Becoming a Monster

Chapter 535 - 534: Hidden Within the Weak

Fenrir and the others didn’t immediately pay attention to Alexandria’s transformation. Most of their attention remained fixed on Dummy, who was still rolling violently across the ground in a pathetic attempt to force himself closer toward Noah’s blood.

The restrained creature twisted and slammed himself through the dirt hard enough to leave trenches behind him while muffled growls continuously escaped through the bindings wrapped around his mouths.

Thick saliva poured endlessly from the gaps Noah hadn’t fully sealed, soaking the ground beneath him as his entire body convulsed with frantic desperation.

The sight drew several different reactions from those watching.

The most common was helpless disbelief.

Not because they doubted the effect Noah’s blood had on him anymore. At this point, none of them questioned that.

No, what left them stunned was something far stupider.

Dummy was somehow rolling himself farther and farther away from the thing he wanted, and the creature was too consumed by instinct to realize it.

Every violent twist of his body sent him several feet in the wrong direction, yet Dummy continued struggling with complete conviction as if he were making progress.

Baka slowly glanced toward Fenrir as if silently asking whether they were truly watching this happen.

Unfortunately, they were.

Then there was Fenrir himself.

The dreadbeast had already been trying to suppress his frustration long before Dummy somehow found a way to make the situation even worse.

At this point, Fenrir genuinely began feeling as though the creature existed solely to humiliate him in front of everyone else.

This thing represented his pack.

And now it was rolling through the dirt while choking on its own saliva and screaming like a maddened beast.

Fenrir’s expression darkened further the closer Dummy rolled toward him.

Dummy’s body bumped directly into his leg.

Fenrir was going to try to ignore him, but that was enough to break him.

Fenrir struck him instantly.

The impact was loud enough to show that Fenrir didn’t hold back in the slightest. The hardened restraints bent inward under the force while several bones inside Dummy’s body audibly broke all at once.

The restrained creature launched through the air before crashing against the ground and tumbling violently through the dirt several times.

Fenrir snorted coldly afterward, the sound carrying obvious disdain.

For a brief moment, every gaze fell silent towards Fenrir with shock that gradually settled into understanding.

The stares then went towards Dummy, who stopped moving altogether.

Fenrir’s irritation eased slightly.

But then... Dummy slowly rolled over again.

The creature paused only long enough to violently cough out another stream of saliva mixed with blood before immediately resuming his earlier behavior as if nothing had happened at all.

He continued rolling with his obnoxious cries. Continued trying to move toward Noah in the most inefficient way imaginable.

The dreadbeast stared blankly at Dummy for several long seconds while the restrained creature rolled farther and farther away again without the slightest awareness of what had just happened to him.

Fenrir slowly began questioning whether discipline even worked in something like this.

How were you supposed to punish a creature incapable of understanding shame?

That realization somehow made everything worse.

The others noticed it too. Arachne silently looked away. She couldn’t take it anymore. She actually began to pity Fenrir instead.

Even Eve stared for a moment before quietly leaning toward Diablo while reaching for Ava’s hand, almost as if in comfort that her parents didn’t turn out that way.

”...He’s kinda hopeless.”

Diablo remained silent, though the flames within his eyes flickered strangely.

Meanwhile, Dummy continued rolling through the dirt.

If not for Noah moving again shortly afterward, Fenrir probably would’ve continued silently watching Dummy disappear deeper into the territory while questioning every decision that led him to this point in life.

—

Alexandria remained completely unaware of the chaos behind her.

Her eyes stayed shut as her body continued to stabilize itself.

The transformation had mostly finished now. No further visible changes were occurring anymore, but her body still felt strange in ways she struggled to fully process.

Everything felt stiff. She knew that it was a result of trying to adjust to an entirely different body. Thankfully, it wasn’t painful.

Instinctively, Alexandria stretched.

The moment her spine popped, overwhelming relief spread throughout her body so intensely that her entire posture softened at once. A deep purr escaped her chest before she could stop it.

The sound startled her slightly.

Warmth spread through her muscles afterward, melting away tension she hadn’t even realized remained buried within her body.

The sensation was intoxicating in a way she struggled to describe. It didn’t feel like her body was new at all.

It felt as if her old body was a cage all this time, and only now was she able to move freely.

Her claws slowly flexed against the ground beneath her. Even that small motion felt different now.

