Becoming a Monster

Chapter 108: A Dangerous Plan

Seeing that the change would take a bit more time, Noah turned towards Ailetta, intending to inform her of his plans. However, her current state reminded him of something unpleasant, making him hesitate. Instead, he addressed Arachne, who stood guard by his side.

Blood and bile mixed with the dark purple venom, oozing from every orifice as it thrashed against the webbing. The veins around the puncture wounds pulsated violently, as if something was crawling beneath the surface, eager to burst free.

"When that thing finishes its change, kill it quickly but cleanly," he ordered curtly, unfazed by the agonizing scene. He then hesitantly placed his hand on Ailetta's hand, gently prying himself away from her, his thoughts once again conflicted.

Ailetta was startled by his sudden touch and even more alarmed by how he silently pried her away. She looked at him, searching for an explanation, but Noah's expression remained unreadable.

Ailetta's current state was surprisingly messy, given the fact that she didn't need to act personally. Her body felt alien to her, the burnout more intense than she had anticipated, not merely from mana exhaustion but from the strain of constantly controlling a tier one zombie's corpse. Her skill was more than just simple orders and guidance; it required intense concentration to be effective. The weaker the monster, the less focus she needed to control it. Conversely, the stronger the monster, the more focus she required, or else she risked losing control, making the commands less efficient and the corpse's movements more robotic.

Noah naturally recognized the state she was in, still, he was determined to make her stronger, but the earlier fight was affecting her more than he felt it should. He just couldn't stop himself from having negative thoughts.

'Why does it feel like the only reason she's getting stronger is to protect those people? She doesn't seem to even care about what happens to herself at all, but she constantly puts their safety before her own… it's annoying… I don't like it at all…'

The longer he delved into his thoughts, wanting to understand her actions, it only gave rise to more concerning thoughts instead. His current thoughts were becoming dangerous, and he didn't like the Ailetta that he was painting in his mind. So instead, he tried to preoccupy himself with thoughts of his newly attained loot.

He didn't know that while he left Ailetta without speaking a word, she had also taken notice of his change. But she didn't know what to say, there was nothing for her to say unless she was going to apologize. However, that was something she was afraid of doing. Because saying sorry would mean discussing why she was apologizing, and she didn't have a good reason to do what she did. She was just worried for her friends, but would he accept that?

She knew he wouldn't. She knew that the only way he would accept it was if she was stronger, a concept that seemed too far out of her reach. Even now, he didn't require her help to take out the surrounding zombies, and here she was, barely able to stand while only trying to keep her friends alive.

Sooner rather than later, she knew she would have to make a decision. Either she would believe in Noah and focus on the path of her own strength, potentially losing her friends in the process, either by disassociation or through their deaths. Or she would continue to put her friends before herself and potentially lose Noah, because she could already see the warning signs.

While those thoughts were going through her head, her imagination played through both options. Just after considering the options once, she already felt which one was the path she just couldn't give up.

She looked at the strength she had gained in just a little time, she saw the amount of help she was able to give. And the person who made it happen didn't ask her for anything in return, despite all of his history.

Her eyes flickered briefly, before her gaze became resolute with a goal, a decision born out of necessity to prevent losing what was slipping from her grasp. She directed her attention to the chest nearest to the zombie's corpse, the evolved zombie no longer under her control, hoping to obtain anything to improve her strength even further.

The other group were now trying to recover their bearings. They didn't have the satisfaction of being able to loot their drops immediately. Not only did they have to check over their deaths and try to cure the injured, but they also had to focus on curing those that were infected during the fights. "And what do you think we should do? Go back and wait? Or are you thinking of letting Noah take care of everything? Neither of those decisions are going to keep us alive, and you know it! We have to fight, we have to grow stronger so we don't have to continue losing people in the future. If we had fought like I wanted in the first place, then we would be strong enough to prevent this from happening," his words were a small wake-up call to his sister. It wasn't enough to overshadow her doubt, but it was enough to allow her to let others make the hard decisions for a while until she was sure of herself again.

"We can't keep going on like this, we've lost so many already… If this keeps up, then who knows how many will be left in the end," Jasmine tried to be the voice of reason to the group. Noah's words earlier constantly played in her mind, especially now after so many people died because of her brother's decision. She was beginning to feel guilty, and the guilt was affecting her actions, affecting her actions and sowing seeds of doubt about her leadership. However, Mark didn't like what his sister was implying.

"And what do you think we should do? Go back and wait? Or are you thinking of letting Noah take care of everything? Neither of those decisions are going to keep us alive, and you know it! We have to fight, we have to grow stronger so we don't have to continue losing people in the future. If we had fought like I wanted in the first place, then we would be strong enough to prevent this from happening," his words were a small wake-up call to his sister. It wasn't enough to overshadow her doubt, but it was enough to allow her to let others make the hard decisions for a while until she was sure of herself again.

The small conversations stopped when Bailey spoke out a name. A name most of the people there knew, especially after witnessing the zombie wreaking havoc among the others. By this time, they all knew whose skill it belonged to, and those who didn't had found out through word of mouth.

