ã€ŠBecoming a Monsterã€‹


 Chapter 1 1: The Merge

    "Sigh...." a lone individual was standing in the void with stars littered in the background. In front of him was a portal that resembled a ck hole but instead of pitch darkness, there was a that resembled earth, yet this earth was strange. The earth he was looking towards hadyers of different earths stacked upon the original.

    "I wanted to give humans a chance...I didn''t think they would damage their own home to such an extent!! At this rate, I''ll have tobine all the realms into one again. Still I must take responsibility for leaving earth''s main core to humans, I thought they would have the least potential to endanger it, considering the nature of the beings in the other realms..." The lone figuremented at making the tough decision.

    "Still, all life should have an equal chance to live, humans would be extinct if they were to live in the same space as the other realms beings. I''ll give them a chance to pave their own path at least." Finally making up his mind, he began to put his thoughts into action.

    Present day earth

    A young man was getting out of bed, a groan escaping his lips as he did so. He looked down towards his bruised ribs, he didn''t wear a shirt and he forgot to bandage itst night because he was too tired. If you take a closer inspection you would notice bruising spread throughout his body with some light cuts on his face. He shifted out of bed to get a shirt before his roommates woke up, but it seemed fate just wasn''t on his side. He saw two figures getting out of bed, but he couldn''t spot the third, who wasn''t in bed at the time.

    "Mhm?" Noah I see you''re up¡­what? Did you get into another gang fight? Haha!" The third roommate arrived from the bathroom while he attempted to make fun of the bruised Noah.

    Right now Noah was living in a dormitory with three other students. The term friends or even roommates couldn''t be the best choice of words to use to describe the three students in Noah''s case. To him, they were just a waste of air and an annoyance that wouldn''t let him be.

    There was Dom who Noah considered a pig, he had a heavier build than most in the school and was proud of it but was also a huge suck up. Then there was Jarred, he would be what Noah would consider theckey of the three. He was of smaller height and would usually run the errands of the other two students and somehow always knew the gossip going around the school. Andstly, was Logan, who had the young master vibe going for him but when it came to the actual higher ss students he became meek.

    If it wasn''t for his ''parents'' forcing him to go to this crappy prestigious college where everyone had a sense of superiority then he would have never taken a step within its vicinity.

    But growing up with ''rich'' parents who only cared about their prestige wasn''t the best thing that could happen to little Noah. It all started when he was younger. His parents were wealthy, as wealthy if not wealthier than most in their circle of cliques. But one day that all changed when they lost a part of their wealth through their business. The loss wasn''t enough to change their rich status but because the parents didn''t want to change their lifestyle to allow themselves to lose face to the other wealthy families they continued to spend their wealth as if nothing changed.

    It didn''t take long until they started to secretly take out loans and enter into debt slowly yet surely, yet the more they lost themselves in their delusions, the worse it became for Noah. They stopped seeing him as their son and only saw him now as an investment that they could cash in after he was older.

    Forced to go above and beyond those in his grade and to have a proper image to the public, his freedom was stripped away from him. They instilled in him early that his life is not his own, all the while not caring about his mental care. Forced to be someone he wasn''t in public and also when his parents were around, slowly caused him to have an identity crisis. He was now considered too weird to have friends and he wasn''t allowed to do anything that his parents determined as ''fun'' since it could distract him from their goals.

    This went on for years, that was until a certain event took ce, causing his personality to take an extreme shift. During this time, he still went to a prestigious private school that included the sons and daughters of the rest of the wealthy circle his parents were a part of. Growing up having always been outcasted, he was then greeted by the school''s number one beauty. Reluctant at first as to why she would talk to him, he tried to stay distant from her. It was only after a few weeks of her constantly trying to interact with him that he started to let his guard down. Why wouldn''t he? He always longed for some kind of pure social interaction.

    Before he knew it, he was falling for her, the only person who treated him as if he wasn''t a tool. It was until one day when he finally worked up the courage to ask her out that he realized that everything was a lie. Apparently they had a bet that involved the students in his ss for how long it would take for him to fall for her. The truth crushed him and most importantly, it broke him. He didn''t feel despair nor was he upset, but tears ran down his face regardless, and while that happened¡­he smiled.

    Maybe the thought of not having to worry anymore if he was dreaming caused him to smile or maybe his emotions were confused after the constant years of faking who he was. Ever since being turned down tragically and publicly, he became theughing stock of all the kids his age and then even the parents got involved.

    This dealt a shameful blow to his parents who valued face more than familial love. Since then he''s been ignored if not being insulted by them or beaten if he still didn''t get good grades which was thest thing keeping them from disowning him. Four extra years is how long he had to deal with the istion, abuse and loneliness. Ever since then he gave up on trying to find a ce to belong, as long as his future involves other people then he will never obtain meaning in this life.

    Instead he immersed himself into reading fantasy stories of reincarnating or transmigration, imagining that he too would be lucky enough to leave this world. He thought about suicide everyday but with how unlucky his life has been so far, he was afraid that his luck would even follow him after death and he would just reincarnate here and suffer again. At least now he could have some fulfillment of being able to escape reality in books.

    It was until he became the age of 18 that they gave him the decision to go to one of the best schools in the nation known as Pelown University. It was either that or they really would disown him and leave him homeless.

    Realizing that he wasn''t given much an option, he decided to go to the university, but it soon became a prison for him. The school''s beauty from young as well as the other rich children from his childhood were there. Why wouldn''t they be when it''s considered the best college to attend? It would not only help secure them a more sessful future but it will also gain them and their family prestige. Most of them obviously bought their way, but ever since they became aware of Noah they never let him live in peace.

    At least once a week he would get jumped by ''gangs'' of people who wore masks and it always happened when he would go out from his dorm. In the back of his mind, he was aware that it was the three wastes of air living with him that were selling him out, more specifically the one named Logan who seemed to be more familiar with the wealthier cliques.

    He used to be beaten everyday, he realized that he couldn''t leave his dorm except for ss and he didn''t want to stay in his room. He started spending most of his time reading in themon area and when he wanted to release his frustrations, he stayed in the gym.

    Life like this went on for the remaining years of his college life. Today like any other day was no different, he was beat up again the night before. Unlike the gangs that beat him up in the beginning, the gangs now looked more like hired thugs since the groups from before could no longer easily gang up on Noah who appeared to have a couple of screws loose whenever they ganged up on him.

    ¡ª¡ª-<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ignoring the empty words of ridicule, Noah still wore a shirt over himself while making a painful expression as he did so. He mentally prepared himself for another round of endless ridicule before a voice that would be a nightmare for others, but be Noah''s salvation voiced across the room, but in Noah''s opinion, it appeared that it sounded more like it was in his mind.

    "LOWLY HUMANS, LISTEN WELL!! YOU WERE GIVING A CHANCE TO LIVE A LIFE OF PEACE AND SUPERIORITY BUT NOW THAT LIFE IS OVER. JUST LIKE THE PAST OF HUMANS WHERE YOU LIVED IN BALANCE IN NATURE AS BOTH PREDATORS AND PREY, YOU''LL HAVE TO EXPERIENCE IT ONCE AGAIN BUT THIS TIME YOU''RE ON THE LOSING END. SHOW ME THAT YOU DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE OR DIE IN REGRET KNOWING THAT YOUR LIFE MEANT NOTHING!"

    As quickly as the voice came, it appeared to end just as fast. Everyone across the world including Noah wanted to decipher what he meant, but after the voice spoke, everything became dark.

    Out of the darkness Noah could spot a bright light just ahead of him out of the empty space. Within that light stood a hologram of himself staring back at him. The replica was so lifelike and identical to him that he believed the body would soon move on its own as he took a better look at ''himself''.

    His avatar had an above average face, with short messy jet ck hair that had a few wild bangs that went past his forehead. Adorned with thin lips and a straight, delicate nose and sharp facial features, his face could stand out from a crowd but it was more of his temperament than his only slightly higher attractiveness. Even though his face was slightly appealing, his lifeless hazel-like eyes would cause many to distance themselves from him. His eyes, no matter what emotion he showed, would always show the same dull expression.

    Other than his face, he possessed a well developed body from the few years of working out, but he only used working out as more of a stress reliever than a passion. Therefore his body was lean with not a lot of muscle mass but his muscles could still be considered defined.

    During his observation of his avatar, he was soon interrupted by a mechanical voice he wasn''t expecting.

    "Greetings yer! You will be guided on your first step of obtaining power. Here you will choose what route you would like to develop your power, otherwise known as your characters ''ss''. You will then choose one beginner ss skill besides the one thates with choosing your ss! You may begin!

    "This is it! This is it!" Noah screamed out like a little kid going on a field trip. He''s read many fantasy novels that dealt with transmigrating, reincarnation and the apocalypse that the situation right now felt heaven sent. "Ahh I have to be smart...Protagonists are only in books, it''ll be sad if I was one of those people that died in the prologue!" Surely if any of the more emotionally affected people were to hear him, they would all try to beat him to death thinking ''if you want to die, go die on your own!''

    Going to his avatar, not sure how he was supposed to get started, information began to appear in his mind. He first saw options and descriptions of sses.

    Knight-known for fighting up close and personal, experienced with many weapons but most efficient with the sword. Best attributes ''all rounded''

    Rouge-good at hit and run tactics, efficient with daggers, throwing items and short swords. Best attributes: strength, agility, spirit

    Apprentice mage-specializes in long range skills and various types of magic. Best attributes: Magic and spirit

    There were a lot of sses to choose from, but Noah only searched for a specific type of ss. Out of all of the novels he read, there was only one type of role that suited him the most and that was being able to have contracted/bonded monsters. Looking through the list he found two sses that suited what he was looking for, since he was more interested in these sses he focused on them more, giving him more information.

    Arcanist-Uses mana to summon low tier monsters to fight or support. Summons can only be summoned for short periods of time. Summons are set to a fixed strength and will be stronger andst longer with ss level and do not share experience with summoners. Can obtain stronger summons of different varieties as spirit increases. Best attributes: spirit; +1 magic and spirit per level.

    Monster tamer-fight alongside tamed beast/monster. Tamer uses skill to supply buffs to the monster and help their monsters be stronger. Monsters and tamers share experience while monsters have their own level system. Since monster and tamer share a connection, the tamer will be penalized if said monster dies. The degree of penalty differs per situation. Best attributes: constitution, agility and spirit. +1 spirit and constitution per level.

    "Tsk" Noah clicked his tongue when he noticed the description of a summoner. "Aren''t summoners supposed to be able to summon permanent creatures! What the hell is this bullshit nerfing! So I''m basically left with only the tamer ss....there''s no way I''ll try to be a summoner, it''s too mana focused and to have job sses means there should also be monsters right? I may even die before I can perform a summon in the middle of battle. Besides! What I really want is apanion I can trust..." Noah''s eyes zed over thinking about the loneliness he''s suffered till now.

    Choosing Monster tamer, he received the ss passive ''monster taming(lvl1)'' that also had an added ability called ''soul cage lvl1''. Monster taming enables him to be able to tame monsters obviously, but it relies on the strength of his willpower to dominate over the monster he''s trying to tame and and the higher level it achieves, he can tame stronger monsters and provide benefits to them as well.

    The added addition of a soul cage allows the user to store his bonded creatures within his soul.

    "Well monster taming was kind of a given but soul cage is a nice unexpected bonus, now let''s see what skill I should learn!" Excited that he could possibly use magic, he excitedly looked over the skills he could learn but his smile soon turned into a frown. It''s not like the skills were bad because he learned from his passive skills that skills can level up. What made him frown was choosing.

    All if not most of the skills he could choose from were skills that only applied to his monster. There were a few others that differed that he took notice of, one active skill in particr caught his attention and that was the skill ''analyze''. With the skill, from what he could tell, he can check the best stats of monsters and their potential. He was very interested in this ability because he would have the potential to find the best monster to tame as his first, but there was two skills that he deemed more important at this moment.

    "Hmm ''lesser cure wounds''...It''s disappointing that I can''t heal myself but this is one of the best skills at the moment. What''s the point of getting the best monster if it still dies!? At least with this I still have a chance of getting a decent monster and I can keep it alive..."

 Chapter 2 2: Zombies?

    "Hmm ''lesser cure wounds lvl 0''...It''s disappointing that I can''t heal myself but this is one of the best skills at the moment. What''s the point of getting the best monster if it still dies!? At least with this I still have a chance of getting a decent monster and I can keep it alive..."

    Noah muttered to himself, but before he chose the skill he looked over thest one that caught his eye.

    Hunter''s sight(lvl 0) You notice little details and patterns that others may overlook, some of which may prove useful to you. Additionally, your eyesight is improved, especially in regards to your dynamic vision, allowing you to better track things in motion.

    ''Hmm¡­healing will help more when I have a creature but would I be able to get one early enough? Hunter''s sight seems to be the best skill to preserve the early game and maybe I can get the heal spellter. Early start it is! To be strong I must be able to survive first!''

    Before he could do anything else after choosing his ability, he was kicked out of the dark room and back in the dorm again. It didn''t take him long to realize that he never left.

    He quickly looked around his surroundings, more specifically to the waste of spacepanions in the room to understand the situation. He was still unsure if all he heard and went through was just him hallucinating. That was when he noticed the three were passed out as well, with one of the three would spasm from time to time.

    A smile soon hung on his face towards this view. ''So it wasn''t a dream!''  He yelled inwardly with excitement, he wanted to test out what he could do, even though obtaining the skill gave him certain knowledge of how to use it doesn''t mean he knows if it''ll work, but then he remembered an important detail.

    ''How can I tame a monster without the monsters damnit?! And where''s the stats? You can''t have a ss without also having stats right?''

    After all the stories he read, Noah felt it was only justified that they should be able to have some sort of stats panel in this situation. He furrowed his brows as he focused entirely on bringing up something that would be simr to a stats panel in a game.

    ''Wah!'' Noah eximed when he was bombarded by the information he was looking for.

    yer: Noah

    Race: Human(lower species)

    ss: Monster Tamer

    Lvl 1

    Exp: 0/25

    Health: 100%

    Stamina: 100%

    Mana: 10

    Attributes

    Strength:11

    Agility:13

    Constitution:14

    Stamina:12

    Magic: 5

    Spirit:38

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)

    Passive

    Soul cage(lvl 0)

    Hunters sight (lvl 0)<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah was shocked to see some of the high numbers but he wasn''t too shocked because he had nothing topare it with but he could always try to make his own deductions.

    "Normally in situations like this, the average stats would be ten so I would say my stats are a lot higher than what I expected them to be but the more I think about it the more it starts to make sense¡­

    Working out can exin my above normal strength and stamina and my agility can only be exined by my reflexes that have been put to the test a lot in my life, having to try to avoid a lot of the beatings I''ve received from being ganged up on. I guess that exins the constitution too...it''s sad to say but I''ve started to grow more resistant against being beaten so that I was no longer bedridden as much as I used to be...haaa..."

    Noah became a little disheartened, reminiscing about the multiple times he was ganged up on and at the same time he missed those times as well. Even though they were some of his most painful moments they were also the moments where he felt the most alive.

    The only stat he was confused about was magic and spirit, he didn''t know what it was or how it could be high, so he tried to focus on the two individual words, and just like he expected. Descriptions of the words appeared in his head.

    Magic determines the strength of your magical abilities as well as determines your mana capacity. It''s simr to strength but it is regarded only for magical abilities.

    Spirit involves will power, as well as yourprehension ability in advancing your skills. Having high spirit will empower your spells, no matter if they are attack, control or buff spells and it will lessen the potency of spells used against you or even negate some if not most control abilities.

    ''So spirit is really important! And yet mine is so high?....wait! Willpower! I''m not ignorant enough to not see that my life was hell, I wanted to give up everyday but I held on...that could be rted to willpower right? Ah, forget it! No matter, I''m content with my stats, this is my start at a better life...'' Noah began to burn with passion. He relished in the fact that at least his horrible life brought him some kind of benefit.

    Too bad he couldn''t stay joyful for too long, the other three bodies in the room had already begun to stir awake, at least that''s what Noah wanted to believe.

    Because of his passive hunter''s sight already taking into effect, he could pick up details that he otherwise would''ve looked over. Like how there was a hint of excitement in the eyes of the pig Dom who wasying in bed, the brief pain Logan was experiencing from most likely hitting his head when he passed out while still standing and then most importantly there was the weird actions of Jarred who no longer was twitching but his skin now seemed a little more paler than usual and he could spot abnormally ck veins on his neck as well.

    ''Fucking zombie?!'' Noah''s eye twitched at the sheer thought that someone could turn into a zombie without a source of contamination. Cold sweat briefly went down his back at the idea that he could''ve been Jarred and have been none the wiser.

    But then after thinking what this signified, he then sported a small grin on his face.

    ''If there''s zombies then that could only mean that this will be simr to an apocalypse!

    Noah''s thoughts then shifted to all of the fantasy stories he''s read so far that had simr situations to what was happening as he took the pleasure in the idea of fighting more and more monsters with his awesome powers and there was no one who would look at him condescendly again.

    While this was happening, Logan and Dom were going through a different experience.

    "What the hell was that? Ugh, Dom, did the same thing happen to you?" Logan asked while he slowly made his way to his bed as he caressed the front of his head that appeared bruised from his fall.

    "The same?" Oh! Do you mean you also were able to obtain a ss! I chose to be a knight! And I was able to get a skill too. Eh? So that wasn''t a dream?"

    ''Grrr''

    The two were contemting silently for a moment before they heard the soft growling from Jarred.

    "Jarred? What''s gotten into you? Ha! Don''t tell me you chose some kind of beast ss and forgot how to talk?"

    The overly social Dom got out of bed as he went over to check on his roommate. At this point no one cares about Noah''s situation. The three knew that it wouldn''t matter even if they tried to question him. They were on bad terms and Noah wouldn''t answer them. They knew that the three alone wouldn''t be able to force it out of him since even hired thugs had a hard time beating him. That''s why they would only ridicule him and never insult him since they were also afraid of hitting his bottom line.

    Noah soon came out of his stupor to watch the show he believed was going to happen but while doing so, he reached for his worn out bat that he ''borrowed'' from the baseball team soon to be scrapped bats. His curiosity of zombies and if the way they behaved like in his stories outweighed the little bit of humanity in him to care whether Dom died or not. He looked on intrigued at the thought that the apocalypse he has been wishing for all this time is finally happening.

    "WHAT THE FUC-AHHHH! G-GET OFFF MEEE!SO-sommm-gurgle*hel...."

    Noah didn''t have to wait long when he heard the scream of Dom resounding in the air as Dom leaned over Jared''s bed to check on him. It only took a moment for the zombie Jarred to pounce towards Dom''s face as if the smell of flesh enticed it to the point where it moved faster than a normal zombie in movies should.

    The quick movement of the zombie startled Dom and seeing Jarred going towards his face made him instinctively tilt his face away which only quickened his death because now his neck was easy pickings.

    The sound of biting into flesh and Dom screaming was all that could be heard until Logan''s terrified brain caught up to what was actually happening.

    "D-Dom¡­..Jarred¡­what the fu-WHAT THE FUCK!"

    When it seemed that Dom took hisst breath and his body went limp, took all of Logan''s hesitation out the window. He quickly jumped out of bed and ran out of the dorm room yelling for help.

    Just as quickly as he left the room, Noah, who was still able to enjoy what was happening, soon made a frown on his face when he heard noises out in the hallway. Hurriedly, he ran to the door to close but not before ncing out and witnessing the chaos that was ensuing. Just like Dom''s situation, there were also other students who couldn''t survive their first zombie attack. And just like Logan, there were many students that had the same idea to flee.

    If Noah had half a sane mind and fear of death as the others then maybe he would do the same but a huge part of him wanted to know. What happens if you kill a zombie?

 Chapter 3 3: First Achievement

    If Noah had half a sane mind and fear of death as the others then maybe he would do the same but a huge part of him wanted to know. What happens if you kill a zombie?

    "Grrwl"

    "So even now you guys don''t even finish your food? Tsk tsk I guess I do look like a better meal don''t I?" Noah talked to himself as he watched the zombie no longer pay attention to his first meal. It seemed that the more Noah confirmed that what was happening was real, the more he finally felt free and could let himself go.

    Whack*

    The crisp sound of his wooden bat hitting against the zombies skull echoed in the room. The force of the swing caused the zombie to fall back onto the bed but one blow doesn''t seem to be enough to finish the job.

    "Man that felt good! I''ve been wanting to do something like this to you three for the longest! Too bad Dom and Logan won''t be able t- wait a minute!" Noah almost smacked his head when he thought about one of the most important aspects of zombies. The ability to turn the infected and the dead into more zombies! He looked towards Dom who luckily was in the same position as the zombie but didn''t observe anything about him yet even with the low observation skill.

    ''Well let''s just finish you off little Jarred and then maybe Dom will be up for a little bit of fun as well.''

    Noah didn''t waste anymore time as he performed 3 overhead swings onto Jarrad''s skull while a small smile slowly formed on his face and grew the more he felt Jarred skulls being crushed under the weight of his bat. His face soon morphed into a full blown grin when he felt Jarred skull finally give way under his strikes.

    Part of Noah was disappointed that it ended so quickly but that disappointment quickly disappeared when he felt a slight pull that felt like it was tugging at the back of his mind. The feeling felt like having a memory that was on the tip of your tongue and would just take some effort to bring up, but he couldn''t be distracted, at least not now since he finally saw what he was waiting for.

    Dom''s ''dead'' body had finally moved!

    Whack!*

    Hahah! I knew you couldn''t resist sharing in the fun Dom but don''t worry I didn''t forget about you. Noah swung his bat again and again but this time he did so more fiercely. Not only did he aim for Dom''s head but because of the intensity of his swings he often missed and smashed the bat into his upper torso. He didn''t know how long he swung, Noah''s mind went nk due to his emotions boiling over. Dom was someone he despised more than Logan who he knew was the main one who told them about his whereabouts.

    Everyday he had to see that chubby face that would always smirk at him, truly irritating Noah. For such a suck up Dom seemed to always hold a look of superiority towards Noah even when Logan whom Dom constantly catered to looked at him with a tinge of fear.

    It took a few mins after Noah finished up with Dom for him to calm his nerves, it was then he looked up at what he''s done that he realized he messed up.

    "Fuck! What am I going to use now?" He swore towards himself when he noticed the condition of his bat, not bothering about the blood stters on the wall or on himself entirely. His bat was now entirely  broken in half, now that he was sure that zombies could infect others and turn them as well he really felt pressured since his half worn bat didn''t provide him withfort.

    He needed a n and he needed one soon, the voice said they could get stronger and he saw in his stats that he could level up so he impatiently wanted to find another weapon quickly so he can level up and get stronger.

    Remembering about his level made him want to check if he even received experience for killing the zombies but before he was able to check, the pull from before came again which made him a little annoyed since he had pressing matters going on right now but that didn''t stop him on focusing on that pull to try to find out what it is, he couldn''t risk that pull urring again doing a life threatening situation that''s when he heard the voice from earlier when he was able to choose his ss.

    [Due to achieving the feat of performing your first kill in the allotted time you are granted a skill out of three choices, choose wisely.]

    was all the voice said before a series of prompts appeared in his head. Noah wasn''t given the time to think before the choices appeared In his head simr to his stats panel.

    [Feat achieved of killing an enemy within the first 5 minutes, unlocked choices of three unique skills catering to the user.

    Lykins awakening- obtain the chance to be an alpha predator of the night. Journey to be a true werewolf, gaining unimaginable strength, speed and perceptual instincts when transforming to your primal form, but while also having more intense emotions. +1 constitution, +1 strength<novelnext></novelnext>

    Birth of the chimera- who you are, what will you be? None of that matters as a chimera. A monstrosity is the only suitable description, gaining the strength and weaknesses of whatever you''re brave enough to merge with. +1 magic, +1 constitution

    Call of the vampire- thirst for power, thirst for blood. Be an apex creature that has an insatiable greed, whether it''s to be the most charming or powerful, your pride is relentless and so is your will to dominate which grants the vampire incredible mind prowess. +1 agility, +1 spirit]

    Noah''s heart beat intensified uncontrobly when he saw the skill selections. These are the kind of skills protagonists would obtain on their start in his books but then he also remembered that this time others could also  achieve great skills as long as they achieved the feat. But Noah was fine with this as well, to be a protagonist meant that you had heavenly luck but at the same time trouble will always follow you.

    Before he made his decision, thest three words of the first sentence caught his attention, ''catering to the user''.

    "Does that mean everyone will have three different skills to choose from? And why did I get these three specifically? It''s like it''s forcing me to not be human?" Just the thought of being outcast for being something other than human made him hesitant about choosing but as quickly as he had the thought he quickly made a decision.

    "Hell! People treated me like I wasn''t a human to begin with so why am I hesitating? If I''m going to be a monster then I might as well be the best of them."

    [Choice of Birth of Chimera confirmed.]

    Just like before, Noah was thrown out from his mind space abruptly and was back in his dorm. It appeared that he was in the space for at least a few mins but with his observation skill yet again taking effect he noticed that the puddle of blood barely moved a few inches from its initial location.

    Noah wanted to observe the changes of his new skill but that''s when he felt it, the pain, the unimaginable pain. He was prepared for there to be a change in his physique but he wasn''t prepared for this. He felt his blood churning vigorously and was almost boiling inside him to the point that he felt he was being burned alive causing him to scream miserably.  He was used to pain because of all the beatings he''s had but this couldn''tpare. Part of him wished he wasn''t adapted to pain, maybe then he would have fainted already but he was still conscious while the pain only got worse. The blood became so hot that it was dissolving his muscles and then his bones slowly, somehow they were recovering just as fast not letting either gain the edge.

    The silver lining of all of this was that the students outside avoided his room in their attempt to escape, even Logan who had ran away earlier but came back after realizing that he left his phone and keys, ran away in fear to the miserable screams of Noah. Due to this he was able to avoid any mishaps of someone opening the door and letting in a zombie or even letting themselves in and they just happened to be infected.

    A little over ten minutes passed by, Noah was now on the ground lying in the puddle of blood from the zombies seemingly half dead. He was yet aware of it but as heid in the zombies blood his mouth hung open without his control while streams of blood would slip into his mouth while he breathed. If he was aware of what was urring then he would surely attempt to force himself to throw up but at this moment he relished the unknown liquid substance that soothed his throat from the drastic screaming he''s done.

    A few minutes went by since the changes stopped urring, maybe it was from the change in his body or his anxiousness that he wasn''t aware of how much time has passed but after finally gaining a sliver of consciousness, he tried to quickly stand which proved to be  a small challenge since his changed body wasn''t something he was used to.

    ''Ugh¡­these sses should at leaste with a warning attached, maybe the werewolf would''ve been a better idea? Heh, who am I kidding? A chimera sounds as messed up as I am.'' Noah talked to himself as he finally gained his bearings. He began to inspect himself to see if he could see any visible changes but that alone caused him to freeze with a tinge of fear. He was aware of the subtle sweet taste that lingered on his lips but so much had happened that he didn''t pay too much attention to it. Not until he saw the stains of blood covering himself.

    "Please tell me this blood is mine¡­." He pleaded softly after touching his face near his lips to find that half of his face was stered with blood. Hesitantly he looked towards the ground where he originallyid, his eyes first widened in horror but they then zed over in helplessness before he soon felt he was losing his sanity.

    "Hahahaaaa!" Heughed out loud at the depressing yetical sight. He realized that the blood he lied in the entire time and also the blood that he was drinking during his transformation was, ironically, the zombie''s blood of the ones he just killed.

    "Of course I would soon die just when I found something to live for!" He cursed his luck, he didn''t know if he should off himself now so he wouldn''t be a zombieter or should he let himself turn and let his zombie form go and infect other people out of pettiness.

    A few minutes went by as he wallowed in despair, the chaotic noises in the background didn''t phase him, why would he care if he was gonna die. He didn''t bother to continue inspecting himself but even if he did he wouldn''t be able to notice the only change that happened to be his eyes. His iris was now as ck as his pupil resembling a dark hole. Soon that annoying feeling came haunting him again, finally gaining his attention, that feeling as if something was tugging at the back of his mind.

    "That damn notification! Is it just gonna rub it in my face about being infected? Will it countdown my expiration date as well? Fuck!" He swore out loud with a tone that seemed as if he was on the verge of crying.

    ? Reluctantly he closed his eyes and brought up the notification.

    ''Yes! Fuck yes!'' He cried when he saw what the notification was informing him of.

 Chapter 4 4: Playing With Fire

    ''Yes! Fuck yes!'' He cried when he saw what the notification was informing him of.

    He probably would''ve broken out in a dance if he wasn''t in his mind space, not only did he find out he wasn''t going to die but he also benefited from his recent ''bad luck''.

    [Body has fully transitioned into that of a Chimera, skill ''gic synergy'' obtained.

    Gic Synergy- allows you to incorporate your gic makeup with another species gaining their strengths and sometimes their weaknesses.

    User has been contaminated by a corrupted substance. Due to ''birth of the chimera'' the user has now incorporated the corrupted blood and has now remodified his body traits.

    Additional skills and stats have been obtained as well as the new additional title of ''the fallen one''.

    Passive, stamina regeneration(lv1) gained- permanently restore an extra 1% stamina per 5 mins.

    Passive, immortal body(lvl1) gained-permanently increases all base attributes by 5 percent.

    Active skill acquired, ''Killing Instinct''(lvl1)- simr to bloodlust, you give in to your instinct to kill. Doing so gives you a surplus to your body attributes while losing your sanity for the skills duration. Stat boost is determined by a ratio of 5-25percent based on the amount of your sanity is lost during the activated skill.

    Title, the fallen- losing more and more of your humanity, you have fallen to the point of no return while slowly achieving the body and mind of a true monster. Improves your instinctual affinity for magic.]

    ''Never in my life would I have thought I would say I''m d I got infected by a zombie! I was even able to get abilities! But does this mean I''m now immune to being infected?

    Ah who cares right now! Let''s just check the new stats baby!'' Noah didn''t waste any time before he hurriedly and excitedly brought up his status.

    yer: Noah

    Race:Human->Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Lvl 1

    Exp: 0/25->10/25

    Health: 100%

    Stamina:95%

    Mana: 10

    Attributes

    Strength:11->12

    Agility:13->14

    Constitution:14->15

    Stamina:10->11

    Magic: 5

    Spirit:38->40

    Skills

    Active

    Monster Taming(lvl 0)

    Killing instinct (lvl 0)

    Passive

    Soul cage(lvl 0)

    Hunters sight (lvl 0)

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0)

    Immortal body (lvl 0)

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0)<novelnext></novelnext>

    Titles

    The fallen

    The smile Noah previously wore had instantly disappeared from his face when he noticed the negligible change to his stats.

    ''Why did I think that 5% would make any difference to my stats?'' The fact that he felt stronger than what his stats signify disappointed him, but when he remembered that the skills were only level zero, he was motivated even more to upgrade all of his skills to increase his strength.

    Bang! Bang! Bang!

    Interrupted from his thoughts due to the thudding soundsing from the other side of his door caused him to panic slightly because he still hasn''t solved his problem from earlier. He still has yet to figure out what to do about a weapon since he unconsciously sabotaged his present one.

    "Shit¡­." He swore out loud before looking at the broken bat that was now lying on the floor in the puddle of blood.

    "Well, I guess I could still maybe use it¡­I mean they are only zombies for crying out loud¡­but that''s only if I''m really immune to being infected. I''ll never know if too much of their infections would actually overpower my Chimera trait and kill me."

    Quickly trying to weed through his options avable to him at this time, he then began to roam his eyes over the dorm room hoping that maybe he would spot something since he still had the observation skill that always seemed to be active.

    ''Huh?''

    Not really believing he would find something just from a quick glimpse of his surroundings but what he did find left him bewildered, following with a confused chuckle escaping his lips.

    "Ok this is definitely bing too much¡­ss change, Status panel, attributes, zombies and now this? If there''s a god who''s behind this, then he must be a man of great culture."

    The object that Noah found that he would have never expected to see in this situation just happens to be a small chest lying beside the two zombies he killed. It wasn''t just any chest otherwise he wouldn''t have been so caught off guard, but the chest appeared to be a wooden chest you would obtain from fighting monsters in a video game!

    Noah had very little reason to suspect the chest to be dangerous nor did he second guess that this was still a dream. Even if it was a dream, he just wishes to never wake up from it and enjoy his life for the first time.

    For someone who was never given anything in his life, he wasn''t picky about what he would get but that didn''t stop him from being curious as he slowly opened the chest as if opening it too fast would cause the chest to be empty.

    What he saw wasn''t below his expectations, but more than anything it confused him. Inside the chest appeared to be a one-handed double-sided hammer and next to itid three gold coins on the bottom of the chest. He wasn''t confused much by the contents inside; it was when he pulled out the hammer that caused the confusion. The chest was only two feet long and a foot high yet when retrieved the hammer, the hammer turned out to be two handed one from what he first assumed when he thought it was one.

    The hammer was about four feet high, the handle seemed to be made of wood he couldn''t determine the origins of, but he knew that the wood isn''t normal just based on how hard the material appeared to be.

    He held the hammer in both hands to get adjusted with the weight, just holding the hammer made him feel as if he was given a burst of strength. ''Do equipment drops actually give stat bonuses!? Diving into his mind space where he was able to check his stat panel, he tried to see if he was also able to check for equipment details which he considered should bemon to be able to do in these situations. sed, he was proven wrong. The sce he was given was the fact he could at least see his states to tell what attributes were increased. His stats weren''t high numbers so he could instantly see that his strength went up by two points.

    ''Ok¡­so maybe I''m regretting not having that analysis skill right about now...'' if he had chosen that skill then not only would he be able to view the stats and potential of monsters, but he would''ve also been able to see the information of his equipment. But how was he supposed to know that a chest filled with gear would appear out of nowhere?

    He wore a wry smile before peering back into the chest to retrieve the coins that at first felt normal to what should appear in a chest. It was only after he pondered about it that he realized what was wrong. Where was he supposed to spend it?

    He wanted to get to the bottom of what the money was used for, maybe he hadn''t explored enough of his status panel or maybe there was a shop option, but the noise behind the door suggested that he was out of time.

    "Was this game made with no tutorials? I didn''t get time to learn anything!" He momentarilyined as he readjusted himself and made his way to the closest bed near the door, even while heined he still adorned a smile on his face while he stuffed the coins in his pockets.

    "Well, who am I toin? Just having the opportunity to have powers to fight monsters is the best thing I could ask for."

    Bang!

    As he dragged the bed over to the door another impact was heard from the other side but this time unlike his expectations of the door getting pushed off its hinges or the doorframe getting broken in, the zombies managed to puncture through the doors with bloody outstretched hands trying to w their way through.

    If there weren''t so many of them at the door trying to get in at one time, they may have been sessful in making their way into the room but instead they constantly were stumbling over themselves which gave Noah enough time to finally move the bed in front of the door.

    By the time he moved the bed in front of the door, there were two holes big enough for the zombies to climb into, one particr zombie already had its body up to his shoulders in already as it clutched onto the bed to pull its body in faster, slightly shocking Noah.

    ''I''m not sure if these thingspared to the zombies, I''ve read up on actually have intelligence or they are doing that based on instincts. Heck! Maybe I should have my first tamed creature be a zombie if that''s the case, but there''s no time for that now and besides, there was supposed to be a penalty if they died. I need to be smart about this.''

    "GAME STARTTT!" He yelled out as he didn''t bother to hide his excitement to what would be others hell. He had no experience when it came to any kind of martial arts, but he had enough experience fighting where his instincts were enough to get him by in this situation let alone just to fight low leveled zombies who were seemingly giving him free exp.

    The scene that transpired was familiar to the game of whack a mole, the zombies were taking turns shoving their heads through the door while Noah nted his hammer into their skulls, stering their brain matter across the walls and himself. Due to not knowing how his new skill works, he decided to activate his killing instinct considering the fact that he felt rtively safe during this encounter against the supposedly slow zombies.

    If it was before the Chimera changes then this scene would be a cause of rm for Noah because even though he wasn''t being bitten or scratched, some of the blood still manage to get on his face and into his mouth since he was beginning to lose stamina from swinging the hammer constantly with enough ferociously to stter a zombie''s skull. But now as the events urred, you could sometimes glimpse Noah who still swung with an exhausting smile asionally lick away the scattered blood that was near his lips savoring the taste without him realizing it.

    His eyes were dted while he seemed to be in a frenzied trance. Even though his body was beginning to slow he still felt rejuvenated as if he was growing stronger overtime. Due to the skill killing instincts and the joy he was experiencing from gaining an otherworldly strength, it slipped his mind that the increase in power was from leveling up and also meant that he was losing himself more to his skill in order to gain more strength.

    Thankfully this worked to his advantage since he was unaware of the number of students that were now turned zombies that were on his floor. He doesn''t know how long he was out when he went through his body changes but during those 15-20 mins a lot happened during the chaos. The students who could run were already gone or were eating and became wandering zombies looking to feed and those that could fight were already beginning to form small groups to aid in their survival. Then there were the ones who managed to barricade their rooms and hoped for help toe.

    Out of every scenario it still left Noah with his only choice of fighting the rest of the zombies on his own who were attracted to his heart wrenching screams from before.

    Swing after swing he continued to mow down the zombies with the same intensity as before if not more. After he killed about 8 zombies who managed to climb through the door over their zombies''patriots who nowid dead on the bed. Noah then proceeded to move the end of the bed to allow the rest of the door to open since zombies were no longer able toe through.

    This may have seemed like a stupid decision on his part since he wasn''t thinking about anything other than killing as much as he could but the effects of killing instincts shouldn''t bepared to the instincts of a mindless zombie. His body was instinctively finding a suitable situation to continue to kill as much as it can which won''t always be the smartest option but in the case of killing mindless zombies the situation worked out perfect for him.

 Chapter 5 5: More Than He Can Handle?

    This may have seem like a stupid decision on his part since he wasn''t thinking about anything other than killing as much as he could but the effects of killing instincts shouldn''t bepared to the instincts of a mindless zombie. His body was instinctively finding a suitable situation to continue to kill as much as it can which won''t always be the smartest option but in the case of killing mindless zombies the situation worked out perfect for him.

    Under thebined weight of the ''dead'' 8ish zombies, the door, alongside the bed were instantly pushed forward allowing Noah minimum effort in having to do all the work himself once he attempted to move the end to allow an opening.

    Just as quickly as the door and bed was forced forward, one after another, the zombies fell on top of the dead zombies in front of them creating a small ''wall'' in the doorway of his dorm room. Even then that didn''t stop the zombies from trying to force their way in. Slowly you could see the ''wall'' begin to cave in, but could Noah who was still under the intense effects of his skill wait for them to burst through?

    With no hesitation, he rushed towards the pile of zombies delivering a powerful strike to any zombie that moved. Under his crazed emotions he even attacked already dead ones that were moved by the other zombies but even then he still wasn''t fazed as he continued to swing his hammer.

    No one but Noah and the zombies would know how long this killing spree went on but both weren''t conscious of the concept of time as the zombies and Noah were dead set on killing one another.

    Argh!

    Minutes into the altercation, a noise other than growling, heavy breathing and the sound of metal hitting bone was hard.

    "Jesus fucking Christ that hurts!" The now aware Noah screamed out from the paining from his shoulder.

    Moments before he was injured, the same routine was urring with him mindlessly killing the iing zombies. He wasn''t aware of it at the time but he was well past his 20th zombie kill, but as the wall of zombies in the doorway started to tilt, it didn''t take long before the pile fell over to allow thest few zombies to take their ce.

    Unlike before, Noah was burnt out and was only running purely on his instincts that didn''t care about his physical condition. His body still sluggishly tried to take care of the zombies one at a time without taking heed of his safety. Luckily or unluckily there appeared to be only four zombies left on the dorm floor he was on or at least that were attracted to the scene. It would''ve been simple for Noah to take care of thest four if it was earlier. Overhead swings with his hammer were more demanding than before, Instead he held the handle near his hips with the hammer facing the ground at an angle behind him and used his body''s momentum to help him swing the hammer upwards to reach the first zombie heading towards him with outstretched arms. The swing connected with its face lifting the zombie into the air as it flew a few feet backwards before mming against the ground with half of its face sunken in.

    Zombies were not foes to wait, while Noah was dealing with the first zombie it allowed two more to fill in the distance. One of them was extremely tall and with its long legs was able to get there a little bit faster than the other. Maybe it was because the zombie was so tall or maybe it was because Noah was extremely fatigued, he didn''t try the stunt likest time. He continued to hold the hammer in the same position as before but instead of swinging upward, he swung the hammer horizontally reaching right below the side of the zombie''s knee cap, instantly popping the knee out of its socket and causing the zombie to flop to its sides forcefully. The heavy swing caused him to drop the hammer due to his fingers starting to spasm from his vice-like grip he wielded through the entire ordeal but even then he still didn''t stop.

    The third zombie approached but Noah still wasn''t done with the taller zombie, moving his leg into a position simr to a spartan kick. He shoved his foot as hard as he could into the sternum of the third zombie and didn''t bother with how far the zombie was kicked back. He quickly made his way to the tall zombie who seemed oblivious to pain. Even now it was trying to get back on its feet using its broken leg.

    Bang!

    Using as much force as he could, Noah kicked the temple of the zombie causing it to fall back onto the ground and without letting up he then started to stomp fiercely into the back of the head of the zombie. Unlike the stories he''s read and movies he''s heard of, the skulls of these zombies took more of a beating. It took about 6 stomps from him before the zombie stopped moving.

    Argh!

    Back to the present

    Due to the abrupt pain and the fatigued body, Noah was finally awakened from his skill that took over his rationale. Maybe if he didn''t use the skill to its fullest extent for the biggest scaling increase then he could''ve been in control of the skill while it was in use.

    Since he was using the skill, it appeared that his killing instincts took precedence or at least ignored the use of the observation skill and he wasn''t able to make out thest zombie that approached from behind him, taking a clean chunk out of his shoulder.

    Because of the life threatening threat which was now upon him, Noah was able to find strength within himself to push the zombie off of him who seemed to be slowly crushing his bones under its grip.

    "Urggh hahahaaaa damnit who the fuck goes around biting people? Ah it hurts!" Noah cried amidst hisughter, a habit he obtained after the countless beatings he partook in over the years.

    With the pain in his shoulder and the extreme fatigue he was in, Noah found himself in a difficult situation but instead of despair he was busy racking his brain for a solution. He couldn''t die here, not now, he felt as if he waited for this his whole life for it to end so quickly.

    Because of his rational thinking, he was able to feel that familiar tug on the back of his mind.

    ''A notification at this time, please please give me something I can use!'' He immediately dove into his consciousness and was immediately shown the notice.

    LEVEL UP! +5 attribute points.

    LEVEL UP! +5 attribute points.

    Gold: 3

    yer: Noah

    Race:Human->Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Lvl 3

    Exp: 70/100

    Health:83%<novelnext></novelnext>

    Stamina:19%

    Mana: 16

    Attributes

    Strength:11(12)

    Agility:12(13)

    Constitution:14->18(19)

    Stamina:12(13)

    Magic: 5->7(8)

    Spirit:38->40(42)

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)

    Killing instinct (lvl 0) progression: .05%

    Passive

    Soul cage(lvl 0)

    Hunters sight (lvl 0) 4.7%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression: 1.2%

    Immortal body (lvl 0) progression: .005%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression: 25%

    Titles

    The fallen

    With no hesitation he immediately used 5 of his attribute points in one go all into his stamina. If he had time to ponder more about the reallocation of his stats then maybe he would do something different but as of now he believed this was the best choice. He needed the energy at this moment or it didn''t matter if he had more points to spend if he died and the points will still benefit him in the long run.

    Finishing allocating his points, he was back within his dorm room with only a few seconds passing. Within those few seconds was enough time for both zombies to recover and make their way towards him. But after adding his points to his stamina to now make it 18 with his immortal body passive, Noah felt reinvigorated again to at least finish off thest two zombies and defend himselfter if need be.

    With his shoulder still in pain from being bitten earlier, even with the extra stamina he knew he wouldn''t be able to use his hammer right now. Thankfully with his killing instincts no longer active, his passive hunter''s sight was now taking effect and he noticed the broken bat behind the two approaching zombies. It would be dangerous for him to make a go for the bat now since even though zombies were known for theirck of speed, they were still close enough to the bat to attack him by time he reached it so he waited for them to get closer.

    He wanted to kick them like before but with no way to finish them off fast enough he felt it would be easier to finish them off with a weapon instead. Now that he was able to think things through he wanted to make sure he could protect himself after this was over and to do that he would need all the energy he could save.

    As soon as the zombies came to a noticeable distance where Noah was sure he could move around them and safely retrieve his weapon, he took his n into effect. Taking a wide left(as far left as he could go) to go around them, he sprinted towards the broken bat that had the top half dangling over.

    The broken part had no use to him so he broke the rest of the other half off leaving him with a bat that was just about a foot long with numerous splits on the end.

    When he looked towards the zombies, he realized that he did more than just move around them. Due to them trying to follow Noah even while he maneuvered around them before causing them to line up with one another making the fight a lot simpler for him in the end. Initially he thought he would be bitten one more time or at the least scratched since fighting both zombies at the same time with such a short weapon would be more than a chore given his current condition.

    Noah did not allow this chance to slip by, just like before but adding in a jump to receive more force, he kicked the first zombie in the chest causing it to fall back into the first zombie and both fell to the ground. This would give him a chance to stomp on their heads like before but unlike the zombie who was facing face down, the two zombies fell on their back. Given the fact that zombies do not appear to experience pain caused Noah to reconsider and just use the weapon at hand since there would be a chance that the zombies would attempt to grab his leg and probably seed.

    He needed to take out one of the zombies fast so he chose the next worse option, with a small war cry he jumped onto the first zombie and used the momentum of his jump to stab his splintered bat into the face of the zombie impaling it.

 Chapter 6 6: The Curse Of Johnathan Begins

    Grr¡­

    He heard growling still and wasn''t sure if it was the zombie under them or the first zombie was still alive.

    "Argh fucking damnit!" Noah roared out in pain when he felt two hands trying to dig into his ribs, he wasn''t that dumb not to know who it was that was trying to tear at his insides. Thankfully due to the huge increase in his constitution, his skin was tougher than before otherwise the zombie would have had an easy time digging into his skin. He was only left with two options, retreat or finish the job before the zombie''s hands ripped through his flesh.

    From what Noah could tell, he only needed not even an inch more to push through the zombies face to end it. He still didn''t have enough strength in his shoulder to use both arms to finish the job, in order to gain the strength he needed he decided to reactivate his skill ''Killing instincts'' to the max for the extra 25%, raising his strength by three which gave him enough strength to plunge the bat the rest of the way to finish the job.

    Ironically, after going into his killing trance, his body still used his injured arm while ignoring the pain to push the bat clean through the zombies face.

    It would take some time to remove the bat from the zombies face which Noah, during his frenzy, would not allow. Instead he stood up on the dead zombie while thest zombie stillid stuck under it causing the zombie to not be able to move but that didn''t stop it from trying to reach Noah with its arms searching aimlessly around the body of the zombie above it.

    Jumping up hard off the zombie, Noah lifted both of his legs parallel to his hips before mming them down with full force into the face of the zombie instantly breaking its skull which seemed to be enough to take it out.

    With no target left to kill, the effects of the skill soon wore off leaving Noah catching his breath from not only fatigue but from the intense exhration from the seemingly never ending carnage he just went through. Even though this is what he wanted, his body still needed time to keep up with his warped mind.

    "Huff¡­Huff¡­" he looked towards his bitten shoulder and then his ribs. "Stupid zombies.." then he looked forward to the small piles of zombies with crushed skulls that he barely remembers killing. It all felt like a dream but instead he was just a bystander watching everything go by. "Fucking skill! How could you be so op yet nerfed at the same time?"

    Noah huffed some more as he slowly walked to retrieve his hammer and then sat on the bed to catch his breath. He soon began to recollect his thoughts and go over what had urred, he took on more than he could handle from the very beginning. As a fanatical reader of apocalypse stories and stories revolving game characters he knew it was best to grind levels with small groups of monsters instead of doing what he just did unless he had a death wish. But then again he knew that he just pulled the short end of the stick, he didn''t know, well at least didn''t think that changing into a chimera would be so painful.

    ''Well at least now I know that I shouldn''t relypletely on ''killing instincts'', it''s an op skill but I could''ve taken my time in the beginning slowly killing the zombies instead of power hacking every single one and wasting strength. I should be thankful for how they developed our dorms.

    Considering that his school had a little bit over ten thousand students living on campus with around five thousand students living in the boys and girls dorms respectively, it would seem like a miracle that Noah only had to fight the ''small amount of zombies from earlier and not an army.

    But fortunately, the dormitories were divided by seniority and even then the dorms were split even further.

    There were three residences forming the dorms for each gender forming a U shape, with each building having 4 floors. The residence located in the middle were for the seniors, from third year and up while the side residence were for the lower ss men.

    Since the seniors had a lower student ratio to the neers, their dorms only held around a thousand students while the other two residences would each hold around two thousand. Even then, each residence was constructed with a stairway down the center, separating the floors in half.

    Cold sweat slipped down his back causing him to have a small shiver at the thought of what he would''ve had to experience if the stairway dividing their floors didn''t exist.

    He thought about what he needed to do from here and onwards to secure his survival and his number one priority was his stats..

    Sigh.. I really need to find a proper build path for myself.''

    He quickly relooked over his stats again and thought about what stat would''ve been most useful in the previous fight while also nning ahead for when he finally gets his tamed creatures. ording to the skill monster taming, he can only obtain one summon and his experience points would essentially be cut by half since he would have to share it with his creature which made him even more picky about choosing his first tame monster.

    If he had to have a monster leech off of him then it better be a cool looking monster or one that was easy looking on the eyes, not a random zombie dude.

    ''For now I''ll just take my time and level up as much as I can before then so I wouldn''t mind if my monster starts receiving my experience afterwards. But until then maybe I should go with a dps(damage dealer)build¡­I don''t have someone to support me so having more points in strength could help me not have to rely on anyone if I go up against a monster that''s harder to take down. Then again, having more agility would be nice as well since I don''t have anyone I need to protect, I can always run away at the first sight of danger and fight the battles I can win to get stronger. Sigh this is frustrating..''

    He held his head as if thinking was causing him pain. This was a hard decision for him since he isn''t given a second chance to redo his stats nor does he have a second life. Relooking at his status panel, he looked through his skills and level growth instead of his stats again to get a better idea of his options and after looking through them he was d that he made the decision to do so.

    "With the added bonus of my constitution and high spirit, I could be considered kind of tanky right now no? Well that zombie was still able to take a nice chunk out of me but it couldn''t bite through my bone or at least I hope not. I''ll let leveling up take care of my constitution for now while I increase everything else."

    After making his decision, he went back to his status to raise his agility by two and his strength by three. Looking at his stats now, he was satisfied with his decision, he wasn''t worried about saving points for a tough situation, that''s what his skill ''killing instincts'' was for.

    Attributes

    Strength:11->14(15)

    Agility:12->14(15)

    Constitution:14->18(19)

    Stamina:12->17(18)

    Magic: 5->7(8)

    Spirit:38->40(42)

    Nodding his head after looking at his stats, his eyes sparkled when he remembered the second most important thing besides leveling up and that was obtaining the loot.

    He quickly gazed around the room to see if there would be a bunch of wooden chests around the room, but instead of what he assumed he would find, he was weed by another site that did not disappoint.

    Instead of the previous wooden chest, what appeared this time was a chest made out of bronze. Just from this alone Noah could at least decipher that bronze was a step up from wood which means better drops. He excitedly made his way towards the chest thatid next to thest zombie he killed, but when he arrived next to it he frowned while in thought.

    ''Does this mean that the chest collects the drops from all the monsters around or do I actually have such shitty luck that out of so many zombies only one dropped loot? No, no that can''t be¡­''

    Before he opened up the chest, he looked upwards as if he wasmunicating to whatever being in charge of everything that''s happened.

    "If I offended you in any way just know that I''m sorry but please, PLEASE! You have to y fair!"

    After pleading to the powerful being, his excitement returned as if he seeded while he bent towards the chest to obtain its contents. Just likest time he made sure to not open it too fast since he believed that''s why he was so lucky to obtain a weapon. What Noah doesn''t know is that everyone who killed their first zombie, dropped a weapon of some kind.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Continuing to open the chest, he noticed two things while the chest wasn''t fully opened. A big pile of gold and something glowing. After seeing the glow his curiosity immediately peaked and shoved open the chest to verify what it was, only to be surprised that the glow and gold wasn''t all there was in the chest which further caused his heart to beat loudly in excitement.

    The first thing he did was to check everything else and to save the glowing orb forst since it wasmon that the best things should be first orst.

    Looking into the chest, other than the gold and the glowing orb there was also a steel dagger and a sheet of paper, well more than a sheet of paper, it was like parchment that seemed to be made out of wool.

    Noah wasn''t very interested in the dagger but that didn''t stop him from hoarding it either, just like in hisst battle, it could''vee in handy if he lost his weapon or was too tired to swing his heavy hammer. But imagine the surprise he experienced when he started to read the parchment.

    Jonathan Bell

    yer: Jonathan Bell

    Race:Human

    ss: Knight

    Lvl 1

    Ex: ?

    Health: ?

    Stamina: ?

    Mana: ?

    Attributes

    Strength:?

    Agility:?

    Constitution:?

    Stamina:?

    Magic: ?

    Spirit:?

    Skills

    Warriors Aptitude(lvl 0)

    Rodeleros(lvl 0)

    Do you wish to roll for character skill?

    It didn''t take a genius to realize that the parchment was the status panel of one of the students who was now a dead zombie. What confused Noah about the situation was why did only one person drop a skill and not the others, but like all games he could only pinpoint to one thing.

    "Fucking drop rates! Of course you would add that as well..But..I''m sorry Jonathan, just know that you died for a good cause¡­probably, and yes I''ll roll for the skill!

    He mentally confirmed to roll for the skill, which for Noah was a very exciting moment, but it turns out that actually rolling for the skill wasn''t as grand as he thought it was. Not even a secondter, it was already over.

    Skill Rodeleros confirmed, would you like to learn it?

    ''What, just like that? No special effects or actually rolling for it? And I don''t even get the best skill? Hey I said i didn''t want to be the protagonist but this isn''t what I meant?

    Sigh....Calm down, maybe this skill is good too, i don''t even know what it means.'' Noah tried to console himself while he focused on the skill more to find out what it does.

    Rodeleros- Or shield bearer, the art of using the shield. Increases the durability of the shield as well as the amount of damage the shield can withstand and mitigate.

    Noah blinked in confusion as he read the skill once again.

    ''You get to pick a skill and you choose this? You don''t even start with a weapon and you choose a skill you might not even get to use? No wonder you died so fast.'' He had once pitied the fellow but after witnessing the skill he chose, he could only shake his head in contempt. He believed Jonathan, like a lot of people during this time, thought they would be the protagonist and would get exactly what they wanted when they needed it.

    Even Noah thought he was one at one point as well when he got the species change but then he also realized that numerous people would get good rewards too as long as they took the initiative like him. He wasn''t going to be overly prideful and believe he was better than everyone else but he wasn''t going to give up the idea of being one of the strongest no matter what he has to do.

    After returning his attention back to the skill, he decided to not ept it and hold onto the skill. He remembered the novels he read, usually there was a skill limit for how many you can learn but he didn''t believe it would be the same this time around but better safe than sorry right?

    Now that he got the other items out the way, he was finally able to turn his attention to the glowing orb.

 Chapter 7 7: Encountering A Noah

    Now that he got the other items out the way, he was finally able to turn his attention to the glowing orange orb.

    ''I guess it would be too much to ask for legendary equipment, but it has to be special if it glows right?''

    Thankfully no one could hear his thoughts, but he probably wouldn''t care as his attention was all on the orb. He clutched the orb in his palm and brought it up to his face. The orb was neither cold nor hot, when he inspected closer he realized he couldn''t detect a temperature at all, but just holding the orb gave him the illusion of his body bing more tough.

    "Don''t tell me¡­." He squeezed the orb since there weren''t any notifications telling him what to do. Not only was he right in doing so but his worries turned out to be true as well.

    [Constitution +2]

    "Motherfucking Johnathon!" Noah burst out in agitation, anyone who would be given to live in this type of situation would like to be the cool type doing fancy moves and unbelievable kills and yet here he is seemingly being driven towards the tank route. He had no one else to me but Johnathan who gave him the staple shield skill meant for tanks.

    ''Well I''ll at least be hard to kill and besides¡­'' He looked towards his shoulder and attempted to rotate it, he was still experiencing pain but after the received constitution, he felt that he would now be able to swing his hammer, although painful, it was better than not being able to use it. ''I wonder if I can get different orbs if I kill more zombies..''

    He then turned to the small pile of gold at the bottom of the chest. Seeing the amount caused his eye to twitch since it seemed to be too much to have to carry around especially when he doesn''t know what it''s used for.

    Thinking about the gold made him reach into his pockets where he stashed the other three but as he maneuvered around in his pants, he came to realize the money wasn''t there?

    ''Did I get robbed by the zombies? No that shouldn''t be right¡­but where could it have gone?

    Noah felt that the gold would be really important in the future so he had to find out. He started grabbing a handful of coins to try to decipher where they were going. As this was going on, another scene was taking ce on the floor above.

    ...¡­..

    "Mark we can''t hold on if we stay here, we have to leave the building now. There''s only so much we can do alone."

    Said a slightly overweight male who just like everyone else was in their sleeping attire. He wielded a short one handed mace which still had fresh blood dripping from its tip. You can tell from his exhausted face and the still flowing blood from the bodies before that they had just finished a hard fought battle in their dorm room.

    With him were three others that looked just as exhausted, two of the others still haven''t recovered from their fear of what just transpired. So he turned to the only one he could rely on at this moment and was also his roommate, Mark. He had a boorish face but he was a young prodigy when it came to sports which was a big reason he was epted into the school. Standing about 6 feet tall, he had amanding feel about him. Jet ck curly hair that was neatly trimmed and brown eyes that were full of alertness. His most noticeable aspect was his broad shoulders and muscr arms that wielded a two handed sword. The other two just happened to be roommates that they saved.

    "I know you''re right and more importantly I can''t stay here when my big sister is so close to me and I''m not there to help her. Let''s get out of here first and group up with people on the way. These things don''t run so if we rush out together and take them out as we go then I doubt the rest of them could catch up to us.

    The two made their way towards the door before a voice spoke up behind them.

    "Wh-what are you d-doing? We should stay here and wa-wait till helpes." The most nervous one of the two almost screamed before he caught himself and covered his mouth.

    The boy who stood next to the one that just spoke created distance from him and made his way to the door.

    "I''m not with him, but if we can make it out of here safely and I can reach my parents then I''ll be sure to heavily reward you, I''m Charlie by the way." The boy spoke directly to Mark with a tinge of nervousness in his voice but also you can detect a sense of pride in his voice at the mention of his family. The boy was short, a little below 5ft which was extremely short whenpared to mark. He wore a pair of big circr sses with a bowl cut. His weapon was surprisingly a staff which was perfect for him because of his short stature.

    "Mark looked towards the two people he and his roommate saved and shook his head. Charlie noticed this and thought he was turning him down because of what the person before him said but then he heard him speak.

    "I''m not waiting here any longer, I don''t regret saving you but my sister means more to me than you. If you still want to stay then be my guess but I''m going with or without you. Let''s go Jack, we have a lot of ground to cover.

    "Wait"

    They were about to leave when Jack stopped them. Mark was getting a little annoyed since he was desperate to save his sister but he couldn''t say it since he couldn''t do it on his own.

    Jack pointed towards his clothes which were battered and bloodied. "How about we change into better clothes before we leave? Plus we could try giving your sister a call before we blindly go and look for her."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Everyone stopped and stared at Jack like he was a wild animal. Their anxiety and adrenaline was at an all time high that they forgot about something so important like their cell phone.

    Being fat in this situation benefited Jack since he was more self conscious about his appearance which made him start to think about the necessities.

    Having agreed to his suggestion, they ransacked the room for anything useful. Even the boy who was against them at first who they found out was named Tom also helped since he was afraid to be alone.

    While that was going on, Not only Mark but also Jack tried reaching out to family on their phone only to meet static. This caused Mark to panic even more as he rushed the group to leave.

    As soon as they rushed out the door, they were met with a small group of zombies in the hall leading to the stairs. Unlike Noah whose screams led them all to his dorm, the zombies here were more spread out and you could often see them wing at random doors trying to get in.

    Mark led the way as he mowed the zombies in front down one by one. Even though he was panicked for his sister, he enjoyed the looks of awe being directed towards him as he led the group.

    Everything seemed to be going to n for them until they reached the next floor.

    They were about to keep going till they heard a voice.

    "Motherfucking Johnathan!" They heard the voice agitatedly scream out which caused them to stop. Just the voice alone caused them to want to know what was going on. Especially when they heard nothing after that, almost as if those things didn''t care about him yelling out.

    "Should we go check? Jack asked timidly, he was afraid to go but at the same time he had a soft heart.

    "No, why would we go after he just yelled like that? He''ll bring those things towards him." Of course it was no one else but Tom who spoke this remark.

    Jack only looked towards Mark for his thoughts since it would mostly be him doing all the work if they had to fight more of those zombie-like things.

    Mark stayed silent for a few moments, not only was he thinking but he was also listening. The people who all turned into the ''zombies'' could not help but growl and make noise so he paid close attention to gleam if he could hear anything simr.

    The longer he didn''t hear anything else the more curious he became. Not just because that meant there was someone else that could fight toe to toe as he could but it also meant that it would be that much easier to save his sister.

    "I think we should go check, but at the first sign of danger we leave."

    They moved towards the hallway only to see the entire hall emptied. They were confused when theypared it to the scene from the floor they were on but that''s when they saw it. In the middle of the hall there was a door, well at first they thought it was a door, at least a broken door till they finally realized it was just a wall of bodies.

    An audible gulp was heard from within the group.

    At this point they were unsure if they should continue but they still marched on when they noticed Mark was still moving.

    ? Unlike before, Mark was more than curious about the person who could kill so many zombies. He had to know who did it and if they survived. Part of him was jealous that someone could do this by themselves when he was unsure if he could, especially when he was also rewarded for gaining the achievement for killing a zombie in the allotted time. Just the thought of someone else being more special than him when he thought he was special hit him hard. And so he walked towards the room, not bothering if his group were behind him or not.

    The closer they neared, the more the smell of blood became prevalent and soon they were able to hear someone rummaging through coins and a small chuckle here and there.

    They were already cautious from seeing the bodies at the door but when they arrived at the door to see, the contents in the room almost traumatized them.

    There were too many bodies to count and blood everywhere. The horrifying scene didn''t stop there when they spotted the person who caused all of this sitting on the floor ''ying'' with coins from the chest they too were now familiar with. The freakish part of it all was that he was covered in blood but had a smile stered on his face.

    It wasn''t until the smell started to get to them more and Charlie saw the brain matter slip out of a dead zombie causing him to gag that made Noah finally notice that he was being watched.

    "Coughs! Sooo¡­can I help you with something?"

 Chapter 8 8: From Allies To Enemies, So Fast?

    It wasn''t until the smell started to get to them more and Charlie saw the brain matter slip out of a dead zombie causing him to gag that made Noah finally notice that he was being watched.

    "Coughs! Sooo¡­can I help you with something?"

    Noah tried to ask as nonchntly as possible, they had just caught him in the middle of his excitement after he found out that he doesn''t have to hold the money on his person but for some odd reason the gold disappears and shows up on his status panel. He was worried that he would go around wasting gold since his n was to go out to grind levels and who knows what he could buy with the amount of gold he can save now? Just that thought alone made him chuckle uncontrobly while he tried to hold in a full blownugh.

    The sudden change in Noah caused the group of four to be confused, even more so since the casualness Noah was exhibiting didn''t fit with the setting he was currently in, surrounded by dead bodies while covered in blood.

    "I think he may have a couple of screws loose¡­I remember this guy...It''s that guy that Regina hates, you know? The one who''s always getting into fights and gets beat up? He''s a total weirdo, we shouldn''t deal with him."

    It was already quiet during this time, only the sound of blood asionally dripping and muffled screams outside could be heard, so everyone, including Noah could hear what was said.

    Everyone turned to the voice and noticed that it was Charlie who spoke out.

    But he only returned their stares with a questionable stare of his own. He believed that he was right in what he said. He wasn''t exactly sure what Noah may have gone through or how much he changed but his opinion of him was already set in stone after years of looking down on him.

    Mark was about to speak up to reconcile with Noah who he felt nervous just being around. Granted, he did believe that the man before him was a little empty upstairs but at the same time he would be of more help than his groupbined if he really was the one who did everything here.

    "Hmmm? Well it seems you know about me but I don''t really care about who you are, but I do agree with you on something, you shouldn''t deal with me. As you can see I''m kind of busy here so shoo shoo."

    No one knew how to respond, at least not immediately. Hisck of fear and initiative to not join their group given the situation everyone is in so nonchntly caused their minds to not be able to process it.

    Noah left no room for discussion and left little time for Mark to respond to the situation. Just from thest words of Charlie, he was able to get an idea about their situation, in this situation there''s safety in numbers so he can assume they are looking for more people to group with.

    ''Heh, you think I''ll share my experience with you? No chance! Not only my experience but they would also want part of my loot too and then I''d have to handle the more difficult monsters that ar-!''

    Noah caught himself amidst his thoughts. He wanted to go solo from the very beginning but he had to sleep at some point and just like a few moments ago where he was exhausted, he would surely die if he had to handle anything more dangerous before recovering. Before he gets a reliable monster, he would need a group.

    Not long has passed during this brief pause but that was all Mark needed before his mind returned to the matter at hand. Just the fact that Noah refused to join them proved that he either is mentally insane or he really did aplish everything here by himself. Personally he assumed that both situations were correct. He had to at least try to persuade him to join but he also wasn''t one to beg. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Mark was prepared to try to reason with him.

    "Wait, before you say anything please list-"

    "Fine, I ept!" Noah propped himself up after receiving all of the gold in the chest. Amidst the open jaw expressions of the group standing at the door, he walked over to his side of the room to grab his bookbag which he then emptied out of all its contents. He then proceeded to grab a few snacks and two water bottles he kept in a drawer that he used as his emergency rations for when he would be too beaten up to go to the cafeteria. Thest items he grabbed was his cellphone that he barely used but maybe there would be a use for it in this situation and the dagger from earlier which he now ced in a side pocket of his bookbag for easy retrieval. Before leaving he remembered to put on his run down sneakers he used during his entire stay in college.

    With his bag now slung over one shoulder, he strides over to the group with a satisfied smirk on his face.

    "Pst¡­.Mark are you really letting him follow us? Can you still not see how mental he is?" Charlie whispered to Mark, but loud enough for everyone else in the group to hear. But Mark was still bbergasted, it took some mental effort to think of reasons to convince Noah who turned them down recently and then all of a sudden he instantly agreed? With no attachments?

    ''I hope I''m not making the wrong decision¡­'' He could only think to himself while he shook his head to rid his negative thoughts.

    "Why the long faces? Let''s go, let''s go! We''re wasting time here people."

    "Wait, where are we going anyway?" Noah didn''t help to relieve Mark''s turmoil as his words only caused him to doubt his decision even more. It seems like it''ll happen often but he left the group speechless once again. Thankfully the soft hearted one of the group, Jackson filled the silence.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "W-We are heading to the girls dormitory, to sa- to find marks(he gestured with his eyes towards mark) sister. Bu-but are you not gonna change?

    Everyone took notice of his attire, baggy sweats and a in ck t-shirt that was torn at the shoulder and the rib area. The only thing clean on him was his old sneakers, everything else was sttered with blood and a few brain matter here and there that fell off asionally.

    Now that Noah was no longer in the room full of dead bodies, the group was able to get a better look at him without anything to distract them, which led one paranoid person in the group to find a disturbing point.

    Raising a pointed figure towards Noah that shook vehemently, the pale skinny figure Tom almost screamed.

    "H-he! He was bitten! Look, look at his shoulder! We can''t let hime with us! K-kill, kill him now before he turns and kills us!"

    His screams put his group on edge and when they saw the torn spot in his shoulder and the blood that has yet to dry, it caused all of them to be defensive. One by one they each held up their weapons.

    Mark, on one hand, was disappointed. He wasted time that could have been better spent and he felt that he lost a valuable person who would''ve helped him in his cause. Yet at the same time he felt satisfaction that Noah wasn''t as great as he pegged him to be, at least he wasn''t better than himself who was granted a special skill a cut above the rest.

    "Look, I''m sorry to say this but you should go quietly¡­It''s best to die as a human instead as one of those things, trust me." He said to Noah while he took a step towards him. He was bing more anxious by the second, especially when he didn''t see Noah move a muscle besides the twitching of his eye. He assumed he had given up which made his heart race since this would be the first time he would kill someone, the zombies weren''t actually someone he considered human, at least not anymore.

    "Hold up!" Noah finally responded while holding up a palm to signify everyone to stop. This is real life, not one of the novels he usually reads and yet, why did everything turn out like this?

    Everyone in Mark''s group paused. Mark believed that Noah was starting to get cold feet and was gonna try to convince them that he wasn''t bitten or something of that nature.

    "There''s no point in making excuses now, quit being selfish befor-"

    "Will you shut up already? God! I feel like you just like to listen to yourself talk." Everyone could clearly hear the agitation in Noah''s voice and he had every right to be agitated. They are talking about killing him when they were the ones who came to him, not the other way around.

    "Let me get this straight...You guys want to kill me because I was bitten? First, do any of you know how long it would take before you turn? Would you also let someone kill you if you were told you were infected?" He observed them waiting for an answer, only to see them all look towards one another for a lifeline, so he continued on his rant.

    "Second, who the hell made you all god to decide when someone can and will die? I''m not gonna just sit here andy down for you.

    And finally, why do you think I''m not worried about being bitten? It''s because I''m confident that I''m not going to turn doofus."

    There was a pause in the air, Noah made sure to stay alert as he observed the groups reactions hoping that his observation skill will help him determine if they were still going to attack him or not. What he was not aware of before, was there were small cracks in some of the doorways further down the hall. There were still people alive on his floor and were just bunkered in! Noah guessed that they were too scared to fight and decided to wait it out for help. He decided to use this piece of information for if they still decided to attack him.

    Meanwhile, Mark''s group all wore faces that looked constipated as they went over what Noah said. No one wanted to speak up, either they felt guilty or besides Mark, they didn''t feel that they could beat Noah if he were to fight back when they thought back to the pile of zombies in his room. All but one person that is, who was driven by fear.

    "Bull Shit! Who would believe that, We''ve seen people turn right in front of our eyes and you say you''re immune? Bull Shit!" Yelled Tom who stepped in front of the group without noticing due to his intense emotions. He had lost someone he considered a brother right before his eyes, all to have that same person try to eat him momentster, just to hear someone say they are unable to turn? He couldn''t ept that! Why did his brother have to be killed by a zombie? Why couldn''t that person who killed him be immune to turning as well? His ''brother'' could still be alive.

    Tears ran down Tom''s face as he huffed and puffed from overexerting himself, the disy of emotions seemed to win over the other people in his group. Emotions always triumph over logic it seems and Mark clung onto that point.

    "He''s right, how can we believe you won''t turn? We can''t trust our backs to you and you end up trying to kill us. Besides, if we left, you could also turnter and kill someone else. It doesn''t matter what you consider right or wrong, all that matters is that by letting yourself die now you''ll be possibly preventing yourself from taking another life and you wont end up like those things. You don''t get a choice when it concerns not only your life but others as well!" The longer he talked, the more courage he gained almost as if he was slowly convincing himself that he was right in his thoughts. His words sounded reasonable to him and his group but it was utter gibberish to the person it was directed to.

    "What the fuk¡­." Noah couldn''t believe what he just heard, he knew that he was a little crazy, but this Mark guy wins hands down, he was like an imitation of a hero on crack.

 Chapter 9 9: Were Not In Kansas Anymore

    You don''t get a choice when it concerns not only your life but others as well!" The longer he talked, the more courage he gained almost as if he was slowly convincing himself that he was right in his thoughts. His words sounded reasonable to him and his group but it was utter gibberish to the person it was directed to.

    "What the fuk¡­." Noah couldn''t believe what he just heard, he knew that he was a little crazy, but this Mark guy wins hands down, he was like an imitation of a hero on crack.

    Noah no longer had any second thoughts on trying to reason with these kinds of stubborn and delusional people. His only thoughts were getting out of this situation and returning their ''generosity'' when he became stronger. Thankfully his immortal body skill was always active, returning him more stamina back every five minutes on top of his natural recovery. He felt confident in getting away as well as having to fight any monster along the way as long as the group is small enough. To ensure his escape, he decided to try his n, he inhaled deeply which put the opposing group on edge.

    "EVERYONE WE''RE SAVED! HELP HAS FINALLY ARRIVED, IF YOU CONTINUE TO HIDE IN YOUR ROOMS YOU''LL ONLY BE LEFT BEHIND!"

    He screamed out while slowly backing away. His screams startled not only Mark''s group but also the bystanders hiding behind their doors. Unlike Mark''s group, the bystanders reacted faster, like a domino effect, it only took one before the rest followed.

    "Finally, we''re saved!"

    "crying* I thought I was going to die¡­"

    One after another the students came from their locked dorm rooms, there were at least 10 that were still alive and didn''t try to leave campus or were forced into hiding. This was already more than what he was expecting, now Noah just needed to put the rest of the n to action now that the students were converging to him.

    "Is it the army? Where are they?"

    "Are they outside, c-can you take us there? I don''t want to run into any more of those things.."

    A small triumphant smirk appeared on Noah''s face, ''This is exactly how I thought they would react''. He fixed his expression before anyone could notice.

    "You don''t have to worry! You see them?" He pointed towards Mark''s group who were unsure how to react to the scene. "They were the ones who were able to call for help and will be taking anyone who wants to go with them to the meeting ce! But they won''t take everyone so you''ll have to convince them to take you."

    "What? Wh-what do you mean we-? Wait! Don''t listen to him! We don''t have anything to do wit- Fuck just get out of the way, He''s getting away!" It didn''t take them long to catch on to what Noah was trying to achieve but by then it was already toote. The bystanders were relentless when it came to saving themselves, Mark and his group''s words fell on deaf ears. The more they tried to exin and distance themselves from the emotional students, the more the students thought Mark and his group were just trying to leave them and get help for themselves.

    Meanwhile Noah was making his way towards the 2nd floor of the building chucklingly to himself along the way with a menacing smile adorned on his face. He was enjoying himself for once in his life. Just being able to figuratively and literally say ''fuck you'' with no repercussions was thrilling to him. This new world has only just begun and he can already tell that the stronger he bes the more he will be able to enjoy himself. But that doesn''t mean he wasn''t angry, just the thought of Mark and his group behaving as if his life were in their hands disgusted him to no end.

    ''Hehe, if you want to y hero then I don''t mind being the viin, but I don''t want to just beat you, I want to overpower you and to do that I need to level up. Besides¡­I know where to find you when I''m ready..''

    He remembered the chubby kid talking about the girls dormitory.

    "Sigh¡­guess I''ll check that too¡­" Very briefly, just thinking of the girls dormitory reminded him of a bad memory he thought he was over with but he quickly recovered, that would be his next target but first he needed to leave the vicinity of Mark. His shoulder wasn''t going to be 100 percent anytime soon and Mark still not only hadpanions but he also had that gigantic swordpared to just his hammer.

    When he reached the second floor of the building, he was about to continue making his way down if it wasn''t for the sight he came upon when he reached the first step that led to the first floor.

    Piled on the steps were zombies and from the looks of it, it appears that there were a lot more than what he had to deal with. The entire floor seemed to be a gathering of them, it was as if everyone that were able to get away failed to leave for reasons Noah couldn''t think of.

    "If you were gonna run away then at least get out of the building! Damn...this would take too much time to get through¡­but maybe¡­"

    Noah''s thoughts went to his upgrade in his stats, technically his body should be considered abnormal now and to him that meant he should be able to jump from the second floor window without any problems.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Being sure of his new decision, he quickly went into the hall of the second floor to be met by wandering zombies in the area as well as zombies that were also attacking the doors of students that more than likely caught their attention. Unfortunately for Noah, one of the few dorm rooms near him just happened to be a room where zombies were converging on, unlike the time where he was swarmed by countless zombies because of his screams, there were only five zombies scratching away at the door before him.

    ''Well I won''t let free exp go to waste right in front of me.'' He could''ve avoided the zombies who weren''t paying attention to him so he could get into the open room next door but why would he not kill the zombies on the way if he could? He was addicted to leveling up.

    Excitedly he quickly walked to the group of zombies pushing against each other to reach the door before them. Even though his shoulder was usable to use his hammer, he still decided against using it at this moment. He felt around the side of his bag and retrieved his newly acquired dagger.

    ''Let''s test this little baby out!'' As if he found a new toy, Noah hastened his steps to the farthest zombie in the back and impaled the back of its head. There was no blood sttering on himself likest time, it was only when he removed the dagger from the zombies head that blood splurged out from its head.

    Noah wasn''t sure why but clean kills weren''t that satisfying to him, he wanted  to revert back to the hammer but now wasn''t the time. He didn''t want to cause too much attention to himself when he still needed to leave the dorm.

    He managed to kill three of the zombies in the same manner. It was while he was about to finish the third zombie that it noticed him growled, alerting thest two zombies before him that he could no longer keep up with his charade.

    He retreated back to retrieve his hammer and returned his now bloody dagger back into his bag. Thest two zombies still had to maneuver past the dead bodies, leaving Noah time to grab his hammer and kill thest two zombies before they covered any distance. With a pained shoulder, he reverted to using his hips and shoulders to swing his hammer upwards instead of going for the usual overhead swings.

    The sounds of metal hitting bone could not be hidden in a hall with sensitive monsters. The ones who were idle slowly turned towards the sound while the ones who were still struggling to get through closed doors didn''t let up on their dream.

    At this time Noah chose to ignore the rest while he rushed for the open room, but before he entered he noticed the wooden chestying next to thest zombie he killed. Disappointed that he wasn''t lucky enough to get a bronze chest like before, he wasn''t going to let free items go to waste. He hurriedly grabbed the side handle of the chest before dragging it to the room with him and closed the dorm behind him. He wasted no time to observe the room, no sane person would be staying here after leaving the door wide open and he wasn''t nning on staying here longer than he needed to.

    Immediately he opened the chest to view the contents only to be disappointed that he didn''t perform his usual ritual of opening it slowly. All he was given this time was a small pile of gold. At Least now he knew that he should expect more to be ripped off when ites to the drop rates. He would''ve liked to have spent more timeining about the chest but he still hadn''t forgotten about his reason foring here, he quickly made his way towards the window after retrieving all of his gold but the sight he witnessed wasn''t what he was expecting.

    "What in the world¡­" He momentarily nked when he saw what was transpiring outside. Towers of smoke were stretching into the skies everywhere he looked but even then that wasn''t as shocking as the other more strange things.

    He didn''t count zombies as strange, not even the hundreds of zombies scattered throughout the university or even the screaming students who were eitherbating them or fleeing he found strange. What he found strange were themon things you see everyday, Bugs and rodents! But unlike before, they grew to the point that the innocent everyday critters could now be considered a danger. He saw a mouse as big as a small dog take a chunk out of a zombie''s leg, causing it to fall over before a few more of its brethren came to use it as a buffet.

    He witnessed spiders that reached the height of an adult males knee pouncing on unsuspecting victims, zombies and humans alike.

    There were even themon birds that had an increase in growth, he wasn''t sure if it was just the school''s location but thankfully there weren''t many birds in the area. The ones that were seemed to be interested in the dead bodies littered throughout the campus.

    Doubt almost began to brew in his heart from the otherworldly scene. Unlike the games and fantasy novels, reality left them no room to grow first or even remotely grasp what was going on.

    But his doubt left just as fast as it came and was reced with eagerness and excitement. The thought of obtaining something like an overgrown spider sounded badass to the current Noah and when he observed briefly the ongoing struggle between some of the students and the ''monsters'' out there, he spotted once or twice someone even using magic.

    One person had casted a fireball towards a zombie which missed the one he was aiming for but was able to set the shirt of the one behind it aze.

    Then there was another student who seemed to be saying a chant while her hands were in a praying gesture before using it on a friend who was just attacked by a mouse. Noah was certain that what she used was healing magic but he didn''t know how effective it was from this distance but seeing magic for the first time confirmed his will to level up even more.

    He wanted to jump out of the window immediately but he didn''t want to be too impulsive, he needed somewhat of a n. As he could tell, he could get overrun easily if he just ran in swinging which is really what he wanted to do. As he observed from a distance he was soon able to spot his first destination.

    "The beauty about attending a good school are opportunities like these."

 Chapter 10 10: Objective Found

    He wanted to jump out of the window immediately but he didn''t want to be too impulsive, he needed somewhat of a n. As he could tell, he could get overrun easily if he just ran in swinging which is really what he wanted to do. As he observed from a distance he was soon able to spot his first destination.

    "The beauty about attending a good school are opportunities like these."