Slowly, Alexandria began opening her eyes.

Immediately, she regretted it. The sunlight felt unbearably bright.

Her pupils rapidly shrank into narrow slits while she blinked repeatedly against the sharp discomfort. She didn’t remember the world ever looking this vivid before. Every detail around her felt exaggerated to an almost overwhelming degree.

She could see individual strands of fur moving on nearby creatures.

Dust drifting through the air. Tiny movements within the grass. Even the shadows beneath the trees now appeared unnaturally distinct.

It took conscious effort just to focus on one thing without becoming distracted by everything else surrounding her.

Alexandria instinctively lowered her gaze while allowing her eyes time to adjust.

Then suddenly.

”Alexandria!”

The voice was filled with panic. Fear immediately followed afterward.

Something inside Alexandria tightened sharply the moment she recognized it as one of her own.

She immediately turned despite the discomfort shooting through her eyes from the sudden movement.

At first, because of the intensity in her eyes from the light, everything blurred together.

Then she gradually recognized the gathered felines staring toward her anxiously while several voices overlapped at once.

”We don’t know what happened.”

”Dobby collapsed!”

”Something’s wrong with him!”

The moment Alexandria heard Dobby’s name, her body tensed immediately.

Her eyes flickered, tunneling on the group surrounding him.

From this distance, she couldn’t tell what was happening, but that only made the fear worse.

She immediately prepared to rush over.

”Don’t be in such a hurry.”

Noah’s voice sounded behind her calmly.

Alexandria turned almost instinctively.

The image Noah held within her heart made the reaction immediate and subconscious. Her newly adjusted eyes quickly focused on him despite the lingering discomfort still burning behind them.

An inquisitive worry filled her expression. And beneath that emotion was hope.

Part of her desperately wanted Noah to tell her Dobby would be fine.

Or better yet, to help himself.

But after speaking, Noah didn’t immediately address her again. Instead, he silently looked toward Dobby’s direction for several moments.

A faint gleam crossed his eye. Then he started walking forward.

Alexandria stared blankly at him for several seconds. At first, she didn’t fully process where he was going.

Then realization suddenly struck her.

Noah was personally going to help Dobby.

Relief spread through her chest so quickly that her legs nearly stumbled over themselves as she hurried after him without hesitation.

Behind them, Ailetta quietly observed Noah’s back before finally speaking.

”Did you finally make up your mind, Noah?”

”That’s right.”

The answer immediately narrowed Ailetta’s eyes further, causing her to look towards Dobby’s body with a new sense of purpose.

She already understood what he meant.

Noah may not have openly discussed it with her before, but she knew he had been interested in Dobby for a very long time now. The moment Noah first discovered what the old feline’s ability truly did, something about Dobby immediately caught his attention.

And it was around the same time Noah became more involved with helping the cats and dogs grow stronger.

Since then, Ailetta knew he had continuously been considering whether Dobby was worthy of receiving the soul Noah had been carefully tempering all this time.

The only question was...

Why now? Why had Noah finally decided?

Ailetta silently observed him before understanding slowly surfaced within her expression.

Noah himself had changed.

Before undergoing his own transformation, Noah would’ve hesitated far longer before making a decision like this.

He would’ve wanted complete certainty. To observe and consider all his options before making a decision.

But now his instincts had evolved alongside his perception.

And after watching Dobby through that new perception, Noah no longer doubted the compatibility.

Even so, Noah still tried understanding the reasoning behind his instincts. The more he could understand how it works, the more he could become proactive in meeting his other creatures’ criteria for getting the best soul or the best abilities.

He carefully thought back to the exact moment he became certain.

It wasn’t when Dobby stopped the others. It wasn’t even when he absorbed those overwhelming desires.

No.

The moment Noah truly became certain... It was afterward.

Noah’s eyes narrowed just thinking about it.

That amount of emotional pressure should have shattered him completely, or at the very least, broken his sanity.

The desires flooding the cats and dogs weren’t mild impulses. Noah’s blood had dragged their instincts toward obsession. To absorb all of that negativity at once should have overwhelmed Dobby’s mind entirely.

Yet he endured it. It wasn’t perfect, but he endured.

That wasn’t merely willpower. It would require a strong soul.

If that was the case, then Dobby’s soul was monstrously more powerful than he gave him credit for.