Becoming a Monster

Chapter 371: Chapter 371: When Abilities Work as Intended

The troll’s identity was completely that of the same as the nightmare creature. It still looked like a troll, broad shoulders, tusks jutting from its mouth. However, its body now released the same nefarious smoke. Seams of gold flickered through its body, now containing gaps within it.

The troll’s chest expanded unnaturally, each breath pulling in more than air. The smoke that generated from its body was dragged back inward, condensing into frost that clung to its "flesh". With every inhale, the vapor and moisture in the air were gathered, layering thicker and thicker across its body until the troll was consumed entirely. The smoke, the residual vapor, even its pulsing divine energy, all of it was sealed inside.

The monster stood now fully encased in ice. A jagged armor that performed like a suit of armor that clunked against its own movements. Through the translucent frost, its darkened silhouette was still visible.

In its hand, it carried a weapon, unique yet similar to its original, but this one forged of pure ice. This club was colossal, nearly the same size as the troll itself. Both its layered armor and its weapon constantly released a freezing mist.

As it stood near the nightmare creature, which had now resorted back to its original size, the troll’s visage was more domineering and despairing than even its maker.

No one had noticed what Ailetta had done, no one but the drake and Noah. And although the drake had witnessed the entire thing, it still had not understood what had happened, while Noah could barely scratch the surface. Only through their connection did he finally understand.

What the nightmare had done, when it performed the feat of consuming the troll’s shadow, it was essentially devouring the creature’s alter-soul.

Noah couldn’t understand what an alter-soul was, and from Ailetta’s consciousness, she only had the limited knowledge that was granted to her by the ritual that had bestowed the skill to her soul. An alter-soul was what tied a creature to reality. A creature without an alter-soul couldn’t enter the cycle of rebirth or reincarnation because their soul was no longer tethered to that which had created them in the first place.

So what Ailetta had done was essentially much worse than death. And when the alter soul was devoured, the creature in question became the physical form of their alter being. The personification of their most instinctual emotion that made up their existence.

With the newest member, that member also being the strongest amongst them, Ailetta should have used the next opportunity to intervene with the others’ battles.

But she didn’t.

Her mana was almost now entirely used up. Yet, even if she still had reserves available, she still wouldn’t have intervened more than she had already. The others must go through their own trials to gauge their own strengths and to use this battle as a learning experience. As Ailetta continued to observe their individual battles, her eyes were more focused on Arachne.

Arachne had finished her fight even faster than Ailetta did. And just like her, Arachne didn’t intend to participate in the others’ fights.

Seeing the spider standing there with a sense of pride, Ailetta didn’t feel a hint of jealousy. Not because she was the one to kill the strongest enemy out of the group, but because she felt that Arachne deserved this moment.

She could hardly remember a time when Arachne could showcase her full capabilities. Almost every enemy they had encountered had slowly made Arachne feel inadequate with herself. But this time, it was completely different.

Ailetta saw it all, from start to finish.

The moment Arachne received Noah’s enhancements, she nearly turned into a blur that not even Ailetta could perceive. Arachne arrived right in front of the troll that blatantly targeted her.

The exact instance when the troll reacted to her sudden appearance, Arachne had already stabbed towards its face with her speared leg. The troll barely responded, its empty hand reaching up to intercept the sudden attack, only to receive no physical feedback at all.

Before it could blink after falling for her feint, she was already behind it.

Suddenly, its body weakened. Its club almost shot out of its hands as it tensed its arms to keep its grip. It wasn’t able to understand what happened when it immediately felt pain within the back of its neck while simultaneously being subjected to four shots of pain piercing into its back.

It was the attack on its neck that had felt the most severe. The attack breached through its heavy skin as it felt it dig through something that didn’t feel right before it almost blacked out.

The moment it was about to fall, it suddenly regained consciousness, its regeneration working in real time to prevent a life ending injury from taking it out.

Its thoughts were discombobulated, but it still managed to squeeze tightly around its club, yanking backwards with a twist that generated a powerful wind as its massive club aimed to crush her.

The club struck something, but then continuous noises were made in a fraction of the second it took for the club to pass. And as each sound echoed, the troll could feel its weapon being directed into another direction entirely.

Even when taking thirty percent of the troll’s strength, Arachne’s strength was still no match to confront the troll’s strength directly; not when accounting for the combination of its weight, strength and momentum being included. But as each leg intercepted the club, her limbs began to release a sheen, as if her limbs were growing sharper and more dangerous off the repeated deflections.

By the time, the troll’s body was centered off balance, its muscles bulging, its breath rattling through its tusks to center itself again for another attack.

And then its body slumped.

Confusion flared across its brutish features. Its gaze dropped downward, where an unnatural weight pressed deep into its chest.

Arachne’s humanoid arm was buried past her elbow inside its torso.

And with a yank, the troll felt a severe pain shoot across its entire body, its body lurched towards the direction the spider pulled as if it was reluctant to part with what the spider was taking from it.

It stood frozen in disbelief as its own heart was speared through Arachne’s hand like nothing more than meat on a skewer. The organ thumped loudly even outside its body, every pulse weaker than the last as black blood poured from the wound.

When it saw the spider using its other hand to dig through it, retrieving what it knew to be its core. The troll roared, half was in desperation, the other, denial. Its knees buckled, but its eyes burned with disbelief.

Despite its heart being stripped from its body, its core no longer able to generate the mana that churned through its large frame, its biggest factor that granted its body the ability to regenerate. It still managed to move, the remaining explosive vitality in its body gave it the energy to attempt to retrieve what had been lost.

Its massive arms flailed toward her, trembling but violent, not in an attack, but in a pathetic attempt to reclaim what had been stolen. Its claws reached for its pulsing heart, for the glowing stone lodged in her grip. If it could shove them back inside, if it could bury them within its chest again, maybe, just maybe its heart would restore itself, saving it in the process.

But without its regeneration, Arachne’s weapon that she had yet to fully exploit had finally shown its true strength.

The troll winced, its arm jerked so strongly that it felt as if its arm moved on its own. It bent at a weird angle, growing stiff to the point that it was almost impossible to unfurl it again. Not long after, its body stiffened in the same manner. Its muscles spasmed, knots felt as if they were growing in the spots that it was once stabbed.

The troll could only look down in bewilderment. Its chest felt the worst of them all, as if its flesh was twisting in on itself.

Veins lit beneath its skin, glowing an unnatural, vibrant green. Instead of its blood, a sappy green substance now leaked out from its wounds, as if the venom was devouring its own blood.

It collapsed to its knees, trembling. Each breath came with less force, each glare dimmer than the last.

Arachne didn’t flinch. She dropped the shredded heart at her feet, holding the core with both her hands like a trophy in her grasp.

The troll tried once more to reach for the heart that was at least available to it, only for its hand to hover over it, mangling it more in the process. Arachne no longer paid attention to her foe, her gaze first went to her rival and partner. Pride swelled in her when she noticed Ailetta still facing off against her opponent.

However, that pride was met with the bitter truth the moment she witnessed what Ailetta could do. She was still weak. But at least now she was able to say that she wasn’t just a burden. It wasn’t just her, but almost all of Noah’s creatures went into this battle with the same mentality; to prove themselves to Noah.