    Off into the distance on his left hand side, he could make out the female dormitory which from the screams echoing from the distance he could assume that they were in the same situation. But more importantly, maybe about half a mile from the dormitory, centered between both the male and female dormitories was the school''s cafeteria and as an added bonus the cafeteria was located on the second floor of a schools convenience store. The store really did fit its name to perfection. The store contained a lot of daily necessities for college students. From snacks and small groceries to hygienic supplies. It was the perfect small base to start with since he knew it would be raided eventually when the students started to get a grasp on the situation. From what he saw when it came to the group of students who had a magic user, they were already starting to get ustomed.

    Making sure the coast was clear down below, he was about to drop down before he remembered what got him into this mess in the first ce.

    "Hmm maybe I should at least get a different shirt...Wouldn''t won''t some other crazies getting the same ideas and want to kill me as well."

    With his newfound strength and damped clothes due to the excessive blood spilt on him, he tugged on his shirt to rip it off of him. With how much it clung onto his skin he found it more tedious to try to pull off.

    He didn''t care what shirt to put on, he just randomly opened a few drawers till he found the shirts before randomly pulling one out and putting it on.

    The kid who owned these clothes must''ve been pretty tall or he was a bigger than normal guy. Noah wore arge but the shirt fitted on him like a XXL. The short sleeves went a little past his elbows and it reached halfway down his thigh. He didn''t mind it, he just ripped the sleeves off so it didn''t obstruct him fighting. He actually liked the taste of whoever owned this shirt as it was an all ck shirt with an ironic saying that says ''but did you die though?'' It caused a small chuckle to escape his lips when he anticipates the expressions of people who see it.

    Continuing with his previous action, he dropped his hammer to the ground outside the window before he made his way out. He wasn''t 100 percent sure that even with his stats he could jump out of a 2nd story window without the possibility of injuring himself so he held onto the ledge and lowered himself as much as he could before dropping.

    Mmph!

    Instinctively Noah impacted the ground with his feet first before falling onto his butt. He looked towards the ground and then back up towards the window in a daze before he chuckled to himself, fascinated that he didn''t experience even a hint of pain.

    "Haha I still can''t believe this is happening¡­"

    Growls*

    Being interrupted from his excitement caused Noah to frown but instantly he had a grin on his face when he saw four zombies approaching him, three from in front of him and one on his right.

    He knew that with the amount of zombies he''s killed so far that he should be close to leveling up again. He doesn''t know if they would give him the same amount of experience since he''s on a higher level but he should be close regardless. He decided to start with the loner first before he took care of the other three. Even though he wasn''t afraid of fighting zombies, he knew that arrogance could cause his death. He doesn''t know how many times situations like those appeared in his stories.

    Bang!

    With a quicken pace, he ran towards the lone zombie to smash its head, killing it instantly. Just as he finished the zombie off he let out a deep breath filled with satisfaction. He could tell that he leveled up again as he felt his mind bing a bit clearer and after many times of increasing his constitution, he could easily tell the difference of his vitality growing.

    ''More!''

    He inwardly screamed in excitement as he charged towards the three zombies approaching. For people like him, he was bing addicted to the feeling of ecstasy increasing his stats. If he could, he was sure he would try to kill every monster in sight but sadly his body wouldn''t be able to keep up.

    Swing left and right, he made easy work of thest zombies in his near vicinity but thankfully for him, it was far from over. He looked towards the direction of the cafeteria as a small glint appeared in his eyes witnessing the carnage and mayhem happening in front of him.

    He was eager to join in on the chaos but first he had to collect his spoils which again appeared to be only gold which he was mentally prepared for and just likest time, the chest appeared near thest zombie he killed.

    ''There''s definitely a pattern here¡­.I''m just going to go ahead and guess that the chest will always drop near thest thing I kill when I''m done fighting. I don''t know why a god would go through all the trouble to do this but I won''tin.''

    With his loot taken care of, he again looked towards the cafeteria and immediately took off. In his mind he already decided that he was going to grind the entire time on the way and hopefully he could finally get what he''s been wanting since all of this started and that was a tamed creature.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª

    Along the way to the cafeteria, while Noah was busy fighting zombies and the like on his way. Another battle was transpiring down his path that he was unaware of.

    Noooo! Justin! Damn you! Why are you all standing there? If we don''t fight together then we are all next!

    "Isabelle! Are you ok to heal me?"

    About a quarter of a mile from the cafeteria a massacre was taking ce, from zombies to humans and even the rodents. Dead bodiesy everywhere, but unlike the dead bodies of the zombies, some if not most of the humans would still twitch from time to time indicating they were still alive but were not able to move.

    In the center of all the chaos was a middle size group of people all wielding weapons, from staffs, bows, daggers and swords. The group were all facing in one direction, alert and timid as some looked on with fear and others with hatred towards the creature responsible for most that was transpiring here.

    Leaning over the recently paralyzed victim was a bigger than normal sized spider traversing the campus. There weren''t many spiders in the vicinity so having different spiders were normal but if Noah were to see this one in particr then he would surely drool.

    Unlike the other spiders that reached as high as the knee, this one was as big as an adult''s waist, reaching around 3.5 feet high and 4 feet long. It had a body full of fine hairs, it''s entire body was made up of dark gray with strips of white along all it''s 8 legs wrapping around them. The spider had eight eyes, four were located in the center of its face with two of them being thergest out of the group and then there were two sets of eyes located on the back of its head.

    The front legs of the spider were bigger and longer than its counterparts and even the head part was more erged than its backside. This made its pincers which were of a different color that were of a blue and light greenish hue more disturbing to look at.

    The group were slowly losing to despair due to their failed attempts in subduing the creature. There were more of the group before but when they saw people going down one by one they decided to save their own skins, either by running to the closest building which would be the cafeteria or back to one of the dorms.

    The spider was just too quick for them to gang up on without good teamwork. The only reason they were still bitterly holding on was because of the man leading them holding a round shield and a short sword. The man would try to get its attention while the people would try to hit its blind sides which seemed to only be behind it considering that it has eyes on the side of its head.

    Honestly if the bodies that the spider took down weren''t still alive then the man with the shield was sure that more than half of the people left would''ve already ran away.

    He looked onwards towards the spider with a deep seeded hatred in his eyes. The spider was incapable of showing expressions so he didn''t know if it was beginning to wear out. The only signs of them having a possibility of them winning was the fact that it was no longer lunging towards them anymore which no matter how much they anticipated it, it was always able to single someone out of the group and take them down just as fast as it pounced.

    Because it was no longer jumping, that gave them more leeway to attack its blind spots. Gashes and cuts could be located around its bottom and close to its face. Even one of its back legs was crushed, but that wasn''t enough to instill confidence in the group to try to outright take it down.

    But seeing that no one was attempting to attack it, the spider seemed to want to feed to recover some of its strength.

    It turned its body to face the group with one of the twitching victims lying in front of it. No one knew what it was trying to do until it was toote.

    "Ahh get off of him!" The man leading the team blindly rushed towards the spider after seeing it sink itsrge fangs into his friend.

    He didn''t realize that almost no one rushed along with him besides another male student who wielded a one handed ax. With his crazed face that also appeared to be on the brink of tears, it could be seen that he also had some type of rtion to the victim named Justin.

    "Derrick!" The healer who stood before with the shield bearer screamed out. Even if she wanted to, she knew she should stay behind as she has been instructed since the start of the chaos but fear was the main factor keeping her from joining her colleagues.

    The fear didn''t ovee her rationalepletely as she frantically turned towards the rest of the group for help. She knew that Derrick messed up when he broke the formation they decided on which is partly the reason for the rest to not follow up, but she desperately needed them to help, to help save the man she loves.

    "Pl-please help him! If he dies too then what will happen to us? We can''t fight that thing without him!"

    The frightened expressions that appeared within the group convinced Isabelle that her words had convinced them, she just didn''t realize that she convinced them  in an entirely different way.

 Chapter 11 11: Is It Worth It?

    Pl-please help him! If he dies too then what will happen to us? We can''t fight that thing without him!"

    The frightened expressions that appeared within the group convinced Isabelle that her words had convinced them, she just didn''t realize that she convinced them in an entirely different way.

    ng!

    Her facial expression froze when she saw some people in the group who held heavier weapons drop them to the ground, their facial expressions showing only fear.

    Isabelle couldn''t understand why they would drop their weapons after she just exined to them that they could die if they didn''t fight. She wanted to question them but words weren''t forming from her sheer confusion, thankfully and unfortunately, someone cleared it up for her.

    "Sh-she''s right! We''ll only die if we continue to fight! This is our chance while it''s distracted, why should I continue to fight and die when clearly you all are the ones fighting to save someone you know?"

    His words inspired the fearful ones who wanted to leave but didn''t have the confidence to leave on their own, but now that someone had spoken up for them they gained the courage to speak out as well.

    "We''re clearly going to die even if we all stay, we lost more people than we would''ve if we didn''t decide to fight it in the first ce!"

    "That guy with the shield and her." A bystander pointed to Isabelle. "Are the reason we''re in this mess. I''m outta here, I don''t want to die!"

    One by one they started to fold and then scatter right in front of Isabelle''s eyes.

    "W-wait¡­." She weakly called out to the group with an outstretched arm, but her voice didn''t seem to reach them. Her vulnerable side caused most of the rest who were still undecided to leave as well, but hope wasn''t all lost since there were still people who stayed, not only because they felt guilty but also because they still had people to save among the victims.

    Out of a group of around 25 students, there were only 8 left including Isabelle.

    The longer she watched the people leave the more emotional she became.

    "Fine, you piece of shits! If you couldn''t fight this one creature without us then how would you manage if you run into something like this again? I hope you all die!"

    The ones who ran were too focused to hear her screams but the few who stayed gradually calmed their hearts when they realized they may have made the right choice in staying. Of course they all hoped that what she said wasn''t true, who would want to believe that there could be something more dangerous than what they were fighting now? But it didn''t takemon sense to realize that what they were fighting was a giant spider and after seeing the zombies and the mouse/rats that were now humongouspared to their original counterparts, they could only imagine what other animals changed in the world.

    "BRANDON! YOU FUCKER, ILL KILL YOU!"

    Isabelle and the group who stayed all turned their attention to the fight transpiring. What they witnessed caused Isabelle to gasp. They were able to force the spider back as Derrick was now standing before the body of Justin. From the distance, they couldn''t tell if he was still alive after the spider sunk its fangs into him for the second time, but that wasn''t what made her gasp.

    When she looked in the direction of the spider she noticed the spider posing in a defensive stance. Its upper body was raised in the air showing five of its legs threateningly even though one of the six was cut in half while it supported itself on its two back legs awkwardly.

    But what horrified her more than the stance of the spider was thest leg that wasn''t raised because what was under it was thest person of her group that she knew personally was now skewered under the spider''s sharp leg. Anyone could see he was a goner as he held onto the spider''s leg in a needless attempt to take it out of him and from there they could see that the leg of the spider prated the middle of his stomach outside his back.

    It seemed the asional action of Brandon spitting out blood and crying due to the pain was causing Derricks already deranged emotions to tilt over.

    ng!

    "Derrick¡­.?" Isabelle started to be more worried when she saw Derrick drop his shield and rushed towards a giant two handed ax lying near a body. He was giving her the sense that he was going to throw his life away in order to kill the spider. Not only would she lose the person she loves but she would also lose her protector in this hellish environment, she couldn''t begin to imagine what she would do if she let him go through with his actions, she had to stop him before it was toote.

    "DERRICK!" She screamed at the top of her lungs to get his attention and at the same time it attracted a small group of zombies behind them, but no one was able to notice that the zombies that were in the direction of the boys dormitory were focusing on something else during this moment.

    Her scream managed to grab hold of Derricks attention, he turned to look at her with a wild gaze.

    "Isabelle look what they did to our friends, look what it''s done to Brandon! And Jus-Justin¡­..he''s dead¡­.ma-maybe if I had used that skill then he¡­he¡­.HELP ME KILL THIS BASTARD!"

    The way he looked at her caused her to take a step back, the group that stayed looked back and forth between the two and the encroaching zombies unsure of what action to take.

    "Derrick it''s over! There''s no one else to save! And at this rate¡­.at this rate you''ll only be getting us killed too! Let''s leave, we need to live, to live for everyone we lost, to live for each other!"

    Hearing Isabelle trying to convince Derrick to retreat relieved the group who didn''t want to engage with the spider again. Hope glimmered in their eyes that they would get out of this mess and if they all stick together then it would be that much easier to wait till helpes. On that note they all came to a consensus to fight the approaching zombies to clear a way to leave for when Isabelle retrieves Derrick.<novelnext></novelnext>

    All the while the spider who was constantly alert, gazed towards Derrick and then towards its lively new meal. It noticed that at this moment Derrick was vulnerable but not only was it feeling weak at the moment but it''s legs were also too damaged to pounce towards him from its distance. The desire to feed was growing stronger as its fangs rub against each other frantically as a warning but doing so it noticed that Derrick didn''t react to it.

    Warily it started to lower its legs as it lowered its mouth towards Brandon who no longer cried out in pain. It pierce his sides with its fangs causing Brandon to twitch and whimper and yet Derrick who caused the spider the most grievance seemed to not notice.

    Meanwhile, while the spider was finally about to take a break and feed, Derrick was trying to sort out hisplicated feelings. He wanted more than anything to kill the spider but then he realized that ever since the first member of their group was taken out he spurred everyone on for that one person and slowly they ended up in this situation with almost no one left alive all because of his decision.

    He felt guilty, part of him wanted to finish what he started, that way he could find that as an escape for him being the cause of everyone''s death. If he used the skill he gained from the achievement from earlier he had a high chance of killing the creature at the cost of maybe his life afterwards, but the more he rationalized things, an unbundling feel of death waved over him. Like any normal person, he didn''t want to die, but he also couldn''t be the one to suggest retreating after all he''s done. He was thankful for Isabelle at this moment.

    He was preparing to return to Isabelle and the group that stayed with them till everyone heard a voice in the direction of the spider.

    "Come to daddy!"

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-

    Moments before the spider started to feed on Brandon''s body, Noah finally made it to the clearing where the battle went on.

    The gore and carnage he came upon wasn''t enough to phase him, he himself had juste from a simr setting if not worse and he was the cause of it.

    A distance behind him was a small group of students that were growing in number due to the fact that they were viewing Noah as their lifeline after witnessing him mowing through the zombies.

    But even though they followed him, they were also afraid of him. Some were still stumbling and hurling from the carnage and brutal killings that Noah disyed while others still continued to hear his creepyugh ringing in their ears repeatedly.

    It didn''t help that even now Noah waspletely covered in blood and innards again. Unlikest time, the blood will most likely take a couple of washes just to remove the stains from his skin, let alone the smell.

    Noah was aware of the people following him but as long as they didn''t take his precious experience and didn''t try to force him to protect them then he would allow the followers to do what they want. As for now he had two important matters to take care of.

    "So it does work! If I had to go searching for the chest then I would lose it¡­but how does it drop exactly when I''m no longer fighting?

    I guess whoever that voice was is watching over everything huh? I know I would, this is just too thrilling."

    Again, after killing thest zombie around him, a bronze chest appeared confirming Noah''s initial thoughts. He didn''t have anything specific in mind to obtain from the chest, if anything he wanted a new weapon simr to his hammer.

    His hammer didn''tst long enough during his killing spree. The steel had a few dents here and there but Blows after blows against the zombies'' craniums caused the base of the wooden handle that connected the steel and the wood to slowly splinter. Halfway through killing the zombies the steel had broken off from its handle leaving him to fight with his handle as if it was a spear.

    Thankfully the area was filled with students who were at least courageous enough to get one kill and receive a weapon. Some just weren''t lucky enough to survive long, but their demise at least left Noah with options of a preferred weapon lying around so he picked up a one handed sword and a short one handed mallet.

    He could make do with the weapons he had now but he would still prefer a weapon that was a bit messier.

    He remembered that thest time he opened the chest too quickly he only received gold so superstitiously he opened the chest slowly hoping that it would give him luck.

    "If I don''t find what to use this money for I think I''ll lose my mind.." the first thing he saw as soon as he opened the chest was an abundance of gold coins. He felt an itch as he quickly fantasized about buying unique fantasy items or even skills!

    Noah closed his eyes briefly to calm his thoughts before moving on. Just like hisst bronze chest, this one also held attribute orbs but unlikest time there were two orbs, one was a sunflower yellow while the other azure blue, both glowed intensely next to a piece of metal sticking out from the gold.

    He impatiently reached for the orbs first, curious of what the colors signified but more importantly he was in a hurry not to miss out on the opportunity before him concerning the bad ass spider.

    +2 magic

    +2 spirit

    "Phew, Take that Johnathan! I was beginning to believe I would be forced to go the tank route¡­" After receiving the attributes from the orb, he moved on to hisst reward which turned out to be more than needed in his opinion.

 Chapter 12 12: Envy Can Kill

    "Phew¡­Take that Johnathan! I was beginning to believe I would be forced to go the tank route¡­" After receiving the attributes from the orbs, he moved on to hisst reward which turned out to be more than needed in his opinion.

    Laying at the bottom of the chest was an armor that fit the era of medieval times or in a fantasy setting. It was enough to cover the entire torso, with the armor seemingly being made out of steel tes and guards attached to the shoulder. The armor came with short sleeves that were made out of leather and a leather garbed attached to its waist. The neck area didn''t appear suffocating as it didn''t go past the cor bone but there was a standing cor attached for either added protection or just for appearance sake that was also made out of leather. What caught his attention were the intricate details of the leather that followed a tribal design.

    Noah didn''t think twice about putting it on, he didn''t bother about his bloody shirt since his appearance was thest thing on his mind and wouldn''t want to feel ufortable with metal pressed against his bare skin even though his body''s constitution has improved immensely.

    Immediately after putting on the armor he felt a change in his body, from that he knew the armor boosted his stats just like the weapons he had acquired. He doesn''t know when he will obtain a skill to identify weapons or armor stats. For he knows they could have hidden abilities which is the only reason he regrets not obtaining the analyze skill since he could always just check his stats to understand what attributes were enhanced.

    "Derrick, it''s over!"

    Taken out of his train of thought by themotion of Isabelle screaming towards Derrick, Noah realized that his chance wasing.

    ''Hmm this could work! But¡­.first let''s spend some stats just in case. If I fail to get it just because I want to save my stats for an emergency then I would never forgive myself. Wait! What am I saying? This is an emergency!''

    Having made his decision, he quickly brought up his stats.

    yer: Noah

    Race:Human->Human Chimera

    ss: Monster Tamer

    Gold: 312

    Lvl 5

    Exp:15/400

    Health:87%

    Stamina:34%

    Mana: 24

    Attributes

    Defense: 10

    Strength:14(15)+2

    Agility:14(15)+1

    Constitution:18->24(25)+5

    Stamina:17(18)

    Magic: 7->11(12)

    Spirit:40->44(46)

    Unused points: 10

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)

    Killing instinct (lvl 0) progression:1.8%

    Passive

    Soul cage(lvl 0)

    Hunters sight (lvl 0) 9.2%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:4.3%

    Immortal body (lvl 0) progression: 1.07%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:25%

    Titles<novelnext></novelnext>

    The fallen

    "Oh!" Noah noticed the defense he acquired from the armor plus the five extra weapons constitution making his constitution exactly thirty.

    ''Well this changes things¡­ok! Let''s at least make my spirit an even 50, I''m sure spirit is the main driving force when ites to taming monsters since the ss itself gives me spirit upon leveling up and then I''ll arrange my stats ordingly after I''m able to tame this beast.

    After making up his mind, Noah dumped four points into his spirit to make it an even 50 due to his passive immortal body which gave him an extra five percent on his stats. Right after, he received an unexpected tug on his mind which he knew signified a new notification.

    ''Is it because I reached 50 with one of my stats? If that''s the case then I have even more reason to find a proper path to build¡­but let''s see what it is first!''

    [Achieved the first limits of 50 stats in spirit, perk based on ss monster tamer obtained; Taming proficiency

    Taming proficiency- increases the chances of sessfully taming a creature by 10%. Can only level up by increasing spirit.]

    Noah wasted no time to read the definition of the skill once he obtained it. The skill couldn''t havee at a better time, but after realizing that the skills get stronger the more you specialize in that stat, it made him more determined to not be an all rounder.

    Now that he has obtained his perk, he was more than confident in taming the spider.

    "It seems you were fated to be mine after all." Noah was beginning to grow impatient. The spider has been on high alert for awhile now. It didn''t help that the woman Isabelle was screaming towards Derrick keeping the spider even more vignt, but that''s when he finally saw his chance.

    The spider was slowly lowering its legs before it sunk its fangs into the seemingly dead victim''s body while the group before it appeared to no longer want to confront the creature. All Noah needed was a chance and his chance finally presented itself.

    "Come to daddy!" He yelled enthusiastically, he couldn''t hold in his excitement at the chance at taming such a beast. Not only was it strong but it looked domineering as well, it checked off every criteria that he would want.

    HISS!

    As soon as Noah jumped onto the back of the spider, with his legs wrapped around the spider''s thorax. The spider hissed loudly while it frantically waved about its legs and threw its body around to remove the human on top of it.

    Thankfully for Noah, the amount of thrashing it was doing was almost negligent in his eyes because of the exhaustion of the spider and the fact that the spider was unable to reach him with any of its legs. He clutched harder to the spider''s sides thinking it would maybe attempt to roll over but either the spider was too startled witnessing its ''food'' mount him or it was too exhausted to attempt such a move which may leave it even more vulnerable. Meanwhile, Noah was trying to calm his thoughts to attempt his taming skill, it was unlike his killing instincts which made him feel as if he could use it just by giving into the skill.

    ''Shit! Every time I feel like I''m about to make a connection, it moves¡­If you want to y that way then fine!''

    After having enough of being constantly interrupted trying to passively tame the spider since from the knowledge of his skill he knew that it''s easier on the user of the skill to establish the connection if the monster was less hostile towards the mental attack. Yet now since Noah felt he was experienced enough to aplish such a task in this moment, he decided to force his way in and force the connection which will trigger more fight from the creature being tamed but he was beginning to be too annoyed to care.

    Meanwhile, the group of survivors who recently fought against the spider were bbergasted as they couldn''t peel their eyes away from the scene. They were able to take care of the group of zombies who were near them so they could clear a path to escape but escaping was now thest thing on their minds. Most people in the group were confused how or even why a lone person would attempt to attack the spider after all the bodies that littered the ground around it. Not only did he decide to attack it but he didn''t even wield a weapon! It''s almost as if he was just asking to die. Yet for some reason, they still couldn''t peel their eyes away, either it was because they were curious to see if the man had something up his sleeve or they didn''t want to be left wondering if he would regret his choice during his death.

    Unlike the others watching, the man Derrick, who was finally discouraged to keep pursuing his revenge against the spider was now thinking about re entering the battle and using Noah''s ''sacrifice'' to try to finish it off.

    Hissssss! THUMP THUMP THUMP!*

    He looked onwards while the spider hisses loudly and the sound of heavy vibrations like a miniature earthquake was emitting from the creature as it swung its legs to the ground.

    His body felt as if he was gaining renewed vigor watching the spider struggle, he could tell that Noah didn''t seem to be struggling too much to stay on top of it. He was going to use this chance, he needed this chance to redeem himself, more for his pride than for his fallen friends.

    Gasps!*

    Derrick was brought back from his inner struggles when he heard the murmurings of astonishment around him and looked towards the direction of their attention to notice the odd scene before him.

    Both the spider and the Man above him were no longer moving and were in a standstill. It was almost as if someone hit the pause button on the both of them. The spider still had a few of its legs in the air in the same motion it used to pound the ground. Its fangs, which it used to rub against each other to create one of its many threatening sounds could also still be seeing froze in ce. Even Noah wasn''t moving and stayed in his mounting posture but with one hand extended towards the head of the spider. The most noticeable thing the two had inmon that everyone was easily able to notice were that the two seemed to be asleep while stuck in their positions.

    "What the heck just happened?"

    "Why aren''t they moving? Did he kill it?"

    "Someone go and check¡­who knows, you could probably kill that thing and get loads of experience!"

    "Why don''t you do it then idiot?"

    One by one people were beginning to be more curious and even more were bing anxious. Some were anxious because the person they were following in hopes to be their way out of here could possibly be dead while others started to develop hidden intentions of killing the spider for their own personal gain to increase their chances of survival.

    The person who was bing the most anxious of them all was no one other than Derrick.

    "Wait! What are you doing Derrick?" He turned back to look towards his girlfriend Isabelle who clung onto his arm with both hands, he could see tears building up in her eyes. Worry showed in her expression, but more than worry was fear. She was afraid of him dying and leaving alone, with his previous suicidal actions, she was even more afraid about what he was attempting to do now.

    Derrick gazed at her face and then looked down towards her hands still holding his arms. He started to think about everything that happened that built up to this moment. Before shit hit the fan, he considered himself to be a very charismatic individual with above average charm. He had many friends who would do anything for him and a girlfriend that left many jealous. Just before everything happened, he even enjoyed himself immensely the night prior. But now here he is, most of his friends are gone, the future he thought he had seems nigh impossible to grab anymore. To top everything off, the monster that made him feel helpless and took so much away from him was stopped by some random individual who didn''t even appear to have a weapon. How was he supposed to take that? Was he that inferior to him?

    ''That''s right! The spider was tired from my ''friends'' sacrifices, because of me we were able to get the spider to this point. I deserve to be the one to kill it, Not someone who didn''t do anything and is now taking the credit that should be mine!''

    The more Derrick thought about the situation, the more angry he became. His anger was intensifying by the second that he was borderline approaching insanity. He already witnessed the power increase you could obtain from leveling up and the gear you could acquire from killing the zombies as well as creatures.

    ''This guy probably stole kills from others just like he''s doing now, yes! That''s the only reason he could have a skill to stop it...An-and if i could kill him too...''

 Chapter 13 13: Battle Of The Minds

    ''This guy probably stole kills from others just like he''s doing now, yes! That''s the only reason he could have a skill to stop it...an-and if i could kill him too..''

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª-

    During this time Noah was in the middle of taming the spider still. Unlike what he thought was going to ur where he would gain something simr to a spiritual body and battle it out with the spider to tame it through domination. What he was experiencing now was a ck environment as if he was in outer space but instead of stars ands there were balls of energy? He wasn''t sure how to describe it since he was one of the balls, his ball took on the colors of white with ck strands coated throughout that would re from time to time chaotically. The other, which he assumed to be the spiders, waspletely gray but within the ball, unlike Noah''s, the spider had specks of white that were almost unnoticeable. He didn''t know what the color signified, he originally thought the white was a symbol of intelligence but because his was ck as well, it made him unsure.

    Right now they were in what appeared to be simr to a tug of war through sheer will. He felt as if there was an invisible barrier trying to force him out of the space they were in as he attempted to push through the threads of the spider''s ball of energy to get to the center. Instinctively he knew that was the only way to obtain his first creature.

    Immediately Noah could tell the difference of having a lot of points in his spirit, even though the spider was retaliating as he constantly felt a force pushing against him with a slight pain urring now and again, that pain felt like a small migraine. He still pushed on without a change in his speed as he progressed.

    ''Isn''t this too easy? Wait¡­maybe it''s simr to Pok¨¦mon and since it was weakened it''s not able to fight back as much...Maybe I should take 5 seconds to grieve for those people''s sacrifices after this is over.''

    Luckily no one could hear his thoughts, if people wanted to kill him now for beneficial gains it''s not hard to imagine how many enemies he would gain after hearing his thoughts now.

    But it also appeared that Noah spoke too soon. The closer he got to the core of the spider, he no longer had to worry only about the force pressing against him. He could literally feel what the spider was feeling at this time. At first, he scoffed at the sad attempt to try to gain sympathy from him. He didn''t care how the spider felt initially, it''s not like he was gonna treat it badly after he tamed it, the spider was just exaggerating.

    He could feel the fear emitting from it, as well as the despair and helplessness.

    ''Ma-maybe¡­.I shouldfort it first and give it a chance to choose¡­this doesn''t feel right an-eh? Somethings not right¡­''

    Slowly the feelings of the spider were growing more intense and without realizing it, the spider''s feelings were affecting Noah''s. Cold sweat dripped down his imaginary back when he thought of what could''ve happened if his spirit wasn''t high enough at this moment. This altercation was an eye opener for him that he shouldn''t be too arrogant without vignce.

    It''s been a long time since Noah has felt such helplessness, even when he was beaten up he would feel anger and vengeful instead. It reminded him of the times he spent living under his parents, when he would actually crave social interactions, when the quiet nights felt painful. The irritation he was feeling now was at an all time high that it helped alleviate any other emotional struggleing from the spider.

    "Fuck you! Hate me, despise me, but don''t be such a wimp and kill my vibe! You almost made me second guess taming you."

    Just like how Noah was able to feel the spider''s emotions, the spider was able to feel his as well.

    The disappointment the spider felting from Noah confused it, it could feel that the disappointment was directed towards itself but couldn''t understand why.

    All its life it had struggled to survive, always having to be cautious of its many predators then one day it grew in size and became more aware. One of the predators it always avoided could now be its prey, the tall beings fell one after another under its fangs and yet this same creature finds it disappointing?

    The spider wanted to prove him wrong, at this point it doesn''t care about losing to the creature trying to control it but It didn''t want Noah to belittle it any longer.

    ''Yes! That''s it! Maybe I was right in choosing you, struggle and struggle more. How could I rely on you in the future if you give up on yourself now?''

    Noah could feel the determination building up within the spider and not a momentter he felt a pressure heavier than before pushing against him. Noah''s own energy core began to shine more intensely while the ck wisp of energy started to spiral about even more the more excited he became.

    Even he knew that he would now seed in taming the beast, but he couldn''t lie that he was enjoying this otherworldly ''battle''. His pure excitement began to also affect the spider''s emotions who was bing ''corrupted'' from Noah''s emotions and slowly was enjoying its struggle against the human creature.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª-

    "Derrick! Are you even listening to me? Let''s go already? This is our chance! No one can me you for not being able to save them, the least we can do is live for them!" If there were only slight tears before, Isabelle could now clearly be seen crying. Even though she was curious about the situation involving Noah, she was mentally exhausted and emotionally unstable. She wanted to go somewhere she could feel safe, but she wasn''t aware of the extent that power could corrupt, especially a tangible power that could literally give you supernatural powers that could let you create your own authority.

    Derrick''s eyes zed over for a moment. It wasn''t her words that were affecting him but it was her crying face that impacted him. Slowly, he raised his hand towards her face in an attempt to wipe away her tears. He wanted to tell her not to worry, that what he was going to do was for both of them.

    "Belle¡­.I-!" The time she most needed to beforted he wasn''t able to do so. The irritation in his heart was being eaten away by the guilt seeing the pain he was putting her through. It appeared that his sanity was beginning to return, but just when he almost reached her face, with her hands still holding his other arm, he saw it..

    "What? He''s really serious about taking the spider from that guy!"

    "Didn''t he see how that man killed all of those zombies? And he still wants to steal his kill?"

    "Get back over here! We''re following him so he can protect us! What do you think will happen if you do that idiot?"

    Derrick was oblivious to the noise at first, but when he saw movement heading towards the spider, his awareness and paranoia reached dangerous levels.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Shit! Shit! Shit! Everyone is trying to take what''s mine¡­" he turned to rush towards the individual heading towards Noah and the spider only to realize Isabelle still had a hold of his arm.

    "BITCH! LET GO! I could''ve already killed them if it wasn''t for you!"

    "Ahh!" He swung his arm with such brute force that it caused Isabelle to m to the ground. It was so abrupt that it felt to her as if her arms were about to pull out of their sockets. Who knows the damage she would have taken if she persistently decided to hold on.

    "Der-sniffs* Derrick¡­..wh-why¡­." She didn''t attempt to get up as she started to bawl her eyes out. The death of her friends wasn''t enough to break her, even the harsh words of her boyfriend weren''t enough. It was the action of being thrown away as if she was a waste of space that broke her.

    The few people that stayed wanted to help her but they all seemed to hesitate. Who wasn''t afraid to die? They stuck with them because not only did they feel guilty but they knew that they had a better chance of surviving with Derrick and Isabelle who could heal. Now they didn''t have a reason to stay. They were bing afraid of Derrick and seeing the state Isabelle was in, they would have to coddle her while also trying to protect themselves now.

    But not everyone was as cold hearted, one girl from the group ran out to support her, letting Isabelle cry in her arms. No one moved yet, everyone was now glued to what was happening around Noah.

    ''This is it! This thing should level me up a bunch right? Just imagine the drops I should get...those suckers are scared for no reason. Who would need this guy''s help if you could be strong enough to help yourself. If he manage to kill it then we would all just continue having to rely on him, but I''m not as stupid as them.

    "Huff Huff Huff! If you put one hand on that spider then that''ll be thest thing you''ll ever do!"

    Derrick was breathing hard at this point and it wasn''t because he was tired but it was because of how angry he was at this moment. Everyone seemed to be treating him as a fool, will they keep treating him as a pushover when he runs his axe through them?

    The boy from earlier who was just a few feet from the spider now hesitated in his steps as he came to an abrupt stop after being threatened.

    He knew who the voice belonged to but he was there too when he heard the girl Isabelle trying to convince him to leave. He gave up! Why is he still here?

    Sweat trickled down his neck as he slowly turned towards the voice with a dagger in his hand. Fear could be seen in his eyes but when he came upon the condition of Derrick. That fear turned to anger, he could see the crazed and desperate look in Derricks eyes screaming ''I have to have it''. Derrick wanted the spider just as much if not more than he did, most likely for the same reasons. This is the safety of his life that''s on the line, plus the thought of the prestige he could obtain was causing his dagger hand to be itchy.

    "And who are you to tell me what I can and can''t do? I can tell you''re not in the best condition, you still think you can stop me?" He tried to stand his ground while stealthy took a few steps towards the spider. He didn''t actually believe he could beat Derrick whose weapon was a couple feet longer than his, but if he could take the initiative and quicklynd a killing blow to the spider then he would just be satisfied with the experience and leave the loot. At Least he could keep his life.

    "Y-you!" How could Derrick not realize the boy getting closer to the spider. He made a mistake wasting time trying to threaten him, he should''ve just attacked and been done with it. The boy''s actions only steeled Derricks'' resolve to kill him too.

    ''Fine¡­I was already about to be a murderer anyway, what''s two more?'' He gripped his axe with both hands and charged towards the boy first. He''ll take what was his afterwards.

    "Matt get out of there dummy!"

    "That''s what he gets¡­"

    "Can you all shut up! Look! More of those zombie things are being attracted over here, there''s too many of them! Fuck it! I''m leaving! That guy can''t protect us if he''s dead too."

    Due to the constant surprises and suspense following Derricks group battle with the spider and then the altercation between Noah and the spider. Everyone was unaware how big of an attraction they were to the zombies and animals alike in the vicinity. The only reason they weren''t attacked yet was because of the hundreds of other students grabbing their attention either by running away or engaging them in fights. Noah would be surprised of some of the small groups who were adapting so well in this chaos.

    Some individuals like Mark who was heading towards the girls dormitory with his small group that now had an additional two people could be seen mowing down zombies and the like resembling a one man army. The steel of his sword glowed with a soft light that caused smoke to emit from the zombies whenever the sword made contact with their bodies.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª

    "Yo-you''re crazy! You''re gonna regret thister." The boy confronting Derrick quickly turned towards the spider now that he was in striking distance.

    ''If I can at least go up by two levels I''ll definitely be stronger than you¡­who knows¡­maybe I can take care of him and still get the loot after heh-!"

    Bleh!* Not only did Derrick freeze in his steps but even the students who were about to flee stopped as they witnessed the boy with the daggersst moments.

    He was just about to kill the spider who hasn''t moved this entire time and now all they could see was him being impaled in his left thigh and in his neck by two long hairy legs that were attached to the same spider that shouldn''t be able to move.

    "FINALLY! I can finally call myself a monster tammmmerr?¡­..Uhhh what''s going on here?"

 Chapter 14 14: Is It That Serious?

    "FINALLY! I can finally call myself a monster tammmmerr?¡­..Uhhh what''s going on here?"

    Noah was awakened to an unsettling atmosphere and an even more confusing scene. He was ecstatic that he was finally able to secure a monster and a strong one at that.

    But aftering back from that dark space, he came to witness the spider, HIS spider, killing someone else while the person from before who originally had a shield was now bearing an axe towards him. Because of the unexpected urrences, he wasn''t able to observe the new changes from within him.

    ''Wait¡­.I was able to tame it right? RIGHT?'' He assumed that taming a creature meant that the said creature wouldn''t be able to act without his orders. If it did, he at least believed that it shouldn''t kill friendlies. But when he looked towards the spider, he felt a small connection to it so that could only mean that he had tamed it, which means.

    ''!Don''t tell me these people tried to attack us.'' Meanwhile, while Noah was trying toe to terms to this crazy development. The ones who weren''t too busy with saving their own skins reacted to the scene, mainly the ones who had a rtion to Matt who was just killed and of course Derrick, who still couldn''tprehend what just happened. He could only look towards Matt''s body dangling with two sharp legs prating him before looking towards the spider and finally to Noah who was left in his own thoughts.

    He repeated this process a few times, he didn''t know how to feel at this moment or even what actions to take. He failed every step of the way to kill anything he set his eyes on and he realized that both things had one particr denominator inmon.

    ''Ugh! it''s always him¡­'' Derrick red towards Noah with an extreme hatred as if they were lifetime enemies. That hatred bore a dense killing instinct that would be impossible to pick up if this were still their earth of security they were used to before. But now, with Noah''s abnormal early stats in his spirit, he instinctively felt dangering from a certain direction that made him reel in his wandering thoughts just to find a man from before staring deeply at him while he seemed to be fuming heatedly like a bull in heat.

    "Hmm?" Noah questioned with his gaze after seeing Derrick''s attitude towards him. He didn''t know what he could''ve done to offend him, he saw the majority of the end of his confrontation with the spider and saw how he basically had given up. Even if he didn''t, Noah didn''t see any way for Derrick to win against the spider when the spider''s vignce was almost entirely directed towards him.

    "Yo-you made th-that thing kill Matt? N-no¡­no¡­you killed him! You murderer!"

    Maybe it was because Noah has been able to quickly assimte his mind to everything that has been happening. Seeing the boy Matt dying in front of him by the very spider he just tamed didn''te to mind until he heard an aggrieved voice screaming towards him within the group of students who followed him.

    "Ah!" An imaginary light bulb appeared over his head, he didn''t consider that the boy the spider killed could be the reason for Derricks hostile gaze against him. He''s forgotten how it felt to have a bond with another, he doesn''t know how it would feel to lose a loved one since he doesn''t remember thest time he loved anyone before or even felt loved.

    He looked towards Derrick with a sense of pity while ignoring the voice who screamed before. If that voice cared so much then why is Derrick here and not him? Noah couldn''t imagine how wrong he was in this situation, but nothing else would make sense why they were here unless they were trying to help him against the spider which made the spider defend itself. It also made sense why Derrick looked at him like so, they came to save him from the spider just to have the spider kill his friend and it appeared that he himself made the spider do it. He tried to imagine himself in their position and felt that Derrick''s enmity towards him was justified.

    What Noah didn''t know was that his look of pity yed differently in the eyes of Derrick. His look, to him, appeared to be one of arrogance as if Noah was looking down on him as if he was a bug.

    "Ugh I''ll kill you, you bastard!" Derrick lost his patience, he was blinded by rage and consumed with hatred when he looked towards Noah. Nothing else mattered to him right now but to wipe away that face of his that made him feel small and inferior.

    "What? Is it really that serious?" Derrick''s berserk state really confused Noah at this point. He could already see the amount of bodies that the spider killed before which numbered close to 15 deaths and he was sure some of those bodies were people that Derrick knew, so why is he so upset over this one person? Besides, Noah inadvertently saved them by taming the spider, he''s the victim here! Thinking up till here, he decided to try to appease Derrick and the others by at least returning the body to them. That should make them appear less threatening to them no?

    "Uh¡­wait I didn''t give you a name did I? Can you give him the body back? Maybe that''ll calm him down."

    Boom!

    Not a momentter, Derrick was soon seen flying back a few meters after being impacted by Matt''s lifeless body which not only flung him away but had him rolling a couple meters more. Noah facepalmed himself, bbergasted due to the spider''s actions to his orders. He doesn''t know if the spider couldn''tprehend his intentions or if the spider did it intentionally because of the bad blood between the two already.

    ''Maybe I should''ve been more specific¡­this is really making me out to be the bad guy here. Urgh ok what would someone normally do if their pet killed someone''s friend in self defense? Those books didn''t prepare me for something like this.''<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah briefly red at the spider before shaking his head; he couldn''t put the me on it since these people attacked it when it was at its most vulnerable. He still wasn''t sure what their n was, did they expect the spider not to act at all? The Matt guy didn''t seem to go out with a fight at all in Noah''s view.

    ''Why help if you''re incapable? That''s like trying to save a person from drowning when you can''t swim?'' He continued to admonish Matt even in his death while he hopped off of the spider''s back and approached halfway towards Derrick who just now was able to remove the body from himself. Noah wasn''t sure what to expect in this situation and his spider was exhausted earlier so he wasn''t expecting to rely on it during this time.

    "Hey¡­.Sooo about what just happened¡­"

    Noah still wasn''t able to formte the right wording that could calm down the raging man in front of him. What is he supposed to say? ''Don''t be mad since the spider is now under his control? Sorry for your loss?'' it all sounded cheesy to him in his mind.

    Well it wouldn''t have mattered what Noah could say at this point, his words couldn''t reach Derrick who now was consumed by rage and pride. Throwing a dead body at him was equivalent to being pped in the face, and it hurt! What''s worse was that it was in front of others. At this point, Derrick felt so humiliated that he wouldn''t be able to move on if he didn''t kill the annoyance in front of him. He would be haunted by this moment during every second of his life if he couldn''t personally watch the life leave Noah''s eyes.

    "FUCK IT! I don''t care anymore, I''ll end you!" Derrick roared with all of his might. If there were creatures in the vicinity before, whose attention were on the other students. His monstrous bellow certainly caused more than a few to look their way now, but like he said before, none of that matters.

    ''You made me do this¡­.'' Still ring deeply towards Noah, a change began to happen to Derrick''s appearance. His muscles throughout his entire body seemed to have grown and bulged out. He was already particrly stocky before, but he seemed to be morphing into a bodybuilder in real time. During this time, his clothes were not able to properly fit anymore as his shirt and pants were ripping at the seams while he continued to grow in muscle mass.

    Noah, who was witnessing the change happening, was astonished at first. This was a transformation for crying out loud and he was witnessing it first hand. Every moment during this apocalyptic time he was reminded time and time again how fantasy like the world was bing and every moment he witnessed made him even more excited for the unforeseeable future. It was just after a few seconds of watching Derrick change that Noah started to wear a grave expression. There were no enemies in the area besides the ones the group on the perimeter were engaging with, there couldn''t be any reason why he didn''t use such a transformation before, even when his life was in danger confronting the spider before unless!

    ''Is he nning on killing me? What the hell? What did I do?'' Noah inwardly panicked a little, he wasn''t prepared to face off against someone who seems to be granted the ability to turn into the hulk. He also couldn''tprehend why someone with such a power didn''t use that power to protect his friends earlier.

    But his panic state onlysted for a brief moment, if he was going to die then it should be by at least something grand like a dragon! He started to be annoyed that he had yet met someone else who was trying to ruin this new experience for him on the same day.

    ''Fine¡­let''s have it your way, maybe i can find out if i can also get goodies from killing people as well, hehe¡­this is getting exciting!

    Urgh don''t get distracted Noah, his transformation seems to be really strong. He definitely got a boost of strength, but what about agility and his constitution?'' Thinking this far ahead, he looked to his newpanion which was now on high alert, as an insect that always had to struggle to survive, it could easily perceive the danger radiating from Derrick who now was sporting purple veins that appeared ready to burst.

    ''I''ll definitely need help from you with this fe...I also need a weapon now¡­I doubt he''ll let me go back and retrieve mine.'' Using his handy ''Hunters Sight'' ability, he quickly nced around to see what he could use in this situation, yet what he found almost left him speechless.''

    ''Hmmm? ahh fuck me¡­.Johnathan why cant you just leave me alone already sheesh!''

    What he found was definitely something he could use but it was also something he was trying to avoid and that was a shield. Since the start of this new world it appeared that fate was trying to force him to be a tank. He didn''t mind bing one since he felt that it would be a good strategy as a monster tamer. As long as he stayed alive then his creatures could do all the work right? He just didn''t like the idea that he hasn''t been given much to have options, but at this time he can''t be picky.

    The shield was at least close to him, itid a few feet ahead, but was partly hidden since it was covered by one of the spider''s recent victims. There was no other weapon nearby, at least one that could help him in the situation. He could''ve had a dagger to fight with from Matt, maybe it was the severe pain, but his hands never let go of the dagger even as he was thrown into Derrick.

    ''It seems that fate could be a bitch even now¡­well let''s make this work! I still have stats to spare, lets just use them all and besides¡­I''ve been wanting to see the notification for taming that spider for awhile now.''

 Chapter 15 15: Steroids

    ''It seems that fate could be a bitch even now¡­well let''s make this work! I still have stats to spare, let''s just use them all and besides¡­I''ve been wanting to see the notification for taming that spider for a while now.''

    Immediately, he was bombarded by the robotic sound.

    [Taming of mutated jumping spider sessful. Because the spider waspletely subdued, you are now given the option of the amount of experience to share.

    Would you like to set the shared Experience to the standard 50/50 or custom distribution?

    Hidden ss achievement confirmed, you may not be the first to tame a creature but you are the first to overpower and forcefully tame one. You have been recognized and gained the title of ''Subjugator''.

    Subjugator- An undying will and a fierce mentality, you are a conqueror who defeats and subdues in the battle of will. Spirit ratio is increased from 1:1 to 1:1.5]

    yer: Noah

    Race:Human->Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 312

    Lvl 5

    Exp:15/400

    Health:87%

    Stamina:44%

    Mana: 24

    Attributes

    Defense: 10

    Strength:14(15)

    Agility:14(15)

    Constitution:24(25)+5

    Stamina:17(18)

    Magic: 11(12)

    Spirit:48->72(75)

    Unused points: 6

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)progression: 50%

    Killing instinct (lvl 0) progression:1.8%

    Passive

    Soul cage(lvl 0)

    Hunters sight (lvl 0) 9.2%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:4.3%

    Immortal body (lvl 0) progression: 1.07%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:25%

    Taming proficiency(lvl 0)

    Titles

    The fallen, Subjugator

    ''....'' Noah was dazed for a few moments before his brain could react.

    ''There are actually hidden achievements like these?? If I didn''t actually see people die right in front of me then I would forget how serious this shit is right now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But¡­this makes me wonder what else can I do to get more achievements¡­No Noah, it''s not the time right now, we have a miniature hulk to prepare for or we could die as well.

    Sigh¡­it''s all or nothing now.''

    The first thing he made sure to do was to keep the ratio of the experience he and the spider would share at standard. Hopefully he can change the ratioter but as for now he felt it best for him and his first tamed creature to grow at the same rate. He remembered a saying he read about before that said ''you''re only as strong as your weakest link''. In this case the weakest link could be talking about him or the spider so he chose to make sure to focus on both.

    Re-emerging from looking at his stats and adjusting them after adding the rest of his 6 unassigned points all to his constitution. Noah could feel the changes urring within him before looking towards Derrick annoyingly, he seemed to almost finished with his transformation.

    ''Because of you I''m being forced to learn this skill¡­hopefully there''s no limit to how many skills you can hold in the future.'' His expression was bing worse as he fished a piece of parchment out of his pocket and squeezed under his fist. Not a moment passed before he was given the option of learning the shield skill again.

    [Skill Rodeleros confirmed, would you like to learn it?]

    He quickly epted the skill without hesitation, he already spent too much time as it is. He prepared himself to retrieve the shield, if he could, he would''ve liked to have charged ahead and attacked Derrick during his transformation. What prevented him from doing so wasck of information and ack of weapons, but most importantly it was because he wanted to save the spider''s energy.

    After all of the battling it has been through, who knows if charging the distance to reach Derrick will be the deciding factor for its loss. Plus he didn''t know if his muscles increased his defense nor did he know if Derrick could still move while he was transforming. So instead of bringing the fight to Derrick, he''d rather have Derricke to him so he and the spider can fight together.

    "Ggrrr, I''LL END YOU!"

    "Shit¡­."

    But it appeared that he did waste too much time. Before he could see that Derrick finished, he heard his loud, but very deep voice. Noah instantly took off towards the shield. Thankfully the shield was closer to him than it was to Derrick or sacrifices would have to be made. The option of running away was never there. He didn''t want to give up the spider who could still need time to recover. Even if he and the spider tried to run away, who knows if while he''s encountering other creatures that Derrick wouldn''t use the situation to attack them from behind? He needed to settle this here and now.

    "No! Stay there!" Noah yelled behind him when he sensed the spider starting to get worked up from seeing Him leave. Instinctively, the spider began to see Noah as something of an alpha because of the bond.

    After sensing the threat of Derrick in front of them and because of how vulnerable it felt at this time, seeing Noah suddenly distance himself from it caused it to inwardly panic. Ever since it became bigger, it''s been constantly struggling alone to survive and after gaining sentience, it became more aware of emotions but it still couldn''tprehend what it was feeling since everything was new to it. All it knew was it didn''t want to be left alone surrounded by danger, but Noah''s stern voice made it hesitate to follow.

    Thankfully through their bond it could obtain a small understanding of what Noah was trying to aplish otherwise, bond or not, it would''ve either followed him still or ran away.

    Quickly reaching the shield after a few steps, Noah bent down to retrieve it while briefly ncing up towards the source of the sounds of miniature earthquakes. From a nce, the tall and abnormal figure of Derrick stampeding towards him caused a shudder in Noah''s body.

    ''It''s fine to be a little scared now right? I mean look at this shit¡­I just finished the tutorial and I''m fighting a freaking boss battle. Why did he get a better skill than I did¡­.? And why the hell is he naked??''

    Noah already noticed Derrick''s clothes ripping apart while he was changing originally, but he wouldn''t have known that as soon as he began to dash towards him that his clothes would literally shred entirely off his body. It''s not that Noah was freaked out about seeing a naked guy, it was more that the naked guy was HUGE and running at him with eyes that seemed to say ''I want you''. Not only did a few terrifying thoughts pass his mind but it was also Derrick''s third leg that sealed the deal for him.

    ''Steroids are supposed to make you smaller Damnit!''

    He quickly averted his eyes  and sprinted towards the spider, he needed to calm his thoughts, he would only get one chance at this since a drawn out fight was not possible at this point. Both him and his spider were low on stamina and it appears that exhaustion does not exist in the current Derricks dictionary.

    Boom Boom Boom!*

    As he ran back towards the spider, he could still hear the steps following behind him. Maybe it was because of his ''hunters sight'' taking effect or it was the increased spirit that gave his mind more rity, but the footsteps gave him some added information.

    ''So muscle growth didn''t give him extra speed¡­Thank goodness! We might can do this¡­and after seeing ''that''...Hehe! Please tell me you can feel pain. I don''t want to take a hit from you for no reason.

    Swiftly making it back to the spider whose hairs were standing straight up due to the increasing danger while its fangs constantly rubbed up against each other to create a loud hissing sound attempting to ward off the monstrosity heading towards it. Noah ced his palm on the spider''s head just above its eyes to get its attention. Four of its eyes focused on Noah while the remaining constantly roamed for any other danger. During this time it swung its front legs sporadically, trying to signal to Noah about the ''monster'' approaching it.

    But feeling the steady hand of Noah ced on its head caused it to calm somewhat before it dazedly looked towards his face to find an excited? Expression. It couldn''t know for sure since it wasn''t used to human expressions but from the intent it feelsing from him, it could sense that he was eager. It reminded the spider of the times it was hunting for prey during days it was starving, the feeling it had when it knew it was about to get a big catch was the same feeling it was sensing from Noah now which caused it to undergo confusion.

    ''Does the threat of death make these two legged creatures feel excited?'' Seems to be the thought that was going through its mind, it was a slightly disturbing thought but at least it helped it to calm down somewhat to hear what Noah had to say. Well¡­that was before it heard its ''masters'' n.

    "Ok! This is what we are going to do¡­" he angled himself for both him and the spider to see Derrick rushing over while talking in a rush."

    "You see that ''leg'' dangling in the middle of the others? When I get it''s attention I want you to rip it off. Eating it will make you stronger." Noah''s smile widened, it would be a frightening sight to anyone else since his dark eyes were a direct contrast to his smile.

    Even though Derrick was in a blind rage, he shivered internally. Not only from seeing Noah''s warped smile but also from looking towards the spider who seemed to be salivating after staring towards his ''package''.

    "Get ready!"

    Noah shouted behind him while he stepped forward and ced his forearm into the straps of the shield. Immediately he could tell the new shield skill was working, as soon as he equipped the shield he felt as if he was witnessing dejavu. He never held a shield before until now, he felt a small confidence building while he adjusted into a decent defensive stance.

    "Huff Huff Huff* THIS IS WHERE YOU DIE!"

    Derrick was now only a few feet away, but with his size and the length of his ax, he was now in strike range. His breathing was ragged, probably from the overstrained muscles, Noah ounted this detail to be another reason he didn''t use it to save his friends before. Derrick wasted no time to quickly try to finish Noah off. He held the axe which would take the current average person to still hold with both hands in one hand alone while he swung it effortlessly over his head. His other hand was used to stabilize himself since he was attempting to attack Noah while he was in mid run, but even then that didn''t take away the threat level of his attack.

    The sight of Derrick being able to swing a weapon of that size without a struggle amazed Noah. He somewhat wished that he chose one of the other two races now which would have provided him with immense benefits early on. Yet the thought was only a fleeting one, deep down he knew that the chimera will be just as good if not better than the others and it fitted him perfectly.

    Still, even though he was amazed, his heart palpitated loudly. He could clearly hear the sound of the wind being cut through by the axe. Thankfully with his high attainment in spirit, he didn''t let his fear affect him. He noticed that there was no chance to dodge not unless his agility was higher and even if he could then he probably wouldn''t be able to create the opening he needed for his creature.

    He repositioned his shield a little bit closer to himself so he wouldn''t break his arm trying to block the swing. Because of his newly attained skill, he tilted the shield to the side. He was preparing to deflect the attack as best he could. Since he wasn''t confident in doing so, he made sure not to angle the shield more than necessary. Instead he will have to reposition himself as soon as the attacknds, but even then it might not seed because the skill he was preparing to use may have other ns¡­

    "You have your trump card and I have mine...May the better skill wins!"

    ''Killing Instinct!''

 Chapter 16 16: Not Following The Plan

    "You have your trump card and I have mine...May the better skill wins!"

    ''Killing Instinct!''

    Attributes

    Defense: 10

    Strength:14(18)

    Agility:14(18)

    Constitution:30(39)+5

    Stamina:17(22)

    Magic: 11(12)

    Spirit:48->72(75)

    Any nning that he originally had went out the window. The only thought he had now was to kill. He couldn''t afford to keep some of his sanity in exchange for lower stats when he needed to make sure he could survive the hit approaching. Besides¡­he wasn''t the main character of this fight, it''ll alle down to his spider. He was 70 percent sure that no matter how enraged Derrick may be, any man should be taken out ofmission after losing their manhood.

    Booom!*

    The collision of the axe meeting the shield was so loud that it even caused the groups fighting off the encroaching zombies to get distracted. One poor soul even managed to lose his life since he was so startled that he let down his entire guard to turn around. This Allowed the zombie he was pushing back to clumsily force him to the ground, his miserable screams ovepped with the heavy sounds of fighting around him.

    Even though everyone was curious concerning Derricks and Noah''s confrontation, they still had to worry about their own lives. The only two people who didn''t bother about their surroundings were the two who were most affiliated with the two fighting. One being Isabelle, who at this moment wasn''t sure what to do anymore. Derrick was her mental pir at the start of everything that''s happened. She could still remember it vividly when she reawakened after the voice fell and her roommate happened to be one of the zombies.

    In her half daze, she was about to be eaten alive without realizing she was in danger. It was Derrick, who spent the night with her, realized something was wrong and saved her from her unfortunate fate. Not only could she rely on him during a peaceful era but even now when their life was at risk she could still rely on him.

    Now, looking towards the overly muscr guy in front of her. She could only think back to a few moments ago. This left her confused¡­should she attempt to help him? She still had enough mana to at least heal him onest time.

    Or¡­.she looked towards her arm which was bruising red to purple. A small burst of anger sparked in her eyes, she also thought it would be nice to see Derrick have a setback during this time. She didn''t think of the fact that either one could die. Even though she''s seen many people get eaten during this time and she constantly saw former humans dying in front of her. It was never people killing people, it hasn''t hit home yet that morals and thew doesn''t matter anymore.

    Thest person who was intently watching the fight, but was also more distraught, was the friend of Matt, Chris. He saw it all when Matt was first killed by the spider that Noah was now in control of and then proceeded to be tossed as if his life was worthless.

    He was brought to his knees at the sight of Matt being impaled. He then rushed to Matt''s side out of desperation after he was thrown, hoping that he could still be saved. ''We were given powers so he could still be alive¡­'' He thought as he made it to Matt''s side only to find his body no longer breathing, his eyes were wide open in shock. Matt''s hand was still holding onto his dagger that he was so proud of receiving for killing his first zombie.

    Chris, who was still in shock after seeing that his only friend of 3 years was gone from this world, was startled out of his depression when he heard the loud impact of the fight transpiring.

    After being startled by the sound of their fighting, he continued to look down while deep in thought.

    ''Thi-this isn''t right, THIS ISN''T RIGHT! Matt''s dead¡­they killed him¡­in cold blood and no one is saying anything??

    Does Matt''s life mean anything? And they¡­'' Chris finally looked away from Matt''s body to view Derrick and Noah with a heated re.

    "This isn''t over¡­."

    Meanwhile, both Derick and Noah, who now had a target painted on their backs, didn''t know that even after their current life and death battle they were destined to be in danger again in the future.

    And looking onto the battle scene now, it wasn''t looking good.

    At this moment, the dust was clearing from the impact. Noah was able to just barely prevent himself from being demolished by the heavy handed attack but it was at the cost of his left arm which could now be seen dangling at his side. Just before the axe made contact with Noah''s shield, he was able to move to the side just enough so that the axe made contact with the angled shield before being directed towards the ground. This caused the axe to not only break his arm that had to support the overwhelming force, but it also chipped the ax before it proceeded to m into the ground, shatteringpletely.

    Derrick on the other hand, no matter how enraged he was, wasn''t able to shrug off the rebound of not only impacting the shield with such momentum but the ground as well. This caused a little bit of rity to recover in Derricks hatred filled re. If Noah could have known that this would happen then he would have had less precautions into going to this fight. Before, he believed he had a 70% percent chance of winning if the spider achieved its goal, but now? If Derrick was now a little bit aware then Noah was guaranteed toe out of this since it''ll be almost impossible for him to shrug off the pain.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Too bad that Noah couldn''t realize this subtle observation and n ordingly since his skill prevented him from doing so, but the skill still had its pros.

    Noah attempted to lift the broken shield to use as a weapon against Derrick only to notice that his arm wasn''t following hismands.

    "Arrgggh!" An unintellectual growl escaped his lips in his frustrations. The skill prevented him from having more intellectual thoughts but even still, his body which only was concerned with killing knew what it needed to do to obtain its goal.

    Crack! Crack!*

    Multiple sounds of bones readjusting took ce from his direction as he repositioned the bones that were out of ce and popped them back one by one with the only sign of pain being the slight wincing of his eyes asionally.

    At first, Derrick was feeling immense satisfaction at the oue of breaking Noah''s arm. After regaining a bit of rity, he took a few moments to enjoy the scene of his battered enemy before him. His hatred for him couldn''t disappear nor the need to show that he was the more superior one. The thought of squashing Noah in his arms made a disturbing smile across his face which quickly dissipated after witnessing him readjust his arm as if he wasn''t fazed.

    Derrick then made contact with Noah''s jet ck eyes that appeared lifeless, it slowly stirred a feeling of fear within him. His eyes made him feel as if his very life essence was threatened to being drained.

    That brief realization that he could still be inferior to him reignited the rage within Derrick. He locked his eyes onto his axe and was about to charge at him again when he realized that it was shattered. So instead, he flung the handle as hard as he could towards Noah, lunging towards him afterwards. Derrick was now a solid meter taller than him now and Noah only had a shield, he didn''t need a weapon to finish him off and using his bare hands would bring him more satisfaction.

    The out of control throw sailed past Noah without him having to move but the attempt made him brace for the attack nheless. Thankfully the spider was still on standby off to the side or it would''ve been an easier target to hit if Derrick were to have chosen it as a target instead.

    Yet not only did Derrick not target it, but his entire focus was on Noah. Maybe since the spider hasn''t moved all this time, he subconsciously viewed it as something he could just finish off after he was done with Noah. With the current power he wielded, he felt that the spider wouldn''tst a second against him.

    Even Noah had forgotten about his own tamed creature due to his skill. Thankfully he was using his skill otherwise he would be distracted wondering why hasn''t the spider used that moment of him blocking to attack!

    What he did not consider was that he didn''t specify to the spider when to attack, but that it should take the opportunity to retrieve and eat Derricks sausage when it got the chance and spiders, who could be considered a natural hunter, were very good at waiting for its chance.

    Instinctively it realized that Derrick was more aware of his surroundings after the heavy impact and didn''t feel as if it could pull off the attack sessfully. So it decided to continue to wait. The bond with his owner wasn''t strong enough to make it feel as if it had to throw its life away for Noah so it wasn''tpletely anxious after witnessing the confrontation which caused harm to his owner. What made it anxious was Derricks'' meat stick that seemed to entice the spider to eat it. After evolving, its sense of taste was enhanced. It craved the two legged mammals after finally getting a taste of the one previously.

    And its master told it that this part in particr is the best part that could make it stronger, so that made it more anxious to try it for itself.

    Boom!*

    It became vignt again after seeing the two make what perhaps would be their final confrontation.

    The scene yed out differently than what Others would expect. Noah''s body was only acting instinctively at this point, he was prepared to engage Derrick, avoid his attacks and find a way to overturn the situation yet he found himself on the defensive. His body wasn''t fast enough to avoid Derricks advances who wasn''t focused on literally attacking him but was constantly making grabbing motions towards Noah with his now erged hands. Because Derrick didn''t have to overmit while trying to grasp him, it created less leeway for Derrick to be outmaneuver and since Noah didn''t have a suitable weapon, he couldn''t respond appropriately to the situation.

    Whoosh!*

    Momentster, Noah was now being held in the air with his arms to his sides while Derrick stared at him triumphantly.

    "Arrgh DAMNIT!"

    At first, Noah''s skill was still in effect, he kicked and struggled frantically while he was being held up, but when Derrick started to slowly apply pressure attempting topletely crush Noah''s body. The ever growing pain managed to ovee the pain factor of his skill, bringing him to the awkward painful moment he''s in now.

    ''Urgh¡­ho-how do I...how do I keep getting into these situations!''

    He bitterly struggled in Derek''s arms while the pressure increased. He tried his hardest to alleviate the pressure and preserve. His first instinct was to try to bite Derricks hands but because of the position he was being held, it made it impossible. So he tried to kick at his elbows, realizing that it actually had a small effect, he desperately ced both feet on the adjacent elbows of Derrick and pushed out.

    It didn''t cause Derrick to release him but it relieved him of the unbearable pain he was being put through. The smallpse of not having to endure such agony let him glimpse towards his spider who seemed to be slowly creeping towards its target. The cautiousness the spider was exhibiting almost made Noah ruin the surprise factor. He was angry!

    ''If you don''t hurry your ass up! I swear! If this is how it''s going to be- shit! I get distracted for a moment and this bear tries to squeeze me to death!'' Because of hispse of focus, he let up his resistance against Derrick, allowing him to apply pressure again.

    Either because the spider sensed an ufortable pressureing from Noah or it was able to sense his negative feelings directed towards it,  but it no longer continued to slowly stalk its prey. Ever since the mental battle it held with Noah, it instinctively feared Noah and respected him. That feeling of disappointment originating from its master made it think about before when Noah stirred it on when it gave up.

    It began to apply pressure on all of its back legs before using the rest of its reserved strength to pounce towards its target who was unaware the entire time as Derrick was enjoying watching the thorn in his heart squirm.

 Chapter 17 17: Cant Catch A Break

    It began to apply pressure on all of its back legs before using the rest of its reserved strength to pounce towards its target who was unaware the entire time as Derrick was enjoying watching the thorn in his heart squirm.

    "AHHHHHMOTHE-crying*I-IT HUUUURSSTSSS!"

    The erged Derrick could be seen rolling back and forth on the ground holding his private area. The amount of blood showed just how forcibly his blessing was ripped from him, it continued to gush uncontrobly on himself and the ground. His cries permeated in the air, causing anyone to hear it to feel ufortable.

    And for those, specifically males who looked over, it made them feel a subtle pain in ''that'' area while they felt a small knot build up in their stomachs.

    Derrick was far too preupied torturing Noah in the palm of his hands that he left out any room for his body to react. A jumping spider is known to be able to jump 10-50x its body length and the spider before it was by no means small. To only have to jump a few feet to reach him happened in less than a second.

    All Derrick felt was prickly hairy legs pressing against his body when it collided into him, causing him to almost fall backwards. Just as fast as he felt the impact, he faced something else far worse than he could ever endure. First there was the initial pain of the spider''s enormous fang sinking into his privates before it was ripped off with an unbelievable amount of force. Not only was it ripped off from the base, but even the surrounding skin on his pelvis followed along with it. It''s already a miracle that the shock of the pain alone didn''t cause him to faint. Or maybe it''s more of a miracle that he was still conscious?

    "Huff..huff¡­huff¡­" Noah took a moment to catch his breath. If it wasn''t for his increased constitution then he would''ve been a goner. He felt that any longer and his bones would give if Derrick would''ve been serious from the start.

    The first thing Noah took notice of was the estranged Derrick still madly tumbling about. The scene of an overly muscled man crying so deliriously made him want to chuckle but then when he turned his gaze towards hispanion who was happily feeding on a sausage¡­His eyes winced and he felt a shiver creep down his spine. He quickly shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the disturbing and disgusting image.

    He wasn''t serious when he told the spider it would be delicious and yet the spider treated it as if his words were actually truthful. He felt that he may have created a disturbing fetish within the spider. He prayed to the poor souls out there.

    Struggling to pick himself up from the aching pain in his body, especially in his left arm that was nowpletely stiff and ufortable. He slowly made his way to retrieve his bag that he left on the ground earlier and his two weapons.

    He couldn''t properly use his other arm so he ced the mallet into his bag as well and left the sword in his right. Not only did he need the sword to fend off the zombies and the like in the vicinity, but more importantly he needed it to tie up some loose ends.

    While he was returning to Derrick, he realized two things. One, Derrick didn''t appear to be suffering as much anymore, and two, that girl from earlier was by his side with her hands ced over his body.

    ''Hmm? Is she a healer too?'' He questioned as he continued to walk towards them. He could notice a faint green light originating from her hands and an even fainter light oveying Derricks body. He wasn''t sure how to feel about the situation or exactly how to address the two. He was feeling cheated¡­this would be the time to im his prize which was currently Derrick. His curiosity was dying to know if humans gave experience and drops, not to mention that Derrick just attempted to kill him not too long ago.

    He''s already killed ''god knows how many zombies'', what''s the difference between killing a monster and a human? I guess to Noah, the only difference would be that they can beg. But he''s lived enough of a tragic life to understand that humans are no different than monsters. Especially the monsters that are good at ying human.

    He decided to deal with it as ites, he''s already feeling drained, he didn''t want to spend extra time overthinking things.

    It seemed Isabelle finally became aware of Noah approaching them. When she saw him leaving, she sighed in relief before she made her way to Derrick. She assumed everything was finally over, but seeing him approaching and with a sword for that matter, she realized that he wasing back to finish what they started. Originally she wanted to see Derrick in pain, either emotionally or physically, she felt he deserved that much for hurting her. But she didn''t want him to die!

    She was starting to feel light headed after healing Derrick as much as she could. She wasn''t a gamer, nor was she a reader of fantasy stories so she couldn''t rte her drowsiness to herck of mana. In her tired state it made Noah appear more sinister in her eyes when she saw him approaching, covered in dried blood, disheveled hair, covering one of his eyes while his other eye that exhibited nothing but emptiness, gazed into hers.

    The only thought in her mind was to run away, but her hands wouldn''t leave Derrick''s body who was now only moaning in pain. That''s when a change urred in Derrick which made not only Noah pause in his steps but it also helped to stabilize her mind so she could think ordingly. The skill seemed to finally deactivate, returning his body back to his original size, but after the changes finally resided, Noah could see why the skill was so overpowered. The side effect was too overbearing. Derrick''s breathing became morebored and his skin became extremely pale, Noah could still make out the purple veins in his body that seemed to squirm. Derrick appeared extremely feeble in the state he was in now, no one knew how long he would be in that state. Seeing Derrick appearing so vulnerable in front of Isabelle instilled a desire to protect him even more. She doesn''t know why he treated her in such a way but seeing him in that condition brought about all the warm memories she cherished with him.

    "Noo¡­yo-you¡­I won''t let you hurt him anymore." finding the strength to preserve, she stood up staggeringly and stood in front of his body to intercede Noah.

    The action of defending a loved one when she herself was abandoned by him caused Noah to feel an uneasy feeling build within him. He was a little envious, perhaps jealous that humans could find sce within each other yet he was always treated so harshly. Staring at her determined posture began to make him irritated with the situation.

    "A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye. He tried to kill me and yet because you said no, I''m supposed to just let it go? Wake up, actions nowe with consequences, decided by the ones with the strength to dish out the punishments and you two are looking pretty weak right now."<novelnext></novelnext>

    His words, alongside his appearance and gigantic spider caused Isabelle to falter as she took a step back. Her mind has yete to terms with the new reality, there''s nows and no system to protect the weak. Tears dropped down her face while she held back her need to cry. She just couldn''t believe that someone could kill another human being so unjustly, she didn''t want to believe it.

    "B-but Derrick isn''t like that¡­r-right! We could give you money! Annn-And, ohh! I can heal wounds! I can heal you and your spi-spider if you leave him alone¡­please¡­"

    She was beginning to be desperate. When she spoke about money, she could see the amount of disinterest in his expression. Then she noticed his arm thatid on his side and the spider, who not only received cuts and bruises, but was also missing a few parts of its legs. She felt this was a really attempting offer. A glimmer of hope reached her eyes when it seemed as if Noah was contemting on the matter.

    ''Urgh¡­why can''t everything just be simple¡­wait! What if I just kill him and then force her to heal me? Hmmm¡­no then I''ll have to get her to calm down over his death, I don''t think I can do that.'' In the middle of his thoughts, Noah looked back between Derrick and his spider who seemed to have finished with his meal and yet! Was bending over another body nearby. He could already guess what it was doing, but let it be for now.

    ''Fuck it¡­I''m sure I''ll just find someone else who deserves to die. With everything that''s happening, humans will finally start to show their true colors. Besides, I''d rather hunt all the monsters I can sooner and keep getting stronger.

    That goal would be a whole lot easier after we''re both healed up and we-cough! At least ''I'' get some food in my belly since someone ate without me.''

    He stared towards his spider for a few more seconds  before returning to Isabelle, he could now easily make out the sweat flowing down her face from nervousness.

    "Ok, I''ll ept your deal but not here. For now I''m heading there.'' He pointed towards the direction of the cafeteria that was only a little of half a mile away from them.

    He knew his limits and knew that his stamina was running low, he needed to rest.

    Knowing that they would be heading to shelter relieved Isabelle, even more so that he actually epted her plea to not harm Derrick even further.

    Her mouth drew a small smile before it wavered when she looked again at the distance towards the cafeteria. She didn''t know how she would get there carrying Derrick. She wasn''t exactly strong nor did she put any of her stats into strength. She looked towards Noah with a pleading gaze before her eyes opened up in horror.

    "What''s that look for?" He asked vigntly. He thought she would be happy to not have to stay out here with zombies crawling around them. But then she looked towards him with fear clearly evident in her eyes. It reminded him of the clich¨¦ scene where a person gets killed because instead of warning the person, theirpanions would just look towards them and point.

    He quickly turned around, prepared to take care of whatever tried to sneak up on him, but¡­.

    "Th-that''s cheating! It''s cheatinnng!" Noah yelled hysterically when he witnessed what caused so much fear in the woman.

    Approximately 50 yards away from them he could make out a gigantic dark figure. It towered about 8 feet high as it stood facing away from them and stood over the corpses of zombies in the like. It was most likely the reason why he hadn''t heard any people nearby or why zombies didn''t approach them yet.

    Still, he didn''t know what it was until it stretched out its sides that were almost twice as long as its body. The sight was mesmerizing¡­until he figured out what it was.

    "It''s a goddamn bird! We gotta go, hey! Stop eating dummy!"

    Noah didn''t know what kind of bird it was, but that didn''t matter. All he needed to know was the bird was a carnivore and it was HUGE. He wasn''t determined to try his luck with it at all. He wanted to quickly get away, but hispanion was preupied. It only further irritated him because spiders are supposed to always be vignt right? How could the spider he tamed be such a foodie?

    "W-WAIT! I¡­I can''t carry him on my own¡­"

 Chapter 18 18: The Chase

    "W-WAIT! I¡­I can''t carry him on my own¡­"

    Freezing mid step, he turned around to see that Isabel was struggling to lift Derrick on her shoulders to carry him to safety.

    Noah found her to be very stupid, stupid wasn''t the best word to describe what he thought of her right now but she left him lost for words.

    But deep down he respected her. Her group of friends had already deserted her and her so-called boyfriend was out ofmission. She had no one but a stranger who was initially an enemy to count on and yet she''s still willing to neglect her safety for someone else.

    ''Stupid¡­.sigh...don''t me me if I have to ''sacrifice'' your boyfriend to get awayter. My life is worth more to me than anyone else.''

    He rushed towards Isabelle''s side and helped to carry him but he made sure to avoid his front area. He already decided in his mind not to carry Derrick but he knew ''someone'' who should be able to carry him without slowing them down.

    "Hey? Come here you." He called out to his spider, now looking warily around its surroundings. It sensed a danger from the bird in the distance but it felt that since the bird wasn''t focusing on it then it shouldn''t be the danger its master was worried about so it continued to look around vigntly.

    "Sigh, I swear I really need to give you a name, I''m calling you and you don''t even move!"

    It didn''t take long for them to adjust Derrick''s body on the spider. At this time Noah wished it was bigger so they could all get on its back and have the spider jump them to safety. He was about to take off before he noticed in the corner of his vision, Isabelle, who was also trying to climb atop the spider. He pulled at her clothes to bring her down.

    "What do you think you''re doing? Are you trying to slow it down and get all of you caught? I''ll be better off just leaving you both here before I let that happen."

    At first Isabelle was prepared to protest, how did he expect her to keep up with them if she had to run on her own. But she quickly became docile when she heard his threat to leave them. That didn''t stop her eyes from threatening to release the water works again.

    "Jeez! Fine get on my back¡­how can you cry about everything?" Just as he offered, he noticed she started crying again before she climbed onto his bed. Even as they began to retreat, he could still hear the asional sniffle.

    Hisss!*

    Not long after the group started to make their way to the cafeteria, Noah overheard his spider hissing. He noted before that the spider made that same sound when it was trying to cause Derricks'' group from earlier to retreat. Instinctively he knew it could be only one thing and that was the bird from earlier. He heard a call that was simr to the dinosaur movies he saw glimpses of in the past. He didn''t know what kind of bird could make such a noise, but now that the sun was finally rising. He could make out the gigantic shadow of the bird above them so he knew the bird had to be the source of the noise.

    pping*

    Not too long afterwards he could hear the sounds and feel the pressure of the creature''s wings pping hard against the air. Noah wasn''t sure how to get out of his current predicament. He could leave the two behind and jump away using the spider but he also felt both of them would be out ofmission for a longer time without healing. Or he could try to fight it out which seemed even less productive than his first idea.

    His hands started to loosen around Isabelle''s legs. The thought of abandoning the two was bing strong. Isabelle''s emotions were at an all time high! She didn''t notice theck of support on her leg because she was too busy being frantic at the sight of a giant bird slowly gaining on them. But maybe out of fear of needing to get out of such a terrifying situation, she suggested a way out of their predicament.

    "Th-the trees! We can use the trees!

    The suggestion was simple and something that Noah thought about originally but it was just a fleeting thought. But after thinking about it carefully, they could hide under the trees and maybe use the tree to allow the spider to gain height if the bird decides to follow. He was uncertain of victory if they were to fight in the open but if the boy couldn''t use its advantage to fly and move around then killing it or at least defending seemed probable.

    Quickly, he could feel the pressure of the wind blowing down on them more strongly. The bird was descending on them, he had to do something and fast. Thankfully there were a couple of trees next to a small garden about 70 yards out. If they can prevent any damage done on the bird''s first descent then they would be cleared reaching the trees but it sounded easier than it looked.

    "Derrick!"

    He heard Isabelle scream from behind him. He looked over towards his spider to see the bird reaching for it with its ws that appeared sharper than a freshly made sword.

    Whoosh! Just when the bird approached it, the spider nimbly jumped out of the way and then continued on its run.

    Right after, he heard a grunting sound originating from the bird that kind of resembled the sounds of hungry pigs. He figured that the bird was frustrated at not catching its meal.

    ''He''s targeting my spider damnit! You better hope we don''t find youter after I get stronger. I''m going to cook you alive or maybe I''ll just tame you and make you fly around till you die from exhaustion.''  Noah was clearly frustrated as well, out of all the free mealsying around on the ground, why did it have to go after ''his'' creature.

    He doesn''t know if it was because the spider appeared more appetizing or if it was just a more fulfilling meal.

    Soon he calmed down since this is still working to his advantage. He wouldn''t be able to avoid the bird as his spider did. It''s not like he had eyes behind or above his head, nor could he jump as far. He thought things were going well before he felt the girl he was holding starting to squirm to get out of his arms.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "W-wait! Stop! It¡­YOUR SPIDER DROPPED DERRICK!"

    Hearing ''his spider'' almost made him stop his steps. He thought something happened to his spider and was prepared to cause a distraction to help save it. But when he nced over, he noticed the spider was fine and was still running towards the trees.

    Later, his mind caught on about the ''Derrick'' part and he looked a little further back to see a bodyying on the ground, reaching out as if he was attempting to crawl but was struggling to do so.

    "Oof!" Noah felt a slight pain in the back of his head. The constant squirming Isabelle was doing caused her to hit Noah in a couple spots that he was finding very annoying.

    "Tsk, fine woman. If you want to save him so much then be my guess. I''m not desperate enough to die for you just to receive your healing."

    Because of his irritation, he didn''t let her down calmly but he forced her to release her grip from around his neck while he was still running, causing a small shriek from the woman before falling on her butt. Theck of hesitation from Noah baffled her. Who throws away ady in distress or a person on the verge of death?

    For an instant she almost forgot what she was originally during until she saw the bird swooping down once again for the spider.

    "Derrick!" Yelling his name again, she scurried to her feet and rushed towards him.

    Noah never looked back, he was already peeved regarding what happened.

    ''I couldn''t kill him and get my experience, a stupid bird is chasing me and now we won''t be getting healed¡­'' He agonized over his bad luck over and over before they finally made it to the tree.

    They both quickly made their way behind the tree, both of them were pretty drained. When they saw the bird try to approach from the opposite direction they both made their way back on the other side. After the third time of doing so the bird seemed to have caught on that it won''t be able to reach them without going down and hunting them onnd which it seemed very hesitant about doing.

    Maybe it was instinctual for it not to hunt a target that could fight back unless it held an advantage. From what Noah could tell after observing it after a while was that it resembled a vulture. He couldn''t say he was an animal guru but he knew vultures were one of the only birds that didn''t have any hair from their neck up and they were UGLY. And vultures are widely known to be scavengers which Noah assumed is the reason the bird didn''t want to directly confront them but he couldn''t bepletely sure since its mentality could change with its size.

    He then looked to his side to his ''threatening'' counterpart. The spider held four of its legs up in the air while it also revealed its fangs and its small mouth.

    ''Well if that makes you feel safe then you do you. Sigh¡­this has been some day, I''m actually getting really tired.''

    Grumble!

    Just after thinking of resting, his stomach soon loudly protested. The sudden and unfamiliar noise startled hispanion causing it to quickly shift its body to show off its threatening posture to the source of the noise which only confused it when it found out it was Noah. It didn''t know creatures like Noah could create such a sound or what it could mean. Either way, it sounded threatening.

    Hiss! It heard his stomach growl again. Retaliating, it rubbed its fangs together, creating a hissing effect.

    "Dramatic much? Well you can sit there and continue doing¡­well, whatever it is you''re doing. I think I put a few snacks in here¡­"

    "Ahhh! Get away! Stay back! Pl-please save us! I-I-Ill do anything!"

    "Mmph, I almost forgot about her¡­" He talked with his mouth full, a bar of some sort was in his mouth while he took slow bites out of it. The bar he was eating consisted of a lot of protein, he felt it would be a chore to eat too much at once considering the thickness of the bar.

