Becoming a Monster

Noah was standing at the entrance, but he wasn't mad like they would expect, he actually looked amused?

Noah first looked at the people on the second floor with him, he noticed the caution they were now showing. He then slowly walked over to the ledge before peering down to see what was everyone yelling about. That's when he saw the arrows scattered around Fenrir, while a a few were sticking out of his fur.

But the damage was almost non-existent, Noah wondered if Werewolves were weak against silver like the books and movies he grew up on.

Moving on from his scattered thoughts, his pupils came upon Ailetta standing not too far from Fenrir. Noah's brows furrowed as he tried to find the reason for her to be approaching Fenrir when he wasn't around.

Noah was unaware what was happening outside, but he constantly heard a commotion when he was in the middle of buying his things. It didn't help that through his bond with Fenrir, he could feel the wolf's desire to hunt rise. Coupled with the yelling, he couldn't take it anymore and hurriedly bought what he needed before leaving out to investigate.

He wanted to properly view the contents inside the shop to make the most appropriate choice in his spending, but in his rush he chose only two items that he felt would all allow him to advance further in the future.

The first, which he believed he would find in the shop after obtaining it the first time, was another upgrade stone. The stone however was also expensive, but it was well worth it, priced at 2k gold. He looked on to the next stage of upgrading stones and noticed that the price doubled with each tier.

With the amount of gold he held now, he could only choose one core skill for 1k gold. With only one option, he chose to go with lesser healing. Feeling that he had enough skills for himself, a healing skill for his creatures seemed to be the best skill for the moment. Arachne still had a disabled leg that was holding her back and he couldn't help but think of Grims situation. If he had acquired the skill back then, maybe he could've prevented his death if his wings were healed.

With that in mind, he rushed to leave the shop and make his way to find out what was going on, during that time, he squeezed his fist holding the stone.

[Killing Instincts level up confirmed to Level one! The skills level up has increase the passive stat from 5-25% to 5-50% but the amount of sanity lost has also been increased]

Noah had no time to think about the newly upgraded skill, his attention was elsewhere, but because of this he wasn't able to realize the slight changes happening to his body.

This now brings us back to the current scene, with Noah gazing towards Ailetta who was finally aware of what was happening. She first was made aware of when she looked up towards Fenrir and realized he was no longer paying her any attention and instead stared off into a specific direction.

That's when she noticed the question gaze of Noah directed towards her and he looked to be in deep thought.

Plop!

Her legs that were struggling to support her all this time finally gave way and she landed on her behind. Relief, despair, regret? All the feelings she was trying to hold in burst from within her while she cried them out.

Noah, who was watching, saw Bailey and Jasmine hurry to soothe her now that they realized everything was safe, but the scene caused him to frown.

Not because of the two girls, but he just had no idea what was happening now.

He turned towards Neal on his left with a glare, the sudden look caused Neal to retreat further away. However one of the new additions of Noah almost caused Neal to take his chances and jump off the ledge. It was small, but it was there. In each pupil there was a small red glow within the darkness of his eyes that sent a chill down his spine.

Noah's figure still looked the part of a human, but his eyes, his eyes really made Neal believe he was looking at a monster. It didn't help that Noah's veins were now a visible dark purple that accentuated the monster appeal.

When Noah came out of the room, Neal's sight never left Noah's figure. He was worried how Noah would react to everything. He knew the only way to beat Noah at this time was if they had guns or they forced him to surrender by using the girl. Now, he was just hoping that Noah didn't use this chance to decide to send his 'dog' on a rampage.

But when he saw those eyes, he almost broke character and was about to plead to be spared.

"I see you attacked my dog while I was gone, but what did you do to her?" Noah didn't bother to suggest who he was talking to and he was right to believe so. He could tell from the changes in Neals expression that he knew who he was referring to.

"W-we didn't do anything!" In his panic, he quickly yelled to defend himself. But then he noticed how loud he was and tried to recover.

"She went crazy and tried to approach that beast to get to you. We attacked it so we could save her!" As he spoke, he gripped the ledge as a precaution, he was ready to flee at any given moment.

Neal had noticed that Noah came out of the room unarmed, he at first had thoughts about taking advantage of this if need be. It was just the spider that stayed close to his side that made him hesitate.

Noah would've found this believable if it wasn't for the state that Ailetta was reduced to, he knew there was more to it.

"I'll give you one chance, tell me everything now…Or I will find out from her."

'Damnit!' Neal cursed inwardly, he felt trapped and soon began to regret his earlier actions. His hand that was gripping the ledge started to relax, he decided that the best course was for the first time in his life, to be truthful. If he ran away by himself then where would he go with the monsters roaming outside? He had a better chance defending himself here with everyone with him. If Noah still decides to attack after what he hears then they would have to risk it all. The spider was only one creature, it couldn't protect Noah from both sides.

He didn't think about the fact that Noah himself was also strong and that was the only way to tame such strong monsters.

After hesitating, in the end he still told Noah about everything that happened the moment he left. From the discussion with Mark, to trying to mislead Jasmine, up to the point where they talked about using Ailetta to get to him and how they had to stop her from approaching Fenrir.

Noah didn't know how to take in what he heard. From his expression he appeared indifferent, but his mind was racing.

'Why would she go so far?' He couldn't help but think. He could see if he continued to interact with her like he did in the past, yet he hasn't talked to her in years. Even when everything went to shit, he only acknowledged her in passing and practically avoided her.

'I just don't get it…' Deep in his thoughts, he ignored Neal's confused expression and headed towards the steps. The two men that were there, hurriedly made way for him and Arachne to pass.

'Does she not realize that she resembles the girls from our stories? Getting stronger should be more important than me right now, otherwise situations like this will continue to happen. This can't go on…Either she seeks to grow in this world or she will just mean nothing to me.'

By this time he just reached the bottom of the steps before he made his way to the girls while he passed Fenrir, who was now back to laying down now that nothing was happening.

Bailey and Jasmine finally noticed Noah approaching. However they noticed the difference in his eyes. Instinctively the two jumped in front of Ailetta on guard of his approach. It didn't matter what expression he wore with eyes like those. His eyes emitted a danger that made him out to be an enemy.

Noah saw the two rise to protect Ailetta, contrary to what they were doing, he smiled. But that smile made the two feel extremely uncomfortable, his smile didn't last long before his face turned stern. He found their desire to protect their friend amusing, but that was all.

"I'm not here for you two. Le?"

Ailetta froze in place when she heard him call for her. The last time she heard him call her by that name, it was also the last time he interacted with her during school. She hesitated to look up, but she urged herself to anyway. Her face turned to shock when she saw Noah's new appearance, it reminded her of the Demon lords in the stories they read. That thought made her believe even more that she wasn't going to like what she was going to hear.