Becoming a Monster

Chapter 625: Chapter 624: What Is He Doing in There?!

Pandora’s growth had completely transformed the inside of Noah’s lair.

The dryad had already been enormous, yet now everyone had to crane their heads back just to see the highest parts of her body. Several of her branches nearly reached past the ceiling.

The number of leaves had nearly doubled, making Pandora’s branches appear considerably fuller than before.

The same vegetation that had recently grown from Noah’s body could now be seen across Pandora’s body. Long clusters of narrow violet flowers hung between her leaves, while smaller black flowers grew closer to the branches. Deep blue blossoms were scattered among them, their faintly glowing petals easily visible between the surrounding black leaves.

Several thick vines had grown around the bark of her trunk, wrapping around her before climbing toward her branches. Dark buds emerged at different points across the vines, appearing like ordinary flowers while closed.

It was only when their petals slowly spread apart, revealing several rows of curved thorns lining the inside, that their carnivorous nature became apparent.

The carnivorous plants were considerably larger than the ones growing from Noah.

Noah continued looking up at Pandora for a few moments. Eventually, his gaze lowered before shifting toward the three eggs resting beside him. Each one nearly reached his waist.

Thankfully, he had gotten to them in time.

Noah hadn’t anticipated Pandora growing large enough to threaten Arachne’s nest. By the time he noticed, the webs were already being pulled along with her.

No matter how strong Arachne’s webs were, her nest couldn’t prevent Pandora from growing.

His Nexus Eye passed over each of the eggs, confirming for what was probably the third time that none had been damaged.

Only then did he finally relax.

Ailetta approached him soon afterward. Her gaze briefly glanced towards the eggs before following Noah’s back toward Pandora.

“Were you expecting this?”

Noah continued looking upward as he answered.

“Not at all. I’m still trying to figure all of this out, but this turned out better than I expected.”

While they were talking, Pandora’s illusory form reappeared directly in front of Noah.

It wasn’t just her true body that had changed.

Along with her growth came a noticeable increase in her knowledge and wisdom, giving her a far greater understanding of how to manipulate the illusion that represented herself.

Her new form appeared noticeably more human than before.

Pandora still couldn’t imagine herself completely separated from the earth, so her lower body remained rooted to the ground, gradually spreading apart into several thick roots rather than forming proper legs.

Everything above that had become much more defined.

Wanting to share some resemblance with Noah, Pandora had formed dark armor across most of her body. The overlapping plates resembled black scales and bark, with faint violet lines showing between them. Vines and thin branches grew around the armor, spreading across her shoulders and arms while small violet flowers bloomed between them.

Even her hair had changed, now resembling a mass of thin black branches and vines that flowed behind her head, dotted with the same violet flowers growing across the rest of her body.

Despite becoming more humanoid, there was no mistaking her for anything other than a dryad.

More importantly to Pandora, there was now a clear resemblance between herself and Noah.

There was a noticeable anticipation in her expression as she studied Noah’s reaction to her new appearance.

She waited anxiously for his response, her eyes occasionally wandering across his face as though searching for some indication of what he thought.

The sight felt strangely familiar.

Noah had experienced almost the exact same thing last time Pandora changed her appearance.

A smile gradually appeared on Noah’s face.

Pandora had changed considerably, yet in moments like this, she was still the same Pandora he had come to know.

“You look beautiful.”

The tension in Pandora’s expression eased, forming into a smile that infected not only Noah, but Ailetta as well.

“But,” Noah paused when he noticed the “armor” on her. “I’d rather you choose an appearance that’s more unique to what you want; you don’t have to copy me.”

Pandora’s eyes lowered toward her new body, examining the dark armor.

“I wanted to; we are the same. I want to look the same… Is that bad?”

“Of course not,” Noah quickly interjected when he noticed her eyes losing their shine.

“That isn’t what I meant. If that makes you happy, then I like it even more.”

The brightness gradually returned to Pandora’s eyes.

Noah looked over her new form again before his gaze eventually wandered toward her true body towering behind her.

“I just don’t want you to think less of yourself. I want you to keep trying to understand yourself and improve who you are.”

“You are Pandora before anything else, before my companion, before a dryad.”

He paused as he saw Pandora’s expression focus on what he said. And from her frown, he could guess that she was struggling to understand.

And he was right. Pandora couldn’t understand why she just couldn’t be all three. How was she supposed to prioritize one over the other if all three were supposed to be what she is?

Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a warmth enveloping her hand. She looked down with surprise, and then realization. Only Noah could ever interact with this form to make her feel like everyone else.

“There’s nothing wrong with taking something from me because you genuinely like it. I just don’t want you to lose the things that make you Pandora while doing it.”

“But if you chose this because it’s what you wanted…” Noah smiled. “Then I take back what I said. Keep it.”

Pandora’s smile quickly returned, matching his smile.

Noah was about to continue talking to her, but then he noticed Eve stepping behind them.

“I want to see Papa and Mama.” Her demeanor was more mature, yet the way she still referred to her “parents” in such a childish and endearing way was a contrast that was adorable to see.

Noah first looked back toward Arachne’s cocoon, then glanced toward her eggs before determining that it would be fine to leave for a while. At least then, he could probably finish seeing how everyone responded to his blood by the time she finished.

—

Morvyr couldn’t stop staring at the tree now extending above the devil’s lair.

Morvyr didn’t need to see the rest of the tree to know what it was. He had felt the dryad from the moment its growth began.

His connection to the surrounding plant life allowed him to sense the roots through the soil as the enormous amount of vitality within the dryad continued to increase.

And not only that, the dryad’s signature mana had changed. Not just the vitality of her energy; the entire structure of her mana was as if the dryad had become something different altogether.

What Morvyr couldn’t understand was how any of it had happened.

Noah hadn’t been inside for that long.

Yet in the short amount of time since the devil disappeared into his lair, Morvyr had experienced so many things he couldn’t explain that his thoughts had become almost impossible to organize.

First came the explosive burst of mana.

Then there was that irresistible aroma. He had never experienced anything like it. His mind and body were being swayed by temptation. His body desired it above all else, screaming to his mind that whatever the smell was, it was more important than anything else.

Not to mention, it wasn’t just him; all of his troops were affected by it, even more exaggeratedly than he was, to the point where it felt as if they lost all reason.

And now a dryad, a being that could take decades or even centuries just to experience significant growth, had suddenly changed so drastically that it seemed to defy everything Morvyr understood about their kind.

He didn’t understand what was going on.

What was the devil doing in there?

The question had repeatedly surfaced within Morvyr’s mind ever since the first surge of mana erupted from the lair. Yet with every passing moment, his desire for an answer only grew stronger.

If the reality-numbing events had stopped with the dryad, then perhaps Morvyr could’ve eventually convinced himself that there was some explanation he simply didn’t understand.

But they didn’t.

His gaze almost lifelessly lowered toward the entrance.

The two undead guardians standing nearby had begun changing directly in front of his eyes.

Their changes weren’t as drastic as the dryad’s, but that hardly made what Morvyr witnessed any easier to comprehend.

Both guardians had suddenly begun growing stronger. Their presence intensified as their auras rapidly climbed, and it wasn’t long before those changes began affecting more than their strength.

Barely anything about their bodies had changed.

However, the warrior guardian’s shield was suddenly engulfed in black flames. Within those flames, three separate traces of dark green fire appeared before rapidly spreading across its surface.

By the time the flames subsided, the shield had grown considerably larger.

A giant metallic skull now occupied most of its front. Several curved horns extended from its head. Its eyes glowed a deep red, while green flames leaked from between its open jaws as if the shield was alive and breathing.

Its outer edges had become more pronounced, ending in several pointed sections that made the shield look almost as dangerous as the sword it carried.

And then, faint black flames, mixed with violet ones, burned on the outer parts of the shield.

Morvyr’s attention soon shifted toward the other undead.

Despite her being some unusual variation of undead, Morvyr had encountered enough vampires throughout his life to recognize one when he saw one.

What he hadn’t seen were the wings that suddenly tore out from behind her.

They quickly unfolded, stretching several times wider than her body. Pale membranes stretched between long black bones, each ending in sharp points that gave the massive wings an almost skeletal appearance.

Morvyr’s eyes slowly moved between the two undead.

The longer he stared, the harder it became to dismiss everything he had witnessed as a series of unrelated events.

And without missing a beat, Morvyr looked toward the creature that had returned a while ago.

Reflected in his eyes was Kratos. The monster quickly returned when he experienced the changes in his body.

Just like Eve, the Kaiju, his other vassal, now had horns growing above his head. But his changes went much further than that.

The Kaiju resembled a pure, unadulterated devil.

I’ve been slacking when it comes to pictures. In the next chapter, I’ll include Noah, Pandora, and Kratos’s new forms. I’m still working on a better picture of what Eve looks like now.