Becoming a Monster

Chapter 562 - 561: Terrible Timing

The moment Noah finished speaking, he noticed Bolas and Fenrir looking at one another as if trying to claim their position through stares alone.

But there was someone else who made their own rules.

”Me, it’s my turn now.”

Eve was practically begging. At that point, Noah already knew the other two had lost their chance.

”Okay, Eve, you’ll be next.”

Suddenly, every trace of smug confidence disappeared.

Because now that it was actually happening, Eve found herself sitting far straighter than before.

—

After that, Noah’s attention eventually shifted toward Eve.

Unlike Kratos, whose story revolved around battle and hardship, Eve’s was entirely different.

According to the story Noah remembered, Eve was the first female human to ever exist.

She was born into a world where everything had already been provided for her. There was no suffering, no fear, and no hardship. Happiness came naturally to her, and because of that, she grew up with a heart that remained innocent and trusting.

Perhaps too trusting.

Eventually, a stranger appeared before her and tempted her with things she had never experienced before.

The unknown.

Adventure.

Knowledge.

A world beyond the one she already understood. And because she desired to experience those things, she trusted the stranger without hesitation.

In the end, she lost everything because of it.

The story itself was far more complicated than that. However, that was the version Noah remembered, and somewhere along the way, it had become mixed together with his own interpretation of it.

More importantly, it was also the reason he chose the name.

When Noah first met Eve, she became his first vassal.

Back then, her appearance made it difficult for him to see her as anything other than a child. Combined with the fact that she had lost her parents and was forced to survive alone, Noah couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.

Even with the army of zombies she commanded and the blood that soaked deeply into her clothes, Noah still saw her as an ”innocent” child.

Because of that, he wanted to give her everything.

In some ways, the name Eve became his reminder of that decision.

At the same time, it also carried a lesson.

The original Eve lost everything because she chased after something unknown without relying on the person already beside her.

Noah had no intention of allowing his Eve to repeat the same mistake.

No matter what tempted her in the future, he wanted her to remember that she never had to face it alone. That she had people she could rely on.

And most importantly, that she had him.

By the time Noah finished explaining the story, Eve’s emotions had become surprisingly complicated.

Part of her was pleased by the explanation.

Another part of her was annoyed that the original Eve had been foolish enough to lose everything.

And somehow, both feelings existed at the same time.

Noah found her reaction amusing. The vampire seemed to treat the Eve from the story as though she were personally responsible for every mistake committed.

Unfortunately, Eve wasn’t the only one reacting strongly to the story. Throughout the explanation, Noah found his attention being pulled elsewhere.

The feeling was subtle enough that he initially ignored it.

Every now and then, he would feel a brief surge of bloodlust.

And then the feeling would simply appear, only to disappear moments later.

At first, Noah thought he was imagining it.

Then it happened multiple times throughout the story. Eventually, he traced the source back to Ava.

The discovery only left him with more questions than answers. The more the story progressed, the more frequently the reaction appeared.

Noah couldn’t help but wonder why.

Did Ava dislike the story? Was there something within it that bothered her?

At one point, he even found himself entertaining an absurd possibility.

What if the being that tempted Eve wasn’t the devil at all? What if it was the being that existed within Eve’s grimoire?

The thought lacked any evidence whatsoever. Yet by the time Noah finished speaking, he found himself paying far more attention to the vampire guardian than before.

With Eve’s story out of the way, there were still two names left to explain.

Before Fenrir and Bolas could determine who deserved to go next, Noah made the decision for them.

The resulting expression on Bolas’ face was something Noah suspected he would remember for a very long time.

The drake somehow looked personally betrayed. Noah undoubtedly believed that Bolas thought Noah purposely chose Fenrir first just to spite him.

Unfortunately for Bolas, protesting would’ve required admitting that he cared.

And Bolas had spent far too much effort pretending otherwise. So the drake remained silent while Noah moved on.

Fenrir’s story proved considerably more difficult to explain than Eve’s.

Much like the others, Noah’s knowledge was incomplete. Most of what he remembered came from fragments of stories, forcing him to fill in the gaps himself.