    But eating didn''t stop him from looking over to view the two situations. Earlier he felt that it was a bit too calm and now he realized why. Since the bird couldn''t obtain the spider, which seemed to be its true target, it decided to go after the stragglers instead.

    Maybe the bird felt less threatened by the two since it didn''t attack them from the air butnded on the ground and extended its wings provocatively before releasing its dinosaur-like call towards them. Even from here, Noah saw the two shrink away from it.

    "Oooo¡­You shouldn''t have done that." Noah remarked as if he was watching a show. The bird was clearly testing the waters when it hissed at Isabelle standing by Derrick who struggled to his knees. And after the first encounter, the two cowardly away from it, surely, the bird felt that it was the dominant one of the three.

    Just then, Noah felt something, a feeling or more like a suggestion that wasn''t his. It felt like an inquiry on why he was only watching instead of fighting with the two out there. At first he thought he perhaps was having a guilty conscience and his feelings were not aware of it, but then he had a realization when he heard the sound of scuffling behind him.

    "SO IT''S YOU? So I guess the bond does a lot more than I would''ve guessed¡­but hmmm¡­I''m not sure if you''ll understand, but it''s more because¡­I don''t want to? That man." He pointed to Derricked, who at this point didn''t appear scared at all. He appeared as if he was an empty vessel. Noah wouldn''t me him after not only losing his man hood, but his death right now was kind of set in stone.

    "Well he tried to kill me and that person over there decided to stick with that person when I was already bringing her to safety. So¡­I guess what I''m trying to say is, I just don''t care anymore."

 Chapter 19 19: I Told You So

    "Well he tried to kill me and that person over there decided to stick with that person when I was already bringing her to safety. So¡­I guess what I''m trying to say is, I just don''t care anymore."

    He replied nonchntly, the threat of them dying didn''t affect him at all. If anything, he was still a little peeved that he would be missing out on getting experience for killing Derrick himself.

    ¡ª¡ª

    "Belle¡­just leave me¡­ther-there''s no point anymore¡­there never was."

    "Wha-what? What are you saying? Come ugh on! We can, we can get through this. Sobs* look! That person is just over there! If-if we can get him to help then I''m sure we''ll be fine."

    As of now, the bird was attending to Noah while Isabelle attempted to retrieve Derrick. But no matter how hard she struggled or what she said, Derrick didn''t appear to gain any will to fight anymore. She didn''t know what to say to get him out of his slump so she tried to give him hope of being saved as she mentioned Noah who seemed to be safe sitting under the tree. Yet as she mentioned him, she was met with an even deadlier silence.

    But that silence ended when they heard the bird from beforeing towards them. Maybe it was the fear or maybe it was the irritation of not being able to get the meal it wanted. The cry of the bird at this time sounded extremely loud and petrifying to the two. And Derrick, who waspletely silent from before, lifted his head and gaze emptily towards the bird who signaled his death.

    "You know¡­you''re too good for me." The sudden tone caught Isabelle off guard. She only ever was submissive when interacting with him and Derrick has never been as vulnerable as he is now. So hearing him say that he was unworthy, considering his pride, truly caught her unprepared.

    "All this time, I felt that I deserved everything, the attention, the beautiful girl, money¡­I deserved it all. And yet here I am, weak¡­and about to die yet you are brave enough to stand by me¡­I''m pathetic¡­you don''t deserve to die with a guy like me¡­just get out of here¡­" To anyone listening in, it would appear as if he was conveying his true feelings to his loved one before he passed. If Noah would''ve heard him, he would assume that the guy just regretted dying, otherwise he would''ve never admitted this to her.

    Either way, it touched Isabelle deeply. Instead of leaving like he wanted her to, she became so absorbed in her emotions that she continued to struggle to lift him even more, that was until the birdnded on the ground in front of them.

    The budding feelings she held a moment ago quickly disappeared. Seeing the creature up close was entirely different from just seeing the silhouette. At first, her voice got stuck in her throat and her heart threatened to jump out of her chest. It was at this moment that the bird took a step and spread its wings in intimidation that her mind stirred and she panicked uncontrobly. Her first thought wasn''t to ask her boyfriend who she depended on all this time, but for the person who didn''t show any signs of remorse for leaving them out to die.

    "Ahhh! Get away! Stay back! Pl-please save us! I-I-Ill do anything!"

    She continued to scream at Noah, she watched him as he turned towards his spider and back to her. At first she thought that he was about to send the spider over and that''s why he turned tomand it to head over, but when he faced her direction again and noticed the spider still hasn''t moved¡­She realized toote that he wouldn''te, maybe it was the fear of death but now she could clearly remember what he said before he tossed her. "I''m not desperate enough to die for you just to receive your healing." She wanted to just break down and cry. She didn''t want to die like this, but she didn''t want to leave Derrick to die alone either, not after what he just told her.

    Plop!*

    The sound of an object falling to the ground next to her brought her out of her daze. She didn''t turn to the source of the noise first since the first thing that obviously caught her attention was the vulture-like creature standing before her. It was when she lifted her head more because she saw something falling from its beak that made her freeze. She didn''t want to believe it, but the more she gazed, the more the substance appeared to be blood. Her mind went back to the object hitting the ground. Slowly she turned her head to look towards the source. Her mind was telling her not to, but her body continued, she felt that she wouldn''t ept it if she didn''t see it herself. And then she screamed.

    ¡ª-

    "HahaHA! In the end she still abandoned him! You see that! That''s why you shouldn''t depend on people." Noah began projecting out his thoughts unknowingly, he didn''t want to believe that there were kind and loyal people in this world, not after all he had to suffer through. He ignored the fact that she didn''t decide to leave Derrick''s side until the end. But his spider didn''t know that, it was being led on by Noah''s words and took a mental note of human selfishness.

    Noah watched on while Isabelle continued to scream his way. At first the scene wasical, but her deranged face was full of tears and snot, not to mention the stain developing through her pants. He began to feel an ufortableness in his heart. He''s seen people die before, sometimes it was quick and other times it was bloody gory and he could easily watch on. But not now, he felt she didn''t deserve to die, at least not this way.

    The days when he wished for someone to save him from his loneliness, he saw the savior in her and yet why did he never meet anyone like her to save him then? That''s probably why just her actions and presence  alone ate at him, but unknowingly it still was able to reach his estranged heart.

    "Sigh¡­.this isn''t fun anymore! Can you go and get her already?" Originally he spoke with a tone as if he was throwing a tantrum but gradually it turned dark and empty.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "?" Through the bond, the spider could tell its master talking to it, but that confused it even more. ''Weren''t they going to let the human girl die?'' It felt that it just couldn''t understand him sometimes, just like the monster hiding in its master''s stomach. Nevertheless it stillplied. The jump would be farther than it jumped before but it wouldn''t be a problem for it.

    A jumping spider can easily jump 10x its size and can even jump up to 50x that in extreme cases. The spider was close to about 4ft all around which meant that it ''should'' be able to jump 200 feet or in better estimates, 66 yards. The distance was just enough if not more to be able to reach the woman who was struggling to gain more distance from her predator.

    The spider made its way a little ahead of Noah before it put itself into a leaping position. Unlike before where it only had to jump a shorter distance, its legs appeared to bulge as it applied blood pressure to its back legs. From Noah''s view, the scene was more interesting than the one from earlier but just before the spider jumped, he happened to spot a thread shoot through the spider''s rear and attached to the ground. The thread was almost as thick as his wrist. He wasn''t sure what the spider nned, but he was eager to see.

    Whoosh!

    The take off was unnaturally fast. Before Noah''s eye could register, the spider disappeared, he was left only to feel the air, generated by the spider''sunch brush against his eyes.

    A small trace of fear crept into his heart. He wasn''t afraid of his spider by any means, in fact he was inplete awe of it. But! ''I''m sure other spiders should be able to do this too¡­I don''t want to imagine an army ofrge spiders jumping through the air at once.'' To Noah, it appeared that no matter how much other worldly powers humans may obtain, nature will always be frightening, even more so when these same creatures could gain intelligence. A fear he hoped wouldn''te to pass anytime soon.

    This thought gave him a new outlook on this new life that he wasn''t taking seriously enough.

    ''It appears that I shouldn''t only strive for strength to retain my freedom¡­but also to survive.''

    Fwooosh!*

    His time to mull over the unforeseeable future ended when he heard the sound of the mutated vulture taking to the air again. Most likely in pursuit of Isabelle that was running for her life. Well you could say it was running, it felt more like a Jason movie, the sad girl stumbled over herself at least three times by now. Luckily for her, the reason she was even still alive was because the vulture was finishing off its recent meal, that meal being her loved one.

    Even so, his dead body couldn''t buy her a lot of time. The bird wasrger than the body itself, with a beak that seemingly could easily tear through concrete yet alone bones. It hungerly scoffed down chunks of its body yet it wasn''t appeased. Vultures were none to mainly eat dead bodies and after treating itself to live fresh meat, it wanted more.

    Because of its impatience, instead of taking to the sky, it used its wings to ''jump'' a noticeable distance to reach its target. It licked its bloody beak while in mid air, fantasizing about the delicacy of its recent meal and its soon to be treat. But it''s excitement was for naught, Isabelle fell again. This time she didn''t get up, her body was mentally exhausted and each time she fell, the fall took away more of her will to go against that exhaustion.

    She couldn''t scream, her voice was too dry from the constant yelling since the chaos began. Through all the extensive crying she''s gone through, she was an utter wreck. With her blurry eyes, filled with tears, she felt the sky cloud over her. Fearfully she assumed the worst and that it was also her time to join Derrick, but she was still unwilling! Yet her body wouldn''t move, a hoarse whimper could be heard from her that sounded grating to the ears but depression to the heart.

    ''Nonononononono¡­'' She closed her eyes when she felt the shadow embrace her. She was so afraid that she didn''t realize the hairy sensation that rubbed against her skin nor the many ''limbs'' that held her in ce.

    Just when she felt that she was grabbed, she was then jolted through the air. The sudden movement almost gave her whish since whatever grabbed her took no care of securing her neck.

    She had the urge to scream but the speed they were going prevented her from doing so. She attempted to open her eyes, yet the wind and the prickly hairs won over her.

    Boom!*

    She felt the sudden impact ofnding, before her horrified mind could create any unstable spections, she heard a voice that she would never guess she would be relieved to hear.

    "I told you not to go back, didn''t I?"

 Chapter 20 20: Meeting Is Inevitable

    "I told you not to go back, didn''t I?"

    She was relieved beyond belief to hear his voice again. She already rted being near him to being safe unconsciously, more than she did so with Derrick originally. It isn''t hard to imagine why, since Noah was selfish and strong so he would most likely not put himself in harm''s way for someone else or make rash decisions based on others opinions.

    The relief of being safe instantly vanished after discerning what he said. It made her not only re-live the traumatic experience again, but it also made her realize something more important.

    "Y-yo-you¡­co-could-ve¡­sav¡­ed¡­Der-Derr-ick¡­"

    Her throat was too parched and sore even now that it was a chore to get her words out. Noah found it slightly annoying since now it was taking her longer just to speak and even more so because he could barely understand her. He wanted to ''advise'' her to stop talking and was about to proceed to retrieve one of the bottles of water from his bag, but that was before he realized that she fell asleep. The constant fear and trauma she experienced drained her far too much and now that she was safe again, her body had to shut down to recuperate from the emotional and mental stress.

    "Well I guess that works too¡­you n on sleeping as well or should w-"

    He turned towards his spiderpanion to find that it was no longer moving. Originally he was worried that maybe he pushed it too much. No one but the spider knew how much effort was put into jumping thatrge distance and to be able to pull itself back with its own web. The spider ''sat'' near the trunk of the tree with its legs closely tucked near it while its many eyes were always open since it didn''t have eyelids.

    Noah''s first instinct was to rush over and check on it, since if he didn''t know any better, he would assume it to be dead or at the very least, dying. Thankfully, the bond was there to help him make out somewhat that the spider was only resting.

    "Phew! Maybe that''s how everyone else feels when someone close to them dies, man that''s a little bit too ufortable for my taste. I guess I''ll have to keep watch then¡­hopefully that bird goes away sometime soon."

    He didn''t know how long they would be stuck under the tree, but for now he didn''t mind waiting. Having the bird circle them continuously kind of acted as a temporary guardian. Its presence alone should be able to ward off most animals, even those who were mutated greatly like his spider and the bird alike. He doubts any of the mindless zombies would care about the figure in the sky as long as they could eat it then they would dly ''die'' trying.

    ¡­..

    In the passing time Noah and his small group were able to get a short time of peace, the first hostile group he encountered, Mark''s group, was able to achieve their goal. Unlike Noah who was a loner, Mark held a ''hero''s'' persona which led him to choose the route of saving as many people as he could along the way.

    From a Small group of four, it grew to fifteen by the time he reached the dormitory. He was already strong in his own right, especially given the power of his first achievement. Now that he also had arger group, Most of which didn''t really contribute, but were there to leech off his strength. Yet, the few who did contribute, lightened the load on him immensely along with the fact that the ''leeches'' actually made a really good distraction, providing cover for the others to secure their safety.

    As of now, he, along with his original group were sitting in themon area of the girls dorm, seated with another fairlyrge group that was led by a female. Right now an ufortable silence permeated the room. Chaos could still clearly be heard outside the building but it barely affected the mood. Soon, the initial silence was oveed by the sound of metal constantly tapping against the floor, the rate at which it was being tapped increased, reflecting the frustration of the one responsible.

    "Why do we have to hide? We''ve been given these powers for a reason! We should be getting stronger and then we can save even more! Jas¡­I just can''t agree with it¡­"

    The repeated clunking sound stopped after the source of that sound finally spoke.

    Mark had finally found his sister and unsurprisingly to him, he found her in one piece and she seemed to be adjusting to the situation just as well as he did.

    But unlike Mark, she didn''t be overly prideful due to the powers they were giving. She''s always had to be the responsible child and grew up to be the responsible adult. She felt that it was justified that Mark wanted to save people, but she also felt he wasn''t ready to take on the responsibility. He was ready to bask in the glory of his deeds but he would also have to ept the responsibility for the bad thates with being a leader. This is why she felt that they should secure an area and wait out for help.

    But she couldn''t say that to him directly, she knew that would question his pride and would only make him annoyed. Worst case scenario, he would try to prove her wrong and do everything by himself and worry her even more which is why they are in the position they are in now.

    Mark impatiently looked onwards to his older sister, but he couldn''t tell what she was thinking.

    His sister Jas, which was short for Jasmine, also had simr jet ck hair and brown eyes as he did. Differently from her brother, she didn''t get into the school due to sports and was more of an intellectual. She had arger frame than most girls, standing around 5ft10". She couldn''t be defined as sexy but many would still consider her beautiful because of her mother-like appeal. Her hair reached just past her shoulders and even though her hair was jet ck, she also had a dark tint Of blue dyed underneath. Three bangs flowed down her face, two on the side and one in the center. Her eyes were gentle and so was her face but instead of making her appear fragile, she seemed more of a sage. But what stood out the most in her appearance that even Mark couldn''t help but notice was the growth and shape of her ears. Both were now pointed and longer than normal which made Mark believe that she also benefited from the same achievement he did or maybe she knew something he didn''t.

    Seconds ticked by without a response from his sister, who seemed to be in deep thought. He looked around and he could see that many in the room would most likely prefer her suggestion to hide it out like cowards. Gripping the hilt of his sword in frustration, he was preparing to denounce all of the cowards as such and to let them know their ce. If they were to try to hold it out, who would be the one who''ll have to protect them if something gets through? The people like him, who weren''t able to get stronger because they were too busy hiding? Fortunately his sister spoke out before him.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Ok Mark, we''ll do it your way¡­but!" She had to hurriedly finish his response. Just from her opening words alone, she clearly could see the sheer terror in majorly of the people here. They didn''t want to fight or be put in a position where they could lose their life despite the enticement of powers and strength they could receive.

    "I think we should alsopromise on my idea as well. How about the cafeteria? I can''t say it''s the most prominent ce to secure a perimeter but it has the most essential daily need we need and that''s food. I know you want to get stronger so shouldn''t you at least have a base of operations to work from or were you thinking about wandering around without a n and a ce of security for when you needed to rest or if something went wrong? This way we can continue to rescue people and we can wait for help while you and anyone else can help people along the way and try to continue to get stronger¡­"

    The people in the area all sighed in relief, her suggestion seemed like a win win for everyone. The one who was most relieved was Jasmine herself when she saw that her stubborn and hot headed brother epted her proposal. Yet part of her felt ufortable when she noticed the glimmer of annoyance in his posture. She was well aware of his personality but with everything that''s happened in this small span of time. She was sure that there would be many urrences of people''s character changing or perhaps they were finally showing their true colors. She was worried that her brother was one of those people and that he would do something unpredictable and more importantly, stupid.

    They all started to prepare to leave. While everyone else was busy talking to relieve the tension, Mark walked over to his sister to get to the bottom of her ear issue.

    "Jas, I''ve been meaning to ask but what''s up with your ears? Does that mean you got the same achievement then? What did you get?" His excitement couldn''t be maintained, no one knows if he was excited to know out of curiosity for his older sister or if he wanted to make sure that he was more unique.

    "Let''s not discuss it too much until we''re alone, but I''ve received the race called elf¡­I''m pretty sure it''s probably like some of the movies I''ve seen but I can''t be sure. At least to my knowledge, I know that itpliments my summoner ss ''and'' I think the new look will grow on me, don''t you think?"

    Jas made a small attempt to crack a small joke in hopes of livening the mood between the two after their earlier bickering, but it seemed that her joke didn''t reach her brother. He was upied to determine what benefits her race offered to her, he only received a skill. He didn''t know if a race ss was a better option than what he obtained and he wasn''t sure if that''s all she had. He held more gaming terminology than she did and he knew that elves in general held a better standing when it came to magic and the like. Seemingly ignoring what she originally said, he motioned closer to her and asked more directly.

    "But¡­what exactly does bing an elf do? Does it also give you skills?"

    Again, That ufortableness Jas felt before was reappearing. She knew he was always stubborn but he at least respected her more. She had just said that she''ll talk about it in more detailter, but not now.

    "Don''t worry, when we reach our goal we can talk about everything, but not now. We can''t slip and identally let others know our secrets as well." She pped his shoulder and started to walk away. She didn''t want him toe up with a half-assed excuse on why it''s ok to discuss it now so she hurriedly distanced herself, but not before turning back to him.

    "It''s been rough on all of us so how about we rest a few mins more before we go?"

    ¡ª¡ª

    "Finally¡­.you''ve already eaten plenty and yet you still stuck around for so long, screw you." Noahined while watching the vulture finally leave after what seemed to be half an hour of circling them. If it really wanted to, it could''vended on the ground to challenge them and most likely ovee the group, considering their exhaustion. But, just like the spider, it seemed it also gained a bit of consciousness which is not always the best.

    Just that point alone made it more aware of its surroundings before and it felt uneasy about bringing the fight to its prey in an unfavorable position for itself. After observing for awhile, it finally decided to give up and find prey elsewhere, solving one of Noah''s problems.

    ''But¡­'' he looked over to the spider, still appearing to be asleep and then to Isabelle who hasn''t moved from where she was dropped.

    ''Like, I''m tired too! They are more selfish than I am. Luckily I have that skill that passively gives me stamina or I probably wouldn''t have made it this far. I wish there was a way I could at least carry my monster so I...''

    Smack*

    "How could I be so stupid! I''ve seen it so many times and yet I finally realized it now. Maybe the pressure is getting to me¡­" He smacked himself due to his forgetfulness. He wasn''t sure if he could''ve used it in the situation of Derrick, but it would''ve been nice to know that he had options.

    He slowly got up out of his seated position and walked next to the slumbering spider. Now that he was somewhat out of danger, he could appreciate it more.

    "I wanted a badass-monster but somehow you look kind of cute." Rubbing the top of the spider''s head, he wasn''t sure if the spider enjoyed it but he could feel the spider''s body slightly shivering. Noah then closed his eyes before he attempted the skill. Just like before, he was aware of how to use it but having knowledge isn''t the same as experience.

    A minute went by, then two. Before Noah was aware, ten minutes passed before a change urred.

 Chapter 21 21: On The Run Again

    A minute went by, then two. Before Noah was aware, ten minutes passed before a change urred.

    During this time, Noah had to fully connect his soul to the spiders. He discovered that there were steps to the skill that were unexined. First he had to fully connect with the creature, then he had to subject the spider''s soul into space of his own. This step took awhile because he had to do it slowly or the spider would feel afraid and resist. Finally, the spider had to choose, somewhere in Noah''s body, where it would reside during the time it''s being held in its ''cage''.

    This process took the longest, the spider was extremely picky. Starting from Noah''s head, it traveled across his body till it reached his back.

    "Nnrgh!" Noah began to feel a small burning sensation on his back which caused him to groan in pain. The sensationsted for half a minute before the ability ended.

    Buckling to the ground with sweat dripping down his body from his body overheating. He took his time to catch his breath, the pain wasn''t intense but the entire process was longer than he''d liked it to be.

    "This is exactly why I can''t only trust the knowledge of a skill. It didn''t mention anything about pain! And what the hell was up with the extra steps? Maybe I should count myself lucky that I didn''t try it before¡­" he thought back to the time where he encountered Derrick. It was possible that the encounter could''ve easily gone worse if he attempted to store the spider to escape.

    "Urgh! This is annoying to think about. I already know what I need to do, the n hasn''t changed at all. Get stronger and then I won''t have to worry about my life continuously getting threatened anymore."

    Noah wasn''t aware but during the event of storing the spider within himself, there was now arge imprint of a spider covering his entire back, simr to a tattoo.

    Now that he recovered a good amount of his stamina, he was ready to continue to make his way to the cafeteria. He took a step forward until he realized he was forgetting something again. He looked to his side and noted that Isabelle was still sleeping but she would asionally grimace and twitch about in the garden bed, further dirtying her appearance.

    ''This is the downside of traveling with people, especially if they can''t even take care of themselves¡­.well I''m sure after she heals me then she can just follow someone el-¡­..wait¡­she will still heal me right? I mean, I''m still fulfilling the agreement, I didn''t tell the dude to let go, he did that on his own. Plus I saved her ''and'' I took her to safety¡­well, we''ll deal with it when we deal with it.''

    He bent down to pick her and slung her over his left shoulder before he jogged in the direction of his destination.

    Even while he sat under the tree, the constant screams never ceased but it seems that now that he was heading to the cafeteria. He noticed that there seemed to be a few others headed in the direction as well. There were a few asions where some of the students were being chased, either by wandering mice or animals he hasn''t witnessed yet after mutating.

    For instance there was a mutated dog that was the size of a bear''s height. He couldn''t tell the specifics of the dog but he picked up on the fact that two of its canines were protruding out of its mouth, simr to a saber tooth. The dog must''ve been chasing them for awhile, Noah noticed that the dog continuously anticipated when they would attack and it would retreat before trying again.

    He figured it was for a while because the people being chased were more annoyed than afraid.

    Noah decided to quicken his pace and keep his distance from everyone as best as he could. He didn''t want to grab the attention of any of the predators chasing the students at this time, especially with the ''baggage'' he was carrying.

    Thankfully the cafeteria was only half a mile away. With the speed he was going, he should get there in about another minute. He could clearly see the doors here but now he was worried since if people are already heading there then they would have already barred the doors which seemed to be the case. He could already see people at the doors banging on it repeatedly.

    ''Sigh¡­sure enough, anything involving people bes annoying. There might be a way t¡­shit!''

    He noticed that the people at the door looked in his direction and started to scatter. He was sure that he wasn''t the reason, which meant something was behind him. Sure enough, when he nced back, it turned out to be the mutated dog from before. It probably realized that it''ll have a harder time going after a group and decided to go after him instead.

    He had the urge of dropping Isabelle and sprinting to safety but then everything he had to deal with till now made him feel that it would''ve  been a waste.

    ''There''s already that Mark guy and his group, then that vulture and now you? I swear I''m going to get back at all of you when I get a chance. For now, how do I get out of this mess¡­.?''

    His eyes began to dart back and forth across the building. His pupils began to dte while he activated his hunters sight skill. His nerves were starting to act up when he didn''t find a solution in the first few moments but then.

    ''Okay! We can use that. They can justinter, they don''t even own the building and yet they''re locking doors?''

    Rustle!*

    Noah could clearly hear the sound of the dog gaining on him. It closed in on the distance more when Noah had to take a small detour towards the end of the building. The building consisted of a lot of windows but most of the windows were either too big so it wouldn''t deter the dog or any creature to barge in. For the smaller windows the window frames were in the way, making it difficult to break through.

    Towards the window Noah was heading for, the window fitted perfectly for what he needed.

    Growl*

    Just a few feet away and he was almost there, but the dog was literally right behind him. At this time he could even make out the breathing of it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Just before he made it to the window. He adjusted his weapon in his hand to ce in front of Isabelle''s body to help secure her in ce more since he would be using most of her body to make contact with the window first.

    Shatter*

    He propelled himself into the ss. Part of his forearm impacted the ss but that wasn''t important. As soon as he made contact with the ss, he released his hold from Isabelle, causing her body to fly with the momentum to the floor.

    He wasn''t sure from all the noise, but he thought he could hear a muffled crying from her direction. He didn''t let himself be distracted, he held his sword at the ready and lowered his center of gravity by the window.

    ''Come on you bastard, I dare you¡­''

    Noah prepared for two oues before he made it into the building. Either the dog would hesitate to follow through the window since it was bigger than normal, or it would follow behind them and he could use this chance to get a preemptive strike.

    "Grrrr!"

    Not long after, the dog made its decision to leap after them. But in this case, it made the wrong choice.

    Whelp!*

    Just as soon as its head became visible, Noah stabbed upward with full force into the dog''s lower jaw, centimeters away from its throat. The sword prated into its mouth but that wasn''t the end. Noah, with all of his strength and will, continued to try to hold the sword in ce. If he was strong enough he could''ve probably split the dog in half but since that wasn''t the case. His arms quickly followed along with the momentum of the dog, but it was only enough to allow the weight of the dog''s fall to impale itself further, causing the sword to break off in its mouth and root it into its upper jaw.

    The initial stab caused the dog to whimper in pain but by the time itnded into the room it lost function of its body due to the torment it was going through.

    They happened to find themselves in the teachers lounge which has small round tables situated around the area. The chairs and tables began to be flung chaotically whenever the dog approached. It wasying on its side frantically kicking while crying loudly as it did so.

    Noah took this time to maneuver on the side of his bag to retrieve his dagger from earlier and approached it slowly. He could wait for it to bleed out but how could he allow that? He wanted to personally take the life of the creature that was going to take his, otherwise he would feel as bad as he did when Derrick was killed by the vulture instead of him. He continued to approach the dog slowly, waiting until the moment that it wasn''t going berserk before he could move in for the kill when suddenly he heard a loud shriek, followed by crying that somehow rivaled the dogs.

    It almost made him want to cover his ears, he didn''t know how someone could scream more annoying than a wounded animal. He didn''t have to wonder who it was, he knew it had toe from the person who apanied him.

    "Wha-wh-whats go-going on heeeree? an-and WHY DOES IT HURTS?" She continued to cry while holding her head, you could see blood flowing down into her hands as she pressed harder to stop the bleeding and to help with the pain.

    Noah on the other hand didn''t bother to look over in her direction, but he was also getting increasingly annoyed by her crying.

    "Will you shut up! Did you forget that you can heal yourself? For crying out loud¡­" After admonishing her he reached the dog who was still kicking but it wasn''t as energetic as before. With the increased size and the sharpness of its ws. He wasn''t willing to take the chance to approach it before, but now it wouldn''t be a problem.

    He stomped on the dog''s neck to hold it in ce. While he did so, he noted the fact of theck of cryinging from Isabelle''s direction before he drove the dagger into the dog''s eye as deep as it could go. It appeared that the new trauma was about to have the dog go into another frenzy but he quickly took action and stomped on the dagger''s handle, fully immersing it into its socket.

    It jolted for thest time before all of its movement ceased and the only sound was the soft crying originating from Isabelle.

    Noah still didn''t bother to check on Isabelle, he still had to check on the spoils he would receive from killing the dog. He quickly looked around and sooner than he expected, he found what he was looking for.

    Same as the others, it was another bronze chest, but he didn''t mind what grade it was as long as it held something he could use. He specifically needed a weapon, he had just lost his sword and his dagger in this one altercation and only had a small mallet left. He needed something else or he''ll have to scavenge around for another one and rely on his spider in the meantime.

    But, when he opened it, all he saw was a pair of boots and a pile of gold. Theck of weapons left Noah''s eye twitching, he almost wanted to close the chest and get a do over if it was possible. But no matter how game like the world is right now, he knew that it was nowhere close to being a game.

    Begrudgingly, he took out the boots and put them on after removing his shoes. Ironically, putting on the boots made him feel lighter than his sneakers. He quickly checked his stats to notice that it increased his agility by 2.

    ''Well I can still work with this. As soon as it recovers then we can farm some zombies and avoid the bigger monsters till I get proper gear.'' Lastly he took hold of the gold to watch it disappear before he sat up to look around the area.

    Footsteps*

    ''Shit, more people to deal with¡­.''

 Chapter 22 22: Mutated Zombie?

    ''Shit, more people to deal with¡­.''

    When he heard the footsteps hurriedly approaching, he took off his bag to pull out his mallet. It wasn''t the best weapon but it was still something to protect himself. He would call on his spider but not only could he sense that it wasn''t close to full recovery, the room they were in wasn''t big enough to allow it to maneuver around. If anything he would make a break for it outside if he has to.

    He prepared himself mentally while he faced the door opposite him. It appeared that Isabelle finally caught up to what was going on when the door slowly creaked open. She immediately got off the ground and cowered behind Noah, her first thought was zombies, even though technically zombies shouldn''t be able to open doors.

    The door stopped when there was enough space for someone to stick their head in, but they became startled and mmed the door on their own face when they heard a voice.

    "You can open the door already." Noah voiced out annoyingly, they didn''t bother to hide their footsteps but now they want to sneak their way in?

    Boom!

    "Fu-fuck!"

    "Henry, what are you doing? Whatever''s in there definitely heard you now¡­"

    "Crap, don''t you think I know that? But there''s a person in there, don''t tell me you didn''t hear him?"

    "...D-do you think it''s a gho-ghost? Let''s get out of here, we already checked anyway!"

    The more Noah had to listen to the two bickering, the more annoyed he was getting. The end of his lip twitched, he was on the verge of yelling towards the two but he held it in. But he also didn''t want to continue on like this.

    Cough!*

    "There''s no ghost in here, it''s just two of us now so can you open the door or should Ie to you?"

    Soon after, there was an immediate silence before the door creaked open slowly again causing Noah to sigh out loud. But at least this time they didn''t pause opening the door and fully opened it to reveal the two speakers from earlier.

    Both of them had the aura of ackey and even their appearance quite resembled one.  The one who hit his head with the door was your everyday average joe. Wielding a hammer simr to Noah''s hammer in the beginning. There was nothing noteworthy about him besides the fact he appeared to be easily startled. The one behind him was even more questionable, he had a geekish look and was constantly fidgeting about while holding a wooden crossbow, yet he didn''t have a quiver. Noah wasn''t quite sure why they would be the first responders to the noise unless they were being treated as dispensable, the thought slightly surprised him.

    ''It''s a little too early to treat people this way, no? Heck, what am I saying? Society has always been this way.''

    He continued to wait for the two to speak, but he had to stand by for them to stare in disbelief towards the mutated dog he just killed. Noah was sure that even though it''s only been a few hours since the start of this mess that these two didn''t have to partake in any of the confrontations. He couldn''t  wrap his head around how these two skittish people could have the courage toe here even if ordered too unless they couldn''tprehend how dangerous it was.

    "So? How long are you two gonna stand there? I''d rather not stay here with a broken window and attract anything else in here."

    The two finally focused on Noah, an audible gulp could be heard from one and a gasp from the other. Noah''s appearance hasn''t been treated since the start of his first bloodbath. If anything, it''s gotten worse, his clothes and most of his visible skin was covered in dried blood. Including the fact that after the altercation with Derrick, his clothing, including his armor, showed extremely visible wear and tear.

    The sun was still rising so there wasn''t much sunlight in the room. No one thought about turning on the lights since it would be an obvious attraction to things outside so the two neers couldn''t observe Noah properly. Their eyes tried to adjust more to the dim room to gauge the speaker but the more they saw, the more a deep fear set in their hearts. It was when they made contact with his eyes they drove them over the edge.

    "Ahhhhh!"

    "I-it''s a zom-zombie! Henry! It''s a talking zombie! We gotta get out of here!" The friend with Henry, who was fidgety the entire time, took off leaving his friend behind. "We weren''t told they could talk!" His voice trailed behind as he ran.

    That left the three in the room, Isabelle wasn''t noticed by Henry yet who was slowly backing up towards the doorway. He noted before that the zombies his group encountered were all slow moving and the only audible noise they made were mumbles and growls. Just like how many animals started to mutate, growing in size or gaining a boost in certain attributes. He began to wonder if a zombie who could talk would be any different.

    He was preparing to leave before he saw Isabelle cowering behind Noah. She was a beautiful girl, but now her beauty was covered with dirt and her messy attire. The fact that she was shrinking behind Noah alone, was enough to halt Henry in his steps.

    ''Wait¡­this could be my chance¡­even if it''s mutated, a zombie should still be a zombie. And because it''s a special one¡­that should be special rewards! I can get the prize and¡­..the girl." Henry didn''t care how Isabelle looked currently. He was already considered somewhat of a loser hence why he became ackey to do others bidding. But, if he could look cool in saving a damsel then he should have better luck with earning a woman''s affection, Or so he thought.

    His expression soon turned grave before he maneuvered to the side to get a better view of the girl before he called out to her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Don''t you worry, I''ll save you from that zombie!" He yelled towards her, but¡­.he didn''t exactly get the reaction he was expecting. Instead of the relief he was expecting for Isabelle to exhibit, she became startled and shrieked in an annoyingly distressed voice before having a coughing fit soon after. What confused Henry even more was when she cowered into the so-called zombie and hugged its waist.

    Henry thought he''d seen everything, but then he thought that maybe she was startled so much that she imagined the zombie to be a person. It could talk, so in his mind confusing it for a human was extremely usible. He didn''t stay shocked for too long before he made a sprint towards the zombie.

    He was even more determined to save her than he was before because now it would be his fault if she died. But he was yet again made to be surprised when the ''zombie'' held its palm out signaling him to stop and the words that followed after.

    "If you''re really this stupid then you need to atleast wear a sign so you can warn everyone else so we can decide to avoid you. I had yet to move nor did I attack her and I''m clearly talking to you. Are you choosing to ignore what I say just for you to fight me? Maybe you''re the zombie with how stupid you appear right now."

    Blow after blow, Henry felt invisible blows impacting his gut. Maybe he believed in a talking zombie, but at this point he wouldn''t believe in an insulting one. He felt that he would give up if zombies really did mutate in that direction. With his low self esteem, he would lose the fight before it even began.

    Bang*

    His arms slumped to his side before he released the grip on his weapon. The impact against the floor wasn''t necessarily loud but the silence in the room created an echo that permeated loudly.

    Isabelle was soon drawn to the noise. At first she thought that she was the target of Noah''s insults. There was no way for her to know that Henry mistaken him for a zombie after she''s been with him and neverpared the two. She was already bing embarrassed that Noah could be referring to her as stupid after her shameful disy. She didn''t realize till she heard the hammer fall to the ground that Henry was the target of his abuse all along.

    She looked towards Henry with a spiteful demeanor, she didn''t like the fact that she became so startled because of his misunderstanding. She even had a slight doubt that he did it on purpose. But when she got a better look at his expression, her attitude quickly changed to one pity. It''s a shame that only she was affected.

    "Are you really about to cry right now? You know, don''t even answer that¡­" Noah looked on helplessly, he didn''t know how to deal with the boy before him. He couldn''t believe that he was actually crying. It wasn''t a full blown cry but the man was heaving out loud. Noah could even hear the silent sniffles people would normally get when they were distressed.

    He wasn''t adapted to handle a situation like this. Emotional problems were just as difficult as riddles, you could say the right thing and it could still make the situation worse. He so badly wanted to dismiss him and move, but then he remembered his ''friend'' who ran off screaming. He was sure that he would just walk into another misunderstanding that he didn''t want to deal with.

    "Hey, you." Noah beckoned to the guy to get his attention. It seemed as though being oblivious to Henry''s feelings did the trick. Henry looked up and noticed that not only was he not being ridiculed, but Noah also was speaking to him in an indifferent tone. Noah''s appearance didn''t exactly do him any favors when he behaved this way but Noah would rather deal with a fearful person instead of a crying one.

    "Wh-what¡­? You''re not gonna hurt me are you?" He took a step back as he inquired towards Noah. Even before this apocalypse started, he knew that people tend to be aggressive in these kinds of situations. Naturally his body reacted in the same manner in this situation.

    Again, Noah was helplessing up with a retort. He wanted to tell the guy ''I will if you keep being weird''. He didn''t respond aggressively nor did he express himself in any way that he was gonna attack him. Did he have the appearance of somemon thug?

    He wasn''t nning on asking a question like that out loud. He started to walk forward a little while he answered.

    "I don''t n on it as long as you don''t get the wrong ideas again. But speaking of that, I think we may have a small problem."

    Henry became more alert towards what he said and took a few more steps back in a hurry.

    "Wha-what problem? There''s no problem him man, if I had known earlier than I wo-"

    "Hold on hold on! Sheesh¡­what I mean is, your little friend who ran off earlier. I don''t know how many people are in your group but I''ll need you to at least clear up the misunderstanding when the timees. I mean, they do have that saying ''you are thepany that you keep''. So you can at least do that much, no?"

    After speaking up to here, Henry didn''t continue to retract his steps. He only looked warily towards Noah while he considered what he asked. His thoughts recalled back to his ''friend'' from earlier. He could only imagine the vivid story he''s telling the group right now. Henry was sure that he would cut out the part about deserting him too and also exaggerate the ''zombie'' so he wouldn''t look bad for running away.

    Imagining theical scene almost made his face break out into a smile, but that indifferent gaze from Noah was simr to cold water being poured over him. He shook his head on impulse to get his head back into the game before he looked back to Noah''s confused expression.

    "I¡­I can do that much¡­I-if that''s the only thing I have to do¡­" Noticing that his response could be taken the wrong way, his voice instinctively lowered to almost a mumble. Noah didn''t bother with his tone orck thereof, he was at least satisfied that he met someone sensible, at least more sensible than what he had to deal with so far.

    He didn''t want to continue the talk in the room with a dead body that he was sure would start to smellter.

    "Well let''s go and get this out the way then, as you can see, my day has been hectic and I need to rest for a bit.

    Noah proceeded to walk to the door. Henry subconsciously moved out of his way and was about to follow him. But something was missing and he didn''t know what it was. Not long after, he heard someone crying softly, but the sound was muffled, like the sound was being covered up by something.

 Chapter 23 23: Who Decides Whats Normal?

    Noah proceeded to walk to the door. Henry subconsciously moved out of his way and was about to follow him. But something was missing and he didn''t know what it was. Not long after, he heard someone crying softly, but the sound was muffled, like the sound was being covered up by something.

    His eyes shifted towards the noise. He saw a lone silhouette of the girl before on her knees, crying in the palms of her hands that covered her face. The scene surprised him, the image gave him the urge tofort her and take on all of her pain.

    Then reality hit him, he remembered who she came with. He took a glimpse towards Noah who seemed oblivious to the saddened women, he felt the need to speak out to him. How could he ignore her? If he could hear her then Noah should be able to as well.

    "Umm¡­what about her?" He gestured to Isabelle after getting Noah''s attention. Surprisingly, he didn''t see the expression he thought Noah would have. He wasn''t confused or worried at all, he was annoyed?

    Henry had to squint his eyes to make sure he was seeing his face properly. If he had waited a little longer than he wouldn''t have had to overthink anything since Noah clearly made known how he felt about the situation.

    "If I didn''t know any better, I would''ve believed that crying was a famous trend. I swear¡­she had just ran out of tears not even an hour ago, just great¡­" Henry was able to faintly catch what Noah was saying while he muttered to himself out loud. The astonishment could clearly be seen on Henry''s face. Not only did Noah not care about the girl''s feelings, but it appeared that he knew about her sadness for a while now.

    He looked onward in bewilderment while Noah approached the girl. It was a few secondster when his mind connected Noah''s annoyed expression to him making his way to her. He felt that maybe they had an abusive rtionship, but he wasn''t brave enough to speak up likest time. So he decided to watch but he couldn''t help but be apprehensive regarding the situation.

    He saw Noah extending his arm towards her, he wanted to quickly approach them, yet he became relieved he didn''t.

    When Noah approached Isabelle, he noted her dirtied appearance. The girl had it rough and lost someone she supposedly loved. But! She decided she still wanted to be saved even when she had the chance to die with her ''soul mate''. How will sitting here grieving help? Will that help her get over the situation faster? If so then he was all for her crying. He would participate in helping her get all of her tears out of her system.

    Although on the other hand, if she was gonna just cry and then wallow in pity after  then she needs to at least tend to her part of the deal. Not wanting to wait for her to finish crying and not wanting to spend the time trying to cate her, he decided to lift her on her feet. It didn''t go as nned, he already expected her to resist him which she did initially. It was when she became aware of who it was that inspired the change. Her mood turned sour and she yanked her hands away from him. The images of Derrick''s half eaten corpsending against her reyed in her mind repeatedly during the time she spent crying. She felt immense guilt for not being able to do anything to prevent it and even more leaving his side.

    But as soon as she saw Noah, her mind found a way to rid itself of her emotional burden. He left her when Derrick fell, he didn''t bother to even attempt to help them which made her upset at this moment. Then she remembered the fact that he was able to ''easily'' save her from the clutches of the bird. Her mind was beginning to go hysterical, it turned from ''It''s my fault Derrick died'' to ''The bird took him away from me'' then it unreasonably morphed to ''He left us there to die, he killed Derrick!"

    p!

    A crisp sound of her face pping Noah was clearly heard by everyone in the room. The lone watcher, Henry, was stricken by surprise to the unexpected response, but his eyes held a hint of satisfaction seeing her retaliate against her ''abuser''. Even though he was confused, the most confused of all was Noah himself. In his mind, he did everything right by her; He spared Derrick for her, saved her from the vulture, just recently saved her from the mutated dog AND he was being ''kind'' enough to help her to her feet.

    Holding his face that was only slightly red due to his increased constitution, he nkly stared into Isabelle''s tear filled eyes brimming with animosity towards him. He barely felt any pain but was genuinely confused about her actions. He was about to question her but soon his own expression changed drastically.

    Because he didn''t do anything against her, Isabelle felt that even he knew that what she did was justified. But at the same time, hitting him helped release so much of her grief and frustrations. It also gave her a sense of fulfillment, being the aggressor and oppressor was liberating! Her body reacted before her brain perceived what was going on, she was preparing to hit him again!

    Smack!*

    Another sound was heard just like before, but this time not only was the sounder louder but there was another source of noise. An object of a heavier size mmed into a nearby table beforending on the floor.

    This was bing too much for Henry to watch. He thought this would be the time for Isabelle to stand up to her oppressor, just that action alone instilled him with renewed vigor since he too was a victim of it. But reality hit him hard when he saw her about to p Noah again, but the same satisfying scene didn''t y out like he wanted. It happened so suddenly, Noah responded just in kind and pped her with enough force to send her crashing.

    At this point he wished he could leave the room, he wanted to help her but then he pictured himself being pped just like her. He nervously held his cheek before taking another step back, you can never be too careful.

    ¡­..

    Noah looked down towards Isabelle struggling on the floor, he was angry, well he was when he pped her. She already hit him once for no reason and yet she was going to do it again? He didn''t even know her!

    Yet he couldn''t maintain his anger towards her after witnessing her resort back to her crying state again whileying on the floor. He felt it was pointless to get upset, well at least it was pointless with someone as pitiful as her.

    He inhaled deeply before slowing letting it out.

    He was losing interest in why she did what she did, he couldn''t understand her feelings and if hitting the person who saved your life is what a ''normal'' person does then the real question is ''what is normal'' and why should he try to understand her if he doesn''t want to be normal like them if that''s the result of it?<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You know, you''ve got a lot of nerve¡­" He attempted to lift her on her feet again, but when he noticed the almost lifeless look in her eyes¡­he let go. She once again hit the floor with a small audible cry but this time she didn''t struggle to get up.

    "De-Derri¡­ick¡­.why¡­yo-you¡­leave¡­mme¡­" She mumbled to herself over and over.

    If pping him before confused him then her current demeanor almost broke his brain.

    ''Did she just give up because I didn''t let her keep hitting me? It seems that when you focus your life depending on others then you forget how to depend on yourself¡­she''s just sad¡­''

    Noah felt his mood worsened every second he stood there watching it. He definitely had some words for her, but he decided to hold them in. He didn''t have a reason to deal with her anymore if she was gonna be like this. Receiving her healing? He would be better off waiting it out or grinding weak monsters to level up to increase his constitution. He had already noticed earlier when he was bitten in his shoulder the effect constitution had on the body''s recovery. His spider is still missing part of one of its legs but it still has 7 more so that should suffice, dealing with her isn''t worth it.

    He turned around to face Henry who was prepared to run when he saw Noah turn towards him. When Noah began to walk towards him without speaking a word, Henry began to retreat in a fluster and held his hands up to protect his face.

    "Wa-wait wait! Don''t hit me! You said you won''t harm me if I settle that issue for you." Henry was panicked to the point that his voice cracked while he tried to reason with Noah.

    At this point Noah didn''t want to deal with this guy either right now, everyone seemed to be a few fries short of a happy meal in the brain department. He still recalled when the kid with sses earlier called him a weirdo, he wondered what he would say if he met these two right now.

    "Why would I hit you? Are you gonna try to p me in the face too?" Noah''s eyes narrowed as he questioned the skittish boy in front of him.

    "N-no! I- I wouldn''t dare!"

    "Then there''s your answer, now let''s go so we can get this over with."

    ''I''ve had enough social interactions tost me a year.'' Noah thought to himself before making his way past Henry and walked out the door.

    Henry was affected by Noah''s mood which made him begin to follow him unquestionably before he paused at the door.

    "B-but what about¡­"

    Noah turned around to find Henry looking back into the room where Isabelle was stillying down. He found the current scene amusing.

    ''When I constantly got beaten up, where were the people worried for me? Ahhh¡­Maybe that was life telling me I never belonged with them¡­''

    He faced away from Henry and proceeded to go down the hall where his friend escaped to, which just happened to be towards the main lobby area. It also happened to be where you could ess the second floor to the shopping section and further down to enter the cafeteria.

    Henry felt especially uneasy in his current predicament. His heart wanted to check on the girl but his mind was constantly reminding him to not get on Noah''s bad side. His inner conflict continued until he heard Noah speak to him.

    "If you''re so worried about her then help me deal with this first. It doesn''t look like she''ll be going anywhere so you can go back to herter." The suggestion was given off handedly by Noah but Henry took it seriously, his eyes, which clearly showed his inner turmoil soon reimed rity. He soon recovered himself and quickly walked to close the distance with Noah, the quicker he helped him, the sooner he could go back tofort the girl.

    Noah noticed Henry''s extra enthusiasm but he chose to ignore it, people are motivated by different things. He''s motivated from bing stronger and Henry, well he''s motivation is picking up girls, which is extremely odd to Noah considering the situation they''re in.

    The two walked in silence while they carried on down the hallway, Noah let Henry take the lead so hopefully there wouldn''t be any misunderstandings if he were to go in first. Though he noticed that Henry would nce back towards him every once in a while, he seemed as if he had something to say.

    Noah started to feel helpless, ''he isn''t gonna ask about the girl is he?''. He wasn''t in the mood to y Cupid with this guy who seemed clueless about the dangers outside. Thankfully his thoughts were proven wrong or he really would''ve pped Henry, someone needed to p some sense into him  if that was really all he was worried about.

    "Uh¡­uh I forgot to mention earlier, but¡­.the people in my group apparently found something¡­it seems you can use the gold that was dropped from those chests for it. So now¡­we-well they are preventing people from staying here unless they pay them¡­"

 Chapter 24 24: Its Better To Be Ignored

    "Uh¡­uh I forgot to mention earlier, but¡­.the people in my group apparently found something¡­it seems you can use the gold that was dropped from those chests for it. So now¡­we-well they are preventing people from staying here unless they pay them¡­"

    Henry felt he was treading on thin ice while trying to convey the information to Noah without angering him. He was also part of the same group so he assumed the worst and reasoned that Noah would assume he was also for extorting people.

    Contrary to what he believed, Noah''s reaction was the exact opposite of what he worried it would be. The cool and aloof demeanor Henry always saw him carried was nowhere to be seen. A smile, one that appeared to almost stretch from ear to ear was stered on Noah''s face. His dead ck eyes seemed to vaguelye to life, Henry could ''feel'' his eyes locking on to him, causing his body to shudder.

    "We can spend our money?? Like a shop? What does it look like? Where is it? What do you mean you receive other people''s gold? How do you do it?"

    Noah bombarded Henry with one question after another. Noah didn''t care about personal space at all as he stood inches away from him, shaking him at the shoulders expecting answers to drop out with each shake.

    Henry began to grow increasingly dizzy from the back and forth tugs, he has yet to even level up, the difference in stats could easily be seen even though Noah barely spec into his strength attribute.

    Flustered, Henry extended his arms to create distance between them, yet that didn''t have any effect to deter Noah''s excitement.

    "Come on man, spit it out already!" Noah impatiently yelled. He''s been antagonizing all this time since the moment he received gold about where he could spend it. Now the answer is right in front of him and yet the person is taking his sweet time to give him answers?

    Seeing such a lively side of Noah was pretty disturbing in Henry''s perspective. A bloody guy who killed such a monstrous animal on his own and could unhesitatingly swing on a woman. Was now looking towards him like an excited puppy, the sight literally gave him chills.

    "W-well I''m not exactly aware of all the details¡­but from what I heard, it''s a person covered with a hood. Al-all I know is that the person is on the second floor and when you get close apparently you feel a sort of unnatural energy. I heard the stuff is pretty expensive which is why they are ''asking'' for money.

    I don''t know how they figured it out but all you have to do is make contact with the person you''re exchanging with and the giver concentrates how much they will give then it happens. Don''t ask me why it happens, if you want more answers about it then you''ll probably have to ask them but like I said before, they are gonna charge you for staying here."

    Hearing what he wanted, Noah''s excitement calmed and his curiosity peaked. His mind roamed over the many possibilities about the masked man and the gold exchange mechanic.

    ''If the ''person'' is covered in a hood, maybe it''s not human¡­is it simr to an NPC in video games? Why did it appear here of all ces? And does that mean space storage exists? If there''s a shop function then that could be the only way it could hold it all, no? Maybe that''s where they learned how to trade gold¡­ah this is killing me! I have to find out."

    His eyes were blinking as rapidly as he was thinking before his thoughts finally settled and readjusted his eyes to focus on Henry, startling him once again.

    "Alright well let''s meet your friends then."

    His tone, in Henry''s perspective, left no room for negotiations. It''s not like he was gonna change his mind and refuse what they originally agreed on. Yet part of him just couldn''t let what Noah said go. He turned back, facing the opening a little further ahead, with his shoulders slumped, he quietly spoke to himself but loud enough, intending for Noah to hear before moving on.

    "They''re not my friends¡­"

    Noah, of course picked up on this yet decided not to respond. He didn''t feel the need to since discussing it would be pointless. Henry isn''t his friend either so why should he continue to poke his nose in his business unless it would benefit himself?

    They were both silent the rest of the way with only the tapping of their footsteps could be heard. The silencested until they made it to the opening where they could clearly hear the voices of others which Noah assumed would be the group that Henry previously mentioned.

    "Look, we''ve waited long enough and Henry still hasn''t made it back. He either died fighting the new zombie or¡­the loot he gained from killing it was rare enough that he ran away with it. He better hope that he was killed or he would wish he was eating alive if that''s the case."<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Ken, if that''s true then we should hurry! If he got done in then we can finish off the zombie and get whatever it had and if not then maybe he didn''t get away too far."

    "Dave''s right, I also saw a skill in that shop earlier that I really wanted. I can really use the coins right now."

    Noah and Henry could clearly make out the discussion being had just ahead of them. Henry, having heard how they were discussing about him, realized how little he meant to the group. Deep down he knew that he was being used all this time but he hoped that he was at least useful. Yet it seems that it was all in his head. He was about to walk out into the lobby to meet them, he didn''t want to continue to listen to them anymore. His self worth was already at an all time low hearing the way they nonchntly talked about him dying. He felt more ashamed than embarrassed to hear anymore.

    Noah on the other hand held him back by the cor of his shirt, gaining a nasty look from the once downcast young man. This look made Noah intrigued rather than offended, Noah ounted Henry to be a do-gooder and a very skittish man, but that look, it screamed ''I don''t have anything to lose''. He was tempted to figure out what was Henry''s bottom line, what would it take for someone who was more epted into society to forsake their humanity? His curiosity had him dying to know but he was quickly disappointed again. He forgot how fickle human emotions could be.

    When Henry peered onto Noah during his emotional state, the resentment he held for him was extinguished faster than his mind caught up to what was going on. Noah''s gaze was simr to a bucket of ice water poured over his face. He instantly regretted what he had done and became meek. Henry was already uneasy with Noah behaving as if he didn''t exist. Yet if he had known that this is what it would be like to gain his attention then he wouldn''t have shown an ounce of frustration towards him, he probably would have thanked him instead for yanking him so hard.

    Contrary to the foreboding events that Henry assumed was going to happen next, nothing came. Ever since he saw the crazed interest in Noah''s eyes, he never took his own eyes off the ground, he was afraid what would happen if he continued to meet his stare. Would Noah take that as a challenge or would that look intensify? He didn''t want to find out. But when he still didn''t hear Noah speak and only the voices in the other room could be heard, he began to worry about his future.

    The silence between the two ended with Noah letting out a deep breath, he felt let down. His curiosity died as soon as Henry became submissive again. He''s seen this behavior so many times before in other people, but that was before the so-called apocalypse began. He thought that just like him, Henry was also about to show his true colors. Maybe it was more because Noah wanted to believe that he wasn''t the only one with such a peculiar personality that he showed such interest.

    Noah slowly came to terms with the present situation, it''s not like there was anything else interesting about Henry to begin with. He just let the excitement about the shop ''guy'' influence him a bit.

    He only wanted to stop Henry from walking out before because he wanted to hear more of their discussion. So far he heard three voices and one of them didn''t appear to be the person that ran off earlier. He also wanted to know more of their intentions, would they fight him if he decided to not pay up? Were they blood thirsty or just all talk? Noah already saw that not everyone could easily adapt to the situation at hand and most people like him who did, either had something wrong with them or had a strong conviction that helped them to do so. For instance Mark, he could tell just from his ''hero'' mentality that he was as psychotic if not more than he was. He was willing to Kill Noah so easily even though he didn''t know him nor did they have any prior negative history to mention. Noah wouldn''t say he''s a saint or close to it but the only actual people he thought about killing were people who attempted to kill him. So he needed more information before he confronted the group.

    "Ok, Dave, Phil, you twoe with me. Zack, you stay here and don''t let anyone onto the second floor, if you run away this time, well, just wait till we get back."

    Noah became annoyed when thest thing he heard was them about to head towards them. Because of Henry, he blocked off everything else they mentioned before, he doesn''t know if he missed out on anything that could contribute to hisck of information.

    Henry too caught on to the group about to soon approach. Before he could decide what to do, he felt a push from behind. He didn''t need to think about who pushed him or what the push was for, before he stepped out he took a deep breath to prepare himself. He would be between two groups of people that make him feel extremely nervous and inferior. He had to be careful with his words not to offend either, but in the back of his mind he was prepared to side with whichever side would keep him safe.

    Nervously he walked into the lobby area which was a lot brighter than the hall they came from. He was halfway in before the group became aware of him, at first they all were alert.

    "He-hey guys¡­I''m back¡­" Henry''s timid response allowed the group to put their guard down. They were about to ''wee'' him back and quickly get the information they wanted about the zombie before Zack''s voice rang out, putting his group on alert once again.

    "It-ITS THE ZOMBIE! HENRY WATCH OUT, IT''S RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

    Everyone soon held up their weapons in preparation for the ''zombie''. Ken and his group didn''t care if Henry died or not so they weren''t nning on rushing out to save him. If anything, his death could provide them a chance to kill it.

    When they all got the visual of the ''zombie'', they too thought it was one at first. All covered in blood from the face down, lifeless ck eyes and a face without much expression. All the checks pointed to it being a zombie, but after a few seconds of waiting, they noticed no one moved. Henry, who was supposedly in danger, didn''t move nor did the so-called zombie.

    Unlike Zack, the group of three fought and killed a couple of zombies on the way here, they didn''t fear them, especially if it was just one and they were all together. Because of that fact, the group weren''t dumb enough to know that something wasn''t right. They looked to the person who could give them answers, bringing about another sigh from Henry along with him shaking his head because it turned out exactly like Noah assumed.

    "Guys¡­it''s all a misunderstanding."

 Chapter 25 25: It Wasnt A Misunderstanding

    "Guys¡­it''s all a misunderstanding." Henry didn''t n on moving, after he and Noah both revealed themselves, they kept their distance. Even though the opposing group could tell now that Noah is most likely not a zombie, it didn''t minimize any of the tension between them. Especially considering Noah''s appearance and demeanor currently.

    It became more apparent to them how much of a threat Noah could be when he looked at each of them one at a time. The way he observed them one by one made them all uneasy.

    Noah first took notice of the one who could possibly be the one called Ken who appeared to be the leader during the conversations. He wasn''t hard to spot since he was the one in front of the other two and thest thing he heard from them was Ken telling the two to follow so it could only be him.

    He noted the appearance of Ken which at this point in time was a good representation of someone''s strength. He knew that in the future, you wouldn''t be able to tell how strong someone is based solely on their appearance since, as of now, stats don''t  reflect on your image.

    Ken didn''t appear to be a muscr character, but he still had a solid build, mostly likely from his gics. With short brown hair and full beard neatly trimmed. He appeared very mature but that meant nothing to Noah, what he really cared about was only his build and what weapons they had.

    His other two followers were most likely his ''muscles'' which makes sense in Noah''s opinion. He was the average wealthy thug. He had theckeys who did his errands and then two bodyguard like people who had his back to promote his standing. Even though this was a prestigious school, there were still many students who were able to get in due to sports schrships and met the bare minimum grades. There were also other students who just had rich parents or just had rich connections, but they weren''t the brightest, which might be the case for Ken''s two followers.

    Money could do anything, it could even say, you know, influence a few grades here and there.

    Noah couldn''t tell which person was Dave or Phil, he didn''t care about matching a name to a face. All he needed to know was that one was tall and overweight while the other one was short and a little bit stocky.

    After assessing the first issue of the opposing danger, he then observed their weapons. Ken wielded a two hand battle axe, even though he still had to hold it with two hands, he didn''t appear to be struggling which Noah took ount of. Most likely he leveled up once or twice and put his points into strength.

    The short guy, coincidentally, also wielded an axe but unlike Ken he held two one handed battle axes. Noah couldn''t use game logic to define the person''s build path, if he did then he would assume that he was going the barbarian route, also putting all of his points into probably strength, agility and stamina. But this isn''t a game and these guys could also be stupid, being able to use magic is tempting, who knows if they wasted their points early on.

    Lastly he looked at the bigger guy of the bunch, he didn''t worry about the guy Zack from before. If a fight broke out, he doubted that he would participate, same asst time. But the bigger guy was kind of weird. Well it was weird in this setting since the mostmon monster they have all been fightingtely was zombies. The weapon the guy wielded were two metallic gloves, fitted with an extra metalyer around the knuckles.

    Part of Noah wished that they would try to attack him so he could increase his stash on weapons but at the same time he wasn''t sure if he could take them on. One, he couldn''t be sure what level they were on and two, he already met two people who gained something from gaining the early achievement, who knows if one of the three also had one.

    Yet even though he knew that there''s a chance he couldn''t take them on, that didn''t mean he would go without a fight. Death didn''t scare him, it never did. But now he had something he wanted to live for and he didn''t want to lose that chance to live it.

    As he observed the three, he chose to stay quiet to allow Henry to resolve the issue. While he was waiting, he channeled his soul to his spider to stir it awake just in case.

    "Guys¡­it''s all a misunderstanding. When me and Zack went to check on the situation, we couldn''t see properly and got caught up in the moment. But he''s definitely not a zombie and he wants to take shelter here for a little while."

    After saying his piece, Henry waited for the others to respond. He saw the three look towards each other and then they all looked towards Zack on the next floor who shrieked down to avoid them. Before they addressed Henry, they did onest look over to Noah. You would think that it should be easy to be able to tell a human and a zombie apart, but when they viewed his appearance once more even they believed that it made sense why Zack saw him as such. They all killed zombies too, but why did it appear like Noah bathed in their blood?

    It was logical why they would be wary, but the wariness didn''tst long on the leader Ken. Even though Noah has a dangerous vibe, he was still alone and the only weapon he wielded was a small mallet. They didn''t have to have a conflict with the person, but! Ken also wasn''t worried if the conversation led to them conflicting with each other either.

    "I see, I see¡­well we wouldn''t mind anyone staying here¡­but there''s a couple of things that we need to cover. First, you need to pay up if you want to stay here and I don''t mean money, I''m talking about the gold, you should know what I''m talking about. Second, I was told that you broke through one of the windows to get in here and you also let in a beast. You''ve basically endangered us for future attacks now, as well as potentially letting a dangerous creature inside that could''ve harmed us if you couldn''t put it down.

    I think we deserve some kind ofpensation don''t you think? And I don''t mean gold¡­I want whatever it dropped."

    A fake smile generated on Ken''s face, soon after, his two followers also wore the same kind of smile. Noah was sure that this group did these things before the apocalypse.

    Thankfully he nned ahead and was already nning on releasing his spider who seemed to finally be stirring awake.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He was already desperate for weapons and this confrontation would be just what he needed. But, he also had to be sure of one thing. He didn''t mind teaching them a lesson and taking their belongings since they were also trying to do the same thing to him.

    "And what will you do if I say no?" His eyes narrowed as he asked the most important question.

    What Noah needed to know the most was would they stoop low enough to want to kill to get what belongs to him. ''An eye for an eye, tooth for tooth'' Noah was particr when it came to this verse. He always wanted for others to feel the suffering that they put him through and now he can just do it himself.

    After voicing his question, silence soon followed. The smiles on two of the group members'' faces including Kens turned into a scowl while the shorter member''s smile became one of excitement and eagerness. His smile signaled a warning to Noah that this may not be the first time that they''ve experienced a simr situation. He didn''t have to imagine too much about what that smile signified.

    While the four stared each other down, there was still one person that wasn''t a part of this staring contest, yet he was the most affected.

    Henry''s eye quickly darted back and forth between the two groups. He didn''t want to be a part of what was happening. If they ended up confronting one another then he would also be caught up in the situation. He wanted to leave and just be a bystander but whoever drives away the other would surely take out their frustrations on him afterwards wouldn''t they?

    But he didn''t have the courage to choose a side. Noah was able to kill that dog-like creature by himself. And his group¡­well he''s seen what happened to thest group that declined their ''tax'' to stay here. He still regrets being a part of their group ever since then. Everything happened so fast, the zombies, the blood and especially the way some people adapted. He was sure that Ken and his group killed people before, the way they treated humans worse than the zombies. Which was also why he didn''t want to go against them. Henry didn''t have long to think about his options before Noah finally got an answer.

    "I don''t think you get it¡­I wasn''t asking you, look around." Ken nodded his head towards the door that led towards the cafeteria. When Noah looked in the direction he saw more groups of people fearfully looking in their direction. But when he observed their faces, he didn''t notice even a hint of curiosity of what was happening, all he saw was traumatized fear. Even then, he noticed the deep  bruising on some of  the men and women''s faces that didn''t appear like animal or zombie attacks.

    He didn''t be worried seeing them but his solemn expression deepened. Ken seemed to enjoy the small change in his demeanor, he felt encouraged to talk more.

    "What, it''s been two, three hours and help still hasn''te? Phones aren''t working either? It''s now everyone for themselves. If you want to get out of this mess then you should be obedient or you''ll end up just like them. Besides¡­" The smile Ken wore disappeared and he also became serious.

    "Chest doesn''t only drop for monsters¡­"

    "!!"

    That was all Noah needed to hear, unlike the sorry act they assumed he would disy like the others. Instead he  wore a yful smile and his eyes thatcked life held a crazed desire within them. He didn''t have to ask what Ken meant by saying that, because he has had this thought ever since he was going to kill Derrick. The revtion that chest would drop from killing people made Noah more thoughtful for the future.

    He was dreading having to meet more people like Derrick and Ken and he wasn''t going to get much out of it besides experience. But then he remembered something more important.

    ''What happens to the gold? Does that mean all of it will drop too??'' The thought of obtaining lumps on lumps of gold morphed his yful smile to be as crazed as his eyes.

    If at first Ken and his group were confused about his decision, now they fully understood what''s about to happen next as they positioned themselves for a fight.

    They weren''t afraid of him at all since they outnumbered him one to three and he only had a mallet as his weapon. But they were still wary of someone who showed no ounce of fear towards them in this situation, even more so because he appeared to be insane.

    "Hahahaa¡­You know¡­" everyone became tense when they heard Noah speaking, Henry, who already decided not to be a part of what was happening also became tense even though he wasn''t being addressed. Noah''s tone during this heated moment came out to feel unpleasant. The mood was heavy and everyone knew someone was about to die and yet he was bing more stimted by the second.

    "I wanted toe here to fix the misunderstanding that I was a threat to you, but¡­.IT TURNS OUT IT WASN''T A MISUNDERSTANDING AFTER ALL!"

 Chapter 26 26: Dont Get Distracted

    "I wanted toe here to fix the misunderstanding that I was a threat to you, but¡­.IT TURNS OUT IT WASN''T A MISUNDERSTANDING AFTER ALL.

    This would''ve been the start to the brutal exchange but before the opposing group made their move, another spectacle took ce with Noah at the center.

    There was a soft glow originating from Noah''s back. The glow perhaps would''ve been brighter if not for the clothing covering it. The glowsted less than ten seconds, even then, ten seconds is a lot of time if someone wanted to take action.

    No one wanted to make a move when approaching the unknown and considering the confidence of Noah even when he was supposedly at a disadvantage, they all thought that the glow was most likely the reason why, well, they weren''t wrong.

    "WH-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"

    Instead of the glow subsiding or even being used to cast a spell, the glow separated into a white ghostly ball from Noah''s body and hovered on his side. As soon as the ball reached an arms length distance, it quickly changed shape in front of everyone, revealing his giant spiderpanion.

    The spider looked around vigntly as soon as it surfaced. It wasn''t aware of exactly what was going on but it was also affected by Noah''s early erratic emotions. It was expecting an opponent simr to the oversized bird from earlier, it was ready to redeem itself to its master since it disappointed him when fighting the human. Yet when it saw the humans, its earlier battle intent died down while its appetite rose.

    It fought humans before and if it wasn''t because of it being outnumbered then the two legged creatures it feared before was nothing special, but they did taste delicious.

    The voice that yelled out earlier happened to be the tall overweight Phil. Noah didn''t bother to answer the question, clearly anyone could see it was a spider.

    He already had a small n in mind and it was simple. He raised his hand slowly and pointed to the shortest person there with the dual axes in his hand.

    "NO! NO! WAI-"

    "Go"

    Ken tried to plead out to Noah, The spider''s many piercing eyes alone caused a budding fear within him. The assured chance of killing Noah and taking his gear and gold was lowered immensely. If he had known of the spider earlier then he would rather cooperate with him. Even though he said help would nevere, he didn''t entirely believe it. He just believed help wouldn''te for everyone else, but his family, they would definitelye for him, or so he thought.

    But Noah learned from his mistake with Derrick. If these people had a transformation ability of some kind too then he shouldn''t give them the time to activate it. He also knew that out of all of them, the short guy seemed to be the biggest threat and it wasn''t because of his weapons, but because of his demeanor.

    Whoosh!*

    No one here could be said to be an animal expert, even more so an expert on spiders. They weren''t expecting a spider of its size to be able to jump, but more than a jump, it appeared as if it wasunched.

    "Arrggh! Whaa¡­..?"

    Dave wasn''t given a chance. Noah''s reasoning wasn''t far from the truth about his build path. He managed to reach level three, considering that a zombie would give five experience proved that he killed his fair share. He also received an achievement like Noah, but his was a passive called ''Insatiable fighter''. It increased his strength by a percentage of his stamina and could also be leveled up. Because of this skill, he chose to allocate his points into strength and stamina. This wouldn''t have been a bad decision on his part, given time, his strength stat could almost rival Derrick''s transformation strength.

    But he didn''t ount for two things, one being, meeting a faster opponent and the other, not preparing for disabilitating attacks by raising his spirit. Which in this case, the spider had both.

    When it sprung on him, Dave wielded his axes to defend himself, given the suddenness of the spider''s attack and speed to close the distance, he couldn''t do anything more.

    His first intuition was to block the first two legs that tried to grip him, but that didn''t stop the other one and a half from attacking from the sides. The encroaching danger all at once made him forget about the deadliest aspect of spiders and he didn''t be aware until he felt tworge like needles bare down around his chest area. Upon contact he felt tremendous pain, but after the pain, he felt numb. It started with his breathing and then his limbs. He tried to voice out to hispanions when he felt the disturbance in his body, but he couldn''t utter a sound and before he knew it, he was looking face up from the ground. Not being able to move his body nor being able to blink, he was still slightly conscious of his surroundings.

    "D-Da-Dave¡­?"

    Phil stammered, everything happened so fast, unlike Ken, who was more like his boss, he considered Dave as a friend at least. He''s seen his fair share of deaths and even before this apocalypse he killed a few under the work of Ken''s family. But being on the receiving end was a different matter, even more so when one of the people killed was rted to him.

    Ken also was bbergasted about the scene taking ce. Even though he was the leader, he knew that Dave was the strongest out of the three of them. He was even envious of Dave because of the skill he obtained. He wasn''t able to get one, the stupid achievement never specified the time limit to kill anything!

    Not only was Dave taken out, but he was ''killed'' without a chance to fight back. How was he, who was weaker than both his minions, supposed to confront them now? The way Noah had his spider kill him without any hesitation convinced him that he would be killed too.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He retreated a few steps back, his eyes roamed from the spider, to Noah, the people in the cafeteria watching and then to the doors of the main lobby that leads outside. His first thought was to make a run for it, but then what? Could he escape from the spider that jumped faster than they could react? He thought of the next best thing, something he even did just recently to one of the groups to get what he wanted.

    "Phil, snap out of it! If you don''t let it jump then it won''t be an issue for you, just don''t let it bite you. He''s probably nothing without the spider, I''ll take care of him, now go!"

    Phil''s short sightedness due to Dave''s sudden death made him react to Ken''s orders without thinking. His weapon wasn''t technically the best suited to kill a spider of its size.

    While Phil charges towards the spider, Noah still has yet to make a move. He wasn''t worried about the spider being harmed at this point. If anything he was more proud of himself that he was able to tame such a creature. If they had to fight on an even ying field then he had no doubt that he would fall before it, It was the same with the vulture. The animals now seemed to reim their ce as the humans'' predators and rightfully so, thankfully humans were still innovative and were also able to obtain a ''ss''.

    "Now get the other one and I''ll let you have both of them as your meal¡­" Noah voiced out. He saw that Ken was heading in the direction of the cafeteria. He wasn''t sure if he was running there to hide or if he was going to pull a move from the viin''s handbook and try to use them as hostages. It was best to prevent him from going there altogether, so to avoid both options he decided to take care of him next. Besides, he knew that it wouldn''t be a problem for the spider now.

    Just like when it saved Isabelle, it tethered a web from where it jumped and it appeared that no one else paid any attention to this.

    When Phil edged closer to the spider, it suddenly yanked itself backwards to its initial ce and as if a spring was set under it, itunched itself immediately in Ken''s direction while it kept itself tethered.

    Noah didn''t n on watching Ken''s plight, he knew the oue as soon as he saw him turn his back. In the meantime, he turned his attention to Phil and made a beeline in his direction. He couldn''t let the spider do all of the work for him. Well he can, but he wouldn''t feel satisfied and this would be the first time he personally killed a human. He needed to know how this would affect him, would he be as indifferent as to when he killed the zombies?

    Part of Phil rxed when he saw the spider ''avoid'' him. He thought the spider was afraid of him, which meant that he had a chance to defeat it. He became even more rxed when he saw Noah running towards him. Noah was already a head shorter than he was and he was all also a couple sized smaller. During this time, Phil still used the normal means of judging by appearances to determine someone''s ability to fight. But he didn''t ount for his easing up to be his quick downfall.

    "PHIILLLLLLL!!"

    Because of his ckening vignce, when he heard the overly dramatic screams of Ken calling out his name. His head naturally followed the sound of the voice. Not only did that give Noah more time to close the distance, but the scene taking ce caused an even bigger distraction than calling out his name. When he looked over, he saw Ken on the floor and he seemed as stiff as a statue and his eyes were looking in his direction in horror.

    But just that alone wasn''t enough to distract him. It seems that the spider took this chance to begin its meal. Ken''s body was slowly losing body mass in real time, the scene appeared as though the spider was draining all of the fluids in Ken''s body. Coupling that with the fearful eyes still shone in his eyes, made it almost impossible for him to look away.

    WHACK!*

    Phil felt a heavy blow to his temple and felt his body giving way and making contact with the ground abruptly. He still was conscious but now he was suffering from dizziness. The strength of the blow to the temple would be enough to knock out any normal human, but just like Noah, he also allocated points into his constitution over his other attributes.

    Yet that was still only enough to stop him from fainting. He struggled to get up, his vision was blurry but it was enough to get a slight visual of the figure above, hovering over him.

    He raised his arms over his head to protect his face as much as he could, he wanted to call out to Noah to stop. Before he could get his distraught mind to speak a coherent sentence, he felt another blow but it was to his chin. His head snapped back while a couple of his teeth flew. The blow was worse than it should''ve been since he was in the middle of trying to talk.

    Even though Phil was hit yet again, he still stopped himself from fainting. Each blow made him be more afraid of dying. He broke out in tears, crying frantically when he noticed the blurred figure approaching again. He tried to push himself off the ground but the strike to the chin rattled his brain further, preventing him from having control of his body functions.

    "Ple-Pleas-eee¡­.n-nnno¡­more¡­" Phil continued to cry out to Noah, he began to cry even more when he saw that Noah didn''t continue to advance anymore, believing that his cries were reaching him.

    This was the moment that Noah was the most curious about when it concerned himself. He needed to know if he was ready to take this step to take a life and how he would feel during this process. When he saw the broken, yet snobbish face crying for forgiveness, he thought back to Isabelle and how he pitied her. Yet, when he looked into Phil''s disturbing expression, all he felt was disgust.

    He wasn''t satisfied with this, there has to be a reason why he felt differently between the two.

    While he struggled to gather his thoughts, the spectators in the area were all shaken. It didn''t matter if it were the ones who were extorted or the twockeys of the group. Every one of them felt disturbed by what was urring, people were literally being killed right in front of them. But to Noah, he considered them hypocrites. Even when they felt that way they still continued to watch.

    The thought of the onlookers opened his eyes to help him clear his thoughts. He smiled to himself, satisfied that he was finally able to realize what the difference was.

    ''That''s right, it''s not just because she''s a girl that I pitied her. It''s because she''s so helpless that she is not able to achieve anything on her own. Well more than not being able to achieve anything, it''s more like she doesn''t even consider that she can do anything. Just like the people here, they didn''t choose to fight the monsters to protect themselves and they also allowed themselves to be extorted and beaten and yet they didn''t try to fight back. The zombies felt more alive than them and it''s sad.''

    He then looked towards Phil who appeared to finally be cognizant of his surroundings. The disgust he felt for him only grew stronger the more he saw him struggle about.

 Chapter 27 27: Error?

    He then looked towards Phil who appeared to finally be cognizant of his surroundings. The disgust he felt for him only grew stronger the more he saw him struggle about.

    "Ahh! Wa-"

    Noah was growing annoyed having to experience this feeling, he stepped down forcibly on Phil''s back without any forewarning, forcing him to the ground.

    Before Phil could attempt to cry his way out any longer, He brought the mallet and mmed it down into the back of his neck causing his face to ricochet off the ground. Everyone thought the fight that turned out into a one sided murder to be over, but then they saw Noah raising the mallet again before striking it down into Phils skull once more, and then again, and again.

    The strikes continued until the tenth swing when Phils skull and face were no longer recognizable to be a human body part. The disgust he has been feeling has finally subsided. It wasn''t until he looked at the mess that he created that he had to recognize that something may be wrong with him. He realized that his feelings have been intense as of yet since everything started, but he couldn''t figure out if he was always so unhinged or if it was maybe due to his new title.

    ''Well¡­it''s not like I mind it. It feels so damn good to be able to vent out my frustrations. Besides¡­'' He then looked over to the mixed expressions of horrified and sickly spectators, the unsettling scene caused many of them to empty the contents of their stomachs.

    ''I''d rather be how I am now then like them.''

    His gaze thennded on Dave, the first victim to be put down by the spider and then to Ken. The scene now left him speechless, Ken''s body resembles closely to a mummified corpse!

    "You gluto- Nevermind, you can wait!" Noah was preparing to chastise the spider and its voracious appetite, but he noticed a chest, and not just any chest but it was a GOLDEN chest.

    Any thought he had previously didn''t matter, everyone, including his spider and the people around him no longer existed as he hurriedly made his way to the chest.

    He didn''t forget his usual ritual of opening it slowly. While he did so, he was already blinded by the golden light, he wasn''t sure if it was the abundant amount of gold or something else, but his emotions were over the moon.

    ''God, father, Supreme Being, Daddy! Whatever you want to be called, I take back all I said before about you and not being fair about the drop rates, I love you!''

    Luckily for Noah, the god-like being wasn''t keeping a conscious effort to pay attention to minor things such as human thoughts or he would probably put in effort to rig drop rates for Noah even more so Noahs ''love'' wouldn''t be a creepy obsession.

    While Noah was opening the chest, he wasn''t aware of the eye grabbing attention that was brought upon himself due to the glow the chest exhibited. Even though many of the people there were hopeless individuals who were scared to fight. They still had killed a zombie or two just to be able to reach here or they at least followed someone who did.

    Naturally they all knew the significance of the chest by this time and the benefits obtained from them. The looks towards him varied between envy and jealousy, but their fear of him never subsided. There were only a small amount of those stares that looked on with a different emotion. They looked at him for protection.

    Even though some of them looked on with hostility, none of them made a move. Especially when they noticed the giant spider now hovering around Noah who was also attracted towards the light. It felt the excitement from its master and was curious about what could make him feel that way. Its first thought was delicious food, but it only became confused when it couldn''t spot a hearty meal inside the small container.

    Its initial curiosity waned so it curiously looked around for something else to alleviate its boredom. Soon its eyes spotted Dave farther on the side.

    Its own emotions mirror Noah''s excitement when it realized it could consume another fresh meal. Its master did say it could have the one who ran away and the shorter one so it unhesitatingly made its way towards Dave to enjoy itself once again. Its loyalty for Noah started to rise, it was repeatedly stopped from feeding by the other humans but now it was able to feed without any interruptions now that it followed him. But most importantly, it could feel that both it and its master were helping each other grow stronger. It rubbed its fangs in joy before sinking them into Dave.

    "HaHAhaHAHAHa!"

    Meanwhile Noah was having aughing stroke when he viewed the item causing the glow. It was a sheet of parchment like the others that held the stats and skills that he could roll for. But this one was unique, the writing was written in a golden ink that shined and would appear to glow when reflecting the light. And that wasn''t the only change, instead of having to roll for a random skill, he was able to directly obtain the skill received as an achievement.

    He was ecstatic beyond belief, part of him honestly wanted to go around hunting down people for the chance to get their skills, but he calmed himself down to not be blinded by greed. He already had to survive against monsters and the few vile humans he will surely meet in the future. He didn''t want to have the entire world as his enemy. How could he fully enjoy himself if everyone wants to kill him?

    Now that he was able to withhold hisughter, he finally put all of his attention to the parchment, but his smile never left his face.

    [Unique skill ''Insatiable Fighter'' confirmed! Would you like to learn the skill? Y/N]

    "Yes of course I want to learn the skill! Why even bother asking?" He admonished the system in his excitement. He was bing impatient at the idea of bing stronger and the fact that he couldn''t see the description of the skill, but what he could decipher from the name itself. It intensified his restlessness which made him slightly irritable.

    ''WHAT THE HELL?''

    And yet the following notification didn''t help his rising temper.

    [Insatiable Figh- Error! Error! Because the kill was Achieved by your tamed monster, due to the ss Monster Tamer, the achievement has been changed to ''Insatiable Hunter'']

    Noah didn''t like where this was going, instead of overthinking, he made his way to the skill to view its description.

