Becoming a Monster

Chapter 506: Chapter 505: Intelligence is The Root of Delusion

Noah’s gaze remained fixed on him, but his thoughts weren’t entirely there.

For a brief moment, they drifted back to that place, to that hooded figure whose presence alone had made him feel small, no matter how much stronger he had gotten since then.

A being whose existence still didn’t make sense even now.

Why did his blood create something like this?

How could it?

No... That wasn’t the right question.

His gaze sharpened as it settled fully onto Ethaniel again, because what stood in front of him wasn’t something his blood created on its own.

Why did Ethaniel turn into this?

"So that’s how it is..."

His Nexus Eye flared, glowing more intensely as it locked onto Ethaniel, pulling at whatever information it could grasp.

"Abyssal Arcanum."

The words came out low as the answer began to take shape in his mind, because what stood before him wasn’t just a transformation, but the result of something far more personal.

Ethaniel’s deepest desire had taken form.

A being that no longer cared for life, one that existed solely to pursue the unknown, to uncover what should remain hidden, to reach into the depths of the arcane without restraint or hesitation.

And even with that understanding, Noah knew that he had only grasped a fraction of what it truly meant.

There was more to it, there always was.

Before he could look further into it, the figure in front of him shifted.

At the same time, Ailetta’s gaze was more peculiar than Noah’s.

Unlike the others, her attention wasn’t drawn to the change in Ethaniel alone. She was just as interested in how similar the creature was to the shopkeeper just as much as Noah.

However, her thoughts went beyond that. She didn’t care how Noah did it or even why he was able to. What she cared about even more was that Noah’s blood literally made him an existence that was becoming more and more closer to what she believed a God should be capable of.

Instead of worrying about what the creature would do, she was more focused on the experiments they should try when they returned.

—

As the figure that was once Ethaniel turned to Noah, it began to speak.

The voice that came from him wasn’t steady, nor was it clear; it carried a rough, hollow rasp that didn’t sound entirely human anymore.

"Creature of the abyss... I see now... what you have done."

The words came out slowly, uneven in their delivery, yet there was no hesitation behind them.

There was only a strange clarity that made it difficult to tell whether what remained of Ethaniel was struggling or simply choosing to speak that way.

"I should resent you..."

There was a slight pause, not from weakness, but as if the thought itself was being examined rather than felt.

"...and yet I do not."

His head tilted ever so slightly, the darkness where his face should have been remaining unchanged as his voice continued, carrying that same cold, detached tone.

"You’ve taken everything from me... and in doing so, you have shown me what lies beyond it."

There was no gratitude in the way he spoke, but there was something close enough to it that it couldn’t be ignored.

"For that... I acknowledge you."

The air around him seemed to grow heavier. His presence pressed outward in a way that made everything around him feel as if emotion was being stripped away.

"But do not mistake that for mercy."

His voice lowered slightly, the distortion within it becoming more apparent as the words carried a weight that hadn’t been there before.

"What you have done... cannot be left unanswered."

"I will make you regret it."

"And when I am done... even that will not be enough."

As soon as Ethaniel finished speaking, he began to cast a spell.

It was a spell that Noah had seen before through the eyes of his golem, however he could immediately tell that the mage before him was undoubtedly more powerful than before.

Two rings began to form around him simultaneously. Where one ring was a raging flame, and the other was a visible wind that gave rise to a mini hurricane.

Noah could tell that it wasn’t just Ethaniel’s magical power that had increased, but his control of mana had turned deathly uncanny.

Just those two rings exceeded the three of his human form. And the fact that he was performing combination magic with the two, Noah was certain that the spell would even endanger most of his creatures if he allowed him to continue.

There was no rush in Noah’s movement. It was as if the threat that had just been declared held no real weight to him.

He closed his eyes for a moment.

"So you retained your mind..."

His voice was calm, almost thoughtful, as if he was confirming something rather than reacting to it. Before, he was uncertain what he should do if Ethaniel turned into a monster.

Because the creature would potentially be under the category of a tainted creature, he could have potentially gained another powerful vassal, just like Kratos or Eve.

Or he could’ve used it for its soul or a potential skill.

But now knowing that the creature still retained the mind of the person he despised, his options were no longer as difficult to make.

"That makes things easier."

Noah exhaled lightly, as if coming to a decision that didn’t require much thought, and the moment he did, his presence shifted.

The pressure that had been passively surrounding him tightened. The wind generated by Ethaniel’s magic was unable to reach him as it parted around him instead.

If Ethaniel had created a hurricane, it would look as if Noah were at its center.

Then, without warning, his body responded.

From his back, his arms, and even along his sides, tendrils of slime surged outward in rapid succession, forming faster than the eye could comfortably follow as they extended toward Ethaniel all at once.

Each tendril sought to converge on the same point, aiming to wrap around the figure before the spell could fully stabilize.

Ethaniel didn’t move to avoid them.

Instead, his voice echoed out again, carrying that same hollow distortion as before.

"It is meaningless..."

The rings around him continued to rotate, and as they did, a third began to form.

This one was an entirely different element from the others.

It sparked into existence with sharp bursts of light, arcs of electricity snapping outward as the ring stabilized, weaving itself into the rotation of the other two without disrupting them in the slightest.

"You act... as if this can be undone..."

The three rings aligned as if they would fall apart, but still managed to stay together. There was a level of control that made the imbalance feel intentional, and the moment they did, the space around him shifted violently once again.

The three forces combined into a spiraling vortex that tore through everything that approached it.

"You are too late... to regret it..."

From the outside, it looked as though Noah didn’t stand a chance.

Anything that entered that space was torn apart before it could even reach him, reduced to nothing as the vortex fed into itself.

It grew more turbulent with each passing second.

For a moment, it seemed as if the outcome had already been decided.

But Noah didn’t stop.

Even as the first wave of tendrils was destroyed, more followed immediately after, forming just as quickly as the last had been erased.

They pressed forward without hesitation as if the loss meant nothing to him.

Each new tendril didn’t attempt to break through the vortex directly, but instead, a mist was dispersed with each tendril’s destruction.

And as imperceptible as it may seem, the next wave of tendrils that followed never entered the range of the mist, using it as a barrier in itself so it could continue unperturbed by the vortex.

Ethaniel didn’t react to that change.

Because from his perspective, nothing had changed at all. The vortex remained intact. Noah’s destruction remained absolute.

"This... is the difference between us..."

"I can now touch the root of mana itself..."

"To you... You may think that you are an unsurpassable mountain."

"But to me... you’re a mountain that will never understand the sky."

The tendrils continued to close in.

Layer after layer, they extended outward. The tendrils weaved together into a dense mass that blocked off everything beyond it, sealing the vortex and the figure within it from the rest of the world.

Even then, Noah didn’t stop, reinforcing the structure until what had once been open space became no different than a cocoon.

Inside, the vortex continued to tear itself apart within its own confined space.

Outside, Noah’s creatures stood unmoved. Their faith in Noah was absolute, and yet the power of the potential spell still led them to insist on aiding him against the enemy.

But even then, Ethaniel’s voice was able to reach out from the cocoon as it began to tremble.

"It changes nothing..."

"The outcome... remains the same..."

The surface of the cocoon distorted with each surge from within, the pressure building as the vortex continued to tear against its confines, as if it would break through at any moment.

And yet... it didn’t.

Noah approached until he stood inches away from the cocoon, making sure that Ethaniel would be able to hear him.

"For someone who believes they understand everything..."

"Why would you assume that you’re stronger than me..."

"...when it was me who created you?"