Becoming a Monster

Chapter 160: Chapter 160: The Monster’s Reunion

Noah replayed his actions from earlier, withdrawing energy from the core that quickly absorbed into his chest, swirling and manipulating its gasses to soon form the Ant Queen that he had just defeated. But unlike the creature from before, this version of the Queen exhibited a heightened awareness, almost as if she were truly alive.

Her head swiveled with fearful curiosity, her eyes filled with rising confusion as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. She quickly analyzed her current form, her confusion deepening as she realized her body was in a strange, unfamiliar state. Her head snapped toward what she presumed to be the outside world as she unfolded her spiritual wings, attempting to brute-force her way out. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she met only an invisible barrier.

Noah remained nonchalant to the Queen’s efforts. When it came to the ”souls” captured within the nexus, he was comparable to a god.

By the time the Queen realized that her attempts were futile, Noah was already standing in front of Arachne’s body. He was fully resolved with what he was prepared to do.

Reaching inside of his nexus, the Queen noticed the massive hand honing towards her. If, at first, she wanted to escape, now she realized that it was much safer inside. But her resistance was futile. Noah’s hand encompassed the entirety of the realm she was in, while in her eyes, it appeared as if the world around her was collapsing all around her.

Within moments, Noah was seen holding the gaseous form of the Queen in his hand that was edging closer to Arachne’s chest. The Queen released soundless shrieks, more desperate and disparaging than before as she found herself submerging into Arachne’s body. A ravenous force was tugging at her, greedily wanting to devour her as if it had always been waiting for her.

Just like with Fenrir, there was a moment’s pause with no immediate reaction. However, instead of a pulse of energy, a pressuring aura pressed down in a twenty meter distance, with Arachne at its center. Noah and the others found themselves caught within the pressure, but besides their bodies feeling slightly heavier, they continued to look on, awaiting what Arachne’s change had in store for them. Suddenly, the husk containing her new form underneath, shattered with the expansion of the sudden spurt of her mutation.

Her once familiar form had changed drastically, it was questionable how the presence they were seeing now was able to fit inside her old husk. Her size was now at least doubling the mass that it once was before. Her abdomen was larger than her other half compared to how it once was, taking on a rounded, bulbous shape instead of the previous flat circumference.

Arachne’s spider half now measured about ten feet in length, from the point where her spider half meets her human half to the end of her rounded enlarged abdomen. Her height stood at approximately five feet tall, when not accounting for her legs. However, her new imposing limbs, when fully extended, lifted her an additional three feet into the air.

Despite the surreal growth of her size, Noah’s attention was more focused on the humanoid portion of her new form. Compared to the truck sized spider body she now retained, her humanoid counterpart still remained comparatively similar in length. And it was at that moment that Noah saw the first striking change.

Her lower half could no longer be considered just her ”spider” half. Two long, thin humanoid limbs extended out from her waist, hovering above the ground as her enlarged body was lifted a few feet above the ground. Each leg was encased in the same tight fitting exoskeleton as her upper half.

Noah’s gaze continued to travel upward, noting that besides the more intense glowing green throughout her veins and the spaces between her carapaces, the only skin that was exposed were the same areas as before. However, her skin was no longer the same pale violet as it once was, its hue had become a darker shade, edging closer to a grayish value.

Her facial structure had undergone a significant transformation. The top half of her face was no longer the eerie spider mask. What replaced it was an exoskeleton that had an unsettling resemblance with Noah’s own when he was fully transformed. The difference lay in the fact that Arachne’s exoskeleton also framed the entire upper half of her face, encasing itself around eight eyes; parts of her eyes being covered by thin layers of black string like strands of hair.

Two of these eyes, the largest and most prominent, were positioned similarly to human eyes, retaining the vibrant violet while a shiny red gem hovered within each, giving her an intense, piercing gaze. Another pair, mirroring her former spider eyes, sat at the bottom corners, slightly smaller and more angular. The final four were ant-like, large and multi-faceted, arranged symmetrically across her face from one corner to the other. These eyes were embedded into the exoskeleton, creating a complex pattern that seemed both mesmerizing and unsettling. Each eye glimmered with an inner light, their multifaceted surfaces reflecting different hues shifting from deep violet to iridescent greens.

The reveal of the later half of her lip was of a deep obsidian hue, contrasting sharply with the dark purple of the lower lip. On each side of her mouth, two delicate mandibles extended outward, retracting seamlessly when she needed to speak or consume food.