    [Insatiable Hunter(Lvl 0)- Your thirst for battle empowers your tame monster''s strength by a proportion of your stamina. Ten percent of your stamina transfers over to your tamed monster''s strength.]

    After reading the skill and then reading it over once more, Noahs could only nkly stare into space. He was happy that he achieved a skill, but it wasn''t what he wanted at this time. Not only did the skill not benefit himself personally, but the skill that was supposed to be ''unique'' didn''t feel so unique from its description. He felt that he was being cheated again and he didn''t like this feeling. He had to rack his brain for a reason why everything turned out the way it did. Even if the reason he came up with wasn''t the truth, he at least wanted an answer that left him satisfied so it wouldn''t continue to bug him.

    "Is it because the achievement wasn''t achieved by me so the skill got nerfed?" He thought back to when he received his ss change. The system had talked about choosing out of three choices that catered to the user. His eyes regained focus when he remembered that important detail.

    ''I''m sure I''m not wrong¡­It''s either that or God is being petty again for me celebrating too early¡­Oops! I didn''t mean petty, I meant picky! Wait, no! Just don''t listen to me, I didn''t mean it.''

    He tried to quickly correct himself, he still hasn''t finished checking his loot and he will have to open more chests in the future, he didn''t want to paint a target on himself and curse his luck.

    He quickly proceeded to check the rest of the chest''s contents as he whistled innocently, the constant mood changes and his weird behavior confused many of the onlookers who still haven''t stopped watching him.

    Sadly no matter how much he shuffled through the gold, he wasn''t able to find anything else. He was hoping for more since this was his first gold chest, but when he thought about it, the skill alone was worth it. It may be nerfed but it was still a unique skill that could be leveled up which will be extremely beneficial in the long run.

    His gloominess over theck of items didn''tst long, he became excited once more as he stored therge amount of gold into where it went, his mind, soul or system, it didn''t matter to him as long as it was his.

    He wasn''t sure how much he gained, he wanted to check his status to see how much gold he umted and now that he was no longer distracted. He also realized that slight disturbance in the back of his mind again, signifying another notification, but he was unsure what it could be.

    [Tamed Spider Level Up! +5 Stat points!]

    [yer: UnNamed

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Arachnid

    Lvl: 5

    Exp:50/400

    Health:70%

    Stamina:44%

    Mana: 4

    Attributes

    Strength:21(23)

    Agility:38

    Constitution:17

    Stamina:21

    Magic: 2

    Spirit:25

    Unassigned Points: 5

    Skills<novelnext></novelnext>

    Active

    Paralysis venom(Lvl 0)

    Spider silk(Lvl 0)

    Passive

    Spider sense(Lvl 0)]

    "!" The first thing that caught his eye was the differences in stats. Not including his magic or his spirit stats, the spider easily had more than twenty body stats more than he did and it still had an extra five stats to add on. Thankfully he wasn''t as surprised to see the insane stats because he was expecting it when he saw the disy of the spider earlier. He assumed that most of the animals out there would be the same way, but seeing it was still unsettling. Not only were his stats a little surprising but also its level.

    "It''s already on level 5? How did it level up so much when I had to kill so many fucking zombies? Wait¡­.Maybe killing humans gives more experience than mindless zombies. Did I also get a lot of experience just now then? He quickly opened his status to check.

    yer: Noah

    Race:Human->Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 934

    Lvl: 5

    Exp:165/400

    Health:89%

    Stamina:64%

    Mana: 24

    Attributes

    Defense: 10

    Strength:14(15)

    Agility:14(15)+2

    Constitution:30(32)+5

    Stamina:17(18)

    Magic: 11(12)

    Spirit:72(75)

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)progression: 50%

    Killing instinct (lvl 0) progression:1.8%

    Passive

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Hunters sight (lvl 0) 10.4%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:5.15%

    Immortal body (lvl 0) progression: 1.48%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:25%

    Taming proficiency(lvl 0)

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0)

    Titles

    The fallen, Subjugator

    ''So it''s true! No wonder it leveled up so fast¡­It seems like we''re meant to be the monsters stepping stones to get strong faster. I think I was at 15 exp before and I killed these three plus the dog before¡­wait I can''t forget about the other guy the spider killed just after I tamed it. It''s easily over 30 exp for a human kill. If I knew how much that dog was worth then I could be more sure. But this doesn''t change the goal of leveling up, but I have to be careful if humans are buffing the monsters with their deaths.

    And with the amount of gold I have now, I better be able to buy something good. One of the guys before mentioned that he was close to being able to buy something he was interested in so I''m sure I have more than enough now to get something. I should hurry and check it out before more people have the same idea toe here.''

    Now that Noah checked what he needed to see, he prepared himself to leave. He''s noted before that his skills show the progression of what he assumes should be when it will level up, but since he isn''t close to leveling up any of them he hasn''t been in a rush to check them as of yet. Now that he thought about it, besides the time he had to keep watch for the vulture, he''s never really had the time to rest.

    Having recollected his thoughts, his eyes quickly wandered to find his spider''s location which he quickly spotted finishing its next meal.

    "Sigh¡­.can a spider lose stats for bing fat?" He muttered exasperatedly, he''s never seen an overweight spider before but he was sure that his would be the first. He decided to start collecting the weapons of the three people they killed instead of nagging it for only thinking about eating for the time being.

    It only took a few mins to gather the weapons. He now wore the two metal gloves and ced the two axes into his bag, alongside his bloody mallet that he tried to wipe off on Phils clothing. He just couldn''t close the bag all the way anymore, but it was better than leaving them for someone else, all the while carrying the two handed axe in his hands.

    "Hey!" He turned toward Henry who never moved from his original spot.

    "H-HUH? Wh-what do you want? I didn''t help them, you saw I didn''t help them don-"

    "Will you shut up? Just point me in the direction of the person we can buy from." Noah''s annoyed stared nipped Henry''s dramatic emotions before he became annoying.

    Nervously, Henry pointed to the top of the staircase where the door was that just happened to have Zack still cowering near it. Zack was probably the most fearful out of everyone in the group, when he noticed that Noah was nning oning up, he hurriedly ran down the stairs and fumbled before rolling down the rest. But that didn''t stop him from picking himself up in a hurry as he limped to the cafeteria with the rest.

    Noah was satisfied with Zack''s disy, at least more so than Henry who needs to always talk when he panics.

    "Hey glutton!"

    He yelled towards the spider, his voice and his intent made the spider aware that he was needed. It stopped what it was doing while it directed almost all of its focus to Noah. It couldn''t prevent itself from still eyeing its food, but that''s what its other eyes were for.

    "Sigh¡­." Noah noticed this and could only feel that the spider was a helpless case when it came to food, but he could use this.

    "I''ll let you have the other one too, but you have to keep a lookout for me alright? Go up there with me and keep watch."

    Noah soon ascended the stairs, he didn''t have to hear a confirmation from the spider when he could tell from the spider''s excitement that it agreed. Now all his thoughts were on the hooded man and what he could buy to improve his strength.

 Chapter 28 28: Exploring The Shop

    Noah soon ascended the stairs, he didn''t have to hear a confirmation from the spider when he could tell from the spider''s excitement that it agreed. Now all his thoughts were on the hooded man and what he could buy to improve his strength.

    As he went up the stairs he felt an odd sensation, it was almost simr to when you go into a room and you could ''feel'' that a T.V was on. It was just that in this case he could really feel that something was touching him. When he reached the door, he looked down towards the lobby floor to check on his spider to witness it wrapping Phil''s body in its webbing that was still attached to its rear end, most likely it will use its webs to bring the body with it to the next floor. ''Apparently the spider did have some intelligence, or maybe all spiders would do something simr.'' Noah couldn''t be sure but he would rather believe that it was due to its intellect.

    He opened the door, while his eyes roamed the initial area. The floor would need to be able to contain an influx of students daily and have enough items to cater to their needs so the area was seemingly big to be able to view all of its contents. With the Sun rising, it made it easier to maneuver around. He felt as if he was ying a game of hot and cold.

    He didn''t exactly know where the figure would be, something that he should''ve probably asked more in detail, but Henry was a nervous wreck that he didn''t want to continue to deal with.

    Thankfully while he navigated his way through the counters and aisles, he noticed that the sensation grew stronger. The hairs on his body stood up as he felt an instinctual danger. Part of Noah wondered why, with the previous trio personalities, why they didn''t try to forcefully obtain the items, but after feeling the aura while proceeding, it makes sense why they didn''t try anything. Even though his body clearly showed signs of fear, he held nothing in his heart besides the curiosity of the source''s strength.

    Ironically when he reached the end of the floor where they keep one of the registers, he found the mysterious person behind it. Noah wondered if this was intentional, but when he thought about it, he felt that it might be one of the figures'' quirks. Usually in stories with powerful individuals, the people would develop weird hobbies or traits out of sheer boredom.

    He proceeded to walk up to the hooded figure, but naturally he still kept his vignce due to the threatening aura the figure radiated.

    ''You really can''t tell what ''he'' could be.'' Noah thought to himself in wonder.

    The hood not only covered its face, but also their entire body, including their hands. Because of the light, he could make out that the hood was made out of some kind of wool, but it appeared to be mystical. It was darkish purple all around and when he tried using his Hunters Sight ability, he noticed the robe held runic symbols that traveled throughout the robe and they released an extremely faint vapor. When he attempted to peer into their face, he only saw darkness, for an instant, Noah felt the figure might actually be some kind of spectra. He quickly shook his head to rid himself of unnecessary thoughts. ''As long as they won''t refuse me to buy things, I don''t care what they are.''

    After he approached the figure, he waited patiently so they could start their transaction, but as he stood there, he noticed the figure didn''t show any signs of initiating the transactions.

    Coughs* "Uhh¡­I''m here to buy things?" The unsettling atmosphere caused Noah to be unsure of what was going on, but soon it appeared that his question sufficed.

    He saw the head area of the figure angle towards his face more, giving him a clear view of the shadowed face and while doing so it held out its ''hand'' that was shrouded in its robe.

    At first Noah was confused by the gesture, but then he recalled that you have to make physical contact to transfer gold, he determined that it should be the same to ess the shop. He reached out to the figure in return and sped their ''hand''. Before he was ''pulled'' into the shop, he noticed that he didn''t feel any sensation that what he held wasn''t a hand at all, all he felt was the sensation of the soft robe that, for some reason, wasn''t malleable under his touch.

    ''Isn''t this a little bit too much?'' Noah was bing more astonished as he scrolled through the different categories briefly skimming through the wares.

    The shop had a simple concept, but the plethora of list made browsing through it confusing. For instance, if you went to the armor category, it then branched off into different categories of that. There was then Head, torso, leg gear and jewelry and after delving into one of those, it branches even more. It was a very intricate design, but because of the plethora of items to choose from, it just made it that much harder to browse. Especially when he looked into the corner of the shop.

    10:42

    10:41

    ''Why does it appear as if it''s counting down? Does that mean the shop will disappear afterwards? How the hell can anyone go through everything when there''s a time limit? There has to be a better way¡­''

    He tried to look for a mini icon resembling a search bar of some kind but didn''t find one. His mind raced for a solution, that''s when he thought about the process to trade money, you have to concentrate on the idea of the amount of money to give. He then considered doing the same process here, but instead concentrated on an item or type of item that he wanted.

    He thought about what would benefit him the most right now. He finally has weapons so now he thought of receiving skills, but then he stopped and thought about a necessity that he really needed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''It worked?'' He looked on in disbelief when he saw the items and categories disappeared and was reced by another screen. The screen was filled with different varieties of holding bags. From pouches, to book bags and even space magic. That''s right, Noah wanted to find a way to carry more items. He didn''t want to depend on others for food and even then, his bag was mostly being used to hold his weapons that it didn''t do a good job of holding.

    He always had the idea that the shop should have something simr when he noticed that all the chest could carry way more than its size. To him, it was a must have, but there was also a problem when he saw the prices.

    ''I knew it was too good to be true, how many zombies would I have to kill to get a decent bag then? And how much would the skills cost?''

    He looked on to see that the prices varied depending on the size it could hold. The cheapest item was a brown sack, or pouch, that held half a cubic meter of space and it was priced at 600 gold.

    ''Wait¡­I made about 300 on my own and I killed TONS of zombies. Does that mean I haven''t to kill hundreds more just to get a small bag? Or try to fight harder monsters to get more gold and loot? This feels like a pay to win system, but luckily everyone is starting at the same line or this would be unfair.''

    He moved on to the bag he felt would be right for him which resembled a book bag. They also had purses, satchels, handbags, duffle bags and more but he would rather go with something that was inconspicuous and also easy to carry. He had a disturbing thought that the bag wouldn''t negate the weight since it was cheaper than the others. When he looked at some of the more expensive bags, he realized that his earlier doubt was right.

    Not only did some of them cost in the millions, but it came with a blood recognition feature, a safety lock, weight negation, a time freeze system, it had everything. Not only was he able to choose a bookbag, he was also able to choose the color and the price came up to 800 gold. He felt himself bing antsy, all of his hard earned money would be gone with just one purchase. Before he confirmed it, he paused, he felt that he needed to check something else before he did.

    He searched for the spells and when he did, he was in for another surprise. The cheapest spells there, were for 1k gold and that was because the spells were for his ss so he was given a discount. Otherwise it would be close to 2k, the amount actually doubled!. The spells were the spells he was able to choose from earlier. Now that he actually has a tamed creature, almost all of the spells were quite tempting.

    There were ''bestowal'' spells for every attribute which increased the individual attribute of his creature for a specific time depending on its level. The analysis skill was there and more importantly, so was the healing spell that could only be used on his tamed monsters, seeing the spell made him feel conflicted.

    ''Sigh¡­I''ll make this my next goal, for now I''ll just get the bag. Hopefully I can make it back in time to buy it before the timer is up, who knows when I''ll find another shop person.''

    He went back to buy the book bag of half a meter of cubic space for 800 gold. It only had one internalpartment and two side pockets that weren''t influenced by the space magic jumbo.

    After spending most, if not all of his gold, he finally left the shop to the awkward sight of an empty face ''staring'' back at him, causing him to be startled and quickly letting go of the hooded figures ''hand''. The figure didn''t seem to mind at all as it returned to its early position and stood there waiting for another customer.

    "Ok¡­That''s a little bit creepy.."

    Noah mumbled to himself before he removed his previous bag and arranged the items into his new one. He didn''t doubt that the bag would do what it was described but he was still pleasantly surprised when he ced the axes into the bag and they seemingly disappeared within it. He noted that he only had four of his protein bars left, a bag of crackers and two bottles of water. But his bars and crackers were crushed to oblivion, the bars were still salvageable but not the crackers which he had to throw out. He didn''t be upset at this because this was the reason he came to this ce in the first ce.

    His eyes once again roamed around the area before he spotted what he was looking for. The store literally had all their daily necessities, from school supplies, hygienic items and even food. The cafeteria would probably be a better ce to check, but it seemed like most of the people were gathered there. He would rather avoid them if he can, but he also needed to find another ce to secure for himself. He didn''t like the idea of this ce bing a fiesta full of people.

    Stuffing his bag of whatever dried goods he could find. He found canned meat, such as corn beef and tuna. Even though he wasn''t a fan of seafood, he would force himself to eat it if he had to. He didn''t forget to grab any and all energy and protein bars he could find. Added on with a few more bottles of water and a box of salt, he felt he was ready to move on. He could only feel the weight of the bag weighing down on him, he didn''t want it to get in the way when he''s fighting.

    He started to make his way back to the door leading to the lobby, but while on the way, he could hear amotion going on in that direction¡­and a voice he wasn''t expecting to hear so soon.

    "Oh fuck me¡­"

 Chapter 29 29: Mysterious Predator

    He started to make his way back to the door leading to the lobby, but while on the way, he could hear amotion going on in that direction¡­and a voice he wasn''t expecting to hear so soon.

    "Oh fuck me¡­"

    How could he forget the voice of the first person who tried to kill him just this morning? And he was proven right when he walked to the balcony and saw a noticeablyrge group on the bottom floor while Mark was standing near the bottom of the steps with his sword in hand. It seemed that Mark was attempting to attack his spider but someone appeared to be preventing him from doing so and surprisingly that person was Henry. Noah didn''t know why he would do so, he hasn''t been cordial with him the entire time since he met him. What he didn''t know was that Henry still very much feared him and after seeing the spider''s handiwork, who knows what would happen to him he stood by and did nothing again.

    "W-Wait! I''m telling you that''s not a good idea! That spider belongs to someone that you shouldn''t mess with, I''m trying to help you!" Henry tried to reason with Mark whose eyes were bulging in anger, or was he just that overly emotional? Henry couldn''t tell but it appeared to him that Mark was angry.

    Behind Mark was no longer the big group from before, if before there were about 40 survivors in their group, they were now down to around 18 , which was partly the reason why Mark was so emotional when he came in to find a giant spider feasting on a human corpse.

    He felt that he needed to redeem himself for hisck of leadership and his helplessness when it came to the beasts that literally took out close to half of their group by themselves and it was only two of them! He tried to calm himself down but the scene kept reying in his head over and over.

    ¡­..

    "Aaaahhhhh!"

    "IT''S BEHIND US NOW! W-SOMEBODY HELP U-"

    Screams sounded all around them while Mark and his group frantically ran to their destination. Everything was going so well before this, they had the asional rats try to nibble at them a few times as they made their way past the dead human and zombie corpses. Even then, people would get hurt but it wasn''t enough to stop them and when it came to zombies, Mark and his small party was enough to take on small groups.

    Jas also proved her usefulness, because of her racial change into an Elf, her summoner ss developed small changes. As a summoner, you are given a chance to contract with one specific element and then a skill that will decide on what type of summon you will contract with.

    Originally, she chose the ice element and the skill ''frost bite'' which was a controlled area of effect ability that would slow down arge group of enemies. Because of the skill, she contracted with an Ice spirit, but after the race change, her spirit was reced with a druid spirit instead and her frostbite was reced with ''nature''s entanglement''.

    With the help of the surrounding natural environment, she could use less mana to root enemies in ce with her Druid, allowing the members of her group to finish off the zombies and mice who were inrge groups.

    They were making great progress considering the nonbatants that made up most of their group. But they didn''t realize that not only did theirrge group make them a bigger target, but the trail of blood also brought upon them two unlikely predators.

    Buzz! Buzz!*

    "Wh-What''s that sound?" Mark directed the question to his sister who usually always has an answer, but when he saw her face, he noted that she too was confused.

    "Beth¡­.Beth?? Ahhhhh!" The sound of a woman screaming interrupted the two. Everyone stopped to find out the reason for the woman''s cries, but no one liked what they saw. When they made their way to the back of the group, Mark and Jas could see the other people surrounding the area where the scream originated. As they got closer, screams continued to sound off one after the other. They didn''t like where this was heading as Jas and Mark hastened their steps.

    They came upon a few girls who were most likely the source of the screams, being consoled while they cried. Farther down they found the person called Beth who sadly won''t be thest person who would end up this way.

    The girl Beth was headless! And when they investigated her neck area, it had a defining characteristic of being cleanly cut off.

    "What the hell happened?" Mark asked out loud to no one in particr, but no one answered. He didn''t like this feeling, someone dying under his watch and no one knew how they died, he felt ipetent.

    He looked around and spotted the girl who was the first to scream.

    "Mark?" Jas noticed the irregrity that Mark had been exhibiting ever since this started and tried to get his attention, but he already reached the girl and pulled her on her feet.

    "Tell me what happened!" Even though his tone was forceful, it only made her cry more, which only made him impatient. He tugged the girl by her arm and brought her to the headless body.

    "Don''t you know her? You''re gonna stand there and not say anything when your friend was just killed? Do you want everyone else to die just like her? HUH?"

    "MARK! That''s enough¡­"

    He finally turned to the voice that challenged him with a re, but seeing the disappointed look of his sister caused his re to soften before he released the girl''s arm.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He felt the need to defend himself for his previous actions, he didn''t want her to get the wrong idea, it''s for everyone''s safety. But when he tried to articte a response, another scream sounded off.

    Mark and Jas''s previous bad feeling became worse while they made their way to the next person just to find a male also missing a head from his body. At this point, fear sunk in to everyone who knew what was going on.

    "Noooo! I don''t want this!" A student yelled before taking off in a random direction. And Just like a domino effect, one by one, others started to branch away from the group. Jas could understand everyone''s feelings, but now wasn''t the time to make decisions based off of them.

    "Wait! If we don''t stick together then it would make it easier for whatever is doing this! You''ll be safer if you stay together with us." But no one listened to her, only the people who felt safer being in a group stayed while the ten or so others never turned back.

    In the end, everyone decided to form a circle to confront whatever it was that was attacking them.

    Buzzz Buzzz*

    The buzzing sound of wings appeared again, but it sounded in the distance. They could hear the screams and yells of some of the students who ran off earlier. No one was sure if they saw the attacker or maybe they cried out because the buzzing noise approached them. One by one, each person they heard in the distance sounded no more.

    "Mark, we can''t go on like this¡­Whatever it is, it''s moving too fast for us to contend with. How many people do we have to lose before we can even see what we''re dealing with?" Even for Jas, the tone of her voice held a hint of fear.

    "And what do you think we should do? Be cowards and make a run for it? We should stand our ground here. If people die then at least it won''t be in vain if we are able to kill that beast. Dying while running away is worse than dying while fighting. And once we spot what''s causing all of this, I alone will be enough to deal with it so don''t worry."

    As he talked, Jas could make out the prideful smile appearing on his face. She just couldn''t get herself to agree with this ''new'' brother of hers, but he was still her little brother that she loved. It would be more detrimental to start a fight now than to just follow along with him. She would just have to make a n to make up for his rash decisions.

    All of them waited in silence, the silence is what made the situation more horrifying and even the smallest sound would startle the people in the group.

    "Jasmine, Jasmine, Jasmine!" The sudden squeals caused everyone in the surroundings to jump. The only person who wasn''t affected was Jas herself, well she was affected, but she wasn''t afraid. She sighed with a heavy heart. She already knew who the voice belonged to, but she didn''t want to acknowledge her right now. The girl had her quirks and it made her appear very entric. Even with what happened a few years ago, the girl''s peculiar behavior hasn''t changed. Jas should know since she was her only friend because of this reason.

    "Alietta, we don''t have time for this right now, can it wait?" Even though the tone of her voice suggested that Ailetta was being troublesome, it didn''t dishearten her at all.

    "But! I think I can help figure out what''s out there!"

    The annoying feeling she was giving everyone immediately subsided when they heard her. Everyone''s ears perked up to listen to what she had to say, hopefully the suggestion wouldn''t be as weird as her personality.

    Mark in particr wasn''t amused. He looked disdainfully towards the girl who was usually always around his older sister during school.

    She couldn''t be described as a beauty and the majority of the people who saw her would consider her a in Jane. Standing at around 5ft 5in, she had shoulder length long auburn hair with long bangs that often covered her face. She wore square shaped sses which she only had one pair of which could easily be noticed since you could see the tape on the bridge of it holding them together. Her face was adorned with freckles that cover her cheeks and she had a button sized nose with small thin lips. The most eye grabbing feature about her would be her green eyes that often shone with curiosity.

    He never could understand why his sister put up with her so much, even now, he could tell that his sister was interested in her idea when she didn''t show the slightest interest in his.

    "Well? Are you going to say it or not? Quit wasting our time." He couldn''t help but quip back to her. Jas didn''t n onmenting on his attitude, he was always quite rude to Ailetta for some reason, but even when he was, Ailetta would always appear oblivious to his remarks.

    "We just need to have someone act as bait! And it doesn''t have to b-"

    "I know you didn''t have a good idea! If you want someone to be bait then are you gonna be the one to volunteer? I''d like to see that." Mark interrupted her, this time he earned a pout from Ailetta. She could always ignore him before when she was just talking to Jasmine and he would then proceed to ignore her back, but she didn''t like to be interrupted when she''s talking to her friend.

    "Coughs* Jasmine, did you forget I was a summoner too?"

    Ignoring Mark once again, she asked Jasmine a question that, to the listeners, didn''t give them any answers. Everyone was bing restless and Mark wanted to rebuke her again, but Jasmine realized what Ailetta was getting at before she eximed, drawing everyone''s attention.

    "That''s right! The bait doesn''t have to be alive, we can make our own zombies."

 Chapter 30 30: Theres No Time To Relax

    Ignoring Mark once again, she asked Jasmine a question that, to the listeners, didn''t give them any answers. Everyone was bing restless and Mark wanted to rebuke her again, but Jasmine realized what Ailetta was getting at before she eximed, drawing everyone''s attention.

    "That''s right! The bait doesn''t have to be alive, we can make our own zombies."

    No one besides the two knew where this discussion was going. All they needed to know was that Jasmine felt that the oddball suggestion would work and they began to feel relieved.

    Ailetta discussed with Jas about her abilities when they were in the dorm. It was partly the reason that they had an easier time surviving before they started to incorporate people into their group.

    Ailetta also chose the ss of summoner, but she chose the darkness element and the unpopr skill of lesser reanimation. Instead of a spirit, she contracted with a slime-like creature that resembled a ball of tar. Using the slime, she could inject the slime into a dead body to have the body essentiallye back to like. In reality, it was being controlled by the slime instead so she could only have one zombie at a time for now.

    Because the reanimation skill was low, she wouldn''t be able to control the corpse of a creature or person that was higher leveled than her nor would she be able to use their skills. But that didn''t stop the zombie from being used as a meat shield, which benefited her and Jas a lot during the initial struggle. Sadly they couldn''t rely on the skill forever. One, they ended up scaring one to too many females in the dorm, which caused one or two of them to run away to their deaths. And because the zombie being used was a person people knew, it caused a lot of emotional problems for people that knew that person.

    After Jas agreed for Ailetta to go ahead with her idea. She could be seen skipping to one of the corpses. A small frown appeared on her face, but then she put on a solemn expression before attempting her spell. There wasn''t a chat and at this point no one knew if making a chant would assist in casting spells.

    The surrounding people looked on while they saw a dark glob appear and made its way into the body of the headless male before they saw the body move. The sudden movement caused them to panic and even more so when the body finally stood on its feet.

    "C-Connor? No¡­.NOOO! What are you doing to him you freak?"

    One of the males charged in Ailetta''s direction. Thankfully, even though the others also felt conflicted to the change, they valued their life more so they banded together to stop him.

    Ailetta wasn''t the best when it came to social cues. Especially because of her habit of having tunnel vision in regards to whatever she''s doing or talking about at that moment. So to say she was surprised and fearful to the students outburst, wasn''t a lie.

    It took a while to calm him down but during that time, the buzzing noises returned. No one knew why the creatures or whatever they were wouldn''t leave them alone. Were they being hunted for sport or were they being killed for food? If it was thetter then shouldn''t the ten people from earlier be enough to satisfy them? The most cool headed of the group thought everything through, hoping that any little bit of information could help them get out of this mess.

    "Mark¡­I can''t say I''m 100 percent sure of this, but either there are way more of these things out there or¡­they are only eating our heads¡­Maybe with Le(Ailetta) we will be able to know for sure, but if there''s more than we can handle then the only thing we can do is make a run for it."

    Very few times when she talked to Mark, she would always talk to him with a tone that suggested that he also had a say on the discussion, but not this time.

    Mark was aware of this and even though he believed himself to be invincible at this time, that doesn''t mean his sister was.

    Jas and Ailetta carried on with the n and had the headless body travel a distance away from them. Even though the creatures seemed to only be attracted to their heads, Jas still believed that they would go after it since they immediately attacked the others who retreated. They would probably do whatever they can to prevent them from leaving even if the ''zombie'' was missing a head. Well that''s what she was hoping for, otherwise she doesn''t know how many people they would lose before they find out what they are fighting.

    BUZZZZ!

    The buzzing noise seemed to be on the move again and was heading in the direction of the zombie, but as the noise grew further, they caught the sound of another buzzing still near them, confirming that there was at least more than one. But they didn''t have time to think about that.

    "I-IS THAT A¡­A BUG??" One person shouted, but no one replied, they were all watching what was happening in front of them.

    What appeared was an insect that resembled a branch, with the lower body of a leaf. But the size of it was inhuman, it stood over the zombies body, easily 6ft high!. But that wasn''t what caused the students to nkly look ahead in fear. It was the overlyrge eyes that even though it was focusing on the zombie, it was also staring them down as well. What made that stare so dreadful were the two scythe-like des it carried for hands. Even from here, its ws appeared deadly which It proved to them in the next moment.

    When it appeared in front of the zombie, its triangr head tilted left and right in confusion. The other creatures that lost its head never recovered but this one did. Even though it felt the head was more nutritious, it wouldn''t let the rest of its meal run away. It swiped towards the zombie in a grabbing motion and when ittched onto the figure, everyone noticed how one of the arms was cleanly cut off, frightening them even more.

    By now, most, if not all of the students there knew what they were dealing with, It was a praying mantis. Yet only one person there knew that they didn''t know the real danger of the creature.

    "Everyone, we have to go, NOW!" Jasmine ordered before taking off in the direction of the cafeteria. The urgency of her voice was the first thing to make everyone react and most if not all of them were afraid of what they saw, they dly took that moment to chase after Jasmine who gave them a way out. They weren''t sure they had enough confidence to fight the creature if they were told to, even the morepetent of the group didn''t want to take the chance.

    Mark was displeased with Jasmine making the decision all by herself. ''It''s just a bug! What are we running for?'' He berated them inwardly but he still chose to follow in their footsteps. With his stats, he easily caught back up with his sister.

    "Jas what the heck are yo-"

    "Not now Mark! Those things¡­they are able to think! This isn''t something we can handle right now!" Due to her panic state, she wasn''t able to phrase her words properly. It''s not just that they were able to think, of course, even before they grew to such a disproportionate size, animals of all species showed some capability to think. But it wasn''t just that, when she saw the utter confusion when it looked at the headless zombie, it clearly showed that it was thinking and processing its thoughts!

    Even if they somehow killed it, at what price would they have to pay before they seeded and what about the other one? She would rather assume the worst and spected that these things were nning their attacks. That terrified her more than the absurd speed they showed they were capable of.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Mark wanted to argue ''of course they can think!'' But before he could, the buzzing sound from before sounded and when it did, screams apanied the sound.

    Thump!*

    Some of the more jumpier of the students turned back when they heard an object mmed into the ground behind them. The ones who didn''t were already aware of what the sound could be and when they heard the yells, they were d they didn''t stop, if anything, it made them run faster.

    Another person was taken out but the head wasn''t retrieved this time and could be spotted a few from the person''s body. The mantis were more focused on stopping them from running away then they were eating their heads.

    Bodies dropped one after another while they ran for their destination, None of them knew of the exact number of people they lost and no one tried to outrun the other, in fear that they would be singled out from the rest.

    "Ugh! We can''t keep going like this! We should''ve stood our ground and fought them!"

    Mark couldn''t continue to repress himself while he constantly heard bodies impacting the ground. By now everyone knew what it sounded like for a dead body to hit the ground when it had momentum.

    Everyone heard him but they all chose to ignore what he said. ''Fight them? We can''t even see them killing us, what do you mean fight?''

    Even Jas felt her brother was more than delusional. To stop Mark from doing anything stupid, everyone decided not to entertain him as they continued to run frantically.

    They were now more than halfway to the cafeteria, the constant buzzing sound continued, but for some reason the buzzing started to be distant before it disappeared entirely.

    No one noticed this until a few momentster when they had a clear view of the cafeteria.

    "Huff! Huff! Did anyone notice? Huff* the buzzing sound huff* stopped." The once energetic Ailetta voiced out. Now that it was mentioned, everyone started to look around them, not only did they not hear anything but they didn''t spot anything either.

    "Maybe¡­.maybe we got out of their territory?" They heard Jasmine question, by now the exhaustion from their fear and the constant sprinting was catching up to them now that they felt they were out of danger.

    But it seemed that they would never catch a break. Once they began to believe they were safe, the sky above them grew dark. Normally, they would assume that maybe the clouds covered the sun but the shade only covered them while everything else still was affected by the sun light which caused them to finally look up.

    "Ar-are you kidding me¡­?"

    "It doesn''t matter! Just run! The building is right in front of us!"

    They tried to spur one another on after seeing the huge figure in the sky, it was the same vulture from before that caused Noah so much stress. Maybe the bird didn''t like to targetrge groups or maybe its focus was on the mantis from before, but it passed as quickly as it arrived. Its disappearance didn''t relieve them one bit. The constant appearance of one abnormality after the other left them vignt the rest of the way until they arrived at the main doors that were locked from the inside.

    By this time, the three extorters were already dead and Henry was there to retrieve them after a few rounds of thunderous knocking.

    The first reaction for everyone would be to celebrate being alive, but most of the people left had lost someone on the way. And after such an emotional roller coaster, their emotions got the better of them and began to cry their heart out instead.

    Henry was one of the lucky ones and only experienced the terror of zombies, so he couldn''t understand their reactions when the group came in. He wanted to ask them, but he noticed Mark raising his sword and his expression was almost distraught.

    He didn''t know why he appeared so, but he noticed he was always looking in a specific direction. When he also turned to look in that direction, he saw the spider on the second floornding, still feeding on Phil''s body.

    Before he could put two and two together, he noticed Mark already making his way towards the staircase and so he hurriedly pursued.

    ¡­..

    "W-Wait! I''m telling you that''s not a good idea! That spider belongs to someone that you shouldn''t mess with, I''m trying to help you!"

    And the transaction soon led to Noah hearing them before he came out of the room.

    "I see you still haven''t learned how to listen properly you hero wanna be."

 Chapter 31 31: Telling On Yourself

    "I see you still haven''t learned how to listen properly you hero wanna be."

    The attention Mark and Henry gathered was already enough to cause the rest of his group who were in the middle of grieving or stabilizing themselves to turn their heads in their direction. The fear was clearly evident on their faces when they saw therge spider on the next floor feeding, they began to believe it was going to be a repeat of what they just went through.

    But then, they heard the sound of someone walking and loudly at that, as if he was doing it intentionally.

    Before they could make out the source of the stomping, they heard Noah''s voice at the top of the stairs and his sarcastic remark appeared to be directed towards Mark.

    The only time Mark has ever talked to Noah was only this morning and Noah didn''t have such an impact on himself as he did to Noah. He was oblivious of who it was but that didn''t stop him from feeling challenged. His emotions were stirred even more and this was just giving him more ways to vent not only his helplessness against the mantis, but also for his friend Jack, who never made it back. He felt more down on himself because he never even noticed until they made it to the building.

    He constantly talked about fighting back yet he couldn''t protect his own friend. When he saw the spider, he saw the chance to prove to everyone and most importantly himself that his choice to fight back was correct and the deaths that urred weren''t his fault.

    He looked up to the voice that seemed to be looking for a fight. But when he saw the voice''s appearance, his eyes widened in disbelief.

    "Your¡­.you''re not dead? How?" Noah''s appearance was disturbing, if not horrifying to the group below, but their tension lowered when they found out that Mark did in fact know him. They weren''t aware of the confusion in Mark''s tone or the high vignce he was in when he saw Noah.

    Many of them lowered their guard, but there were three people whose reactions were different from the rest.

    Charlie, one of the three people Mark grouped with first and was also there when they tried to sentence Noah to death. His body reacted as if he stepped into a sauna with the way he started to sweat. His eyes darted left and right to not be noticed by anyone while he backtracked his way to the end of the group to not be noticed, especially by Noah. He already believed the man to be crazy and he still remembered the gruesome disy of the piles of zombies. He saw that Noah''s body was covered even more in blood and unlike before when he wielded a hammer, the ginormous axe made him appear more domineering.

    Jasmine on the other hand, held a trace of suspicion. Not for Noah, but from what Mark uttered when he saw him, as well as her little brother''s bodynguage. Mark didn''t seem worried at all for the other student, and he wasn''t happy to see him either. She couldn''t make any guesses about what happened between the two just from observing, Maybe if Noah showed a little more emotion then she could understand a little bit more. But something kept eating at her when she looked upon Noah''s figure, she felt that she knew him or he should at least be important enough for her to know about. It didn''t help that his current demeanor waspletely different than what he''s used to showing.

    His messy attire and bloody appearance made it harder to recognize him. But to her surprise, she heard someone quietly sobbing on her side and before she could register who it was, she heard the person speak and Jasmine was finally able to make sense of why Noah felt so familiar.

    "Noah? You''re alive¡­.sigh¡­thank goodness..." Ailetta mumbled in the mix of her crying. Even though her crying wasn''t anything drastic, the tears continued to fall.

    "Noah? Could it be ''that'' Noah?" She thought back to the person who was constantly bullied by a specific group on the campus. He also just happens to be the first friend Ailetta made in their first year, but when Ailetta started to be caught up in his bullying, he started to avoid her all together. Even going to the extent of dropping any sses that he held with her.

    Since then she never really heard much about him anymore, he kept to himself in ss and even more so outside of it. Besides Ailetta mentioning him from time to time about the rumors of him belonging to a gang and always getting into fights, she would''ve probably forgotten he attended the school.

    "How? HAHAHA! That''s a great question to ask from someone who tried to kill me."

    "!"

    The emotional roller coaster for the group seemed to be never ending at this point. This information brought a lot of questions to the party that chose to follow Mark as a leader and it brought even more to Ailetta and Jasmine who were affected the most. But the ride didn''t stop there, Mark at that time didn''t think he was in the wrong to attempt to end Noah''s life, and with his stubborn ideals, he still believed he wasn''t wrong.

    "You know that''s not how it happened so don''t you dare! We wouldn''t have tried to kill you if you weren''t bitten! How were we to know you were telling the truth? If you were lying then we could''ve possibly been in danger!"

    "!"

    "Mark? Do you hear yourself?" His sister finally decided to step in before everything became worse. She already noticed the change in everyone''s eye when they looked at him. How could he stand there and openly say he tried to kill someone? And it also appeared that Noah even tried to reason with them but they still attempted it. She didn''t want to believe it, she knew something was different about him but this bit of information is just too much for her. ''Is my brother a murderer?'' She couldn''t help but fear.

    "Jas¡­.No! It''s not like that, don''t listen to him! He was bitten by a zombie, he could''ve turned any second! How cou-"

    "And yet here we are. You fucking hypocrite, you''ll kill an innocent person just because of an assumption, but I bet you wouldn''t do the same towards someone you care about. Well I''m done with ying the me game, mess with me again and we''ll see who''ll be killing who."

    Noah then proceeded to make his way down the stairs, if it wasn''t because Mark was such a nutcase and really believed he was doing the right thing then he would''ve tried to fight him to the death here and now instead of worrying about watching his back every second.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But while he walked past, part of him hoped that he would try something. If he openly attacked Mark first then he would probably have to fight everyone here, but if it was the other way around then they might not interfere since Mark would be in the wrong.

    Originally, Mark and Henry moved to the side of the steps to get out of his way, but then they noticed the spider making its way down as well so they both retreated to the main floor.

    Mark was still under distress over his sister believing him to be a murderer when he allowed Noah to pass him. But when the spider also crawled by, he remembered that the spider was just eating a person!

    "Wait! If that thing belongs to you then you obviously murdered that person up there!" And before Noah could even justify himself, Mark then noticed the other two ''bodies'' on the ground that he was too emotional to notice before.

    "And them as well! You may not have turned into a zombie, but you''re obviously not any better. What do you have to say for yourself?" At this point Noah was bing beyond annoyed. Mark couldn''t admit he was wrong before and now he''s jumping to conclusions again. He realized that it woulde down to how it was before, so instead of defending himself, he just proceeded to walk to the door.

    "I said wait damnnit! You need to answer for this!"

    "STOP!"

    Mark prepared himself to run after them but was interrupted by a shout and immediately after, he saw Henry once again standing in his way.

    "Those people tried to kill him, you can''t me him for what happened." Henry pleaded in Noah''s case instead. ''That monster is finally leaving and you keep trying to keep him here?'' He still remembered when Noah repeatedly called him stupid, he finally realized how Noah felt after dealing with Mark. But no matter their reasons, Mark was still dissatisfied.

    "And so he has the right to kill them then? Obviously he''s not even harmed so he could''ve easily stopped them instead of killing them. What makes yo-"

    "Sigh! Mark, that''s enough!" She couldn''t continue to see her brother make a fool of herself. She''s seen enough to finally make her own conclusions, but more importantly, she was concerned for her brother. The animals now are much more dangerous than they could ever believe. They already had to run away from the human sized mantis and Noah is walking around with a creature that could be just as dangerous. Honestly she felt they were lucky that Noah didn''t want revenge for what her brother tried to do since she heard it from Mark''s mouth himself about his murder attempt over a misunderstanding.

    "What? He clearly killed those people and we''re going to do nothing??" Mark couldn''t believe what he was hearing, especially from his own sister.

    Thankfully Noah was no longer bothering with the two siblings or any of the others for that matter. He just needed to get out of there and rest for maybe an hour or two. With the trait he obtained from the zombie''s genes, two hours would be enough to increase his stamina by 24 percent. That would be enough to maintain him physically, he could sleepter in the day to relieve any mental exhaustion he umted.

    When he was about to reach the door he noticed someone was blocking his way. He first assumed that the person was really going to attempt to stop him from leaving. But then he noticed who the person was¡­.

    "So it''s you huh? I don''t know how you got mixed up with him but at least yo-"

    Ailetta dove into his chest before he could finish what he wanted to say. Coupled with the fact that she was crying, the whole thing caught him by surprise. He wasn''t sure what or who the tears were for, hisck of self worth wouldn''t allow his mind to ept that it could be for him.

    Normally in a situation like this, it would be the person in his position tofort the other, but he just couldn''t bring himself to do so and It wasn''t just because of the blood. Holding her would make him feel that he would be epting something that he convinced himself that he didn''t desire, and that feeling alone scared him. He didn''t like where this was going and he certainly didn''t like the thoughts running in his head, he already decided that this shouldn''t go on.

    Ailetta seemed to be aware of his inner turmoil and took a step back, but stayed close enough to where the two could feel each other breathing.

    "I was worried, so worried about you¡­you''ve been avoiding me all this time and not once did i stop thinking about you..I know why you did¡­but¡­but will you continue to do so even now? I know what it''s like to be alone and I know you''ve suffered through that loneliness even more. Let mee with you! It could be just like the stories we used to talk about! And¡­ an-"

    "Sigh, I was wondering what you were trying to get at¡­"  He hung his head while he silently reminisced to the times where she would always interrupt him during his reading. But it would never upset him and was also something he looked forward to since he was able to share with someone thest thing he truly enjoyed. He wasn''t trusting enough of anyone since that time he was young, he only showed his ''true'' self during those moments they had discussions over his stories, which it seems she valued just as much as him.

    Sadly, it''s not enough to break down the walls he set in ce around his heart.

    "I''m sorry Le¡­but, you''re better off being with them¡­and you''re right, it does remind me of those stories and that''s why I need to be alone. You should''ve seen some of the crazy things out there by now, nowhere is safe. But I''m not nning on hiding, this is the life I feel I''ve always wanted and you''ll only hold me back, I''m not dumb enough to say I can protect you either. You should live your life too, grow stronger, because if it''s really like the stories we read¡­then this is only the start."

 Chapter 32 32: Humans Are At A Disadvantage

    You should live your life too, grow stronger, because if it''s really like the stories we read¡­then this is only the start."

    He wasn''t one to want to continue to have an emotional conversation so he chose this time to leave. But this time, as he walked past Ailetta, she wasn''t crying like he thought she would, considering he just turned her down. This worked for him too since that would''ve made the situation more awkward.

    Reaching the door, he ced his hand on the handle and remained there for a moment. He needed to readjust his mood from the conversation earlier since it could prove to be a distractionter. He thought back to everything that''s happened in the period of time everything happened. The near death experiences, the annoying people, the thrills. He didn''t realize it, but a smile was able to soon surface on his face.

    He opened the door abruptly, prepared to continue his enjoyment of this new life given to him when he heard Ailetta yell from behind.

    "This isn''t goodbye Noah! I''ll be strong! Strong enough to never hold you back!"

    He wasn''t sure why, but her words touched him. His excited smile that he had before, turned into one of warmth. But both he and Ailetta weren''t aware of the look Mark was giving the two during their interaction.

    "Urrgh" Noah stretch his body after making it outside. Dealing with everyone made his body tense, he would rather fight a hundred zombies instead of talking with unagreeable people. After finally making it to fresh air, with the mayhem sounding off in the horizons, he felt at ease again.

    "Well, it looks like it''s just you and me again. Wait! We need a name for you but¡­are you a male or female?"

    The question that Noah assumed to be a simple one, only ended up leaving the spider confused. It doesn''t know humannguage at all and has only been able tomunicate with him through intentions. But through their bond, it has also been able toprehend some of the simple words it''s heard so far. But even then, it was still confused about the question.

    "Ahem! I mean¡­.are you the fucker or the one that gets fucked?" He looked towards the spider with a serious gaze afterwards. He didn''t pay too much mind to his vulgar question, he was just trying to make it as simple for the spider as he thought was possible.

    "!"

    But it seemed that the spider actually took offense to the question. It suddenly appeared agitated while it started to trample its legs onto the ground. ''Are you trying to call me weak?'' It seemed to be implying. It wasn''t as if Noah tried to agitate it intentionally, but it seems that he had forgotten themon rule of most insects. And that was the hierarchy between the females and males.

    Within most of the species of the insect kingdom, the females were always the dominant party. Even in the spiders situations, the female was normally muchrger than the average male.

    "So you''re a female? Ok my bad, my bad! I should''ve realized that since only a queen spider can be as powerful as you, am I right?" His wry smile showed that he was just trying to get on the spider''s good side and thankfully it worked. It was more than satisfied with what he said, which only made Noah more helpless against hispanion. ''Not only is she a glutton, but apparently she''s very prideful. Well maybe not too prideful¡­she at least has been listening to me, but let''s see¡­I still need a name¡­''

    "Oh I know!"  The sudden outburst startled the spider because while she was waiting, she was distracting herself by watching their surroundings. She was about to go on another tantrum until she heard what he had to say next.

    "I''ll call you Arachne! What the name actually means doesn''t matter, but supposedly Arachne is a legendary Spider that ruled over all spiders¡­she was also very prideful and was punished for that. I think this name suits you a lot. Together, you''ll be the most powerful spider there is, but you have to make sure you''re a good girl or your punishment will be less food."

    Arachne was moved upon hearing her name, mainly the part about being the strongest, but theter half returned her back to reality. If she was going to get less food for having a name then she would rather not have one!

    "Haha~ don''t overthink it, you just have to listen and you can be strong, it''s simple right?

    But now¡­let''s see, we still have to relocate¡­I''m tired of being mistaken for a zombie so we need a ce where I can shower and returning back to the dorm isn''t a good idea."

    Looking in the distance towards the dorms, he could see small silhouettes of zombies making their way in this direction. And sadly, he could see more students heading in this direction. But it wasn''t as if the cafeteria was the only ce the students were attracted to. When Noah first looked out the boys dorm window, he could see students in groups running for the parking lots which was just as far as the cafeteria but were off to the sides of both dorms.

    Noah didn''t have a car so leaving by car was thest thing on his mind and he believed that any smart person would shut that idea down as well. Fleeing without information and a n is never a smart move. And even then, if everyone decided to leave in their cars then heavy traffic was sure to ur. Noah would rather be stuck in a building than stuck in a car with no protection.

    He was also able to spot students going in another direction, the direction they were headed to was a building almost as big as the cafeteria if not bigger.

    "Fuck me¡­Ok I understand the cafeteria, but why there too?" It took a moment for Noah to register what the other building was, it just so happened to be the second ce where he could take a shower to remove all the blood. He thought the gym would be the next perfect ce to use as a base, it''s still rtively close to the cafeteria so he wouldn''t have to go too far away from the mysterious shopkeeper and the gym is fairlyrge without too many obstacles. If he ever was overrun by zombies or needed to retreat from something he couldn''t contend against then he wouldn''t have to navigate through too many obstacles to do so.

    "Well there shouldn''t be too many people there right? Ok, let''s go Arachne¡­shoot, that''s kind of a mouthful to say¡­I may already need a nickname for you¡­Well whatever, let''s head over there and then we can rest for a bit. I''m sure that there aren''t just zombies here, that voice earlier referred to all humans so I''m willing to bet that we will be pincered in soon, so we have a lot of work to do."<novelnext></novelnext>

    Thinking about the amount of screaming everyone''s been doing and not to mention the students trying to escape by car, he was sure that soon they would attract a lot of attention from outside the campus, bringing in unwanted visitors. Before that happened, he and Arachne hurried to the gym''s direction.

    Since the zombies were slow, he didn''t have to worry about them for quite awhile, or so he thought. When he was making his way to the gym, the group he saw previously who were also on their way there began to scream.

    He was sure by the screams that they were being attacked, he didn''t care about their situation but he was at least sure that the zombies from the dorms shouldn''t be able to reach here yet, at least they shouldn''t be able to catch someone who was running away. So his first thought was an animal that mutated, like the vulture for instance.

    Now that he had a better understanding of his spider''s capabilities, he knew that if they weren''t directly confronting their enemy then Arachne would have an overwhelming advantage. It would probably be in his best interest to recuperate first since he has the ability to regain his stamina but his spider does not, but how could he let a juicy situation such as this pass by? He wouldn''t always be able to find bait to draw in a big fish unless he was willing to be the bait.

    [yer: Arachne

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Arachnid

    Lvl: 5

    Exp:75/400

    Health:70%

    Stamina:53%

    Mana: 4]

    Just in case, he did a quick look at Arachne''s stats to check her stamina, he couldn''t use human recovery towards an animal, even more so to a spider that was nothing close to natural. And he was right to do so, the spider already recovered close to 10% of its stamina in that small amount of time which was already unbelievable to him. But he noted something else that was even more unthinkable.

    ''?? How did her experience increase? We didn''t fight! Unless¡­.'' He thought back to what she''s been doing ever since after the fight.

    ''Is she really getting experience from just eating? Is that some kind of skill or can we grow from eating too? Maaaann I want to try it so bad now, would my Chimera race make me absorb the traits of everything I eat then? It didn''t work on my protein bar so maybe it only works on living creatures that can also level up?

    So I should be ok as long as I avoid that for now. But that means I wont get extra experience either¡­ugh! This is annoying! I need time to think this through¡­Let''s check things out over there first and then I''ll make figuring this out my top priority.''

    Having finally finished his inner rant. He quickened his pace to reach the group being attacked, the spiders stamina was good enough for now to handle whatever they encounter unless the animals widen the gap in strength since the time he spent in the shop which seemed impossible in his mind. If his spider could get tired then the rest of the animals should feel fatigued as well.

    But he also thought about the fact how Arachne was able to recover a portion of her stamina faster than usual. Maybe feeding also helps stamina recovery which would mean animals have another advantage. Unless humans start adapting to this new life then they will soon be out of the race of survival of the fittest.

    "Ahhhh! AHHHHH! N-NO HE-HEL-HELP MEEEEEE!"

    When Noah finally came upon the group, he noticed that it was a group of around ten, but it appeared that the group should now be minus one since the person who screamed earlier was most likely a goner. Noah first observed the group that stopped and were looking towards the person being attacked as if they were contemting helping him.

    But that didn''tst long before two of the females broke away from the group and made a beeline for the gymnasium. Noah already saw this kind of scenario plenty of times so he knew what was going to happen next. After the two ran away, the rest who thought about being a hero also followed in their footsteps, leaving the student alone to die.

    This finally left Noah to observe what they were running from,  surely it must be something truly horrifying, that a group of ten would be so afraid to help out someone they know. But not only was the perpetrator something he wasn''t expecting, Noah was now beyond conflicted about what he was seeing right now.

    "Wait¡­.that''s a zombie isn''t it? And they were just running right? What the fuck is happening?"

 Chapter 33 33: Unexpected Outcome

    "Wait¡­.that''s a zombie isn''t it? And they were just running right? What the fuck is happening?"

    Nothing seemed to make sense in this scenario. He could clearly make out a lone zombie feasting on a body right in front of him. But how did this happen?

    There could only be two reasons that Noah could think of at this moment. It was either the zombie was a straggler from earlier and got lost after chasing people in this direction before. Or¡­the zombie in front of him was capable of running. That thought actually made him more worried than the animals gaining experience from eating.

    "You all were supposed to give me easy farming¡­." He mumbled depressingly. He was already nning on avoiding the harder enemies and slowly gaining levels killing the zombies but if they were growing this fast then what should he use to grind his levels?

    Tap tap* he felt something hairy hitting his back. He turned around to notice his spider trying tofort him.

    ''Don''t worry, you said it yourself, I''m strong!'' It seemed to be saying. It''s beady eyes were beaming with pride

    Noah had almost forgotten that not only could he sense the others emotions but it also goes both ways. It left him wondering if that was also where it learned its attempt tofort him. Even still, it helped to lighten the mood.

    "Haha that''s right, I don''t doubt you at all, but I also need to fight. You can''t be strong and still have a weakingly for a master right? Let me go check it out. The more information we have, the better. You can attack if you feel that anything is wrong.

    His words made sense to Arachne, she wouldn''t want to follow along someone that she felt was weaker than her. It was just that he had already proven to her that he was superior during their battle of the souls so she already was determined that he was stronger.

    Noah didn''t try to hide his presence, he openly walked to the zombie feeding and while doing so he took notice of his surroundings first. A little bit behind him stood a statue of the school''s founder and other than that there was just one tree a little behind the zombie, with neatly trimmed bushes lined up behind it.

    He had enough vision to feel assured that he would spot anything that could interfere during this time. He continued to walk towards the zombie and as he did so, he tapped the tip of his axe against the ground with each step. Apparently that was enough to get its attention, it seems the zombies first priority was to eat anything alive then to satisfy its stomach.

    Its growl was much more livelier than the ones Noah spent killing from before. And during the mix of its growls it ran straight towards Noah without any hesitation. The situation should be worth being serious about, but Noah was having a hard time taking the zombie seriously when it was running with its arms stretched out the entire time. He wondered if all zombies would run this way in the future. But even though he thought that way originally, his attitude quickly changed.

    ''Tsk! It seems this won''t be as easy as it looks, the damn thing is faster than me.'' Even though Noah hasn''t put much of any of his stats into his agility, he was still at least faster than the average human. So seeing the zombie, which was clearly faster than him, also made him wonder what other stats were improved.

    Thud!*

    Choosing to y it more defensively, the zombie mmed right into his axe that Noah held out horizontally in front of him, but the impact that Noah was expecting was way more than he anticipated.

    ''Fuck! Its strength is ridiculous too.''

    The zombie''s arms were already outstretched so when it collided into the axe, it mindlessly gripped the bar and stretched its neck out to take a chunk out of Noah.

    He may have been out muscled, but his body was on full alert to respond to the sudden choice of attack. He couldn''t push away the zombie who was clearly stronger than him and he didn''t want to let his weapon go either, he leaned his upper body backwards while still attempting to hold the zombie back.

    It continued to snap its jaws savagely towards his face, but then it did something that Noah wasn''t expecting. Spontaneously, it turned andtched onto Noah''s forearm with its teeth. Because of the sudden pain, Noah groaned loudly while simultaneously kicking the zombie in its stomach before the zombie could take off any skin.

    The blow was enough to relieve him of the pressure for just a moment, the zombie apparently felt no pain and got back up. But then it made the same repeated attack asst time and rushed towards him in a Frankenstein manner.

    ''Fucker¡­ I can''t tell if this thing is smart or just extremely stupid, maybe I was being cautious for nothing.''

    He repositioned himself again with the axe in front of him, waiting to see if the zombie learned from thest altercation. Noah already knew that he has somewhat of an immunity to zombies. With that in mind, he decided to use this chance when the new zombie was alone to observe any additional changes that may have urred besides just being able to run.

    With what he just witnessed, he felt that he didn''t need to see anymore, he learned that the zombie was faster and stronger than most humans as of now. But if it was still a mindless zombie then it still was useful for grinding experience, at least when it wasn''t in groups.

    ? "Grrrrrrrrr"x3

    Thud!

    He wasn''t aware of the multiple sounds of growling that sounded around just before the sh. They collided again but this time, Noah timed the collision and retreated a few steps back, lessening the impact. Just before the zombie could attempt its crazed bites again, he kicked the zombie back with a little more force which caused it to fumble to the ground. This time, he didn''t allow the zombie to get back up.

    "Ugh!" He grunted while he hacked the axe into the zombie''s skull, instantly killing it.

    "Ok, so they shouldn''t be that difficult then. I don''t think I need anymore strength but I do need to increase my agility¡­or I can just make myself more tankier and maybe their teeth won''t be able to breach my skin¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah waited for a bit but he noticed that the chest has yet to appear.

    "Wha? Where''s the chest? Where the hell is m...fuck me¡­."

    As he was looking around, he finally heard the sounds of growling in the distance and on top of the growls he could also hear the sound of multiple people running. It didn''t take a genius to know that there were more running zombies like before. He figured that they were most likely ones that were chasing down the group from before. They had probably caught someone else from the group and were busy eating them while the zombie he just fought chased the rest down.

    He knew that this time the fight would be a bit difficult and he was nning on using his killing instincts skill if needed. But when he looked back to Arachne, he thought of a way to make the fight a little bit easier. Only if it worked out the way he thought it would in his head.

    "Arachne! Attach your web to that and stand over there! And don''t move!" The bushes still had slight gaps in between them so by now he could easily see three zombies rushing towards them from that direction.

    He quickly ran on the other side of the statue and threw down his back pack to lighten the burden. Arachne still chose to shoot out her web to the statue even though it didn''t make sense to do so. It mainly used its webs to make a nest or to jump, which in this case it was doing neither, hence the confusion.

    "Ok move a little bit further! Ok stop, once I attack then you can help me out and of course I''ll let you eat them!" He motioned Arachne until its webs were hovering over the ground just below the knee so there was no chance to step over it.

    He wasn''t sure how strong the spider''s web was but it should at least hold enough to trip them up right? Well he wasn''t sure, but he was willing to try. With that said, Arachne was now fully attentive to the situation and started to take its job seriously.

    The zombies by now had already cleared the bushes and were passing the dead body. Sadly, because of the bushes, the zombies weren''t running adjacent to one another so if the web doesn''t hold then he needs to be prepared. At Least two of the zombies in the lead were running side by side so that''ll leave him with one that could possibly still attack.

    They covered the distance in seconds and finally came upon the webbing and it worked better than expected. Both zombies got caught up in the webs and fell over, but not only did the web not break apart but they were now stuck to it! This far surpassed Noah''s intentions, but he couldn''t let his guard down. He needed to quickly take out one of the down enemies before thest one joined the fight.

    He already took note of the webs and how they were no longer being held up. Either Arachne chose not to support it anymore or she couldn''t support the momentum of the two zombies.

    Once the zombies fell,  he quickly struck at the closest one with his axe. Thankfully, he didn''t need to worry about hitting the dead center of its head to kill it. It was much harder to do so when it was struggling about, but he managed to pierce the side of its skull to reach its brains, finishing it off.

    But he wasn''t given time to pull out his axe before thest zombie was upon him so he let go. He didn''t n on confronting it immediately, so when he dropped his weapon he circled around the zombie that was further entangling itself on the ground.

    And when he did so, the zombie that was running towards him didn''t n on making a detour around its fellow zombie and tried to run over it. Apparently even though they could run now, their motor skills were still worse than subpar. It easily tripped over the struggling zombie. Noah wasn''t nning for this to happen but now that it did then he wouldn''t let up, but he forgot about just how tunneled vision the mindless zombies could be.

    Even while it was falling, it didn''t feel fear or confusion, its sights were still set on Noah and because of this it didn''t stop reaching for him and grabbed his leg mid-fall, causing Noah to trip over as well.

    "Oh no you don''t!"

    Whack! Whack!

    "Arachne? Where the hell are you?"

    He rained down kicks on the zombies face when he felt his body being pulled. Even as he repeatedly kicked the zombie, it refused to let go of his leg, but he at least bought himself time. He was beginning to be a little worried because the zombie that was struggling to rise off the ground no longer cared to anymore. He could see it trying to now turn its body to get to him since he was now on ground level with it.

    But resembling a superhero, Arachne came in just in time to support Noah. It didn''t know the difference between a human and a zombie so it did the same thing to the two legged creatures like it did the rest. It sunk its fangs into them to not only paralyze them, but to also prep them to feed on.

    The poison wasn''t as fast acting to the zombies than it was to the humans before. But it was enough to allow Noah to quickly scurry away from the zombies'' once vice-like grip before the remaining zombie could reach him. It seemed that Arachne forgot about thest zombie and was slightly surprised when it saw it moving under the body it just injected its venom into.

    Stab!*

    It prated the sharp ends of two legs into the zombies body to try to hold it in ce while it injected more of its venom onto the previous zombie. Noah used this opportunity to retrieve his axe to finish off thest one before his body released all of its tension and flopped on the ground.

    "Ok¡­.that was harder than I thought! Maybe if I used my skill then it would''ve been different, but everytime I use it, I always end up in some kind of predicament¡­" thinking about the first time he used it and he was bitten in the shoulder and then the time after that when he was literally being squished in Derricks palms, he already realized that ability had its cons.

    He always realized being by himself would allow him more freedom and experience but it alsoes with its own dangers. After this fight he felt even more, an unhealthy need to be stronger so he didn''t have to rely on anyone but his strength and that included the strength of his monsterpanions. His thoughts were soon interrupted when he noticed something odd.

    "A notification? But I''m sure both of us aren''t even close to leveling up. What could it be now?"

    [User has been contaminated by a corrupted substance. Genes have been detected to already exist within the host, trait ''zombie'' is now being modified.]

 Chapter 34 34: Obtaining More Than I Bargained For

    [User has been contaminated by a corrupted substance. Genes have been detected to already exist within the host, trait ''zombie'' is now being modified.]

    [Level progression from skills gained through the zombie gene has been increased]

    [New trait gain, ''budding feeder''- Zombies main priority is to feed and their one and only goal. That same desire has been awakened in you, whether the temptation consumes you will depend on your will power.]

    Moments flew by with Noah nkly looking off into space before he finally came to.

    ''I don''t know if I should be happy about this or not¡­Corrupted substance?¡­.Is that when the zombie bit me? At least let me choose when I want to use the skill for goodness sake! Maybe I would feel better about getting such a trait if it was at least my own decision¡­sigh.''

    Before he picked himself up, he decided that he should at least see how much his skills progressed in their levels, hopefully it would make him feel more at ease about his situation.

    [Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)progression: 50%

    Killing instinct (lvl 0) progression:1.8%->4.3

    Passive

    Rodelros(lvl 0) progression: .6%

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Hunters sight (lvl 0) 10.4%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:5.15%->11.2%

    Immortal body (lvl 0) progression: 1.48%->3.5%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:25%

    Taming proficiency(lvl 0)progression:N/A

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0): progression:N/A

    Budding Feeder(lvl 0)]progression: 0%]

    When he saw the progression, a frown immediately appeared on his face.

    ''The progression barely went up at all! Well it did but that''s not enough after I had to be bitten to get it. I would have to be bitten like¡­.'' He raised his hands to count on his fingers before giving up. ''Well a bunch of times before it got to one hundred, I''m not a masochist!''

    While he lifted himself up from the ground, he continued to think about any other options he could take to take advantage of the new discovery. He retrieved his bag and then his weapon before he turned towards the zombies again. When he faced them he just happened to find Arachne doing what she was best at.

    Noah only shook his head this time, he did promise her that she could eat them all, but what got him was that she didn''t waste any time to do so.

    Since she would also gain back stamina and experience points for this, he decided not to rush her, they wouldn''t need to rest long if she could recover faster. And he could use this time to check something he has always been curious about.

    [Stamina regeneration (Lvl 0) progression: 11.2%

    Progression- Recover over 10,000% of stamina with only stamina regeneration: 37/10,000 in progress

    Can also be aided with increasing the zombie gene.

    Upgrade stone Lvl 1 required for upgrade]

    [Killing Instinct(Lvl 0) progression:4.3%

    Progression-Let yourself be absorbed in your instincts to kill while in the middle ofbat for 100 hours: .25/100 in progress

    Can also be aided with increasing the zombie gene

    Upgrade stone Lvl 1 required for upgrade]<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''¡­.''

    After looking at just two progression requirements, he was once again left speechless. The requirements were durable but the amount of time required to do them were a lot longer than he was hoping. It would take him more than a month to achieve 100 percent with the stamina skill alone, and that was if he was constantly gaining stamina. If he happened to fall asleep with his stamina full then that would be about eight hours he wasted that could''ve been used to progress his skill.

    ''¡­.This is just insane, maybe getting that feeding skill isn''t too much of a clutch after all as long as I can still improve my skills faster. But what the heck is with this upgrade stone being required? Is it supposed to be a rare drop? What if I don''t find one, what should I do then?¡­..wait!"

    He thought back to the shop and the never ending items that it carried. He was positive that the stone would be in there, but the price itself is what he was unsure of.

    "I swear, you can do everything with money no matter where you are, the only thing that''ll change is the form of currency. But that reminds me, that chest should''ve dropped by now¡­"

    The first ce he looked was near thest zombie that was killed and there it was. He was disappointed to find that it was only bronze but at least it was a step up from wood that he received constantly from killing zombies. He wished he knew the criteria that needed to be met to determine what type of chest appeared. As of now it seemed that it depended on the number of monsters/creatures killed and the quality of said monster/creature.

    Not expecting anything grand from the chest, he casually opened it to find a short bow with no arrows and a small pile of gold. He didn''t n on using the bow, but he also didn''t want to discard something he worked hard to get so he still decided to ce it within his bag. When he gets the chance, he would try to find someone who would want to buy it from him. He had less than ten hours before the shop disappeared so he needed to quickly amass enough coins to get himself that healing skill for Arachne if he was going to abuse his ss more. But more importantly, he could probably buy himself an upgrade stone or two if he wasn''t able to find one by then.

    Now that he had a specific goal in mind and he was done recovering the gold. He walked over to the zombies, there was still something he had to determine. He peered down over two of the zombies that weren''t being eaten while he pondered. He thought about how he should progress his zombie trait skills without being bitten, but the only thoughts that appeared were eating their flesh and drinking their blood.

    Just the thought of eating human flesh made him feel repulsed, even drinking their blood caused him to grimace. Yet, he continued to bend down towards the zombies anyways. While he was more than hesitant about what he needed to do, he knew that he needed to at least try, running around and letting zombies attempt to eat him wasn''t something he wanted to do and he didn''t have the necessities to wait a month to grow his skills.

    Surprisingly, he noticed that the closer he inched to the bodies, the less unwilling he was bing about the idea. In fact, the stench he thought he would abhor actually smelled a little enticing, causing him to lip his lips in anticipation.

    "What in the world is wrong with me? Please tell me it''s the skill causing this, I swear I''m not that messed up¡­now I''m worried I''m actually going to start enjoying this smell, please don''t let it taste good too¡­"

    At this point, Arachne stopped what she was doing to watch her master, which is very surprising in her case. But her curiosity peaked when she felt the rising hunger stimting his emotions when he looked at her food. Her eyes showed an intense gleam, she always wondered why her master never ate his own kind when they were so delectable. Spiders ate each other even though the taste wasn''t near as impressive as what she ate now.

    The gleam in her eyes held a feeling of expectation to share more with her master, but she was also conflicted. There was a part of her that was unwilling to share her food with anyone. ''What if he starts to eat my share? Does that mean less food for me?'' Were some of the thoughts going through her mind. She couldn''t figure the answer to her own question so she decided to eat faster. If he couldn''t eat as fast as her then that would mean she can still eat her fill.

    So far, Noah waspletely in his own world to mind about his spider''s weird worries. He was still on edge about eating their flesh but he felt that drinking the blood wouldn''t be too objectionable. Even though he loathes humanity, he couldn''t possibly throw away all of his human morals so quickly so he made apromise with himself.

    He tried not to dy it anymore and ced a finger in the small puddle of blood of the zombie. He paused briefly when his finger neared his mouth before he closed his eyes and consumed it.

    "Mmm!"

    His eyes abruptly opened when he savored the blood that was surprisingly sweet. Unknowingly, his body reached out for more, it wasn''t because of the taste itself. Noah has yet to realize the significance of the skill ''budding feeder'', his body was craving for more. It started off with another finger and then two, soon he was using his palms to form a cup before hecked all decorum and face nted himself into the blood spill.

    Both human and spider silently fed until Noah broke out into a coughing fit after drinking too fast, that action allowed him to awaken from his hypnotic like state.

    Gasp!*

    He looked at his hands in shock and then down to the ground, the blood around his mouth continued to fall, sttering on the blood below.

    "This is bad¡­..Budding feeder my ass! The skill obviously bloomed already, what would happen if it leveled up? There''s no way I cou- WHA-WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME?"

    Noah stood up in fear when he realized something was wrong, but it wasn''t the feeding skill that caused him to be so emotional. When he looked at his hands, his vision seemed to be splitting, but surprisingly he didn''t feel any pain. Yet, he could feel what he believed were tears running down his face, but it was actually his eyes bleeding from the changes. In real time, he noticed everything was bing double, he observed, as an extra pair of hands entered his vision and not only that, his field of vision was a lot wider than before. The amount of information his eyes obtained started to give him a headache as he felt like he was extremely intoxicated.

    But the changes didn''t stop there, his body began to feel extremely itchy, itchy to the point that he wanted to rip off skin, but the feeling didn''tst long before he felt a prodding pain throughout his body. He could literally perceive ''something'' protruding out of his body all at once. The pain wasn''t too severe and wasparable to pulling a splinter out but when that pain was urring all over his body, he couldn''t stop himself to observe the changes, he was too preupied with bracing himself to the pain.

    When he thought he was about to be given a break, he realized how na?ve that thought was. Another sensation was happening to both of his arms simultaneously. The pain from before slowly subsided which gave him the opportunity to see what was transpiring.

    While observing his arms, he witnessed his veins squirming and branching off, forming new ones. When the veins branched off they began to branch off again before rearranging themselves on the underside of his forearms and intertwined to form a more intricate and thick tunnel that started to block off his blood in those vessels.

    He wasn''t able to feel that his blood was being cut off, but he could tell that the vein was losing all of its color before being refilled with a ck substance. Believing that the changes were over, his first thought was to check his notifications, he was sure that it knew what was going on. But before he could, he felt a stabbing sensation where the new vein developed, puncturing through his skin. Yet when he looked down, nothing was poking out, his skin was only left with a hole that was blocking off from whatever the ck substance was.

    After some time, he waited for something else to happen, after a minute of waiting he finally felt relieved that it was all over. But it didn''t relieve his worries, he took a deep breath to mentally prepare himself for the information he wasn''t ready for.

    [Level progression from skills gained through the zombie gene has been increased]

    [Level progression from skills gained through the zombie gene has been increased]

    [Warning, New gene discovered! Merging willmence, do you wish to continue? Y/N?]

    [Continuing to absorb the new substance, merging hasmenced! Incorporating the host body with the ''spider'' genes]

    "?? Spider genes? Where the he- Noooo! Her poison!""

 Chapter 35 35: The Difficulties Of Being A Spider

    [Continuing to absorb the new substance, merging hasmenced! Incorporating the host body with the ''spider'' genes]

    "?? Spider genes? Where the he- Noooo! Her poison!"

    To say he was shocked is an understatement, he wasn''t expecting this oue at all. Furthering his zombie genes already caused him many conflicts with himself, now he had to worry about what kind of ''side effects'' he could possibly obtain from this.

    ''¡­.Come on Noah, this won''t stop you. Maybe the skills are just as good as the other ones.'' Even as he tried to encourage himself, he didn''t have high hopes. The reason he was in this situation to begin with was because of one of the traits he didn''t want, but at the same time, he knew that the trait helped him to ovee his moral reasoning. With that thought in mind, he gathered his courage to y it through, it already happened so he will make the best of it.

    [Merge ispleted! Host growth rate has been modified due to synergy of multiple genes detected. New traits and skills have been achieved.]

    [Growth rate: +2 agility and +1 constitution per level added.]

    [Active ''hunters sight'' has been modified ording to the traits of spiders into ''spiders alertness'']

    [Passive, Spiders Alertness- The nature of a spider is to always stay vignt and be aware of their surroundings. Known for their bad eyesight, that weakness has been ovee and improved due to the skill ''hunters sight''. Improving your vision and dynamic vision and enabling you to notice minute details to track objects in motion. Always active]

    [Active, ''Undead Webbing'' obtained-Able to project out webs from your silk veins. Your webs have been mutated from your zombie trait and now contain your corrupted mana, making it stronger. Your Webs strength is determined by your constitution and mana supplied.]

    [Passive, ''sensory spines'' obtained-The microscopic fine hairs on your body provide extra grip and the ability to climb surfaces. The spines are also sensitive to air movement, giving you the ability to even sense threats in dark environments.]

    "This is¡­." Frankly, Noah wasn''t prepared for the amount of information he had just gone through. Obviously he felt the changes happen to him in real time, but to see so many benefits it brought him seemed unreal. He couldn''t say any of these skills were better than the other, but what he did know is that he needed to familiarize himself with them. He didn''t want to have a repeat, limiting himself in a fight because he forgot an ability.

    It felt as if a lot of time had passed because of everything that just happened, but it''s only been a few minutes. He couldn''t risk wasting too much time when he was on a tight schedule. There was the shop and more importantly, there were the zombies and who knows what else approaching.

    "Whoah!" How the hell do you even get around with so many eyes?" He couldn''t help butin towards Arachne while he struggled to find his bnce. He tried using his hand on the ground to prop himself up, only to miss the cement and fall back down. Instead of embarrassing himself in front of Arachne who was now silently watching him. He decided to remain seated to let his body adjust to the changes.

    ''I just don''t get it¡­I clearly see what I''m trying to do but my body isn''t reacting properly¡­is the hair thingys what''s causing my body to want to move differently? Then should I follow my body or follow my eyes? Urgh! What''s the point in having so many eyes then if these hairs work better than them??'' His frustrations only increased the more he struggled to understand.

    Obviously both were important, but it wasn''t logical at all to him and that''s what was frustrating. In the end he turned his attention to Arachne, apparently since he was no longer doing anything interesting, she felt the need to finish off thest zombie.

    ''It''s not making sense¡­she obviously has eyes even behind her but it doesn''t affect her at all, is she able to see behind her at all times or only when she focuses with those eyes? Wait¡­if I think about it that way then¡­'' Returning his gaze back towards the ground, he only focused on the first image towards the center. What he was envisioning right now wasparable to having two monitors almost ovepping in front of him.

    One of those screens was what he could always see and the other was simr to having a higher resolution and more zoomed in. He felt that if he thought about it this way then he can tune one of them out to focus more on the other. Of course, the other form of vision is always there but if he handles it this way then he can buy himself time to naturally get used to it in the future.

    Putting on a solemn expression, he tunneled all of his attention to one goal and that was standing up without tilting over. He didn''t allow himself to get distracted with what the rest of his eyes could see while he ced his hands firmly on the ground before standing up.

    ''Well that''s one thing down, but what about the webs? Does it work the way I think it does?'' He thought about the movie series of the young hero who was bitten by a spider and would press two fingers down into his palms to shoot.

    He wanted to test it out himself, but before he could, he noted something from afar that he normally wouldn''t before gaining the extra set of pupils.

    "Isn''t this a little bit too soon?" Off into the distance from the dorms, he could see a small portion of the zombies heading in their direction. Noah knew it was going to happen eventually, but this was quicker than he expected.

    Assuming that the zombies were too slow, they should lose track of whatever they were chasing and head to whatever source of noise was nearby.

    ''Wait! Noise?'' He thought back to the constant groups running in this direction and screaming while doing so. They were quite a distance away from the dorms, Noah didn''t believe that the zombies'' hearing was that developed, but he was stillparing the zombies to human standards.

    He already witnessed the faster growth ones to be faster and stronger to regr humans so having heightened hearing shouldn''t be impossible.

    Straining his eyes as much as he could, he noted that even though the groups of zombies were enormous, they weren''t organized in the least. They were only heading to where theyst heard the sound but they weren''t following the same path to get there. Instead of having to fight thousands, only a few hundred would probably head their way, while the others would go into the direction of the parking lots where the majority of the action was pursuing. Or they might pass them up all together if they weren''t distracted.

    Noah didn''t like the idea of being passive but he wasn''t sure how long it would take for him to get used to his upgraded vision which could prove fatal.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Screw it! Arachne it''s time to go hunting, I''ll take care of the slow moving ones and you can handle the main threats.

    ''Maybe by fighting I can adjust a lot faster and there should hardly be any risk encountering the zombies that aren''t able to run. The animals are what I really need to be concerned about, but for some reason I haven''t been seeing them as much.'' When he thought about it, it didn''t make sense why he''s seen so few creatures, especially insects since they easily outnumber basically everything. But maybe there''s someone who would know.

    "Arachne, what happened to the other spiders like you? Are there any others that grew bigger?" He asked while they both made their way back towards the zombies. He would rather fight them away from the gym so he would have a ce to go back to so they could rest. When he asked the question, the spider seemed to ponder about his question but then she also became confused.

    ''Many dropped dead while others found new hunting grounds.'' It seemed to say, but it didn''t show any emotion about its kind dying except that it didn''t know why. For them, dying suddenly happened often; from being stepped on, to freezing, being eaten, the list went on.

    The information he obtained from his spider was already enough for Noah to make his own conjectures. ''Maybe whatever turned people into zombies may have killed the animals that would turn into one instead¡­'' it seemed kinda absurd but it was the only thing that made sense to him at the moment. All he needed to know was that he wouldn''t have to worry about an army of spiders.

    Buzzz*

    But on his way to his destination he heard a buzzing sound. He was gonna warn Arachne to stop but it appeared that she also became vignt after hearing it.

    Sadly his hearing wasn''t enhanced after gaining his new traits, yet he could ''feel'' what direction the sound was approaching from due to the small hairs on his body.

    Swish!*

    Before he could register what was happening, he felt the need to duck. And he was d he did, he felt something fast approaching the back of his neck and after he lowered his head, he became aware that something just attempted to attack him around his neck area. Instinctively he rubbed his neck in fear that he could''ve just died without a chance of fighting back.

    "Ok¡­.spider powers are OP, but this seems too much for me to handle. What the fuck was that? Arachne! Do you think you can handle it?" He didn''t take the time to look to her for an answer, he needed to keep his head on a swivel. But he did notice that when the sound flew past him, it stopped for a moment before flying again. This time he was ready.

    He felt as if he could see the figure in the distance just barely, but it was too out of focus to him. Yet that wasn''t cutting it, he wanted to know what was attacking him.

    ''Come on! These eyes should be a lot better than this.'' In an attempt to use his new pupils, Noah widened his eyes as wide as he could in the figure''s direction. Slowly the figure began toe into focus, he thought he was seeing things at first. While he was able to make out the shape he first thought he was being attacked by what appeared to be a human sized leaf, but gradually the details finally began toe into his view.

    "Is that a mantis??" He eximed in shock, not because he feared it, but because that sounded more badass than having a spider. He tried not to let his disappointment show on his face. He couldn''t distract Arachne in this situation, but now that he found such a creature, any thought of running away was gone.

    ? ''Right I can use the webs! Hopefully it wor-!'' When he came up with a solution on how he could possibly deal with the mantis, he heard another buzzing sound from behind him again. He could probably handle one but he wasn''t sure about the other if they decided to attack in session. Their odds of losing were high if Arachne couldn''t participate in the fight, but not long after the buzzing sound urred, he felt somethingrge blow right past him.

    "Schrreeee!" Noah quickly reacted, turning around to see what brought about the sudden noise. When he turned he saw Arachne towering over one of the mantis, repeatedly piercing its frontal legs into its prey. This was a new scene to Noah because it rarely attacked with its legs after it caught hold of its prey with its fangs. That''s when he noticed the blooding out the side of her head. The mantis was digging its scythe-like arms into her causing Arachne to be impatient in finishing it off.

    Buzzz*

    Even if he wanted to help her, he couldn''t. Maybe the insects'' bonds weren''t strong even after mutating. He thought as much because the previous mantis was approaching Noah again instead of helping its partner even when it was clearly in danger.

    There was no chance for Noah topete in speed against the creature so using his axe was out of the question. Attempting to block was denied as well, the thing has two des that could probably attack in two different directions simultaneously.

    ''It''s all or nothing!'' After dropping the axe, he raised both arms towards the mantis direction. He has yet to practice the skill so he wasn''t going to risk it and use one hand. At first Noah was worried that he wouldn''t be able to get the skill to work but when he was prepared to use it, he realized that the skill naturally came to him as if he always knew how to use it. The key was to flex the muscle that was located on the underside of his forearm which could be easily flexed by just squeezing his hand into his palm.

    But that just felt like theme way to do it so he chose to use the two fingers like every geek would. When he began to flex his muscles to shoot out the web, he registered that his body felt as if something was beginning to drain from his center, located around his heart. He wasn''t quite sure what it could be until whatever it was began to circte through his body and ran through his veins meant for his webs.

    ''This¡­.this is mana!''

    ...............

    This is to make up for not uploading yesterday, next chapter will be on Monday.

 Chapter 36 36: A New Companion

    ''This¡­.this is mana!''

    The overpowering feeling of harnessing mana almost caused Noah to ruin his chances of targeting the approaching mantis. His adrenaline rush was kicking in at an all time high. When he ced everything in this moment, he wasn''t consciously aware of it, but he was now using all four pupils inplete cohesiveness that everything appeared in slow motions during the moment of him tracking the mantis movements.

