Becoming a Monster

Chapter 667: Chapter 666: Have They Gone Mad?

Noah continued watching the humans as they advanced through the forest, paying close attention to every movement they made.

He had already noticed several of the stronger humans stop and turn in his direction after feeling his gaze, but what happened afterward quickly became more interesting.

A large number of humans on one side of the army stopped advancing before lowering themselves into positions Noah easily recognized as prayer.

Not long afterward, their bodies began to softly radiate.

The light wasn’t particularly bright, but against the darkness surrounding them, it was enough to make their positions considerably easier to distinguish. Even some of those standing around Noah who couldn’t see the humans from this distance could now make out the faint lights appearing between the trees.

“They’re mad.”

Morvyr’s voice immediately drew Noah’s attention.

The elf sounded surprised, but his voice also held a seriousness that hadn’t been there before. Even his demeanor had changed as he stared toward the distant lights, making it obvious that he recognized something about what the humans were doing.

Morvyr didn’t explain himself immediately.

Instead, he continued staring in silence, almost as though he wanted to make certain he hadn’t mistaken what he was seeing. He couldn’t make out the humans themselves from this distance, but apparently, he didn’t need to. Whatever those lights represented was familiar enough for him to recognize.

His words naturally drew a few curious stares from those nearby. Some waited for him to explain what was happening, but before Morvyr could say anything else, the distant lights suddenly grew brighter.

What had originally been nothing more than faint glows between the trees erupted into blinding flashes of light, illuminating that entire section of the forest.

Along with the flashes came a concentration of holy energy that Noah had felt before.

The feeling immediately reminded him of the Archon.

Back then, Noah had watched the Church use their prayers to open a path between this world and wherever God’s creatures resided, allowing the Archon to descend and fight on their behalf.

Considering Noah had already spent much of his time preparing for the possibility that the humans would call upon something similar, seeing it happen now didn’t surprise him nearly as much as it seemed to surprise Morvyr.

If anything, it confirmed that his earlier caution hadn’t been unnecessary.

These summonings were considered one of the Church’s greatest trump cards, and an even greater reason Morvyr thought they were mad for using them before the battle had even begun.

Calling one of God’s creatures into this world wasn’t something the Church could do without consequences, and for good reason; even they treated these summonings as trump cards rather than calling upon them at the beginning of every battle.

The person responsible for serving as its connection to this world was effectively putting their own life beneath that of the creature sent in response to their prayers.

If the divine being was killed, the summoner would die in its place. However, considering God’s creatures were significantly stronger than the humans capable of calling upon them, Morvyr didn’t even consider that the greatest danger.

If an enemy was powerful enough to kill the summoned creature, then there was little chance its summoner would’ve survived against that same enemy without it.

The greater problem came from keeping the creature in this world.

As long as it remained here, its connection to the summoner continuously placed a burden on their soul. That damage only continued to mount the longer the connection remained, and once the summoner’s soul reached its limit, death became unavoidable regardless of whether God’s creature was still alive.

The humans understood this.

More importantly, so did the devils.

Divine summonings had caused them enough trouble over the years that Morvyr and the others had made a point of memorizing everything they learned about them. Unless the Church had somehow discovered a way around those consequences without the demons learning about it, Morvyr knew exactly what those humans were risking by beginning the summoning now.

They hadn’t even reached Noah’s territory yet.

None of them had fought him, seen what his creatures were currently capable of, or had the opportunity to determine whether the information they brought with them was still accurate. Yet they were already willing to sacrifice people who naturally held considerable standing within their Church without first gauging the enemy they came here to fight.

To Morvyr, that alone was tantamount to madness.

However, another reason for committing to the summoning this early made their decision even more extreme.

Despite what the word implied, God’s creatures weren’t truly summoned in the same manner as ordinary familiars.

The humans weren’t reaching into another realm and pulling those beings into this world themselves. Their prayers were requests, carrying with them a directive for what they wanted God’s intervention to accomplish.

Someone on the other side had to hear those prayers.

Whether it was God himself or one of the angels acting in his stead, the request would be judged before anything was sent in response. Only if that request was accepted would one of God’s warriors be allowed to descend through the opening their prayers created.

And being the one responsible for calling it here didn’t give the human control over what arrived.

The authority over God’s warrior still belonged to whoever sent it.

Its purpose had already been decided when the humans’ request was accepted, and from that point onward, the being would pursue that directive however those above deemed appropriate. The summoner couldn’t order it to abandon that purpose, nor could they dismiss it simply because the situation had changed and they no longer wanted to continue.

That was what made the timing of these prayers even more dangerous.

