Becoming a Monster

"Is this bitch challenging me?"

How long has he lived being looked down on? No matter where he went, people from all statuses would look at him in disdain. And now even a zombie is treating him the same way?

Gripping hard onto his axes, he stepped forward to accept the challenge.

"No you two, I'll handle him alone…" He told them with a hint of indifference. He tried not to show it but he was angry. What he also didn't want to happen was for the zombie king to reject the duel if he allowed his creatures to help him.

"Grrwwrr! Grrrrrw!" Noah stopped in his place when the zombie king roared again before lifting its sword with one hand and directing it before both Arachne and Grim respectively.

"Really?" Arachne and Grim maybe didn't know what the zombie was implicating, but Noah did. The zombie king was challenging all three of them.

If the zombie was intentionally trying to get under Noah's skin then it was doing a good job at it.

"Fine…have it your way." Turning back around, he called out. "Arachne, Grim…let's fuck him up!"

When the zombie king saw the two monsters about to approach, it re-entered its stance and initiated the duel. The king decides the fight and decides when it starts. Its footsteps were heavier than before and so was its aura. It was able to take three steps which was still able to close some distance given its height before.

Ding!*

Even though Arachne was faster, as a spider, her instincts were to observe before striking. But Grim didn't like the pressure the king was emitting. Mantis, even in the presence of its predators, would not show fear. The king's aura spurred the creature to beat its wings harder than before, taking to the air to do what it does best.

However this would be the second time since it mutated that it missed its target and the first to be blocked.

The scene was definitely shocking. To Lucas and the four, they were shocked because they couldn't keep up with Grims speed besides Zoe who still could barely perceive him while in flight. But Noah was surprised by something else.

'It clearly raised its guard before Grim attacked…can it predict the future or is it actually faster than Grim?'

The same time he was thinking, he dashed towards the zombie king to enter the fray. This time he was planning on using his instincts skill, at least not yet. There wasn't enough information to go on. If the monster could predict the future 'and' was faster then clearly this isn't something he could handle alone. He would most likely die without being aware of it if he used the skill now because he wouldn't be able to think logically.

The king watched as Noah came forward but it always appeared as if it was looking down on him.

Ding ding ding*

Without being under the influence of his skill, Noah could only perform heavy swings without a shred of technique. With the normal zombies, technique didn't matter but this fight made it more apparent how awkward his weapon skills were. Relying on his stats, he used what little agility he had to try to pick up the tempo.

Swinging his right axe towards the leg of the 'giant' which was blocked. Before swinging the left towards the kings stomach that was easily deflected and threw him off balance. If the runner zombies were also strong then this thing was on another level.

When Noah's body was forced to turn after being deflected, Grim made its second appearance, aiming for the head once again. When it used one arm and was blocked, Grim, with his simple thinking figured that if one was blocked then why not use two?

However the zombie king had enough playing defensively. When it deflected the first of Grims incoming blades, it rotated its shoulders not only to throw Grim off balance but also to allow it to follow up with an attack.

Bang!

Everything happened in a moment. From the time it took Noah to regain his balance, Grim was sent flying. The king took the momentum of it deflecting to step in with its shoulder and bashing Grims body while still in mid air. Grims body soared into the air meters away, luckily landing on one of the training mats in the middle of the room. But this finally allowed Arachne to find sn opening..

"GRRWRRR!"

The king roared loudly in pain before looking down at its thigh. Arachne waited for the time the zombie put all its weight on its leading foot when it used its shoulder to attack, she sprung into action and injected her fangs into its back leg.

Clinging to the zombies leg while trying to inject as much venom as she could. The zombie king had to quickly make a decision. Try to shake her off, use his hand to strike her or try to stab her with his sword. But his sword was too long to attempt such a thing when she's directly on his legs so he chose to use his fist. The feeble human was the weakest of them all so it felt that it's priority should be the spider. The zombie could feel that It was quickly losing functions over its leg so it had to deal with the Spider first.

Its vision was always inspecting everything around it. So it noticed Noah dropping his weapons while it was about to attack. Was it confused of his actions? Yes, but who wouldn't be afraid to fight in the presence of a king?

"Bad decision!!" He heard the human scream while at the same time black silk quickly shot out of his wrist. At the same time, while it was in the motion of attacking Arachne, she quickly escaped as if she was expecting such an outcome. It hasn't been long since Arachne and Noah have known each other, but they coordinated well in this moment. Their bond, which was stronger than Grims, was proving to show its advantages.

Now that the zombie king gave up the option of resisting the webs with his sword to attack the spider which it felt wasn't a threat. The webs were able to spin around the zombie's arm wielding the sword and around its torso, causing its arm to cling tightly to its sides and unable to move.

On the other side of the room, the spectators still haven't moved. They weren't sure what they were seeing, Noah and the zombie king has made less than ten exhanges. Noah and his creatures were clearly being toyed with by the zombie.

When Lucas witnessed Noah being thrown off balance and Grim being knocked out of the fight in one succession. He felt a sense of relief and immense satisfaction.

'I was right! He's nothing without those two. This is what he deserves, but don't worry, I'll still avenge you because that's what a bigger man would do.' A smug grin could be seen on his face while his body was now slightly leaning forward. He couldn't help but anticipate the death of Noah and show everyone that he wasn't as great as they thought he was.

"??? Did you see that? It's the webs, the same webs that were blocking the door! Maybe he really can defeat it. We need to help him!" Besides Lucas, LeRoy was preparing to aid Noah but was held back.

