Becoming a Monster

Chapter 299: Chapter 299: Attacking When the Owner is Away.

Noah looked towards Eve’s puffed cheeks and her beady eyes threatening to throw a tantrum. He was truly outdone this time. There wasn’t a reason to deny her besides the fact that she and Ailetta abused a loophole.

But this was fine too, Eve was learning, and she was adapting to use what she learned every day.

Noah ran a hand down his face, suppressing a laugh and a groan.

”Fine....you win this time.” He reluctantly admitted as he retrieved another core.

”It really worked?” Eve didn’t initially react to what he said, there was still a hint of disbelief in her voice. But the moment she saw the core appear in his hands her eyes beamed.

For a moment, Noah had the urge to place the core back into the ring when he caught what she said.

”Next time, how about you at least try not to act surprised.”

He thought at least she would act embarrassed after her little slip up, but the little vampire was already indulging herself with the core.

She treated it differently from last time when she first was given a core. This time she gave it long and slow licks, each time her salivating became messier. If it wasn’t for the differences in appearances, the similarities between Eve and Fenrir were almost too similar when it came to food.

Noah couldn’t control the small chuckles that continued to make his body tremble as he turned away from her. Yet, when he saw Kratos standing there, frozen in place, staring daggers towards Eve’s hands, his eyes dangerously eyeing the core, Noah’s expression calmed.

He had seen Kratos trying to help collect the cores like the others without the need for anyone to do so. In fact, Noah was sure that Kratos didn’t know why he was collecting them in the first place.

Still...it was hard taking Kratos seriously when Noah eyed the destroyed corpses along his path and the small mound of cores he had obtained.

Cores were dense, the mana compression alone made the objects really durable to be destroyed, and yet as Noah’s keen eyesight scrutinized Kratos cores, he saw miniature cracks on the surface of almost all of them.

The cores weren’t completely wasted, but they weren’t exactly good enough to save either. Even without using his Nexus eye, he could tell that more than half of the mana essence inside each and every one of the damaged cores was missing half of its energy and even now, each second that passed, mana was seeping out from the gaps. The leakage was miniscule, but it was enough to empty each core before the day was over, maybe even sooner. It wasn’t worth combining his own blood and mana to it anymore.

Noah’s eyes winced at the potential cores that could’ve been used. Especially now that he could even use the cores to affect his own skills.

Despite this, Noah continued to advance towards the new creature. His hand retrieved yet another prepared core. And it was then that Kratos finally noticed Noah approaching.

Noah expected such a reaction, but what he saw in Kratos’ eyes made him pause in his steps. Kratos’ eyes were begging, almost pleading as he saw Noah approaching with the same core that he saw Noah give the others.

Kratos’ instincts were strong, and his instincts made him aware that the core in Noah’s possession was greater than any creature, and any core he ever ate.

When he saw Noah stop advancing, eyeing the cores that he had accumulated, Kratos could feel that Noah was somewhat dissatisfied with his haul.

In that moment, Kratos’ eyes grew desperate. He wanted that core in Noah’s hands.

In his mind he believed that if his pile wasn’t enough, then he would have to just get more. However, there was a problem. There weren’t enough corpses left!

Kratos’ gaze turned malicious as his eyes wandered to the humans in the vicinity. As a zombie whose senses were heightened when it came to the distinct smells of humans, how could he not sense the cores in every human there.

”Kratos,” Noah’s voice disrupted Kratos before he could act on his impulses. His eyes snapped towards Noah, but then before he could completely focus on his master, he quickly noticed something else coming towards him.

Whoosh!

Kratos moved faster than he has ever done before as he leaped towards the object in the air. Even Noah had to strain his eyes to keep up.

With the force Kratos used, he landed meters away from where he initially stood. His body unmoving as he scrutinized the core in his hand with such passion that one would believe he valued the core more than life itself.

Noah didn’t say anything, but his amusing smile to it all showed that this side of Kratos was something that he rather enjoyed seeing.

Kratos couldn’t resist anymore, he lifted the core towards his mouth, ready to consume it whole.

Suddenly his body froze, his head jerked in Fenrir directions, seeing the dejected beast looking towards Eve who still had her core. And all this time Noah hadn’t made a move to give them another one. This made Kratos believe that only when accomplishing something important would Noah give them a core.

His eyes shot back towards the core in his hand. He wanted to eat it, but Fenrir’s expression truly impacted him.

Without a word, Kratos slowly placed the core into his mouth. The moment he did, his body jerked upright, his eyes widened, and for a moment he almost couldn’t resist the temptation to bite into the core.

He couldn’t think about what impact the core would have on his evolution, the taste was something that nearly drove him mad.

But even now, with it resting on his tongue, he didn’t bite down.

Instead, from Noah’s perspective, he saw Kratos turning back towards him, and on the side of Kratos mouth was a small pouch within his cheek.

By this time, Noah had to resist the urge to laugh. He preferred moments like these the most. For a moment, he was tempted to tease the stoic creature, curious how the new recruit would respond, but then Noah also suddenly froze in place.

His expression drastically changed, his mood plummeted, and his aura exuded one of danger.

All of his creatures stopped what they were doing. The moment they sensed it, the playful atmosphere quickly shifted. This was entirely different from Noah’s earlier outburst, even Eve could understand something was truly wrong.

”Let’s hurry up and get this over with, we have to go.” Noah’s voice was urging but it wasn’t desperate.

He didn’t wait for his creatures to respond; he had already turned towards the direction that he felt the shop to be in.

____________________

Back in the forest, in the confines of their territory, two golems were standing back-to-back from one another. Both golems weren’t ordinary golems, one in particular had the same appearance from when Noah fought the zombie with divinity, while the other one had the clear depiction of a humanoid serpent.

Their appearances were completely different from one another, but what they had in common were their eyes that were eerily identical to Noah’s. It was through those eyes that Noah was able to see everything they were seeing.

And right now, he saw the brief glimpses of creatures flying around them. The creatures were different from what he had encountered before, but their identities were impossible to overlook.

The hybrid bee-ants that Pandora had spoken to him about were encased in their home. They haven’t attacked yet. From what Noah could gather, they were scouting before they launched their attacks.

Noah couldn’t tell when they would launch their attacks, but he knew that before their attack they would send out a party to gather their opponent’s strength.

He still had time to get back, not much time, but it was enough if he wanted to still use the shop.

Despite the threat to his home, he didn’t panic. It wasn’t the golems he had faith in, but Pandora. And even then, he left behind another. A creature whose presence went unnoticed, and whose strength was meager when compared to even his golems.

Noah’s lips twitched into a faint, knowing smirk as he thought about Dummy. A seemingly useless addiction who was only good at eating. But Noah saw its potential, and even more so, he saw the compatibility of its unique trait to encompass what it feeds, with a very peculiar core that he had previously acquired.

_____________________

His creatures didn’t inquire about Noah’s rush as they reacted, following right behind him.

Ailetta was the only one who was brave enough to ask.

”Those annoying bugs are attacking our home.” That was all he said, but it was all that needed to be said. Ailetta’s own aura flared with hostility. That home, though it didn’t have much, but the sentimental value of it was worth the world to her, a place that she could share with Noah for the rest of their lives.

”Of course they wait until we leave. Tch! I’ll make sure to kill them all, and then I’ll preserve their queen’s bodies to be used as statues to show anyone else what happens when they threaten our home.”

Hearing Ailetta’s bloodthirsty declaration helped to improve Noah’s mood. He didn’t deny her of her desire, but he was already planning something else for them when he got back.