Becoming a Monster

Chapter 223: Chapter 223: Snake’s Gamble

The snake recklessly lunged towards the serpent, while the serpent reciprocated the attack. The two quickly became entangled, their teeth firmly sinking into the other’s bodies. Unlike the snake, the serpent’s jaws contained rows of razor sharp fangs, digging and ripping through the snake’s rough exterior much easier than it had done against the spider’s hardened skin. Rows of the snake’s ribs were exposed after the attack, accompanied by the dense muscles that made up the majority of its flesh.

A strong hiss sounded in response to the heavy injury, yet the snake’s resolute gaze was determined to follow through with its theory. Its fangs released the unknown liquid into the serpent’s ”flesh”.

Ailetta clearly observed the snake’s reckless attack, inwardly she wanted to scoff towards the snake’s misled intentions. To her, it appeared that the snake wasn’t aware that the serpent was merely just an extension of her. Not only that, the serpent’s interior wasn’t that of an actual creature, created from flesh and blood, but was developed and entirely made up of her slime substance. Not only physical attacks, but even substances such as a snake’s venom shouldn’t have the intended effects at which the snake was thinking of.

Her ridiculing smugness was apparent, but in just that one moment when the snake’s fangs sunk into the serpent’s body, her body completely stiffened from both disbelief and surprise.

Her serpent completely went limp, everything from the area of the injected venom to the end of its mouth was unable to be moved. Ailetta didn’t understand, her connection to the serpent was completely cut off which didn’t make any sense to her! Although the slimes still had a consciousness of their own, they were still a part of her. The serpent was still a part of her; it was her. She shouldn’t be able to not control a part of herself.

”What kind of venom is that...” Despite her surprise, all of her eyes narrowed in suspicion towards the snake whose fangs still resided inside the serpent’s side. Ailetta didn’t like the mirrored smugness she once wore that was now reflected in the snake’s eyes. The snake’s taunting gesture really made Ailetta want to dismember the creature piece by piece, stripping its flesh while keeping it alive as she stared into its eyes to see if it would still hold that same gaze.

”!”

The surprises continued to catch her off guard. Her expression grew stern as she realized that despite the snake being weaker than the spider before it, whatever was in its venom was a complete counter to her.

With just a mental command, the serpent’s body was instantly severed from her main form.

’Whatever the venom is, it not only tampers with my body but it’s also destabilizing my mana.’ Her thoughts thickened as she recalled the feeling of the lost connection working its way through more and more of the serpent’s body. If she didn’t make the quick decision to remove it from herself, she pondered if the effects would completely subdue her, or even kill her.

’I can’t let it get to me again...If only I cou-’ During her thinking, the snake’s next action made her realize her error. The moment the snake saw Ailetta detach the serpent from herself, the snake knew that Ailetta would be wary of its venom.

However, to the snake, the main threat has been dealt with. Its priority wasn’t defeating Ailetta, but to prevent Noah from gaining the fruit. With the snake’s mouth releasing the serpent’s body, the serpent lifessly form smashed into the ground as the snake slithered towards Noah.

”Noah!” Ailetta cried out his name to alert him. Not because she feared that he would fall to the snake’s venom just as she had, but she felt the need to announce to him her failure.

As she called out to him, her hands turned into long whips, finely sharpened at its ends, lashing out towards the spider with incredible speeds. The serpent’s body contained the majority of the newly acquired core’s power, making its body unable to be replicated after losing it. Ailetta was now left to use her regular form of attack until she either gained enough mana from the core to replicate another serpent or to wait out the venom within the original serpent and absorb it back into her. With the drastic effects of the snake’s venom, Ailetta wouldn’t risk absorbing the serpent’s body within her immediately which left her attacking with whatever she could.

The moment before her whips pierced into the snake, the two appendages branched out into small fine pointed tips that behaved the same way as skinny spears that punctured into the snake’s body. The injuries quickly amounted to an abrupt amount of pain, but unlike the snake’s bite, her tentacles lacked the power to cleanly breach through the snake’s densely packed muscles and bone.

