Becoming a Monster

Chapter 362: Chapter 362: Kratos Why

Noah heard a voice begging, a deep, somewhat raspy voice speaking with a broken tone.

There was no one else here, which meant that the voice had to originate from the monster they were fighting. But could Noah trust it? Why would the creature speak now, when it had the opportunity to speak before the battle started?

Noah didn’t plan to call out Diablo’s advance. If the drake happened to trick them, it was possible that the creature would avoid using its flames for the rest of the fight, preventing Diablo from amassing such strength again. But if Diablo never showed such strength, would the creature have spoken up at all?

No...

Noah wasn’t going to risk it. He would rather kill a pleading monster than let his family perish because of his naivety.

Now that his body was no longer being burned away, he moved quickly forward, planning to aid Diablo in case things went wrong. All of his surface injuries were nearly healed while the damage done to his mana veins and the boiling of his blood would still take longer time to mend. He couldn’t afford to wait.

And Diablo never planned to.

The drake’s jaws twitched, its body trembling in place as it prepared to shout once more. But Diablo’s resolute, silent approach forced it into action.

The creature snarled in panic. Its front claw stretched out. It believed it was too late to avoid taking a heavy injury. In the end, it was willing to risk its arm being injured so it would still be able to protect itself afterwards. If it could intercept the blade with enough force, maybe it could escape within its den with only a fractured limb.

However, just before impact, the drake backed down. Its thoughts spiraled in fear. It feared that the damage would be more than just an injury, but the risk of losing its entire arm.

Or worse.

So, at the last second, the drake recoiled. Its body twisted halfway, a feeble attempt to retreat into the depths of its cave.

It didn’t believe that it would be able to escape. But if the demons gave chase, then it would strike back. It wouldn’t make the same mistake again of letting Diablo take advantage of its flames.

But its moment of indecision had already sealed its fate.

The blade didn’t cut into the drake’s hide. From any observer, its scales and flesh nearly parted in the sword’s advance. It was only as the phantom blade dug deeper, reaching near the core where the drake’s mana was the densest, that the blade finally was met with resistance.

The drake’s screams traveled for miles. Weaker creatures fainted from its mana-infused roar. The native creatures, long accustomed to the reigning monster of the forest, began to prepare to flee. Curiosity was secondary, survival was more important.

There were only two groups of monsters that resided in the forest whose curiosity tempted them to go towards the sound. Two groups who only had their bravest of scouts probe the area without invading the drake’s territory. They had to be certain of what was happening. If the beast was weakened by another creature, and if it was possible to take advantage so they could reap the rewards.

Then, there was a small group of humans near the outside of the forest. Humans who weren’t native to modern earth. Their clothing ranged from armor to leather garbs. In this world, they were merely adventurers trying to make ends meet.

But the sudden transformation of the forest left them bewildered. They had yet to understand what truly happened. They could only rush to get out of the forest, yet along the way they came across creatures they had never seen before.

Their caution sharpened to its peak. They were determined more than ever to hurry out of the forest.

That was when fear truly began to sink in. The trek was longer than they remembered

How many times have they ventured in and out of the forest? The path they were once so familiar with was now so unrecognizable.

The distance stretched further than what they should have and they still couldn’t find a familiar landmark.

And that’s when they heard the roar. The roar of the beast that everyone knew to avoid. But this time, it wasn’t a territorial cry, nor was it a warning.

That roar contained the pain and desperation of a creature fighting for survival.

Their steps quickened. Their worries about the new species of creatures became irrelevant. They only knew that they had to get out of the forest, they had to let the guild know what was going on.

Something more dangerous than the drake had appeared in the forest, something that could endanger their city.

Back at the heart of the roar, the drake stumbled to maintain its balance. Its limbs trembled while its eyes reflected a pain much deeper than just a physical wound. A wound far larger than Diablo’s blade should have been made, was carved into the drake’s side, just behind its front limb. .

When the miasmic blade punctured through the drakes’ body, blood splurged from its opening, threatening to gush out without pause. Within moments, the flooding of blood was stopped by that very miasma. The energy festered in the wound, both inside and out. The drake’s body writhed, its flesh consumed by the ominous and devouring energy.

It consumed the blood that contained traces of its mana, consumed the flesh that attempted to recover with its strong life essence, and it continued to consume, attempting to devour the drake entirely.

The drake couldn’t lose its focus as it condensed the mana in its body to keep the invasive energy at bay.

The pain was excruciating, but the approaching figures helped it to move against the pain.

It tried to move, its last hope was to retreat into the pain, but the wound was worse than it imagined as it slumped forward. With its life on the line, it tried one last time to converse with the demon.

It raised its head weakly, blood and smoke trailing from its mouth. It looked towards who it thought to be the leader, its eyes showing resignation, its body unresponsive to his approach.

"Please...I...I lost..." The drake rasped, its voice reduced to almost a whisper that seemed incapable of reaching Noah’s ears. "I submit...I submit..."

Its eyes looked upon Noah weakly, giving the aura of a creature on its last legs. It left itself completely vulnerable.

However, Diablo had not been told to stand down. Its sword was enveloped in miasma again. Not nearly as strong as before now that it lost the fuel of the dragon’s flames, but that didn’t matter to him.

His sword was preparing to deliver a strike in the same spot that he had left last time, his goal to make the wound deeper than what he already made.

Despite his weak appearance, the drake’s body tensed. It didn’t want to fight, but it still had a lot more energy than what it was showing. If it had to, it would continue fighting, it would make sure that it took as many down along with it as it could.

Noah saw it. The drake’s aura was still as strong as ever, but it was also completely unstable. And now, most of its mana was being concentrated towards its wound.

But Noah knew better than to let certainty breed carelessness. A dying monster was often more dangerous than a living one, especially one like this.

Then, the drake snapped to him.

"I don’t...I don’t understand... What do you want?" Its voice cracked as it searched Noah’s eyes, asking as if that answer could save its life.

"Is it the territory? My treasure? Just say it... say it, and I’ll give it to you."

It saw something it said must’ve clicked, because moments before Diablo striked again, the demon finally gave the order for his creatures to stand down.

Noah once again sized up the creature. His eyes reflected a deep scrutiny of the beast, one entirely of confusion, because...

"What do you mean? Noah asked at last, his voice deeper than even the drake’s. The merged form of him and Fenrir made his tone both inquisitive and dangerous.

"You’re the one that attacked us?"

The question caused the drake’s eyes to widen, and then without thinking, it suddenly raised its body to better engage with Noah.

Boom!

Just as sudden, a large mass of mana burst into its face. The blow caused the drakes head to slightly jerk to the side, but the pain didn’t reflect the blast. The drake looked aghast as its eyes traveled to the source of the attack. And then it looked back to Noah, criticizing the need to resort to sneakingly attacking it.

However, it noticed that Noah was just as confused as itself.

"...Kratos?"

All this time, Kratos had been focused, too focused, on charging a final blow.

Noah’s order had been clear: "No external attacks." But to Kratos, that was confusing. His energy blasts came from inside his body. How could that possibly count as "external"?

The first time he tried, the energy burned in his throat , wild and uncooperative. The failure frustrated him. Made him feel small. So he kept charging, swallowing his pride and the pain, pooling every drop of power he could summon.

And the moment he saw an opening, he released it.