Becoming a Monster

Chapter 689: Chapter 688: The Trap Within the Trap

Gregory became a part of the expedition as a way to take vengeance on the demon who killed his son. Even leaving him without a body to mourn. But more importantly, they lost their key to standing above the rest of the nobles in the city.

Now he had found a way to avenge his son and to obtain the reputation that would set them higher in the echelons.

He could see it now. Those other houses were foolish to refuse to come here.

With everything within his grasp, he didn’t hesitate to accept Thalric’s offer. But he also believed that he could take further advantage of this.

“Thalric, don’t belittle my bloodline. We can still help with slaying a dragon. My son can handle the likes of a demon that relies on trees and seeds.”

He turned toward the youngest of his remaining sons. Roland had much of the same appearance as his older brother, though his features were rougher around the edges, carrying less of Roy’s youthful arrogance and more of the practiced composure expected from a noble of House Ignivar.

“Roland, don’t bring shame to our bloodline. With your brother gone, the responsibility of carrying our family’s name falls to you.” Gregory motioned toward Morvyr. “Hold that demon here. Show everyone that losing one son hasn’t made House Ignivar any weaker.”

Roland’s expression barely changed as he followed his father’s gaze toward Morvyr.

“You won’t have to tell me twice, Father.”

—

While the humans divided their attention between the enemies approaching them, the battle against God’s warriors was already underway.

This time, the celestial beings didn’t retreat. With the Virtue moving alongside them and the Holy Field extending across the battlefield, their earlier clashes against Noah’s creatures hardly resembled what was happening now.

Arachne noticed the difference almost immediately. Her speed had allowed her to overwhelm the Potentates before, yet each one could now follow her movements well enough to respond. Even the power she sealed away from them whenever her attacks connected had been reduced to a fraction of what she managed before.

That was the difference the Holy Field made when a Virtue further strengthened its power.

God’s servants could draw far more from their divine nature while the tainted energy used against them was constantly suppressed. The advantage was enough that each celestial warrior could face one of Noah’s strongest creatures without immediately losing ground.

Keeping those fights together quickly became impossible. Too much power was concentrated between them, and every exchange forced those nearby to move or risk being caught in attacks never intended for them.

It didn’t take long for the battlefield to separate into several fights, spreading God’s warriors farther apart as Noah’s creatures went after the opponents they had already chosen.

Fenrir and Kratos each took an Archon. Neither needed to say why. Both had set their sights on killing one of God’s servants, and neither had any intention of letting the other accomplish it first.

Eve and Diablo took another, leaving the four Potentates to contend with Ailetta and Arachne.

The uneven distribution wasn’t accidental. Both women had reasons why allowing only one Potentate to focus on them would’ve been a mistake.

Arachne’s became apparent with every exchange.

Noah’s current blood had made the energy within her purer than anyone else’s there, and the miasma produced from it had changed accordingly. The Holy Field suppressed most of its effects, but most wasn’t enough when every successful strike allowed some of that miasma to enter a Potentate’s energy.

The amount she could seal into herself was considerably smaller now, but whatever she managed to take wasn’t hers alone.

Atlas and Umbra received it as well.

Neither guardian could compare to the beings fighting around them. Atlas lacked the speed necessary to keep up with a Potentate directly, while Umbra had yet to even reach her full maturity. Yet the two Potentates facing Arachne quickly found that killing either of them was far more difficult than their strength suggested.

Turning their attention toward one guardian gave Arachne an opening. Focusing entirely on her gave the guardians freedom to interfere.

And leaving a Potentate alone against Arachne for too long allowed her to land enough attacks for the miasma accumulating within its energy to become a problem.

The small amount of strength being distributed between the three only made that balance increasingly troublesome. Atlas and Umbra weren’t suddenly becoming capable of overpowering God’s warriors, but in a fight between creatures at this level, even a slight shift could determine which attack landed and which one failed.

Atlas made use of that wherever he could, but Umbra showed exactly why Arachne had believed the newborn was ready to participate despite her incomplete maturity.

Numerous thin strands of web began appearing throughout the space occupied by the two Potentates. Umbra had made use of Atlas’s enormous body as the foundation for her webs, connecting them across his massive frame before extending them outward in every direction.

Each strand was so thin that it would’ve been nearly impossible to notice under ordinary circumstances, allowing her to turn the space around her brother into a field of traps.