The snake’s massive body writhed under Ailetta’s assault, hissing angrily at the fact that she continued to interfere with it despite no longer having the capability.

If it could, it would have preferred to completely get rid of the being whose existence was a threat to its home. Still, it had to retaliate, it could feel the tendrils within it continuously and persistently drilling deeper into its flesh, working its way further into its body, even expanding, stretching out, damaging its nerves. With the upper half of its body on the ground, its muscles tensed as its thick tail end snapped toward Ailetta with an earth-shattering force.

Although, Ailetta was seemingly immune to physical attacks, that was only true if the attack wasn’t able to reach her core. If the snake’s attack landed effectively, it could potentially smash her into the earth, flattening her, and potentially shattering her core. The attack originated from her blind side, but for Ailetta who had eyes practically everywhere on her body, her eyes quickly spotted the odd movement. And after falling for its venom, Ailetta made sure to activate the ability she shared with Noah. Her eyes glowed brightly. The violet of her eyes gained small wisp of white lights within them, resembling pupils.

Time slowed down in a matter of moments, because of the consumption of mana that would need to be used for each pupil activated. Ailetta only settled on using the ability on the eyes currently behind her, leaving five pupils shining towards the direction of the attack. Not only could she now predict what part of the tail would hit her from how the tail moved, she now had the time to mentally calculate the best way to dodge. Her wings beat heavily, creating a pressured draft as she launched herself backwards, narrowly avoiding the snake’s tail as it came crashing down.

Seeing its attack miss, the snake had to resist not to strike again as its focuse set entirely on Noah. For now it could wait, after it ascended it would make sure to come back to finish the job.

Noah stopped in his advance towards the tree. With the fruit yet to fully ripen, he had no reason to rush. His instincts told him that any creature who also valued the fruit’s benefits wouldn’t preemptively go after it until it was ready to be eaten either. Because of this, he was able to spectate the interaction between the snake and Ailetta, all the way up to when the snake continued its lunge towards him despite the fact that it could’ve gone for the fruit before he had gotten to it, further solidifying his earlier thoughts.

His eyes became thoughtful as he repeated the snake’s behavior. Everything it had done till now showed that it made the decision with a plan in mind. Truly, the creature would’ve been the perfect candidate to turn into his next tamed beast, but he still had something else in mind. That didn’t mean that the snake didn’t have its own usefulness that he could still use.

”Everyone, don’t interfere,” He spoke with a soft tone, his words echoed loud enough for everyone to hear. The lack of fear or vigilance in his voice contradicted the scene of a creature large enough to swallow him whole advancing towards him.

Noah’s gaze never wavered as the snake closed the distance, but he was acutely aware of his companions protective tendencies. Already he could hear the upbeat of Ailetta’s wings, preparing to burst forth to his location.

He didn’t have to look towards Arachne to know what she was thinking. His senses were nearly being overrun by both Ailetta’s and Arachne’s feelings of bloodlust towards the snake. He didn’t have to worry about Fenrir interfering, the towering ball of fur wasn’t as protective as the other two, but he held more faith in Noah than the others did. If Noah didn’t call for his aid, then Fenrir wouldn’t interfere. It came to relish being able to fight its own battles and sought for Noah to feel the same since he viewed Noah as his alpha.

However, that didn’t stop the canine from stopping amidst his feeding to watch Noah’s every move.

Fenrir’s stance shifted slightly, his body relaxed but ready. Though he refrained from joining the battle, his massive form remained tensed, muscles coiled like springs, ready to act if Noah’s life was ever in true danger.

Noah, however, wasn’t concerned about their worries. He didn’t have Fenrir’s strength, Arachne’s speed, or Ailetta’s almost complete resistance to physical attacks. But what he couldn’t make up for in stats, he made up for it with his library of skills.