Becoming a Monster

Chapter 428: Chapter 428: Thank You for Your Sacrifice

With Noah and Ailettas’ arrival, the battlefield’s atmosphere changed.

The enemy was now more on guard than before, their leader now feeling more pressured than at any other moment since the start of the fight.

They have heard that the drake was sharing its territory with another strong enemy, but they have never encountered the new enemy until now. If the enemy were here, what did that mean for the opposition that was supposed to be fighting it?

The lizardman instantly became uneasy. Unlike the other two factions, this lizard had more to lose than the others. Even if it failed the mission, it would rather return with most of its troops than lose even more.

With the new enemy constantly pressuring them on the other side of the mountain, they couldn’t afford to lose too many of their elites.

So, instead of waiting to see what the new unknown enemy would do, it ignored its pride and ordered a quick retreat.

Its troops didn’t hesitate at the order. They were either perfect soldiers or they, too, desperately wanted to get out of there.

Meanwhile, the drake also wasn’t happy about Noah’s presence. Its face stared straight ahead, its expression completely focused as it tried its best to appear preoccupied with the fight so it could ignore Noah.

There was no way that it could feel great about seeing him, even if it needed his help, but just thinking about the power Noah wielded right now was making the drake angry.

How could it not sense the exaggerated eruption of his aura from earlier? Noah had gotten so much stronger after tricking him out of his good genes, and what did it get? It had to fight with a barely healed wound that was caused by the very person who tricked it!

The drake’s mind was already made up; it was going to ignore the demon- No... the drake had to correct itself. It finally understood what Noah truly was.

As it watched Noah stand there, unbothered by the burning forest or the lizardmen, its assertion settled into place.

Every time it made a deal with him, it had always suffered in the end, and yet the deals were always so tempting.

Noah was the Devil, it heard the humans denounced him so vehemently. The Devil had never forced its hand, and... as much as the drake hated to admit, the Devil had never truly gone against their deals. But it was exactly this reason why he couldn’t be anything else. What other creature, what other monster could be so despicable and so maliciously cunning?

And now, he stood next to it, watching the forest in his own territory burning, the enemy directly in front of him, and he used that moment to attack its pride even further?

The drake wanted to curse, to burn him to cinders, yelling, "Whose the chicken now!?" But it didn’t. As much as it loathed the Devil’s presence, the very things that it hated about the Devil were also the traits that it respected the most.

Because... deep down, it envied him.

Since it couldn’t get itself to attack, it snorted in frustration. "If ’someone’ would’ve properly healed me, maybe this wouldn’t have happened."

The glare it gave Noah was filled with a beckoning taunt screaming, "Come on! Explain yourself!"

But the answer it received was even worse than what it had expected before. It had anticipated Noah’s thick skin to reply with something just as despicable as before. Something that itself could ’learn from’ so it could be used in the future.

It was ignored!

"You want the one in the middle, don’t you?" Noah and Ailetta were discussing with each other.

Out of all the lizards, the leader caught Noah’s eye. Not because of its strength, but because of the unique ability it had.

Devourhide

The ability to create armor as another layer of skin, created from the material it consumes. The skill wasn’t just as simple as the name implied. As long as the creature continued to absorb strong materials, the armor would continue to get stronger and could be repaired after consuming more.

He wasn’t quite sure who to give the ability to at the moment. He just knew that he wanted it. Slowly, his mind was becoming that of a collector.

"Help me get it." Noah’s thoughts were elsewhere as he spoke. Behind him, the wings that he didn’t plan to use so soon had quickly re-emerged from his back.

Both wings brimmed with energy, each one larger than his body. With one slight flap, his body rose into the air, a small gust pressed into the ground, and with enough flap of his wings, he burst forward.

Although his reply wasn’t a direct answer, it was enough for Ailetta.

Tens of smaller slimes, mixed with five giant ones, were released from her body. Each one immediately raced to besiege the target. Ailetta’s goal wasn’t to defeat the enemy at all. She just had to be a nuisance. Noah would do the rest.

The drake found itself merely watching Noah act alone. The confidence Noah radiated made the drake even more envious. And seeing the very wings that it desired in action gave way to an unsettling feeling in its gut.

Its envy bordered on pure jealousy. The feeling to fly, to dominate the air, to feel one step closer to being like its ancestors.

What it wouldn’t give to be in Noah’s place right now.

But it couldn’t sit there watching. It needed to rush in with him; otherwise, after all was said and done, he would be barraged by another wave of insults.

Yet, the moment it began to move, it stopped itself. Not because it wasn’t scary, but because it started to overthink. If rushed out now, the Devil would insult it even more. He would absolutely say that it had rushed into battle because he rushed in first, that in the end, it was still a chicken that couldn’t do anything by itself.

"Urrggh!" It couldn’t contain its frustration as it released a jet of flames into the air.

Noah didn’t pay attention to the drake’s tantrums. His body quickly zoomed towards the grouped enemy. His speed was fast, so fast that he wasn’t able to stabilize a Manabolt, so he opted to fight in close range.

The lizardmen he was chasing were also fast. Despite not being natives of the forest, they moved as if they could navigate it blindfolded. Trees, roots, and thick undergrowth failed to slow them in the slightest.

Without the wings, Noah would’ve found it almost impossible to catch up to them. Yet even with his wings, he began to feel that he wouldn’t catch their leader.

It wasn’t that the leader was faster. It was that Noah wasn’t precise enough.

The wide span of his wings forced constant adjustments. Each sharp turn demanded overcorrection. Every near miss with a tree shaved off speed, slowing his momentum in ways the lizardman didn’t have to account for.

It was a miscalculation on his part, mainly because when he first gained the wings, they had felt like a complete extension of himself.

But that was ignoring the fact that just because he could move it subconsciously, it didn’t mean he could move it perfectly. A human with legs couldn’t perform a backflip without practice, and here he was trying to fly with near perfection, with numerous obstacles in his way.

The realization didn’t make him give up. He was already determined to practice flying when he had the chance. However, he would have to give up on the leader.

His eyes focused on one of the two stragglers. A buffed lizard whose muscles were over exaggerated. If he couldn’t get the lizard’s ability, then he would instead replace it with another.

Reactive Plating

The skill allowed the user to adapt to any repeated attack. After being struck by an attack, for a set amount of time, the armor would stack resistances against that attack.

As soon as he made up his mind, he swooped over immediately.

The massive lizardmen could sense danger bearing down on it. It knew it couldn’t get away.

It continued to run for a little bit longer, waiting until the last second. The moment it felt the enemy upon it, it suddenly lurched backwards with a spinning back fist, hoping to destroy the target with one hit.

From the corner of its eye, it could tell that the enemy wouldn’t be able to avoid its fist. It didn’t get overconfident, but it believed that it would still deal serious damage.

The attack landed!

Or so it thought. When the attack was going to connect, it phased right though the enemy instead.

Its eyes widen from disbelief. It didn’t have time to understand what happened when a large shadow swelled over from behind.

It swiftly attempted to turn around to attack the enemy again. Only to meet a giant wall of darkness blanketing its surroundings.

With the ability to become resistant to repetitive attacks, he resorted to not attacking the creature at all. Slime covered every angle, and more slime continued to funnel into it.

Its giant mass now resembled one of Noah’s golems. Yet this golem continued to silently scream, tearing at the slime tightly formed on its face.

The lizardmen’s leader turned back, witnessing its plight.

In the end, it could only remember its sacrifice as it encouraged the others to continue.