with a wild gaze.

”Isabelle look what they did to our friends, look what itʼs done to Brandon! And Jus-Justin…..heʼs dead….ma-maybe if I had used that skill then he…he….HELP ME KILL THIS BASTARD!”

The way he looked at her caused her to take a step back, the group that stayed looked back and forth between the two and the encroaching zombies unsure of what action to take.

”Derrick itʼs over! Thereʼs no one else to save! And at this rate….at this rate youʼll only be getting us killed too! Letʼs leave, we need to live, to live for everyone we lost, to live for each other!”

Hearing Isabelle trying to convince Derrick to retreat relieved the group who didnʼt want to engage with the spider again. Hope glimmered in their eyes that they would get out of this mess and if they all stick together then it would be that much easier to wait till help comes. On that note they all came to a consensus to fight the approaching zombies to clear a way to leave for when Isabelle retrieves Derrick.

All the while the spider who was constantly alert, gazed towards Derrick and then towards its lively new meal. It noticed that at this moment Derrick was vulnerable but not only was it feeling weak at the moment but itʼs legs were also too damaged to pounce towards him from its distance. The desire to feed was growing stronger as its fangs rub against each other frantically as a warning but doing so it noticed that Derrick didnʼt react to it.

Warily it started to lower its legs as it lowered its mouth towards Brandon who no longer cried out in pain. It pierce his sides with its fangs causing Brandon to twitch and whimper and yet Derrick who caused the spider the most grievance seemed to not notice.

Meanwhile, while the spider was finally about to take a break and feed, Derrick was trying to sort out his complicated feelings. He wanted more than anything to kill the spider but then he realized that ever since the first member of their group was taken out he spurred everyone on for that one person and slowly they ended up in this situation with almost no one left alive all because of his decision.

He felt guilty, part of him wanted to finish what he started, that way he could find that as an escape for him being the cause of everyoneʼs death. If he used the skill he gained from the achievement from earlier he had a high chance of killing the creature at the cost of maybe his life afterwards, but the more he rationalized things, an unbundling feel of death waved over him. Like any normal person, he didnʼt want to die, but he also couldnʼt be the one to suggest retreating after all heʼs done. He was thankful for Isabelle at this moment.

He was preparing to return to Isabelle and the group that stayed with them till everyone heard a voice in the direction of the spider.

”Come to daddy!”

————-

Moments before the spider started to feed on Brandonʼs body, Noah finally made it to the clearing where the battle went on.

The gore and carnage he came upon wasnʼt enough to phase him, he himself had just come from a similar setting if not worse and he was the cause of it.

A distance behind him was a small group of students that were growing in number due to the fact that they were viewing Noah as their lifeline after witnessing him mowing through the zombies.

But even though they followed him, they were also afraid of him. Some were still stumbling and hurling from the carnage and brutal killings that Noah displayed while others still continued to hear his creepy laugh ringing in their ears repeatedly.

It didnʼt help that even now Noah was completely covered in blood and innards again. Unlike last time, the blood will most likely take a couple of washes just to remove the stains from his skin, let alone the smell.

Noah was aware of the people following him but as long as they didnʼt take his precious experience and didnʼt try to force him to protect them then he would allow the followers to do what they want. As for now he had two important matters to take care of.

”So it does work! If I had to go searching for the chest then I would lose it…but how does it drop exactly when Iʼm no longer fighting?

I guess whoever that voice was is watching over everything huh? I know I would, this is just too thrilling.”

Again, after killing the last zombie around him, a bronze chest appeared confirming Noahʼs initial thoughts. He didnʼt have anything specific in mind to obtain from the chest, if anything he wanted a new weapon similar to his hammer.

His hammer didnʼt last long enough during his killing spree. The steel had a few dents here and there but Blows after blows against the zombiesʼ craniums caused the base of the wooden handle that connected the steel and the wood to slowly splinter. Halfway through killing the zombies the steel had broken off from its handle leaving him to fight with his handle as if it was a spear.

Thankfully the area was filled with students who were at least courageous enough to get one kill and receive a weapon. Some just werenʼt lucky enough to survive long, but their demise at least left Noah with options of a preferred weapon lying around so he picked up a one handed sword and a short one handed mallet.

He could make do with the weapons he had now but he would still prefer a weapon that was a bit messier.

He remembered that the last time he opened the chest too quickly he only received gold so superstitiously he opened the chest slowly hoping that it would give him luck.

”If I donʼt find what to use this money for I think Iʼll lose my mind..” the first thing he saw as soon as he opened the chest was an abundance of gold coins. He felt an itch as he quickly fantasized about buying unique fantasy items or even skills!

Noah closed his eyes briefly to calm his thoughts before moving on. Just like his last bronze chest, this one also held attribute orbs but unlike last time there were two orbs, one was a sunflower yellow while the other azure blue, both glowed intensely next to a piece of metal sticking out from the gold.

He impatiently reached for the orbs first, curious of what the colors signified but more importantly he was in a hurry not to miss out on the opportunity before him concerning the bad ass spider.

+2 magic

+2 spirit

”Phew, Take that Johnathan! I was beginning to believe I would be forced to go the tank route…” After receiving the attributes from the orb, he moved on to his last reward which turned out to be more than needed in his opinion.