Becoming a Monster

Chapter 170: Chapter 170: Death is a Mercy

It was a long trek to reach the basement floor. Their walk was surprisingly silent. Noah constantly thought about their next destination, knowing that he wanted to find a permanent place to stay but not knowing where. Beside him, Ailetta walked with a carefree ease, her demeanor a stark contrast to his tense focus. She hummed a light, cheerful tune, her voice echoing faintly through the stairwell. Her presence brought an odd sense of balance to the situation.

As they reached the final flight of stairs leading to the basement, now walking past the familiar cells, Noah glanced over at her. Her eyes were closed as she hummed, seemingly unbothered by the gloom around them. It almost made him smile, but his focus suddenly shifted to one of the cells.

Ailetta, noticing his sudden change in demeanor, turned her head to follow his line of sight.

”What are you looking at—Oh! It’s her,” Ailetta gasped, her voice filled with surprise and a strange excitement, as if she had stumbled upon a fascinating discovery.

Inside the cell, in the farthest corner, was a figure they had both encountered before. The woman sat slumped against the wall, her body unchained, the cell door wide open, and yet she still remained there, devoid of any life in her expression.

Noah’s brows furrowed, not out of pity for the woman, nor concern for her well-being. Instead, disgust twisted in his gut at the sight of her weakness. The cell door was wide open, unguarded, yet she sat there as if shackled by her own defeat. Her expression was vacant, devoid of life or any semblance of the will to fight, to seek revenge, or to reclaim what had been taken from her.

His disdain for her ran deep, not because of her suffering, but because of her complete surrender. The absence of emotion, the lack of a burning desire for vengeance over her lost children, was what truly infuriated him. Noah had shed many of his human sentiments, but his connection to family, to the bond between him and his companions, had only grown stronger. As a monster, he had come to understand and appreciate that love, and that fierce loyalty. And seeing a human so utterly broken, unwilling to fight for those she lost, filled him with loathing.

”Heh! Pathetic...” Noah scoffed. He didn’t want to see her anymore. He had half the mind to just end her of her misery, but even that felt like a mercy she didn’t deserve.

”Hold on Noah,” Noah turned back, seeing that Ailetta had yet to move away from the cell. His bad mood made him impatient, his expression telling Ailetta that he didn’t want to waste any more time with such a person.

”I always wondered, ever since Levi mentioned it, but....” She repositioned herself to face Noah directly, the wonder and eagerness in her eyes reminiscent of when she was testing her experiments. ”What would happen if a human were to drink your blood?”

Noah’s initial impatience flickered into curiosity at Ailetta’s unexpected question. His brow raised, but the frustration on his face faded as he considered her words.

”What would happen if a human were to drink my blood?” He repeated, almost to himself. It wasn’t something he had really thought about doing before, as there had never been a need to do so. Originally, he would assume that they would become a zombie, but now, he wasn’t sure anymore. The deeper he thought about it, the more entrenched he became in wanting to know.

Ailetta’s eyes widened with a familiar gleam as she saw Noah in that state. The energy within her body swirled at a faster pace that matched her excitement; she needed to press while the iron was hot. ””Just imagine, Noah...” Ailetta continued, her voice trembling with excitement. ”If those unique, powerful zombies we encountered in the past were created from a mere infection, what would they become if infected by you?” Her multiple eyes gleamed, the eerie glow intensifying as her fervor grew, resembling a mad scientist who was trying to convince himself of his own immoral experiments to be righteous. ”

Noah remained quiet for a moment. He had never thought about why certain zombies were more powerful than the others, even way before he knew that they could even evolve. But he had one of those very same zombies by his side all this time. What was different about Fenrir that would make him what he was after becoming infected?

The question struck a chord with Noah; the answer was clear as day. Lucas’s unique skill was his werewolf form, and his zombification just so happened to be centered around his unique skill? He didn’t believe in it being just a mere coincidence; something about their unique skills caused them to become a zombie much more powerful and special than the others. And if Noah were to have been the ones to infect them, then how much more would their transformation have changed? And what about now? What would happen if he infected someone who didn’t have a.....

