Becoming a Monster

Chapter 21 On The Run Again

A minute went by, then two. Before Noah was aware, ten minutes passed before a change occurred.

During this time, Noah had to fully connect his soul to the spiders. He discovered that there were steps to the skill that were unexplained. First he had to fully connect with the creature, then he had to subject the spiderʼs soul into space of his own. This step took awhile because he had to do it slowly or the spider would feel afraid and resist. Finally, the spider had to choose, somewhere in Noahʼs body, where it would reside during the time itʼs being held in its ʼcageʼ.

This process took the longest, the spider was extremely picky. Starting from Noahʼs head, it traveled across his body till it reached his back.

”Nnrgh!” Noah began to feel a small burning sensation on his back which caused him to groan in pain. The sensation lasted for half a minute before the ability ended.

Buckling to the ground with sweat dripping down his body from his body overheating. He took his time to catch his breath, the pain wasnʼt intense but the entire process was longer than heʼd liked it to be.

”This is exactly why I canʼt only trust the knowledge of a skill. It didnʼt mention anything about pain! And what the hell was up with the extra steps? Maybe I should count myself lucky that I didnʼt try it before…” he thought back to the time where he encountered Derrick. It was possible that the encounter couldʼve easily gone worse if he attempted to store the spider to escape.

”Urgh! This is annoying to think about. I already know what I need to do, the plan hasnʼt changed at all. Get stronger and then I wonʼt have to worry about my life continuously getting threatened anymore.”

Noah wasnʼt aware but during the event of storing the spider within himself, there was now a large imprint of a spider covering his entire back, similar to a tattoo.

Now that he recovered a good amount of his stamina, he was ready to continue to make his way to the cafeteria. He took a step forward until he realized he was forgetting something again. He looked to his side and noted that Isabelle was still sleeping but she would occasionally grimace and twitch about in the garden bed, further dirtying her appearance.

ʼThis is the downside of traveling with people, especially if they canʼt even take care of themselves….well Iʼm sure after she heals me then she can just follow someone el-…..wait…she will still heal me right? I mean, Iʼm still fulfilling the agreement, I didnʼt tell the dude to let go, he did that on his own. Plus I saved her ʼandʼ I took her to safety…well, weʼll deal with it when we deal with it.ʼ

He bent down to pick her and slung her over his left shoulder before he jogged in the direction of his destination.

Even while he sat under the tree, the constant screams never ceased but it seems that now that he was heading to the cafeteria. He noticed that there seemed to be a few others headed in the direction as well. There were a few occasions where some of the students were being chased, either by wandering mice or animals he hasnʼt witnessed yet after mutating.

For instance there was a mutated dog that was the size of a bearʼs height. He couldnʼt tell the specifics of the dog but he picked up on the fact that two of its canines were protruding out of its mouth, similar to a saber tooth. The dog mustʼve been chasing them for awhile, Noah noticed that the dog continuously anticipated when they would attack and it would retreat before trying again.

He figured it was for a while because the people being chased were more annoyed than afraid.

Noah decided to quicken his pace and keep his distance from everyone as best as he could. He didnʼt want to grab the attention of any of the predators chasing the students at this time, especially with the ʼbaggageʼ he was carrying.

Thankfully the cafeteria was only half a mile away. With the speed he was going, he should get there in about another minute. He could clearly see the doors here but now he was worried since if people are already heading there then they would have already barred the doors which seemed to be the case. He could already see people at the doors banging on it repeatedly.

ʼSigh…sure enough, anything involving people becomes annoying. There might be a way t…shit!ʼ

He noticed that the people at the door looked in his direction and started to scatter. He was sure that he wasnʼt the reason, which meant something was behind him. Sure enough, when he glanced back, it turned out to be the mutated dog from before. It probably realized that itʼll have a harder time going after a group and decided to go after him instead.

He had the urge of dropping Isabelle and sprinting to safety but then everything he had to deal with till now made him feel that it wouldʼve been a waste.

ʼThereʼs already that Mark guy and his group, then that vulture and now you? I swear Iʼm going to get back at all of you when I get a chance. For now, how do I get out of this mess….?ʼ

His eyes began to dart back and forth across the building. His pupils began to dilate while he activated his hunters sight skill. His nerves were starting to act up when he didnʼt find a solution in the first few moments but then.

ʼOkay! We can use that. They can just complain later, they donʼt even own the building and yet theyʼre locking doors?ʼ

Rustle!*

Noah could clearly hear the sound of the dog gaining on him. It closed in on the distance more when Noah had to take a small detour towards the end of the building. The building consisted of a lot of windows but most of the windows were either too big so it wouldnʼt deter the dog or any creature to barge in. For the smaller windows the window frames were in the way, making it difficult to break through.

