Becoming a Monster

A black and red mist began to emit from the handle as he was about to start round two. Gradually, Noah was gaining speed and if you looked carefully, his body no longer appeared as if he was struggling to handle the weight of his sword.

He unknowingly unlocked the sword's ability, unlocked may not be the right term to explain it since it was never locked, but more so that Noah didn't know what the trigger for the ability was. The sword was almost a complete replica of the Zombie King and like a king, Noah needed to be recognized by the sword to be fully used. He could have never known that to fully use the sword, he needed to give into his bloodlust, one of the main instincts distinctive to zombies whose only goal was eating.

But it was a fitting requirement if Noah had time to think about it, a zombie sword should be used by a zombie. As long as he was in his bloodthirsty state, he would receive the stats from his sword which granted an abundance of stats for a sword granted by a zombie under the level of ten. All of his body stats were boosted by 30 points which would be more significant if his stats weren't hindered.

(A/N: I'm going to post the stats just in case you want to see, just be aware that Noah doesn't know how much his stats are being boosted. The increase is coming from his instincts skill that increases his states by 50% and then the stats of the weapon)

[hAttributes

Defense: 25

Strength:24(26) [8]->[12]+35

Agility:36(40) [12]->[18]+37

Constitution:53(58) [17]->[25]+40

Stamina:27(30) [9]->[13]+35

Magic: 53->56(61)

Spirit: 103(113)]

His stats were just a little bit more than what it would be if he wasn't penalized, but it still wasn't enough to outright defeat the zombie in front of him. His strength was not stronger than Fenrir and his agility was still shy from Arachne's. However, now he could play a better role in helping his creatures take down the zombie, not to mention the sharpness of the sword would play a crucial factor.

The zombie apparently had its full attention towards Noah who was radiating an aura that made it instinctively servile to his presence and that made Noah a danger to it. The zombie was just a mindless zombie as its original counterparts, the change was small, but it now had the ability to have instinctual feelings and was slightly more aware of its surroundings. It wasn't like the King Zombie or Fenrir that Noah would call a 'unique zombie'. This zombie in particular was just a regular zombie that evolved.

Imagine Noah's internal plight if he had known that he is struggling against the weaker version of the evolved zombies.

As Noah rushed headlong into the zombie that began to make its way towards him, the recovered Arachne exploded from the building as hard as she could and collided hard into the side of the zombie's face. The impact using her weight and momentum was enough to knock the monster off balance, causing the zombie to fall over, but not before he caught itself with its arms that were always inches from the ground.

This still gave Noah the opportunity to brutally hack away at one of the arms, This time the sword penetrated through the muscle before it chipped at the bone. Loud sounds of his sword chipping at the zombies bone could be heard in the close vicinity of the four fighters.

However considering the zombies size, it would take quite a bit of time to cut away the arm. Noah's instincts had caught on to that fact as he had instinctively moved out the way of the incoming hand. It was a lot easier for Noah's body to do so since his stats were increased and during his skill, his instinctual movements were a lot better since he didn't have enough battle experience.

A little bit away, Fenrir's face and arm could be seen recovering at a visible rate. But the creature knew no fear, if anything, fear was an attack on his pride and would make him fight even more without restraint. Fenrir remained on his hind legs and made a run for the zombie again. He didn't need his other arm if he still had one that worked.

Minutes passed with the three ganging up on the lonesome zombie that even though it was immensely stronger and tougher than them. It was only so much it could do if it couldn't keep up with their speed.

While the fight was ongoing, a pair of invisible eyes was watching over this particular fight in delight.

"HoHo~This one has really piqued my interest! It appears that even among those meager 'lower' humans, there are still some with potential."

The being muttered to themselves like it was a regular habit. If anyone could lay eyes on them, they would be confused by what they see. The being seemed to be everything and no one at the same time. Their bodies were constantly interchanging, a beautiful woman, a young boy, a koala bear. The beings form was litteral every and all life.

