Becoming a Monster

Chapter 192: Chapter 192: Mana, A Gift or A Curse?

Looking out into the streets, the entirety of the road was littered with the same zombies from last night. But before they could take in the abnormality of the current undead creatures’ actions, they first had to address the elephant in the room.

”’He’ was right....The world is really never going to go back to what it once was...” His eyes were locked on the sprawling, overgrown plant life that had taken over the streets outside. Twisting vines, enormous flowers, and thick roots spread out like veins, uplifting the concrete of the streets and sidewalks, making massive obstacles in place if one were to try to venture through with a vehicle. The sudden surge of greenery was something they had only recently noticed, but now it was unmistakable. There was something extremely off with the plants of their new world.

”This isn’t normal at all....” Alicia whispered, aghast to the sight. ”What’s going to happen the next day? And the day after that? And why is it happening so suddenly?

The others, who were unable to keep themselves from listening were tense. Nonsensical fear was starting to take root, while nothing about the world no longer made sense, now they had to be wary of the world itself that was no longer following the rules they once understood.

”It’s not sudden,” Jasmine voiced, her response causing everyone to look at her with both scrutiny and anxious impatience for her to speak up about what she knew. Before answering, a small green aura encompassed her body, releasing a sweet earthy smell that held a flowered fragrance to it. Her eyes drew shut to the changes before she slowly opened them again.

”The plants will continue to rapidly grow, it’s a reason that their growth only happens at night.” Her hand reached out towards the gaps of the curtain, enveloping her hand within the sun rays that shined through.

”If everyone here is familiar with photosynthesis, then maybe it’ll help everyone understand more. If the plants use the sun’s light as their source of energy and food, then what do you think they use when that resource is limited during the night?”

Her question was rhetorical; not expecting for really anyone to interact with her. But Levi was very much interested in what she had to say. The more the world changed, the more he couldn’t contain his anticipation.

”Are you trying to say the moon is what is causing this?” His voice held a tint of excitement, an expression that incurred frowns from the others, looks that he completely ignored. ”So the world isn’t the only thing changing, even the universe is being affected....”

Looking out of a window of his own, he bent over to try to peer up into the sun, hoping to discern a change in its appearance.

”Not quite...” Jasmine slowly shook her head, denying his spirited hopes. ”With only the sun’s reflection from the moon being able to only slightly supply them with the basic resources than what they are used to, they now have gained a way to obtain another resource; a resource that is completely transforming them from the plants we came to know. It is also a resource that we have come to rely on in these desperate times.”

It wasn’t just Levi who was now engrossed in the conversation, the others who were only listening out of fearful curiosity now were absorbed into knowing the reason.

”It’s mana, right Jas?” Jasmine only silently nodded to Mark. Mark took that information in stride, thinking about what that could potentially mean for them in the future. The information was chilling, anyone with a system would know that the zombies’ ’infection’ was now known as the corruption of their mana. If mana was capable of turning humans into man-eating monsters, then what effect would it have on the plants? These thoughts, these worries, Mark decided to keep them to himself.

Instead of mulling it over for too long, his sights adjusted to what was happening in the streets. His eyes narrowed as he witnessed the strangers of the zombie hordes.

”The plants aren’t what we should be focusing on right now, Jas? What do you think is happening with ’them’?”

The zombies that were known specifically for eating humans, were in the midst of a crazed feast, and that there was where the problem lied....There should be nothing in the area to eat, not unless random animals or other humans encroached on their area, yet if that were to have happened, then they would’ve been made aware of it in the middle of the night.

Everyone’s eyes quickly darted to the streets, peering deeply towards the hunched figures of zombies. Almost every zombie was in the middle of digging into the corpse of another zombie, but then there were the zombies whose bodies were degrading and seemingly breaking down on themselves.

One zombie, in particular, was going through intense, violent convulsions, drawing the horrified attention of everyone in the room. Its skin and muscles pulsated as if something inside was coming alive, fighting to break free. Moments later, the creature’s body swelled to unnatural proportions, its bones audibly snapping and stretching, distorting its height and mass. The flesh of its elongated limbs stretched, torn and ripped apart, struggling to accommodate the transformations.

Its face twisted grotesquely alongside its body, the eyes bulging unnaturally from their sockets, while its jaw elongated to an alarming degree. Teeth within the stretching maw grew larger, sharpening into jagged edges that gleamed ominously in the muted light.

No one knew how long they watched, not being able to tear their eyes away, transfixed by the nightmarish transformation unfolding before them.

Finally, a towering naked zombie with hair that stretched to its warped breast. It let out a gurgled roar, the raspiness of its cry hinted that its vocals were still in the process of changing. Its cries echoed amongst the other zombies that were going through a similar ordeal, seemingly as if they were declaring their newfound existence.

”What the hell is happening?” Peterson’s voice sounded, a voice filled with disbelief and terror.

Mark’s eyes narrowed as he continued to observe the grotesque figure. ”It’s evolving,” he muttered, barely able to process what he was seeing. His gaze widened, quickly turning to other parts of the horde, narrowing soon after as he finally understood. ”And they are eating each other....they are eating each other to evolve.”

”It’s! It’s the cores! It has to be the cores!” Levi was soon excitedly mumbling to himself. He could never forget all that he had talked about with Noah. There were always doubts in his mind about all that they discussed, it’s not that Noah had any reason to lie, but the absurdity of some of the parts of the conversation were too surreal to take at face value. He had witnessed Noah eating the cores of zombies’ face to face, but now he was witnessing that the cores could perhaps do much more than Noah had briefed him on.

For someone who desired a power to create a place of his own that was free of hypocrisy in its society, he desired strength much more than ever before. Seeing that absorbing cores had such an effect made Levi more assertive in his earlier thoughts; he needed to find ways to absorb not only human cores but also zombie cores.

From his gamble after the station, he managed to get every single one of his skills to 100% progression after taking the cores of the humans that perished under the struggle against the insects. It was an action that turned not only Peterson and Raven against him even more, but he became abhorred among the people who came to know of his actions. The only ones who hadn’t truly shown any aversion to what he’s done, were the people that followed alongside Mark, and it was because of that reason that gave Levi the idea that maybe they would be different if they were to assume leadership instead.

Mark, already having some idea about Levi’s character, merely glanced towards him, returning his gaze back towards the zombies.

”Regardless of whether or not more of those things grow stronger, the plan doesn’t change.”

Mark’s body began to glow, reminiscent of the glow from last night, but this time the bluish hue within the aura was much more prominent than before. His hands re-gripped the two girls’ shoulders, his aura instantly enveloping them in its warmth, while also granting them a power that was both euphoric and overpowering.

Seeing that Mark was going to do something against the zombies, even after the zombies evolved numbers grew compared to last night made Raven frantic. Her concern wasn’t just about what they were going to do, but the fact that it could potentially jeopardize everywhere there.

”Wai-!” She almost shouted to stop them, realizing her error, she forcibly bit down on her lip to contain rage.

Mark only paused, his glowing aura flickering slightly as he turned to face her. ”Listen, even if this doesn’t go as planned, I promise you, everyone here will be safe.” His gaze then pandered from Alicia, then to Jasmine who was still trying to mentally adjust to the growth of power raging within them.

”Do it, kill as many as you can, don’t hold back.”