What he did remember was a wolf.

A wolf born from divine blood whose strength never seemed to stop growing.

The older Fenrir became, the stronger he grew, and the more attention he attracted.

Until eventually, even gods began to fear what the wolf might become one day.

Fear eventually led to betrayal. Fenrir was deceived, restrained, and locked away before he could ever threaten them. In fact, it was never certain whether he would ever threaten anyone.

Yet captivity only worsened the situation.

The wolf continued growing stronger. The chains meant to contain him only deepened his hatred.

Despite being locked away, with seemingly no way of ever being freed, the gods spent every day fearing that one day he would escape.

The story eventually became one of inevitability.

Because the gods feared the wolf would destroy them, they ended up creating the very destiny they feared.

Originally, Noah chose the name because Fenrir was a cool-looking wolf.

At the time, that was genuinely the extent of his reasoning.

Naturally, Noah had no intention of admitting that.

Instead, he explained that he chose the name because he believed Fenrir possessed the same limitless potential as the wolf from the story.

A beast whose strength would continue to grow without end.

A creature capable of becoming so powerful that even gods would eventually fear what he might become.

Whether Noah actually believed that when he first chose the name was debatable.

However, as Fenrir continued to evolve, Noah found it increasingly difficult to dismiss the comparison.

By the time Noah finished explaining the story, Fenrir’s reaction wasn’t entirely different from Eve’s.

Pride dominated most of it. The rest became a growing dislike toward the concept of gods.

Only Noah’s reminder that the story was just a story prevented the werebeast from becoming completely unreasonable.

Even then, Noah eventually noticed Fenrir glancing toward Kratos with an unreadable gleam.

In Fenrir’s mind, he began to see Kratos as more than a rival, but a future partner. Despite Noah saying it was just a story, haven’t they already heard of God many times?

He had to prepare, and who better to prepare with than the one creature whose name was meant to kill gods?

Noah chose not to comment on it. Instead, his attention gradually shifted toward the final person remaining.

Bolas.

The drake immediately straightened his posture. Then, realizing his obvious actions, quickly attempted to pretend he hadn’t.

Unfortunately, after listening to the stories behind everyone else’s names, Bolas found it increasingly difficult to maintain his usual indifference.

After hearing the others’ extravagant stories, naturally, Bolas began reaching his own conclusions.

If all of their names came from such extraordinary beings, then surely the being behind his own name would be greater than all of them combined.

No, Bolas was certain of it.

The ground suddenly rumbled. Several creatures immediately jumped before everyone’s attention shifted toward the source.

A large draconic tail had accidentally smashed through the ground behind him.

All eyes gradually stared towards the person in question, wondering why he did it.

If drakes could blush, Bolas would’ve been bright red.

”What?” he immediately snapped.

”He’s just taking too long. Who wouldn’t become impatient?”

It was obvious to Noah that the creature became too excited, but to Noah’s surprise, most of the others nodded along.

The explanation somehow sounded completely reasonable to them.

Ailetta immediately buried her face behind one of her tendrils as quiet giggles escaped her.

Meanwhile, Noah found himself becoming increasingly exasperated.

Somehow, Bolas had successfully convinced everyone except the two people who actually knew him.

Unfortunately, with the others already agreeing, Noah found himself unable to offer a meaningful rebuttal.

So he simply sighed and prepared to continue.

Yet just as he was about to begin, he paused.

Something tugged at his soul. The sensation was immediately familiar.

It was a tether of another soul connecting directly to him.

Noah felt it moments before it happened. Dark matter suddenly erupted beside him like a cloud of black fog.

Several creatures instinctively moved again.

When the fog dispersed, Dobby stood in its place.

The shock led to a questioning silence.

The initial surprise quickly faded once they realized who had appeared.

That only left a different question.

Why would Dobby appear now?

It was hard to tell if the situation was an emergency, because the sage-like feline normally never wore different expressions.

However, Noah could sense that something was wrong. And there was another who also sensed something was wrong, but for a whole other reason.

Bolas could feel that he might not be able to hear his story today.