Becoming a Monster

Chapter 709: Chapter 708: A Monster Beyond Understanding

Malachi was about to put his plans for revenge into motion when he suddenly sensed something approaching.

Almost instinctively, his body moved, carrying him away from his original position with a speed that none of the nearby onlookers had anticipated.

And it was fortunate that he had.

Several enormous roots erupted from the ground where he’d been kneeling, twisting around one another as they attempted to imprison him.

One of Malachi’s eyes turned toward the roots, while the other had already located the source of the spell.

Paul and his companions.

Every eye scattered across Malachi’s body soon settled upon the group, who watched him with extreme caution.

Yet despite their obvious fear, some of them still had the audacity to look at him with unmistakable killing intent.

“Heh, I see what this is. Want to get revenge for that girl, is that right?”

Malachi’s smile twisted as he recognized them. Despite losing much of his rationality after his transformation, his memories from when he was human hadn’t disappeared.

Unfortunately for him, the others had no intention of allowing him to do whatever he pleased.

Ishii and Raven made their way forward to Paul’s side, with Raven’s Amazonians following closely behind her.

They might not have been able to sense how dangerous he was as Paul did, but none of them believed he would be easy to deal with. If anything, knowing what he’d done to Bailey was enough to convince them that they needed to act before he had another opportunity to attack.

And Alicia was already struggling to contain herself.

“Tell us what you did to her.”

Nearly a dozen knives floated around her, each one covered in mana of a different element. Alicia had always been an emotional person, but after seeing what happened to Bailey, she could barely keep her anger under control.

“If you think you can jus-“

“ALICIA! MOVE!”

Ishii’s sudden shout caught her completely off guard.

She hadn’t even managed to understand what he was warning her about when an overwhelming sensation of death washed over her.

And by the time she noticed the enormous hand approaching her face, it was already far too close for her to do anything.

Those who could react immediately attempted to intervene, but unfortunately, there weren’t many of them.

Only Ishii and Paul had managed to move quickly enough, and that was largely because neither of them had allowed their attention to wander from Malachi for even a moment.

Ishii moved almost desperately, his heart pounding so violently that he could feel it with every movement.

He knew there wasn’t enough time to pull Alicia out of the way. His only option was to intercept the attack itself, and he was already swinging his blade when his arms began swelling beyond their natural limits.

The muscles bulged so severely that he felt them spasming beneath his skin, accompanied by something snapping within his arm.

Unfortunately, that was only the beginning of what was happening to his body.

Just moments earlier, Ishii had activated his ability to take Malachi’s strength for himself, believing that doing so would give him the power necessary to confront him.

What he hadn’t anticipated was the sheer difference between their physical capabilities.

Malachi’s strength alone was enough to overwhelm his body, forcing his muscles to contract with more power than his bones and joints could withstand. But his vitality was even worse.

The sheer amount of life energy flooding Ishii’s body was forcing his cells to operate far beyond their natural limits, accelerating their activity until their internal structures began breaking down.

Even his body’s attempts to repair the damage were making matters worse, as the excess energy continued driving his cells to regenerate without giving them time to stabilize.

Ishii could feel his body breaking down.

Blood poured from his mouth and ears, but he refused to stop, putting everything he had into the downward swing of his blade.

And with Malachi’s strength temporarily added to his own, while the creature’s constitution had been weakened by his ability, Ishii’s blade cut completely through the approaching arm.

At almost the exact same moment, Paul’s hammer struck Malachi near his collarbone.

With the earth energy surrounding it, the weapon had already grown considerably larger than its original size. Combined with Paul’s unique ability, it was now enormous enough that the impact should’ve crushed a substantial portion of Malachi’s face and shoulder.

But unlike Ishii’s attack, Paul’s hammer encountered something neither of them had anticipated.

The mouth along Malachi’s neck suddenly shifted, spreading across his shoulder before lunging outward from his body.

Its jaws opened wide enough to engulf the hammer’s head and nearly half its handle.

That didn’t prevent Paul’s attack from connecting.

