Becoming a Monster

Chapter 617: Chapter 616: Draconic Dreadbeast

Noah continued absentmindedly stroking Eve’s hair until the trembling gradually subsided.

By then, the tears staining her face had long since dried. What remained was simply the little vampire quietly enjoying the warmth of his embrace.

Noah could already tell that Eve had recovered. She wasn’t holding onto him because she was still frightened. More than anything, she simply wanted to be pampered.

It was a request Noah didn’t mind indulging.

Besides, it hardly prevented him from processing the changes that had taken place within his own body.

Noah’s thoughts shifted toward his abilities; he quickly realized his first problem, one that he thought he was mentally prepared for.

He had lost more abilities than when he merged both Ailetta’s and Arachne’s genes.

The undead genes were no longer dominant, while almost all of the undead bloodline was submerged under both the werebeast and the draconic genes.

Because of this, he had lost every single undead perk he had before.

If that wasn’t enough, he also lost his Eldritch Fortification skill now that he no longer has his gauntlet hands that came from the beetles’ bloodline of his dreadbeast genes, while also losing Chirmeric predation.

The skill that was his sole reason for getting him this far in the first place. It was the skill that allowed him to assert his control over undead and tainted beings alike.

Even losing that skill didn’t pain Noah as much as he would’ve thought originally. The skill felt more like a passive now. Every monster had a similar passive when their bloodline was stronger than one of their own.

But dwelling on what he had lost accomplished nothing.

Evolution and mutations had always followed the same principle. If his body discarded something, then it was because his body no longer needed it.

Instead of focusing on what he lost, he turned to what truly mattered. And that led him to his second skill.

At first glance, it seemed to have changed very little.

Yet it didn’t take him long to understand that the seemingly minor changes had transformed it into one of the most important skills he possessed.

Overlord’s Manifestation, or what was originally Dreaded Cataclysm.

The skill still followed the same principle. Noah could choose one manifestation and allow the bloodlines associated with it to temporarily dominate the others.

The first was his Draconic Dreadbeast manifestation, formed from the combined bloodlines of the necrotic drake and werebeast.

The second was his Abyssalith Broodlord manifestation, formed from the combined bloodlines of the abyssalith slime and dreadweaver.

Because each manifestation now drew from two bloodlines that had already fused together, their effects had become considerably stronger than before.

Draconic Dreadbeast would push his strength, stamina, and magic beyond their normal limits while further enhancing his regeneration and resistance against hostile mana.

Abyssalith Broodlord would instead increase his agility, constitution, and spirit. Nearly a third of his constitution could also be converted into reinforcing the durability and potency of his slime and webs.

Even the golems created under his authority would benefit. Their intelligence and responsiveness would improve, allowing them to act with far greater independence.

But the most important change involved the manifestation itself.

Whichever one Noah chose would increase the potential of its corresponding bloodlines by nearly a third. Every ability and every passive connected to them would become stronger, more efficient, and capable of lasting longer than it normally could.

Naturally, the ability kept the same consequences as before.

The potential of his remaining bloodlines would decrease by the same amount until the manifestation ended.

Noah didn’t view that as much of a disadvantage.

The skill had never been meant to allow him to use everything at once. It was meant to let him decide which part of himself benefited him the most for the situation at hand.

—-

Satisfied with that understanding, Noah immediately moved on.

There were still two other abilities waiting for him, and with a battle only days or even a day away, he had no intention of spending longer than necessary on any one of them.

Miasmic Sovereignty

Noah had seen it happen before when he merged his other two genes, but this new skill was the result of merging three different abilities that were further refined to bring out the best of all three.

With the ability, Miasma was no longer something that he created or manipulated. It had become another extension of his body, much like his natural mana.

The moment the thought crossed his mind, enormous quantities of miasma naturally flowed toward whatever part of his body he desired.

If it gathered within his muscles, his physical strength immediately rose. If it melded into his wings, they became faster, stronger, and considerably more durable.