”Le...” Noah’s stern gaze erased the smile on Ailetta’s face. ”This....woman...didn’t she kill her family when they first turned?”

Tilting her head, Ailetta had to give it some thought. ”What? Oh...yes, she did.” Ailetta’s voice was more measured now as she remembered the details. ”She killed her family after they were turned into zombies, and the last one was killed by someone else after it became infected.” She spoke as if discussing something mundane. ”Why do you ask?”

He didn’t answer her immediately; instead, he walked towards the cell’s door, peering into the supposed dark room. His secondary pupils opened, allowing him to see the room as if the mild darkness was nonexistent. ”I’m thinking that this person might be more useful to us than I thought before...Try to remember, what did people receive if they killed a zombie fast enough after their first encounter when everything started?”

Ailetta’s curiosity piqued at Noah’s question, though she remained silent, watching him intently as he examined the cell. Her multiple eyes narrowed thoughtfully, trying to piece together where his line of thought was heading. Suddenly, her eyes widened in realization when she thought of Jasmine and Mark, and most importantly, Noah. ”They were able to get a powerful skill...and you’re saying that she has one too? But then...why does that matter?

Ailetta couldn’t hold herself back anymore. Normally she would only use the connection of their soul to only receive feedback of his emotions, respecting him enough not to look at his surface thoughts. But her own impatience was tugging at her.

It didn’t take a second for her eyes to narrow, intrigued by what she found.

”Interesting....” Was all she said, not wanting to divert Noah’s intention further.

As Noah approached the defeated woman, she never once looked up to see who it was, even when Noah was practically standing right above her.

”I know you can hear me, and I’m sure that you heard everything that we said, so I’ll give you a chance; Kill yourself now.” Noah told her; more so, it was like an order. Although he wanted to test his theory, he still felt disgusted with her. He wanted to know just how pathetic she actually was.

For the first time, the woman showed a reaction. Her head still remained slumped, but her body trembled slightly while a raspy voice struggled to form words.

”Jus-just kill me.....ki-kill me...” The voice pleaded for Noah to end her suffering instead. Noah’s body stood motionless; his eyes had become vacant of any emotion as he stared down on her; even his look of disgust was no longer there.

”Wrong choice,” He emotionlessly uttered. His movement was swift; his only hand grasped the woman’s jaw, his fingers pressed firmly around her cheeks and chin, exerting enough pressure to forcibly open the woman’s mouth.

The suddenness of his actions caused the woman to instinctively panic, and for the first time, she looked up to who she assumed was her grim reaper; only to meet Noah’s dread gaze. It wasn’t the gaze of someone who was prepared to kill; his gaze instilled something inside her that she had thought she would never feel again...she didn’t want to die, at least not by his hands. From her perspective, Noah was something more sinister, more unholy than the grim reaper, the harvester of souls. He was the devil, the one who tortures souls for eternity.

She wanted to die; she wanted a painless death, a death where she could atone for letting down her kids and be with them after death. But those eyes made her envision a death where even her soul would find no rest. The terror of it froze her, making her stiffen under Noah’s grip, her breath caught in her throat. She tried to pull away, but her body betrayed her. Weak, broken, and paralyzed by fear, she could do nothing but stare into those abyssal eyes.

Noah’s grip tightened slightly; a flicker of emotion crossed his features as he saw the fear in her eyes. ”So, there’s still something left inside you after all.”

His fangs extended, biting firmly into his lips. Dark, thick blood began to well inside his mouth, dripping steadily. The force of his grip strengthened as he pulled her closer, her jaw threatening to break under the pressure.

The woman’s eyes widened in horror, her body trembling violently now as she understood what was coming. ”No...” She whimpered, barely audible, her voice breaking with desperation. ”Please...No, just kill me, kill me!”