Towards the window Noah was heading for, the window fitted perfectly for what he needed.

Growl*

Just a few feet away and he was almost there, but the dog was literally right behind him. At this time he could even make out the breathing of it.

Just before he made it to the window. He adjusted his weapon in his hand to place in front of Isabelleʼs body to help secure her in place more since he would be using most of her body to make contact with the window first.

Shatter*

He propelled himself into the glass. Part of his forearm impacted the glass but that wasnʼt important. As soon as he made contact with the glass, he released his hold from Isabelle, causing her body to fly with the momentum to the floor.

He wasnʼt sure from all the noise, but he thought he could hear a muffled cry coming from her direction. He didnʼt let himself become distracted, he held his sword at the ready and lowered his center of gravity by the window.

ʼCome on you bastard, I dare you…ʼ

Noah prepared for two outcomes before he made it into the building. Either the dog would hesitate to follow through the window since it was bigger than normal, or it would follow behind them and he could use this chance to get a preemptive strike.

”Grrrr!”

Not long after, the dog made its decision to leap after them. But in this case, it made the wrong choice.

Whelp!*

Just as soon as its head became visible, Noah stabbed upward with full force into the dogʼs lower jaw, centimeters away from its throat. The sword penetrated into its mouth but that wasnʼt the end. Noah, with all of his strength and will, continued to try to hold the sword in place. If he was strong enough he couldʼve probably split the dog in half but since that wasnʼt the case. His arms quickly followed along with the momentum of the dog, but it was only enough to allow the weight of the dogʼs fall to impale itself further, causing the sword to break off in its mouth and root it into its upper jaw.

The initial stab caused the dog to whimper in pain but by the time it landed into the room it lost function of its body due to the torment it was going through.

They happened to find themselves in the teachers lounge which has small round tables situated around the area. The chairs and tables began to be flung chaotically whenever the dog approached. It was laying on its side frantically kicking while crying loudly as it did so.

Noah took this time to maneuver on the side of his bag to retrieve his dagger from earlier and approached it slowly. He could wait for it to bleed out but how could he allow that? He wanted to personally take the life of the creature that was going to take his, otherwise he would feel as bad as he did when Derrick was killed by the vulture instead of him. He continued to approach the dog slowly, waiting until the moment that it wasnʼt going berserk before he could move in for the kill when suddenly he heard a loud shriek, followed by crying that somehow rivaled the dogs.

It almost made him want to cover his ears, he didnʼt know how someone could scream more annoying than a wounded animal. He didnʼt have to wonder who it was, he knew it had to come from the person who accompanied him.

”Wha-wh-whats go-going on heeeree? an-and WHY DOES IT HURTS?” She continued to cry while holding her head, you could see blood flowing down into her hands as she pressed harder to stop the bleeding and to help with the pain.

Noah on the other hand didnʼt bother to look over in her direction, but he was also getting increasingly annoyed by her crying.

”Will you shut up! Did you forget that you can heal yourself? For crying out loud…” After admonishing her he reached the dog who was still kicking but it wasnʼt as energetic as before. With the increased size and the sharpness of its claws. He wasnʼt willing to take the chance to approach it before, but now it wouldnʼt be a problem.

He stomped on the dogʼs neck to hold it in place. While he did so, he noted the fact of the lack of crying coming from Isabelleʼs direction before he drove the dagger into the dogʼs eye as deep as it could go. It appeared that the new trauma was about to have the dog go into another frenzy but he quickly took action and stomped on the daggerʼs handle, fully immersing it into its socket.

It jolted for the last time before all of its movement ceased and the only sound was the soft crying originating from Isabelle.

Noah still didnʼt bother to check on Isabelle, he still had to check on the spoils he would receive from killing the dog. He quickly looked around and sooner than he expected, he found what he was looking for.

Same as the others, it was another bronze chest, but he didnʼt mind what grade it was as long as it held something he could use. He specifically needed a weapon, he had just lost his sword and his dagger in this one altercation and only had a small mallet left. He needed something else or heʼll have to scavenge around for another one and rely on his spider in the meantime.

But, when he opened it, all he saw was a pair of boots and a pile of gold. The lack of weapons left Noahʼs eye twitching, he almost wanted to close the chest and get a do over if it was possible. But no matter how game like the world is right now, he knew that it was nowhere close to being a game.

Begrudgingly, he took out the boots and put them on after removing his shoes. Ironically, putting on the boots made him feel lighter than his sneakers. He quickly checked his stats to notice that it increased his agility by 2.

ʼWell I can still work with this. As soon as it recovers then we can farm some zombies and avoid the bigger monsters till I get proper gear.ʼ Lastly he took hold of the gold to watch it disappear before he sat up to look around the area.

Footsteps*

ʼShit, more people to deal with….ʼ