Becoming a Monster

Chapter 503: Chapter 502: Why Do You Exist?

Fenrir hesitated as his blank stare was instantly understood by Noah. The beast was the most recent to receive something; it shouldn’t be his turn to get something else.

As Fenrir moved, Noah turned his attention to Ailetta. There was no need for words between them now. She had already seen what he had seen, already understood what had changed.

He gave a small nod.

”We’ll address it when we return,” he said, his tone leaving no room for debate.

Ailetta didn’t argue.

Noah shifted his focus back to Fenrir as he approached, the core still resting in his hand. For a brief moment, Noah studied it, as if confirming his decision one last time.

Then he extended his hand.

”Take it.”

Under the jealous stares boring into him from every angle, Fenrir didn’t hesitate.

The moment the core left Noah’s grasp, the air seemed to tighten, as if the forest itself was holding its breath in anticipation of what would come next.

At the same time, Noah’s gaze flickered back toward Ailetta.

”Those two,” he said, his voice lowering slightly as his eyes settled on the untouched bodies. ”Fuse them for me. I don’t care about their bodies, I just need the finished core.”

There was no further explanation.

As Fenrir closed his jaws around the core and Ailetta turned toward the bodies, Noah reached down and removed the remaining core from Ryder’s body.

If this had been earlier, he would have already begun to process its ability without hesitation, but now he held himself back. He needed to make sure the same scene didn’t repeat itself.

Because of that, his attention shifted.

Slowly, his gaze moved toward the unconscious mage.

—

The tigerkin still held Ethaniel in his arms, but his focus wasn’t on the man he carried. His eyes remained locked on Noah, unfocused; his mind was locked in a deep rabbit hole of a conspiracy of the world.

He had never considered himself a monster; he denied the thoughts that threatened to seep in every day, no matter how many times the accusation had been thrown at him or his kind.

And yet...

Even he had nearly lost control at the scent of Noah’s blood.

It was only when Noah’s aura had crushed down over the area that his senses cleared, forcing him to realize what he had almost done.

And more disturbingly, what part of him had still wanted to do even after that clarity returned.

As his gaze drifted to the space where Noah monsters were, and then further to where they had fled, something unsettled began to take root within him.

Were they right all along?

The question struck deeper than he expected, cutting into something far more fragile than pride or honor.

It challenged everything his kind had built over generations, every effort they had made to separate themselves from that label, to stand as something more than beasts driven by instinct.

And yet, in that moment, it was impossible to deny how close he had come to proving them wrong.

What he had felt earlier...

There was something disturbingly similar to it, something that echoed the very foundation of his own kind.

Back in his homeland, the kingdom’s core was what had allowed them to stand as equals among the other nations. It could draw out the latent strength buried within their blood, awakening the remnants of their ancestors that still lingered within them.

Even then, only a small percentage could truly grasp that power, and even fewer could approach what their lineage had once been. Their king was the prime example of someone who was able to awaken the purest of bloodlines.

But Noah’s blood...

Where the kingdom core unlocked what was already there, Noah’s blood forced something new to take shape. It didn’t simply awaken potential. It expanded it, pushed it beyond what the body should have been capable of reaching on its own.

The two were similar. And yet, they stood in complete opposition.

”No...”

The thought slipped through him as his attention snapped back just in time to feel Fenrir’s aura shift.

He couldn’t tell what had changed, couldn’t identify the ability that had been gained, but for the briefest moment, there was something familiar within that presence, something that reminded him of his fallen comrade, the owner of that core, before it vanished completely.

That fleeting trace was enough to click everything in place. His thoughts spiraled from there.

Why was Noah collecting their bodies?

Why had the reports never mentioned Noah’s or his creatures’ strength to rival A rank, and even S rank monsters...

Why the monsters in the forest began to move unnaturally, as if afraid of the forest itself.

And then Noah looked at him.

It was just a glance.

His gaze passed over the tigerkin entirely, settling instead on Ethaniel’s unconscious body, as if the one holding him wasn’t even worth acknowledging.

They had been wrong.

Even in death, even in the belief that justice would follow, that someone would come and repay what had been done here, none of them had ever considered the possibility that this...

This was exactly what the monster wanted. They should never have come here.

He had the thought before, but this time the thought was the fear that they had truly made an enemy of something they shouldn’t have.

The realization settled heavily in his chest as his view of Noah shifted completely.

This wasn’t just a monster that killed and ate its enemies.

This was something that took what it killed, its essence, its potential, and bestowed it on its own monsters to make beings whose growth would surpass common sense if allowed to live any longer.

Noah was perhaps even superior to their kingdom core. Superior to their legacy.

The tigerkin’s grip tightened slightly around Ethaniel as a quiet dread took hold.

Just how could the world allow something like this to exist...

At a time when the world was already struggling to survive?

”Let go.”

He flinched the moment he felt the body in his arms being pulled away. Instinctively, he pulled back, his head snapping up just in time to realize that Noah was already standing over him.

The command registered a second too late.

His fingers loosened without him realizing it. Not out of obedience. But because something in him no longer saw Noah as something he could oppose.

Still, when Ethaniel’s weight shifted again as Noah pulled, he couldn’t stop himself.

”Wha—what are you planning to do with him?”

Noah’s eyes met his.

There was no change in his expression, no visible reaction, and yet the moment their gazes locked, the air itself seemed to grow heavier.

The tigerkin swallowed, his face strained as his body refused to allow his saliva to go down.

The words he had always been able to say, the ones that defined who he believed himself to be, rose to the surface out of habit.

’Whatever you plan to do to him, let me take his place instead.’

They sat there, right at the edge of his tongue.

But for the first time... He couldn’t say them.

His body didn’t follow through like it normally did.

Maybe it was because he held a slight contempt for Ethaniel leaving them. Or because he failed to save Gwen.

All that remained was the hollow realization that, despite everything he had built his life around, he wasn’t willing to offer himself this time.

Even so, he forced himself to hold Noah’s gaze, trying to understand, trying to find something he could grasp onto, something that might allow him to turn this in a direction that didn’t end in death.

His instincts suddenly flared.

He barely had time to react before something slammed into the side of his face with enough force to nearly snap his neck, sending him crashing to the ground.

The impact left his vision spinning, his balance and strength gone as his body struggled to respond.

Through the haze, he saw Noah glance to the side.

The monster who had beaten fear into his very being. Kratos menacingly stood there.

Noah exhaled faintly out of relief, the thought already forming that if Kratos hadn’t stepped in, he might have killed their messenger without thinking.

No.

That wasn’t entirely true. There was still the elf...

But before he could say anything, Kratos began to move again, his focus snapping back to the tigerkin as he began to push himself up. There was no hesitation in the intent behind that movement.

He was going to finish it.

”That’s enough, Kratos.”

The pressure around Kratos collapsed instantly. He stilled where he stood, his posture straightening as he turned his full attention back to Noah, awaiting his next command without question.

Noah’s gaze flicked back toward the tigerkin. ”If he tries to annoy me again, you can kill him.”

His eyes shifted briefly toward Ethaniel.

”We still have one more alive now who can take his place.”

The tigerkin froze.

For a moment, he didn’t understand what Noah meant. His thoughts tried to follow it, but the moment it clicked, his entire body tensed.

He couldn’t be referring to Ethaniel. From what he sensed from Noah’s gaze, what he had planned for him wasn’t good in the slightest.

Which meant...

His eyes widened. There was only one person left whose death hadn’t been confirmed.

”...No...”