To put it in better perspective, it was like viewing a picture that had multiple pictures into one and when you look at it in different perspectives and angles, you would see more than just what you thought the picture was.

The divine being continued to watch Noah with an amused expression.

"And to think I would've passed up on this interesting fellow if that corrupted human didn't 'coincidently' evolve while he was there. Hmm…I wonder how he compares with the others.." The god's eyes didn't seem to move, but he was still able to inspect every part of the world.

Starting from the person who was the first to reach level ten and break their limits who happened to be from America, the same as Noah, but the god wasn't as interested in him as he was with the others.

He was a soldier whose accomplishments came more from the equipment he had than his own accomplishments. From the use of tanks and heavy guns and grenades, he mowed down large groups of zombies, animals and innocent humans in the mix indiscriminately. God wasn't emotional at all concerning the deaths of the innocent. Humans have killed innocent animals for decades.

However he wasn't the least at all interested in the highest level player, but God made sure that people like that got what they deserved. Or in this case, didn't get what they didn't earn. No chest dropped for this person at all and the Man was a knight, but when he got his new advanced class, he was only given the option to choose between an extra basic class or the advanced class called Veteran Knight.

"The fools may believe that their creations will pave their way for them, but what will they do when the weapons they hide belong to are no longer a threat to the creatures that had to fight and struggle just to evolve? Hmm? Yes she at least has what it takes."

His gaze led towards the country of Europe, leading to a woman wearing a long robe and a staff with long blond hair. She was guarding a shelter full of homeless and abandoned kids that grew by the end of the day. With a self made incantation to make her mana more controllable and to help her imagination of creating her spell. A large firewall was created in front of a large horde of zombies that killed them in seconds after they passed.

Then he looked towards Australia, that was probably the second worst country to go through the changes. The animals there were far more dangerous than the zombies, but a fellow Monster Tamer there who just so happens to also be a conservationist like the legend, Steve Irwin. From the start, The Australian was close to many animals and when those animals mutated they also developed a high sentience. This made it easy for the person to tame a mutated kangaroo and a koala bear without a fight.

In each country there were about one or two individuals that were able to grab the God's interest. The species of humans themselves he didn't have much hope for. The countries were struggling against their foes now and that was before the creatures could evolve. They may not be in immediate danger of being wiped out at the moment when almost every country has a military to support the masses.

But he saw how pathetic most places without a quick responding military were. In just one day, small cities were basically overrun and inhabited by the new mutated animals that were fighting for new territory.

States like New York almost had no chance when it came to some of their more cramped cities. New York may as well be considered ground zero for the evolved zombies.

But the god knew that humans would struggle, that's why he gave them the power to fight back. Humans have been in a place of peace for far too long that their instincts for survival were almost non-existent when compared to wild animals who were able to quickly adapt and the disparity was clearly proven before even twenty four hours of the change.

In the midst of his thoughts, he became distracted from Noah's plight and a gleam crossed his eyes. "The Fallen…I remember seeing that title a long time ago…I wonder if he'll survive long enough to meet him?

While God was observing everything, Noah's fight was slowly coming to an end, however both sides weren't looking good. The Zombie was taken to the ground after its legs were severed from being cut from the back of its knee which now made its leg a dangerous weapon. Noah had attempted to make his way towards its head after it fell. But before he could get across its body, a foot crashed into him, sending him flying meters back and even tumbling against the ground before flying in the air once more.

Thankfully he was still in his trance from his Killing Instinct skill. His body instinctively used his aura skill to try to stop the zombies attack even if it was just for a second. This prevented the zombie from fully stretching out its leg to increase the force even more.

Simultaneously his exchange skill was activated to replace the strength he usually gained and received Fenrir's constitution instead. And with the use of 'Unity through Pain', he proceeded to transfer ten percent of the damage to Fenrir who had an innate recovery.

The blow was enough to cripple him or even outright kill him if it wasn't for the actions he used in that brief moment.