    Soon a jet ck stream of webbing shot out of his wrist in the mantis directions. The speed was only so-so, but even then, because he was able to discern the mantis movements down to the smallest detail, he ced the webs in a positioning that it couldn''t avoid.

    Noah wasn''t aware of it, but the mantis was simr to his spider in a sense that they couldn''t freely maneuver their bodies while in mid flight which is the reason why it had to stop briefly when it passed him before taking off again. Because of this particr w and how fast the mantis was approaching, it left itself with no way to avoid the iing webs.

    Hiisssss!*

    After tumbling on the ground, the mantis hissed in frustration as it tried to remove the webs around it. Its front legs, which were its driving force to move around, were bound. And above its legs, close to the base of its wings were now covered in ck webs. The mantis frantically tried to use its de-like ws to remove the webs but even  it was having a tough time to do so. Maybe if given enough time then it would be able to cut through the mesh.

    At this moment, Noah couldn''t give up this opportunity. He could feel that his stamina took a small hit from using his webs and he even felt a little lightheaded from his first time using mana. But he could also tell that he had enough stamina in him to finish the job. He didn''t want to kill the mantis, if he could tame such a creature then it would increase his chances of getting stronger on his own.

    With his arms still raised, he let out another load of webs onto the mantis, this time targeting its upper portions. Both strings of webs shot out of his arms to form a tight hold around the mantis main weapons, making it cause an even bigger fuss than before.

    While quickly making his way to the captured mantis, he looked over to check on Arachne''s situation. When he looked over he saw her no longer towering over the mantis but was now in the process of wrapping it into a cocoon? This would be the first time Noah didn''t see her immediately start feeding, but after thinking about it, maybe she has already eaten too much for now.

    The mantis still had a lot of energy and fight within it but Noah couldn''t afford to use webs anymore.

    ''That skill is definitely making me feel a bit sluggish, not to mention the small headache I''m having right now. I guess that makes sense since it''s using up whatever is in my body to create them. But I wish I could at least know how much mana each cast cost. Wait¡­I can just check my status right?'' He quickly went to his panel, if he could use a little bit more webbing on the mantis then he would feel more assured to get close to it.

    [yer: Noah

    Race:Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 195

    Lvl: 5

    Exp:165/400->267/400

    Health:89%->90%

    Stamina:64%->62%

    Mana: 24/24->4/24]

    His attention was only directed towards his stamina and mana before he refocused back to the mantis, but he couldn''t help but frown.

    ''That''s not right¡­there''s no way I would feel this way if my stamina only went down that much¡­maybe it''s only showing me from thest time I opened my status. My stamina should''ve definitely risen more by then, especially with my skill. In that case, let''s just use the webs without supplying mana.''

    This time he chose to use one arm to shoot out his webs, aiming towards the mantis face. He could probably touch any body part to initiate the taming process but it would probably take longer to activate the skill.

    During the process of shooting his webs, he tried to stop the cirction of his mana being supplied but he realized he couldn''t cut it all off. The most he could do was to allow the bare minimum to be mixed into his veins before shooting out, causing his headache to worsen.

    ''Fuck! Either I''m not proficient enough to use it without mana or there''s no way for me to use it without it. I might need to build my magic if that''s the case. At Least it got the job done, let''s see if this will be more difficult than Arachne.

    Approaching from the backside of the mantis, he ced his palm on its head to initiate the taming process.

    Noah re-emerge in that ck universe-like space that was being illuminated by the balls of light just like before when he was taming Arachne, but he noticed a change immediately. The ball of gas that represented him, now had more specs of ck, unlike before and there were small wisps of red. The white itself was stabilized but the ck and red would re out asionally.

    There was no way for him to understand what the colors meant, but he knew that it was most likely due to his unique body changes. It was a necessary change and he knew that it wasn''t going to end there after he began to develop those traits even more.

    Instead of focusing on something he could no longer change, he focused on the ball of light in front of him. The ball was almostpletely identical to Arachnes, except the white was a little bit more noticeable. He wasn''t nning on having an epic battle like he did with Arachne, his n was topletely dominate it fast. Even though he wanted another creature, he didn''t want to have to share an equal amount of experience 24/7. He wanted to be able to adjust the amount shared in the future given by the situation, so he needed to be in full control of the bond in order to do so.

    Moving forward, he felt the force from before trying to push him away, but he continued to progress nonstop. When he approached the boundary where he was almost stumped by an emotional attack before. The small wisps of red started to glow more intensely, any feeling that was being projected to him was partly absorbed and intensifying his own.

    "Schree¡­.."

    By this time, the mantis lost any desire to fight just like the spider before, but this time Noah didn''t bother to spur it on. It didn''t take him much longer to enclose himself around the mantis ball of light and have it submit to him.

    During the process, his ball emitted appendages of the three colors making up his ''body''. And when they tethered themselves to the mantis, he noticed that a change urred that didn''t happen to Arachne. The parts that were secured by the red appendages also turned red but no other color influenced the other side.

    Noah still couldn''t process what the red meant so there was no way he would know what was happening but there was just one thing that urred to him after witnessing the change.

    ''Is this only for the mantis or has Arachne been affected too?'' He made a mental tone to observe Arachne more after this. Since he''s been with her long enough, maybe he could notice any changes that urred. He just wished he knew exactly when he was influenced by the red wisps.

    Soon he was brought out of the space and back to reality. The mantis was no longer as frantic as it was originally but it still struggled to remove itself from the webs. Arachne was now standing a bit away from him while she dragged its prey behind her with her webs.

    Noah could sense that he had another notification. Most likely regarding the fact about the amount of experience shared between the two. Before he nned to check, he wanted to release the mantis from its bondage. He pulled and tugged at the webbing but it wouldn''t budge with everything he tried.

    "How the hell is it so strong? I know my stats aren''t that ridiculous besides my spi-of course! Spirit influences spells by increasing their effectiveness. But this is just too exaggerated¡­Arachne I need your help with this!"

    He decided to leave this type of work to someone with more experience, but he didn''t know how spiders dealt with this kind of situation so what she did almost caused Noah to faint.

    "No! No! I said help with the webs, not to eat the bug dummy! Do you know how hard it''ll be until we finnnnnndd¡­" He stopped when he noticed that Arachne really wasn''t trying to devour the mantis but was actually eating the webs. What he didn''t know was that spiders would sometimes eat their own webs as a form of recycling so they could replenish their energies after spinning.

    "Haha, I didn''t mean to call you a dummy, I was trying to say ''not to eat it, it''s not yummy''." He caressed her backside while he tried to make it up to her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Humph!" Arachne wasn''t interested in what he had to say. She had something more important on her mind and that was the delicious silk her master was able to spin. And while she ate it, her own webs were having a qualitative change.

    "Hehe~" Noah tried tough it off, but he realized two things. Arachne was developing a personality and two, for some reason she was really enjoying herself while she was eating his webs. He decided to create a bit of distance from her in case she tried to ask him for more. In the meantime, he used the opportunity to check the notifications.

    [Taming of mutated Praying Mantis sessful. Because the Mantis waspletely subdued, you are now given the option of the amount of experience to share.

    Would you like to set the shared Experience to the standard 50/50 or custom distribution?]

    He didn''t need to think about this, he set the experience to 80/20. Arachne will be his primary monster while the mantis could get most of its experience by eating. But he couldn''t neglect his own level. He noticed that after the fight with the running zombies and now the mantis, that his stats werecking. He was about to atleast check the mantis status but the notifications didn''t end there.

    [Arachne has sessfully mutated her webs with hosts undead webbing. Arachne''s Spiders silk has changed to ''Cursed Silk''.

    ? Cursed Silk-Unlike its original natural ability to create silk, the spider''s webs are now mixed with an unnatural mana that shouldn''t co-exist. Webs can now be infused with that mana, making it tougher than before. Grows stronger with strength and mana infused.]

    "¡­.Why is it that everyone is gaining skills by eating? INCLUDING ME? I''m just waiting to gain the skill of gluttony anytime now. But¡­" He relooked over her skill and thenpared it to his own.

    "Does that mean I''ll also have to raise her magic stat now so she can use her webs? No¡­If that was the case then her skill would be more of a nerf then, I don''t want to believe it. She still has the five unassigned points, I''ll just have her try itter and then we can use the points then.

    He continued to wait for Arachne to finish, so he took this time to quickly check his mantis stats.

    [yer: Mantis

    Race: Praying Mantis

    ss: Mantodea

    Lvl: 6

    Exp:73/800

    Health:94%

    Stamina:87%

    Mana: 8/8

    Attributes

    Strength:33(35)

    Agility:32

    Constitution:16

    Stamina:21

    Magic: 4

    Spirit:29

    Skills

    Active

    Burst flight(Lvl 0)

    Camouge(Lvl 0)

    Passive

    Echo location(Lvl 0)]

    Noah''s eyes lit up when he saw the level and stats of his new creature. He felt lucky that he was somehow able to ovee them, let alone tame one. He felt that both he and Arachne were a direct counter to the mantis who were clearly stronger than them based on stats.

    "Oh? You''re done?" He noticed the moving of two figures behind him and saw that the mantis was able to stand on its own. The mantis curiously sizing both Arachne and him up and down. It felt that they were friendly''s, but part of it was unsure because it was just trying to kill them. And even then, it still felt a connection between the two that made it feel closer to them than it did its fellow mantis.

    "Hey, even though we started off on the wrong foot, let''s get along!" Noah said with a smile, he was excited to obtain another ferocious creature, that he didn''t realize how cringe he was at this moment. Thankfully, the mantis wasn''t yet ustomed to human speech and could understand from Noah''s intentions that he was weing it, clearing up its earlier confusion about them being friendly''s or not.

    But Arachne had enough understanding to notice his awkwardness and began to shuffle her legs repeatedly, making her own imitation ofughter.

    "Hmm well that odd one would be your older sister you would have to listen to, but clearly somethings wrong with her so you don''t have t- okay okay! Sigh¡­Nevermind, make sure you listen to your older sister."  He chose to give in when he saw her attempting to do her ''threatening'' poise, where she would lift her front legs and her upper body in the air. Obviously she was throwing a small tantrum, hierarchy meant a lot to her so he decided to give in.

    He looked around while the two attempted to get used to one another, which was hard to do since the mantis wasn''t as expressive and appeared toe off as a strict soldier after learning its ce. But Noah was sure that Arachne would rub off on it sooner orter.

    Now that he had an extra aplice, he felt that their farming should be much easier now. But he still had to solve onest issue, he pondered while he turned back to the mantis with one of his most serious expressions that he rarely wore. Both Arachne and the mantas sensed that he had something to say while they waited in suspense.

    "Are you the fucker or the one that gets fucked?"

 Chapter 37 37: Race For Food

    "Are you the fucker or the one that gets fucked?" Noah thought it would be a repeat with Arachne since the mantis was an insect too and he at least knew the story of female mantis eating the heads of males after mating. But apparently he got the opposite effect.

    The mantis became frantic and looked all around its surroundings before signaling to Noah not to ask such a question, clearly it was afraid of the females.

    "Buddy, you have to have more pride. If you were stronger then you would gain the females respect, but you already lost the battle of wills. We need to change that and that''s why we are going there" he pointed off in the distance towards the zombies.

    "To be stronger! But before that, let''s give you a name. That''s Arachne by the way, yours will be¡­hmmm"

    He gave the mantis a look over. Therge beady eyes, scythe like hands and the figure of a leaf. He wanted to give a name based off of one of those characteristics, he found the scythes to be more attention grabbing and chose that.

    "I''ll call you Grim, the first name of the harvester of souls. He also has a scythe and is literally death itself, but you have two! So you can be better than him." He nodded in satisfaction. He would''ve chosen Reaper but Arachne already has too many sybles so he wanted a name that was simple to say.

    Grim grew excited, he didn''t know what harvester of souls was, but the ''person'' sounded dangerous and Noah said it will be greater than it? He already felt superior to Noah''s kind and the other prey alike but both Arachne and Noah gave it a wake call that it was still prey to others.

    Now that they were done with everything, they started to make their way towards the zombies at a decent pace. Noah made Arachne drop off hertest food in a spot where they could return to get it. She wasn''t happy about it, but she remembered that there would be plenty more food where they were headed.

    "Hmm? What''s wrong Grim?" They all stopped when he noticed Grim look in the direction of the cafeteria. Looking in the direction, Noah tried to concentrate as best as he could. He realized that his new pupils were better suited to spot things in the distance. What he could see was a fairlyrge group of people heading out towards the zombies as well. He couldn''t tell who the individuals were but he could at least guest that it had something to do with Mark. The guy was dumb and arrogant, but he atleast knew that arrogance was nothing without strength to back it up.

    "Don''t worry about them, as long as they keep their distance then everything''s fine."

    It didn''t take them long to close the distance to the zombies since they were alsoing towards them. But the hoard wasn''t as it seems, when Noah was in the distance of around 50 yards from them, a few zombies made their presence known.

    "I need a better name for these things, professional actors suit them more than runners." He muttered to himself while he set his bag and axe down. This time he decided to retrieve the two battle axes because of the opponents before him. Out of the first group of the hoard was maybe a hundred zombies, but eight of the walking zombies began to make a sprint for them when they moved closer.

    Even though he considered them to be called runners, that doesn''t mean they are running all the time. Once again he was proud of himself for obtaining Grim. He was basically walking around with two assassins.

    "Ok boys! Ahem¡­and girl." He quickly corrected himself before Arachne could get upset.

    "You can eat what you kill, but meet back here when I give the call, let''s go!" He shouted as he ran towards the runners. He didn''t have to worry about reaching there first and getting overwhelmed.

    Buzzz

    He heard the sound of Grim before he noticed him quickly passing.

    Arachne on the other hand didn''t perform any extremely long jumps, but preferred to make small quick leaps to conserve its energy but even those leaps were close to 10 yards.  They both easily surpassed him before taking on a target which just happens to be the runners who were closer.

    Before Noah could even get a chance to fight. Grim made quick work of two runners'' necks that were aligned with one another, before he stopped to turn around to go for the third. Instinctively, it appeared that everyone besides humans knew they could be stronger by eating.

    Arachne didn''t have the capabilities of killing as fast as Grim but her way of hunting was still effective. She quickly pounced on a runner heading towards Noah, fiercely knocking it to the ground with her momentum and weight. She learned her lesson beforehand with the mantis, that she shouldn''t allow her prey to freely attack her, so she pinned the zombies arms down with her legs aided with her weight. Sinking her fangs into the zombie, she continued to inject her venom until its movements stopped.

    By now, Noah noticed an odd trait that all of the runners had inmon.

    "Why are they only focusing on me!" He stopped in his advances, he felt strong in his own right, but he didn''t have a death wish. Five zombies that were faster and stronger than him were way more than he could handle at this time. Maybe if he used his mana sparingly before, then he could use his webs against the current zombies. Just before the zombies could reach him, Grim returned to take out one more. Noah was sure that Arachne woulde in time to aid with another, but he still chose to activate his active ''Killer Instincts'' just in case.

    Unlike the other times he used it, he didn''t allow himself to bepletely absorbed in the skill. Instead of the maximum of 25% boost that could be added to his skills, he settled for around 15%. Maybe It would be more efficient to fully use the skill, but he wasn''t sure if he could deactivate it on his own if he were to lose himself. He didn''t need to have the extra stats to take care of the walking zombies in the distance.

    "Ugh! Come on,e on!" A switch appeared to have been flipped after activating the skill. The sensation was entirely different from using it the other times. He could feel his blood pumping with bloodlust. He was bing impatient to see blood and gore. His original idea of waiting for the zombies toe to him was no longer in effect as he was already making his way to the group of runners.

    His body seemed to have a mind of its own. When he approached the first zombie, running at him with its arms reaching out as far it could. Noah swung one of the axes right between the zombies arms, before connecting it to its face.

    Apparently his body was able to use his newly obtained skills better than he originally could when under the effect of his skill. Everything felt instinctive, his eyes tracked every motion and every angle, while his spines sensed and reacted to the iing danger. Noah was aware that when he struck the first zombie that the nearest one was right upon him. But he wouldn''t be able to pull out his axe in time from the zombie falling forward with its momentum.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Mindlessly, his body twisted in the direction of the approaching zombie on his left. While he continued moving forward, he used the rotation and his added momentum to not only easily retrieve his axe from the zombies head, but he was able to swing his axe in the same manner as before with a more intense force.

    Wham!

    The sound from the impact to its skull was simr to the sound of a heavy blunt object. The blow lifted the zombie in the air with its feet kicking out. He didn''t bother to retrieve the axe this time, for he was still out for blood.

    But it turned out to be short lived.

    "Hey! They were mine!" He shouted towards his two creatures after they came in to steal thest two zombies from him. He felt as if he was dehydrated beyond belief and just when he was about to have a drink, all of the water was stolen from him.

    ''My kill my food!'' Arachne''s thoughts yelled back, but the foolish Grim felt that he did something bad and so he tried to scoot thest zombies head over to its body. It still remembered that there was a time where a body was able to still try to run away without one so it believed that the body wasn''tpletely dead until the head was devoured.

    "Urgh forget it! I won''t let you take them all from me!" Noah moved swiftly to retrieve his axe before sprinting to therge horde of walking zombies while yelling back towards them. This would''ve been a good time to stop using his skill, yet the kill steals from before left him unappeased. He needed more bloodshed before he felt satisfied.

    "No, fuck off! Let me go first damnit" Noah''s voice was once heard again screaming in the distance. Grim was too quick to respond and followed his master before he quickly passed him which caused Noah''s earlier outburst.

    Arachne was the only one who waste to the party, she wanted to take this chance to wrap the still fresh bodies in her webs to preserve forter. But when she realized the food that was about to be imed by her master and ''subordinate'', she dropped everything and made her way behind them. Zombies could be seen falling left and right and once Arachne finally joined, there appeared to be an unspoken race made between them all. The sound of constant fighting and the strong smell of bloodshed was drawing in all the surrounding zombies.

    ...¡­

    "Come on guys! Do you all enjoy the idea of an insect being stronger than us? Or these zombies killing your friends and loved ones, without having the power to stop them? Then hurry up, so we can increase our levels! As long as we don''t encounter those bugs from before then we have nothing to worry about!"

    The voice of Mark rang out to the small group behind him. Even though it was small, it still consisted of 12 people. Out of those faces, Jasmine and Ailetta could be seen from the group. After the mantis encounter, only three people still decided to join Mark in increasing their strength. Fortunately some of the people who were already in the cafeteria decided to join them as well. They were afraid of the monsters and zombies, but they also witnessed the cruelty of the gang from before.

    But the icing on the cake was when they witnessed Noah, one sidedly kill the people that easily oppressed them. They all desired that strength, but they couldn''t find the courage to do it on their own. So when they saw Mark''s group preparing to leave again to be stronger, many of them volunteered.

    The students from Mark''s original group wanted to ask what they should do if they do encounter the mantis again, but the question was stuck in their throats. Whoever asked the question would essentially be lowering the morale of everyone else here so they waited to see if someone else would bring it up first.

    Jasmine noted that the people were uneasy, but she hoped killing the less threatening zombies would help alleviate that fear. She wanted to stay in the cafeteria to manage everything, since the resources there were too important. But after feeling so helpless against the mantis, she too felt the desire to be stronger. She already had a foreboding feeling that help wouldn''t arrive anytime soon so she also needed the strength to defend herself and also¡­.keep her little brother in check.

    The atmosphere in the group was getting more intense the closer they neared the zombies, but something was wrong. They noticed that the zombies were all starting to face away from them when they were clearly heading in their direction before.

    "Everyone stay alert! Don''t forget about the powers you''ve gained today, if you use them well enough then you have no reason to be so afraid."

    Mark edged them on while they continued to draw in closer. Zombies were mindless creatures to him, he didn''t consider them worthy opponents at all so he wasn''t worried about the zombies'' weird movements.

    Buzzzzz!

    It was when they moved closer and heard that familiar sound that they began to grow worried. Two of the members from before were about to dart away and run back to the cafeteria, while everyone else went on high alert, but soon a voice was heard from within the zombies. No one from the group could forget the voice that matched to the horrifying and domineering figure.

    "Hahahaa! Arachne, where''s all that pride now? You''ve killed less than both of us!"

    They all heard the voice of Noah but, why did it sound like he was having fun?

    Everyone''s fear turned into a fearful curiosity. They were afraid to move forward but they had to know what was going on. They all silently followed Mark who quickly headed to the sound without any regard of the people behind him until they came upon the scene.

    "What??"

 Chapter 38 38: The Observant Spider

    They all silently followed Mark who quickly headed to the sound without any regard of the people behind him until they came upon the scene.

    "What??"

    The current scene left everyone speechless. A man with two giant bugs was fighting off hundreds of zombies swarming them at once. But the words fighting wasn''t the right term for what they were watching. It was more of a one sided massacre.

    The more they watched, the more the scene turned more incredulous that their emotions couldn''t keep up.

    It wasn''t just the fact that there were only three figures fighting, it was also therge amount of corpses at the scene. The headless bodies, some dismembered and then the rest were perfectly intact if the state of the zombies bodies before they were zombies were disregarded.

    A few unprepared students weren''t ready for some of the gore they''ve witnessed. The zombies still resemble humans and were once humans not so long ago. The state of their corpses and the intense smell of blood overpowered the food that they were so desperately trying to hold in.

    The surprises didn''t stop there, the biggest surprise was the newpanion following Noah. There was not a chance that anyone would forget the bug that instilled so much fear into them not so long ago. But the most surprised of them all about this fact was not Ailetta, but Mark. He gripped the handle of his sword that barely gained much action. He was only level three, not only that, the bug that Noah tamed was the first opponent that made him feelpletely hopeless.

    Did that mean Noah was better than him? He didn''t want to ept that. Just like now, Noah was able to go off on his own and level up as much as he wanted when he instead was held back. ''I said time and time again that we should focus on leveling up, but no one listened! If someone like him could reach this level then just imagine how strong I could''ve be if they listened to me.''

    With that thought he stopped watching from afar and chose to join in the fighting. There were still a lot more zombies in the vicinity so the two groups wouldn''t be in the way of each other. His group could only reluctantly follow after him.

    But what they didn''t notice was the irregrity of some of the zombies that wouldunch themselves in a sprint to reach Noah only to be shut down by Arachne or Grim after they both agreed that they would share the meals of the stronger zombies.

    It was when they approached from the other side that they encountered their first unique zombie.

    "Mark! Don''t go off alone, we don''t know what these things are capable of!" Jasmine''s shout fell on deafs ears. Mark wanted to prove to them that he was right in his decision to fight before and what better way to do that than to fight a seemingly powerful enemy and two of them at that?

    Before everyone''s eyes, Mark''s body radiated out a small incandescent bluish glow. Suddenly he became much faster than before and more agile, his speed was even faster than the running zombies. He had obtained an achievement as well and his was called ''Hero''s Aura''. The skill had a multitude of functions ranging from support and attack.

    Using his mana, he could increase any one stat up to fifty percent temporarily, depending on the usage of his mana. Or he could choose to coat a weapon in his aura to increase the durability, sharpness or to increase the range by adding a blueyer that was used as an extension of that weapon.

    This was also the reason he thought he was clearly better than Noah, who he now perceived to be worse than amon viin. The world itself branded him as a hero, he has the acknowledgment of god! How could he not be better?

    He neared the first zombie before he stabbed forward with his fiveish foot ymore that was almost as long as him.

    Pah*

    His sword pierced through the zombie''s cheek and reached its brain. Because he was trying to prove a point, he also expended more of his mana to coat his sword in his aura to increase its sharpness. He was able to quickly and cleanly retrieve the sword from the zombie''s head to perform a horizontal swing to the next zombie, removing its neck.

    The quick session of taking down the two new zombies stunned his group members who looked towards him in awe. But Mark wasn''t content with their stares, his head snapped in the direction of Noah, hoping that he had witnessed how he easily slew the advanced zombies and he did it by himself.

    Yet Noah wasn''t paying attention to their group at all, he almost doubted that Noah knew they were even here, which caused his anger to re. His eyes soon turned back to his group now that they had caught up.

    "We''ve already wasted time, kill as many as you can, stay in groups if you have to but let''s all level up before we leave!"

    ...¡­.

    Meanwhile, Mark''s group finally confronted the zombie hoard as a whole. While Noah and his insectpanions were almost prepared to retreat. They''ve already been fighting for what seemed to be half an hour and were running low on stamina. Noah didn''t n to fight till he was empty when there could be other predators waiting, like the vulture for example.

    "Grim, Arachne we''re leaving! Arachne take me with you." He yelled while hacking down another encroaching zombie. The zombies were endless, even if he and his creatures killed a hundred a piece, the hoard would still appear never ending. Noah didn''t want to risk getting caught out, they were slowly getting overran and surrounded while they tried to kite the zombies away.

    Both Grim and Arachne were quick to respond. He wasn''t worried about either of them being in danger. They both had ways to escape crowds and the zombies rarely focused on them unless the zombies no longer had him in sight.

    Whoosh!<novelnext></novelnext>

    He soared through the air on Arachne''s mid-section, it wasn''tfortable by any means but it didn''t ruin the thrill. They quickly escaped the hoard but they didn''t go too far. There was something that he was constantly looking for and that he feared would never appear.

    After motioning Arachne to stop where he dropped his bag, which was only about 50 yards from the zombies. He waited for thest bit of runners that were able to keep up. But this time he chose to sit out and let Grim and Arachne finish them all while he wiped off the blood and brain matter from his axes in the grass.

    During the initial stages of the group fight, Arachne was far behind them in kills, using her venom to take out each individual zombie. She was bing agitated that everyone was outperforming her. Always keeping one eye on both Grim and Noah at all times, she observed how they were beating her at every turn. When she realized that they would just attack the head and move on. She felt that her horizons had been broadened exponentially.

    Instead of jumping on a zombie, she crawled to one and stabbed at its face with her pointed leg. Her leg went cleanly through its mouth, reaching the other side and so she was about to move on. Then she noticed the zombie continued to move! She felt that she was being tricked, in her frustrations she stabbed at the zombies face repeatedly until it stopped moving. Since then, she''s been gradually learning where to attack the zombies to easily take them out, now Noah could easily say that she has be a better zombie farmer.

    There were four runners in the approaching group, but were taken care of by the bug duo. Grim didn''t rely on using his wings this time around, his wings consumed his stamina more, but his speed was still nothing tough at. In a short distant exchange, his powerful front legs were enough to quickly close the distance. The same could be said for Arachne, as she ran over to the zombies instead of her usual leaps.

    But just as he expected, the chest he was waiting for finally appeared. Looking up into the sky, he wondered if he could catch the figure of the person watching them. How whoever it was decided when the chest would drop, he would never know, but his appreciation for that being was undoubtedly growing.

    "Hey hey hey! Don''t touch it, what if you ruined my lucky street?" Noah hurriedly interrupted the curious Grim, who didn''t know where the chest suddenly appeared from, but he couldn''t help from wanting to interact with such a shining object. Even when Noah intercepted him, Grim

    stood rooted to his position without showing a hint of moving and watched his master with an intense gaze. But it waited and it waited and his master didn''t do anything yet.

    ''?????'' The questioning tone rang in Noah''s mind, distracting him from his trance. He quickly spun his head around just to be startled, Grims face was now inches from his own. Thoserge beady eyes stared into his and because it couldn''t blink, it made Noah feel more ufortable until he pressed his hand against Grims face and moved it facing Arachne.

    "You, you see her?" Both looked towards Arachne carefully wrapping her meals in her webs.

    "Be more like that glutton and let me enjoy myself." He returned to his superstitious rite of opening the chest. He was lucky enough again to gain a gold chest, but maybe luck had nothing to do with it. If it was like he thought about before, then the chest depended on the number of beings killed and the quality of those figures. When he thought about the overall amount of zombies he and his creatures killed, then it would be even more unreasonable if he didn''t obtain a gold chest or higher.

    Opening the chest, his eyes strained from the reflection of light on the huge collection of gold before noticing the glow of two different color lights within. His heart was beating in excitement, hoping that he was once again lucky enough to obtain a skill, but his standard for loot was too high.

    His four pupils observed everywhere in the chest and quickly spotted all its contents. The quality of the loot satisfied him but it was the quantity that wascking.

    "Howe I killed so many and yet this is all that''s in here? Where''s the rest? Don''t tell me there''s a limit to how much a chest can hold??" The thought left him crushed. If he had known that, then he wouldn''t have farmed so many zombies at once. As he tried to process the situation, he brought out the rest of the chest contents. There were three glowing orbs, two of them were red while thest was a yellow that was half a size bigger than the others.

    [+2 strength]

    [+2 strength]

    [+5 stamina]

    He was easily able to perceive therge changes in his body, the physique may have not changed but the power was suddenly there. He instinctively clenched his fist while flexing his muscles and noticed that he had a lot more energy than before. If he thought before that he didn''t gain a lot of loot then now he is beginning to understand. His thoughtspletely tilted toplete understanding when he retrieved thest item.

    "What is this?" He brought out a full suit of what appeared to be armor, but it wasn''t the type of armor you would find in the setting he was thinking of. It was something that was used even today. What he held in his hands resembled the kind of gear that police would wear in riots, minus the helmet and the shoes.

    There were thin guards supported by a silver metal alloy around the knees, forearms, shins, chest and the back area. It didn''t appear as supportive as the original counterpart, but it definitely seemed to not restrict his movements. Yet he did notice a difference and that was the dark grey portion that wasn''t metal, it felt stic but firm. He doubted that even with his increased strength, he wouldn''t be able to tear it apart.

    He wanted to put it on right now but that would also mean having to remove everything else he wore which might take longer than needed since his clothes were obviously stuck to his skin due to the amount of blood he soaked in. Which didn''t get any better since he was now covered again in fresh blood.

    "Man, I can''t wait to try this on¡­I wonder what kind stats it''ll give! Maybe that''s why there''s less in here. Instead of getting items of lesser value, the value increased, but that means less items as well¡­I need to remember to test this out more when I get the chance." While he pondered the rules of the chest, he busied himself with gathering the pile of gold, but he was interrupted when he was just about to finish.

    "Hmm what''s wrong?" Arachne appeared beside him pulling along four bodiespletely wrapped up in its new ck webs. But Noah couldn''t concern himself with the webs for now when he noticed the questioning gaze she had while looking at the chest. ''I thought she wasn''t interested in these things''. Noah thought while waiting for her response. He watched her observe the chest curiously gaze while thinking deeply before she pointed towards the chest and then towards Grim.

    ''Did you not want the other one?'' The question caused Noah''s mind to go nk. ''The other one? When did I have another what and does Grim have to do wit-!''

    "Nooo we forgot the other chest! The loot! The gold! Hurry up, hurry up before someone else takes it!"

 Chapter 39 39: Finally Reaching The Gym

    "Nooo we forgot the other chest! The loot! The gold! Hurry up, hurry up before someone else takes it!"

    He hurriedly stuffed the suit in his bag and picked up his two handed axe before ruining off towards the direction of his supposed chest. Both Arachne and Grim quickly followed while Arachne made sure to bring her food along, dragging the bodies behind her.

    It didn''t take long for them to reach the area that they encountered grim and the other mantis, but along the way Noah observed multiple people from time to time, running in their direction from the sides or were already heading in the direction of the cafeteria and the gym.

    "Tsk, so the ones who left for their cars are finally returning. That also means they''ll be bringing ''friends'' with them¡­"

    While he tried to make a mental n for the uing future he scanned the area for the chest which didn''t take him hard to find. They had encountered the mantis alongside one of the walkways earlier that branched off towards the small road meant for shuttles to transport the students to their sses.

    But even though he saw the chest, he overlooked it the first time, it couldn''t have been his because the chest was wide open. Not only did he not want to believe it, he just couldn''t understand who goes around collecting other people''s chests? What game allows someone to take another''s loot? But he also had to remind himself that it isn''t a game, no matter how much he''s been enjoying himself.

    The chest was looted, but he just had to see if the people were even considerate enough to leave anything for him.

    "Urgh Noah you''re so stupid! And the chest was even silver! Damnit!" He felt more upset with himself than the people who stole his belongings. He was so caught up with taming Grim and being fascinated with his webbly powers that he forgot about the chest. Well it also only appeared by the mantis that Arachne killed so he never saw it appear, but he couldn''t use that as an excuse. That''s money for the skill he needs!

    "Hey! Watch out behind you!"

    "Bailey, can you worry about yourself for once?"

    "Oh hush it! I guess I should''ve worried about myself instead of saving you earlier too huh?"

    After hearing the voicesing his way, Noah shook himself out of his self loathing mood. He looked up to find a group of four? Heading towards him. It seemed to him that they came from the direction of the gym, but he couldn''t tell what they were doing out here nor where they were headed. Unlike the groups of useless people he''s seen so far, this group seemed to have adapted.

    It took him a moment, but he finallyprehended what they were saying earlier. He didn''t want to deal with them at this time or any time for that matter so he tried to let it be known.

    "Don''te over! I don''t need any help here!" He waved them off as he yelled. To make sure there weren''t any misunderstandings this time, he walked over to Arachne to rub her hairs. She was a proud spider, but a spider that loved to be pampered as she enjoyed the small show of affection.

    But his intentions didn''t have the effect he wanted. The group slowed down, but for some odd reason they continued to head over. This action left Noah frowning in annoyance and soon he was going to be more annoyed.

    The trio was almost upon him before one of the males held Bailey back.

    "Gasp! Bailey, wait! He''s covered in blood¡­.This isn''t a good idea! An-and his eyes! Look at them! He might be one of ''them''." He tried to whisper but he was so emotional he couldn''t help but speak loudly. How could he not be emotional when Noah''s bloody figure was threatening to look at already, especially if you consider the giant bugs by his side. Yet what broke the line between just being threatening and being horrifying was his new addition of pupils. His sclera was hardly noticeable besides the two pitch ck pupils in each eye.

    This was one of the reasons Noah didn''t want to interact with people. They constantly judge you and when the majority of them believe in that judgement then their word bes the truth, it''s frustrating to deal with.

    He wasn''t sure where this interaction was heading but he was prepared for any oue. Like before he assessed the three people in front of him based on their threat. Obviously the girl was the leader so she was his highest priority. She appeared to be a ssic tomboy, short ck hair, standing at about 5''7'''' with an athletic build while she wielded a spear in both hands. He noted the dried blood on the tip of her spear and some stter on her clothes and that she was smart enough to wear a jacket over her clothes to avoid zombie scratched.

    His eyes roamed to the other three but even though it was three, the extra was arge sized squirrel standing next to the person that Spoke earlier. The squirrel reached his knee if he was standing on its hind legs and its teeth resembled a beaver while its tail was twice the size of its body. The male Noah assumed to be ke, who was also a tamer just as him, seemed to be copying the girl who also held a spear with the same kind of jacket. But his eyes stopped a little bit longer on thest one. He didn''t speak the entire time and his eyes were always vignt, his eyes constantly roamed between the three of them.

    He was a towering figure, around 6''5'''', with a full beard and stout physique. His appearance made Noah question if he really attended this school, but what stood out to him more was the gigantic hammer he wielded with one hand and therge shield in the other. This guy clearly received an achievement skill or he was simply as high a level as Noah was.

    However, even though Noah assumed that the interaction was gonna turn out the same just like the others. He noticed the expression of the girl change. There was a hint of worry in her eyes that Noah couldn''t make out why.

    "Are you stupid ke? You''ve seen what Paul can do yet you think ''his'' eyes make him a monster? I swear I don''t know why I let you follow us, go back to the gymnasium if you''re so scared." She then returned her gaze to Noah before taking a step forward.

    "I''m sorry if we offended you, my friend isn''t exactly bright, but he''s still a good person at heart. By the way, my name is Bailey, you said you didn''t need any help, but I just couldn''t help but worry after seeing all the blood¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>

    The two groups then stood in silence for a while, Bailey was waiting for a response, while Noah was waiting for them to leave. ''She said she wanted to check and now that she checked why is she still here?'' Was one of the things going through his mind. The other was the topic of Paul who apparently could change, like a transformation skill. His eyes wandered to the big lug, wondering if he was the one they mentioned and what transformation skill he obtained. Thinking up to there, Bailey couldn''t wait anymore for him to respond.

    "S-Say¡­." The two locked eyes, Bailey was clearly nervous but she tried to not break contact.

    "It''s not really safe to be by yourself, If you want then you can join us. We''re settling ourselves at the gymnasium but right now we are on our way to the cafeteria to see if we can secure food for everyone. How about it? She waited earlier for his answer, he and his tamed creatures could be a huge help to their group. He could also probably help ke with his role as a monster tamer as well.

    Noah was surprised that someone was actually asking him for something instead ofmanding him. In the world of the rich and pampered, it seemed that ordering around was somethingmon between all of them. But he also knew better. ''Heh¡­you think you can use me for protection to fulfill your own needs? Too bad I read a lot about situations like this before.''

    "I was nning on going to the gym right now, but I don''t n on following anyone. Now if that''s all then I''ll be on my way, lets go you two. Wait! When did you go back to get those??"

    Bailey was honestly surprised that he denied her, considering how dangerous the world is right now and she feels that she would know more than the male in front of her. She was also the one of the many who were returning from trying to leave by car, only to find out that everything out there was just as bad as here.

    Not only was she surprised but she was also disappointed. Unlike what Noah assumed, she also proposed to have him in their group because she was a good natured person. Yet she knows that if you try to reason with someone that you didn''t have any bad intentions then it just makes it less believable.

    But she couldn''t let go just like that! He was heading to the ce they were using as shelter. She was sure they would meet again so she watched them go. It was a weird sight to see, he appeared so serious and threatening yet he started to bicker with his spider who was dragging what she believed to be eight bodies in webs.

    Seeing that he never once looked at them with hostility, sheforted herself to believe that those were bodies of only zombies. She was d that herpanions weren''t like the others and would stop him from leaving because of it, but when he passed them, she noticed him stop to turn around. She almost couldn''t hold back a smile, thinking he reconsidered.

    "Also, If you have any gold, I can perhaps sell a few things to your group. Later!"

    He ran off again without waiting for their response. Leaving the group confused about his words. Until Bailey spoke out her thoughts.

    "What does he mean sell? Does he mean the gold we''ve been picking up from the chest? Just¡­.how much does he know?"

    "That''s not important Bailey, that guy is creepy, I''d say it''s better that he didn''t join us. Shivers* I wouldn''t want a guy with so many eyes watching my back. Just his insects alone give me the creeps, unlike my little guy. Don''t you think so too Paul? The two looked up to the silent giant but noticed something odd. His eyes never ceased to watch Noah running in the distance.

    "That guy¡­.he''s too dangerous¡­more dangerous than that thing back there¡­" he spoke in pauses, but it was something they were used to by now. But his words shocked them.

    "Is it your skill? Are you sure? That thing was able to take out so many people, no way that''s true!" ke was quick to rebuke the im, the monster they met at the side entrance to leave the campus will give him nightmares forever. He couldn''t ept that someone as creepy as Noah could be so terrifying. However, Paul no longer entertained the two, he felt he already said what was needed.

    "Sigh¡­let''s just do what we set out to do, we can discuss thister." The group left without another word as they headed to the cafeteria.

    In the meantime, Noah finally reached the building and it was huge to say the least, but how couldn''t it be. There was a basketball court with stands to fit almost 25k people and connected to that was the locker rooms that were used as the connection to the next areas.  The gym was constructed in an almost T shape. On either side of the locker rooms were the pool area and the other side held the gymnastic area that held the weight room on the top floor.

    His destination was the gymnastic area with the weight room. He already considered the room to be somewhat of afort area for himself since when he wasn''t reading, he spent the rest of his time there. Plus the doors to the gymnasium were big enough to allow Arachne through.

    The three circled around the building to go directly to the area, Noah didn''t want to risk confronting anymore people at this time.

    ''That girl said they had a group here, I''m sure they are in the court area considering that area has the most space if the audience stands were folded in.''

    Thankfully the gym was always open so he didn''t need to worry about the doors being locked. The space had motion sensor lights so the room was quickly illuminated when he walked in. There were various gymnastics stations scattered about the area and yet the gym didn''t feel cluttered. His goal was to only use this area as a resting spot so he wasn''t interested in using anything here besides what was in the locker rooms.

    "I want you two to stay here and protect my stuff, I won''t be long" He set his bag down on one of the benches near the locker area, alongside his weapon. He never removed the metal gloves from his hands so he wasn''t afraid to walk into the room ''unarmed''.

    Of course he went into the boys locker rooms, and he was already surprised to hear a few people in the showers, unless they were just as dirty as him, but he wasn''t very fond of the discussion they were having.

 Chapter 40 40: Whatâ€™s Wrong With Me?

    Of course he went into the boys locker rooms, and he was already surprised to hear a few people in the showers, unless they were just as dirty as him, but he wasn''t very fond of the discussion they were having.

    "Do you think they''ll get enough food for all of us?"

    "What do you mean all of us? We came here first, it''s firste first serve. They can go get their own food then."

    "Say, what if they don''te back then and keep it to themselves?"

    "Ha! Why do you think I suggested for her friend to stay here? She definitely wouldn''t leave her here to starve. And she thought we wanted her to stay so she could be protected. I swear, women are so gullible haha."

    The showers they were using were closed ones so they needed to talk loudly over the sound of running water to talk to the other. Because of this, they also didn''t hear Noahe in, but the sound of Noah walking on the hard tile echoed in the room, causing them to quickly go silent.

    "Hey, who just came in? Did you not hear that it''s our turn? I swear it''s like we''re surrounded by idiots."

    But Noah wasn''t going to bother with the voice. But after hearing their discussion, he decided that he would block off the door leading to the area he''s staying in after cleaning himself. These people will definitely be a nuisance. He might have pitied the girl being used, but what does he get out of helping them? A clear conscience? He has already been made to feel guilty for being alive most of his life and that has gotten him nowhere.

    And he couldn''t forget about Isabelle, even though he saved her for what he considered an equivalent exchange. Look where that left him, his ''good'' deed didnt make him feel better about himself, he just felt used and stupid for letting himself be used. He kept himself to the closest shower stall, before turning on the water in hopes it''ll drown out their talking. But while he removed his clothing he realized the water had the opposite effect.

    "DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? I SAID GET OUT ALREADY OR ARE YOU DEAF AS WELL AS STUPID?"

    The voice rang clear as day. The noise was beginning to feel like tiny stabs to his brain. His body already felt drained from the constant fighting, not to mention the mental fatigue that has been umting since the start of it all. He found out that if he left his head under the running water then the voice wasn''t as grating on his ears. ''Too bad I didn''t bring any soap, but I doubt it would solve the smell. I would need a couple washes before I no longer smell like blood, but it actually smells surprisingly good when I get used to it.

    He tried to distract himself with random thoughts while the voice continued.

    "Well there''s a lot of stalls here, it shouldn''t be a big deal if one more person uses one right?" He heard someone trying to appease the hostile voice. But one thing Noah learned in his life is that there''s no reasoning with an emotional person, especially if that person believed they were privileged.

    "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? IF YOU LET THEM DO WHAT THEY WANT THEN WHAT''S STOPPING THE OTHERS? YOU BASTARD! JUST WAIT TILL I GET OUT."

    ''Ok that''s it¡­'' Noah just about had it with this guy''s constant yelling. He turned off the water before he quickly put on his new piece of gear with the addition of the chest piece he received earlier . He didn''t have any extra clothing to wear anything under it, but it was surprisingly stillfortable. Yet he wasn''t able to enjoy that feeling or determine the stats that were increased.

    That voice was infuriating to listen to and he felt that he needed to do something about it or his head would explode.

    Boom!*

    He flung open the door, leaving his bloodied clothes while he headed over to the stalls where the voice was still ongoing.

    "See? Just let them know their ce and they be obedient. Don''t let them walk over you an¡­.wha-what? What are you doing in here? Robe-Robert¡­.?

    The guy wasn''t prepared for someone to walk into his stall, let alone when he saw the pair of dark pupils in both his eyes. He has yet to even kill a zombie, which is probably why he treated everyone as if nothing has changed. Now that he felt threatened, his body was briefly paralyzed from fear while he attempted to call for help.

    POW!* Noah''s fist mmed against the man''s chin, leaving him flying back into the wall. His back was the first part of his body to make contact with the wall. The impact knocked out any air left in his chest.For a short time, he couldn''t move his body, but when he saw Noah approaching him with his arm cocked back, his body somehow found the energy to move.

    "Arrghh! N-no st-stop! ROB-" POW!* this time, a fist connected to his mouth, breaking a few teeth and leaving him with a busted lip.

    The guy was choking on his own teeth and saliva, but Noah left the guy no room to even breathe. After the first two quick swings to the man''s decently handsome face. He quickened the tempo using his other fist after realizing how much relief he felt with each impact.

    Unknowingly, his killing instinct skill activated on its own, but because the effect was so minuscule Noah didn''t seem to realize it.

    Swing after swing, Noah continued to rain down punches. Everytime the guy''s body reacted then another blow followed until his body fully went limp.

    "WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHAT DID YOU DO?? Hel-help¡­.SOMEBODY HELP! HE''S KILLING HIM!!"

    The shout awakened Noah from out of his trance. He looked down and finally witnessed what he''s done. Blood constantly seeped out from every direction of the person''s face. His nose waspletely broken while he could clearly make out the bone poking out. The right eye socket waspletely broken, leaving the visible hole in his face now that his eyeball was no longer being held in ce, meanwhile his cheek bones were pulverized, making his face appear tter than the damage Noah already caused. .

    Honestly Noah couldn''t realize how he could''ve done this much damage in such a short time.. His eyes looked down towards his hands before he understood. He never took off the gloves and considering that the guy was still on level one, he was a walking ss cannon in Noah''s eyes.

    But Noah felt conflicted now, he wasn''t horrified with himself for killing someone that didn''t try to kill him. Honestly, he was a tad bit worried that he didn''t care. What left him conflicted was the fact that he wasn''t aware of what he was doing until now.

    "Somethings definitely wrong with me. This isn''t good¡­" he quickly got up and bolted to the door. Just as soon as he was closing the door to the locker room, he heard another door open with a bustling of noises following behind it.

    When Noah barged into the room, Arachne and Grim, who were fast asleep after all they had been through were startled out of their sleep. The two both became vignt, ready for another fight, but all they saw was Noah. They were curious of Noah''s odd behavior, especially when he began to start shooting his webs, covering the entire door before not even the frame could be seen.

    It appeared that the group that entered the showers needed some time to deal with the unexpected dead body before they tried to enter through the door, which gave him time to finish what he needed to do.

    "Gu-guys! What the hell is it? I thought they said it was a human! Then what did this?"

    "How would I know! Larry was the only one there and this wasn''t here before, try touching it I guess¡­"

    "He-help! I''m stuck! Somebody help me already!"

    "Why did you touch it with your hands?"

    "? You were the one who told me to!"

    The chatter continued on the other side. However Noah was too mentally tired to care as he slumped on one of the mats toy down. Seeing this, his twopanions ignored the noise on the other side of his webs to join him. Grimid on his belly while his chin was nted on the mat. Arachne didn''t feelfortable standing on the cushion material so she only sat near them, before folding her legs close to her to re-enter her slumber.

    The current scene would''ve been a heartwarming moment for Noah. However his thoughts were still reflecting about earlier.

    ''Sigh¡­Noah, what to do, what to do¡­At this rate I don''t think it''ll be possible to be in the same room as people, but¡­.did anything really change? I don''t feel wrong about what I did, but I feel wrong that I don''t feel wrong. Ugh! Life is easier when I can just kill things¡­'' Noahmented over hisplicated feelings.

    He nned to fully figure out the way he felt about the situation since he needed to rest anyways, but an annoying sensation has been egging at the back of his mind since he met the recent trio. He decided to put his feelings on the back burners for now, the notifications were a good escape from having to deal with his emotions.

    [Noah Level Up! +5 attribute points!]

    [Noah Level Up! +5 attribute points]

    [Arachne Level Up! +5 attribute points]

    Receiving the good news lightened up his mood. Leveling up was expected, but he realized something was off momentster.

    ''Wait a minute¡­I ended up leveling up twice? Hold on! that''s not right¡­.unless the way we share experience is different from what I thought before. Do my creatures not share experience with each other at all or is it just with me? Tha-that means monster tamers are kinda broken no?'' Originally he chose being a tamer so he could havepanions he could trust and maybeter in the future could treat as family.

    Thinking the ss was overpowered was nowhere on his mind when he chose it, but this new revtion surprised him. When the tamer doesn''t have to share an equal amount of experience with his monsters then that makes them a leveling machine.

    ''Well I guess the downside is that my monsters will be lower leveled than me, hmmmm¡­but all I need to do is adjust the way the sharing works and I could help power level them too right? Oh man! I think I already found a bug! If I don''t bring it up then god shouldn''t patch it right? No¡­that would be admitting he messed up¡­I need to take advantage of this, but first thing first. He then proceeded to check his status.

    [yer: Noah

    Race:Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 195->748

    Lvl: 5->7

    Exp:267/400->751/1600

    Health:90%->92%

    Stamina:62%->26%

    Mana: 4/24->3/28

    Attributes

    Defense: 25

    Strength:14->18(19)+5

    Agility:14->18(19)+7

    Constitution:30->36(38)+10

    Stamina:17->22(23)+5

    Magic: 11->13(14)

    Spirit:72->75(78)<novelnext></novelnext>

    Unassigned Points: 10

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)progression:50%->75%

    Killing instinct (lvl 0) progression:4.5%-4.8%

    Undead Webbing(Lvl 0)0.7%

    Passive

    Rodelros(lvl 0) progression: .6%

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:5.15%->5.9%

    Immortal body (lvl 0) progression: 1.48%->1.76%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:25%->50%

    Taming proficiency(lvl 0)N/A

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0): N/A

    Spiders Alertness(Lvl 0)1.3%

    Sensory Spines(Lvl 0): .9%

    Titles

    The Fallen, Subjugator]

    ''Everything is slowlying along. But that experience jump is insane is it not? If it doubles every time then I will have to change to a new farming target. Just what else is out there and how much will these zombies grow? Will they somehow mutate into huge grotesque monsters? That just means I need to keep on grinding then.

    But now that I have these new skills, maybe I don''t have to continue building the way I have so far¡­the webs seem to have the best potential in terms of usage, but these eyes would do so much better if I had more agility. So far I can keep up with the zombies that are faster than me, but how much can I keep up with something as fast as Arachne?

    Screw it! I already started building as a tank, I might as well work my way to get it to 50 to see what skill I''ll obtain and then decide from there.''

    After deciding, he unhesitatingly spent his points, putting two points into his constitution and the other seven into magic. If his webs were strong enough that the current grim couldn''t cut through them easily then he could prove to be a great support if they came upon an enemy that was harder to deal with. It would be his contingency n in case they happened toe upon a difficult enemy during their farming.

    After he finished allocating his stats he then waited¡­.and waited some more, a bad premonition soon began to rise in his heart.

    ''Where''s my notification??'' He quickly checked his stats again.

    [Attributes

    Defense: 25

    Strength:14->18(19)+5

    Agility:14->18(19)+5

    Constitution:30->38(40)+10

    Stamina:17->22(23)+5

    Magic: 11->20(21)

    Spirit:72->74(78)]

    ''Forty plus ten is definitely fifty! Don''t cheat me¡­does equipment stats not apply then? Ugh stupid Noah! Just stupid! I keepparing this to a game. But we can still make this work¡­my webs should at least be strong enough now that Grim shouldn''t be able to cut through it at all if I supply enough mana. I may not even have to apply much anyway since magic increases my magic abilities¡­..but is it considered one?''

    Instead of putting himself into another cycle of questions, he went ahead to check Arachne status next.

    [yer: Arachne

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Arachnid

    Lvl: 5->6

    Exp:196/400->248/800

    Health:63%

    Stamina:19%

    Mana: 4

    Attributes

    Strength:21->23(25)

    Agility:38->42

    Constitution:17>18

    Stamina:21->22

    Magic: 2

    Spirit:25->26

    Unassigned Points: 10

    Skills

    Active

    Paralysis Venom(Lvl 0):progression-2.4%

    Cursed Silk(Lvl 0):progression-1.7%

    Passive

    Spider Sense(Lvl 0)]:progression-3.7%]

    Satisfied with how Arachne''s stats were developing, he became curious to what ability she would obtain after reaching fifty points in her agility stat. With that thought in mind, he couldn''t help but go through with it, as well as putting the rest of her stats in her stamina since it seems she used more stamina then all of them when she has to jump really far distances. As soon as he finished, it wasn''t long before he received a notification.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª

    A/N: Had to make sure I keep up with 5 chapters a week. For those who may have questions regarding the experience process because it was a big jump.

    Noah receives 50% of what Arachne kills, 80% of what Grim kills and also 30% of what he himself kills.

    So if the average walking zombie gives 5 experience and Noah kills it then he would only gain 1.5 out of it while 2.5 goes to Arachne and 1 goes to grim.

    And if Arachne kills one then she would get 2.5 and Noah will receive 2.5 while Grim receives nothing from what she kills.

    If Grim kills one then he would receive 1 exp while Noah would receive 4 and Arachne would receive nothing from what he kills.

    It would take a lot of time toy out all the numbers of what they killed individually and include the calctions in the story so just wanted to let everyone that I''m not just making up the experience gain, there is actually a process lol.

 Chapter 41 41: Old â€˜Friendâ€™

    It wasn''t long before he received a notification.

    [Your tamed creature, Arachne, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in agility, perk based on ss Arachnid obtained; ''Caught in the eyes of the spider'']

    [Passive-''Caught in the eyes of the spider'']-Spiders already can perceivably sense danger, but what happens if it can anticipate its enemies moves? When activated, you''re able to perceive the target''s next movements within a hundredth of a second. Can only level up by increasing Agility.]

    At a nce, maybe the skill didn''t seem that good. A hundredth of a second? How much would that even do? But when Noah thought about spider awareness and their extremely quick reflexes then the skill was truly made for her. His curiosity was at its pique concerning what other perks he would receive when he reached fifty stats in his other attributes now.

    "Aaahhhaaaa" Thinking up to here, Noah felt a yawning on and tried to stifle it, but the yawn was too overbearing, preventing him from holding it in. Now that he was able to rx, drowsiness suddenly hit him from the mental fatigue and his stamina at the moment. He turned to his side. and saw that hispanions were already fast asleep.

    "I should probably try to sleep too, at least rest my eyes for a few minutes¡­" he muttered to himself, his eyes slowly opening and closing during his mumbling before he fell asleep like the others.

    It took the group in the locker room more than a few mins to just barely remove the person stuck from Noah''s webs. Since then no one felt safe to return to the area unless it was in groups. As of now, they set a barricade of whatever they could find alongside the wall of webs.

    For now, the area they were in sheltered around fifty students and the number was slowly increasing now that the majority of the runaway students were returning in batches.

    ...

    Meanwhile, unlike earlier when it seemed that Mark''s group wouldn''t have any difficulties handling their own hoard of zombies. The battle quickly turned for the worse. What made Noah''s fight seem almost effortless was his tamed creatures that could pin target the biggest threat out of the groups which were the runners.

    And the fact that not only was Noah immune to turning into a zombie from both bites and scratches. Animals, for some reason, were less targeted by zombies when humans were present and they were also unable to be turned.

    Noah couldn''t think of the reason why, but he attributed it to the fact that his notification referred to the so-called ''zombie virus'' as corrupted mana instead. So maybe animal mana was already corrupted or was just unable to be corrupted by zombies.

    Mark''s group was doing just fine in the beginning, Mark was the designated ''runner'' killer while everyone else aided in crowd control. But who there was near the same level as Noah? Sooner rather thanter, their mana would be running low and fast. Mark unsurprisingly was the first to run out of mana, rendering his unique skill useless.

    Without the increased agility, the Runners were now close to his speed. It wasn''t long before two of the twelve people in their group died. If it wasn''t for Ailetta and Jasmine in the group, the deaths would be much higher. Jasmine would use her unique nature spirit to try to entangle any Runner that approached. While Ailetta would reanimate a dead Runner and use it to distract or possibly kill another.

    The show of skills inspired the group to use theirs more proactively. Their one and only mage finally began to cast his fireball skill. The two priest sses, who all received the ability to heal were also in possession of another skill. The first, casted a thin holy me onto Mark''s and two others weapons. Meanwhile the other priest projected a semi-translucent barrier around only Mark and himself. Even though the spell would do better on someone fighting in close range, his life took priority.

    The varieties of so many different skills being at use helped to fight off the zombies, but the insignificant levels started to y a role. Low levels equaled less stats which meant less stamina and magic. Just two spells alone from some sses were enough to drain them of all of their mana. Not all of them could effortlessly kill a zombie which only helped to deplete their stamina more.

    But now that the second person died, it was time for them to retreat before more were lost.

    "Mark, we need to leave! Now! We''ve already done enough, if we linger anymore thening here wouldn''t be worth it!" Jas screamed angrily towards her brother. The rest of the group was already motioning to retreat but they couldn''t go too far. Mark was continuing to be stubborn as he hacked down another zombie. They still had to think about the future. Without Mark, how long can theyst unless someone else steps up?

    "Leave? LEAVE?? We haven''t even achieved HALF of what ''he''s'' done and there''s more of us! Just a little bit lon-"

    "No Mark! This is why you''re not fit to be a leader, everyone will die from your selfishness! We''re leaving NOW! Ailetta, use your zombie to help him retreat¡­" The calm and rational Jasmine sounded deted towards the end. What would she do if he decides to stay stubborn? Leave her own brother?

    Soon she sighs in relief when saw him slowly making his way back, even though he was still trying to umte experience on the way. For every few yards he ran, he would turn around to fight some more. She turned to face her group and observe what''s ahead, who knows what unexpected creature could appear. How would she know that in just that short instance, her world would turn upside down, again?

    "Ahhhh! YOU BASTARD! GET OFF ME!" Mark''s roar sent a ripple through the hearts of everyone in his group. They all caught the scream of pain, causing their sense of self preservation to increase. Half the group of the ones who didn''t start out with Mark''s made a beeline for the cafeteria. If the strongest person in their group couldn''t protect himself, then what chance do they have if they stay? No one from the group of runaways bothered to turn back to see his situation.

    The person who was supposed to be the voice of reason also wasn''t paying attention to stop them. Unlike the rest, she knew¡­the only things they were fighting were zombies, to get hurt means to be infected and to be infected means death. If her heart could beat any stronger then it would rip out of her chest.

    Her face snapped directly onto her brother, who struggled to finally pry off a runner from his less dominant arm, but his condition wasn''t looking any good when the arm dangled to his side.

    "MARK!!" And her panic state only worsened when she noticed two more runners approaching. Worry, fear, desperate? So many emotions were influencing her all at once, but all of them held one thing inmon, and that was to save her brother.

    Impulsively, she tried to use her skill, yet this time she willed it to do more than intended. There was no thought process to it, she ''needed'' for it to happen. Her skill was only strong enough to temporarily restrain her opponents, but it wasn''t enough.

    During the process of her skill, her spirit was summoned and unlike before, where it aided her in her skill. The spirit dryad seemed to sense its contractors emotions before it merged with Jas. Temporarily, her eyes turned bright green and her hair was reced by vines and flowers. The aura radiating from her caused the surrounding grass to grow and twirl around her ankles before wrapping around her legs. The scene felt enchanting to the ones watching her perform her transformation in front of their eyes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Go¡­" Despite the stressful emotions she bore, the voice that was projected from her waspletely different. Her tone was soothing and warm and could calm the hearts of anyone listening to her. But her voice and her actions wereplete opposites.

    Mark was beginning to grow frantic. After he killed the zombie that bit him, he noticed the new pair of Runners gunning for him. He was already losing his touch of reality from being infected. He couldn''t ept what just transpired but the pain and blood constantly reminded him that it was real.

    The weight of his sword felt heavier than before and his body was starting to feel the effect of fatigue when he thought about what would happen to him even if he makes it out alive. But soon a figure entered his mind, causing any depressed feelings he had previously to feed his desire to keep moving forward.

    "He was bitten too and he didn''t turn so why would I? My life won''t end here, this is just the beginning!" He vowed in his heart. His mana was running on empty, but he nned to use it all at once when the zombies neared. If he could kill them then he would turn to make a run for it and not look back.

    But suddenly he noticed the grass shackled both zombies mid run causing them to fall. He knew what this skill was and who it belonged to. He has never felt more grateful to his sister than now. However he noticed the skill wasn''t over. Streams and streams of grass continued to wrap around the bodies of the two zombies until they werepletely covered.

    He was stunned at her ability topletely impair them considering the new zombie''s strength and yet he was also slightly angry that she didn''t do this before.

    Mark prepared himself to run after being briefly stunned from the disy, but when he thought the skill couldn''t do anything more. He saw the body figures made of grass begin to be drenched in blood until every de of grass was dyed red. Suddenly the lumps of grass started to press down, returning to its original state and after everything was done, what was left was only the skeletons of the zombies bones.

    If it wasn''t for the constant yelling of Jasmine and Ailetta calling Mark''s name then he would''ve taken longer to regain his focus as he ran away to regroup with everyone else before making their way back to the cafeteria. What awaited everyone in the cafeteria would be only more hardship and possibly the creation of a new and dreadfully powerful creature.

    ....

    Boom!

    "Hurry, they''re right behind us!"

    "But E is still back there! We left her with those things!"

    "Shut up already! This is the fourth time you bitched about it, why don''t you help her!"

    "Now''s not the time! Every one we need to get what we can to ba-WH-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT??"

    The trio was awakened by an onught of noise, instantly causing them to go on alert. Arachne has already been around arge group of non-hostile humans before, so even though she was vignt, she wasn''t  preparing to attack, unlike Grim.

    He was the one the voice was directed towards, Grims fight response was to spread his arms wide, brandishing its scythes, while it spread its wings, pping it manically.

    The group was formed of at least 15 different people, all who had some form of weapon and some even gear. It didn''t take long for the group to notice the spider and then Noah right beside them.

    They weren''t sure whether Noah was friend or foe but the huge group of zombies left them with little options.

    "Hey! You five, start barricading the doors, now!" A man quickly took the lead, while three more, including him, stepped up to address Noah''s group. They all brandished their weapons for the worse case scenario, but it still wasn''t looking good for them.

    "Are you human?" The leading figure asked. He was the most interesting of the group because he was the only one barely wearing any clothing! His upper torso was bare while he wore jeans but they were split in random areas that revealed his skin. But even his skin was hard to see when it came to his upper body. Where ever hair was supposed to grow, it grew excessively. His arms, chest, stomach and his back was swarming with hair. Honestly, Noah was stunned that the man made it this far, but there had to be a reason. ''Most likely a unique skill, apparently it''s given out like candy.''

    But once again, Noah was caught off guard, they didn''t directly assume he was a monster. And the people appeared battle hardened, especially the one who voiced the question. The man brandished a sword in each hand and his bodynguage screamed he was ready for a fight.

    Noah hesitated in the beginning to answer. ''Would they even believe me if I said I was?'' The short hesitation allowed someone else to chime in. However it was thest person he wanted to meet.

    "Wait! Isn''t that Noah? It is you isn''t it? What happened to you?"

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª

    A/N Sorry everyone! Was busy and didn''t want to rush the chapter. I''ll be uploading the next one shortly, gotta make sure to keep up with the 5 chapters.

 Chapter 42 42: Extortion

    "Wait! Isn''t that Noah? It is you isn''t it? What happened to you?"

    Noah''s body stiffened when he heard the voice, his pupils hurriedly searched for the voice, hoping it wasn''t her.

    Yet it still turned out to be her, Regina, the girl who tipped him over his breaking point and has been the main factor of his tragic life outside of his parents.

    Regina happened to catch the moment that his bodynguage changed and a wide smile grew. She believed even though he now had two threatening creatures and he himself now appeared intimidating, she still held power over him.

    "Why do you need to know?" However she was far from being right. He had to hold back the urge, and that urge was to strangle her then and there. Everytime a ''gang'' would ''randomly'' show up, his hatred for the woman grew. But he needed to control himself, he had just killed someone not too long ago who probably didn''t deserve it, he''s not a cold blooded killer. At least he hoped he wasn''t.

    To avoid dealing with Regina, he directed his attention towards the others who were analyzing the two''s conversation .

    "So you probably got your answer now right? How about you worry about the situation behind you or do we still have a problem?" Noah questioned them in a way that made it appear as if he was in a hurry.

    "! What? You still hav-"

    "Elroy, enough! It''s true, we need to focus on the zombies behind us. I don''t think anything we put in front of the door will hold ''it'' back and we still have to worry about the zombies alongside it. Barricade the door and then we can make our way to the gymnasium. With more people, I''m sure we can take that thing out."

    "Sigh¡­fine Lucas¡­"

    Everyone around them busied themselves to find anything to hold the door, banging noises could already be heard on the other side. However two people stood still to address Noah, one was the man, Lucas, who asked Noah the question, while the other was Regina.

    But Noah wasn''t paying attention to her, or at least he wasn''t trying to, but the irritating stare she was giving him was starting to annoy him. His irritableness clearly showed.

    "Well? What else do you want?"

    "What? Why does it sound like you''re trying to pick a fight with us? You should''ve heard us just now, but there are tons of zombies trying to get through at this very moment! and then there''s another¡­"

    His expression turned solemn when he thought about the monster approaching.

    "We need your help, you''re in the same situation as us so why don''t you fight with us? You seem to be pretty confident in yourself but believe me¡­what''s out there isn''t something you alone can handle, trust me, you''re not the only one confident in themselves."

    With that said, a fierce glint shone in his eyes that turned golden while his pupils became long vertical slits. Not only that, but his hair, as well as the hair that was visible on his arm began to grow, fully covering his skin before everything reverted back to its original state.

    ''Oh!'' The show of ''strength'' surprised Noah, which clearly showed on his face. The expression Noah showed satisfied Lucas, thinking he got his point across.

    "But I don''t need you, honestly, you have some gall, bringing them here and then saying that crap to me. The only reason I''m in the same position as you is because you put me in it. Just hurry up and finish what you need to do and go on, I was fine before your group barged in."

    "¡­.." The two didn''t know what to say. Regina was still trying to take in Noah''s new demeanor.

    "Lucas! We did what we could! We think that should be enough to buy time. Let''s head over with everyone else."

    Lucas turned to see Leroy return and then observed their work. It was definitely enough to hold them off. He wasn''t sure about the zombies that could run, but he also knew it would do nothing against that monster that even he was afraid of.

    His eyes briefly zed over when he thought about the identity of the monster. But soon he was awakened from his bitter memories from the sound of the banging increasing.

    "Come on everyone, we don''t have much time!" Lucas directed everyone to the back, but not without giving Noah onest look and parting words.

    "Pride kills, but I''ll be sure to remember your name." His words caused Noah tough. However hisugh was for another reason which they will find out about soon enough.

    "Wh-what? What is this? This is the way to get to the other side right"

    "Urgh! I think it''s webs! Look! weapon is stuck, I can''t get it out."

    "Webs?"

    Most people in the group had the same realization when they heard that word. First Lucas turned around and then everyone followed as they looked to the most likely source behind the webs. Only to find Noah watching them while he smiled in amusement.

    "Did you do this?" LeRoy spoke out loudly and he was clearly upset . At this point, even if Noah said he didn''t do it, he wouldn''t believe it. Noah considered himself a lot of things, but being a liar wasn''t one of them.

    "Yeah it was me, what can I say? You guys just came at a ba-"

    "Well take them down then! Or should we make you?"

    "Yeah! We don''t want to die with you!"

    The rest of the group started to chant loudly. Soon the smile Noah wore turned intoughter, leaving the group confused and angry.

    "I don''t think this is funny¡­."Lucas spoke up, his eyes slowly changing to its primal form from earlier.

    "You act like we really need you, but remember this moment, you''ll definitely regret this soon¡­ugh!" He grunted softly as his body started to go through the changes. Starting with his body hair that started to spread throughout his body, while parts that were uncovered sprouted more hair. His muscle mass began to grow while his face gradually started to change features. The mouth and nose stretched out from his face to form a snout, while his hair quickly emerged from his skin, covering the rest.

    It was a long process, but Noah noted that the change was at least quicker than Derricks. This man clearly was used to using the skill. If Lucas was average height before, standing around 5''11, he was now 6''3. But any resemnce to the man before was gone. What stood before him was a tall dark gray bipedal wolf or what everyone would consider a werewolf.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The change was fearsome! Ferocious eyes, Dense fur, sharp teeth and long ws. Even his hands and feet wererger while his arms almost dangled past his knees. Noah definitely wouldn''t want to go against something like him in the past.

    Noah and his group prepared themselves, thinking that Lucas wanted to fight it out with them, but unexpectedly, Lucas turned around to face the wall of webs.

    "Ahooooo!" He howled before raising his right w that revealed its almost nine inch fully extracted ws. The speed of the attack was fast as it seemed to rip through the air. The gang behind him gathered as they all anticipated the same situation. They all envisioned his ws shredding the webs like paper.

    Roars!*

    Yet what they expected didn''t happen. His ws struck through the webs, cutting down just a few inches to reveal the other side before it stopped in its tracks. He tried to remove his w, yet as he pulled, the webs seemingly appeared as if it was gonna pull apart, but it proved to be more stubborn than him.

    Lucas was very prideful after the change of his race and the pride trait was more apparent when transformed. How could he consider himself an alpha when he couldn''t even break through some measly webs? He even took the time to criticize Noah and made a huge entrance with his transformation. He felt embarrassed and that led him to feel annoyed and the thought came to mind, If one couldn''t do it, then why not two?

    With another howl, he stabbed his other w into the webs, adjacent to the other. His n was that if he couldn''t cut through it then he would rip it apart with absolute strength!

    Growls!*

    Just like a beast, Lucas began to growl loudly as he tried to exert all of his strength, growling louder with each tug.

    "You can do it Lucas!"

    "I''ve seen him sliced through a zombie''s skull before, this should be easy for him!"

    The people cheered him on, but the three in the back were no longer interested.

    Poke poke*

    Noah turned to face Arachne who was utterly confused. ''Why are they ying with your webs?''  The question made Noah chuckle, granting Arachne another session of head rubs.

    "This is what happens when people don''t ask for things nicely." He couldn''t really answer that question unless he went into details, but he was unsure if she would understand the longer version.

    "Grim? What''s wrong with you?" He noticed Grim looking back towards the barricaded door that started to bulge. The things out there appeared far more interesting than the creatures in front of it since he wasn''t able to cut off their heads.

    "Oh? Well we still have time for them, why don''t you eat on the zombies Arac-"

    "Noah help him!" Noah was interrupted by Regina who he saw at Lucas'' side. He didn''t know when, but Lucas was already undoing his transformation.

    Apparently, Lucas created a big enough hole that even his erged head could fit through, but that was the most he could achieve after all that effort. What Noah didn''t know was that even though Lucas'' transformation appeared as if it held no drawbacks. Physically, the skill was draining and would only be less of a burden when his physical stats were increased.

    Now he was almost back to his original self, yet he was still glued to the webs while he appeared slightly exhausted and exasperated.

    "No! We don''t need his help, if we alle together and pull then we shou-"

    "Lucas, shut up! Do you want us to be stuck just like you? We would definitely die when the zombiese through. Noah, please! We''ve known each other since we were little. We were actually close once, can you help us this one time? Please¡­.."

    "No¡­." Noah quickly uttered, but he sounded conflicted. This gave reason for her to believe that there was still a chance to convince him, before she heard his following words.

    "Now that you politely asked me, ''considering our past history'' I will only free him if you all pay me in gold. I''m d you still remember the past, so don''t you DARE try to manipte me into doing what you want." The earlier smile he had was nowhere to be seen. He was angry, and rightfully so. She actually had the audacity to bring up when they were younger and make it seem as if they were close?

    He clenched his fist hard enough to draw blood when he thought back to the time that broke him.

    However, how was the rest supposed to know? Lucas heard the crazy demand while he was still struggling to remove himself. He couldn''t help but be enraged further.

    "Money?? Are you really trying to extort us right now? How low could you poss-"

    "LUCAS, I SAID, SHUT! UP!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, startling everyone, their attention quickly changed from Noah onto her. She stared into Noah''s eyes sternly, but there was also a hint of confusion. This is the same person who she got beaten up every week and never told a soul. The same person she tricked into thinking she cared about him. ''How could someone change so much? Is this really Noah?''

    But she had to ept it, there would be no other reason why someone would show such animosity to someone as beautiful as her, right?

    "Sigh! Fine¡­how much do you want?"

    "Of course I want it all?" He replied instantaneously to her question, dumbing not her but everyone else.

    "Wh-what? All? We don''t even know what it''s for yet and you want all of it?"

    "You''re still stuck in here with us! Why should we give you anything?"

    The bacsh continued, but Noah didn''t care in the slightest. After taking so many lives and seeing so many die. Are they still trying to argue with him over something they may not even get to use?

    "It''s either that or we stay here ''together''. It doesn''t matter to me, but are your lives worth less than the gold you carry? I''m sure many of you don''t even have any. Are you gonna let those few let you all die? Besides, your main fighter is out of the fight. Do you think you''ll survive long enough when they get in without him?"

 Chapter 43 43: A Foreboding Boss Fight

    Do you think you''ll survive long enough when they get in without him?"

    The question caused many of them to waver. The few who actually fought and earned their gold and equipment felt uneasy due to the stairs bearing them down. The  stares started to make them feel guilty.

    Crash!*

    The sound of ss breaking rmed everyone, including Noah. They all turned to witness one of the windows besides the door being broken into. Luckily the window was high enough from the ground that it only reached the chest area of the average zombie.

    But that still was enough to break the silence of the group.

    "Just give him the money already damnit!"

    "Our lives matter too!"

    Soon the majority of the group began to pressure the rest, putting them in a bind. The ones rejecting Noah''s notion all looked towards Lucas for an answer yet they remembered that he was stuck and would probably stay that way without the help of Noah.

    Finally, one person stood out from the group to approach Noah. It just so happens that it was LeRoy, the friend of Lucas and also the one who showed Noah the most hostility.

    Grim remembered thatst important fact as it was about to approach LeRoy to threaten him back, but was stopped by Noah.

    "It''s ok Grim, you just continue to watch our backs okay? If anything gets in then you can kill it." After pacifying the mantis he returned his gaze, curious as to what the man was going to do, but was stunned when LeRoy dropped his weapons and fell to his knees.

    "Please¡­help Lucas, I''ll give you everything I have." He cried and while still on his knees, he turned to face his group with teary eyes and a desperate gaze.

    "You all should just do as he says¡­can any of you fight off all the zombies out there? Lucas is the reason most of you are alive right now, is this how you repay your debts?"

    It didn''t take long to convince them, it started with one before the rest proceeded to make their way towards Noah, but Noah couldn''t let this happen. He didn''t want to interact with all of them.

    "Hold up!" He signaled for them to stop, the group grew extremely worried, believing he was gonna change his mind, but then they didn''t know what they should feel regarding his following words.

    "Give it to one person first and then have them give it to me. I don''t need you all swarming me, I already have the zombies for that." His indifferent tone, added with his words caused many to frown and some to bite their lips in frustration. However they all still agreed to give their gold to LeRoy. The zombies were clearly breaking through and Lucas wasn''t able to open the way for them. They were trapped here unless they followed Noah''s demands. No matter how infuriating he was to them. But there was a problem.

    "H-how are we supposed to exchange it?" One of the women asked. They all looked towards one another, yet none of them had a clue, so they turned to the one who requested it in the first ce.

    "Sigh" Noah held back the need to palm his face, not because they didn''t know, but because now that required him to talk to them more. "Just make contact with the person, any contact will do. Then just imagine the amount of money you want to give to the person then it just happens on its own. Now chop chop! We don''t have all day!"

    With every step LeRoy made towards Noah, the anger and hopelessness in his heart grew. ''This is the only way, the only way¡­.'' He tried to remind himself so he doesn''t do anything stupid after approaching him.

    But it was difficult, especially when he approached him and Noah reached out his hand in a gesture for his, but all the while he had a smug smile written all over his face.

    "I swear if you don''t do as you sa-"

    "h h h, I know what I need to do, it''s not like I enjoy yourpany." Noah jerked his hand, signaling for LeRoy to hurry up.

    Boom!*

    Before LeRoy could ept the gesture, he became distracted when another sound of something being broken through sounded. This time it happened to be the door itself. Even though the doors were metal, the metal was hollow and wasn''t enough to hold back the force of the runners who were stronger than normal and didn''t rest.

    Everyone in the room began to panic, but there was nowhere for them to go. But the most worried of them all was Lucas himself, at least the others could fight back while he was literally a free meal.

    "Get me out of here! You''re stuck in here too you bastard! Do you not see them getting through? Ugh! I can''t die like this! Hey, did you not hea-"

    Lucas continued to wail in the background. LeRoy was bing hesitant in giving Noah the gold. Like Lucas said, he was stuck in here with them too, would he really leave everyone here including himself for money?

    Buzzz!

    The enclosed space caused the buzzing noise of Grims wings to ring in everyone''s ears; some of the more sensitive people had to tightly cover their ears that were hurting from ear-piercing noise.

    They looked over to the source to witness Grim almost vanishing from his original location near Noah and arriving at the broken doors. It stood amongst the barricade and the zombies that were making their way over and through the obstacles. They watched as a zombie suddenly lost its head before falling over. Soon it seemed as if it was just naturally for zombies to lose their heads whenever one approached the frightening mantis, which made them wonder if their heads weren''t really on to begin with.

    Coughs*

    LeRoy looked back to Noah with a bewildered expression, Noah was still holding out his hand, however this time he didn''t appear to be in a good mood.

    "This is thest time, give me the gold or I''ll start letting them in and webs stay up."

    This time he didn''t have a reason to hesitate. The mantis disy was clear on the same level as Lucas when he transforms and yet there was still the spider and Noah who no one knew what they were capable of.<novelnext></novelnext>

    In his panic, he grabbed Noah''s hand with both of his in hopes it wouldplete the transaction faster.

    yer: Noah

    Race:Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 748->1740

    Noah''s eyes lit up when he saw the total amount he had now, which caused LeRoy to quickly shrink back a few steps. It felt more than ufortable when looking at the four pupils that appeared excited and dead at the same time.

    "Arachne" Noah couldn''t be bothered by LeRoy''s behavior after getting what he needed. He called out to his spiderpanion,but he didn''t have to say anything else to her. She knew what needed to be done and was more than happy to do it. ''Finally!'' He ''heard'' her rejoice as she quickly made her way to the webs.

    No one dared to stand in her way, they were more afraid of her attacking them than them dying her.

    "Urrggghhh! What''s the meaning of this! Bastard, you got the money and that''s not enough? Hey! Are you gonna sit there and do nothing? St-stay back! Get bkkk! ¡­..Huh¡­..?"

    Lucas began to panic when he saw Arachne approaching him. Since he was caught in the webs, it made it appear as though Arachne''s target was him. His mind wasn''t in the right ce when he felt so helpless. He had almost forgotten that it would make sense for a spider to deal with the webs.

    However he was finally struck by the realization when she approached and never seemed to bother with him and his spectacle. nkly, he watched her begin consuming the webs, starting the process from the ground up. He stood and watched with his voice now caught in his throat and became embarrassed over his more than disturbing emotional disy.

    Meanwhile Noah began to quickly make his way to his bag. The rest of the group noticed his movements and began to watch, while they would asionally keep an eye on Grim who continued to behead the zombies as they passed.

    But there was a problem, the barricade was stretched out too far now, allowing more zombies toe through at one time.

    "H-hey, HEY! They''re getting through!" LeRoy was the first to yell at Noah.

    Noah proceeded to retrieve his axes from his bag and turned to them.

    "I said I would take the webs down, I didn''t say I would protect you. Did you think I was going to protect you all? You all were apparently doing just fine before you met me, did you forget how to defend yourselves?" Most of the people in the group grew pale, they didn''t have to fight. They relied on Lucas and the small group of fighters. Now they could only hope for Arachne to clear a way. Even a little space to crawl through would be enough.

    However there were still people in the group who were willing to fight and it was the four that have been fighting with Lucas up till now, including LeRoy who now had to take the lead.

    Noah turned his attention to the door and saw that Grim was beginning to have a hard time. It was actually being forced to retreat, which Noah knew would happen. All the humans were in the back so it made Grim the only target. He couldn''t allow that, the people needed to y their part as well, even if it was only to be bait.

    "Grim,e back now!" He ordered, just as quickly as he gave themand, Grim responded like how a proper soldier would. He sprung backwards, using his wings to gain distance before he stood by Noah''s side.

    "Ggrrr!" X?

    Simr to a dam being destroyed, once Grim left his position, a huge flow of zombies began to make their way in.

    "Nooo!"

    "You all had use here, you have to fight them!"

    The non-fighters immediately began to panic, even the four who prepared themselves for battle were showing signs of fear. But at least one of them had enough sense to not let that fear affect them. But it happened to be the very person who wasn''t capable of fighting at the moment.

    "Joe! Can you block the entrance with your spell? LeRoy, Tristan, focus on defense, don''t let anything pass you and Zoe, focus on the fast ones!"

