Becoming a Monster

Chapter 484: Chapter 483: Ritual Cut Short

A chill ran through her. It was a chill that another would have in particular. It wasn’t a feeling that she sensed, but a perceived danger, a danger that didn’t come from instinct alone. It came from her innate skill, one that served as a warning of danger, threatening her hierarchy, her life, or the life of the one she valued most.

She turned toward the source.

The priest stood, hands clasped in prayer. Her lips moved rapidly as she spoke words too fast to follow.

The words themselves meant nothing to Arachne, because the act alone was enough for her to understand. The moment she recognized what the priest was doing, a single thought took hold. This was another summoning.

She couldn’t allow it to happen, especially this one.

If the archon was this strong, yet was incapable of triggering her ability, then how strong would this one be? That alone told her something important.

Whatever the priest was calling now would be something worse.

Arachne didn’t think about it anymore.

Her body surged forward as she forced the blood through her legs, reinforcing it with mana, pushing them to their absolute limit as the ground beneath her fractured from the force of her acceleration. As she closed the distance, two of her legs snapped forward, firing thick strands of webbing aimed directly at the priest’s face.

The priest stood at the center of her prayer, calling out to the heavens to hear her plea. She offered her body and her soul, asking for the divine to descend through her, to use her as a vessel to cleanse the evil before them.

She wasn’t willing to do this before. What she was about to do was different from a cleric’s role. For her, she would literally have to sacrifice her body and soul.

But with everyone’s life in peril, there wasn’t much hope that they were going to survive anyway. So she was willing to do so without hesitation, ready to give her life in exchange for God to send one of his followers to kill the evil creatures and save the rest.

A faint shimmer of ethereal light began to rise from her body, drifting upward past the trees and into the sky as her presence grew brighter with each passing moment.

The ritual was close to being finished. Her words were close to establishing herself as the anchor to heaven.

That was when the webs struck.

They covered her eyes, her mouth, and half of her nose in an instant.

The aura around her reacted immediately, the holy energy working to erase the foreign substance, but Arachne’s webs did not dissolve so easily. They were thicker, denser, and infused with her mana, carrying a trace of miasma that fought against the purification.

Pain spread across every part of her face that was covered in webs.

Her scream never fully formed, muffled beneath the webbing as her hands trembled and flickered with light while she struggled to gather enough focus to burn it away.

She just had to bear the pain so she could focus. As long as she could, she would purify the corroding energy.

But a presence appeared right in front of her. She didn’t see it; the unpleasant aura radiating from Arachne was enough.

Before she could react, four limbs pierced through her body, striking in different locations as her form was lifted into the air. The pain intensified instantly, matching the searing sensation across her face as her concentration slipped completely.

Her only hope was to continue the prayer. Although her mouth was forcibly shut, God would still be able to hear her.

Ophelia’s mind clung to the final words of her prayer, hoping to complete the offering before it was too late.

In the end, she never finished.

Arachne ripped through her chest, tearing apart her heart to retrieve her core.

She died instantly.

Unlike the others, Arachne could not hold onto this one for long. The moment it rested in her grasp, thick smoke began to rise from her hand as the energy within resisted her. It was far more potent than the holy field, and even she could not hold it any longer.

She was forced to drop it. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on checking if the danger she had felt before was still present. Her awareness spread outward as she tracked the lingering light that had pierced the sky, watching for any sign that something had followed it.

Nothing came. The presence was gone, and the danger she had sensed had disappeared with it.

Only then did her attention shift.

Her gaze moved across the battlefield and settled on her subordinates as she assessed the results of their actions rather than their condition.

There was no concern in her expression, because to her, the outcome mattered more than the state of any individual. If her soldiers couldn’t gain good results, then she would have to exert herself to make better ones.

This was not cruelty, but order.

Her subordinates did not expect reassurance or care, because they had been shaped to value the same things she did. Strength, efficiency, and the expansion of her domain mattered above all else, and within that structure, their purpose was clear.

She noted the result without pause as one human had fallen while the other remained, and although Ryder looked toward her as if the world had crumbled before him, his state held no importance in her evaluation.

Her focus shifted to Noah, and the moment she felt his presence again, everything else lost its relevance. She moved immediately, closing the distance as the battlefield ahead of her aligned with the moment his fight began to turn.

——

Noah had just shoved Ava out of the way, prepared to take a possible direct attack.

With his back turned to the archon, he was not left defenseless because his appendages reacted on their own and shot outward to intercept the incoming strike.

And as the archon turned with its sword once again, prepping to deal with Ava, Noah was forced to move in the way, taking the strike across his back while simultaneously brutally driving his arm outward to shove Eve away.

The blade struck him while managing to carve into his armor, leaving a long gash across his back. Noah’s appendages prevented the strike from penetrating it fully.

But that didn’t matter; his armor was formed from his slime and, in essence, himself. The moment the holy energy made contact, it began to spread, attempting to purify everything it touched.

Despite the setback, Noah didn’t slow down. He quickly recovered, forcing more mana into the damaged area, saturating it with miasma to counteract the intrusion as he continued to move. He refused to give the archon any space to press the advantage.

The clash resumed. Noah pressed forward more aggressively. When he felt the moment was right, an illusion formed on the archon’s side, placing it close enough to be noticed as it mirrored his movement and threatened to strike.

At the same time, his spider-like limbs lashed forward in unison, each one reinforced with miasma to ensure the damage would do more than simply wound.

And yet, the archon responded unhesitantly. It formed a barrier again in front of it, smaller and more focused than before, intercepting the majority of strikes from Noah’s appendages, while its body shifted back just enough to avoid the others that carried real intent.

The illusion was ignored entirely. Noah couldn’t tell if the entity was able to see through it or if it had a sixth sense for danger. Regardless, his illusions wouldn’t be useful in this fight.

The fight was only proving to be more annoying with every exchange. Noah could tell that he was stronger and faster, yet he was not overwhelming it.

The battle was becoming more of a battle of endurance, in which there was no clear indication of which of them would outlast the other if it continued like this.

Noah’s expression darkened at the thought. He didn’t enjoy fights like this. If the opponent wanted to act like a turtle, then he would go after the one who brought it here.

His approach to the fight instantly shifted as he no longer intended to fight the "proper" way.

Through his Nexus Eye, he could already see the bridge of mana connecting the archon to the cleric.

Earlier, he had noticed Arachne attacked the conjured shield, failing to break through it even though she too had miasmic properties in her mana.

Noah wasn’t sure if the shield was simply that powerful or if there was another mechanic behind it. But he would try anyway. The power and mana behind his attack should be much more potent than hers.

There was no need to overthink it.

Because the answer would reveal itself the moment he forced the interaction.

From Noah’s figure, a tendril extended from his body that began to gather mana of its own. The mana circulated to create a manasphere, with the intention of launching it towards the cleric.

He could still fight while the tendril acted in tandem; however, he also decided to create distance to force the entity into an ultimatum. His open hand, meanwhile, lifted toward the archon as if preparing another direct attack, drawing its attention away from what he truly intended.