He could reinforce his scales before receiving an attack, accelerate his regeneration after suffering an injury, or even empower individual limbs depending on what the situation demanded.

The ability gave him complete authority over where every bit of miasma was invested. That included the ability to absorb miasma back into his body, a feat that he couldn’t do before.

That alone already made it far more versatile than the three abilities had been separately.

But that wasn’t where it ended.

He could now create a veil of miasma around himself, acting as a barrier against mana attacks, while unintentionally serving as a ward against physical attacks.

Any spell, barrier, construct, or mana reinforcing another being that entered its reach would gradually be devoured.

And that devoured mana would further refill his own mana reserves after being absorbed.

—

Noah had the faintest thought after seeing the latest skill and how his changes were affected when he combined genes.

Every skill so far that was kept was an ability that he used the most. The other five abilities, he could count on one hand the small number of occasions that he used them.

At the same time, it improved his skills in a way that touched on his own desires.

Since his altercation with Ethaniel, he wished he could absorb the miasma that devoured and absorbed the attack that carried an abnormal amount of mana. At the same time, he had always been worried about using his miasma in his home, or in the forest in general. Concerned what would happen if the miasma were to spread.

If that was the case, he wondered if he could manipulate it the next time he merged his genes together.

—

Noah set that thought aside before moving on to the final ability. This was the ability that he had already unintentionally used during his transformation.

He knew what the skill used to be. But as he viewed the skill now, his mood uplifted even more than seeing his other skills.

This was a change he had wanted most and could never resolve on his own, no matter how much he agonized over it.

His once strongest ability came at too great a cost.

The more power he drew from it, the more his thoughts were consumed by instincts that cared only about hunting and killing. Against an enemy capable of forcing him into that state, Noah had never been completely confident that he could distinguish between friend and foe.

Because of that, what should have been his greatest trump card had gradually become one of the abilities he trusted the least.

Now…

That had changed.

The ability, Wrathful Overlord, had now become Overlord’s Resonance.

By embracing the authority of his draconic dreadbeast bloodline, his body could temporarily surpass its natural limits by unleashing the full power within his blood. His strength, agility, constitution, stamina, and even the potency of his mana would all increase to nearly twice what they normally were.

Yet those improvements weren’t what drew Noah’s attention.

It was the price.

Before, activating the skill meant surrendering himself to the bloodthirst and madness of his monstrous instincts. The more he gave in to these instincts to draw out more power, the harder it was to distinguish friend from foe, until eventually all that remained was the urge to kill.

That was no longer the case.

Instead, the skill now gradually suppressed his empathy, compassion, and every emotion that encouraged restraint. His thoughts remained clear, but the way he perceived everything around him changed. Every opponent appeared beneath him, every battlefield became little more than another hunting ground, and every creature standing before him existed for only two purposes…

To submit… or to become prey.

Noah recalled that faint feeling he had when the skill activated on its own. The way that he looked at his lovers, seeing their different reactions, and at the time… he felt nothing.

No, that wasn’t true. Ailetta’s love-stricken gaze and Arachne’s instinctive fear both struck his ego in ways it never had before.

From that alone, Noah understood that although different, his instincts were still dangerous. In some ways, they were even more dangerous than before. But unlike his previous transformation, they no longer overwhelmed his mind or robbed him of his judgment. They simply replaced the way he viewed the world with the absolute certainty that he stood above everything before him.

—

Noah could sense that Ailetta and Arachne wanted to discuss his changes.

Neither of them had taken their eyes off him since the transformation ended. Judging by their expressions alone, they had more questions than he could answer in a single conversation.

Normally, Noah would have welcomed it.

However, time was precious to Noah because his biggest change had yet to come.

Now that he had combined the genes, he had room for one more bloodline.

Sorry everyone. The internet in my complex went out, so I wasn’t able to write yesterday.