Becoming a Monster

Chapter 514: Chapter 513: Piquing the Devil’s Interest

Pandora didn’t care for the way the outsider looked at her, because what held her attention was the meaning behind her words.

Why would someone like her say she would help?

The thought lingered as Pandora observed her more closely, with a quiet curiosity that she hadn’t felt toward an outsider before.

There was nothing about her existence that required help when she had Noah, so the idea that she needed help felt misplaced.

So what exactly did the outsider believe she was seeing? Was she implying that she was going to help her understand more about what she was?

Pandora’s form flickered as that thought persisted, but then her illusory body turned toward the direction of the gate as her attention was drawn away.

Gwen followed the movement instinctively, her gaze snapping in the same direction as she tried to understand what had caused the change.

Through the trees, figures began to emerge as they stepped into view, and at the front of them was Noah.

Seeing them return made Gwen’s face grow pale.

She hadn’t forgotten about her comrades, but she didn’t dare to acknowledge the fate that they had placed themselves in.

Her gaze moved over each figure, searching, not only holding onto the faint hope that they had been spared, but also preparing herself to confirm what she already feared.

That confirmation came immediately when she caught sight of the bodies being carried by the spiders.

Her eyes moved from one corpse to the next, forcing herself to recognize each one, until she realized that not all of them were there.

Her two comrades were among the ones missing.

The depths of her despair grew increasingly fragile, making her chest tighten as her thoughts struggled to keep pace with what she was seeing.

Her connections with her partners were deep.

Everyone in their party, even those who hadn’t been present, came from circumstances where they had been treated as outsiders, cast aside, or never truly accepted by their own people, and through that, they had formed something that went beyond simple companionship.

They had become a family.

At least, that was how Gwen had always seen it.

To her, who had already lived for over a century and had chosen to walk a path centered on understanding the world and guiding others toward a life that cherished it, they were more than allies.

She cared for them as an older sister would for those placed under her care, and seeing what remained of them now forced that part of her to face something she had tried to avoid since the moment she woke.

But as depressing as reality was, she couldn’t bring herself to hate Noah or the others for what they had done.

All beings of nature had a right to defend themselves.

It was just unfair to her and the ones who had to lose their lives that they had to lose because of someone who didn’t deserve it.

She tried to hold onto the hope that the bodies that were missing had found a way to escape. Even then, she continued to scan the figures as they continued to come through, and towards the end, it was then that her eyes lit up.

Just around the same time, she saw Varkesh, he had noticed her as well.

—

Noah didn’t particularly react to their emotions, and he didn’t allow for the two to meet each other.

Call it cruel, but he had already decided that the two would never see each other again. There was no value in allowing them to complicate that decision with something as unnecessary as a reunion. At least not yet.

"Pandora?" Noah noticed that Pandora had revealed her illusion form to the elf, something that he wasn’t expecting at all.

For a brief moment, he considered that it might have been something tied to the elf’s race, that their connection to nature had built a certain level of familiarity that made Pandora more willing to show herself.

Even as he reached out through their connection, he could feel a trace of curiosity coming from her that seemed to support that assumption.

But the moment he spoke, the elf’s reaction changed, and the way she looked at him made it clear that there was something else at play.

It wasn’t her identity that caused it.

She had done something.

Noah’s gaze remained forward as Pandora’s form shifted, materializing inches from his face without hesitation, her presence close enough that anyone else would have stepped back on instinct.

Personal space was never something she understood, no matter how many times the others had complained about it, and yet it had never mattered to him.

He met her gaze without reacting, waiting, because whatever had drawn her attention this strongly wasn’t something she would leave unspoken for long.

"She... said she would help... me." She explained with fewer pauses in between than she normally did. The days she spent awkwardly watching everyone in detail was slowly improving her communication skills. It wouldn’t be long before she could perform seamless speeches.

Her words were clear, and yet it made Noah inwardly frown as his eyes darted to the elf who couldn’t stop herself from shrieking in response.

It was unclear before since Noah was actively maintaining his aura. But under his undisguised glare, Gwen became fearful. Visibly, he had barely changed, and yet Gwen was seeing him as a different creature altogether.

Her fear didn’t come from his strength. It came from what he was.

His existence itself had changed since the last time she saw him, and no matter how she tried to reason through it, it didn’t make sense.

It shouldn’t have been possible.

And the more she looked at him, the more certain she became that he was the reason behind the dryad’s state.

That certainty pressed against her fear.

Because Dryads were no ordinary beings.

They were believed to be born from the World Tree itself, their existence tied directly to the balance of life. In order for the world to become pure again, to awaken the world seed, more dryads would have to be created to help purify nature.

To her, a dryad’s life held a weight that went beyond her own. That was what gave her the courage to speak out against an existence like Noah’s.

"I-I... I only... spoke for what was b-best for her..."

Her voice trembled, breaking over itself as she forced the words out, her fear still present but no longer enough to silence her.

"She’s... she’s becoming corrupted... and the more she g-goes against her existence... she’ll... she’ll only lose herself..."

She swallowed, forcing herself to continue even as her body resisted.

"U-until she becomes something that... that only knows how to d-drain the life from everything around her... until there’s nothing l-left..."

Her gaze didn’t leave him, even as her voice faltered.

"I-if you c-care about her at all... then you have to let me help her..."

Noah didn’t interrupt her. He was just as curious about what her goal was as Pandora.

’Corruption,’ Noah thought to himself, his thoughts going back to what he understood.

As he thought about it, the only thing he could think of was a tree aligning to evil, becoming subject to it to the point that it continues to do evil deeds without conscious thought.

Or a tree that had been tainted, its mana no longer its own, spreading that distortion outward until everything around it withered in response.

Both of which Noah found appalling. But even then, the two scenarios didn’t fit Pandora at all. She cared about the forest more than he did.

"How would you help her?"

Instead of correcting her, Noah was curious about what she had planned to do. It was more of satisfying his own knowledge and a bit of gaining information about the elves’ intentions.

If her intentions were satisfactory, then he wouldn’t wait to have the two make a choice; he would choose for them.

Gwen hesitated slightly at the question, but she didn’t look away.

"I-I can’t... return her to what she was..." she admitted, her voice still unsteady. "Not if she’s already crossed that line..."

She swallowed, forcing herself to continue.

"But I can help her understand what’s happening to her... help her separate herself from the source of the corruption before it takes everything that she is..."

Her gaze shifted briefly toward Pandora before returning to Noah.

"I can stabilize her mana... guide it so that it doesn’t spiral further so she doesn’t lose control of it. And then teach her the laws of her kind so she doesn’t lose control of herself."

There was a slight change in Noah’s eyes at that. His gaze remained on her, not with disbelief, but with a quiet scrutiny as he considered what she had said, not for whether it was right or wrong, but for what it meant.

Her understanding of Pandora was flawed.

But the knowledge she held wasn’t.

He felt that this would be something that Pandora could benefit from greatly in the future, because just like any other creature, to ascend beyond their given nature, they had to do more than simply grow stronger, passing the limits of their body and spirit.

They had to understand their own existence.

And then redefine it.