Arachne was the only sensible one from his creatures and she wanted to make sure he was ok, but she had a bigger job to do. She began to jump at an even faster pace across the zombies legs to tie up its legs with her webs.

Slowly Noah picked himself up, but unlike the other times where his skill would cancel after he received a large stimulus, the skill was still in effect. Because of that, he began to make his way back into the battle disregarding his pain and the large bruise sketched across more than half his face.

The entire time this was occurring, Fenrir had gone into a craze and hacked away at the zombies head with its two claws. He had learned from before, but whenever he saw the hands of the zombie approaching, he would retreat and then re-engage when he saw Arachne getting its attention again instead of receiving attacks like it used to.

The constant damage was piling up. Scratches were first seen that slowly were bleeding out, but by the time Noah arrived again, the sight of its skull could be distinguished from the blood and even that had developed cracks that began to leak a liquid different from the blood it has been leaking so far.

The skull's appearance appeared as if just the slightest touch would cause the cracks forming to give in, but the skull was far from being brittle. It needed a strong blow to finish the job.

The zombie seemed to grow aware of its death. Its legs were now firmly trapped to the ground. It may have formed conscious thought, but it was too early to make logical decisions. Since its targets were always near it, it never bothered to reposition itself which made it simple and relatively easy for Arachne to build multiple layers of webs across its legs.

But the zombie still had its arms. It no longer divided its attention towards Arachne and Fenrir and only focused on the wolf that generated the most danger. It began to swing haphazardly towards Fenrir, the thought never occurred to it to just cover its head.

Noah arrived with Fenrir and was still in his bloodthirsty mindset. Without any regard for the danger, he tried to approach the zombies head, but immediately had to retreat from its clutches.

Soft growls could be heard coming from Noah as he was growing irrational from not being able to reach its target. The fight had almost come to a standstill, Arachne began to grow frustrated with herself because she didn't know how else to contribute to the fight. She had realized that Noah and Fenrir's goal was the zombie's head so she tried to find a way to help in that regard.

Her eyes observed everything in the vicinity, she was growing frustrated while Noah and Fenrir re-attempted to reach the zombies brain, striking at the zombies hands as they were forced to retreat again. That's when she realized that the answer was in front of her all along.

She immediately put her plan into action, she vaulted onto the zombies face without hesitation, avoiding the zombies mouth that should be called a death trap and landed where the zombies eyes would've been located.

This greatly distracted the zombie, its arm froze from reaching for the threats from early while its simple brain tried to register who to go far.

Noah and Fenrir constantly were trying to find a way to breach through the zombies defenses, so when they saw the zombie freeze, they instantly charged again with reckless abandon.

The zombie didn't understand Arachne's purpose, but it has yet to feel any threat from her so it was about to re-engage with the two from earlier who were almost upon it.

"?"

The zombie became confused when its head was forcefully lifted from the ground as if it was yanked. The thought of addressing Noah and Fenrir was no longer on its mind

Arachne had used her webs and attached it to the zombie's face. When she felt the webs were secure enough, she applied more force to her legs than ever before and launched herself towards the nearby building, tugging the zombies head along with her.

In the process of her jump, one of her back legs snapped from the overloaded pressure that was built up into her legs, but she wasn't done. With the use of her webs attached to the zombies face, she exploded from the building while pulling herself at the same time. Both actions occurred while the zombie was still in the motion of its head being lifted into the air.

Boom!

Impacting its entire body and a force that was at least twice as strong from the last time it charged into the zombies face. The zombie's head snapped once again, but unfortunately for it, the blow was more than what its cracked skull could handle.

If a small quake was generated from when the zombie attacked the ground with its hands. Then the impact now was enough to destabilize and trip over the average person from more than ten meters away.

The zombie died as soon as it collided into the ground, but Noah and Fenrir weren't aware of that. In the current moment, they were both instinctual beasts who wanted nothing more than to release their frustrations on their foe.

....

A/N: it's a little longer than usual, but that's because I didn't want to prolong the fight more than I believe I should.