The force of the blow still sent Malachi flying, but as his body was thrown backward, the enormous mouth carried the hammer away with him.

Everything happened so quickly that Paul didn’t immediately understand what had occurred.

He only noticed that his arms felt strangely light.

And when he looked down, he realized that all he was holding was what remained of the handle.

For a moment, Paul could only stare at it.

Losing that hammer was a considerable blow to his strength. It was a weapon he’d possessed since the days when they still had the System, and the bonuses it provided had continued to benefit him even after his own abilities had grown considerably.

Still, Malachi biting through it so completely was already dangerously nerve-wracking. The hammer’s durability alone was harder than steel, and that was before his unique armored ability reinforced it.

But if losing it meant Alicia was still alive, then Paul had no reason to regret what he’d done.

After all, between Ishii severing Malachi’s arm and his own attack sending the creature flying, they had managed to stop him before he could reach her.

Or so they believed.

Because just as that thought crossed their minds, Alicia screamed.

Paul and Ishii immediately turned toward Alicia, only to hear the others crying out her name around the same time.

What they saw was enough to leave them momentarily frozen.

Alicia’s arm was gone, along with most of her shoulder. Blood poured from the wound in uneven spurts, much of it already soaking through her clothes as she struggled to remain standing.

“ALICIA!”

Ishii’s voice broke with a fear that even the pain tearing through his own body hadn’t been able to draw from him.

He rushed toward her, barely paying attention to his injuries as he tried to comprehend how she could’ve been hurt so severely when he’d already severed Malachi’s arm.

And considering how much blood she was losing, he wasn’t sure she would survive long enough for anyone to help her.

“Everyone! Get away from that arm!”

Amara’s desperate shout interrupted the panic beginning to spread through the group. There was enough urgency in her voice that even those who had been too occupied with Alicia’s injuries to notice anything else instinctively turned toward her.

Until then, hardly anyone had paid attention to Malachi’s severed arm.

In fact, most of them hadn’t even understood how Alicia had lost her own.

But when they finally looked toward the arm lying on the ground, they noticed that its hand was no longer there.

In its place was an enormous mouth.

Its jaws moved slowly, chewing on something that produced an unpleasant crunch with every bite. And as the others grew quiet enough to hear it properly, the sound of bones breaking and flesh being torn apart became distinguishable even through the rain and Alicia’s cries.

Meanwhile, Jasmine had already rushed to Alicia’s side, accompanied by the two other healers they had left since losing Isabelle.

She immediately began channeling her nature magic into the ground, causing thick patches of grass to grow around Alicia’s wound. The blades extended over the exposed flesh, intertwining until they covered the damaged area and began absorbing the blood that continued escaping.

The other two healers weren’t idle either. Both began pouring their healing magic into Alicia, concentrating on the damaged tissue while Jasmine used her nature magic to prevent her condition from deteriorating any further.

Unfortunately, her injuries were far too severe for any of them to consider restoring what she’d lost. Even with all three working together, keeping her alive was proving difficult enough.

The grass surrounding Alicia began losing its color as Jasmine drew upon the life energy contained within it, directing everything she could into stabilizing her condition.

Unfortunately, while Jasmine struggled to save Alicia, the others were still trying to determine what to do about the severed arm.

They couldn’t ignore it after witnessing what it had done, but approaching something that seemed as though it was capable of moving and attacking independently was another matter entirely.

And before anyone could decide how to deal with it, Paul noticed something moving across the ground.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!”

His warning came just as a shadow began spreading toward them.

“THE SHADOW!”

Most of the group barely understood what he meant, but fortunately, there weren’t many people directly in its path.

Raven reacted immediately, moving aside as the Amazonians accompanying her followed her lead.

One of them, however, wasn’t quite fast enough.

Although most of her body had already cleared its path, one of her legs remained in the shadow’s way.

And the moment the darkness passed beneath it, her foot suddenly sank into the ground.

Before she could even react, something clamped down on her leg.

Then came the unmistakable sound of bones breaking.

“AAAAHHH!”