    Noah didn''t know when, but Lucas finally regained his bearings from before and began to direct his group. Apparently, seeing that he would soon be freed awakened him from his earlier inner turmoil. However Noah happened to realize that not only did he not direct anyone else, but he didn''t mention Regina either. Noah thought it was extremely stupid for anyone not to want to fight and rely on their own strength. But maybe that was the reason for the earlier achievement. To separate the ones willing to fight for their survival from the leeches.

    Noah was satisfied with the actions of the group that he didn''t focus on the earliermand issued to Joe until he noticed it toote.

    Rumble!*

    Suddenly, a miniature golem made of rock appeared around the one named Joe before an earthquake erupted in the room. The walls began to quake and the floors cracked while the cracks started to head in the direction of the door.

    Noah didn''t know what was going on, but when he saw the ceiling of the door crumbing down, he finally recalled that Joe was told to block the door.

    "Noo!" He cried out, thankfully the sound of the quake drowned out his cries. If he wanted to block the door then he could''ve used his webs! How could he farm the zombies if they couldn''t get through?

    He gazed around the room and recalled about fifty zombies were still able to get through. If he couldn''t fight them all then he couldn''t allow the others to kill too many.

    "Let''s go Grim!" Brandishing his axes, he rushed towards the zombies to begin his next farming session, but he has yet to realize the danger on the other side.

 Chapter 44 44: The King Emerges

    "Let''s go Grim!" Brandishing his axes, he rushed towards the zombies to begin his next farming session; he has yet to realize the danger on the other side.

    The rest continued to watch in fear, soon that fear was reced by shock and then fear again.

    The group of four fought with their lives on the line. Even a scratch could possibly prove fatal so they had to fight with the utmost care.

    After Joe used his spell, he took up his weapon that happened to be a morning star. A weapon with a metal handle and a metal ball on the tip covered in spikes. It didn''t fit the image of a summoner, but at this stage, you can only use what you have.

    The group held formation, LeRoy and Tristan stood in the front. LeRoy copied Lucas with two swords but unlike Lucas, they were both sabers. Tristan on the other hand held the most unique weapon Noah has seen so far which was a double ded staff. The two fought with a basic level of cooperation but it was cooperation nheless.

    Most of the runners were taken care of by Grim since they were also the first ones to break through the door. Without the runners being the main threat, they could focus on the regr zombies while leaving their backs to Zoe.

    With everyone having a weapon with reach, they used the safest method and stabbed towards the zombies. Joe on asion would follow up when too many approached. But it was Zoe who contributed the most, she was small and thin while wielding a dagger in one hand and a rapier in the other.

    If Noah had to guess, he would bet most of her stats went into speed. But the interactions she had with the zombies were peculiar. When a runner approached, she would dash headlong into it and quickly finish it off, but the zombies seemed to never notice her. Let alone the runners, even the normal zombies appeared unaware of her presence.

    The group was doing fairly well. It''s a shame that their hard efforts weren''t seen by Noah. However it couldn''t be the same for him.

    "Guys! I''ming! Hold on for just a bit longer¡­.what are you standing there for?" The freed Lucas regrouped with the four who were no longer fighting. Even the nonbatants didn''t take this chance to escape even now that Arachne opened up a sizable space to walk through.

    Everyone was too focused on what was going on in front of them. A man and Mantis were breezing through the zombies that the others needed to coordinate against without fear.

    They could clearly see Noah fighting in the center of them all. Using the bodies of the walking ones to slow down the runners, then Grim would appear behind them before slicing through their necks. Sometimes the slice was so clean that the head wouldn''t leave the body till after it fell.

    During that time Noah behaved unhinged as he wildly swung his axes that appeared to not have a target. However the axe somehow struck home to the zombies head everytime. When the spectators thought he was gonna be attacked from behind, he would get ''lucky'' and move out the way. After this urrence repeated itself one too many times, some people started to wonder if it was actually intentional.

    "Wh-just what is happening?"

    "Wait¡­doesn''t this mean that he actually could''ve just taken them on by himself?" The scene had the group specting. But Lucas didn''t like this, the people ''he'' saved were more in awe of the person who had just extorted them! This didn''t sit well with Lucas at all. Did he not also kill zombies by himself just as easily before? Well maybe not as easily, but he could kill all the zombies on his own as well!

    "Don''t go thinking we''re safe. It''s a reason why we had to run here. You think if it wasn''t for that monster then I would need to run away?" He had to make it known to everyone that he still existed and that he was still the leader of their group. And it somewhat worked, the group returned to their solemn expressions and started to worry again.

    "Can we get out of here then? if he stays here then he can hold them back right? When ites then he can buy us time to group up with the others" Regina, who has been quiet the whole time finally spoke up. She didn''t like what she was seeing. She knew what she did to him and all she put him through. He couldn''t continue to live, or at least she couldn''t allow herself to be in the same room as him. She was smart enough to know that rules andws weren''t going to protect her. And Lucas already proved he couldn''t do it.

    Lucas was in immediate agreement to her suggestion. He already didn''t like Noah''s selfish attitude and part of him really wanted Noah to suffer. ''There can only be one king.'' The instinctual urge to be the pack leader began to corrupt his thoughts more.

    "That''s right! You heard him, he said he didn''t need us when I offered him to join us. So why should we risk our lives? Let''s go, everyone."

    "But I thought you said you two were childhood friends, would you really leave him like that?"

    Everyone turned to LeRoy, they were actually surprised that he was defending Noah. But even though he was friends with Lucas, he secretly despised Regina. She didn''t do anything this whole time but Lucas would do everything she wanted. Instead of a wolf, Lucas was more like her loyal dog. He didn''t like this version of his friend and he wanted to open Lucas'' eyes to what Regina truly is.

    "Hmph! When I pleaded to him, what did I get? Instead of helping me, even with the rtionship we once had, he chose to rob us instead. If he doesn''t cherish our friendship then why should I continue to? Lucas, I''m going.

    She turned and strutted out the room. The others who didn''t want to fight used that moment to follow behind, leaving Lucas with his four fighters. LeRoy took this chance to help direct his friend.

    "Lucas, I think we should stay. Even if we don''t like him, that guy is probably our best bet to survive."

    "We think so too!" The other three voiced their agreement.

    Lucas wasn''t able to agree with them. In fact he wasn''t able to get over the shock of hearing the people he has been fighting together with through thick and thin were now relying on a stranger more than they were with him after all he''s done for them.

    He looked towards Noah, who was now bending over a chest with a conflicted re. He despised him, yet he also knew that LeRoy was right. Just the webs alone proved that Noah would be more than reliable for what''s out there. But admitting that would also mean he''s admitting that he''s inferior, he didn''t want that. He inhaled deeply before he finally rxed his body.

    "Get your loot first and we will wait here. When that thinges and he can''t handle it then we will retreat. We won''t waste our lives on someone like him if we don''t have to." Almost everyone was content with what he decided on. However Zoe was visibly upset about what he said.

    "Do you keep having to call Nathan a thing? How heartless can you be? He''s the real reason we made it this far"

    "Don''t you think I know this?? But that''s not Nathan anymore¡­I don''t want to acknowledge that thing as him¡­I''ll be the one to kill it!"

    The five sat in silence to grieve. Soon, they calmed their emotions so they could prepare for the deciding fight. They were used to it now since they all worked as a group for some time. Four individual chests appeared close to them with their separate loot.

    Noah on the other hand never knew that the chest was dispensed in such a way. For someone who has yet to fight with other people, if he hadn''t seen it now then he would''ve continued to never know. But it worked better for him this way, now he didn''t have to worry about anyone trying to im his loot as theirs.<novelnext></novelnext>

    While he was in the midst of retrieving his spoils, Arachne and Grim took the time to eat what they could.

    "GRRWWR!"

    Suddenly everyone was affected by a bone chilling growl, their bodies felt the need to bow. The sound itself projected a mental pressure that had the bearing of authority.

    "H-he''s here!" The stoic Zoe began to panic. Besides Lucas, the group of four all panicked while they struggled to regain full control of their bodies. If it wasn''t for the pride of the werewolf, then maybe Lucas would be in the same position. The condition of his friends didn''t matter to Lucas right now, nor the location of the monster.

    ''Was he also affected?'' Lucas couldn''t take his eyes off from Noah, he wanted to find any show of weakness or even a frown, just to say that he was better than him, however.

    "What is he doing?" He felt defeated. Noah wasn''t concerned about the Monster at all and was still trying to collect the gold from the chest. ''Is money really more important than his life? Did he not hear the roar? Is that why he wasn''t affected?''

    He couldn''t believe what he was seeing and neither could the other four when they heard Lucas''s question.

    Boom!*

    The room became silent when the sound of something heavy collided on the other side of the wall. Even Noah halted what he was doing because the sound wasn''t something any of the zombies he fought could''ve done.

    Noah started to get serious, in his head he could hear boss fight music ying. He knew he was strong, but he was also proven multiple times that strength is only rtive. Was he stronger than normal zombies? Yes, but even in video games, progressing through the games were always easy but when ites to mmos, the boss fights were always on another level that a solo character couldnt contend with unless he was way over the level required during the story.

    "Arachne! Grim! Co-"

    BOOOOOMM!!*

    Unlike the first time, the collision on the second attack not only broke the rubble blocking the entrance, but it also pulverized most of the smaller debris and the door ceiling. The destroyed debris turned into smoke and blocked both parties to see the other. Even with Noah''s eyes he still couldn''t see through the smoke but he was also confused why not even the silhouette of the monster appeared.

    Soon loud heavy footsteps reverberated throughout the gymnasium. The suspense put Lucas and his group on edge while Noah was bing impatient due to the unknown.

    Growls*

    "What the fuck is this?" Noah couldn''t help but curse. Instead of the boss monster he was expecting, numerous walkers arrived through the smoke screen in single file lines. When more than twenty entered, they all stopped and waited while facing Noah. It was disturbing to Noah to say the least and it was also something that Lucas and the others haven''t experienced.

    Step, step, step*

    When the confusion was at its highest, the footsteps restarted, but this time Noah could finally recognize a silhouette.

    "Ohe on! I wanted a BOSS! Just a regr boss¡­why is this looking like a raid boss now?" Noah truly believe that if this new world was based on a video game then it must be rigged. When he saw the figure approached, he knew that he was wrong. The game wasn''t rigged¡­it was broken.

    A lingering figure walked into the opening. The monster seemed to be at least 8 feet tall, for Noah, that was massive. But that wasn''t his concern, it was the aura of the creature and its appearance. When Noah observed it, he could clearly see that it was a zombie, but at the same time he felt it wasn''t. It didn''t have any clothing besides the ripped jeans that were more like shirts to it. Because of theck of clothing, its ck veins could be clearly seen running through its body and were more pronounced than before. However its eyes and the ''apparel'' it wore made him unsure.

    On top of its head was a crown, a crown made of jaws and teeth but some of the teeth seemed toorge to be human. On the back of the zombie, it wore a cloak, he didn''t know what the cloak was made out of but he regretted that he asked. He used his new pupils to enhance his vision, his eyes grimaced when he realized that the cape wasn''t made from a fancy material or any fabric but was made from human skin. Even now he could see the underside of its ''cloak'' that was soaked in blood, with patches of extra skin attached.

    What''s more was the zombie''s eyes, nowhere were the dead hungry eyes from its zombie counterparts, what was in its ce were red gems that demandedplete dominance. If its roar didn''t affect Noah then its eyes made him feel a bit inferior. But Noah was able to quickly shake that feeling away, only someone like him who had high spirit could aplish this feat at the moment.

    The more Noah observed, he realized that the zombie could be what he read about in his stories, a zombie king. If it was only that then he could still feel confident in winning. When the dust started to clear he saw zombies behind him waiting outside the door. He didn''t know how many there were but it was enough for him to know that he was in over his head.

    And this didn''t include the weapon it wielded. For a king, it held a sword fit for its statuses. In its hands that it used to ce into the ground in front of it was a huge great sword made of bones. Even the hilt was made of bones. The width of the de was at least the size of Noah''s waist and the sword overall was longer than him.

    The situation wasn''t looking good for Noah, the odds werepletely stacked against him. For the second time in his life, he was ready to make a run for it. When he had that thought, the zombies before the king zombie started to move. When Noah prepared himself to run away, he noticed that the zombies weren''ting forward, but instead made way for the king itself.

    Slowly and casually, the king lifted the sword from the ground.

    "Grrrewwe!" It roared and took up its stance while its gems stared daggers into Noah.

    Taken back, Noah knew what the zombie was doing but he just couldn''t believe it. He was prepared to run before, but now, NOW he was bing a bit peeved.

    "Is this bitch challenging me?"

    ...¡­.

    A/N made it a little bit longer since I dont want to have too many chapters about the same scene.

 Chapter 45 45: The Kings Arrogance

    "Is this bitch challenging me?"

    How long has he lived being looked down on? No matter where he went, people from all statuses would look at him in disdain. And now even a zombie is treating him the same way?

    Gripping hard onto his axes, he stepped forward to ept the challenge.

    "No you two, I''ll handle him alone¡­" He told them with a hint of indifference. He tried not to show it but he was angry. What he also didn''t want to happen was for the zombie king to reject the duel if he allowed his creatures to help him.

    "Grrwwrr! Grrrrrw!" Noah stopped in his ce when the zombie king roared again before lifting its sword with one hand and directing it before both Arachne and Grim respectively.

    "Really?" Arachne and Grim maybe didn''t know what the zombie was implicating, but Noah did. The zombie king was challenging all three of them.

    If the zombie was intentionally trying to get under Noah''s skin then it was doing a good job at it.

    "Fine¡­have it your way." Turning back around, he called out. "Arachne, Grim¡­let''s fuck  him up!"

    When the zombie king saw the two monsters about to approach, it re-entered its stance and initiated the duel. The king decides the fight and decides when it starts. Its footsteps were heavier than before and so was its aura. It was able to take three steps which was still able to close some distance given its height before.

    Ding!*

    Even though Arachne was faster, as a spider, her instincts were to observe before striking. But Grim didn''t like the pressure the king was emitting. Mantis, even in the presence of its predators, would not show fear. The king''s aura spurred the creature to beat its wings harder than before, taking to the air to do what it does best.

    However this would be the second time since it mutated that it missed its target and the first to be blocked.

    The scene was definitely shocking. To Lucas and the four, they were shocked because they couldn''t keep up with Grims speed besides Zoe who still could barely perceive him while in flight. But Noah was surprised by something else.

    ''It clearly raised its guard before Grim attacked¡­can it predict the future or is it actually faster than Grim?''

    The same time he was thinking, he dashed towards the zombie king to enter the fray. This time he was nning on using his instincts skill, at least not yet. There wasn''t enough information to go on. If the monster could predict the future ''and'' was faster then clearly this isn''t something he could handle alone. He would most likely die without being aware of it if he used the skill now because he wouldn''t be able to think logically.

    The king watched as Noah came forward but it always appeared as if it was looking down on him.

    Ding ding ding*

    Without being under the influence of his skill, Noah could only perform heavy swings without a shred of technique. With the normal zombies, technique didn''t matter but this fight made it more apparent how awkward his weapon skills were. Relying on his stats, he used what little agility he had to try to pick up the tempo.

    Swinging his right axe towards the leg of the ''giant'' which was blocked. Before swinging the left towards the kings stomach that was easily deflected and threw him off bnce. If the runner zombies were also strong then this thing was on another level.

    When Noah''s body was forced to turn after being deflected, Grim made its second appearance, aiming for the head once again. When it used one arm and was blocked, Grim, with his simple thinking figured that if one was blocked then why not use two?

    However the zombie king had enough ying defensively. When it deflected the first of Grims iing des, it rotated its shoulders not only to throw Grim off bnce but also to allow it to follow up with an attack.

    Bang!

    Everything happened in a moment. From the time it took Noah to regain his bnce, Grim was sent flying. The king took the momentum of it deflecting to step in with its shoulder and bashing Grims body while still in mid air. Grims body soared into the air meters away, luckilynding on one of the training mats in the middle of the room. But this finally allowed Arachne to find sn opening..

    "GRRWRRR!"

    The king roared loudly in pain before looking down at its thigh. Arachne waited for the time the zombie put all its weight on its leading foot when it used its shoulder to attack, she sprung into action and injected her fangs into its back leg.

    Clinging to the zombies leg while trying to inject as much venom as she could. The zombie king had to quickly make a decision. Try to shake her off, use his hand to strike her or try to stab her with his sword. But his sword was too long to attempt such a thing when she''s directly on his legs so he chose to use his fist. The feeble human was the weakest of them all so it felt that it''s priority should be the spider. The zombie could feel that It was quickly losing functions over its leg so it had to deal with the Spider first.

    Its vision was always inspecting everything around it. So it noticed Noah dropping his weapons while it was about to attack. Was it confused of his actions? Yes, but who wouldn''t be afraid to fight in the presence of a king?

    "Bad decision!!" He heard the human scream while at the same time ck silk quickly shot out of his wrist. At the same time, while it was in the motion of attacking Arachne, she quickly escaped as if she was expecting such an oue. It hasn''t been long since Arachne and Noah have known each other, but they coordinated well in this moment. Their bond, which was stronger than Grims, was proving to show its advantages.

    Now that the zombie king gave up the option of resisting the webs with his sword to attack the spider which it felt wasn''t a threat. The webs were able to spin around the zombie''s arm wielding the sword and around its torso, causing its arm to cling tightly to its sides and unable to move.

    On the other side of the room, the spectators still haven''t moved. They weren''t sure what they were seeing, Noah and the zombie king has made less than ten exhanges. Noah and his creatures were clearly being toyed with by the zombie.

    When Lucas witnessed Noah being thrown off bnce and Grim being knocked out of the fight in one session. He felt a sense of relief and immense satisfaction.

    ''I was right! He''s nothing without those two. This is what he deserves, but don''t worry, I''ll still avenge you because that''s what a bigger man would do.'' A smug grin could be seen on his face while his body was now slightly leaning forward. He couldn''t help but anticipate the death of Noah and show everyone that he wasn''t as great as they thought he was.

    "??? Did you see that? It''s the webs, the same webs that were blocking the door! Maybe he really can defeat it. We need to help him!" Besides Lucas, LeRoy was preparing to aid Noah but was held back.

    "Lucas¡­? What are you doing? This is our chance! Are you not the one who said you will be the one to put Nathan to rest? Well now''s the ti-"

    "Rrrroooaaarrrr!"

    An overbearing roar, more intimidating and domineering than the previous one, echoed. The roar sent utter shills down the back of the spectators and Caused Joe, the weakest, to to fall on his hands and knees.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Wha-what''s happening!"

    "It¡­it didn''t do this before¡­" They all focused on the zombie king with fear apparent in their eyes.

    Just when Noah and Arachne were prepared to take advantage of the bounded zombie. Four zombies, two from both sides of the king stepped out of line. The zombie king started to glow green before the glow turned into a dark ghastly green that flowed into the four zombies.

    Noah wasn''t sure if attacking right now would be the right decision. Maybe if the zombie became vulnerable doing whatever it was currently doing then he would attack without a second thought. But the greenish gas alone felt eerie enough to make him reconsider. If it was poisonous then he would be running to his death.

    He observed the gas flowing into the four zombies'' bodies. Since the zombie king was no longer moving he used this chance to check on Grim. The mantis was struggling to get up, the attack did a number on him. His right de was bent from where it connected to the rest of its arm and his wings appeared to be broken from thending. During the time Grim took the blow, he wasn''t able to retract his wings before smashing into the mat at an insane speed which caused his wings to take most of the impact.

    "!"

    Just then, Noah saw the four zombies being enveloped by the gas, change. The first noticeable change he saw was the eyes of the zombies bing a blood red before imitating a glow, just like the kings.

    ''No¡­.don''t tell me¡­.''

    "Arachne we need to go, now!" Noah roared, he didn''t know what exactly was happening but he didn''t like it. From what he saw it appeared that the king was gonna make miniature versions of it. He may have had a chance when fighting the king alone, but he knew he was way out of his league to fight the king and the new contenders.

    The first thing he needed to do was to retrieve his bag, but he left the two handed axe. He didn''t want to have a repeat with the treasure chest and have someone steal it. Next, he nned to ce Grim into his soul cage, but there was a problem.

    ''There''s not enough time! Who knows if it would take just as long as it did with Arachne.'' Looking over Grim, he could see that Grim was in pain but he still managed to stand up with the will to continue the fight. He really was like a soldier through and through, but Noah couldn''t allow him to throw his life away.

    "Not now Grim¡­We will pay him back soon, but not now. We need more than just us to fight." He patted Grim on the belly before they all made a run for the door he Originally blocked. He saw Lucas and his group watching from afar and he could see the fear and confusion when they saw him approaching.

    ''What were they nning to gain by sitting here? No matter¡­Even if they didn''t want to fight, I n on involving them all.''

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    |shback: At the cafeteria|

    "Mark, stop being stubborn, this is your life we are talking about! We need to find him, he''ll definitely know how to avoid changing."

    "So you think he''s better than me too? We don''t need him! I feel fine¡­"

    Jas and Mark could be heard screaming at each other. When they had returned, the first thing they came upon was a bigger influx of students in the area. Thankfully most were too scared to bother about eating, but when everything calms down, Jas was sure that infighting would ensue.

    At the same time, they were told of the mysterious shopkeeper on the second floor that sold all kinds of fantasy items and more. This gave the group hope, Mark, Jas, Ailetta and the small group that didn''t leave them made their way to the room. But when they arrived at the room they saw a group of four people already interacting with the person. One was someone Jas knew pretty well and that was Bailey, the school''s number one sports star.

    "Bailey? Thank goodness you made it out alive¡­but I can''t talk right now, Mark has been injured. I need to see if that ''person'' has anything that could cure him!"

    She impatiently tried to make her way through, but to her surprise, Bailey stopped her.

    "What''s the meaning of this Bailey?"

    "Don''t get upset Jas, I''m not trying to stop you¡­but we already checked for something simr while looking. There is something that could help you, if he''s infected like I think he is then there''s a potion that can cure a ''lower ranked'' zombie infect-"

    "That''s it! That''s what we need! Now move Bailey! I don''t know how much longer he has!"

    "Wait! Before you check, just know that it''ll cost 1,500 gold. If you have that much then be my guest, I just didn''t want you to waste your time and get your hopes up since even we don''t have that much gold right now...."

    Unlike the depression and despair, Bailey and her group thought Jas would show, instead she seemed relieved. ''Did they really have that much gold?'' But then they found out the answer for her relief.

    "Ca-can you let us borrow what you have then? And we can pay you back in the future?" She asked hopefully, but soon she began to panic when she saw the unsettling looks between Bailey and theirrades. But Mark also saw the hesitation and he felt aggrieved. Was his life worth less than these people''s gold?

    "Jas don''t worry about it. I told you before, I won''t change. If ''he'' couldn''t be infected after being bitten then how would I? No need to beg these people, they aren''t worth it." Jas wanted to argue back with him. His mentality and judgement has been bing worse and worse ever since he met Noah. But the other side spoke up to defend themselves.

    "It''s not what it sounds like, believe me!" She bowed her head while she pleaded. When she looked up, Jas saw the tears falling down her cheek. The resentment that was building towards her friend started to diminish.

    "Even if we lent it to you, we don''t think we will survive that long if we don''t use it for ourselves¡­how will you be able to pay us back then?" The question really shocked not only Jas, but also Mark and the small group that followed.

    "Wha-what do you mean by that? If we can heal Mark then we can stick together. Surely we would all have a better chance to live if we stuck together." Jasmine wasn''t sure why they would be so afraid that they would die, but from the looks of the people around her, even they seemed to believe it. But Bailey wasn''t able to answer her immediately, thinking about it was making her emotional. Soon the biggest guy there took a step forward to answer in her ce.

    "We are¡­all too weak¡­if we don''t be¡­stronger¡­we will¡­die¡­"

    ____________

    A/N: there will still be one more chapter, but it''ll either be uploadedter today or tomorrow.

 Chapter 46 46: From Bad To Worse

    "We are¡­all too weak¡­if we don''t be¡­stronger¡­we will¡­die¡­"

    Paul''s words sounded ominous and the vague way he talked made the situation more terrifying. But this answer wasn''t enough for Mark.

    "That''s exactly why I need to get healed Jackass! When I get stronger then there will be nothing out there that could challenge me!"  Mark just couldn''t ept that answer. Even if Paul didn''t mention his name, he felt that he was referring to him being too weak since he got injured.

    "Yo-you¡­"

    "¡­Bailey¡­just give them the gold, we don''t need it right now¡­Remember, you told me Noah is heading there right? He can definitely help us more than what we can buy here¡­arguing with them isn''t worth it¡­" suddenly a small yet exhausting voice interrupted the group. Everyone turned to the fourth member of Baileys group. Her clothes were dirty, but now her face and hair was a bit more cleaned up from before.

    "Isabelle? Yes¡­you''re right. Even Paul thought so!" Wiping away her tears, she started to regain her confidence again.

    "Jas, how much do you need?"

    However, Jas and the group didn''t answer. How could they pretend that they didn''t catch the familiar name being said?

    "Noah is with you guys? How is he? How did you get him to join you? Can Ie?" Ailetta who has been quiet this whole time couldn''t help herself. Ever since learning about Marks attempt of murdering Noah and then how he not only endangered the people fighting with him, but he also didn''t seem to care about the deaths of anyone following his lead.

    "Ailetta??" The sudden announcement of her wanting to leave made Jasmine feel slightly offended since she''s been her only friend for so many years. But when she considers thest outing they had then she could slightly understand her desire to leave.

    "Huh? I think you''re confused¡­." Bailey then took the time to exin to them how they met Noah and found out where he was going. Ailetta was disheartened to find out that he had still decided to stay alone. They continued to listen up until Bailey told them about the creature they met near the gate''s entrance.

    No one was able to get a good grasp of the monster''s description. All they could recall was the barrage of tentacles attacking in every direction that was even killing off the police hailing down bullets.

    Upon hearing that even guns were unable to stop the monster was a wake up call. Jasmine couldn''t picture exactly what they witnessed but if it sounded worse than when they were being attacked by the mantis by andslide. Her eyes flicked with confliction when she thought about the lone figure that was able to not only take them on but also tame one. She could slightly understand why Isabelle had so much faith in him.

    Hearing that there was actually something far scarier than what they have already encountered encouraged the group members to lend whatever little gold that they had. Because of Mark being stubborn, that left them with little since they weren''t able to retrieve their loot from their previous battle. They had barely scraped together 700 gold. Luckily for them, Bailey''s group had a little over 900 so they could still get what they needed.

    "Urgh¡­.are you sure this isn''t poison?" Markined when he saw the murky green vial that was supposed to be the cure.

    "Nobody knows at this point, but it''s our only hope¡­quitining already and drink it!"

    Uncorking the vial. Mark first took a sniff of the potion before grimacing. But he knew that he couldn''t back down after making such a scene when they didn''t want to offer the gold in the first ce. He closed his eyes while plugging his nose before proceeding to tilt his head back and downing the contents in one swoop.

    Momentster Mark was seen kneeled over having a coughing fit, saliva pouring out of his mouth, snot from his nose and his eyes were in tears from the horrible taste. They had noticed while in the shop that there were also syringes being sold too. However the price for that was an extra thousand.

    "Sigh! I hope I never have to drink that again¡­"

    "And that''s exactly why we still need to find Noah, we don''t have the gold to buy a potion everytime someone gets infected. Bailey? Can we rest for a bit so we can go wit-"

    Suddenly everyone heard a loudmotion going on in the lobby outside the door. Out of curiosity, the group headed out to see what was going on.

    "The gym! At the gym! There''s an army of zombies attacking! It''s over!"

    Amidst the yells, there was one in particr that stood out from the rest. Bailey''s ears became sensitive when hearing the word gym and zombies. Her eyes widened like saucers before she took off down the stairs.

    "Bailey!" Her friends cried out before they took off running after her, leaving Jasmine and her group behind.

    "Mark, what do you think?"

    "What do I think? Of course we should just leave them. You told me before that you won''t be able to use your skills for a while after what happened. And they have NoAh! So why worry about them?" He pronounced his name with sarcasm, it wasn''t hard to notice his dissatisfaction.

    If it was any other time, Jasmine would try to convince him, but he was right, there''s little that she can do at this time. It would be hypocritical of her to tell everyone else to fight when she wasn''t. She didn''t notice that someone was clearly dissatisfied with what she heard.

    "Ailetta?" Ailetta stopped and turned towards Jas while on the steps." Are you really leaving? why? He already left you before¡­" When Jasmine looked at her, standing there wasn''t the usual oblivious and bubbly girl she was used to. The girl now actually looked at her with anger which would be the second time she has done so since she''s known her. The first would be when she bad mouthed Noah, thinking that it would help her get over him.

    "It''s not just about Noah¡­can you really stand there with a clear conscience knowing other people you know could die? And if they die then what about us? Can we even survive what Noah couldn''t?" Her eyes then turned to Mark, she was angry before, but when her eyes turned to him, her eyes turned into a hostile re.

    "And you! Even if you disagree, you are alive because of Bailey and now when they could possibly die, you throw a tantrum because someone''s better than you? I''m sorry Jasmine, but I can''t continue to follow you anymore like this¡­" She wasn''t able to hold back the tears, before she cried anymore, she hurriedly ran down the steps without looking back.

    Jasmine felt hopeless, she agreed with what Ailetta said and that made her feel hopeless even more. She looked towards her brother who looked at her. He saw his sister on the verge of tears, he was prideful and stubborn, but he wasn''t ungrateful to the person who was always there for him.

    "Sigh¡­.Don''t give me that look Jas, I''ll go¡­It''s the price I must pay since I''m the hero." He said with such certainty that it almost caused Jasmine to break character. But because of it, she was able to smile. ''At least he''s not as lost as I thought he was¡­''

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª-<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Everyone! We have to fight together! We can win if wee together."

    "Don''t tell us what to do! You''re the one who brought those things here!"

    Everywhere you turned, there were students either fighting against zombies or running away.

    However most were forced to fight. Noah didn''t know how many humans and creatures the Zombie King in his army had killed along the way, but he knew it had to be arge number when he saw how many zombies were runners.

    And that wasn''t even the worst of it. In the center of the court, where the more intense action was taking ce. There were four, almostpletely identical zombies that resembled the king. The only difference was that they didn''t have the apparel nor the bone sword like the original counterpart. They did however have the same height and battle instincts like their king and used those instincts tomandeer weapons for themselves from the dead bodies.

    The average student wasn''t able to contest a single blow against the king''s new subordinates until different battle hardened groups joined the fray. There were four to five people in each group battling it out with one subordinate while the less advanced students tried to hold, if not kill the regr zombies.

    At the edge of it all was Noah himself, along with Arachne and surprisingly Lucas in his werewolf form. The battle against the king became more difficult than before after the King was now aware of the danger of Noah''s webs, so when he attempted it before, it would block it with its sword since it was too big to dodge the webspletely.

    Noah was too concerned for Grims safety, he thought it would be best if Grim helped take care of the regr zombies in the area. That''s where Lucas came in, but he didn''t bring much help to the fight.

    Whoosh!

    Noah was seen ducking another swing from the kings sword, before sidestepping it''s leg that it used to attempt to kick him. It growled in annoyance, for the past few minutes Noah was constantly weaving through the zombies attacks while Arachne would attempt to go for its legs like before. Anything higher than that would be asking for death when it came to the King''s battle senses. Noah almost lost Grim, he wouldn''t risk losing Arachne.

    But after dodging thetest barrage of attacks, he nced over to the side. When he noticed that Lucas wasn''t there to follow up AGAIN, he began to grow frustrated.

    "DO SOMETHING ALREADY OR JUST LEAVE! Is this what I was supposed to regret? You watching me like an abandoned puppy??"

    Whoosh!*

    Even while distracted, Noah was able to pick up on the subtle differences in the air to dodge backwards just in time from another blow.

    Lucas wasn''t able to give a retort to Noah''s criticism since he was in his transformation, but he felt attacked! He was angry, angry towards Noah, angry towards the zombie king and especially angry towards himself. Whenever he lunged forward to follow up on an opening, he felt an instinctual fear of death approaching him before he entered the King''s proximity.

    ''Fuck fuck fuck!!!!'' Lucas roared internally. There was no way for him to attack ande out unscathed and if he did as Noah suggested and leaves, wouldn''t that just mean acknowledging that he was useless?

    ''No! I''m clearly faster than him, if he''s able to dodge his attacks so easily then there''s no way I should get hit. I can do this!''

    During the time he was thinking, he saw Noah dodging a strike from above by evading towards the King and gluing its leading foot to the floor with his webs.

    At the same time, he saw Arachne preparing to strike again. Ever since the first few times Arachne was able to inject her venom into the King''s legs, the King barely moved from its positioning, but it didn''t need to move when its sword skills were more than enough.

    At this time, Lucas went down on all fours and dug his back paws into the floor, propping himself forunch. His muscles constantly spasmed as his muscles flexed past its limits.

    "Ahhooo!" Lucas couldn''t resist howling before he dashed like never before onto the Zombie King. Over the time he spent fighting in a group, he had realized that you gain experience based on the amount of contributions achieved during the fight. So far he knew he amounted to very little of it, but he couldn''t allow Noah to continue to pull ahead of him in terms of power. He needed to do something big.

    Its legs were almost useless which would make it the most suitable target. If he could tear off one of the legs of the King then surely he did more than what Noah and his creatures did over this entire amount of time right?

    But he messed up¡­The best way to make a surprise attack is for it to be a surprise. When he howled, he only made himself aware to the King who was in the middle of forcing Arachne back once again.

    Just as he approached the King''s reach, his eyes filled with expectations and glory. Soon his eyes reflected the shape of a sword bearing down upon him. Lucas left himself with no possible way of escape. The best he could try to do was to dig his ws as deep into the court as he could to stop his momentum.

    Just when it appeared that he was about to be cut cleanly in half. The choice of digging in his ws prevented the gory scene, but at what cost?

    "ARRRR ARRR ARRR!"

    Lucas fell back whimpering in pain, the stress and pain  in his voice was unbearable for some to hear. The distraction almost proved fatal to his best friend LeRoy who knew who those whimpers belonged to. Instead of LeRoy being put in harm''s way due to the distraction. Tristan happened to meet his end when he stepped in to save him.

    The zombie subordinate they were pinned against used a il with spikes covering the metal ball. When it whipped the spiked ball towards LeRoy''s head. Tristan misjudged the direction of the swing and when he dove to push LeRoy out of the way, the il impaled directly into his face while he was falling and his head was cleanly ripped off his shoulders while still being embedded into the spikes.

    Quickly, everything was turning from bad to worse. Lucas could be seen trying to crawl himself away. A cut from his thigh to his shoulders left a trail of blood as he made his way away from the fight. However when looking closely at the cut that should be trying to heal with the regeneration prowlers of a werewolf. The cut was festering and beginning to emit a greenish toxin that began to burn at his insides.

    ¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª

    A/N: work will pick up this week, the post might be on random days still but I will still strive for 5 chapters.

 Chapter 47 47: Giving In

    The cut was festering and beginning to emit a greenish toxin that began to burn at his insides.

    Meanwhile, Noah felt exasperated, ''how can everyone be so useless? What have they been doing this entire time?'' He thought when he witnessed how the the students could barely take on the runners, but he couldn''t continue to let himself feel that way.

    Things were turning bad at every point.

    His mind raced faster than any other time in his life. The people continued to panic after the ''seemingly'' strong Lucas continued to whine and were losing ground. LeRoy''s group was now struggling even more to gain the upper hand. At this time, running away seemed to be the better option.

    ''But if I do that then this bastard would only grow stronger¡­I can''t fight him and his little army alone if I leave everyone to die¡­''

    He looked towards the Zombie King that took a small step towards him. Overtime Noah''s been concerned that if he doesn''t finish the King off soon then the poison would lose its effect on him. Anxiously, his fingers began to twitch and his focus seemed to be elsewhere.

    Suddenly his body showed a trace of relief and he couldn''t hold back a smile. He felt it before he needed to see it. Thatfortable and addicting sensation that urs in his body whenever he gains more stats.

    This was what he was hoping for when he allowed Grim to go around focusing only on the runners.

    He couldn''t spend the time to look at his stats but he had to quickly spend the five unused points and there was only one attribute he felt that could help him turn the tables.

    cing all of his stats into his agility, he refocused all of his attention towards the King once more. His eyes reflected a heavy state of turmoil going through his mind, but the feeling was fleeting. He struggled with himself ever since he gained the chimera trait. He was always being hesitant with progressing the skill and the unique triats he''s obtained. Afraid that he would lose the only part of himself that truly made him who he was.

    Yet time and time again he''s been forced to realize that he''s been holding himself back. If he was to lose that part that he was afraid to lose, then he will continue to be stronger till he finds within himself another quality that he could be proud of.

    "When in Rome, do as the Romans do¡­" Slowly his expression became decisive, his blood flowed quickened while the pressure of his blood began to build enough that you could slightly make out the dark color of his veins.

    That decisiveness began to grow bloodthirsty as he looked towards the King with disdain.

    "If I need to be a monster¡­then i''ll be a monster that even monsters must fear¡­" He let himself be consumed in his instincts, thest thought that was constantly on his mind when staring into the King''s eyes was to devour.

    "?"

    For the first time since the Kings interaction with any human, this would be the first time it felt an instinctual fear. It didnt know what fear was, but its body was still very familiar to the feeling. It became agitated, it needed to strike down the source of that feeling and blindly forced itself to take another heavy step to enter striking range.

    "Grrraalll"

    It tried to roar out to assert its kingly dominance over Noah while swinging with the might to that could fell an elephant. It was no longer fighting cautiously to fight both Noah and Arachne. Its instincts were shouting for it to kill the human in front of it at all cost.

    However, as the sword descended towards Noah, it noticed the human''s mouth was salivating while a crazed grin graced his face.

    Bang!*

    An impact like no other destroyed the area of the court that Noah was originally standing on, but he was no longer there. The King could still keep up with his movements, but that didn''t mean it could react to what was going to happen. It has been relying on its sword skills all this time and was its greatest strength, but the fear ruling over its body governed it to use more force than needed.

    Noah used that chance to force his way into the King''s personal space and achieved what Lucas couldnt.

    "Aaaaeerrrerrgg!"

    The King roared when its Achilles'' tendon was cut and was no longer able to support the rest of its leg. It was still able to catch itself before falling over andnded on its knee. Yet Noah continued to approach, the King wasn''t a creature that would stop fighting just because it could feel pain.

    It swiped its sword horizontally to cleave Noah in half or atleast drive him back, but Noah was moving like a fish in water. He ducked the sword and then hurriedly circled around the King when he saw its hand approaching. This would''ve been the time for him to try to end it all.

    It''s a shame, he wasn''t able to think logically and performed an action that was surprising and utterly disgusting if anyone was watching his fight right now.

    Crunch!*

    His teeth tore into its neck before it contacted the bone. Quickly he bounced back when he felt the King about to retaliate and was able to avoid another blow.

    But Noah didn''t leave without gaining anything. His cheeks were swoll, as he savagely munched on the skin and muscles in his mouth. Blood gushed out with each bite and his bloodthirsty eyes appeared hungry and unsatisfied.

    The King became so fixed on Noah that he forgot about the other participant. For the first time, Arachne witnessed her master eating the flesh of a creature and it just happened to be the creature that she too enjoys eating.

    Astonishingly she assumed that this creature in particr had to be more tasty than anything she''s eaten so far, but sadly she couldn''t consume flesh like her master could.

    She became more excited in her attacks and when the King turned to attack Noah, she leaped onto its back and dug her fangs near his nap.

    Yet without warning, she instantly retreated at the sound of the King roaring again. But this roar was different, it was simr to the cry of a cornered animal that has nothing to lose.

    The cry itself wasn''t what made her retreated. It was the greenish gas from earlier. Unlikest time where it created the zombie subordinates. Changes were urring to its subordinates on the courts and the zombies around it.

    Under everyone''s eyes, the zombies bodies began to emit the same glow and suddenly a gas, almost entirely ck with a green undertone continuously seeped out of their bodies and were being directed to the king.

    In real time, as the King was absorbing the energies, his body was going through a physical change. It''s body figure was developing musclesparable to a fitness junkie while it was growing a little more in height.

    At the same time it was going through the changes, it didn''t realize that the energy made it more enticing to the one opposing it. If Noah was hungry before, now he was ravenous. The King sat unmoving while the changes were urring, but it was still aware of everything around it. It could only watch on as Noah was eating it alive.

    The zombies being absorbed were no longer moving and disturbingly, their bodies were losing their physical mass. The scene was simr to liposuction but instead of fat, EVERYTHING was being sucked out from them.

    This gave the bewildered students all the chance to follow the direction of the gas before the expression of them all turned worse than the fear they held when they were being attacked by zombies.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "H-he''s ea-eating it???"

    "argh!"

    Everyone had different reactions to the scene. Some of them felt disgusted, others confused and the rest terrified, however none of them could stop watching.

    The ones who were atleast familiar to him; LeRoy and his group felt even more conflicted.

    "Sh-should we help him¡­?" The summoner Joe asked

    "¡­.." Zoe didn''t have a response. She didn''t think she would see such a scene. ''Was he still human?'' That question reyed in her head over and over. What if they helped him and he happened to be worse than what they were fighting now. She was unsure if she should take this chance to kill Noah and only focus on the Zombie King.

    "Luc! LUCAS!" However, unlike the rest. LeRoy was more concerned about his friend. Lucas wasn''t whimpering anymore like before but he continued to growl in pain while ripping at the surrounding fur of his cut.

    LeRoy never questioned why Lucas never reverted back to his human form.

    During the time Noah was feasting on the King. An almost inconceivable boon was taking ce. Noah''s mind was being sted with notifications one after the other.

    [+1 magic]

    [+1 magic]

    [+1 stamina]

    He wasn''t aware of it but he was constantly get updates on what was happening.

    Normally you wouldn''t gain attributes eating the body of another from what Noah had gathered. But this was different from before. The King was constantly growing stronger during this time from absorbing the life energy of the surrounding zombies.

    Yet it didn''t realize that In doing so, it allowed Noah to absorb that energy too as it was being devoured.

    And with the aid of Noah''s recent skill ''budding feeder''. No matter how much he ate, he would never grow full. But there was also a hidden function that ''budding feeder'' offered and was the sole reason why zombies were able to grow so quickly even when they were incapable of killing at the rate of everyone else.

    Unluckily Noah isn''t aware of what''s happening and wouldn''t find out until muchter.

    Minutes flew by while everyone watched silently to what was happening. The sound of flesh being bitten and the small roars of an unintelligible zombie were the only sounds taking ce. Arachne and Grim weren''t sure of what to do. They both knew the joy of eating, but they also knew that food shouldn''t be shared so they both silently agreed to just sit and watch.

    Strangely, they didn''t mind. They weren''t sure how but they both felt an increasing strength welling within them as their master satisfied his stomach.

    ROAAAAR!*

    The oppressive voice echoed, sending shivers down everyone''s spines and many face-nted into the floor.

    The King has finally finished its transformation. It stood up on its healed foot, while the aura it transmitted was twice as oppressive as before.

    But its appearance wasn''t quite as impressive, it grew from 8ft to well above 12. It tried to appear domineering, yet it was hard to take it seriously when Noah could be seen hanging from its shoulder, continually ripping through its skin.

    Multiple tears of its skin were bleeding profusely and the bones that Noah wasn''t able to bite through could be viewed even from the distance of the stands.

    The multiple points of bleeding helped its terrifying appearance. However the bloody figure on its body appeared more terrifying.

    Now that it was done, the Zombie King instantly turned its attention to Noah. It stabbed its sword into the ground and used its hand to reach for him. It''s other arm was no longer usable. Located at its shoulder, multiplerge pieces of flesh were missing. The king wasn''t a Lich, made of entirely bone and could still operate its body.

    Its brain was still operating at a functional level and was connected to its nerves. Without its muscles and nerves attached to its arm anymore, it wasn''t able to use it.

    Instinctively Noah sensed the now giant hand approaching and jumped down to retrieve his weapons again.

    Just as quickly as he jumped down, he had to dodge again. The Zombie King was able to reach for his sword and attack in the brief time Noahnded on the ground. The absorption of the energy inspired bigger change besides just its physical appearance.

    Thankfully Noah also gained from it or no matter how much his body was able to perceive its attacks, he wouldn''t be fast enough to dodge them. Swing after swing, the King relentlessly attacked and Noah could only dodge.

    He wanted to counterattack just likest time but he was left little room. His sensory hairs would detect another attacking whenever he went for an opportunity so he would have to give it up.

    Grim and Arachne grew antsy when they watched the exchange. Arachne couldn''t find an opening now that the King seemed to no longer be infected by its venom and its movements returned. And both were being oppressed by the king''s aura. Their spirit wasn''t nearly as high enough to repress it now that the King has grown stronger.

    "Ahhhhooooo!"

    "Ahhhh! NOOOOO! HEL-"

    Crunch!*

    While Noah and the king was going through their exchange. Another significant event was transpiring.

    The spectators turned their eyes to the source and saw Lucas? Biting LeRoy in half!

    But something was wrong, the Lucas they saw didn''t look like the same werewolf from before.

 Chapter 48 48: Why Are You Running?

    A/N: after this week is over I can go back to posting a bit earlier, but enjoy the chapter!

    ...¡­.

    But something was wrong, the Lucas they saw didn''t look like the same werewolf from before.

    Lucas'' form took a drastic change from before. He was almost the size of the new Zombie King. The dark grey fur turned to a midnight ck and it now adorned a mane traveling down its back that retained the dark grey. He still contained the sword mark on his thigh leading to his shoulder but the scar now resembled a tribal tattoo that glowed from green to ck.

    If the King were said to have huge hands after its transformation, if it were to bepared to Lucas''s palm now then its size could be said to be average. Lucas'' palm was enough to grip around Noah''s waistline while its fingers and ws were longer than its palms. His face appeared even more feral than before.

    The overbearing howl from Lucas caused the King to stop in its tracks , it felt as if it had met its natural enemy. And when looking at Lucas now, he was also looking in the King''s direction with the same gaze.

    Lucas now was clearly a Zombie, no one thought about the reason why he changed so fast and why that change permanently made him into a werewolf that was clearly a mutation from what he once was.

    Crunch!*

    The two zombies may have been acknowledging one another, but there was still one person there who didn''t care to notice the new foe.

    The King roared and its gaze left Lucas to try to get rid of its tormenter who just took another chunk out of its thigh.

    "Ahhhhoo!"

    At the same time, Lucas took the King forfeiting from the staring contest as a form of weakness. Once the King turned its back, Lucas pounced towards him.

    Bam!

    The attempt didn''t go as everyone watching perceived. The old King may have allowed itself to be taken advantage of, but Lucas was only around level five and even now after he became a were-zombie, his level didn''t magically level up. With the new states from its mutation, Lucas still couldn''t contend with the higher level King and its buffed stats.

    Lucas'' body was huge and heavy, the sound of its ws digging and scraping into the court was clearly heard by the King. Before Lucas was able to attend Noah''s buffet, it was kicked right between the eyes, crashing back to its original spot by the wall.

    Noah took the chance to take another bite out of the same leg, it wouldn''t be long until the King wouldn''t be able to stand if this kept up.

    Instinctively, the King knew that going after Noah now would be useless. It must quickly take care of the wolf or the slippery worm would continue to take advantage of it.

    With its sword in hand, it sprinted towards Lucas who was pulling himself out of the wall. Lucas didn''t seem fazed at all after being sted, his qualities of a werewolf had been enhanced after mutating.

    In his bloodthirsty state, Noah didn''t like that his food was running away from him. He couldn''t allow this to go on anymore, he reached down to the closest weapon to him. After having to move around so much to dodge attacks. The nearest weapon was a simple long sword which he quickly retrieved and chased after the King.

    Bang!

    On the other side of the room, the doors burst open and a group of students rush into the room brandishing their weapons. The one in the lead looked extremely worried and her head snapped in every direction, looking at every student left in the gym. She was looking for a specific person, but how could she ignore the sight urring at the end?

    "Why did you stop? Are you afraid now? You should be d that you hea...me?"

    Mark approached from behind, he was already bothered about having toe here without being able to rest. He was looking for any reason to nitpick at Bailey, but he too fell silent when he saw a scene that he would never forget.

    Bang bang bang!*

    One by one the rest of the group filleted their way in and ended up in the same way as the others.

    Staring ahead, they all witnessed the Zombie King fighting a massive wolf. But their eyes could barely catch everything happening. The swings of the King''s sword were too fast and the tenacity of the werewolf''s life force made them incapable of understanding who was winning.

    But among the two giants, a lone figure stood out bathed in blood, hacking at both the two creatures. The figure didn''t appear to have a certain target. They would only attack whatever was close to it indiscriminately.

    The figure was covered in blood and their demeanor was no different from the two monsters currently fighting so it was hard to make out who it was from a distance. However the two insects watching helped the group connect the dots.

    "Noah¡­.?" The sudden call of his name awakened the rest out of their stupor. Collectively, they all turned towards Ailetta who was the first to recognize him. His image in his current state was the same image she imprinted in her mind when she watched him fighting the hoard of zombies outside. There was no way she would not recognize him.

    "Noah?" Mark voiced out in disbelief. "You mean ''that'' Noah?"

    No matter how much he looked at the figure, he just couldn''t ept it. It hasn''t been that long since thest time he saw him.

    What he was seeing now was apletely different person from before. The way Noah was dancing between the two giants made Mark doubt everything he was doing till now. In his mind, there''s no way Noah could progress this fast in such a short amount of time. He couldn''t ept that.

    "Haha~ That can''t be right. Look! His creatures are just staring there. If that was really him then they would be fighting with him. Wake up!" He tried to delude himself into believing the wordsing out of his mouth. Even while he talked, his fist was clenching harder and harder after each word.

    Aliettas face snapped locked onto Mark, the loathing she looked towards him before still hasn''t changed.

    "It IS him!" She snapped before quickly returning to the fight. She could see how powerful Noah had be, but she couldn''t help but worry.<novelnext></novelnext>

    She also could barely follow what was happening in front of her. All she knew was that if she tried to approach then she would be dead without even realizing it.

    And from the gazes of everyone else watching, they two felt the same. However the others that were already in the gym noticed Mark and the group''s arrival.

    "Bailey¡­? Bailey! Waaahh¡­I thought we were gonna die!"

    A women from one of the groups whose job was to fight off one of the Kings subordinates jumped onto Bailey.

    Bailey''s attention was on Noah''s fight, so many thoughts were going through her mind right now that she was beyond surprised when she was hugged out of nowhere. Instantly a smile of relief washed away the overly worried looks she''s had since hearing of the attack.

    After checking her friend physical condition, she was soon told about everything that happened. How the person was myseteriously killed in the showers, to how Noah, Lucas and his group ran to here and were followed by an army of zombies. She described it all, however none of that information was more important than what they heard during the rambling.

    "Ib-Ibby¡­Wha-what do you mean¡­.he was eating it? You''re not making sense¡­" Bailey and the rest were left confused when Ibby talked about the scene of Noah consuming the flesh of the Zombie King.

    A scratch alone was enough to turn someone. And the idea of eating zombie meat was so sickening that they felt the need to hurl. Who in their right mind would cater to such an idea even if you were able to gain something from doing so and how could they possibly not be infected?

    "What do you know?? We all saw it! Wait! What if he''s just like one of those things? Those zombies¡­?" Ibbys'' emotions got the best of her before she entered a rant of mumbling. But her question was heard by everyone else and they too started to ponder that very question. Someone in particr was more than intrigued to think about it.

    "Yes¡­yes! That could exin everything. There''s no way he could be that strong unless he turned to those things and mutated like that overgrown zombie there. But instead of size he probably got faster¡­HA! Jas, we came here to find answers to avoid turning and he actually became one of them? You can''t make this up!"

    He began to chuckle to himself, no one else said anything to respond. Even Ailetta herself couldn''t say anything. More than anything she didn''t want to believe it, but what else would exin Noah actually eating the flesh of a zombie? What sane person could do such a thing.

    "Aaawwhooo!"

    "!"

    "Everyone! Now''s not the time, it''sing!"

    "Wha-what happnened to Noah?"

    "Who cares? Worry about yourself first!"

    From a distance they could see the erged beast running towards them on all fours. Visible deep cuts could be seen on every one of its limbs, but the cuts weren''t bleeding as badly as they appeared. The wolf was slowly regenerating the wounds. Compared to the current humans now, the pace it was recovering was abnormally fast.

    Ailetta prepared herself to fight for her life, but not without ncing towards Noah. Worried as to why the wolf decided to make its way here.

    As Noah was constantly attacking both monsters. The King was also getting attacked by both Noah and Lucas. It barely received any damage from Lucas at all. But it wasn''t able to finish it off either, for every swing it would deal, a sword would hack at its lower limbs.

    Surprisingly the damage was a little less than Noah''s bites. The sword has been through so much that after hacking into the new thickness of the King''s skin, the sword became dull extremely fast.

    Noah couldn''t bother himself with this observation, he just had to swing harder and faster. The swings grew in number but while this proceeded, the King had to change its priorities once again.

    Since it couldn''t finish off the wolf fast enough, it needed to remove it from the fight for a while so it kicked the wolf as far as it could. This resulted in the wolf bing distracted before it noticed therge groups of food. The constant loss of blood and continuous use of recovery made its appetite grow. Even though it could be considered a zombie, its body functions were still active.

    This resulted in the group to now have to battle it out with the wolf, while Noah re-engaged with the King.

    Arachne observed that Noah was no longer eating on the King and felt it best to now protrude on his fight, but the aura that was radiating from it didn''t allow for them to do so.

    So the both speechlessly agreed to turn both of their frustrations on the wolf instead.

    Noah on the other hand was gaining an overwhelming advantage against the King. Both of the King''s legs were badly damaged, no matter how hard it tried, its swings were less powerful and fast as before without having a proper posture.

    He proceeded to stay on top of the King, leaving it with barely any chance to swing his sword now that it couldn''t move properly. It had to resort to stabbing towards Noah and a downwards motion. However Noah continued to maneuver around and through the King''s legs while he unceasingly hacked at it before¡­

    Snap!*

    Even without Noah cutting through its legs, the bone was so far cut through that the weight of its body caused the rest of it to snap apart. It was impossible to prevent itself from falling over.

    Mindlessly it attempted to prop itself up, but wasn''t able to and soon it saw the little monster heading towards its face. Noah was upset that its food kept running around and then it continued to repel him back. Now he just wanted to stop it from moving all together so he can finish what he wanted to do from the very beginning.

    Even though Noah was a bloodthirsty wreck, his body instinctively knew how to kill a zombie. Now that he could finally reach it, he went directly towards the head.

    The king finally had to relinquish its hold of its sword if it nned to prevent Noah from getting closer. With an open hand, it made a swiping motion to keep Noah at bay, but then it saw a ck substance that it hasn''t seen since the very beginning of its encounter with Noah.

    If the King was able to talk, it would have only two words to say.

    "Fuck me¡­"

 Chapter 49 49: Youâ€™ll Always Be Remembered

    "Fuck me¡­"

    The webs Noah shot out at point ck range connected with the King''s arm at the same time as Noah dodged it.

    The webs not only covered its arm but proceeded to travel to the King''s body before it wrapped around its torso linking it together.

    It wasn''t enough to fully impair its arm but unfortunately for the King, they weren''t taking turns to attack. A flurry of more webs made its way, encasing its upper body in webs. No amount of strength it possessed would help it release itself when Noah''s own strength had seen a qualitative change.

    With only one functioning arm and leg and a sword that it could no longer wield. The King continued to struggle free while it roared for help, but it forgot one important fact. A King is no longer a King when it has no one to lead.

    While the group behind him were struggling just to stay alive, Noah made his way around the King''s body beforeing to a stop atop its head.

    The two stared into each other''s eyes for a moment that seemed like a lifetime to the ones fighting for their life.

    "Grrrr-"

    The King roared onest time before it''s eye was pierced and the sword continued to pass through its sockets before drilling through its brain.

    The King''s eyes dimmed before the glow diminished and was left with two hollow sockets that were soon filled with blood.

    This would be the best time for Noah to help out with the werewolf but his skill wasn''t that easy to cancel out at will. There was a goal in mind that he had while he activated it and before the skill can end, he must finish the goal that was set.

    And so, he feast!

    It was difficult to fully analyze the diversity of Noah''s plight against the two monsters until they had to fight one themselves.

    The four groups from earlier that defended against the Kings minions and now Marks group, stood together to potentially take down the werewolf. However reality can be a bitch.

    "Nooo Kelsey!" A scream sounded among the tter of heavy steps and screams.

    A female tried to pry into the wolfs face with their sword but underestimated the werewolf''s prowess. She Assumed the wolf was as fast and powerful as the minions before it, but soon, a w half the size of her body swatted her across the area before crashing into the stands. The way her body skidded across the rows of seats left her nearby friend frozen from shock. She didn''t notice the shadowing looming over here until she found herself in a dark room covered in liquids.

    Confused and afraid, she moved about before she smelled something so abhorrent that she couldn''t help but gag in response. When she realized that it was the werewolf''s breath, she was already going down it''s throat still alive.

    ''If this beast is this powerful then¡­.how powerful is the zombie Noah was fighting all alone?'' Jasmine wondered while she observed from a distance. Originally she came thinking she could help with the regr zombies now that she wasn''t able to perform her magic at this time.

    But when she saw the wolf being outnumbered yet still running rampant around them, she just couldn''t muster the courage to throw away her life.

    Mark wasn''t any better, he didn''t have the mana to contend against it. His sword could inconvenience it, but without his aura to sharpen the de, he had no hope of actually making any wounds that were significant. The fight would be even harder if it wasn''t for the three main yers currently fighting.

    "Everyone¡­.behind¡­me¡­" Paul stepped up again with a battered shield in hand and his axe in the other. But something seemed different about him. His entire appearance, including his shield, turned jagged. Everything about him looked as if it was made out of stone.

    Screeeeech!*

    When the wolf approached and wed on top of him. Sparks rebounded off the shield while subtle white scratches appeared on his clothes. He was actually able to stand his ground against the wolf''s might.

    ng ng ng!*

    His tenacity almost became his downfall, the Werewolf continued to rain down attacks as if using him to sharpen its ws. Paul''s death was almost certain until Grim and Arachne entered the fight.

    First Grim used the opportunity to jump on its back and furiously striked its ded arm into the wolf''s spine repeatedly. It resembled the mad image of its master. While Arachne tried to do what she couldn''t against the king, she sank her fangs into the wolf''s hind leg. However this time, before she jumped, she left a thread of her webs tethered to the ground while she kept a firm hold around the wolfs legs.

    She learned a lot from watching her master fight. She couldn''t instinctively use her webs as a form of attack like Noah could since jumping spiders don''t require their webs to hunt. But that didn''t stop her from trying to be more innovative.

    Arachne hoped her poison would do a better job than before but the werewolf''s healing trait still proved tenacious enough for the venom to be almost ineffective without a bigger dose.

    While roaring in pain, the werewolf halted its attack to deal with Grim first. With its arms that were almost longer than its entire body, it easily reached behind itself to crush Grim like the bug he was.

    This was the moment Arachne waited for.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Whoosh!*

    Jumping back as hard as she could and using her webs as an extra force. She yanked its back foot along with her, causing the wolf to nt into the ground. She wasn''t able to drag it far, the werewolf instantly tore through the ground to hold itself in ce before trying to free its hands to tear Arachne apart.

    While this went on, the group didn''t follow up to help. They felt inadequate to do anything but because of that, a life was lost.

    Grim was fearless and when he saw the werewolf pulled to the ground he couldn''t resist the allure of the unguarded neck and leaped for the kill.

    There was no one else to receive the werewolf''s attention and because of that, it''s eyes zoned onto Grim like a hackers aim assist before it opened its mouth wide and mped down on Grims body.

    "!"

    Everyone looked on silently and with immense fear when they saw the lower half of Grims body sticking out of the werewolves mouth before the rest of it disappeared in its jaws.The sound of munching echoed in their ears and they realized they were one step closer to losing their lives.

    "UUURRRRGGFHHHHHH!"

    A cry so painful and agonizing grabbed everyone''s attention. When they looked in the direction of the cries, Noah was holding his head while he continued to wail in pain. His body fell on top of the body of the King that he was just in the middle of feasting on, but the cries continued.

    The death of Grim caused a huge shock on his soul that he was unprepared for, the abrupt tear of the mental bond made him feel as if his mind was split in two. The pain awakened him from his skill and was left to feel the agonizing pain and the confusion for why it urred. With one eye closed while the other was half opened. His two pupils searched for the cause, for some reason there was a blinding light that made it hard to see. He attributed it to the pain and slight dizziness he was under. He had to strain his eye even more before he saw the leftover limbs of Grim and was able to make out the chewing soundsing from the beast.

    The pain was still there but now he could only feel the loss of his creature more than the pain and slowly recing the pain was anger.

    It wasn''t anger towards the werewolf, it was actually directed to the group of people watching everything happening. The distance between them and the beast clearly showed Noah who was the actual ones out there fighting. Even if it wasn''t their fault, even though he couldn''t say they should give up their lives for his creature. To him,  it was still their fault!

    But he still had a problem to solve. The werewolf still wasn''t satisfied after killing Grim. At this moment it tried to attack Arachne.

    And still, it still appeared that the group was just going to watch. Noah tried to get up, but he felt sluggish. His body was a lot slower than before and much weaker. If he was a super being before then now he felt like a regr human again. He didn''t like this feeling, but at the same time he couldn''t let that stop him. How would he feel if Arachne died. Would he be weaker! Would he die?

    He forced himself onto his feet and he needed a weapon. The subtle desire to rece grim for the werewolf entered his mind but how could he achieve that with his current state?

    He moved a step to attempt to pick up the Kings sword when.

    Thump*

    Noah was forced to stop when he kicked something heavy and the blinding light was much harsher than before. He looked down and was surprised to find a chest glowing brighter than any chest he''s had so far and without having to look closely, he knew the chest was a higher grade than before.

    "Maybe¡­just maybe¡­" ncing back towards Arachne, who was dodging the werewolf''s attacks. He gave up on his ritual of slowly opening the chest even though it turned out to be the first tinum chest he''s received so far. But he couldn''t show the excitement that he should have when he had so much at stake.

    When he opened the chest, he saw the contents resting above the biggest pile of gold he had ever seen in a chest. And on that gold, he spotted a sword simr to the bone sword the King wielded but the sword felt more sinister than the one it wielded. The sword looked extremely sharp to the touch while the bone was more of a dark grey tone. He couldn''t tell if it was really bone or not, but that wasn''t important right now.

    He turned his gaze to the only three shiny objects in the chest. One Was an obsidian ck ring that was engraved with dark green alien writing which glowed faintly. He didn''t know what the ring did, yet that didn''t stop him from unhesitatingly equipping it.

    When he equipped the ring, the ring embedded itself into his finger before he felt a rush of foreign energy invading his very being, for the shortest time, all the veins in his body glowed bright green at once before returning to normal.

    ''But what did it do??'' He didn''t care what the ring actually did as long as it could help him. With no clue of what the glow affected unless he checked his stats, he grabbed for the next shiny object which was a white orb farrger than the one he obtained before.

    [+10 spirit]

    Instantly he was rewarded with a surplus of attributes. However, even though the increase was more than satisfactory, he still had a frown. For his first tinum drop, the loot could be said to be satisfactory, But it wasn''t enough for his current situation.

    ''Come on, I need something big!'' He reached for thest object that held a glow.

    What he picked up was a small round grey metal ball the size of a billiard ball. And in the center of the ball was the number one etched into the ball that sparkled with a white aura. He didn''t know what the ball was or even what it did, but he felt that it had to be special.

    He tried squeezing it, but nothing happened. He then proceeded to squeeze with both hands but still nothing. Before he was going to attempt to put it into his mouth, he became aware of the ring prodding in his head that wasn''ting from his pain and dizziness.

    ''Right¡­if this doesn''t have anything then I don''t know what to do.'' He took onest deep breath before he checked the reason for his notifications. Hopefully it held the answers for the ball in his hands.

 Chapter 50 50: Notification Overload

    ''Right¡­if this doesn''t have anything then I don''t know what to do.'' He took onest deep breath before he checked the reason for his notifications. Hopefully it held the answers for the ball in his hands.

    But he wasn''t prepared for the amount of information that he was about to be bombarded with.

    [+1 spirit]

    [+1 stamina]

    [+1 spirit]

    The long list of the umting attributes continued long enough to make him dizzy from reading. As quickly as he could, he made his way past the attributes to get to the rest of the information.

    [Level UP! +5 attributes]

    [Achieved the first limits of 50 stats in constitution, perk based on ss ''Monster Tamer'' obtained;Unity through Pain]

    [Unity through pain- What can show the trust more between the bond of a tamer and his creatures than the two to bear the other''s pain? When activated, the tamer can choose to allow his creature to bear 10% of the damage dealt to him or choose to receive part of the damage given to his creature. Can only be upgraded by increasing constitution.]

    [Detecting genes of a higher strain from the host zombie trait! Trait is being upgraded! Regr zombie genes have mutated into the genes of the unique zombie consumed. The zombie trait has changed to Zombie Lord! Your abilities experience has been increased, new skills have been added due to your traits evolution.]

    [Skills; Subservient Hierarchy, Decree of equivalent exchange obtained]

    [Subservient Hierarchy(Lvl 0)-When ites to the undead, just like humans, the weak submit to the strong. When an Undead of a higher bloodline appears before another, the lower bloodline has a chance to be submissive. The degree of submissiveness depends on the bloodline and Level of the user.]

    [Decree of equivalent exchange (Lvl 0)-Only usable with other Undead. Through the will of the user, you can temporarily recieve or grant your subordinates stats of a specific attribute of 10%. Number of attributes affected and the percentage given/taken will increase based on skill level.]

    [Death of tamed creature Grim has been confirmed, initializing penalty. Loss of 70% of physical stats for 48 hours. Loss of stats decreases with higher spirit and level differences of tamed creatures.]

    [Killing instinct reached 100% progression, can level up]

    [Stamina regeneration reached 100% progression, can level up]

    [Immortal body reached 100% progression, can level up]

    [Budding feeder reached 100% progression, can level up]

    [For the first unique zombie to be in, you have been granted a unique grade of equipment! Your title ''The Fallen'' allowed you to fit the criteria for the ring of the Fallen]

    [Unique ring, The ring of the Fallen-Can not equip without having the title ''The Fallen'' and can not unequip. Your physical appearance still retains the qualities of your original race, your DNA is already slowly changing that. The quality of your mana is already tainted, what''s left is your soul. No one knows the changes that will develop within you now that your soul has fallen from its original race.]

    [Upgrade Lvl 1 stone detected! Choose an upgradable skill to level up!

    [Level UP! +5 attributes]

    [Tamed creature Arachne Level UP! +5 attributes]

    yer: Noah

    Race:Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 1740->2616

    Lvl: 9

    Exp:751/1600->46/6400

    Health:90%->49%

    Stamina:62%->16%

    Mana: 4/24->6/62

    Attributes

    Defense: 25

    Strength:18->24(25) [12]+5

    Agility:18->26(27) [13]+7

    Constitution:38->53(55) [27]+10

    Stamina:22->27(28) [14]+5

    Magic: 20->30(31)

    Spirit:74->95(99)

    Unassigned Points: 10

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)progression:50%->75%

    Killing instinct (lvl 0) progression:4.8%->100%

    Decree of Equivalent Exchange (lvl 0) progression: 0%

    Undead Webbing(Lvl 0)0.7%->1.9%

    Passive

    Rodelros(lvl 0) progression: .6%

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:5.9%->100%

    Immortal body (lvl 0) progression: 1.76%->100%

    Budding feeder (lvl 0) progression: .4%->100%

    Subservient Hierarchy (lvl 0) progression: 0%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:25%->50%

    Taming proficiency(lvl 0)N/A

    Unity through pain(lvl 0)N/A

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0): N/A

    Spiders Alertness(Lvl 0)1.3-3.7%

    Sensory Spines(Lvl 0): .9->2.5%<novelnext></novelnext>

    Titles

    The Fallen, Subjugator

    "..."

    For a moment, Noah had almost forgotten the reason he was checking through his notifications. If this really was a game then he broke it on the first day, the amount of skills were bing harder to keep up with. And theparison of his skills and stats to when he first awakened this morning made him feel like a pay to win character.

    However there were still some unsettling things said within the information, especially the ring. But even though it was unsettling to read, he quickly epted it. Was there anything left for him to want to cling onto his humanity? Briefly the thought of Ailetta emerged, but his bond with his creatures felt more real than what he could have with her. He didn''t have to doubt whether they would stick by him or have any hidden intentions.

    His shocksted more than he wanted it to, but when he also saw the penalty for Grims death, it was a depressing reminder for what he came here for.

    "If I had no guarantee of turning this around before then now at least I won''t let Grims death be in vain¡­"

    He looked down onto the stone ball still gripped in his palm. His first thought was to upgrade his most faithful skill, Killing Instincts, however would he be able to tame the wolf if he did? And with his lowered stats, would the upgrade be enough to kill off the beast that continued to heal its wounds? He couldn''t be sure, he would prefer a skill that would always be useful for him. It''s not like he couldn''t find a way to upgrade it after this, there was always the store if it had any. With the wide variety of choices he could choose from, something told him that he would definitely find some there.

    ''This could work then!'' He thought to himself before he strengthened the grip on the stone and chose to upgrade a skill.

    [Immortal Body level up confirmed to Level one! The skills level up has increase the passive stat increase from 5% to 10%]

    [Your spirit has reached 100 stat points, your skill ''Taming Proficiency'' has leveled up, providing you a 20% increase in taming a creature.]

    ''¡­..Wait¡­'' Confusion was written all over his face. ''Skills gained this way can level up without the stones? It feels as if I''m actually being rewarded for choosing to throw away my humanity!''

    "NO! Ailetta! Don''t go, there''s nothing you can do!"

    "!"

    Noah abruptly snapped his head over to see what was happening. He didn''t expect himself to be so distracted, thankfully the yells caught his attention.

    When he looked over, at first he didn''t see Arachne, his heart thumping loudly due to his fear that something horrible happened to her.

    He only saw the werewolf clutching Paul in its mouth, attempting to chew through his hardened ability and was slowly seeding. But whenever it focused on the human in its mouth, two people with spears attempted to circle it while prodding it. The two were Bailey and ke, ke would only go in whenever Bailey grabbed the wolf''s attention which she was able to do surprisingly easily. Whenever she went in for a stab, her spear emitted a loud vibration before drilling into whatever spot she targeted.

    The two were coordinating extremely well together, but the main hero of it all was the squirrel ke had tamed. Even though it was bigger than normal, to the wolf, it was still just a small rodent. However it didn''t expect for the squirrel to climb atop of its head and burrow its two huge knockers into its head.

    Even though they were slowly damaging it, they still continued to wear anxious faces.

    "Arrrggh!"

    They heard another grunt,parable to a screaming from Paul within its mouth. They tried to increase the tempo of their attacks but it wasn''t helping.

    Bailey was sweating intensely and her pupils were huge while her worry was increasing. Frantically she looked up into the sky, everyone but Noah knew why.

    "Please help us! We are friends of Noah! Your tamer! What would he think if we died?"

    When she screamed up at the ceiling, Arachne, who had escaped from the wolf''s constant attacks, pondered about the words from the female human.

    She didn''t know how her master would feel if they died, but she also felt conflicted about running away. She felt weak when she should be a queen! She could at least use the humans to take down the beast to show her master how powerful she is.

    The rest of the group stood away and watched, they weren''t close to Paul and they were too afraid to die, even Mark chose to stay back using the excuse that he never got the chance to rest so he wouldn''t be of any help anymore.

    After Grim died and Arachne first decided to run to the ceiling, the werewolf managed to kill 6 more people from their group and now no one was brave enough to fight.

    If they didn''t see Noah fighting against such a creature then all of them would believe all hope was lost.

    But that''s when Jasmine saw Ailetta approaching the fight and screamed for her to stop. She didn''t believe Ailetta could achieve anything with her skill besides reanimating one of the people who fell, but what good would that do?

    No matter how much she screamed, Ailetta didn''t turn back, the way Ailetta continued to move forward, Jasmine wasn''t even sure if Ailetta was even aware of what she was saying.

    Ailetta herself didn''t think there was anything she could do, but she had to try. She saw grim die, she saw the way his death affected Noah. After Bailey pleaded for Arachne to help, she felt she needed to do something. She didn''t really care if Arachne died, but she didn''t want Noah to go through that pain again.

    With every step, she became more determined. The memory of discussing with Jasmine resurfaced in her thoughts.

    "That skill wasn''t a skill given to me by the system. It was one I was able to create and the system gave me the option to integrate the spell with it or to advance it on my own¡­" The line ''I was able to create'' yed itself over and over.

    She wouldn''t say that since Jasmine was able to do then she should too. But now that she knew that making her own abilities were possible, she now believed that she had to do it.

    Not only to prevent Noah from feeling any pain, but to also reaffirm herself that she too can be stronger.

    Having stopped before she reached Bailey, Jasmine sighed in relief, thinking that Ailetta finally got cold feet and decided toe back.

    However she then saw Ailetta spread her arms while still holding onto a simple small rod in one of her hands. The rod didn''t have any special characteristics besides increasing magic by two. Considering that, Jasmine just couldn''t understand what Ailetta was nning to do.

    They all observed the familiar scene of her activating her skill before, a dark tar like substance emerged from thin air and hovered next to her. Jasmine expected to see the slime submerge itself into another corpse, but Ailettas arms never returned to her side and while observing, she could see her body fidgeting.

    On Ailettas face, there could be seen traces of sweat emerging while she held a visible frown that deepened by the second.

    She knew that her skill could re-animate the dead, but she also thought that if zombies were also considered undead then doesn''t that mean she should be able to control them too?

    She didn''t practice with her skill enough to determine this, however she knew her thoughts were on the right path.

    Draining her mana for everything she had, she willed herself to force the continuation of her summoning. Normally when the slime is summoned, she could feel the disconnect from her mana supply. So instead of allowing that to happen, she focused on the feeling of her mana being drained to force it to continue.

    Soon, the slime didn''t be bigger, but it began to generate gaseous mist around it before it zoomed in the direction of the werewolf.

    The werewolf noticed the iing blob, but it was too distracted with the other three to mind it when it didn''t sense a threat. The slime quickly made contact with the wolf''s fur before disappearing. For the ones unfamiliar with her skill, they believed the skill to be a dud.The long time of casting her spell, the weird appearance of her summon.

    Everyone felt that it was very anti-climatic, but before they could continue to Judge her, they all witnessed a difference in the werewolf''s actions.

    "It¡­.It stopped moving!!" The onlookers continued to observe while bbergasted with Ailettas'' results.

    Paul used this moment to desperately crawl out of its jaws before crashing heavily into the ground.

    "Paul!" ke rushed to his side to help him up. Paul undid his ability, but it wasn''t pretty. The numerous amounts of white scratches that showed on his body during his skill, turned into small cuts making him appear as if he went through a shredder.

    Thump!*

    Not even ten seconds passed before Ailettas limp body came crashing to the floor. The exhaustion of mana was enough to tire her out, but trying to control a unique zombie was a tall task for someone of her level andck of stats.

    "Awhooooo!"

    Jasmine wanted to help her friend, but was held back by Mark when the sound of the Wolf regaining its functions roared.

    "Ailetta! Somebody help her! Mark! We can''t let her die!"

    Jasmine continued to wail while being held. ke was now attempting to remove the injured Paul out of range. Bailey also wanted to retreat, but then she noticed the wolf gazes. Even while it howled, its gaze never left the unconscious girl that attempted to control it.

    Bailey prepared herself to give her all for the person that would sacrifice so much just to save her friend.

    However before she could advance, she saw a bloody figure walk past her. For a moment she considered attacking, but when those four dark empty pupilsid eyes on her. Her body stiffened and her voice got lost in her throat. She was struck with dread that if she continued to look into his eyes that she would die.

    She couldn''t help but exhale deeply when Noah no longer paid her any mind and continued to walk past her. No one else was concentrating on Noah until a loud domineering voice echoed in the room.

    "Lay down mongrel!"

 Chapter 51 51: An Annoyed Arachne

    "Lay down mongrel!"

    Boom!*

    Gravity seemed to increase around the werewolf as it was brought to the ground, it struggled mindlessly to attack the figure walking towards it, but it could barely force itself.

    Yet as time continued, bit by bit, it was adjusting to the oppressive force. However Noah was already upon it, before walking towards the wolf, he made sure to put all ten of his attributes into agility to be safe. If he was going to tame it then he would need to reach the head if he was going to establish the connection faster. He couldn''t allow any mishaps.

    "¡­."

    Everyone stood still, if it wasn''t for the wild growlsing from the werewolf then it would be quiet enough to hear the person next to them breathing.

    No one had words to describe what was happening in front of them, why was the werewolf listening to him? Many people in the group had the same thought. Yet there were a few who even believed that he was controlling the werewolf the whole time and could only be a unique zombie long the King previous. The few with those thoughts are the same ones who were there to witness his belligerent and crazed stat while eating the Zombie King in the middle of battle.

    They felt they should speak up, they wondered why no one was doing anything but they too were afraid to say anything. If the wolf caused so much destruction alone then how in danger were they now that its master returned. Thankfully only a small minority of the students thought as much.

    Gasp*

    It helped that when they saw Noah approaching the wolf, it stretched its neck in an attempt to bite him whole. However, just like the other times, he was able to sidestep the attack and at the same time he made a leap to mount its neck while cing his hand on its head. Instantly the two stood still.

    There were only a few people there who understood what was happening. One was Isabelle, who saw him do this before while the others were Bailey and her small group, ke himself tamed a creature, so they knew the process of doing so.

    "Ar-are we saved?"

    "What''s going on? Why aren''t they moving? Are they dead?

    "Should we attack¡­.? What happens if it starts moving again?"

    "Wait¡­If he could do this, why didn''t he do this before? People were killed for no reason!"

    The act of Noah subduing the wolf had incited many different reactions from the spectators, some more questionable than the others. Lucky for them, Noah wasn''t able to hear any of it while he was going through his battle, a battle he presumed would take a lifetime. However when they entered that world, the force of being rejected didn''t ur. Instead he felt that the wolf''s ball that resembled its soul was anticipating being tamed and was actually being drawn towards his soul!

    He felt something was wrong, his new skills definitely would y a part during this time, but he didn''t feel that taming a beast of this level should be easy.

    The wolf''s orb of gas was also a rise for concern. The zombie werewolf was definitely originally human, but there wasn''t a speck of white anywhere in its orb. A ck hole is the first thought that came to mind when the dark void of the wolf''s soul. Because of that he was also able to easily notice the wisps of red.

    While the orb grew closer, he noticed the red bing more prevalent out of the darkness. The wisp began to glow and be chaotic while parts of the ck that made up the majority of its being was being reced by the chaotic color.

    ''Shit!''

    It took him longer to realize, but when he saw the appendages made of ck and red stretch out and were directed towards him. He finally noticed what was happening.

    ''The bastard is trying to tame me instead?'' Inwardly he panicked due to the surprising, yet dangerous situation he found himself in. His first thought was to reject the wolf''s attempt like how the other creatures he tamed attempted to do.

    But that would also mean he would fail to tame the beast. He too made the decision to tame the other, his orbunched its own tentacles of various shades.

    ''!''

    When the opposing orbs shed with the other, he didn''t undergo the experience from his previous attempts. The feeling of being controlled or trying to dominate the connection wasn''t being ryed to him from the Wolf''s soul.

    He felt that the wolf was actually trying to consume and merge with his very soul. Why was this happening? He wouldn''t know, he coulde up with reasonster. What he did know was that he wasn''t going to allow whatever it was doing to happen. From the connection, he could tell, or more to say he wasn''t able to feel any emotioning from the wolf''s soul. Soul whatever it was doing was just instinctual.

    When he focused his thoughts to establish the bond, he found that his spiritual strength was more than enough to dominate the other now that the two orbs were now connected.

    During this time, he didn''t realize the red in his own orb was also slowly expanding.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ¡­..

    "We''ve waited for too long¡­we should do something!" Mark took a step forward with his dull sword in hand. Many others were also beginning to reciprocate the same feeling. But there were still some that didn''t agree with him.

    "Mark, we shouldn''t. We don''t know what''s going to happen, but we atleast owe it to Noah to wait and see what happens." Jas responded, but her eyes never left from Noah''s and the werewolf''s figure while she spoke. She was looking for anything, a twitch, a subtle change in his expression, anything to let them know something was going to happen.

    Mark stopped to look at his sister with a look of betrayal before he grew irritated.

    "We don''t owe him anything! If anything he owes us an exnation. People died from that beast, if he could stop as easily as he just did then why didn''t he do so earlier?"

    In the crowd, many emotional students became more inclined to Mark''s side. They had friends who died and they themselves almost did too. Not to the werewolf, but from the horde of the zombies before it. Someone had to take the me for their experience, who better than the person who had power and the responsibility to save them because of that power?

    "You guys¡­." One by one people began to step behind Mark with their weapons drawn. The scene left Jasmine speechless when she saw the ten or so people stand to interfere when none of them had the courage to before.