Unfortunately, the Holy Field made concealing them impossible. The tainted mana within each strand was constantly being purified, producing faint wisps of energy that revealed their positions. But it also made something else apparent to the celestial beings.

These were no ordinary webs.

Each strand possessed a peculiar trait that allowed it to absorb mana upon contact. Unlike Arachne’s miasma, the webs weren’t particularly invasive, but the more energy they absorbed, the stronger and more durable they became. Even the Holy Field’s constant purification couldn’t prevent that growth entirely.

Avoiding them was already difficult with how many Umbra had created, and destroying them wasn’t much better. Whenever a Potentate slashed through a strand or rushed through several at once, the webs absorbed small portions of the holy energy used against them.

Some were destroyed immediately, while others endured long enough to become increasingly troublesome.

But the greatest problem came from the strands that remained connected directly to Umbra.

The Potentates could destroy as many webs as they wanted, but every exchange that allowed Umbra to absorb more mana gave her the opportunity to replace them with something even stronger.

Those webs funneled the absorbed energy back into her, allowing her to use it when creating new strands. And unlike replenishing her own mana reserves, which required converting the foreign energy into something compatible with her essence, her webs could make use of that energy directly.

The difference was considerable. Only a small portion of the absorbed mana could be recovered for her own use, while nearly all of it could instead be invested into creating stronger webs.

And the changes weren’t limited to their durability. The more energy Umbra invested, the sharper and more lethal her threads became, while their ability to absorb mana grew alongside them.

The two Potentates were falling into the very trap they were trying to destroy. The more they struggled to tear through Umbra’s webs, the more energy they provided for her to create stronger ones, gradually enclosing them in a network that became increasingly difficult to escape.

And despite being leagues stronger than the newborn, the two Potentates found themselves slowly being overwhelmed by her webs. As long as Arachne prevented them from reaching Umbra and putting an end to the annoyance, there was little they could do to stop her from continuing to spread them.

But the webs were the least of their problems.

Both Potentates could feel the changes occurring within their bodies. Their strength hadn’t diminished enough to hinder their movements, but their spirits were gradually weakening, even though the amount of mana being absorbed by Umbra’s webs shouldn’t have been nearly enough to cause such an effect.

What they failed to recognize was that the mana still lingering around them posed a far greater threat than the webs themselves.

Arachne’s ability had never been limited to stealing a portion of her enemies’ strength. There were still two additional layers to her sealing ability, each requiring certain conditions to be fulfilled before the next could take effect. And with her two loyal guardians fighting alongside her, Arachne no longer needed to fulfill those conditions entirely on her own.

Umbra’s webs were already helping her accomplish one of them.

While the threads absorbed mana to strengthen themselves, Arachne’s miasma used those same connections to eat away at the portion of the Potentates’ spirits that her ability had begun sealing. The Holy Field continued purifying the tainted energy, but it couldn’t completely undo what had already taken hold.

And with every passing moment, a little more of their spirits was being sealed away.

All Arachne needed was for their spiritual strength to fall below a certain point. Once that happened, the conditions for her next seal would be fulfilled, and the true sealing would begin.

But none of this would’ve been nearly as easy for Arachne and her guardians under normal circumstances.

That was what the Potentates had yet to realize.

The Virtue, however, had already recognized what was happening. It was why, rather than joining the others against Arachne, it had chosen to fight alongside the remaining Potentate against the one creature responsible for undermining the advantage God’s warriors should’ve possessed.

Ailetta.

The Holy Field should’ve made this battle overwhelmingly favorable for God’s servants. With their divine power amplified and the tainted energy of Noah’s creatures constantly suppressed, even opponents capable of matching them would’ve eventually been worn down.

Every exchange should’ve brought them closer to victory, turning what might otherwise have been a contested battle into one of attrition that Noah’s creatures couldn’t hope to win.

Yet the opposite was happening.

God’s warriors were gradually losing ground, and the Virtue understood that Ailetta was responsible.

More precisely, it was the tiny slimes she had scattered around the Holy Field before the fighting began. The celestial beings had paid them almost no attention when they first appeared, allowing the seemingly insignificant creatures to take their positions without interference.

That had been their mistake.

Because those slimes weren’t nearly as small as they had been before.