And to top off her transformation, just like Fenrir, alien engravings adorned the ends of each of her spider appendages while he noted one giant symbol on the hide of her abdomen, reminiscent of a black widow.

Arachne’s transformation had rendered her both magnificent and fearsome. And as Noah observed the final touches of her metamorphosis, he saw an overflowing budding of confidence and a thirst for revenge within her gaze. But what followed was an air of confusion. For the first time, she was able to manage a proper frown as her head tilted and turned around her searching for something, someone, a certain ’Queen’ to be precise.

”Hehehee!”

Arachne’s head snapped towards the mocking sound, noticing the slime creature attempting to cover one of her mouths to muffle her tearful laughter, but obviously failed to muffle the sounds of laughter originating from her other mouths.

With the near overflowing, intense emotions flowing through Arachne, Ailetta would have been immediately attacked if Arachne wasn’t aware of her identity beforehand. Not that it relieved her of her anger.

”Where is sh-” Arachne was about to demand an answer, but suddenly one of her eyes, which had been subconsciously fixed on Noah, suddenly drew the attention of all her other eyes. It was as if she was aware of his existence but at the same time her mind was still trapped in those final moments of their impending doom.

Cautiously, her body lowered her human form to stand before him. The chaotic emotions in her expression flickered between anger, confusion, and something resembling disbelief. Her mandibles twitched as she lifted one of her hands towards to unconsciously grasp onto his hand. But that triggered another strong reaction when she found the hand he was reaching for was no longer there.

Her eyes darted towards his face, searching for an answer. Her lips slightly parting, struggling to find the right words to process what was happening. But then she noticed the other changes about Noah, not just his physical transformation, but his presence he exuded, one that was no different than an apex predator.

Ailetta’s laughter had long since faded. Despite her normally twisted sense of humor, if there was anyone else she could say she respected just as much as Noah, it was Arachne. Although Noah could have answered sooner, he remained observing Arachne’s emotions, deeply scrutinizing her expressions and what was shared between their bonds to make sure that the Queen’s powerful soul didn’t find a way to influence her.

But the moment he was assured that Arachne was still in control, his hand grabbed hers that was aimlessly twitched near him as if she was unsure if she was allowed to touch him. His hold was gently yet firm, preventing her from instinctively retrieving her hand. He placed her hand on his cheek, so she could feel that he was real.

But when Noah’s gaze shifted, his earlier tenderness filled eyes dimmed, replaced with a cold, ruthlessly gaze that oozed a malicious intent, so menacing that that air around him grew cold.

”She’s dead...” he repeated, his cold gaze shifting to the mangled remains of the Queen. His expression showed no remorse, only a deep, unsettling pleasure at recounting what had transpired. ”She died, begging me to end her suffering quickly.”

His tone grew more manic, his grin stretching wider as if savoring the memory. ”And so I ate her... I ate her alive...” He paused for a moment, allowing the weight of his words to sink in. The brutal admission hung in the air, both oppressive and terrifying.

”And while I ate her body,” Noah continued, turning his gaze back to Arachne, his eyes now glinting with something sinister, ”I had you eat her soul.”

Arachne’s body was frozen in place, as Noah’s words touched on a familiar feeling that she had continued to fail to grasp. She understood that she was going through a transformation after consuming the Queen’s blood. However, after emerging from her transformation, she continued to feel an aura that reminded her of the Queen, the same being that had almost taken her life and Noah’s. Now she realized that it was her own aura that she had been sensing all along.

But instead of shock, or fearing Noah’s decision to tamper with her own soul without her consent. Arachne smiled just as menacing as Noah, although her smile was probably a touch creepier than his.

This was the feeling that she enjoyed, the realization that no matter how overwhelming the opponent, or daunting the odds, Noah would find a way to rise against it. And now he was also able to give her the power to do the same. Ever since she was just a simple mutated spider, under Noah’s wing, she had never known hunger, and every moment was a chance to grow stronger. Her emotions were overflowing with pride and eagerness.

In the background, Ailetta found her mirroring the two’s reaction. Unable to hold back her malevolent smiles when seeing Noah let loose his twisted emotions. It was those moments, she knew that Noah wasn’t holding himself back.

The twisted, loving moment seemingly was going to last for a moment longer. But then a set of giant teeth made their way in between Noah and Arachne. The lips around the teeth twitched as they tried to display a smile imitating the others but as hard as he tried, Fenrir could not quite grasp the essence of what a smile was. His attempts resulted in small snarls that only served to completely shatter the recent atmosphere.