    Mark noted that look of worry in his sister''s eyes. It was that same look when he was being described as a murderer. He may have had other intentions of doing what he was about to do, but he didn''t want his sister to think killing Noah was one of them.

    "Jas look¡­we are basically helping him, there''s nothing wrong with doing that right? If we kill that monster before anything happens then it would help us all. If he doesn''t seed in what he''s trying to do then who knows how many other people would die?"

    Boom!

    He and his following were about to make their way over when arge object fell from the sky between them and Noah.

    Arachne was annoyed, her understanding of humannguage was improving due to her bond with Noah so when she heard Mark, it wasn''t difficult at all for her to understand what he said. She had just neglected the heated conversation from them before, but her curiosity peaked when she heard her master''s name.

    She wasn''t sure what was going on until she saw them brandishing their weapons and were about to head in Noah''s direction. That''s when she recalled that they were going to attempt to steal her master''s prey! She couldn''t allow that, not when she could feel that her master was just about done.

    Her face couldnt express her annoyance, but to get her feelings across and her warning. She beat her legs repeatedly onto the ground while she rubbed her fangs to induce a hissing effect.

    "Stop!" Bailey rushed over while holding the unconscious Ailetta in a princess carry. Herpanions saw her heading over and they too wanted to rush to her side, but only ke was able to. Paul was still being healed by Isabelle who was finally able to stop the numerous wounds from bleeding.

    Bailey didn''t know what came over her, but when she saw the spider jump down, she knew she had to do something. She knew from kes experience that Noah was attempting to tame the Werewolf. She didn''t know if he would seed, but what she did know was that she didn''t want to get on his bad side. She also saw the speed at which Arachne moved.

    Arachne may have not been able to do much against the two boss-like monsters, but she had a feeling that the spider was simr to a boss in her own right.

    She looked at Mark''s group as if they were idiots.

    "Where were you when Paul was in trouble? Why wait till now to interfere? You all may be too emotional to notice, but look who this spider belongs too! If he could get that beast on his side, that would only make being around him that much safer. Do you want to make him your enemy!"

    The people stopped to look at one another before looking at Mark. For the few who saw the other worldly battle between Noah and the King, their body''s became heavy as they dropped their weapons. The ones who could still vividly remember the act of eating the Zombie king caused a few to wet themselves. They all looked at Arachne who looked just as menacing. ''What were we about to do?'' They all thought to themselves in fear.

    "¡­FINE! Don''t regret this if he fails, but if anyone else dies then it''s on you!" Mark huffed before finally relenting. How bad would his image appear if he still decided to interfere after his reasoning for ''helping'' was clearly put down?

    "AWHHHOOOO!"

    Everyone''s hearts skipped a beat when the dreaded howl sounded in the room. They all feared the worst and prepared to flee before they would have to fight for their life which they felt they would surely lose.

    "Ahe on! You''re right in my ear you big overgrown lug!"

    Some were too afraid to turn in the direction of the sound. But they couldn''t help but turn to face their fear now that they heard Noah''s voice. When they turned around, they were astonished to find the werewolf towering over Noah, but it wasn''t doing anything.

    ''Does that mean he seeded?

 Chapter 52 52: Iâ€™m Not Your Nanny

    A/N: Sorry everyone, I''m sick so the quality may not be the best. I will go over it again tomorrow. Hopefully I''ll feel better soon.

    ....

    ''Does that mean he seeded?''

    Utter silence, when the people whoined before saw the blood demon in the form of Noah apanied by the hungry stare of the giant beast behind him. They felt their presence be meek. Now they were just happy that they were stopped in time or their view would be inside the beast''s mouth instead.

    Whoosh*

    "I know, I know¡­I''m still upset about Grims death too, we won''t forget him, but we both have to be stronger so no one else dies right? How can you be a queen if you let your underlings die?"

    The dreadful atmosphere was somewhat relieved when they saw Noah still fully covered in blood,forting his spider while it was jumping left and right as if it was vividly telling him everything that happened.

    If anyone looked close enough, there was a small smile on Noah''s face while he interacted with Arachne. No matter if he ate the dead, killed hundreds or if he was vulnerable, he felt that Arachne would not treat him any different. At this moment, even though he lost apanion and he himself almost died, he still felt more at peace than he ever has.

    "!"

    There was no one in the group that was left who could be considered close to Noah to discuss about what happened. The only one who was even a bit familiar to him was Ailetta but she still hasn''t awakened.

    So when they saw Noah turn towards them, his gaze seemingly roaming over every individual left in the area. Most if not all felt a sense of ufortableness, but then they saw his starest a few seconds longer on Bailey, more specifically, Ailetta that was being held in her arms.

    He witnessed herst attempt, people like her were more of a hero then the very person who ims to be a hero. He wasn''t sure how he would feel if she were to die, maybe the same way he felt after Grim was killed?

    Thinking about it made him more sure of himself that he made the right decision to go on his own. If he spent the time trying to keep people he supposedly cared about alive then his path to be stronger would only be longer. What would''ve happened if he spent the time babysitting her and he had to fight these monstrous creatures with even just a little less strength than he had now?

    There was still a bit of indecisiveness in his eyes, but that''s what it means to be human, most of the time the heart doesn''t coincide with what the mind believes is right.

    But then he looked back to Bailey, and noticed the care in which she held her and remembered back to the time where he saw her about to rush to her aid even though she could''ve died.

    He nodded inwardly now that he could at least feel more at ease with leaving her as he started to walk away to gather his things. His eyes twitched when he saw a few chests along the way.

    ''It''s not worth it¡­If I steal others'' loot then I shouldn''t get mad when people do the same to me.''

    Throwing his bag over his shoulders, he advanced to the chest that held the sword that he would most likely be using long into the foreseeable future.

    The werewolf continued to mindlessly follow him but Arachne took this opportunity to sneak her way to the King''s remains.

    Whispers*

    "What do we do now¡­?"

    "How should I know? I thought we were waiting for him¡­do we follow him?"

    The murmurs continued, but Noah ignored the sounds as he observed his new sword. The sword was massivepared to what he was used to, just like the King, the sword was the same height as him. The handle made up a fourth of its height with the intention of being held with both hands. With his strength, he could only use two hands for now.

    With the sword in his hands, his presence to the spectators became more unapproachable.

    "Wa-Wait!" The people watching were so much in a daze that they didn''t realize that Noah was already on his way to leave the building.

    Bailey called after him, causing him to stop, but he knew what she wanted to say.

    "My answer is still no, I won''t tag along in your groups." His eyes then wandered to the people behind her.

    "Look at the people you are willing to protect, did they try to help when your friend was dying? Do you think they will ever help you if you were in trouble? I don''t want to be used when joining you will only benefit your group." Without waiting for her to respond he turned to walk away with his creatures in tow. The werewolf having to get on all fours to crawl out the door.

    Moments went by without anyone speaking, Mark, who was also affected by Noahs presence finally spoke up.

    "Ha¡­.haha! This is what you get for expecting anything from someone like him! The only person he cares about is himself, but who needs him? As long as we stick together than we can al-"

    Boom!

    The doors that Noah departed from swung open, revealing his bloodied figured yet again.

    Mark felt his soul almost escaping his body while the people around him subtly retreated a few steps away. They all had the same idea, they believed Noah heard Mark talking about him and came to finish him off.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However they grew confused when they saw Noah closed the door and held his head down seemingly in thought.

    "Wha-"

    Bang bang bang!

    Before anyone could ask, they heard the heavy poundinging from the other side of the door. Their eyes widened in terror at the thought that they would have to relieve the traumatizing scene again. Would there be another zombie on the level of the Zombie King? The only person who seemed to have the answers to their questions was Noah himself.

    Jasmine didn''t feel as though she had the right to talk to him, not just because of Mark''s actions but she also didn''t lift a finger when Ailetta was in danger. She had her reasons, but it would only sound like excuses if she tried to exin herself.

    Bailey was still rtively close to the door when Noah came back, she couldn''t help but ask.

    "Is¡­Is it another monster like that one?" Noah didn''t need to know what she was referring to when he could see her gaze set on his new creature.

    Part of him wanted to know how she would react if he said it was. He thought back to what he saw out there before shaking his head. Causing not only Bailey but everyone else there to sigh in relief.

    "There might only be a few hundred zombies out there." He said nonchntly, he''s killed enough of both the walking and running zombies that he was almost numb to it. But that information was already enough to fill the people there with dread. However they noticed that he still wasn''t done.

    "And it seems some of the animals returned, I couldn''t be sure but I guess you will find out soon enough." He announced while he made his way to one of the seats before setting his bag back down andid on a row of adjacent seats before resting his eyes.

    Thest fight took a lot out of him, including the penalty he received from Grim dying, his stamina was almost at rock bottom. If it wasn''t for his skill and consuming parts of the Zombie King, he probably would''ve already fallen asleep if not directly fainted.

    Theck of awareness and worry he showed regarding the monsters outside confused the onlookers. The sound on the other side of the door didn''t diminish at all. If anything the sound became louder.

    "Are you not going to fight them??" A random voice screamed out, everyone else had the same question, but was too afraid to ask. Now that someone was brave enough to voice the question, they all looked expectantly in Noah''s direction.

    "No, I''m tired." He replied without opening up his eyes. However they could all see him shaking his head which they thought he did in contempt towards them. When really he was doing it towards Arachne when he felt an emotion of satisfaction rising from her through their bond. He didn''t have to guess what was the cause, he knew she went right back to finish the body of the king. He didn''t want to deny her from feeding when it would benefit her so he didn''t stop her, but that didn''t stop him from feeling the disbelief of how much she prioritizes her stomach.

    Yet the action of him shaking his head, along with his indifferent attitude, yet again ticked a nerve from Mark.

    "You just think you''re that much better than us now huh? Tired my ass! What about that monster by your side, you''re not going to say it''s too tired too are you??"

    To this question, Noah actually opened his eyes to look towards them, before he closed them again.

    "Well if you knew that then why are you asking? Of course he''s tired, look at him." Their eyes turned towards the beast that sat next to Noah while licking its many wounds.

    ''What part of that looks tired??''

    Everyone thought to themselves, before they asked another question, they saw Noah sit up from his seat to look towards them. His expression said that what he was going to say was serious.

    "Why don''t you all try protecting yourselves for once? If no one is there to save you will you all just give up and die? That''s why you are all so weak now. Now leave me alone already. If you all can''t even handle a few small fries then just give up and die. It''s like that voice said in the beginning, prove to yourself that you deserve to live or die without your life having any meaning."

    He waited for their reaction, but all he received was silence. He nodded to himself, believing that he got his point across. Laying back down, he once again tried to rx while everyone got together to discuss among themselves.

    "So what do you think we should do? Stay and fight or should we try to run?" ke, the more talkative one of the group spoke first. No one could respond instantly, many of them had forgotten that they could run away due to their fear.

    "This isn''t a fight we can win¡­I don''t believe him when he said it was only those regr zombies. If it was then why did he run away? Obviously there''s something else and he''s gonna use us to finish it off for himself. I say we leave!" Mark''s words sounded convincing to the mass majority who also were in the same opinion. At this point they would agree with anything that involved not fighting.

    "I say we stay!" Bailey said with determination, surprising the people who were for leaving.

    "Who''s to say that the building is surrounded and what if the monsters like the one before are in the direction we are going towards? We should use this chance to grow stronger like he said and if somethinges up that we can''t handle then at least we have the option of maybe getting his help. But we don''t get that option if we leave now.

    Her words of reason slowly overturned Marks, who now was disying a frown after his idea being rejected once again.

    "I agree with Bailey"

    "Me too!"

    "Uh m-me as well."

    Starting with ke, one by one the people in the group epted her idea, leaving just Jasmin and Ailetta who haven''t decided. Jasmine looked towards Mark and hesitated with what she wanted to say before she steeled her resolve.

    "Mark, I also think we should stay. Forget about Noah, but if what he said about the zombies not being the abnormal ones then this is our chance to get stronger like you''ve been wanting. Well now''s the time¡­"

 Chapter 53 53: I Can Do It All By Myself

    A/N: Hey guys, I''m still feeling under the weather, but I didn''t want to go to many days without posting anything.

    ...¡­..

    But if what he said about the zombies not being the abnormal ones then this is our chance to get stronger like you''ve been wanting. Well now''s the time¡­"

    Bang Bang Creak!*

    From the sound of the doors, it wouldn''t be long before the zombies made their way into the building. Slight bulges could already be made out from the hollow metal door. Creaking sounds could be heard originating from the door hinges, It wouldn''t be long before the zombies invaded.

    Bailey cautiously ced Ailetta on the seats as close as she could to Noah, believing that she should be the safest there. The group banded together to dish out their roles. "There''s not much time so we will keep it simple." Jasmine took this chance to coordinate the team. She knew Mark would have a problem if Bailey stepped in to lead and the same could probably be said if Mark tried to step in.

    She quickly observed around the area and noted that everyone''s attention was on her. She couldn''t help but notice the frown on her brother''s face, but there was nothing else she could do. She focused her thoughts on the task at hand. Their life was at stake, she couldn''t allow her mind to wander.

    "Paul? I need you and anyone else who can be the front line to approach twenty feet to the door. If there''s anyone with distant magic skills then now would be the time to use them. Don''t let your fear make you neglect that our world is different now. Mark? Can you, Bailey and anyone else who has confidence in taking on the zombies take care of the ones that can run?

    Mages after using your skills, I need you to support the front line. Isabelle? We need you to stay in the back, if you have a support skill, don''t use it. Your healing will be valuable to us. We may still get infected but that doesn''t mean we can''t fight.

    The tension was building and many of the people were beginning to grow nervous. Luckily there were more people than they could ask for. Out of the sixteen people who were in charge of fighting the Zombie King subordinates, eleven of them were still alive and ready to fight. Jasmines and Bailey''s group were included into the mist of the rest of the students present. They had close to forty students left alive.

    But from the looks of the people''s nervousness and fear, she felt that she should still instruct them further.

    "Look around you! If you can, hurry to open the chest to see if there''s anything that could help us! For anyone else without a weapon or one that you''re not used to, quickly find one on the ground."

    Once that was said, everyone quickly scattered, the people who were familiar with at least killing zombies headed towards the chest first.

    While everyone was still scattered, Bailey used this chance to approach him once again. She wanted to know if he would really leave them out to die, but when she approached within 15 feet of him. His werewolf began to growl towards her, causing her to halt in her steps.

    She looked up towards the huge beast while taking a step back. Even if Noah doesn''t personally help them, she believed that if the wolf joined them then they would have nothing to worry about.

    While she stood there, Noah couldn''t help but be annoyed since his werewolf would continue to growl until she leaves so he had to address the issue.

    "What do you want?" Bailey jumped after being addressed so suddenly. For some reason, she just couldn''t help feeling like a kid while in his presence. cing her hand on her chest, she inhaled deeply to calm herself. However her voice still appeared feeble.

    "Ar-are you really not going to help us?" She asked with watery eyes. She began to feel helpless when she noticed that he still hadn''t opened his eyes to talk to her.

    "Bailey! We need you here now, they are about to get through!" She looked back and saw multiple hands reaching through the gaps of the bulging door. Everyone was already getting into position. She took onest look towards Noah before making her way towards them.

    Leaving Noah alone to think about what he should do. ''Sigh¡­.it''s not like I want to help them, but this would be a good time to level up Arachne and¡­..'' he thought about his newpanion, he would need toe up with a name for him soon.

    His thoughts went back to the Zombie King and how it was manhandling the big bad wolf. He needed to be able to rely on his creatures more so even though he didn''t want to help the group, he felt that he couldn''t allow so much experience to go to waste.

    ''Hmm I''ll just wait a little bit and then I''ll start collecting that juicy experience.'' He thought to himself while he readjusted in his seat for a morefortable experience.

    Bang!*

    But as soon as he tried to getfortable, he heard the doorway finally giving in while the zombies on the other side fell over themselves falling with the door.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah''s curiosity got the best of him when he decided to observe how the group would handle the situation.

    First he saw the earthquake move from before, Noah figured they would try to rey what happened before and barricade the door with it. However this time, the spell was less forceful as before. Above the door crumbled from the force of the ability while falling over multiple zombies rushing to get in.

    The spell was used to create obstacles making it more difficult for all the zombies to rush in at one time. Immediately afterwards, a barrage of spells rained down towards the entrance. Noah wasn''t sure how much of the attack was nned, because the effort that was put through to funnel the zombies were almost ruined when the barrage of spells destroyed some of the rubble.

    At this point, their front line advanced to stop them at the door. With Paul leading the way with his stone ability, halting the zombies advances was going well. However there was a saying, ''you''re only as strong as your weakest link''.

    Due to Paul''s ability, his movement was impacted to the point that he couldn''t cover every side. This left him to depend on the ones around him to do their job which they failed terribly.

    "Ah! they''re getting through!"

    "There''s no way we can hold them by ourselves!"

    Fear began to y its role, one by one the frontline broke down and scattered till only a few stayed with Paul. But how could those few ward off so many zombies by themselves? Soon Paul was left by himself while the zombies swarmed leaving the left to rush inside the room.

    "Tsk! You cowards are ruining everything!" Mark stepped up to the te to deal with the iing swarm. With the advance team in tow, they started to make quick work of the iing zombies. Even the ones who fled before were left in awe of their group abilities that they two tried to return to the fight.

    Around 10 mins passed while the group struggled on, but the swarm appeared to be never ending, 50? 100? No one knew how many they killed so far.

    All everyone knew was that the number of wounded was increasing.

    "FUCKK! We can''t keep doing this! We need to retreat!" Mark barked out, it appeared that everyone was waiting for that order. Dropping whatever zombie they were engaging, most of the students began to flee towards the locker room. But how would the people still engaging with the zombies find the time to leave if they didn''t have back up?

    "No! We can''t leave when Paul is still in there! Paul!" Unlike everyone else, Paul was still in the thick of the fight. It was unknown how much longer he could keep up with skill after the previous interactions with the wolf.

    Bailey pleaded for the rest to help but it seemed like her pleas were being ignored.

    She wanted to dive into the fray and help him, but she knew that it would be impossible for her on her own given the fact that more zombies wereing through.

    At the thought of his impending death, a flow of water works made their way towards her face while she continued to stab forward to the iing zombies.

    "Awhhooo!" Soon however, the dreaded howl that still lives vividly in their memories sounded before a giant ck and grey figure jumped into the horde of zombies.

    Boom!

    Using one of its ginormous ws, it swept away the zombies ten at a time. But because the zombies'' brains weren''t destroyed, they still continued to get up. However this didn''t stop the werewolf from continuing to swing left and right. Out of every ten zombies pped away, at least three would die. Soon it made its way to the entrance of the building where Paul was still struggling against iing zombies.

    Smack!* The wolf slightly remembered that this individual was extremely hard to eat. He wasn''t allowed to kill the people here but that didn''t stop it from venting its grievances. With the back of its hand, it smacked Paul across the room near the others. A huge collision could be heard with Paul impacting the ground.

    Noah saw this and could only wryly smile before looking towards Arachne who approached him asking to fight too.

    "Fight as much as you want." His smile grew, with Arachne''s mentality, he was sure that she would continue to grow stronger.

 Chapter 54 54: Thereâ€™s No Cure For Stupid

    "Fight as much as you want." His smile grew, with Arachne''s mentality, he was sure that she would continue to grow stronger.

    While she rushed into the fight, he used that moment to change the experience shared between them from 50-50 to 20-80. He also made sure to do the same for the werewolf while investing Arachne 5 unassigned stats into her strength

    He had realized beforehand that when it came to arge beast or any monster in particr that wasn''t as affected by her poison then she could only best be considered as a distraction. By raising her strength, he hoped for her to gain a perk suitable enough to change that when her stats reached the 50 mark.

    Curious to how close she was to achieving that, he quickly used this chance to not only check on her stats but the werewolves as well.

    [yer: Arachne

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Arachnid

    Lvl: 7

    Exp:248/800->973/1600

    Health:67%

    Stamina:62%

    Mana: 4

    Attributes

    Strength:23->30(32)

    ? Agility:50->54

    Constitution:18->19

    Stamina:24->25

    Magic: 2

    Spirit:26->27

    Unassigned Points: 0

    Skills

    Active

    Paralysis Venom(Lvl 0):progression-2.4%->5.2%

    Cursed Silk(Lvl 0):progression-1.7%->1.9%

    Passive

    Spider Sense(Lvl 0):progression-3.7%->6.8%

    Caught in the eyes of the spider(Lvl 0):progression-N/A]

    Noah saw that Arachne still had a long way to go till she reached 50 in strength, but inparison to his own stats she was just too far behind. That''s also why he needed to change the ratio of the experience shared between them for now.

    ''I can''t go on like this¡­If I''m weakened to this when one of my creatures die then I need to make them stronger. I wonder¡­Will the orbs also work on them? He thought about the many orbs he''s received through the chest. With the way the zombies have been progressing in levels, he was sure to find more orbs since the quality of the monsters increased.

    The only thing left for him to view was the stats for his new creature.

    [yer: Lucas

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Lycan

    Lvl: 6

    Exp:104/800

    Health:78

    Stamina:77%?

    Mana: 10

    Attributes

    Strength:42(44)

    Agility:38

    Constitution:55

    Stamina:31

    Magic:5

    Spirit:36

    Unassigned Points: 0

    Skills

    Active

    Bloodlust(Lvl 0)<novelnext></novelnext>

    Passive

    Lycans Blessing(Lvl 0)

    Lunar Empowerment(Lvl 0)

    Supernatural Senses(Lvl 0)

    Lycans Regeneration(Lvl 0)]

    Noah wasn''t too shocked to find the overly high stats for just being on level six. He had already expected stats like this or even higher considering how the werewolf managed to take strike after strike from the Zombie King and how it rampaged through students before he tamed it.

    If there was anything that caught his attention, then it would be two things that he noticed.

    Lycans Blessing-Through the blood of a Lycan, you not only have regeneration prowess but your blood is now blessed to remove harmful aliments in your blood as well. More harmful blood and diseases require higher constitution and Spirit.

    Noah''s eyes gleamed in realization when he finally realized why Arachne''s venom didn''t work on the big guy. He wasn''t able to appreciate the skill more than he would like because there was still an unsettling problem about its information.

    ''No¡­That name has to go!" He inwardly panicked when he thought about having to be reminded of Lucas whenever he called out to the wolf. He wasn''t the kind of person who would say that even though a person turned into a zombie that the zombie is still the person they were before changing. Now that Lucas died and officially turned into what he is now, the Lucas from before is now gone forever.

    ''Hmm¡­But what''s a good name?'' He pondered while watching his two creatures at work. He wasn''t sure why, but the werewolf continued to swipe away the zombies. However when a runner would sometimese towards him then he would devour it. Noah wasn''t sure if the werewolf was just a picky eater or if there was actually something special about the running zombies.

    One thing he noticed for sure was that the werewolf didn''t appear that intelligent. The zombies continued to recover and yet it didn''t change up its way in attacking. Noah hoped that could be changed in the future.

    He then looked over to Arachne, she looked like a spider on a mission. Ever since the encounter with the zombie horde outside, she knew the quickest way to take them down. She was also a lot faster and stronger than before. She advanced quickly, using her front two legs to attack the heads of the zombie. With her increased stats she was able to puncture through their brains without a problem. And with her new skill to predict the target''s future, even though she couldn''t see far, It was enough tond a steady blow as she mindlessly rampaged through the horde.

    Thinking of how he came up with Arachne''s name, Noah thought he should do the same with the werewolf. ''Since I based her name on a mythological creature then maybe I should do the same with him¡­.If that''s the case then there''s only one name that I can think of, Fenrir¡­"

    For someone who loved reading as much as he did, he felt more than satisfied with having his creatures named after legends even if they weren''t real. It was the sentimental value that mattered.

    When he looked back, he noticed Paul was being healed again while Bailey and ke stood by their side to protect him. Well more than protecting him, they were staring at the carnage being dished out by Noah''s two creatures.

    Further in the back, Mark and the rest were also so distracted by the scene in front of them that they forgot what their initial ns were.

    Noah was able to do what they couldn''t and he didn''t have to lift a finger.

    "Damnit!" Mark rushed out in frustration, he couldn''t ept that the gap had widened to this degree. At this rate, he wouldn''t be strong enough to even touch Noah''s shadow. Jasmine called after him, but he didn''t stop so she too gathered up her courage to run behind him.

    Seeing this everyone else decided to follow along. If they fought alongside the creatures then it should be safe for them to kill the zombies right? It sounded like a great n to them, but they failed to realize one particr matter.

    "I wouldn''t do that if I were you." Even though his voice wasn''t loud, to the people there who couldn''t mistake his voice for anyone else, Noah''s voice carried its own weight.

    They all turned to Noah in fear, believing that he was threatening them to stay back. Mark couldn''t take this lying down.

    "Or what? You''ll attack us too?" For some reason Mark wore an odd smirk. Noah couldn''t understand the irregr man''s thought process, ever since he''s met him, his opinion of him has gotten worse. Because of that, he didn''t consider even warning them now.

    "Fine, be my guest." Noah shrugged before walking back to the seats, leaving the group dumbfounded. They weren''t sure what that meant, does that mean he won''t attack them or not?

    The group was beginning to be emotional, especially the people like Mark and the ones who knew the value of leveling up.

    "Wait! I don''t think you should go either!" Bailey saw the whole thing. She didn''t know what was going through Noah''s head, but from her own experience she doesn''t think it was a good idea to interfere. And from the way some of the people looked at her just now, it appeared that they believed she was defending Noah. She quickly turned her body to the side, indicating for them to look towards Paul still being healed.

    "This is what happened to Paul when he got between that monster. Without his skill, I''m not sure what would''ve happened to him. Are you still willing to go?" They all looked towards Paul who was holding to his sides while periodically coughing. Blood could be seen running down his mouth, most likely from coughing up blood before he was healed.

    Everyone saw his condition, but they were also too busy running away to notice him being thrown into the air. But they remembered that thest time he got injured by the werewolf it was from the wolf trying to eat him. The visible fear of most of the people began to show.

    "FUCK FUCK FUCK! That bastard is just trying to take everything for himself! I''m sure he even had that beast attack him purposely." Mark was beginning to feel riled up while he continued to watch the two creatures ughter the iing zombies. Whenever a new group of zombies came through, they would be pped into the wall, only for Arachne toe by and stab them in the head. It could no longer be considered a fight, but just free experience at this point.

    That thought left him gnashing his teeth. Jasmine saw this and thought he was about to do somtething stupid again.

    "Mark¡­This time we don''t have the right to be angry." Before she could finish she saw Mark''s head snap towards her, his eyes raging with anger and astonishment. She needed to hurry and rify herself before the situation became worse.

    "What I mean is, he gave us the chance to fight as much as we wanted, he didn''t attack until we started to leave so if anything it would be us stealing from him.." By the time she finished, her voice was almost to a whisper as she noticed Mark''s face turning extremely red in frustration.

    He was angry because she was right, but he felt more aggrieved because that meant Noah didn''t do anything wrong! He didn''t feel right about this at all. ''If it wasn''t for him not helping us in the first ce then we could be leveling up to-! What if he nned it that way??'' Mark just thought of a crazy conspiracy, he had no idea that his insane thoughts were actually on the mark. That stupid smirk of his re-emerged as he prepared to tell everyone else his findings, but before he could, his eagerness to do anything was washed away.

    First it was the sound in the background or rather theck of noise. Then he heard the group around them talking amongst themselves.

    "It''s over?"

    "Wait¡­So why did we even fight in the first ce?"

    Not wanting to believe it, he slowly turned towards the door. There wasn''t a trace of any zombiesing in their direction at this time. His mind went nk before he began to feel defeated. He almost was willing to give up butting heads with Noah. That was until he saw the chest appearing in the room again. The chest made the room appear like a king''s treasury.

    There were many bronze chests in the area and even a few silver, yet there was only one gold. And that gold chest just happened to be the one Noah was heading for.

    "Oh no you don''t!" Without warning, Mark took off in Noah''s direction, not giving anyone time to react in time.

    That didn''t include Noah''s creatures.

    Boom!

    Arachne saw the opposing attackering towards Noah, the same one who constantly put her master in a bad mood.

    She pounced on Mark, mming him into the ground while she rubbed her fangs menacingly towards his face.

    "Urgh! Get off me!" Even then, he still didn''t throw away his arrogance.

    "Mark! Noah? Noah, please don''t hurt him! You know how he gets. There might just be a misunderstanding. Mark? Why did you rush at him?

    Jasmine tried to plead in his case. Arachne wasn''t nning on budging and Noah didn''t n on telling her to unless he had a good reason. However he was sure that Mark''s reason would be an absurd one like always.

    "We obviously killed more than he did! Some of the people even died and you''re asking me why? He''s taking the best chest to himself when that should be ours!" He raged, not caring about his situation.

    Noah shook his head when he heard the answer. It seems that the guy always means well but he was just absurdly stupid.

 Chapter 55 55: Lack Of Common Sense

    Noah shook his head when he heard the answer. It seems that the guy always means well but he was just absurdly stupid.

    He couldn''t allow Mark to keep annoying him though otherwise Noah may end up mindlessly killing him just like he did the guy in the shower. He was hoping that making the decision to kill someone would be less conflicting after feasting on the Zombie King. Even now when he thought of ending Mark''s life, the act of doing it didn''t bother him at all. To his surprise, he even felt himself salivating after imaging the blood spilling from his corpse. However it was the reason for killing that was still holding him back.

    Should he kill him just because he was annoyed? If he allowed himself to stoop that low then would he also start killing people if they looked at him funny? He wanted to be a monster like the Dragons in Legend or the epic boss Monsters in his stories, not a psychotic killer.

    He looked towards Mark who continued to struggle with mild annoyance. He wouldn''t have to think about this if it wasn''t for him.

    "Arachne¡­"

    "Aahhhh Fu-Fuck! Damnit!" At the sound of his voice, Arachne ced one of her legs in Mark''s palms before pierce clean through it. Unlike before when Mark was bitten, there was not much adrenaline pumping through his body to withstand the pain. He screamed out in agony and tried to grab for his hand, but wasn''t able to when Arachne was still towering above him.

    Jasmine almost rushed to his aid, but stopped in her tracks when she saw the pupils of all the three ''monsters'' looking back towards her.

    "500.." The random number caused Jasmine''s brain to go haywire as she panicked to figure out what 500 stood for. She never bothered to look behind her to see the awkward expressions on some of the people who had experienced this before.

    "E-Eh? 500? Wh-what does tha-"

    "Sigh! 500 gold, that''s what I want." Jasmine''s eyes widened in shock when she realized what he was insinuating.

    "You won''t give Mark back unless we give you money??" She wasn''t expecting this oue after all they had gone through and it just so happens that money wasn''t something they had right now.

    Soon however she became confused when she saw Noahs questioning face to her question.

    "Why would I want money for him? He isn''t worth anything, but since he brought up the fact about contribution¡­Well I think it''s fair to say that the chest now would be unobtainable by all of you if it wasn''t for me and all i''m asking for is just 500. Keep the weapons and the items and you may still have a bit of gold left over."

    And almost as if it was nned, Arachne released her grip on Mark which he quickly used that chance to scurry away. Even during the time he was under her, unnoticeably he tried to use his skill to increase his strength, yet he was still under the spider''s control. He was too prideful to show it but he was terrified with how powerless he was at that moment.

    The rest saw that Mark was released and all began to rx, but they still had an issue to solve.

    "Noah? What if we also need the gold for something?" He turned to the voice to see that Bailey was now confronting him about the issue.

    To the question, he just shrugged it off, making it appear as if he didn''t care.

    "I''m not forcing you." He said while he took out two glowing orbs from the chest and ced them on the floor, one yellow and the other orange in front of Arachne for all to see before turning back towards her.

    "But don''t expect any kind of help from me again." He didn''t mind the looks that he received. If anything it made him realize that he got the point across.

    The others thought that not receiving his help wouldn''t be so bad if they could keep their gold. He already took care of two of the biggest threats here. What else would they need to worry about? They were unaware of the panicked faces of not only Bailey, but also ke, and Paul who were finally on the road to a somewhat full recovery.

    Noah then continued to ignore them while he received the gold from the chest and the rest of his items. One which was surprisingly another skill parchment.

    ''I haven''t received a skill in awhile¡­is it because the zombies are leveling up or did I just get lucky?'' He continued to receive thest two items before reviewing the skill. He didn''t want to be around the people here too long.

    When he retrieved the first item, the item he held in his hand this time was an item he hadn''t seen before, but the people who just came from the cafeteria knew all too well.

    "Is that the zombie cure?" He looked back towards Bailey and noticed her shocked gaze.

    ''A cure?'' He looked at the murky green liquid in wonder. With his situation, he didn''t care about it at all, but he could understand why the others would think it was so valuable. He could use this.

    "Is this something you need?" He extended the vial out to Bailey. She continued to gaze towards it before slowly nodding her head. Since the fight with the werewolf, she wasn''t sure if the scratches that Paul acquired from it infected him because of his skill. However she was positive that the saliva and the blood from the other zombies would cause him to slowly turn.

    The people who followed her currently were the ones she could trust the most and she didn''t want to risk losing them. She starts to take faltering steps forward before witnessing Noah withdrawing the cure.

    "Ah ah ah¡­first I need to know what it''s worth. Don''t worry though, as long as you''re honest with me then I''ll sell it to you cheaper." His n this time was to prepare to leave this ce since when the mystery shop keeper leaves, he wouldn''t have anything keeping him here. But first he wanted to use the shop.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Bailey hesitated to answer him, not because she wanted to lie to him, she was just nervous that even with the price he says, they still wouldn''t have enough.

    "It''s 1,000 gold! That''s how much the vial portion cost, I was the one to buy it earlier." Jasmine interjected when she felt that she could use the opportunity to make up to Bailey for taking their money earlier. She tried her best not to break eye contact with Noah when his eyes snapped to her and his gaze narrowed down.

    Bailey was shocked to hear Jasmine lie about the price. At first she thought Jasmine was just trying to get over on Noah, but not only would that not be smart since he would find out eventually, she also didn''t think Jasmine was that sort of person. ''She''s doing this for me?'' She quickly judged, however before she could think of Jasmine''s reasoning for doing such a thing, she had to correct it. There''s no telling if this would be Noah''s bottom line for turning on them.

    "No! That''s not true, Jasmine is mistaken, it was 1,500 gold! But even then, I won''t have enough¡­is there another w-Ah!"

    She panicked when she saw the ss vial tossed in the air towards her. The panic turned to confusion when her mind finallyprehended what happened. Tears began to feel her eyes once again from her gratitude. Noah respected her honesty and when that meant that could possibly not receive what she needed to save her friend,

    "Don''t think this is free, I still expect to be repaid, that may be through gold, equipment or you can give me skills that you happen to find. It''s not like I have a need for that anyways. However, make sure you pay me back before I leave, or I ''will'' find you."

    There were a few key things they picked out from what he said. Not needing the potion is what Jasmine caught onto, however Bailey''s focus was on ''before I leave.''

    "Wait¡­What do you mean you don''t need the cure for the infection? Is there a way to not get infected??" She almost ran up to hold him, but was frozen in ce from his dead stare. He didn''t like the fact that she tried to lie to him.

    "¡­..Just get a skill for it, it''s that simple." He returned back to the chest to reach for thest item. His eyes shined for a moment before the interest dissipated. He pulled out from the chest a shield big enough to cover his entire torso, down to his knee. The shield was mostly bronze in color while parts of the border were red. He liked the aesthetic of the shield, especially the molding designs on the top and bottom of it, but sadly he wasn''t sure if he wanted to go the shield route anymore.

    ''Maybe when I can hold that sword with one hand then I can try using a small shield with it¡­'' He thought to himself, his eyes turned towards the heavy bone swordid near the chest.

    The spectators watched in awe when they proceeded to watch Noah stuff the huge shield into his bag that was clearly bigger.

    "Wh-What on earth¡­.?" The mystery surrounding Noah increased.

    Restrapping his bag, he picked up the sword to head on his way again. He had a lot of time still before the shop disappeared, but he wanted to quickly spend his gold so he can decide what else he needs to save for next.

    ''Sigh¡­I need to stay in one ce. I try avoiding one idiot and then meet another, there''s no point in avoiding them now.'' He thought to himself while he motioned for Fenrir and Arachne toe along again.

    "Noah, wait! What skill? And that bag! Did you also get it from the shop?" Jasmine was pressed for answers. If she was going to help lead this group of people to survive, she needed more information. Information that Noah seemed to have plenty of. But she didn''t get the answer she was expecting.

    "What''s the point of being so smart when you don''t use your brain? Books, games, movies, why leave your thoughts tethered to our regr standards? There''s not one answer so find your own." This time he let Fenrir go through first, he couldn''t risk a surprise attack in his weakened state. Zombies were free game, but he was sure that the animals would be a pain to fight right now.

    While he was leaving, everyone regrouped again. Mark''s hand was bandaged with torn clothes. Isabelle didn''t have the mana to continue healing, but at least his hand didn''t have a giant hole in it anymore. Bailey and Jasmine spent the next few minutes discussing what they talked about with Noah while Paul took the potion with a frown.

    "I knew we couldn''t expect anything from that guy. Skills? Even I could''ve thought of that! He''s just too arrogant, Jas, don''t worry, I''ll be stronger than him soon."

    Almost everyone in the room was bing ustomed to Mark''s character. In order not to provoke him, they tried hard not to react to what he was saying.

    "That''s not true¡­" Jas couldn''t help but say. One of her biggest goals has been to contact outside help, however all phones were down. Thendlines in the cafeteria didn''t work and she couldn''t ess the inte on her phone either. But after talking to Noah, his answer may have been simple, yet after thinking about it, the answer really was simple.

    "I was nning on trying to find a radio to call out for help, since phones weren''t working then that would be our best bet. Now I''ve realized¡­why did we never check the shop for one? I''m sure if it had one then it should definitely work and the government would surely figure it out as well. We really have been thinking outside the box.."

    Everyone took a moment to think about what she said. If she put it that way then maybe they could even find skills in the shop too. Bailey had a .

    realization

    "Guys, it''s not just the shop. The chest¡­.with so many of us, we have a higher chance of getting skills that way too. He was right, the answer may be simple, yet we weren''t thinking at all."

    The group had a sudden realization when they realized that important fact. They witnessed Noah receiving a higher grade chest than them, but if they amounted all of their items together then they obviously obtained much more than him.

    "Speaking of skills¡­.I think I got one that might help."

 Chapter 56 56: The Start Of Cannibalism?

    "Speaking of skills¡­.I think I got one that might help."

    All eyes turned to a male holding a skill parchment in his hands. The stares made him feel ufortable, but to get out of the situation, he cleared his throat and discussed what skill was there.

    "Purification??" The room sounded like a room of echoes as everyone mindlessly repeated the spell he obtained. There were some questioning looks among the group. ''How could someone find a spell EXACTLY when we needed it most'', was on their minds. This was too good to be true just to be coincidence. They questioned if the person was ying with them.

    The person who spoke out about the skill before began to sweat nervously from their looks of doubt.

    "Believe it or not, the skill is right here so why would I lie?? It''s just¡­." He began to look around nervously, his nervousness actually made the suspicious ones feel more relieved. ''So there is a catch'' They thought, but his answer surprised them nheless.

    "I¡­I have a skill that grants me luck." The answer surprised everyone, the more clever ones were more excited to hear this. That would make him a more valuable individual.

    "But¡­.It only works when it involves saving my life¡­" His expression turned to gloom. Now that he says that, the group noticed there were a few torn parts on his clothes that were still covered in blood.

    "So he was infected¡­What kind of irony is this?"

    Everyone soon recovered, but there was still one thing they needed to cover before using the skill.

    "Who should hold on to the skill and what happens if we roll for the wrong one?" Jasmine, who was unfamiliar with gaming, asked out. The question caused a silence to descend on everyone. The atmosphere seemed to start getting heavy.

    Who wouldn''t want a skill that could save their lives? Wouldn''t it be unfair if someone were given the skill and only used it for themselves or worse! What if they died? A fight for the skill appeared to be about to go down

    "What if we let our healers Rock Paper Scissors for it?" The crowd was startled by the voiceing from a distance. Then they saw Ailetta slowly making her way towards them while holding her head.

    "Ailetta?" Both Jas and Bailey had the same urge to help support her, but stopped and looked at one another when they noticed they had the same thought. Jasmine relented under the staring contest, for she was still feeling guilty by not supporting her friend when she could''ve lost her life.

    "Tsk! And why does it have to be a healer? Anyone of us can still use the skill." The other person that irritated Mark the most besides Noah was Ailetta. It didn''t help much after he learned of the rtion between the two.

    But Ailetta ignored his gaze and looked to everyone else to answer the question. If we have our healers roll for the spell, there''s most likely a higher chance that they will be guaranteed the skill since they already have the heal skill. There should be a low possibility of obtaining the same skill twice, so that we don''t waste this chance let''s have our healers roll for it to be safe."

    It didn''t take long for the majority of the group to agree with her. There were only three healers to choose from. One was Isabelle and the other was one of the healers that followed along with Mark while thest was a woman that happened to be with one of the more battle hardened groups.

    The two weren''t like Isabelle who only focused on healing. They focused more on their support skills to aid in the fights which left most of the healing to her. At the same time they all knew the importance of the skill and felt a heavy weight of responsibility when looking at the scroll. The other two folded under that pressure and didn''t even attempt to challenge for it anymore, leaving Isabelle as the receiver of the skill.

    The suspense was killing them while they waited to see if Isabelle sessfully obtained the skill. As they watched her they only noticed her eyes closed and her forehead would crease from time to time.

    Even when she opened them she still had the same nk cold expression as before. The trauma from this morning resulted in her not having any feeling of gratification in whatever she did so gaining the skill of such worth didn''t make her happy.

    "I did obtain the skill, it doesn''t specifically say if it will cure the infection. It only lists that it can remove negative ailments in the person it''s used from, but that also depends on the level of the skill."

    The people started to grow a foreboding feeling when they heard the description of the skill. They wanted to immediately test out the effects, but they all forgot one important fact, her mana was too low to cast the spell!

    They quickly gathered their belongings together to see if there was anything else they could use. They weren''t lucky enough to obtain a cure in a vial like Noah did. They were however able to obtain a potion that was red in color. Knowing that the world was almost exactly simr to the video games most people were used to ying, the mostmon thought was for the potion to allow them to restore their health.

    With nothing worthwhile that could help them in their situation besides gear, a few other skills and the few orbs that granted them extra attributes. Their destination was to all meet up in the cafeteria. With what they experienced, trying to survive will be much harder on their own. Their priority should be to find other people, specifically a ce under government rule to secure their safety.

    Meanwhile, Noah had finally made it to the cafeteria, slower than he would have liked, but the surroundings were slowly changing in the area and with that change came about some annoying pest.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He didn''t know what changed during the time he spent at the gym, but the animals weren''t the only thing mutating.

    The grass had grown long enough to reach the middle of his shins while the average nt life grew as well. The average tree appeared to grow an extra foot while their leaves were noticeably bigger as well. Everything had a wild-like aesthetic to it now. Thankfully the campus wasn''t big on growing trees and flowers or trekking to the cafeteria would be just as dangerous as walking through zombies.

    The scene was no jungle by any means, at least right now. But it made it possible for the hidden critters to use the scenery to ambush them.

    Noah looked over to Arachne with a look that said he was fed up. Not with her but to the spiders they encountered on the way here. The average size of each one was half the size of Arachne. However, unlike Arachne who used her body to hunt, the breed they encountered were spiders that specialized in using their webs.

    Noah could''ve easily avoided their of webs in the vicinity, but there was no need to with Fenrir leading the way. He just wasn''t prepared for the barrage of webs toe shooting in his direction. Multipleing from the one tree in the vicinity while others were shot from the bushes that also grew in length.

    The fight would''ve taken longer than he would''ve liked if it wasn''t for the skill of Fenrir. Its roar had an intimidation factor that worked well on a beast that relied on their instincts. He hoped that with Arachne present, her presence would ward the creature away, but without the title of queen. She was just another obstacle in the way for their source of food.

    After driving away the rest of the spiders that they weren''t able to kill, Noah retrieved the silver chest that dropped. He was surprised to find a curved dagger in the chest that had a green tip and when pressed against something, a green non corrosive liquid seeped through. He was sure that the dagger had to be poisonous as he slid the dagger in the side pocket of his bag for easy reach. There were also a pair of fingerless gloves in the chest, Noah noticed that he still wore his bracers that he had yet to use if he didn''t ount for that scene in the shower.

    He quickly took off the metal gloves in ce of the brown leather like gloves he just acquired. He didn''t feel a noticeable difference when wearing them like he would when he equipped anything else, but it was from a silver chest, it had to do something. At least that was what he hoped for.

    He stored what little gold was left, he was disappointed that he found so little in the chest this time. But considering that he didn''t kill that many spiders, theck of items was justified.

    They were about to leave when he noticed Arachne hovering around the head of one of the spiders.

    "Arachne?" Noah questioned before heading closer to inspect what she was up to. He thought she was eating like she usually did but he noticed that she was using her legs to dig through the backside of the spider''s hind.

    ''What the heck is she up to this time?'' He watched with interest, it''s been awhile since his curiosity has peaked. Soon he discovered what she was aiming for. A pearl like object was retrieved from the guts of the dead spider. Well that''s how it looked from Noah''s perspective, but their hind was also where their hearts were located.

    Arachne quickly stuffed the pearl in her mouth, she sat there for a few seconds without moving before moving on to the next one. She waspletely ignoring Noah who needed answers. He was tempted to find his own spider to dissect when he realized the notifications were ringing. He just had a feeling the answer was there.

    [Fenrir Level Up! +5 attributes.]

    [Arachne Level Up! +5 attributes.]

    [Your tamed creature Arachne has consumed the mana source of itspatible species. Mana and the progression of its skills linked to the mana source has been increased.]

    "Wait, wait, nooo¡­.so does that mean¡­" He wasn''t able to focus his thoughts on the new information. He thought about the hidden meaning behind what he saw. His thoughts were if this applied to the spiders then did this also apply to humans. He''s seen the insane requirements to upgrade his skills at level 0, anything higher? He was sure the requirements would be insane. That thought is what was preventing him from checking his new upgraded skill.

    ''What if humans had the same pearl to help increase my skills and what if that was also a reason zombies are growing so fast? Wait! Do zombies have them too?'' He needed to get to the bottom of it, but there was still something more important at hand.

    "Hey! At least leave one for me!" He rushed to push Arachne out the way as she was digging for the next one. There were two more spiders left, he wanted to check the progression in which it increased the skills, but Arachne was being too selfish.

    "Don''t fuss, when I recover more mana then I''ll give you more of my webs or do you want me to find a male spider for you?" Noah asked with a smirk, but his smirk changed to shock when he had to dodge leging towards him.

    ''How is a weakinglyparable to delicious food?'' Noah wanted tough, but for some reason he couldn''t. She was just on another level of a foodie. He reached his hand into the body of the spider as he maneuvered around. The squishiness of its guts didn''t faze him at all, if anything he was resisting the urge to eat again. That reminded him that he could also use the spider''s corpses to try to level up his skills he gained from his chimera race too. He started to regret letting the other spiders run away.

    It didn''t take him long to find the pearl-like object, he had no reason to wipe off the guts and blood from it before stuffing it in his mouth. He felt the pearl travel past his throat and before it reached his stomach it dispersed in his body.

    ''Did it work for me too?'' He started to be excited at the thought. If it seeded then he looked forward to finding more spiders in future and he couldn''t help but think about the zombies that could have them.

 Chapter 57 57: Here We Go Again

    ''Did it work for me too?'' He started to be excited at the thought. If it seeded then he looked forward to finding more spiders in future and he couldn''t help but think about the zombies that could have them.

    yer: Noah

    Race:Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 2616->3056

    Lvl: 9

    Exp:46/6400->507/6400

    Health:49%->50%

    Stamina:16%->29%

    Mana: 6/66->9/66

    Attributes

    Defense: 25

    Strength:24(26) [8]+5

    Agility:36(40) [12]+7

    Constitution:53(58) [17]+10

    Stamina:27(30) [9]+5

    Magic: 30(33)

    Spirit:95(105)

    Unassigned Points: 0

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)progression:75%

    Killing instinct (lvl 0) progression:100%

    Decree of Equivalent Exchange (lvl 0) progression: 0%

    Undead Webbing(Lvl 0)1.9%->6.2%

    Passive

    Rodeleros(lvl 0) progresssion: .6%

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:100%

    Immortal body (lvl 1) progression: .8%

    Budding feeder (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Subservient Hierarchy (lvl 0) progression: 0%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:50%

    Taming proficiency(lvl 1)N/A

    Unity through pain(lvl 0)N/A

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0): N/A

    Spiders Alertness(Lvl 0)3.7%->9.4%

    Sensory Spines(Lvl 0): 2.5%-8.3%

    Titles

    The Fallen, Subjugator]

    Having to once again be reminded of his penalty, his excitement almost diminished until he saw the improvement to his skills. He wasn''t sure of the exact numbers but it had to be at least a five percent increase with just the one pearl. He wondered how much of an increase Arachne gained after eating seven by now. When he thought about it, he still had to allocate her five points since she leveled up.

    [yer: Arachne

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Arachnid

    Lvl: 8

    Exp:973/1600->57/3200

    Health:67%->65%

    Stamina:62%->58%

    Mana: 4

    Attributes

    Strength:30->32(33)

    Agility:54->58

    Constitution:19->22

    Stamina:25->28

    Magic: 2

    Spirit:27->28

    Unassigned Points: 5

    Skills

    Active

    Paralysis Venom(Lvl 0):progression-5.2%->42.8%

    Cursed Silk(Lvl 0):progression-1.9%->37.4%

    Passive

    Spider Sense(Lvl 0)]:progression-6.8%->44.2%

    Caught in the eyes of the spider(Lvl 0)]:progression-N/A]

    Noah''s eyes shined when he noticed the growth in her skills and mana. He really wanted to exterminate them all.

    "Tsk¡­we will have to wait to go looking for them again. Shop first and then we can alwayse back." In his frustration he mindlessly snapped off one of the dead spider''s legs and started to chew on it. Doing so felt so natural to him that he didn''t question his new odd behavior.

    "Arachne, finish up with thest two so we can get going." He urged, but he didn''t have to say anything. He didn''t know if she just found the pearls to be tasty or if she just instinctively knew that the pearls were good for her. She was already busying herself on thest spider. Noah took this time to increase her strength using the five points she obtained, raising her strength up to 37.

    When he increased her stats, his eyes wandered over to Fenrir who was casually stuffing the spiders they passed into his mouth whole. He didn''t even attempt to chew as he swallowed them whole.

    "! At least chew! You''re making Arachne look good!" Noah knew he shouldn''t be surprised when Fenrir was still considered a zombie. All they knew how to do was eat.

    "Hmph! He doesn''t know how to enjoy a meal, don''tpare him to me!" Arachne had finished up finding all the pearls and was able to respond.

    Fenrir has yet developed conscious thinking, allowing for Noah to avoid an argument between the two. Before he forgot, he also took this time to go over Fenrir stats and spend his points as well.

    [yer: Fenrir<novelnext></novelnext>

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Lycan

    Lvl: 7

    Exp:104/800->291/1600

    Health:78->80%

    Stamina:77%->75?

    Mana: 10

    Attributes

    Strength:42->45(46)

    Agility:38->41

    Constitution:55->60

    Stamina:31->33

    Magic:5

    Spirit:36->38

    Unassigned Points: 5

    Skills

    Active

    Bloodlust(Lvl 0) Progression:.6%

    Passive

    Lycans Blessing(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Lunar Empowerment(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Supernatural Senses(Lvl 0)Progression:.9%

    Lycans Regeneration(Lvl 0)Progression:1.3%]

    "Wait a minute¡­.Will everyone with a unique skill transform to zombies with these kinda stats when they get infected?" Imaginary sweat went down his face. He''s met a lot of people who had a unique skill so far and these were just college students! He was sure people like the army would have tons of individuals who acquired a unique skill, but then again. Would someone in the army be able to kill someone they were supposed to be able to sacrifice their life for?

    "If anything they would try to detain them first¡­Sigh! I was hoping that maybe I could get more OP zombies."

    Noah''s thoughts returned back to his stats onest time, he couldn''t miss this chance to allow Fenrir to obtain another skill so he added the rest of his stats to strength. Immediately he was made aware of the notification.

    [Your tamed creature, Fenrir, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in strength, perk based on ss Lycan obtained; ''Bing deadly weapons'']

    Passive-Bing Deadly weapons: A Lycans ws and teeth were always to be feared. What if these weapons could be improved? With the obtained skill, the sharpness and toughness of your teeth and ws has been improved. Changes will be improved when the skill levels up.

    ''¡­.Well it sounds good, but I don''t know how good the changes are. I didn''t exactly test out its ws before this happened¡­I''ll have to make sure topare it when it levels up again.''

    "Now we can go." He looked towards his two creatures before making his way to the cafeteria. It didn''t take long for the group to reach the cafeteria ande upon a site Noah was already expecting.

    Noah had a feeling that the students here would''ve had the same troubles as they did with the recent horde. And from the amount of zombies piled around the build and the busted windows, he was sure that they had their own troubles to deal with.

    He was surprised because out of the zombie corpse he saw, he observed carcasses of giant beetles in the area. The Beatles were as big as full grown golden retrievers.

    Noah noticed that the door that led to the lobby was broken down, but as he headed towards it, he could see a barricade of tables and other items stacked in its ce. He decided to make a detour from the window he used back then.

    He was about to jump through when he had a realization before turning behind him. He looked at the oversized werewolf following behind him on all fours even though it could walk on two. It took him about two extra nces from Fenrir to the window to decide that it just wasn''t going to work out unless he wanted to tear the whole wall down so he had to resort to an old skill he had almost forgotten about.

    "Ok big guy, seems like you''ll have to go inside for a while."

    Fenrir didn''t show any signs of rejection and through their bond, he lowered his head to the same height as Noah. Noah then proceeded to make contact with Fenrir''s head before closing his eyes and activating the soul cage skill. He didn''t have to close his eyes but in doing so it made it easier for him to focus.

    Last time he attempted this with Arachne, the process took longer than anticipated and was extremely ufortable.

    ''Oh!'' Noah mentally eximed when he fully connected his souls to Fenrir. Fenrir didn''t resist in the slightest, even when he brought his soul into Noah''s own, the wolf still didn''t struggle. The process was going too easy, but now Noah was at the stage that took the longest for Arachne and that was to find a ce within his body to reside.

    He waited, but he noticed that Fenrir wasn''t moving at all. Noah began to think that maybe he should guide him. However when he attempted to guide him to his back, thinking it would be suitable for him since Arachne also liked that area. He felt a presence in his back that wasn''t supposed to be there.

    ''! How is she here if she''s out there¡­?'' He thought. Noah was beyond surprised when he felt the presence of Arachne''s soul originating from his back. He could always find time to think about what happenedter, but for now he needs to finish what he started. If he couldn''t use that spot then he would just guide Fenrir somewhere else.

    ''Since you aren''t picky like a certain someone then we''ll go for the arm.'' It didn''t take long at all to secure the wolf''s location. It was having Noah doubt if he was using the same skill or was it just because the time with Arachne was his first time using the skill.

    When his vision returned it was only him and Arachne left by the window. Noah was never able to check his back when he used the skill before, but now that Fenrir was on his arm, he wanted to hurry and check to see if there were any changes. To his dismay he still wasn''t able to see anything because of his gear.

    "Fine, whatever, it''s not like I wanted to see it anyway." Trying to hide his disappointment, he returned his attention to the window. He made sure to allow Arachne to go in first. His stats were abysmalpared to what they were before.

    When we walked in he noticed that the dog from earlier was now covered in a sheet, possibly to help diminish the dead smell that could possible attract other creatures.

    The two continued to make their way out the room and into the hallway. He noticed that the doors leading into the lobby were closed this time. He hoped that the door wasn''t barricaded too like the previous one.

    Arachne made way for him to open the door, but before reaching the handle, he could already make out voices on the other side. And judging from the sounds, there were a lot of people on the other side.

    He steeled himself for another fight before opening the door slowly.

    "Hey! Everyone the door, look!"

    "Someone go get Neal!"

    Noah could already make out the sudden silence on the other side after the initial yelling. It was good that the people were vignt, but now that meant he couldn''t allow Arachne to go first. The thought caused him to smirk to himself, his appearance wasn''t any better. Bloody, while wielding a giant eerie bone sword and sporting multiple pupils?

    ''Maybe Arachne would have less of an impact on them then me?'' He joked to himself before stepping through the door.

    "Mon-Monster?"

    "Archers prepare your bows! Don''t worry about wasting any, they are really cheap in the shop."

    "D-do you think this one will be easier than the gian-"

    "! There''s a giant spider behind it too! It''s a lot bigger than the others. Hurry up and get Neal and his group! What''s taking so long?

    Noah didn''t me them for being so rmed, but it was quite annoying. The hysteria grew more when Arachne made her way in front of him.

    He didn''t know where this huge group of people came from. They certainly weren''t with Mark''s group otherwise they would''ve brought them when they came to the gym.

    He repeatedly heard the name Neal, rms sounded in Noah''s head to the name. He hoped it wasn''t the same person he was thinking about.

    Noah''s gaze constantly roamed between everyone wielding a weapon against him. There were at least 30 fighters in the lobby alone and he could make out more in more people within the cafeteria itself. It was unsure if the people in there were capable of fighting.

    He decided to wait for the Neal guy toe, but as he waited he also channeled soul cage skill, just in case he needed to bring the big guy out.

    Bam!

    It didn''t take long to hear the doors on the second floor swing open and a couple figures came through.

    ''It just had to be them¡­'' The first person he saw was none other than Reginina. He was hoping she died in the wave of zombies at the gym, but apparently she was able to flee all the way here.

    Even though he despised her, she wasn''t the main priory right now. It was the maniptor standing next to her and the group of arm people at his sides.

    Neal was a very charismatic person, if someone were to ask who was the most popr guy in the sky then 90 percent of them would say Neal. To the public he was a saint, but to Noah and the people who suffered under him, he was no different than a snake or the devil''s advocate. He was the sort of person that could stab you and broad daylight and convince everyone around that youmitted suicide. No one would be the wiser since he was already viewed in such a high esteem.

    With his vision, he witnessed a small smirk on Neals face before he put on a face to address the issue at hand. Noah could already tell that he knew who he was, most likely from Regina no less.

    Noah was unsure what sort of y Neal would put on this time, but he was mistaken if he thought it would go the way it used to.

    As of now, it doesn''t matter what everyone else thought. Neal could convince them that Noah ate their mothers. But what could they do about it if he did?

    ....

    A/N: Hey everyone, I was able to secure a contract with this site and my chapters should be going premium soon. If you don''t believe the story is good enough to use your coins then make sure to save your free tickets for the avable chapters.

 Chapter 58 58: Beware Of The Dog

    A/N: I was just made aware that this chapter doesn''t have spaces. It wasn''t like that when it was uploading. Will fix it when I get off work today, sorry everyone.

    ....

    As of now, it doesn''t matter what everyone else thought. Neal could convince them that Noah ate their mothers. But what could they do about it if he did?

    "Everyone stands down, he''s not a monster, he''s¡­." Neal walked towards the ledge and looked down to Noah and said with a smile. "An old friend of ours¡­"Hearing that, everyone instantly became rxed as if Neal''s words were gospel.

    Noah noted how easily everyone believed Neal, it was just like before. If Neal gave the word, he was sure everyone would give up their lives to attack him. This would be a good time to y along, but Noah didn''t want to waste time here. He knew that Neal would try to test him. But would he try to test him after he summoned Fenrir?

    Just as he had the thought, he decided to bring the wolf out. Fear is a powerful tool to negotiate with. If Neal wants to y mind games then Noah would rather change the ying field to who had the bigger dog?

    "No-Noah! What''s the meaning of this?" Neal asked in his panic, he tried his best to stay calm when the ten foot werewolf appeared out of nowhere. Not many people have yet to tame a creature and even if they had, there was no way they would feel confident enough to store the creature within themselves when danger lurked everywhere.

    More importantly they would never expect anyone to tame a monster of Fenrir''s proportions. The people hiding in the back began to cry, they had just finished going through an ordeal with the horde and the monster in front of them appeared more horrifying than having to fight hundreds of walking zombies.

    The group with the weapons once again brandished their weapons, but if you listened carefully you could hear the clicking sounds of metal as their hands shook feverishly in fear of confronting the beast.

    Fenrir didn''t have to do anything to show Noah''s prowess, his appearance was a demonstration in itself.

    Arachne felt peeved that Fenrir received so much attention when they barely paid attention to her. She was scary too!

    Before looking towards Neal, Noah observed the archers wielding their bows with the arrows nocked. He made sure to get a little bit closer to Fenrir before addressing Neal. Before the penalty he wouldn''t have to be vignt against ranged attacks from people who most likely had inferior stats then him. However as of now, he knew his weakness and he wouldn''t allow his pride to put him in danger.

    "I don''t know what you mean." Noah spoke without fear of the people pointing their weapons at him.

    "If I want to summon my dog then I can summon him without your permission. I''m not the one pointing my weapon at you. Now tell me ''friend''." Noah exaggeratedly looked around the room.

    "What is the meaning of this?"

    The power move stumped Neal who usually always had a response while the people in the surrounding were also stumped. ''You know damn well why we are pointing our weapons at you!'' they all had the same thing on the tip of their tongues.

    Neal took this short respite to formte his next thought into words when he felt a tug on his clothes.

    "Ne-Neal¡­th-thats Lucas!" Regina struggled to tell him. She couldn''t forget the man she spent most of this hell hole with. Especially since he always took the opportunity to transform in front of them. Even with the changes Lucas went through after being mutated, something told her that he was the same person.

    Ignoring everyone else and turning towards her, Neal spoke in shock. "Lucas? Are you sure? But he was just summoned, it shouldn''t be possible."

    "It''s him! I''m sure of it. I don''t know how he did it, but I think Noah is controlling him somehow.."Neal felt that he could use this information to his advantage. Besides, after what they''ve been through, taking down one creature shouldn''t be hard and if they had to they could just kill the person controlling the werewolf if that was really Lucas.

    "Coughs! Well let''s not point fingers at one another, we were in the wrong. But your wolf friend is scaring everyone else. Do you mind putting him away?"

    "No, I feel morefortable with him around since this is now the second time you pointed your weapons at me. Just let me see the shop and then I''ll leave." Noah was quick to respond, the visible annoyance could be seen on his face, but the people in the area were also bing emotional. Neal put his head down before shaking it in disappointment.

    "I''m sorry you can''t trust us, but we also can''t trust you with that thing around to let you stay here. Unless¡­.I was told that the wolf was actually someone we also know. If that''s the case then I can convince them that the wolf is harmless if that''s actually our dear friend Lucas or if you killed him¡­I don''t see any other way you could tame him."

    Neal finally revealed his shady smile. He felt that he had put Noah into a trap, if he unsummons the wolf then he could still convince everyone that he was controlling Lucas and they could attack him. If he admitted to controlling Lucas then they could still try to kill him to ''save'' Lucas from Noah''s control. To Neal, it didn''t matter if Lucas was the wolf or not, all that matters was getting rid of the ant pretending to be a lion. They also had a tamer within their group who has yet to tame anything. If they yed their cards right then they could get a valuable weapon.

    The spectators were shocked upon hearing Neal. They all became more fervent to attack Noah after making Neal made him out to perhaps being a murderer.

    Noah was struck with surprise that they knew Fenrir was once Lucas, but then he remembered that Regina was once in Lucas'' group before. But they were mistaken if they thought he was going to y along.

    "I don''t think you are understanding ''Neal''¡­"

    "Aaawwhooo!"

    As if on cue, Fenrir roared oppressively, spreading fear into those who heard him. Arachne could feel from Noah that a battle was gonna break out. It would be her job to protect her master while Fenrir went rampant since he could kill a lot faster than her and wounds barely affected him. She wanted to prove her worth too, she was reluctant to stay behind, but she was surprised that she was able to contribute more than Fenrir before the fight started.

    Whoosh!*

    Out of fear, an arrow slipped from one of the peoples fingers before being released towards Noah. Everything happened so fast, after the first arrow soared, they all watched in horror while some in suspense. Neal for instance was hoping for the arrow to take Noah''s life.

    However they were let down when Arachne appeared in front of him and pped the arrow away. She had the same sensory hairs as Noah, and with her perk to anticipate an object''s movements. She easily swatted the iing arrow, shocking the people in the area.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Noah looked towards the person who shot the arrow, obviously the guy didn''t mean to shoot it, Noah could tell from visual regret on the man''s face. However Noah still made a mental note of his appearance, if he regretted it then he shouldn''t have pointed the arrow at him to begin with.

    He then returned his gaze to Neal who was now holding the horrified Regina. The two froze when they saw Noah slowly walking towards the steps while Fenrir and Arachne walked by his side, Noah''s gaze never leaving their figures.

    "Everyone always assumes that I''m asking for their permission. If it was your possession then I can understand, but you don''t own what''s behind those doors." Speaking up till here, he left Fenrir on the bottom of the steps. Even if he somehow reached the top floor, Noah was sure Fenrir wouldn''t be able to move around as much as he wanted. Noah would prefer if Fenrir was left to cause chaos on the bottom floor.

    "Don''te any closer or we''ll be forced to attack! You weren''t here when the monsters attacked. We protected this area with OUR lives, so we have everyone right to say the shop is ours! I swear Noah, one more step and you''ll regret it. We aren''t people who you can push around.

    Somehow, Neal made the situation appear as if Noah was the aggressor. The people behind Neal who were reluctant to fight before due to the fear Noah and his group radiated, now were riled up from Neal''s words preparing to go all out. They were just waiting for Neal to give the order.

    This however brought a sinister smile to Noah''s face. ''Maybe I can use this chance to check their hearts¡­'' He tried to hold in his excitement, but when he thought of such a scam as a way to increase his skills he just couldn''t contain himself. His excitement was giving off bad vibes to the people opposing him. His appearance was creepier than the zombies they have been encountering.

    "Come on, go ahead." Noah took another step, but nothing happened. Then he took another step and surprisingly, the people began to retreat.

    "Why aren''t you attacking already!" Noah was beginning to grow impatient.

    "If you don''t want to fight then just stay out of my way then." At this point, his disappointment was turning to frustration. He felt that everything that had happened and was said up till now was worthless. He was ready for a fight, he wanted to see blood. Somehow he was missing the smell of fresh blood in the air as he wore it like a cologne.

    Whoosh!

    Apparently his presence mixed with his frustrated tone rmed one of the archers again and it just so happened that the same man from before let slip another arrow.

    This one clearly soared for Noah''s face and was once again struck down by Arae. Noah''s gaze narrowed on the man with the intent to kill. He was already considering killing the guy the first time, but now it was personal. He was clearly behind Arachne and the arrow still aimed towards him?

    "Bring him with us." Noah ordered in a cold tone. Arachne knew exactly who her master was referring to.

    "Noo Ron! Quick! Save him!" A woman from below screamed while wielding a sword. The whole time Fenrir has yet to move from the stairs and even then he barely moved a muscle. In her panic, the woman ignored Fenrir and tried to race up the stairs.

    Crunch!* However before she made it up the first step, Fenrir, who was sitting on his back legs had bent over, suddenly engulfed her in his mouth before biting through her waist. The bottom half stood with one leg pressed on the step while the other was still on the floor before it plopped over and began to gush blood.

    The people became hysterical to the events that just urred. The people on the bottom of the stairs who were focused on Noah no longer cared for what was happening on the second floor after seeing what urred.

    Whoosh! Whoosh!

    Arrows after arrows descended on Fenrir as it continued to chew apart the body in its jaw without a care of the arrows flooding its surroundings.

    It was then that the people shooting the arrows noticed that only a few of the arrows were breaching the werewolves fur and skin, even those that did seemed to not affect the beast at all.

    The melee group were all prepared to rush Fenrir before they noticed what was happening. If arrows didn''t work then would their weapons make a difference?

    Meanwhile, Neal and his group were prepared to defend the man being targeted by Arae, but when the screams descended from the bottom floor, the smallpse of distraction was taken advantage of by the spider.

    "HE-HELP MEEEEE! NEA-URRRGHG OLIV-sobs*

    Arae sprung into the group of archers and grabbed hold of her target before jumping back with the assistance of her tethered web. By the time Arachne returned with the man in her grip. The man tried to escape and run back towards his group before both of his legs were impaled by Arachne''s legs.

    In that same motion, she held him down and started to spin him around and in ce, quickly wrapping him in a fewyers of her webs.

    His screams made the others aware of what just happened and turned only during the time he was being wrapped up.

    "Yo-you¡­.youuu¡­" Neal couldn''t believe what was happening. Everything happened so suddenly. He didn''t believe Noah would try to contest all of them, he even went so far as to kill someone and was still nning to kill another.

    His eyes couldn''t leave Noah''s figure, his voice was stuck in his thoughts and his mind couldn''t find a way to address the issue as he began to stammer.

    They all could only watch as Noah walked into the room housing the shopkeeper with Arachne trailing behind now while pulling along the tragic male behind her crying in pain and distress. It was an unbearable sight to see.

    The sound of crying stopped inside the doors entrance when they saw Noah appear back to the door and looked towards them.

    "BOO!"

    Noah said, sporting his creepy smile from before, before he mmed the door shut in their face. He was going to use the man to find out if his discovery included humans too and he didn''t want to be bothered.

 Chapter 59 59: Accepting Who I Am

    A/N: There''s a few things I added in change but it wont affect much from what you already read. I''ve realized that the shield passive he gained in chapter 15 has not been added to his stats from then so I''ve included it in the stats of the chapters that has it.

    secondly the pearls also gives points to mana since ites from their mana source. It will be talked about in this chapter but i had to update the changes in chapter 57 for Arachne if you wanted to check.

    But those are the only things I''ve found wrong so far. If you find anything or something feels questionable, post it in thements. Thanks for reading!

    ....

    Noah said, sporting his creepy smile from before, before he mmed the door shut in their face. He was going to use the man to find out if his discovery included humans too and he didn''t want to be bothered.

    Now that it was mid-day, the sun was clearly shining through the windows so now Noah was able to easily make out everythingpared tost time.

    "Plea-Please don-don''t kill meee¡­" The man continued to cry, but he no longer struggled to move. His legs ached whenever he tried to roll away, he was regretting ever aiming his bow towards the bloody figure. When he first slipped up, it was truly an ident. His heart stopped when it happened, he thought he was going to identally kill someone.

    However, Noah''s creature easily stopped it and Noah continued on as if he didn''t matter. A budding sense of an inferiorityplex was shaping in the man''s heart. He couldn''t bepletely sure, but when the arrow ''slipped'' the second time, he couldn''t recall the same sense of anxiousness or regret he held the first time. Honestly, he was anticipating for the arrow tond.

    How would he know that an arrow of his that was so easy to block would cause Noah to want to take his life? After he now had time to think about it since he had nowhere else to go. He realized how dumb he really was, he also realized that he somewhat recalled Olivia calling out his name, was she ok? Why is no one trying toe through to save him? It''s not like Noah locked the doors.

    Noah looked over to the man wrapped in webs and began to move over with his sword dragging in hand. He''s been trying to ignore it, but the sword was feeling heavier and heavier with his reduced strength. If it wasn''t for his constitution being high, even his bag would be a chore to carry. However he wanted to be the one to finish off the man in front of him.

    Removing his bookbag, Noah began to drag his sword againzily as he arrived above the man''s head. He wasn''t the kind of person who enjoyed torture, annoying crying and faces full of snot and tears wasn''t something he could find amusing. The man who now resembled a scared little boy wanted to cry out forgiveness, yet his words didn''t faze Noah at all before he hovered his sword over the person''s face and let gravity do the rest.

    To Noah''s surprise, the sword went through the man''s cheek and eye before passing through the floor. The descent was so smooth, for a moment Noah believed he saw the man''s eyes move to look at him onest time before they went dim. There was no screaming that it was believed the person probably died without realizing his life was taken.

    It was truly unexpected since Noah had yet to use the sword to battle, the sharpness was more than he anticipated. With that thought, he turned around and noticed the line trailing behind him where the sword was cutting through the floor.

    ''Okay¡­.sword is super fucking sharp, keep away from feet noted. But now we can finally find out¡­''

    "Arachne, a little help please? Just like the little spiders before." He pointed to the corpse, more specifically to his chest. Noah could''ve done it himself, but it would be easy for Arachne to get the job done with her stats.

    His decision was proven to be correct, Arachne crawled over and stabbed her leg into the part that Noah directed to. The situation wasn''t like with the spiders, if the man did have a pearl, it wouldn''t be suitable for her which is why she couldn''t pinpoint the area like she did with the spiders.

    The body twitches with the forceful blow to the chest, breaking through his rib cage to reach the heart. After Arachne made way, Noah proceeded to bend down to wrestle through the blood and hopefully find the prize.

    Seconds passed and Noah was yet to find what he was looking for. He was beginning to feel disheartened that he wouldn''t find it since he was almost sure that it would be there. In hisst attempt to look, he pulled the heart entirely out of the chest and used his other hand to search for anything circr and hard through the blood.

    Sniff sniff*

    During his search, Noah realized that he began to smell something really enticing. The amount of flesh blood directly in front of him was somewhat intoxicating. His mind was bing distracted, that''s when he eyed the heart still remaining in his hand.

    ''It''s just one bite¡­'' His craving was affecting his thoughts, he didn''t realize what he was thinking. Bringing the heart close to his face, he took onest deep sniff before taking a bite.

    "Mhm!" Even though the heart was raw, the taste was extremely satisfying to Noah. In his excitement he squeezed the heart, causing a burst of blood to fly into his face, but he was unfazed. At least he would''ve liked to have been, yet when the blood flew out, he felt something hard shoot out and hit his cheek.

    The blow helped him regain his thoughts, he was a little anxious due to the fact that he lost control of himself once again, yet surprisingly he still kept a hold on the heart and just looked around.

    ''It''s fine, it''s fine¡­.If it tastes good then it''s not wrong to eat, but more importantly, was that what I think it was?''

    He gazed to the ground and with his extra pupils he was able to spot it immediately. With his free hand, he lifted the pearl up to inspect it, unlike the pearl from the spiders which was a whitish gray. The pearl he held now was a dark blue. He didn''t know why they were different, but it didn''t matter as long as it still achieved the same effect.

    Without a second thought, he stuffed it in his mouth and felt it disperse just likest time. He could feel that he received another notification.

    [You consumed the mana source of an ipatible species. Due to the title ''The Fallen''you have acquired an affinity to mana and extracted the full amount of mana to increase your magic source.]

    At the first sign of the word ''ipatible'', Noah was about to be upset that he wouldn''t receive anything. However as he read further, he felt that the oue was better than he originally wanted.

    [yer: Noah

    Race:Human Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 3056

    Lvl: 9

    Exp: 507/6400->543/6400

    Health:49%->50%

    Stamina:29%->36%

    Mana: 9/66->10/68<novelnext></novelnext>

    Attributes

    Defense: 25

    Strength:24(26) [8]+5

    Agility:36(40) [12]+7

    Constitution:53(58) [17]+10

    Stamina:27(30) [9]+5

    Magic: 30->31(34)

    Spirit:95(105)]

    Noah saw that the jump wasn''t big, Arachne was able to gain a lot more mana than he did, but he noticed that he was still gaining more mana overall than her. This wasn''t bad either since his main source of the pearls would most likelye from the zombies.

    Now that he was in a good mood, he mindlessly started to take small bites out of the heart still in his hand while he made his way to the shopkeeper.

    "Mm Arachne make sure you guard the entrance, and yes you can eat him. I have no further need for him."

    Meanwhile as Noah was aiming to get full use of his gold, the people outside still haven''t recovered.

    "Neal, are we going to sit here and do nothing?" Regina shouted in his face. The people around looked towards Neal awaiting an answer, however Neal was unsure. He thought about everything that just happened and thought about where he went wrong.

    His gaze slowly made its way to the bottom of the steps and stopped on Fenrir nowying on its belly staring at everyone in the room. Right next to it was a puddle of blood, where Olivia once was, but even the rest of her body wasn''t spared as it was now in the belly of the beast.

    ''If it wasn''t for that then I wouldn''t be nervous about attacking him. How did he do it? Maybe it''s not worth it, he said he was going to leave, I can just hope that he goes off somewhere and dies, but I can''t, now that he openly killed people in front of everyone I could lose everything if I don''t deal with this appropriately.''

    His mind raced quickly, he just needed to find a way to remove himself as the reason for me like he always did.

    "If any of you believe that we can take down that beast before he returns then I''ll stand by you!" He stopped and allowed himself to observe around the room, making sure to make eye contact with everyone who seemed to desire action. He reached his first objective by doing so. Whenever his eyes met when someone seemingly asked ''do you think you can do it?'' They would instantly avoid his eyes. He felt now would be a good time to continue.

    Otherwise we will have to concede for now. However! Don''t think I will let even one of us be killed with retaliation. If you can wait a bit longer then we will repay this debt ten-fold!

    The crowd regained their spark of resolve afterwards. After making them realize their own faults he then gave them a way out to make them believe that they could make up for their inadequacy during this moment.

    A small smirk appeared on Neal''s face before it quickly turned into a frown. There was still a small situation he just couldn''t deal with and that was that they were still stuck up here!

    He wondered if they could go halfway down the steps without attracting the wolf''s attention and jump down, but before he could express his idea. They heard multiple footstepsing from the hall Noah arrived from before.

    Everyone began to grow nervous thinking that these people were also part of Noah''s group.

    That nervousness intensified when they realized how big the group was.

    The nervousness died down when they noticed the visible fatigue on everyone''s face and a distant fear in the back.

    Mark and their group tried to back track the way Noah came, but was unprepared for the spider ambush. With no time to recover their stamina or even their mana they had to all make a break for it. Regretfully they had to make a choice to leave those who were caught in the crossfire of webs.

    The webs were strong enough to absorb most of their weapons. The only way to release someone caught was through the use of a skill, having a high enough strength or a superior weapon which they couldn''t satisfy those conditions at the moment.

    Lucky for them, the spiders only needed to catch enough for them to satiate their hunger and have some to save forter. Six bodies were taken and they didn''t give chase when the group passed.

    All they wanted to do now was to be able to rest, but they grew anxious when they found the piles of bodies of zombies and insects outside the building. It wasn''t as much as the group in the gym, but it was still a rise for concern. There was nowhere else in the campus that could feed such arge number of students and more importantly, they needed to find a way to get in touch with people of authority.

    When they made their way to the lobby, they noticed the new faces in the building and some of the old ones were missing.

    "Jas?" From the sudden call of Jasmine''s name, everyone looked up to the voice and noticed it was Neal who called out to her. Jasmine may not have been as pretty as Regina, but because of her intellect, her bearings and her motherly appeal. Many people had set their sights on her.

    "It''s Jasmine to you jerk! Where''s Noah? I know he''s here! that son of a bitch led us into an ambush." Mark spoke up in Jasmine''s stead.

    It''s not that Mark was aware of Neal''s true character that he didn''t like him, it was the matter of always trying to flirt with his sister when he''s constantly flirting with other women that annoyed him.

    Theter part of what Mark said was more to himself, but everyone heard him ask for Noah. People may have not known who he was during school, but everyone in the building began to subconsciously fear the name.

    Even though Neal was surprised that they were looking for Noah, he could tell from the way Mark spoke that he had something against him. He felt that maybe paying Noah back wouldn''t take as long as he thought.

    "If you''re looking for Noah, he''s here. Without even trying to listen, he killed two people in cold blood. The blood of one of them is still by that beast with him! Will you help us get rid of him? I''m afraid of what he would do when he returns."

 Chapter 60 60: Playing Chess With Words

    "If you''re looking for Noah, he''s here. Without even trying to listen, he killed two people in cold blood. The blood of one of them is still by that beast with him! Will you help us get rid of him? I''m afraid of what he would do when he returns."

    Neal tried to show an expression of fear. He didn''t have to y the part of being a scared victim. The look on the others'' faces showed how much the people there feared Noah.

    With a look that said impossible, the people who actually knew somewhat of Noah''s character looked towards Fenrir. They could see the puddle of blood lying near the steps. Wet blood could still be seen on Fenrir''s mouth.

    "No that''s impossible¡­Noah wouldn''t¡­He''s not someone who would do that unless he was pro-"

    "I fucking knew it!" Mark interrupted Ailetta and turned to Jasmine. "Jas, I told since he killed those people here before what kind of person he truly was. Do you see what he did to my hand? And how he watched people die when the zombies broke through? Not to mention that he didn''t bother to tell us about those spiders! The man is a murderer! Will you still continue to stick up for him?"

    With Noah''s track record, when his actions were being discussed it really did make him out to be the worst kind of human there was. Part of Jasmine agreed with Mark, but then her eyes peaked towards Ailetta who was clearly emotionally frustrated by what was going on.

    Her gaze thought about all the times she''s encountered Noah since the start of all everything happening before her gaze turned resolute.

    "First I want to hear what happened and then we can wait for Noah to hear his side."

    Mark, as well as the people in the lobby, were astonished when they heard her. ''What else did she need to hear?'' They all silently agreed that Noah was in the wrong and the blood was there for all to see, clearly Noah killed someone!