Bailey wanted to thank her for all that she'd done, but when she called out to her, Ailetta didn't respond. Her expression didn't change, nor did her eyes shift direction. It was almost as if she was in a trance.

This worried the others, especially the people close to her, like Jasmine, Bailey, and Alicia, who came forward to check on her.

When they approached and touched her shoulder, Ailetta became startled, raising her rod defensively before realizing it was her friends.

At first, she was surprised, momentarily happy to see her friends, but then her eyes grew conflicted. The change was too obvious, and the others quickly noticed.

"Ailetta, what's wrong? What happened?" Jasmine was the first to ask, concerned. None of them could easily discern the cause for such a shift in her demeanor. The question brought Ailetta's awareness to the expression on her face, the conflicted look fading into one of disappointment. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"It's nothing… I'm just not happy with myself… so many people died, and… and I feel too weak… Excuse me, but I just can't talk right now…" With that, she continued toward the chest she knew was hers, leaving the three girls behind, bewildered as they watched her walk away.

"Do you think Noah said something to her? We all saw what she was capable of, so why would she say that?" Alicia voiced her thoughts aloud.

The three friends were left to speculate about what had transpired, while both Ailetta and Noah opened their chests. Ailetta managed to obtain a platinum chest after vanquishing numerous zombies that matched her strength or were even stronger, while Noah acquired a similar chest for defeating multiple high-tier monsters.

Both received attribute orbs, but unfortunately for Ailetta, hers increased strength by 25, whereas Noah's orb enhanced magic. She held onto the orb briefly before stuffing it into her bag. Strength didn't seem necessary for her, and she felt a desire to repay Noah for all he had done.

In addition to the orb, both chests dropped an upgrade stone for a tier zero skill, but Noah received a tier one health potion while Ailetta received a skill: the imbue weapon skill originating from the priest class. She remembered someone in their group also had this skill, but sadly, he was one of the casualties after encountering the tentacle zombie. In the end, the two collected their equipment and gold.

Ailetta lacked the knowledge to discern what was good or not when it came to her equipment, so she nervously made her way towards Noah. She felt a familiar prodding in the back of her mind, signaling a level up. When she checked the results, she was astonished to see that she had leveled up and was already more than halfway to the next level. However, she hesitated to allocate her points, feeling that she should discuss it with Noah first. And yet, she still faltered to ask, knowing that she had already gained so much while offering little. Besides guidance on using her points, she also desired something else from Noah. Torn by indecision, she ended up allocating her points herself before making her way back to him.

With a heavy mind and a troubled heart, but a decisive gaze, she forced herself not to look back, fearing she might second-guess her decision. Oblivious to the fact that Noah still hadn't spoken to her, she met his gaze directly and said, "Noah, please tame me!"

For someone who was feeling pretty annoyed with the person at hand, Ailetta's sudden request caused Noah's mind to stir. He blinked rapidly as if trying to compute if he had heard her correctly. It wasn't that the idea hadn't been discussed before; it was the time and place she chose to bring it up.

Noah didn't respond immediately; instead, he observed her, trying to discern her reason for wanting to become a tamed creature. Based on what he had seen so far, he suspected it had something to do with her friends again. Unable to gauge her thoughts or emotional state, Noah found the situation rather suspicious. Consequently, his answer reflected his uncertainty.

"No," Noah reluctantly replied, shaking his head. Ailetta clearly wasn't prepared for such a flat-out rejection. She appeared shocked and quickly became dejected, thinking about how Noah had offered Jasmine the opportunity but denied her. However, Noah wasn't done with his answer.

"I only get to tame up to a certain amount of times per level, and if I were to use it on you just because you want to become stronger, then what about me? Fenrir and Arachne are my strengths, but I won't be able to consider you when you are not strong enough," he explained.

His words left a significant impact on Ailetta, but instead of feeling disheartened, she now felt that she still had a chance.

"So, as long as I get stronger, then you will consider it, right?" she asked with newfound energy, catching Noah off guard. He slowly nodded, inwardly confused by her sudden change but also pleased by it.

"I won't let you take that back, Noah…" Ailetta muttered to herself, a dangerous plan forming in her mind as she plotted how to grow stronger quickly enough to earn Noah's acceptance.

Noah wasn't aware of what he started, nor what was now fated to happen in the future. He was already mulling over his recent findings from the earlier fight. "I was right," Noah thought, "the zombies are advancing way too quickly. I'm pretty sure almost every single one of them was a sprinter." His eyes darted from side to side at crazy speeds, reflecting his vivid imagination as he envisioned a sea of evolved zombies by the next day. There was a sense of wariness in his gaze. He couldn't help recalling God mentioning how the zombies were potentially adapting and evolving faster than humans, when zombies were supposed to be inferior. "But they aren't my goal; it's what that God said will happen that I should be preparing for. The zombies and animals are just preparing me for what's to come."