"Lucas…? What are you doing? This is our chance! Are you not the one who said you will be the one to put Nathan to rest? Well now's the ti-"

"Rrrroooaaarrrr!"

An overbearing roar, more intimidating and domineering than the previous one, echoed. The roar sent utter shills down the back of the spectators and Caused Joe, the weakest, to to fall on his hands and knees.

"Wha-what's happening!"

"It…it didn't do this before…" They all focused on the zombie king with fear apparent in their eyes.

Just when Noah and Arachne were prepared to take advantage of the bounded zombie. Four zombies, two from both sides of the king stepped out of line. The zombie king started to glow green before the glow turned into a dark ghastly green that flowed into the four zombies.

Noah wasn't sure if attacking right now would be the right decision. Maybe if the zombie became vulnerable doing whatever it was currently doing then he would attack without a second thought. But the greenish gas alone felt eerie enough to make him reconsider. If it was poisonous then he would be running to his death.

He observed the gas flowing into the four zombies' bodies. Since the zombie king was no longer moving he used this chance to check on Grim. The mantis was struggling to get up, the attack did a number on him. His right blade was bent from where it connected to the rest of its arm and his wings appeared to be broken from the landing. During the time Grim took the blow, he wasn't able to retract his wings before smashing into the mat at an insane speed which caused his wings to take most of the impact.

"!"

Just then, Noah saw the four zombies being enveloped by the gas, change. The first noticeable change he saw was the eyes of the zombies becoming a blood red before imitating a glow, just like the kings.

'No….don't tell me….'

"Arachne we need to go, now!" Noah roared, he didn't know what exactly was happening but he didn't like it. From what he saw it appeared that the king was gonna make miniature versions of it. He may have had a chance when fighting the king alone, but he knew he was way out of his league to fight the king and the new contenders.

The first thing he needed to do was to retrieve his bag, but he left the two handed axe. He didn't want to have a repeat with the treasure chest and have someone steal it. Next, he planned to place Grim into his soul cage, but there was a problem.

'There's not enough time! Who knows if it would take just as long as it did with Arachne.' Looking over Grim, he could see that Grim was in pain but he still managed to stand up with the will to continue the fight. He really was like a soldier through and through, but Noah couldn't allow him to throw his life away.

"Not now Grim…We will pay him back soon, but not now. We need more than just us to fight." He patted Grim on the belly before they all made a run for the door he Originally blocked. He saw Lucas and his group watching from afar and he could see the fear and confusion when they saw him approaching.

'What were they planning to gain by sitting here? No matter…Even if they didn't want to fight, I plan on involving them all.'

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|Flashback: At the cafeteria|

"Mark, stop being stubborn, this is your life we are talking about! We need to find him, he'll definitely know how to avoid changing."

"So you think he's better than me too? We don't need him! I feel fine…"

Jas and Mark could be heard screaming at each other. When they had returned, the first thing they came upon was a bigger influx of students in the area. Thankfully most were too scared to bother about eating, but when everything calms down, Jas was sure that infighting would ensue.

At the same time, they were told of the mysterious shopkeeper on the second floor that sold all kinds of fantasy items and more. This gave the group hope, Mark, Jas, Ailetta and the small group that didn't leave them made their way to the room. But when they arrived at the room they saw a group of four people already interacting with the person. One was someone Jas knew pretty well and that was Bailey, the school's number one sports star.

"Bailey? Thank goodness you made it out alive…but I can't talk right now, Mark has been injured. I need to see if that 'person' has anything that could cure him!"

She impatiently tried to make her way through, but to her surprise, Bailey stopped her.

"What's the meaning of this Bailey?"

"Don't get upset Jas, I'm not trying to stop you…but we already checked for something similar while looking. There is something that could help you, if he's infected like I think he is then there's a potion that can cure a 'lower ranked' zombie infect-"

"That's it! That's what we need! Now move Bailey! I don't know how much longer he has!"

"Wait! Before you check, just know that it'll cost 1,500 gold. If you have that much then be my guest, I just didn't want you to waste your time and get your hopes up since even we don't have that much gold right now...."

Unlike the depression and despair, Bailey and her group thought Jas would show, instead she seemed relieved. 'Did they really have that much gold?' But then they found out the answer for her relief.

"Ca-can you let us borrow what you have then? And we can pay you back in the future?" She asked hopefully, but soon she began to panic when she saw the unsettling looks between Bailey and their comrades. But Mark also saw the hesitation and he felt aggrieved. Was his life worth less than these people's gold?

"Jas don't worry about it. I told you before, I won't change. If 'he' couldn't become infected after being bitten then how would I? No need to beg these people, they aren't worth it." Jas wanted to argue back with him. His mentality and judgement has been becoming worse and worse ever since he met Noah. But the other side spoke up to defend themselves.

"It's not what it sounds like, believe me!" She bowed her head while she pleaded. When she looked up, Jas saw the tears falling down her cheek. The resentment that was building towards her friend started to diminish.

"Even if we lent it to you, we don't think we will survive that long if we don't use it for ourselves…how will you be able to pay us back then?" The question really shocked not only Jas, but also Mark and the small group that followed.

"Wha-what do you mean by that? If we can heal Mark then we can stick together. Surely we would all have a better chance to live if we stuck together." Jasmine wasn't sure why they would be so afraid that they would die, but from the looks of the people around her, even they seemed to believe it. But Bailey wasn't able to answer her immediately, thinking about it was making her emotional. Soon the biggest guy there took a step forward to answer in her place.

"We are…all too weak…if we don't become…stronger…we will…die…"

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A/N: there will still be one more chapter, but it'll either be uploaded later today or tomorrow.