The Church hadn’t simply brought out one of its greatest trump cards too early.

They had already sent their request to Heaven.

The flashes appearing throughout the forest meant those prayers had been heard, their directives had been judged, and someone above had decided they were worthy of an answer.

From that point onward, the humans no longer had complete control over what happened next.

Even if they discovered that attacking Noah had been a mistake and attempted to retreat, they couldn’t simply order God’s warriors to return with them. Those beings had been sent into this world for a purpose, and they would continue pursuing it while the humans who tethered them here continued paying the price.

Every moment they remained only placed a greater burden on those souls.

In Morvyr’s eyes, the Church had committed itself before the battle had even begun. Whatever happened from this point onward, the lives of the followers serving as those tethers were already dangerously close to being sacrifices.

The elf hadn’t mentioned any of this to Noah before because he assumed someone who called himself a devil, and had already fought and killed angels, would’ve known how these summonings worked.

While Morvyr continued watching the lights in the distance, Noah was already preparing himself for the possibility that the battle could begin at any moment.

If anything, he had more trouble stopping himself from starting it.

He couldn’t help wondering how much damage he could cause if he attacked them right now.

Even if the stronger ones survived, there were still the others with them that could possibly die from the backlash, and attacking before they came any closer would give most of them little time to react.

Unfortunately, killing as many of them as possible wasn’t Noah’s only concern.

Varkesh was still among them, and although Noah had no special attachment to the beastkin, he had already given him his word. If Varkesh fulfilled the role Noah gave him and successfully brought the humans back into the forest, then Noah would accept him afterward.

Considering the army currently moving toward his territory, there was no question that Varkesh had done his part.

Noah wasn’t going to break his word by launching an attack into the middle of them without caring whether the beastkin survived.

Bailey was also somewhere among them, and for his own reasons, Noah still needed her alive.

With both of them mixed among the approaching humans, attacking from this distance became more troublesome than it was worth. Because of this, Noah suppressed the urge for now and continued watching as the army drew closer.

Interestingly, their behavior had changed considerably since God’s warriors appeared among them.

Noah could see the difference in the way they moved.

Whatever tension had existed before hadn’t disappeared completely, but their approach had become noticeably steadier. They continued deeper into the forest without constantly breaking stride, following behind the bright concentrations of holy energy as though their presence alone had given the army considerably more confidence in what waited ahead.

That change in their confidence became even more apparent once the humans finally came close enough to see what had been waiting for them.

Their approach faltered.

It wasn’t enough to bring the army to a stop, but Noah could see the immediate change spreading through their ranks as the creatures gathered ahead came into view.

Knowing monsters were waiting for them was one thing. Actually seeing what had gathered outside the territory was another.

Bolas was nearly impossible to overlook, but the massive dragon was far from the only creature capable of drawing their attention. Fenrir and Kratos stood out just as much in their transformed states, each possessing a presence that made it difficult to dismiss them, even with everything else gathered around them.

And there were still dozens of other creatures surrounding Noah.

Unsurprisingly, some of the confidence the humans had shown during their approach began to waver once they finally saw what they were expected to fight.

More than a few looked toward God’s warriors traveling among them, almost as if reminding themselves that they hadn’t entered the forest alone.

However, Noah could tell that wasn’t entirely why their fear kept disappearing.

The holy energy surrounding those beings continued spreading throughout the army, and the effect it had on the humans became considerably easier to notice now that there was something directly in front of them to fear. Their hesitation appeared, then gradually faded under that energy as their expressions steadied, and they continued forward.

It wasn’t only giving them something powerful to place their confidence in.

The holy energy itself was washing away their fear.

Not everyone was completely occupied with the creatures waiting ahead. Among the stronger humans, several eventually looked beyond them toward where the territory should’ve been.

Those capable of seeing through Pandora’s illusion could make out the massive root barricade hidden within the false forest, while others appeared caught between the two images, clearly aware that what they were seeing wasn’t entirely real.

Most of the others didn’t appear to notice anything was missing at all.

With Bolas, Fenrir, Kratos, and the multitude of unfamiliar creatures directly in front of them, Noah doubted a missing wall was high among their concerns.

More importantly, even after finally seeing the enemy they had come here to fight, the humans still didn’t attack.

The closer they came without either side making the first move, the more obvious their intentions became.

It was enough for Noah to understand that they intended to speak before the inevitable fight began.

Considering there were people among them he needed alive, along with questions he still wanted answered, Noah had no reason to stop them.

In fact, this made it much easier to quickly gauge where Varkesh’s loyalties lay, and where Bailey and the others stood.

For now, he allowed them to approach.