Becoming a Monster

Chapter 279: Chapter 279: For the Shop, Not for the Survivors

As the fight at the mall was taking place, a small but interesting group was watching from a distance as it all took place.

Noah and his group were situated nearly half a mile away from the fight. They had no trouble getting there after reaching a certain distance given the fact that the majority of the threats were lured to this very destination.

As usual, Noah’s group was with him. However, Dummy and Eve’s two minions were dedicated to staying at the base. Dummy had been given a parting gift as insurance to protect their home, alongside Pandora.

Although the latter half of their travels were uneventful, the group couldn’t avoid confronting enemies. Every day, stronger creatures emerged, though this time, their enemies were nowhere near as formidable as the zombie that had attacked the night before. It was almost disappointing, though no one besides Noah and Ailetta seemed to mind.

Against such weak creatures, gave Noah the perfect opportunity to test his abilities, while also uncovering the hidden effect of his staff. He knew that the ability to merge with his creatures was strong, but actually experiencing its strength left him in awe. His staff was the icing on the cake. The staff, however, required far more mana to activate than he initially anticipated. It didn’t respond to just pouring mana into it; even fifty points barely flickered the gemstone. To activate its full potential, he needed nearly seven hundred mana, but the results were well worth the cost.

It wasn’t just his skills, but every creature that was tied to his soul had experienced the levels of their skills increased by two.

And just like Noah, Ailetta found the opportunity to gain just as much from the confrontation. At her side, she now had another abomination that she was determined to make stronger, not for Eve, but solely for her. This creature was the perfect vessel to be used for Noah’s ability to merge with her soul.

The creature’s body resembled a skinless human, however, all of its muscles, tendons and veins were completely black. Yet, the trait that truly drew Ailetta in to claim it for her own personal use, was the eyes. There were countless eyes that could be found exposed around its entire body. The eyes were the deciding factor, but it was the abilities they possessed that she truly desired. Though the effects of the creature’s eyes were weak, the longer someone met the gaze of the creature’s eyes, the more they would begin to feel nauseous.

Determined to make the creature her own, Ailetta began merging it with every other creature they encountered. With each fusion, it grew stronger, its power multiplying as her ’babies’ assimilated its strength.

Her earlier deal with Eve, to find her a suitable vessel, was put on hold. After Eve’s recent mutation, Ailetta no longer wanted her powers to remain stagnant. She would focus on her own growth for now, ensuring that her abilities continued to evolve.

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Noah was watching the entire charade proceed, there was a hint of speculative curiosity in his eyes.

He wasn’t concerned about the humans’ plight, even though he knew this was the exact place that Mark and the others were supposedly taking shelter. He had nearly forgotten all about them if it wasn’t for Ailetta mentioning this, after all, he was never aware of the address of the shelter beforehand.

However, what piqued his interest was something else. After two days had passed, he wanted to know how humanity fared in this world. The beings’ words from a few days ago made it clear that they weren’t satisfied with their progress, and that the zombies were evolving faster than the humans were. He needed to see for himself if humans were still progressing or if it was only the small minority of humans who were managing to hold their ground.

From what he was observing, it seemed the humans were failing to adapt. Despite being outnumbered nearly five to one by the zombies, less than ten percent of those sheltered in the base were fighting.

Noah held in the urge to scoff, in the end humans haven’t changed. Whenever humans were in danger, whenever humans needed to fight to defend their lives or their homes, that duty was always left with the small minority who had the courage and the strength to stand up while the rest cowered behind them.

Despite all of this, Noahs’ curiosity was only secondary to his reason for waiting. He didn’t forget his goal for coming here. According to the senses he received from the system, out of all of his surroundings, this place was the closest area that had a shop.

From what he theorized, it was just like the incident with the police station; the shop only appeared and stayed there because of the number of humans that inhabited the area. If the same rules still applied, that meant that currently the mall was the closest place in the given area that still met that criteria to host a shop.

His eyes continued to scan the mayhem. The aura within his Nexus eye picked up countless strong auras, most of them were from the zombies. During his observation, his second set of eyes came into play, allowing him to see the identities of these auras.

The surprise and intrigue on his face was genuine as he realized that the strongest human aura belonged to none other than Mark. As he continued to observe, he noted that the majority of the base’s strength came from those who had originally been with him at the campus.

He had no clue that it was Mark’s display of overwhelming strength that became the catalyst for their growth.

His eyes flickered as he continued to observe. His gaze wasn’t centered on the others anymore, but on the two zombies that contained the strongest of the auras out of everyone there.

Just as Mark was able to sense the zombie’s stare, the creature that was still perched atop his brother’s head sensed Noah’s gaze. Its head snapped towards the direction of the intrusion, its instincts alerting it that a presence was out there, but unlike Noah, it didn’t have the eyesight to see that far.

Without the threat in sight, the creature abandoned its search. However, the brief sense of vulnerability it had experienced lingered, agitating it more than before. If not for Noah, the creature would have delayed its participation in the battle, but now it was itching to relieve the discomfort caused by that gaze.

Its participation had changed everything. The creature had yet to show any magical abilities, yet it didn’t need to. Bullets ricocheted from its slim scales, while a barrage of magical skills barely left a mark on its body. And what was most frightening about this scene was the fact that its earlier display of speed already showed that the creature was capable of avoiding the magical onslaught all together.

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”Noah, what do you want to do?” Ailetta inquired, her eyesight wasn’t as great as Noah’s, but it was enough to see that the human base was on the brink of collapse. As the one who had reminded Noah that this was the very place Jasmine had taken refuge, there was no trace of concern in her question.

Noah’s eyes furrowed in contemplation. Of course, he desired to fight as many creatures as he could. The longer he waited, the more zombies would be killed and even if the zombies managed to kill all of the humans there or forced them to retreat, he would only be left with a small portion of enemies to fight.

However, that was still a more enticing thought than inattentional saving everyone, just for them to try to exert their non-existential authority to use the shop.

He merely had to imagine their haughty expressions before immediately giving an answer. ”Let them die. If they are smart then they will abandon the place before they lose everyone.” He responded, believing that Ailetta was asking out of concern for those that she had once sacrificed so much for.

He wasn’t aware that Ailetta had completely cut off any sense of emotional attachment she had towards her past bonds the moment she was transformed into what she was now.

Ailetta sensed Noah’s misunderstanding but didn’t feel the need to directly address it. She didn’t desire to bring up past relationships with the people her weaker, more naive self had once called friends. Instead, she led the conversation with another question.

”Let’s say they all did die, or even fled. If that were to happen.....would the shop still remain there? We don’t know the conditions set for the shops anymore, especially if this is supposedly the last day.”

She didn’t need to finish her statement, as soon as she voiced her question, Noah’s body bolted completely straight.

He had briefly considered that when he chose not to intervene. A similar event had occurred at the police station, but back then, the shop had granted them a little more time.

But, he had been foolish to assume it would be the same way, especially given how petty he believed the being to be.

”Let’s go.” He didn’t run, but his steps were quick as he moved toward the fight.

Ailetta didn’t question him. She only smiled, already matching his pace as if she had anticipated his decision.