    "What do you mean, wait for him to return? He''s in the room right behind us, let''s kill him now!" Regina raged, she didn''t care if Noah was guilty or innocent, she needed for him to die so she can feel at ease again.

    The bickering between the two sides continued, there were only a few people like Bailey, Isabelle and Ailetta who believed Noah was innocent. Then you had people like Paul who didn''t care if Noah was innocent. They just didn''t want to incur his wrath. Everyone else was either undecided or was for trying to take Noah''s head.

    The discussion started to feel more like a way to vent their emotions for such a chaotic day until something drastic was discussed.

    "If you feel so strongly for it, then what do you suggest we should do? We aren''t capable of fighting Noah''s wolf and as you can see, we aren''t in the best of shape either." Jasmine got to the heart of the issue, she didn''t really want to fight Noah if she could help, she was like Paul, Noah was enough of a problem. She looked over to Fenrir and recollected how they fought just to survive its onught, a beast that never stopped no matter how much you hit it. She didn''t want to experience it again.

    "To her question, the people obviously wanted to say for everyone to attack the wolf at once, but from what she suggested, it didn''t seem possible. The people who had yet to fully experience the terror of battling against Fenrir felt that Jasmine and her group were just too afraid and were making excuses. However there was still one person who had a suggestion, a suggestion that surprisingly, people began to consider.

    "What about her?" Regina pointed to Ailetta who stood beside Bailey and her small group. From the distance, everyone else couldn''t tell who she was pointing to,but it became apparent when the look of confusion began to show on Ailetta''s face.

    "I remember her, she''s friends with that maniac! If we use her then maybe we can force Noah to give up without fighting him. See? Even now she defends him, I''m sure that using her would work."

    No one was sure when, but when the murmuring began, discussing the possibility. The people began to look towards Ailetta in a weird fashion. The looks were ufortable for Ailetta at first, but soon she began to grow worried.

    "Do you hear yourselves? You guys sound worse than what you make Noah out to be! I won''t let you put one hand on her." Bailey screamed, but since the group that was defending her was small, her threat only amounted to so much. Jasmine couldn''t allow this to continue. ''At this rate, he may try to kill all of us!''

    "Everyone wait! If that''s your n then why don''t we wait for him toe out? If it''s as you say then I will try to convince Ailetta to cooperate, but you can''t expect us to agree just because you said so."

    The people began to quiet down after hearing her and looked towards Neal. She wasn''t totally against their idea so now what?

    Even though she meant well, Neal didn''t like it one bit. If Noah were to really say what happened then wouldn''t what they did be told to them as well?

    ''Smart move¡­'' Nealplimented Jasmine inwardly.

    "That''s not something we can do sadly." Neal said while shaking his head, simrly in disappointment.

    "How so?"

    "Well, it''ll just be his words against ours. You would rather believe one person when all of us here witnessed him killing two people unjustly? It kind of makes me wonder if you''re bringing in your own personal feelings into the matter." He paused to give a dramatic effect while he made his way to the top of the stairs.

    "We can''t wait any longer, but if you adamantly insist on hearing his side then do so now. He''s just inside the room here, I''m afraid we don''t have much time¡­"

    Inwardly, Neal was feeling regret at having to do this. He couldn''t bear watching someone he fancy die, but he also couldn''t allow Noah to live. Just his presence alone could disrupt the leadership he had built and Noah wasn''t as easy to handle like he used to be.

    He watched Jasmine and the others in anticipation, his words to the public meant well, but he was only aiming for the beast to take another life. And if that person just so happened to be Jasmine, he was sure that Mark would do everything in his power possible to avenge her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However he didn''t ount for the possibility of Jasmine''s group not wanting to approach Fenrir either. Jasmine showed a look of embarrassment, she wasn''t foolish enough to try to pass Fenrir, but if she didn''t then they would go back to the idea of using Ailetta. She was stump for words and everyone could see it.

    Unlike Noah''s situation, words have power, but whenpared to a fist then it''s better to keep the mouth shut. Jasmine on the other hand didn''t have the power to control the conversation.

    "Fools¡­" Due to the silence enveloping the room, they could all hear the soft voice originating from Ailetta herself.

    She had a small smile on face that said I have nothing to lose as she looked at everyone with confidence.

    "You don''t know him as well as I do. If you think you can use me in any way you please to get to him, you will only regret itter, but by then it''ll be toote."

    To everyone''s surprise, she started to walk towards the steps that were still being guarded by Fenrir. His ears perked up when he noticed the woman approaching and began to rise on all fours.

    "Nooo! Ailetta! Come back, we don''t have to stay here. Let''s just go!" Bailey yelled. She wasn''t like Mark and Jasmine, she didn''t care about having arge group to lead, she would rather be with people that she can trust. Ever since Ailetta sacrificed her safety to save Paul, Bailey began to view Ailetta as one of those people.

    Jasmine fell to her knees, starstruck by what was urring. ''How did ite to this?'' She asked herself over and over. She wanted to call out to her, to run to her side and be the friend that she has been before this hell started. But she couldn''t, her thoughts and feelings were conflicted.

    ''It''s my fault¡­'' her thoughts turned to negative criticism. She believed that if she defended her friend better than Ailetta wouldn''t feel the need to throw her life away. Thats what her and everyone else thought she was doing, it was suicide to go near the beast that viewed everything as prey.

    Neal''s eyes widened in horror when he saw what Ailetta was about to do. ''If she gets herself killed then our n is doomed, even worse! He''ll probably have that beast try to kill us all!''

    "Idiots, why are you standing there watching? STOP HER!" Neal yelled at the top of his voice. Not everyone knew what Ailetta was nning, but when they heard Neals cry, the people who could respond fast enough began to run towards her.

    Boom Boom!* "Aawwhhhooooo!"

    Fenrir saw everyone approaching and took the iing people as a form of challenge. When at first he stood on all fours so it could properly eat the woman approaching, he soon raised his upper half and nted both legs into the ground with his ws extended.

    The shift in his weight caused cracks to appear from under him and he roared to show its dominance. He may be a mindless beast for now, but his pride as a Werewolf was never lost.

    His towering image caused everyone rushing towards Ailetta to stop immediately and run away to where they returned.

    Ailetta also stopped where she was and tilted her head to observe the beast. Tears began to run down her face, when she thought about how she was about to die if she took a few more steps. But she would feel worse if she was the reason Noah ughtered everyone here and she still died.

    Muffled sounds of crying could be hearding from her, but she held her hand pressed against her mouth. Closing her eyes, she attempted to walk forward again.

    "Screw this! Kim, Larry, Phong! We need to get her out of there. Try to avoid a long out fight with that thing as much as possible. The goal is only to retrieve her. Kim, me and you will start the attack, hit him with everything you got. Everyone else who has a bow, attack him when we shoot our spell!"

    The two both took position by the ledge to get a clear view and prepare their spells. Meanwhile, everyone else got into position, Neal saw Ailetta take another step and was bing more anxious.

    "Now!"

    A purple gas flew from his hand and traveled to Fenrir at the speed of a paper airne. Kims spell on the other hand reached first, wind, in the form of an arc, flew towards Fenrir and hit against the side of his face.

    The impact caused his face to turn ever so slightly and a growl emanated from him as he turned his face to find the attacker.

    Whoosh!

    That''s when the barrage of arrows came raining down upon him. Instinctively, Fenrir raised its overly sized paw and guarded its face and snarled while the arrows impacted him. Thankfully for them, Fenrir didn''t n to move or Ailetta would''ve been in harm''s way from the attack of arrows.

    Bang!

    The other two under Neal''s lead were about to descend the stairs when a sudden collision came from behind them. The n was no longer in their thoughts when they quickly turned around to inspect the sound. Neal and the others on the ledge were the first to see who it was, but they knew it could only be one person.

    Noah was standing at the entrance, but he wasn''t mad like they would expect, he actually looked amused?

 Chapter 61 [Bonus ] 61: A Monstrous Gaze

    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 amotion 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 shended 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 re, 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 entuated 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.<novelnext></novelnext>

    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 rx, 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 toying 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 ufortable, his smile didn''tst 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 ce when she heard him call for her. Thest time she heard him call her by that name, it was also thest 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.

 Chapter 62 62: Another Monster In The Making?

    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.

    "Tell me, what were you nning to do by approaching him just now?" As he asked the question, she looked away in shame.

    She couldn''t look him in the eye, but she knew she had to say something.

    "I¡­I had to¡­They were going to try to use me to get to you! I didn''t¡­I didn''t know what else t-Ah!"

    She felt a presence directly in front of her and when she turned to face them, Noah used that chance to pop her on her forehead. The sudden jolt of pain caused her to cry out, thankfully Noah''s stats were lowered because he had every intention to use his full force.

    "If you really feel that way then answer for me one thing." She waited a few moments, but the question never came. Curiously, she tilted her head that was still holding the area that was in pain to see Noah staring her down. On his face was what he would consider a yful smile, but it appeared devilish to her as she was nervous about his question.

    "Can I kill everyone in this room then?"

    "!"

    Not only her, but everyone listening was shocked to hear his question. He didn''t bother to lower his voice, and everyone was anxious to hear what he had to say.

    ''What did i just hear?'' Was the first thought going through most of the peoples minds.

    Mark grew flustered when he heard what was said and was about to interrupt, however when he saw Noah''s face, he gulped in fear before trying to calm himself down. The small smile Noah had originally was now showing all of his teeth that were covered with blood and a few pieces of red meat was stuck in his teeth.

    There were people who were put on edge to the question and aimed their weapons and abilities towards Noah while the more frightened ones prepared to make a run for it.

    That brief moment of fighting back didn''tst long when Fenrir also responded to the question by positioning himself on his hind legs and he began to salivate uncontrobly while his wild gaze broke through the little bit of courage the people had.

    They already realized from the first two attempts that nothing they did to the werewolf could stop. If the beast actually fought back, they were too afraid to think what would happen.

    Jasmine and Bailey were the closest to the two when the question was asked and hurriedly backed away in fear. For a moment, Jasmine even considered if she should attack Noah now while his back was turned if that meant saving everyone here. However the thought was fleeting, they still had to wait on Ailetta to answer before they did anything drastic.

    No matter what Noah has done during this time or how vinis she''s witnessed him bing. She has never once viewed him in fear, but his question, adorned with his smile frightened her. She had no doubt that he would do what he said if she answered yes. ''But what would happen if I say no?'' She felt conflicted in her thoughts, yet when she saw Fenrir preparing for Noah''s orders she hurried to answer him.

    "No!" She almost screamed. She then noticed Noah''s smile disappeared and he looked on to her indifferently.

    "I mean¡­no¡­I wouldn''t want you to do that¡­Please don''t ask me something like that again." She followed up in a somewhat pleading tone. She became anxious when she saw Noah''s expression didn''t change and she became scared when she saw him begin to stand.

    Not only her, but everyone in the surroundings felt a dreadful feeling when they saw him rise.

    "So you don''t want me to kill them and yet you didn''t think I would kill them all after making you feed yourself to Fenrir? Have you not learned anything from what you said you enjoyed reading? Weak people who view themselves as weak will sacrifice themselves. Sigh¡­With that mindset, I was right to believe you would hold me back."

    "Arachne? Can you go get my things?" Disregarding the turmoil Ailetta was going through, he spoke to Arachne who remained by him to retrieve his sword and bag from the second floor. With just one jump from her, she arrived on the second level, causing those on that level to be startled.

    At the same time, Ailetta was shocked to realize she was bing like the female love interest that she despised from those stories. She always felt irritated when reading about the female heroine being so stupidly selfless and being so quick to sacrifice themselves and here she was doing the same thing.

    It didn''t take her long toe to and notice Noah walking away With his sword now in hand and his backpack strapped on his shoulders. The direction he was going wasn''t towards the cafeteria or well they all came from, but it was down another hall to lead out to the other side of the building.

    Her heart dropped, she recalled thest thing he said about her holding himback. She felt frustrated with herself, she wanted to change yet didn''t know how. She wanted to follow him, but she knew that after what she did it wouldn''t be possible. Frantically, she called out onest time, she needed to know or she felt that she would be lost in this chaotic world.

    "What do I need to do to grow as strong as you?" From her tone, she sounded desperate, but if she continues on the path she''s going now. She feels that she would either always have to depend on others or she would be dead soon enough. Her body was too weak to stand still, but her voice was able to reach him to make him stop.

    He turned partially, feeling amused again when hearing the desperation in her voice. Maybe, just maybe¡­.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He was curious to know to what ends she would go to gain her strength. Not having to think about the answer, he turned to start walking away before the doors leading into the hall while imparting her his ''wisdom''.

    "You need to be a ''monster''.'' He emphasized thest word, before he and his beast left the room with Fenrir being thest to follow.

    With him leaving, everyone else ''s bodies visibly rxed to see the threat disappear.

    Ailetta was busy racking her mind about what exactly did Noah mean by that.

    ''Does that mean I have to kill people too? Or do I need to eat a beast?'' She couldn''te up with an answer, so she began to think about Noah''s actions up till now and his change in appearance. That''s when she came to the realization of what she needed to do.

    ''A Demon Lord¡­'' She thought about the first impression when she saw his figure and those demonic red gems in each of his pupils.

    Remembering the stories they read together, she remembered that Noah was particrly fond of the Demon Lords that were misunderstood. They did whatever they wanted and most of the time it made them appear bloodthirsty and evil in the eyes of the humans. But most of the time they were doing what humans did and yet they were the only ones still viewed as monsters.

    She realized that to be what she considered to be a monster, she needed to stop conforming to human moral standards and rules and do whatever she desired. However in order to do that, she needs to be stronger.

    "Ailetta? Ailetta??" The repeated calling of her name brought her back from her heavy thoughts to find her two friends standing over her with worried faces.

    It took awhile for both groups to recover emotionally, after what happened regarding the situation with Ailetta. The atmosphere between the groups was stifling at best. Neal tried apologizing and making it seem that it wasn''t his intention to harm her in any way, but the people close to her weren''t buying it.

    However no matter how much they disliked each, they all still had onemon goal.

    "So you think if we bought a radio from there then we should be able to reach out for help? That''s kinda far-fetched don''t you think Jas?" Neal asked, acting as if the situation before never happened. He was happy that Noah was finally out of the picture again. He also realized that the shop only had a little bit over an hour left, so Noah no longer had a reason toe back after his little falling out with Ailetta. He just had to get on their good side and he can have everyone under his lead in no time.

    "¡­.I don''t think so. I think they will have more people at hand to properly gauge that information is more important. Who knows, instead of buying one, they may have someone who''s able to get theirmunication to work. It''s our only shot or we''ll be left guessing on our next destination or will have to wait here for help or until our supply of food runs out."

    A little bitter, everyone could be seen hurdling inside the cafeteria surrounding a certain table. It wasn''t much for them to be able to retrieve a radio. Unlike what they believed, mundane items actually cost much less than what they expected. It was priced at only 500 gold and that was only because they were paying more for the distance it could reach.

    "Now what?" A voice called out from the sea of people waiting for something to happen. However no one knew, they lived in an era where technology was more advanced, they didn''t know what channel was used for emergencies.

    "I think I know!" Another voice sounded, this voice for some reason sounded very prideful. They all looked to the voice and saw a male with a small stature wearing sses. Mark was aware who he was and if Noah was here, he would also recognize him. He was Charlie, who was part of Mark''s group when they tried to first put him down after finding out Noah was bitten.

    Seeing that no one rejected him, he pushed up his sses and pridefully walked over to the radio and started to move the knob to bring up the frequency. It didn''t take long for him to do so before he stopped. The group all became anxious after he finished and thought that now should be the time when they try to connect with any form of help. However as soon as they arrived on the frequency, a voice could already be heard.

    Buzz!* "-street, South Kenyastad. epting any survivors. Buzz!* For those who aren''t able to, stay in your homes and don''t leave! Help wille in a few days when the military gets everything under control. Buzz!* I repeat! 3982 Broad street, Sout~"

    The voice was a broadcast being repeated, but just hearing that there was a ce that was safe brought a huge relief to everyone there.

    "Soo it''s not the end¡­we can be saved?" It wasn''t until the voice broke the silence that everyone grew excited. In their excitement, most of them forgot about an important fact and that was.

    "Everyone wait!" Jasmine''s voice was loud enough and her action of standing on the table allowed for her to slowly gain everyone''s attention.

    "We need to decide now, if we are going to sit and wait here¡­or if we find a way to go there ourselves."

    ....

    A/N: I don''t think people look at the notes so will put it here. Instead like before, I tried something different and skipped a lot of dialogue and interactions to pick up the pace.

 Chapter 63 63: Finally Using His New Skills

    "We need to decide now, if we are going to sit and wait here¡­or if we find a way to go there ourselves."

    The group had to take this time to discuss their options, but the groups were easily divided and the arguments were more intense then what they should''ve been. The people arguing to stay were majorly of the students who didn''t desire to fight.

    However those people thought only with their feelings and for their own safety. They didn''t think about the fact that if they were to stay, the people who want to leave would have to protect them or the fact that help couldeter than predicted or not at all.

    Meanwhile Noah took this time to advance to the gate of the campus. The cafeteria was centered in the middle of the campus, with the dorms situated around the same distance as the gates. With a little over a mile to walk to reach the gates, Noah slowly made his way there, but he still had to go past the library and the campus center to reach the main parking lot.

    He had to tread carefully, between the buildings, there were more trees than usual to bring about a soothing aesthetic for the students to enjoy reading outdoors. With the growth of the wildlife, Noah would always assume that something was lurking just to be safe.

    The area was surprisingly quiet as he made his way on the side of the library. He wasn''t used to the natural silence, he thought he would still be able to hear screaming or atleast the sounds of fighting. But it seemed that if there were still any students left then they were in hiding like everyone else.

    "Hm?" Noah stopped when he noticed Arachne freeze and turned towards one of the windows. He turned in the same direction to see what caught her attention.

    When he did so, he noticed a few heads sticking out from within the building observing him. They must have not liked what they saw, when Noah turned and they made eye contact, Noah could see the instant fear in their eyes before they ducked from view.

    Shaking his head, the scene caused Noah to chuckle to himself out loud. ''I guess that''s better than trying to attack me, but why are they getting scared all of a sudden now.'' He thought to himself before his eyes wandered to his creatures.

    "I think you''re scaring everyone." Noah said, Arachne hissed proudly while Fenrir prepped itself on and growled.

    At first, Noah believed that this was just Fenrir''s weird way of reacting to what he said, but he noticed that soon after Fenrir began to growl, Arachne became alert too.

    Noah raised his guard along with them and when he looked to see what had their attention, he noticed it. On one of the trees, there was something crawling along down the truck. When it reached the ground, the grass was high enough to still cover its body, but the moving grass gave away its location still. The thing was longer than normal, the body was on the ground, yet he could still make out part of it on the tree. It was easily over 10 feet, longer than Fenrir.

    At first Noah thought it could be a snake that had mutated. However with his vision, he could make out that the creature was definitely not a snake, but some kind of insect.

    Its body was broken up into multiple segments and was moving quickly to them. Arachne was the first to pounce on what she would assume to be the creature''s head and attempted to dig her fangs into it.

    "!"

    Suddenly, when her fangs were injected into the creature, the rest of the creature''s body moved unbelievably fast and began to try to wrap itself around Arachne.

    This caught Noah by surprise, when he saw the body of the creature wrap around Arachne, he noticed the numerous legs on the body of the creature. There was no way to count them but he knew the creature''s name ended with something-pede.

    He wasn''t sure what the insect was trying to do, but he didn''t like the way it was trying to wrap around his spider. From his bond, he could tell that Arachne was starting to feel pain somehow, he would''ve like for Fenrir to help out, but he doubts the mindless wolf could help without attacking her as well.

    The only thought in his mind was to treat it like everything elsetely. ''Destroy the head and it should stop moving.''

    He took off with his sword in hand, he felt that he would need more strength to properly swing it if he wanted to cleanly cut the insect''s head so he used one of his new abilities.

    ''Equivalent Exchange''

    Using his new skill on the only suitable target at the time which was Fenrir, he used the ability to gain 10 percent of Fenrir''s strength which increased his by a little over 5. It wasn''t a lot, but for now it was just enough to allow him to properly hold the sword.

    Swoosh!

    With just one swing of the sword, he was able to easily remove its head. Beginning to feel relieved, he became surprised once again, when he saw the body of the insect continue to move. He wasn''t sure if it was just a thing it did after the head was removed and it would stop moving soon or if somehow through its mutation the insect found a way to survive without a head.

    Noah''s eyes quickly snapped to the insect''s severed head and began to repeatedly stab it until the body stopped moving.

    It was an anti-climatic battle, but it reminded Noah who recently dealt with zombies majorly of the time that he can''t let his guard down when ites to the wild life.

    He walked over to Arachne to help her remove the insect''s corpse from the rest of her body. That''s when he noticed small puncture wounds covering parts of her body. The insects legs were sharper than he imagined.

    "Don''t depend on your venom so much next time, that''s why the thing was able to get the jump on you like this. You''re strong even when you don''t use it. Don''t move and let me heal you"

    It hasn''t been long since he bought the skill and he was already using it. Instead of a light green like the healers before him. Noah''s healing spell was much darker in color. Slowly the wounds stopped bleeding, he could tell it would take him much longer if he wanted to fully heal the wounds with just a level 0 spell. However the skill was still rather impressive since it stopped the bleeding within a few seconds. Not only his magic state, but his spirit made a huge difference when using spells.

    Knock knock*<novelnext></novelnext>

    Around the same time he was finishing up Noah heard a sound knocking on the ss of the building next to him, he could already figure out who it was.

    He ignored looking in the people''s direction that were watching him from the library and went for the chest that just dropped. He was surprised that the chest happened to be silver.

    ''Was that bug really that much of a threat?'' He thought, since the way he determined the value of chest was by the quantity and quality of what he defeated. The bug didn''t seem as dangerous as what the chest indicated, he began to doubt if the chest dropped ording to what he originally thought.

    ''No¡­I''m sure it must''ve been poisonous as well. And with the way it quickly wrapped around Arachne in itsst attempt, it would be impossible to beat it without sufficient stats.''

    After pondering over the issue, he quickly opened the chest. He figured he would only do his normal ritual for chest on gold or higher. He wasn''t surprised at all by the little amount of gold he found. On top of that, he found a sturdy bracer, but he noticed that the bracer seemed to be made out of some kind of insect shell.

    ''First the sword with that zombie and now this¡­Is it a coincidence that I get drops rted to what I kill now?

    He shook his head from his random thoughts before quickly equipping the bracer to his dominant right arm before grabbing thest thing. Thest item was a whip that had numerous tiny spikes sticking out from. From a distance, it resembled the body of the insect he just killed. The whip stretched at least 15 feet. It was just a shame he wasn''t interested in such a weapon.

    ''Well at least I still got something out of it.'' Noah clucked the bracer on his arm and nodded in satisfaction before making his way to leave.

    "Wa-wait!"

    He soon heard a window open and voices shouting to him, but he ignored them still. Thankfully after walking a good distance away he noticed that they didn''t jump out the window to follow him.

    He was almost approaching the end of the building. After that there would be a small clearing and he would just need to pass the administration center beforeing upon the main entrance parking lot to leave.

    Boom!

    "Hey! Come back! Those things are over there!"

    Someone yelled after bursting through the side door, it was a clearly different voice than before.

    This time Noah nced over to the voice, he could see that the person was actually worried and afraid for him, yet this caused Noah to shake his head. Noah felt the intention was good, but the way he went about it may have cost him his life if he was someone else.

    "Grreewwr!"

    And right on cue, the sounds of what Noah knew were zombies sounded on the other side. From the sound of feet quickly approaching, he could tell that many of them this time were runners.

    Thud thud thud!*

    The sound of something heavy in the distance was also mixed in with the sound of footsteps. Even in those steps, Noah could pick up the sound of steps moving much faster than the others.

    "Everyone grab your weapons, we have to help him!" The voice from before sounded behind him.

    But just as quickly as Noah heard the footsteps, he immediately saw two zombiesing past the corner first. They no longer were running like the zombies before, but were running like track stars. Their arms were swinging in opposite rotations of their legs unlike the ones with their arms stretched out and they were fast! From what Noah could tell, their agility had to be close to 40.

    It seemed gender didn''t matter at all when it came to the zombies physique, the two were both male and female, but they were almost identical in speed.

    Arachne wanted to redeem herself for after what happened with the insect from before. However when she was preparing to attack, she saw Noah step in front of her.

    He stood before her with a resolute gaze, he felt that this would be the perfect time to try out his other new skill. If the skill worked as he believed it was intended to then he would have no fear facing zombies in numbers.

    There was no clear way to activate the skill, so he decided to do what he felt was right. His gaze narrowed as he focused all his attention on the two zombies nearing him fast. They had just approached a few meters away from him.

    "Stop!"

    His tone was cold, but held a sense of danger to the peopleing from the library. Instinctively they stopped as well. Not because the skill was affecting them, it was because of the actions of the zombies before them.

    .......

    A/N: There''s a chance Ill post another chapter today to make up for yesterday or I might just post the chapter this weekend.

 Chapter 64 64: Overpowered Against Zombies

    His tone was cold, but held a sense of danger to the peopleing from the library. Instinctively they stopped as well. Not because the skill was affecting them, it was because of the actions of the zombies before them.

    "He-hey hey Ishii¡­Are you sure we should be helping him?" Someone asked the person seemingly in charge of the entire group. Noah would be surprised to see howrge the group was. They didn''t have as many fighters as Jasmine and Neals groupbined.

    But there were at least twenty people at the doors ready to help and there was still a noticeablyrger group inside.

    Ishii, who was wielding a Katana and simrly had the gear simr to the full suit that Noah had. He could only nkly stare at Noah''s situation with a slightly gaped mouth. Ishii felt proud of his aplishments so far since he had trained in the way of the sword due to his family''s history.

    But he felt that maybe he wasn''t as great as he thought he was after seeing Noah. He was made aware by the others that there was a questionable person outside alone with his beast and that he was seemingly strong.

    Ishii wanted to create a strong group so they could get out of this ce. He felt foolish when he saw the current scene.

    ''There''s always someone better¡­'' He shook his head and watched as the giant spider on Noah''s side then quickly jumped to the two zombies and pierced their skulls with her two front legs.

    Ishii thought the fight was over and was about to try to approach him, but from his shock, he had forgotten that there were much more zombies then just these two.

    Noah had never stopped paying attention to the sounds of footsteps approaching. Now that he had fulfilled his objective, he could let his beast to the fighting now. When he has time, he wants to experiment with his skill to find out just how far his skill can allow him to control zombies.

    "Fenrir you''re up!" Noah took a few steps back before Fenrir ran past him excitedly. While he ran on all fours, he constantly kicked up dirt and grass on his way.

    As soon as Noah gave the order, the figures of the sounds began to turn around the corner.

    With one bite, Fenrir grabbed two of them in her jaws and shook his head feverishly while biting down hard. Blood sttered in the distance before he dropped the bodies in his mouth and rose to standing on his hind legs.

    He repeated the actions like he did at the gym and began to swat away at the zombies. Fenrir was so far engaged with what he was doing that he continued to make his way forward into the group of zombies. That allowed the zombies that he passed to make his way to Noah. The blood covering Noah was a nice attraction for the bloodthirsty zombies, but the huge group behind him was more enticing.

    "Sigh¡­what am I going to do with him? Ok Arachne yo-What the fuck is that?"

    Noah stopped mid sentence when he finally saw the source of the loud footsteps. He saw an overly obese zombie ignoring Fenrir and making its way to them. The zombie looked almost like a toad, the zombie stood a few feet taller than Noah. It was almost seven feet tall and its body was at least 3 feet wide. He couldn''t understand how that was physically possible.

    But it was standing before him and the first thing Noah noticed besides its size was the size of its mouth since there was still a body sticking out. Its jaws seemed to be able to dislocate like a snake and could easily open up to about half its size.

    Even with a body sticking out of its mouth, Noah was sure it could still fit him in there as well if he got too close.

    "Fenrir! Get your butt back here!" He screamed to get the wolf''s attention, he couldn''t see him past the building, but with Fenrir''s heightened senses, he was sure that the wolf could hear him. And just as he called for him, he could feel a tremor from the ground and a howling from the other side. He wasn''t sure if he and Arachne could kill it together. It could probably be one of those unique zombies but he called Fenrir back just to be safe.

    "Arachne, I need you to stall that thing as long as you can, but avoid its mouth. If you can kill it then do so, if I can stop it then try to find a way to attack his head. Go!"

    Springing into action, Arachne immediately jumped to engage with the enemy while Noah quickly threw down his things including his sword and received the dagger with the coated tip. The sword was his best weapon by far, but without his stats it would only put him in danger.

    He didn''t run to catch up with Arachne, but took his time to attempt to use his skill and to observe. With his most recent attempt, he felt more confident that he could stop the surrounding zombies so he didn''t doubt that he would get attacked by them.

    "Do you think he needs help now? A woman approached Ishii wearing the same gear, but she was strapped with multiple small daggers and knives on her body.

    Ishii wasn''t sure if they were being sarcastic, but he was definitely wary of Noah when he saw the fat zombie approaching. He was the main reason the group was hesitant to leave the building. Now that Noah is here, maybe that can actually get out of this ce. ''But will he let us follow him if we just sit here and watch?''

    Ishii began to grow conflicted, but then his eyes shined when he noticed something.

    "Ishii?"

    Ishii turned his head to his group. "Come with me, we have to at least do something!"<novelnext></novelnext>

    When the group noticed the direction he was going, they noticed a small group of rats approaching. Unlike before, the rats were as big as a small dog and now grow a size bigger. But behind the bigger than normal sized rats was one rat in particr that was double the size of the others. Even though the group of rats seemed menacing, Ishii still encouraged his group to help fight against them.

    Noah during this time noticed the weird movement of the students behind him but continued to focus on his task at hand. He saw Arachne jump towards the side and try to bite into the zombie side, but when she did. She noticed that the zombie didn''t appear fazed at all and instead tried to grab hold of her while slowly trying to turn its face to face her.

    Arachne quickly let go and retreated slightly back, while using her front legs to ce holes into the zombies side. After Arachne released herself, the fat zombie''s attention turned towards Noah and the surrounding zombies were gunning for him as well.

    Noah used this chance to activate his skill again. He would rather not have to use a vocalmand to activate it, but this wasn''t the time to try something different.

    "Stop!" He used the samemand asst time, but this time he said it with a bit of frustration. He was upset with the fact that if he was fighting against a group of monsters of this proportion then he would have a harder time since his skill wouldn''t be effective.

    His frustration seemed to empower hismand even more. Unlikest time where he made the two zombies stop in their tracks. The zombies that were in the process of running to him tripped over themselves to heed hismand. Even the fat zombie halted in ce and Fenrir who arrived from the corner of the building was caught in the crossfire of the ability.

    Arachne remembered what Noah had said before. She wanted to make sure she did her job correctly. Instead of using her front legs to attack the head, she jumped onto the fat zombie''s back and sank herrge sharp fangs into his brain. If the fangs itself didn''t destroy the brain, she was sure that her venom would do the job.

    Fenrir in the meantime didn''t stay stunned for too long. Not only is his zombie blood more superior than the other zombies, but it was also bonded with Noah.

    "Attack their heads dummy!"

    Fenrir wasn''t smart enough to destroy the brains like how Arachne was able to pick it up on her own. Noah felt the need to facepalm when he saw the wolf pping away the frozen zombies.

    He looked in confusion about what Noah was asking for, but he noticed that Arachne was jumping to the zombies he had swatted away and stabbed their heads before going to the next.

    Fenrir''s tail began to wag excitedly when he understood what his alpha was asking for. It approached one of the zombies standing and bit off the upper half of the zombie and swallowed it. Subtly, he nced towards Noah while wagging his tail. Noah didn''t berate him this time. Fenrir took Noah''s silence as a way of saying he was doing it right.

    "Ahooo!" He howled in excitement, Fenrir along with Arachne began to quickly ughter the zombies in tow.

    It wouldn''t be much longer until they were finished. Noah took the time to look towards the students who ran out before and noticed them further away fighting with a group of oversized rats. The group seemed to be faring wellpared to the people he''s met so far, but that may have to do with the two people in the lead.

    Noah noticed that whenever someone was in trouble, a small object woulde flying through the air to impale the opposing creature. It probably would be harder to spot from the distance, but not with his eyes.

    And further in the back he saw the male wielding the katana fight the biggest rat. The rat had to be at least a little taller than four feet and that was considering the rat being on all fours. At first, the fight between the two appeared to be bnced.

    The rat was tough and could take on multiple shes from Ishii who was well experienced with using his weapon. Something Noah actually felt envious of. However Ishii still had to gauge the proper time to attack because if his attack wasn''t deep enough then the rat could just ignore it and take a huge chunk out of his body.

    That''s when Noah noticed it, Ishii had taken a weird stance, the kinda stance where a samurai would get low before unsheathing their sword for a deadly strike. Yet Ishii didn''t attack, but Noah instantly could tell something had changed. The rat grew slower, significantly slower than before while Ishii''s speed exploded. His speed was probably faster than Arachnes if she wasn''t using her full strength to lunge, but his speed was constant at this time.

    sh after sh, the rat began to umte wounds, before it finally staggered and keeled over.

    "Interesting¡­is it like my ability where I can take Fenrir''s stats and add it to my own? But his ability seems to be much better. Maybe it''s time for me to get another creature¡­But can I still get one with my skill level"

    He thought to himself before he became disinterested in the other group''s situation.

    Fenrir and Arachne appeared to be done and he had loot to gather, he was also concerned about something else.

    ''That was a lot of zombies just now, but I still didn''t get a notification? How much more does Fenrir need to level up?"

    ...

    A/N: Work will be a bit draining for the next two days. If I post, it''ll be short chapters. 1,500 words minimum. But if I do that, I''ll post a bonus chapter for the weekend.

 Chapter 65 65: Gods Warning

    ''That was a lot of zombies just now, but I still didn''t get a notification? How much more does Fenrir need to level up?"

    Noah knew that both he and Arachne still had some ways to go before they could level up so he didn''t bother to look at their progress. His mind couldn''t ept the fact that Fenrir didn''t level up. However he had to check or the thought would keep bugging him.

    "[yer: Fenrir

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Lycan

    Lvl: 7

    Exp:291/1600->1571/1600]

    "..."

    Noah took some time to think about what he was looking at. He came out of the space from checking his stats and peered over the field of dead bodies his small team had caused and thought in silence. Soon a small chuckle began to originate from him before he began to slowly walk over to the chest that dropped.

    He wasn''t upset, but he was just in disbelief that he was probably just one zombie away from leveling up. Not only did he feel satisfaction in leveling up himself, he also felt aplishment when his creatures grew stronger too.

    He was preparing to open the chest when soon a voice spoke loudly through the air. It was the same godly voice that spokest time that granted him this new life. He didn''t hesitate at all to drop any thoughts he had to pay attention to what the being had to say.

    "HUMANS, YOU HAVE BEEN GIVENA CHANCE! I HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTED FROM THE ADVANCES YOU HAVE ACHIEVED THUS FAR. EVEN WITH WHAT I HAVE GIVEN YOU, YOU HAVE SHOWN ME THAT YOUR DESIRE TO LIVE AND TO GROW STRONGER AMOUNTS TOLESS THAN THE CREATURES YOU FELT SUPERIOR TOO.

    THERE WILL BE A CHANGE SOON, AND IF NOT FOR ONE OF YOUR KIND HAVING TO PASS THEIR LIMITS JUST NOW, I WOULD NOT BE GIVING YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE YOUR FATE!

    ONCE AGAIN, PROVE TO ME THAT YOU DESERVE TO LIVE, YOU HAVE THREE DAYS! THE CREATURES OF THIS REALM AND YOUR MINDLESS COUNTERPARTS ARE BREAKING THEIR LIMITS AND HAVE MOVED UNHINDERED.

    SHOW ME THAT YOU TOO CAN CONTEND AGAINST THEM. IF NOT, THEN IN THREE DAYS YOU WILL KNOW TRUE SUFFERING!" I WILL NOT CONTINUE TO LET YOU REAP FROM MY BENEFITS WHEN YOU DO NOT DESERVE IT!"

    Even though the voice was gone, everyone around the world felt despair. There was a sense of crisis in their hearts. ''What does he mean change? And how do we show him?''

    Countless thoughts and discussions were ongoing about the topic, but the popce were more concerned about the time given to them and what they should do. Not many of them thought about the fact that someone, a human no less, had somehow ''passed his limits''. Unlike the others, that was what intrigued Noah the most.

    ''I wonder what did that person have to do to pass his limits? Was it surpassing a certain amount of stats? No¡­ I don''t think that''s right¡­''

    Noah soon began to tap his chin with his finger in deep thought. Arachne had seen him like this before, she also knew that he tends to take time when he has to open up the boxes that appear from nowhere so she took the time to feed.

    She had her eyes sat on the fat zombie for awhile now, she crept slowly at first to not draw Noah''s attention before she quicken her pace.

    "!"

    "Hiss!"

    However before she could appreciate her meal, A werewolf who didn''t know the meaning of ''my kill my meal'' had engulfed half of the zombie into his mouth before the sounds of bones cracking and blood exploding was heard from his jaws.

    Arachne began to hiss in protest and quickly arrived at Fenrir''s legs, poking at him with her many legs to get his attention. With half of the zombie''s body in his mouth, Fenrir looked down towards Arachne in confusion. ''Why are you attacking me? He thought.

    The two weren''t on the wavelength to the point that they could easilymunicate like how Arachne was able tomunicate with Grim, even if it was basic. The hissing had distracted Noah who looked over to see what was happening.

    "Sigh¡­Fenrir!"

    The two instantly stopped, Fenrir was startled and its mouth became cked, resulting in the blob of the zombie to fall to the ground. Instinctively, its tail was brought under him and tucked between its legs. Arachne hissed arrogantly, feeling that justice was served and was about to make her way to the body when she heard Noah say something that will give her nightmares.

    "Arachne, I need you to share that one with Fenrir, just this once, I have the feeling that it would help him level up."

    "!"

    Arachne felt betrayed, she turned to face Noah and stared for a few moments hoping he was going to change his mind, but she saw that he went back to stupid box.

    She gave up and allowed Fenrir, who was back to wagging his tail, chew through half of the body before she could enjoy her food in peace.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Wait, I''m not thinking as a gamer¡­when ites to games with a job system, there should also be ss advancements when you reach a certain level. I''m sure that''s what he did, but what level was it?''

    Noah''s thoughts reached a point that left him satisfied. There was no use for him to overthink it, he would just have to continue grinding like he''s been doing.

    He went to finally open the chest, slowly opening it to ''guarantee'' that he got something good since it was a golden chest.

    He was already bing excited when he saw the amount of gold in the chest and the glows that most likely were the attribute orbs that he enjoyed receiving the most. After having so much gold at one point that could help him grow stronger. He felt that he may soon feel the same way about gold that Arachne feels about food.

    Fully opening the chest, he spotted two attribute orbs, one was a size bigger than the original which just happened to be white for spirit, while the smaller one was blue, for magic. Noah wanted to give more of the orbs to Arachne, but he felt that these orbs in particr would do better on him than her as of now.

    [+5 spirit]

    [+2 magic]

    He quickly used the orbs for himself before retrieving the next item which was a skill scroll. Something he hasn''t received in awhile but he wasn''t as excited as the average person would be. He already had enough skills that he had trouble keeping up with, but he checked the skill just in case it was something he could use.

    [yer: Kathy Newman

    Race:Human

    ss: Rogue

    Skills

    Active:

    Muffled sound

    Elusive

    Passive:

    ? Stealth]

    Noah wasn''t exactly sure if the skills were good enough to roll for, he never considered going for an assassin build and he has never learned if there was a limit to how many skills he could have.

    ''Screw it, if there''s a limit then it would suck, but if there wasn''t then I would be foolish to pass up on skills that can potentially help me. Let''s roll for it! If I can get stealth then it would be worth it.''

    [Skill Elusive confirmed, would you like to learn it?]

    ''Tsk" Noah clicked his tongue in annoyance. He thought about not epting the skill, but the name of the skill made him think that it could still be useful considering the fact that elusiveness should be rted to agility.

    [Skill, Elusive(lvl 0) obtained- Fully in tune your mind to control your body, giving you the reflexes of an expert assassin, agility stats are increased by 25% for one second. Consumes stamina for each time activated. The consumption is increased for each use used in session.]

    The skill brought a smirk to Noah''s face. He may not be able to make the best of the skill while his stats are lowered, but when he returns to tip top shape, the skill will prove more than beneficial whenbined with his spider skills.

    He then took out thest item that caused him to frown.

    ''Another bow? Can I atleast get arrows for Christ sakes?'' He observed the bow while still wearing a frown. The bow at least looked better than the one he previously had. Instead of wood, the bow was made out of silver and grey metal with wire instead of string. It made him curious how powerful the bow would be, but he felt that if the bow looked better then he should at least rece the other one with it.

    He was running out of space in his bag now that he obtained the shield so he would have to get rid of the previous bow for this one. He didn''t have the strength to continue to carry more. Noah made his way to his bag and began to rummage through its contents to retrieve the bow he nned to discard when he was interrupted.

    "Uh¡­Hey, excuse me. Can we talk to you for a second?"

    ....

    A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter, tomorrow will be short as well. I''ll atleast add a bonus chapter this weekend for everyone. Thanks for all of the support!

 Chapter 66 66: Monkey See, But Shouldnâ€™t Do

    A/N: There was gonna be a chapter yesterday, but decided to do it today so I can make it longer.

    ...

    "Uh¡­Hey, excuse me. Can we talk to you for a second?"

    Noah stopped what he was doing and looked towards the unweed voice with a narrowed gaze.

    Ishii, when he saw Noah''s eyes, instinctively gripped his sword unlike the others who backed away in fear. Noah''s gaze turned intrigue when he saw this, even more so when he could subtly see small sharp objects begin to wrap around the girl from before.

    He had finally noticed that these two also had the same type of outfit as him. Granted that they had more items to loot since they were groups and that meant more chest. They still had to fight a decent amount to receive a high enough tier chest to obtain it.

    After being intrigued by the two people''s reaction, he unknowingly had a smile. It was nice to meet people with the mentality of surviving and the courage to back it up.

    He again observed Isshi, he was clearly shorter than him. Ishii was about 5''9'''' tall and didn''t appear very muscr underneath his gear. However Noah could tell that the person was very experienced at least using the sword so he knew that even with Ishii''s small statue, he was definitely in shape. Ishii had long ck hair, Noah couldn''t tell how long since he had it in a bun. If he had the right armor, Noah would really believe that he was a samurai.

    Ishii saw the almost yful smile on Noah''s face and inwardly shuddered when he realized what he just did. He easily took care of the hoard of zombies by himself and the two monsters behind him appeared more menacing than what he encountered so far.

    Ishii may have strong ability and martial prowess, but it can only take him so far. He soon began to release his grip on his sword nervously and attempted to smile back. He noticed that Noah''s expression didn''t change, but he did notice his creatures behind him stopped eating and both turned in their direction.

    At this point he wished he could go back in time, he thought everything was going well. At leasts as well as they could be going considering everything, but that voice worried him. Worried him for what they would have to start encountering towards the future, especially if they didn''t somehow prove ''something'' to the voice before.

    ''I almost messed everything up¡­'' He said to himself in frustration, while thinking up to here, he waved off to the people behind him to stand down to give off a good impression.

    "I guess you want to talk about teaming up right?" Noah began the conversation after finally organizing everything in his bag after taking out the other bow and setting it aside. The bag didn''t escape everyone''s notice after seeing an object bigger than the bag itself being pulled out. Ishii was then even more convinced that this person is someone they needed to follow, he would dly give up his leadership to him.

    "Ye-yes that''s right! We won''t hold you back either if that worries you. We all want to leave this ce and we feel that with you it would be easier to achieve that together."

    "We can even share our loot with you!" Ishii loudly blurted out thest part while looks of astonishment could be seen from the people behind him. Especially from the girl controlling the daggers in the air, she knew how valuable the drops were. She couldn''t believe he was willing such a huge incentive to a stranger that reeked of blood and looked more dangerous than the monsters they fought so far.

    However Ishii felt that he had to say it, he could tell from Noah''sck of expression in his eyes that he wasn''t even entertaining the idea of letting them follow. He hoped that this would change his mind, he hoped that Noah wasn''t someone with an immoral character and ask for something like the girl''s bodies in exchange.

    Ishii''s suggestion caught Noah off guard, the thought was certainly enticing, but there were a couple of problems.

    ''Even if I could get their loot, I would still need them to hold it or get myself a base and would have to rely on someone to guard it. I would also have to deal with the leeches that are still in the building...'' Once he thought up to this, he had already made up his mind, he soon slung his back over his shoulder and walked to grab his sword.

    The group watched him anxiously in silence before he looked towards them again.

    "You make a good deal, but I''m better off on my own."Ishii and his group were actually surprised that he had still turned them down. Some believed he was just too arrogant, but Ishii didn''t care about that, if anything he just felt disappointed that even their loot wasn''t enough to convince him to let them join him. However Noah left them with a piece of information that made him regain hope.

    "If you want to be in a group so badly, head to the cafeteria. There''s arge group there that may benefit you, well some of them at least." His thoughts went to the annoying people like Mark, Neal and Regina. His original thought process was to not care about the other peoples progression at all, but that mentality changed for him after the words he heard earlier.

    He needed for humans to pull their own weight and if they could only do that by grouping together then he could at least point them in the right direction.

    "Wait! What''s your name?" Ishii screamed towards Noah''s back. Noah was more like a background character in school and with his mental and physical changes, it was almost impossible for anyone to know who he was unless they had regr interactions. Different from what Ishii expected, Noah had still given him his name even though he came off a bit arrogant.

    Ishii repeated the name a few times, he vowed tomit Noah to memory as a reminder that he needs to work harder.

    They nned to regroup in the building to inform everyone of their next goal and n out what to do next, but when they turned again to look towards Noah out of curiosity, they viewed him doing something disturbing.

    Noah walked over to the bodies of the two zombies that were the first to be killed by him and brought out his dagger to carve out their hearts. He didn''t want to struggle so he used his ability to exchange ten percent of Fenrir''s strength to his own.

    He was trying to be quick so he couldn''t help the excessive blood stter. The heart of the zombie was just as enticing as the human heart he ate before, but he was more aware of himself this time to control his urges.

    He didn''t think twice about the prying eyes on him when he saw the pearl hidden in the non-beating sac. He could hear the whispers behind him when he did so, but he was more concerned about the notifications buzzing in his mind. The feeling was going on way before he had pried open the heart, he was sure that it had something to do with Fenrir leveling up.

    [Tamed creature Fenrir Level Up! +5 attributes]

    [You have consumed the mana source of yourpatible species. Mana and progression of your skills linked to the mana source has been increased.]

    ''.....''

    ''Why am Ipatible with a zombie and not a human? Does it have something to do with that title? Or maybe it''s the ring¡­But atleast that means I can abuse this! Lets get more of those pearl thingys or should I just call them cores? It doesn''t matter, we can check my stats afterwards, oh man I''m getting excited.''

    Even in his excitement, he didn''t forget to check on Fenrir''s stats so he could distribute his five points.

    [yer: Fenrir

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Lycan

    Lvl: 8

    Exp: 1571/1600->7/3,200

    Health:80%->82%

    Stamina:75%->70%?

    Mana: 10

    Attributes

    Strength:50->53(54)

    Agility:41->44

    Constitution:60->65

    Stamina:33->35

    Magic:5

    Spirit:38->40

    Unassigned Points: 5

    Skills

    Active

    Bloodlust(Lvl 0) Progression:.6%->1.2%

    Passive

    Lycans Blessing(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Lunar Empowerment(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Supernatural Senses(Lvl 0)Progression:.9%->1.8%

    Lycans Regeneration(Lvl 0)Progression:1.3%->2.5%

    Bing deadly weapons(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Noah first used Fenrir''s points, adding three to his agility so next time he levels up he would obtain his perk for reaching 50, while spending thest two on his strength. His ''decree of equivalent exchange'' skill can only be used with Fenrir and what he felt the most he would need to exchange with was Fenrir''s strength so he decided to focus on that for now.<novelnext></novelnext>

    However, while looking at the stats, a few issues came to mind that were causing him some inner turmoil.

    ''I''ve seen Fenrir eat zombies and humans whole before, he should be considered a zombie right? Why aren''t those core-like things affecting him? Is it because his race is a werewolf and not a zombie? No¡­Even I don''t have zombies included in my race. But where am I supposed to find werewolves then to help increase his skills faster?

    And at this rate he willpletely overshadow Arachne¡­Hopefully when I ''pass my limit'' I''ll be able to find a way to help her grow stronger¡­''

    He soon began to look around at all the zombies'' corpses, a glint appeared in his eyes before he grew a crazed smile.

    Soon almost everyone that was in the library became an audience of Noah, watching him run from zombie to zombie and removing their hearts. Every moment watching him became more disturbing than before. At first they were curious to what he was doing, some of them noticed Noah removing a stone-like object from the hearts. ''What''s special about the stones?'' They began to wonder and converse amongst themselves.

    But then when they saw him swallow the stone that was covered in blood and whatever else was inside the heart, they started to be disgusted, fearful and more curious at the same time. Not mentioning how disgusting it would be to taste human/zombie blood and innards, zombies were supposed to be infectious! ''Did he justmit suicide?''

    However as they watched, they grew horrified when they clearly saw him take a bite from one of the many hearts he removed. Few of the women screamed out in shock while others puked from the bizarre disy.

    They began to doubt if he was even human, that or something was mentally wrong with him. Minutes went by while the simr interactions repeated itself. At one point Ishii really wanted to go over and stop Noah before he traumatized everyone, not to mention he was afraid that Noah would really turn if he continued to ingest the zombie''s blood. He didn''t want to watch the person that made his goal behave in such a manner, but watching him made him have contradicting thoughts.

    ''Is he so strong because he''s been doing this the whole time? Should we be doing the same thing?'' He really wished that wasn''t the case, but watching the overzealous figure of Noah excitedly going from corpse to corpse, that thought was growing stronger in time.

    "HahaHA! Now let''s see my gains!" He couldn''t wait anymore, he was still on one knee after removing thest core before checking his stats. He was feeling an itch in his mind indicating notifications, he was excited to find out what he just achieved.

    [You have consumed¡­..]x47 He saw a long list of the same notification over and over and quickly scrolled through before he saw something else.

    [You have achieved the first limits of 50 stats in mana, perk based on ss Monster Tamer obtained; ''Monster tongue'']

    [Monster tongue(lvl 0)- To help your cause of taming monsters, it''s easier tomunicate with them first. The firstyer ofmunication has been open and you can openly discuss with monsters through limited intentions. Leveling up the skill will advance thenguage barrier.]

    Noah didn''t really feel like he needed this skill with his spirit being so high, but he also understood that the skill may benefit him in the future and it was a free skill. He was sure that other monster tamers would scream in joy to obtain it. His interest quickly waned before going to the next notification.

    [You have reached the limit of the effectiveness the currentmana stones have on your mana. Mana gone from the ratio of 1:1 to 1:0.1]

    [yer: Noah

    Race:Human? Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 3056->381

    Lvl: 9

    Exp: 543/6400->943/6400

    Health:50%

    Stamina:36%->49%

    Mana: 10/68->16/116

    Attributes

    Defense: 25

    Strength:24(26) [8]+5

    Agility:36(40) [12]+5

    Constitution:53(58) [17]+10

    Stamina:27(30) [9]+5

    Magic: 31->53(58)

    Spirit:95->103(113)

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)progression:75%

    Killing instinct (lvl1) progression:4.7%

    Decree of Equivalent Exchange (lvl 0) progression: 0%->100%

    Undead Webbing(Lvl 0)6.2%

    Elusive(lvl 0) progression:0%

    Passive

    Rodeleros(lvl 0) progression: .6%

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:100%

    Immortal body (lvl 1) progression: .7%->6.4%

    Budding feeder (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Subservient Hierarchy (lvl 0) progression: 0%-100%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:50%

    Taming proficiency(lvl 1)N/A

    Unity through pain(lvl 0)N/A

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0): N/A

    Monster tongue(lvl 0):N/A

    Spiders Alertness(Lvl 0)9.4%->10.9%

    Sensory Spines(Lvl 0): 8.3%->9.7%

    Titles

    The Fallen, Subjugator]

    There was a lot that Noah had toment on. He felt that he had to organize his thoughts and start from the top.

    However it was hard for him to not think about the question mark over his race.

    "I knew it was gonna happen after I found out I was ipatible with that person''s stone¡­.but why is it confused about my race now?"

 Chapter 67 67: Destruction Of The Soul

    "I knew it was gonna happen after I found out I was ipatible with that person''s stone¡­.but why is it confused about my race now?"

    To Noah, he didn''t care if he was a human or not at this point since he has been growing to ept it. What concerned him was what did he do that finally made the system question it?

    ''Hmm¡­but I don''t feel different at all¡­'' He thought while blood was still dripping from his mouth after the hearts he casually snacked on.

    ''Screw it, that''s not too important so it can wait. I was really looking forward to breaking my mana stats with those cores. It actually went down by like a tenth of what it usually did! Even my level one skills didn''t progress as much.''

    Noah had to go back to check over the stats one more time just to be sure. But even though the exploit he was anxious about didn''t work, he was happy to see how well his stats panel has progressed.

    ''My two newest skills have reached 100% and I still have a ton of mana now, not to mention that this isn''t the end. The zombies will only get stronger which means their cores should be of better quality right? Hehe! I''m getting excited all over again.''

    He saw his twopanions were done with what they were doing so he thought it was best that he finally got a move on.

    ''But before that, I need to reset the ratio of our experience again. If ten means what I think it means then I need to hurry and reach it.''

    Willing for his experience between the two to go from 20:80 like before, he switched it to 80:20. He nned to make his creatures help him power level his way to 10. Seeing the experience needed, he has a long way to go, but if he could fight more advanced creatures and zombies then he was sure that he could reach 10 before the day was over.

    "Wait Ishii!"

    The girl that could control flying objects held Ishii back when she saw that Ishii was about to yell out to Noah again. She wanted to get far away from that man

    "Bu-but Alicia, did you not see what he was doing? And that bag he pulled a freaking bow out of? The guy definitely knows things that could help us. He doesn''t seem bad, it wouldn''t hurt a-"

    "Doesn''t seem bad?? He was LITERALLY eating hearts for crying out loud! AND he was smiling while doin- Mpmh!" After nearly screaming, Alicia quickly covered her mouth and looked around to make sure she didn''t alert anything. She then sighed in relief, she couldn''t believe she broke character like that, but seeing Noah''s actions really put her on edge.

    Ishii stood there nkly recalling the past events and then he finally came to a realization that she was right. But maybe he had a good reason, at least that''s what he wanted to believe. Alicia saw the inner struggle he was going through and sighed once again. She knew Ishii''s character, he was just too kind.

    "Let''s not think about it, remember he mentioned the people at the cafeteria. If he knows them then that means they might also know what he does. Let''s hurry before we miss them.

    Under her insistence, the group gathered what little things they could and began to trek their way back from where Noah came from.

    In the meantime, Noah was slowly making his way to the center building where students would go to enroll, inquiry about financial aid and the like. He was prepared to have to fight, yet when he made it to the backside of the building he noticed that there were already corpses on the ground and he could see blood and corpses leading into the building since the doors were wide open.

    However it wasn''t just corpses that he saw, but he saw the things that were attracted to them as well. There were flocks of birds preying on the dead body including two gigantic above human sized vultures. The flocks of birds were clearly different from their original counterparts. He could definitely tell that the birds that resembled crows were at least a foot taller and with his pupils, he could make out small teeth-like objects in their beaks.

    He nned to avoid them since he had no way to chase the birds in the arrow, but his eyes twitched when he looked upon the vultures. He needed to at least kill one of them. He remembered what he promised me.

    ''Maybe I can see if I can still tame another creature¡­Hopefully I can''t for its sake.'' Noah turned towards Arachne, who he saw was also eyeing the vultures just like him.

    "Arachne, try to capture one, I don''t care what happens to the other. Fenrir, just kill as many of these things as you can, we''ll go when you start." After giving themand, he watched Arachne situate herself and tethered herself to her original location like always before he saw her legs visibly bulge.

    Whoosh!

    Arachne exploded faster than a cannonball, Noah was sure that would take a considerable amount of stamina from her, but that''s what Fenrir was for.

    Screech!*

    Before he could move, he already could hear the ovepping of wings pping. Even though the flock of birds grew in size, they still had the mentality of birds and took off to the skies when a predator emerged. Even through the sound of the wings, Noah could clearly make out the distress calling from the vulture Arachne was sinking her fangs into.<novelnext></novelnext>

    It''s been awhile, but Arachne has finally found a prey that wasn''t immune or resistant to her venom. She made sure to sink her fangs into the body of the vulture and not the wings.

    Hiss!*

    Arachne hissed angrily when the vulture struck her in itsst ditch effort to fight back and with its sharp beak it was able to still puncture her backside which was almost equivalent to body armor. It was probably the deepest injury she''s received so far, but that just shows the danger of the Vultures beak.

    After the attack, the effects of the venom was seen, the vulture''s body first went stiff and then slowly the head and neck of the creature began to lower. `

    The sound of the vulture''s partner screamed from the side. It first jumped away after being startled like the rest, but when it saw the distress its partner was going through, it cried in vengeance and came back to attack Arachne.

    Arachne felt that she''s already aplished her task in taking out the first creature. The prey wouldn''t die immediately, but it was out for the count. Now she had to try to find a way to put down the next one for Noah without killing it.

    "Awwhhhoooo!"

    Soon however, she could easily feel the tremors in the ground and hear the sound of the food thief approaching. When the vulture tried to rip into her body, she quickly pulled herself away by jumping at the same time and retreating with her leg.

    Boom!

    After the vulture missed its target, Fenrir came upon it and pinned it to the ground with his overlyrge paw. The bird was huge, but its wings couldn''t be used like arms to help it push its body up. And Fenrir was a big boy, not to mention strong. When he noticed the bird struggling under him, he pressed his other paw on the bird''s back causing the vulture to gawk in pain.

    Noah wasn''t expecting for the other birds to leave, especially when he saw their sizes and their new features of teeth. He assumed that they would be more aggressive, but this helped him feel relieved for the future. The insects were bad enough, he didn''t want to have to constantly deal with birds too.

    He quickly made his way over to Fenrir and the vulture while Arachne was keeping a lookout for anything approaching. Noah noticed that even though the vulture was being held down, its neck was moving freely so he shot a couple of webs along its neck to hold it in ce before kneeling above its head to activate his taming skill.

    To his surprise, he appeared in that space again. ''Does this mean I can tame another creature? Wait! what happened to¡­me? He was momentarily distracted before he caught attention to the ball that symbolizes his soul or consciousness, he still wasn''t sure what it was.

    His sphere was giving off an eerie aurapared to before. He remembered that his sphere was clearly white with specks of ck and red that were slowly gaining in volume. However his orb now held an almost unnoticeable translucent purple halo around it. The most obvious changes were when he could see that the ck and red were slowly mixing and they resembled gaseous clouds simr to something like Jupiter.

    Knowing that he would never be able to make sense of what was happening in this space, he focused on the orb in front of him and quickly advanced.

    ''Something''s not right¡­'' He thought to himself as he progressed through the vulture''s barriers. In this world, of course the orbs didn''t have mouths, but he could tell the bird was ''screaming'' in agony as he advanced closer. The pain was bing more clear after he approached a considerable distance, even the vulture''s resistance began to die down.

    The vulture''s orb was bingpletely unstable, The lights of its orb were going dim and then glowing intensely while it constantly shot off res.

    Noah stopped in consideration that maybe he should give up his attempt of taming the creature, but a dangerous thought entered his mind. ''What would happen if I continued?'' That thought alone was enough for him to stop caring about what was going to happen. The bird was in pain, not him so it should be safe for him to continue right?

    Intense vibration!*

    Noah approached the vulture''s consciousness and attempted to still connect to it. At this time, the area began to shake and the orb began to pulsate as if it was a beating heart. Its glow flickered repeatedly before suddenly it glowedpletely white.

    During this time, Noah could make out the feelings of the vulture, the pain seemed more unbearable than being skinned alive with how much pain the bird was in. And before Noah could have a thought, the orb just dispersed into a glitter of particles and was kicked out of the space.

    Noah stood there hovering over the vulture''s head still with a confused expression as he thought about what happened. When he came to, he looked down towards the vulture''s face and noticed it was covered in blood. For its mouth to its eyes, blood seemed to be squeezed out of it. Its pupils weren''t even able to be seen from the extreme pain it went through and part of its tongue wasying beside it as it identally bit it off during the struggle.

    ''So¡­.Maybe it''s a good thing I tried it now before I actually tried to tame something I liked. But don''t me me, me your brethren before you that tried to eat me.''

    After his failed experiment, he went to check his loot from the silver chest that dropped. While he grabbed his things, he gave Arachne and Fenrir a mission, which was to grab the hearts from the corpses of the zombies.

 Chapter 68 68: Frog In A Well

    After his failed experiment, he went to check his loot from the silver chest that dropped. While he grabbed his things, he gave Arachne and Fenrir a mission, which was to grab the hearts from the corpses of the zombies.

    He sat a green orb off to the side. He had received every color besides that, he could only assume it was agility, perfect for Arachne.

    Next he pulled out a pair of what he would consider to be brown sneakers that had a imprint of wings on the side of them.

    His eyes brightened when the thought of flying entered his thoughts but then he calmed himself. He didn''t really believe the shoes could allow him to fly but the thought was sure enticing. Before he did anything else he quickly removed his bloody boots he had on to put on the new ones. The ones he had now felt almost weightless. It may not have been as durable as the boots before, but when he checked his stats, he saw that the shoes increased his agility by 5 instead of the boots two.

    After that he picked up some leather armor pants that were the same ugly brown as the shoes with the wings logo. It wasn''t really something he would want to put on over what he already had so he decided to stuff it into his bag.

    When he was done recovering the little bit of the gold that was within the chest, he noticed a medium sized pile of bloodied crushed hearts piled close beside him.

    ''Must''ve been Fenrir''s handiwork¡­'' Noah thought while taking a nce at his two creatures who appeared more proud doing such a simple task then actually killing monsters for him.

    "Haha~ you both did great, go do whatever you want while I''m doing this but don''t go far.

    From his connection with Arachne, he could tell that she felt extremely proud of his praise, while Fenrir, well Fenrir''s actions alone was enough to figure out that he was happy. But surprisingly Arachne didn''t go off to eat like he thought she would and she walked over by his side and made herselffortable.

    ''Well I can''t expect her to always eat, she has to get full at some point and that fat thing should''ve definitely satisfied her. But I have no words for him¡­'' He looked over and nced towards Fenrir, busying himself with the two bodies of the vultures. Noah was seriously doubting that he could ever get full, but when he considered his size then it made everything seem more reasonable.

    He didn''t waste time to quickly rummage through the hearts to obtain their cores and stuff them in his mouth like candy before quickly shuffling through his notifications at the end and checking to see the improvements in his mana.

    [yer: Noah

    Race:Human? Chimera

    ss: monster tamer

    Gold: 381->426

    Lvl: 9

    Exp: 943/6400->1053/6400

    Health:50%

    Stamina:49%->50%

    Mana: 16/116->15/122

    Attributes

    Defense: 25

    Strength:24(26) [8]+5

    Agility:36(40) [12]+7

    Constitution:53(58) [17]+10

    Stamina:27(30) [9]+5

    Magic: 53->56(61)

    Spirit: 103(113)

    Skills

    Active

    Monster taming(lvl 0)progression:75%

    Killing instinct (lvl1) progression:4.7%->8%

    Decree of Equivalent Exchange (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Undead Webbing(Lvl 0)6.2%->6.4%

    Elusive(Lvl 0)progression:0%

    Passive

    Rodeleros(lvl 0) progression: .6%

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:100%

    Immortal body (lvl 1) progression: 6.4%->10.1%

    Budding feeder (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Subservient Hierarchy (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:50%

    Taming proficiency(lvl 0)N/A

    Unity through pain(lvl 0)N/A

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0): N/A

    Monster tongue(lvl 0):N/A

    Spiders Alertness(Lvl 0)10.9%->11.1%

    Sensory Spines(Lvl 0): 9.7%->9.8%

    Titles

    The Fallen, Subjugator]

    ''Not being able to upgrade my skills without that stone might be a problem. Maybe that''s what the quote ''a jack of all trades, a master on none'' means. Having too many skills isn''t always better, I''ll have to really consider what to level up next when I obtain another one.''

    He was about to get up to leave, but when he noticed the increase in stats from wearing the new shoes, a thought crossed his mind. Something that he has overlooked this entire time. He looked down towards the eerie sword in his hands with a frown.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "This was from a boss monster and it doesn''t give me anything except being ridiculously heavy and sharp? No¡­There has to be something to it¡­lets try¡­"

    He ran one of his fingers along the de of the sword, easily causing blood to appear since his constitution is not as high as it used to be. He then used the bloody finger to smear the blood on the de and some on the hilt for safe measures and checked his again.

    ''¡­.Nothing? This sword is just too good to not have any effects or stat boost. But I can''t spend all day thinking about it if I don''t even have an idea of what to do.''

    He gave up for now and prepared himself to leave and was about to call out for hispanions when he noticed the wound on Arachne. He rushed in a hurry, even though the wound didn''t seem to bother her at all. Noah wasn''t aware of it, but Grims death left a small trauma in his heart, but since he has never dealt with anything like this, he didn''t realize the change.

    The wound stopped bleeding quickly and began to heal visibly, his skillpared to the healers he''s seen before couldn''t bepared with how high his stats were. Sadly the skill could only be used on creatures.

    Noah didn''t hesitate to move on after that, his next step was to head past the building leading to the main lot. If nothing came out from the open doors of the center by now, he was sure there was nothing that could danger him within.

    On the way there he was able to make out the smoke in the air more clearly, rms were ring nonstop from the cars, The only thing he realized was missing were the screams.

    Having made it past the other side, he was met with a chaotic sight. Cars piled on top of another while dead bodiesid inside the vehicles and many were scattered through the lot. There were many cars that were emitting smoke and some that were on fire or already exploded.

    And around all of this were zombies scattered through the area. It wasn''t a lot, maybe a little under seventy, but considering how many people had the idea of leaving through this particr point, the number was small.

    ''Well I was expecting this, All the noise is on the other side so of course they wouldn''t stay here. But still¡­I won''t let this experience go.''

    Gunshots!*

    Noah was about to start moving again when he heard sounds again on the other side. And not just any sounds, the sounds were of multiple guns shooting like an automatic weapon.

    ''The police? Or is it the army?'' Were Noah''s first thoughts, he had half a mind to find another way out if it were any of the two. He felt that people inw enforcement or anything that had to do with the government would try to use him and justify it by saying he owes it to the people because he was strong.

    Plus they had guns! He was unsure regarding Arachne and Fenrir, but he believed that guns were still lethal to him especially during the time of him recovering.

    "Aaahhhhh!"

    He was about to find another exit when he heard screams over the sounds of the gunfire.

    ''What the hell are they fighting?'' It was toote to unhear it, Noah''s curiosity peaked once again. He began to make his way through the maze of cars. To make it easier on himself, he began to walk over them instead of around them.

    "Fenrir, Arachne! Help me finish up the zombies here."

    Even though he was interested in what was going on the other side, that didn''t mean he could ignore the experience trying to make their way towards the sounds too.

    Thud! Thud!

    The sound of two heavy objectsnding on the roofs of cars could be heard. Arachne and Fenrir were naturals of parkour as they began to make their way to their prey. Noah wasn''t going to participate in this fight, he was already struggling to traverse across the cars while holding his sword.

    Meanwhile, on the other side.

    "Don''t stop shooting! Just maintain your distance, idiots! If it can''t reach us the-"

    A man could be seen shouting orders to his group of people wearing all ck and carrying Weapons ranging from pistols, sub machine guns, to assault rifles.

    However in the middle of him talking, his voice was cut off and stood there in a daze. The people that were with him stopped firing to see what was going on before slowly his body back to split perfectly in half from top to bottom.

    No one there saw what exactly happened at the time, but they knew who the culprit was. Even in their shock, they all turned and began to fire again.

    "Kill that bitch!"

    The group became riled up even more to take down the one responsible. Their group amounted to over fifty people all suited with guns, they didn''t seem to be rted to the military or the police, but they weren''t the only ones.

    Another set of cars arrived from the other side of the road, and groups of people hurried out, all wielding guns as well. But unlike the group before, everyone drove in a ck SUVpared to the other groups whose cars ranged from different colored luxury cars and models.

    They didn''t immediately fire, but kept their vignce up around them to observe what''s going on and they waited for their leader to give orders.

    Out of all the cars, there was one car that wasn''t a SUV, but was a ck hummer. Instead of the door opening, the window rolled down instead before an older man with all grey hair and neat trimmed beard poked out his head.

    "Don''t worry about the others, just kill that beast so we can go find my princess!" The old man''s face appeared calm but his voice was anxious.

    His group nodded in acknowledgement and edged forward with their weapons out. They couldn''t show it, but they were feeling afraid when they saw what they were supposed to kill.

    In front of them was a woman that turned into a zombie, they think? But the term woman and zombie was too light of a way to describe her, she literally a freak of nature. Tentacles, that was the first thing they saw when they spotted her. It wasn''t the kind of tentacles you would see from an octopus even though they were simr. The monster''s tentacles seemed to be made out of muscles and tendons.

    And it wasn''t just a few, the tentacles would emerge from her back like bees from its hive. The tentacles stretched for Meters and they were fast! But that wasn''t what made her so frightening. The tentacles could cut through a person like butter and whenever bullets approached her, she would surround herself with tentacles to protect her vitals.

    But they had guns! Even though they were afraid, holding the guns gave them courage to take on anything. They had the courage to trek through the city to get here because of their weapons. The zombies and animals they met so far were easily put down when shot in the head, allowing them to level up with ease and grow stronger.

    With their newfound strength and weapons, they ignored the umting fear and rain down bullets on the monstrosity before them.

    Seeing that another group appeared to help, the group before became more feverish in their attacks, screaming as they shot.

    Whoosh!

    The monster had to cover her face from the bullets so she couldn''t see, but she could feel through the bullets impacts where the bullets wereing from while shooting out a tentacle in a sweeping motion in that direction.

    The second group wasn''t aware of the speed or range she could attack, but with their stats, some of them could still react.

    "Duck!"

    "Get back!"

    Different yells sounded. Most of them were able to react in time, but five people hesitated and could only feel something swipe across their mid sections. They looked down in confusion before blood splurged out from their lips first and then they found their bodies tilting over on their own.

    ....

    "...."

    ''I''m not prepared for this shit!'' Four pupils stared through the gates watching everything transpire.

    Noah could clearly tell that this creature was one of the zombies that ''broke its limits'' the god mentioned before. Originally he thought that his stats were high enough to still contend against these so-called superior creatures. However as he watched the one sided ughter, he realized that even if he recovered, there was still a chance he could die.

    Noah watched in shock, after he saw a few more people die, his gaze grew solemn. He saw what he needed to see, he turned back around and began to make his way back to the campus with a determined expression.

    His creatures were still busy watching the monster ughtering the people that it took them a few seconds to realize that Noah was walking away. Noah was too deep in his thoughts to call out to them.

    ''Just reaching level ten won''t help me¡­If I''m going to do this on my own then I need those two to evolve as well. It seems that the tutorial stage is over.'' He took onest look back before making his way to an area he was sure there would be something to kill. He just hoped it wasn''t simr to the monster he just saw.

 Chapter 69 69: Making A Decision

    He took onest look back before making his way to an area he was sure there would be something to kill. He just hoped it wasn''t simr to the monster he just saw.

    .....

    "Wait! You said he was eating something from their hearts? Are you sure?"

    In the cafeteria, Mark''s group was discussing with Ishii and his group about Noah.

    "We all saw it, he seemed to be quite interested in them too, he had a stupid smile after he was done. I''m sure those things benefited him in some way¡­I''m just not sure if we can do the same¡­The freak was eating the zombies hearts like snacks!" Alice began to recount what she saw as well and began to grow emotional when discussing Noah''s new habit.

    "¡­.Why don''t any of you seem surprised? Di- It''s not the first time is it??" She noticed their odd behavior and came to her own conclusion. There was no way Noah just started to have that strange craving just after meeting them, of course these people saw him do it before.

    ''I knew it! That guy is crazy.''

    On the other hand, the people who heard this new bit of information and didn''t witness what happened during the scene at the gym were all confused.

    ''Eating zombies? What the hell?'' How is he not a zombie yet??''

    "You haven''t seen it, but when we were back in the gym, we fought some kind of zombie boss! And he was crazy enough to eat it while it was still alive!"

    "I still get shivers just thinking about it¡­I''m d he''s gone."

    Everyone soon began to tell their different experiences with Noah, it was a huge eye opener for Ishii and his group. Just hearing about the showdown between Noah and the Zombie King in detail amazed them. This was also the first that Neal and Regina were hearing of Noah''s deeds as well.

    A cold sweat went down their backs. If they had known he became that crazy then they wouldn''t have messed with him, at least not personally. The guy clearly lost more than just his mind.

    "So what should we do now? Are we leaving?"

    Ishii didn''t want to continue bad mouthing the person he admired. It didn''thelp that every time they bad-mouthed Noah, an intense re came from the corner of the room. He tried to change the discussion to the main point of why they were here.

    "Why should we leave? We have food and it seems most of the zombies were taking care of, right? It should be easy to wait it out here before help arrives, why waste our lives? Neal was the first to answer. He very much enjoyed the leadership he had so far, even though the world was dangerous in every sense of the word now, he wanted to enjoy this new role as much as possible.

    He also wanted to build a better rapport with everyone so even when they shelter under the government''s wings everyone would still treat him as their leader.

    A lot of people seemed to be in agreement with Neal but then there were others who found what he said to be stupid.

    "I don''t think that''s the right call." Ishii spoke, raising a few res from Neal and Regina respectively.

    "Well you are the one who came to us, it doesn''t really seem right for you to try toe here and tell us what to do."

    "Look, I came here because Noah said there were people here that could help us. If you don''t want toe then that''s your choice, I won''t force any of you. I''m just saying that staying here isn''t as safe as we think it is. That voice clearly warned us of something potentially happening.

    Even if we manage toy low here, we will always have to depend on others to save us because we will be left behind. We need to be getting stronger too, these zombies are already out pacing us, I don''t want to imagine how hard it''ll be to live if they grew stronger and we stayed this weak."

    Ishii then began to sit up, noticing his actions, the people who followed him and considered him a better leader also rose. Unsurprisingly Ailetta and Bailey''s group stood with him.

    Jasmine sat rooted in her seat, she peaked towards Ailetta and Bailey, she wanted to stand with them too. Originally she was the first to be against leaving, it was her suggestion to Mark from the beginning to use the cafeteria as a base. However she realized first hand how dangerous the world really is and how fast you can lose everything if you don''t have the strength to defend it.

    Even leading a group required strength, she felt indecisivemanding and risking someone''s life when she wouldn''t be able to protect them.

    She then looked towards Mark while deep in thought. From her view, it seemed that Mark wanted to leave too, but for some reason he wasn''t getting up.

    ''Is it because of them?'' She looked back over to Ailetta and Bailey. She began to think that Mark just didn''t want to follow along in their footsteps, she couldn''t go on like this.

    "? Jas?"

    "Mark, we are going to! How can you consider yourself a hero if you hide here like a coward? Weren''t you going to show me that you were gonna be stronger than ''him''?"

    "!" Mark''s body shook hearing his older sister. He looked down towards the ground deep in thought.

    ''That''s right! If I stay here then how much can I fight to level up? Fuck!'' He bolted from his seat, scaring the people near him.

    "I''m not a coward! No one was leaving so there wasn''t any point of me getting up right now. Don''t forget, it was my idea to fight the zombies in the first ce!" He talked loudly to try to convince everyone of his words, it didn''t work on his sister, but she didn''t have to say anything, she just smiled inside.

    "?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "You guys are really leaving? You''re the ones who experienced the worst of it and you''re gonna go out there still? Isn''t that stupid? Neal tried to talk some sense into them. He was ok with losing Ishii''s group since the people that followed Ishii would be harder to convert over, but he didn''t want his future prize to leave too. Jasmine turned towards him with an indifferent expression.

    "It''s because we experienced these things that we know we can''t stay here. Hopefully you won''t have to experience it yourself. Ishii was it? Are we going now or do you need to do something?"

    It wasn''t confusing that Ishii was surprised, he didn''t expect so many people to follow them. He felt more relieved that he decided to follow Noah''s advice and thanked him internally.

    "Yes we should go now before it gets toote. No one knows if the zombies are capable of traveling in the dark, but I''m certain the animals won''t have an issue. I''d rather make as much distance as we can before he needs to find shelter."

    "Wa-Wait, wait dammit!" Neal called out to everyone leaving, he didn''t want this. He would only be left with the cowards and just a few people who were prepared to fight. Wouldn''t that mean they would be in danger if even just one creature like the one they mentioned beforees?

    "Everyone we''re going too! There should be bags upstairs, we should grab food and water before going. We might not find anything out there so its better to be safe.." He began to walk towards the group like he didn''t just argue against them.

    "Ne-Neal? Weren''t we staying here?" Regina asked in astonishment. She felt more safe being in closed doors. She wasn''t a fighter at all.

    "I changed my mind. It''s better if we stick together, there''s strength in numbers and we can all keep each other safe." He almost broke character by saying this much. He didn''t care about anyone, but himself. He wanted to follow them to keep himself safe.

    It took them all a while to grab things from the store on the second floor. Ishii looked around looking for the mysterious shop keeper he heard so much about, but he was already gone.

    After minutes went by, the group of a little over a hundred made their way out the building and began to make their way to the front gate.

    The walk through the university was too quiet and that alone kept them on their toes.

    They had finally made it pass the library without any noteworthy events happening. With that they were gradually starting to rx. However when they made it to the corpse of rats and zombie corpses on the side of the building is when they had to go on guard.

    "You guys didn''t say anything about these things being here."

    "Well that''s because they weren''t here before, obviously they were attracted to the dead bodies." Alicia coldly responded to the voice that tried to me them.

    Ahead of them were a swarm of insects and not just any particr insects, but ants. From different spots in the vicinity, there were small and big moundsing up from the ground, most likely from the ants digging through the ground.

    People like Ailetta wondered why they never saw ants before when they saw other insects because they were somon . The ants now grew just as much as the other insects, most of them reached to the height of everyone''s knees while there were a few overlyrge ck soldier ants that were as big as Arachne. With the way the sun shone, their shells seemed to hold a shiny luster.

    The size of the ants seemed to give the group of students a sense of rm. What put them even more on edge was how easily the ants were lifting the corpses and carrying them into the holes and then another ant would emerge from the hole to rece it.

    "What should we do? Do we fight them?"

    "How many ants do you think there are? There could be thousands of them!"

    "No¡­" The voices stopped and saw Jasmine kneeling over the ground. They would''ve assumed something was wrong with her if it wasn''t for the small dryad sitting on her shoulder.

    "There are a lot of them, but there seems to only be about a hundred of them if that. From my guess, I would say that growing under the ground killed most of them, but it''s only a guess." She stood up and brushed her hair out of her face before facing everyone.

    If it was anyone else, she would''ve been made with scruitnity after making such ims when no one there could verify it, but they were raptured by her mature beauty. Her ears, resembling cosy, added a nice touch to her attractiveness.

    "Jas, are you sure? If that''s the case then we should fight! I''d rather fight these things th-"

    "Crap they''reing!"

    While the group were going through the fight of their lives, Noah had almost made his way to his first destination. It took him longer than he expected because he met some zombies on the way.

    The zombies were made quick work out of just by Arachne and Fenrir alone. What took most of his time was obtaining all of their cores. Noah just couldn''t help himself, even when he saw a dead corpse, he opened their chest to obtain his treasure.

    However because of the constant stops, nightfall was graduallying and he was beginning to feel the strain of the mental fatigue umting. For someone who spent most of their life reading, this day has been so exciting for him that he began to feel drained physically even when his body wasn''t tired.

    "I shouldn''t go on like this¡­I''m in too much of a hurry for strength, but time waits for no one¡­Wait! It''s not like I still can''t receive experience while resting."

    Noah was once on his way to the rear parking lot in the women''s area, but ying it safe, he began to backtrack towards their dorms. He could clean up whatever was there, and at the same time he could implement his broken privilege as a monster tamer, especially when he now had a creature that didn''t need to rest.

    ....

    A/N: Everyone thank you for your support so far! Don''t think I haven''t noticed everyone''smentsm, even the ants was something I forgot about until someone mentioned it. I take everyone''s words into consideration, especially your suggestions and criticism so keep theming.

    Also I won''t be describing their fight in the next chapter but let me know if you would like to read about it. I can add it the next two chapters so let me know soon.

 Chapter 70 70: Coincidence?

    Noah was once on his way to the rear parking lot in the women''s area, but ying it safe, he began to backtrack towards their dorms. He could clean up whatever was there, and at the same time he could implement his broken privilege as a monster tamer, especially when he now had a creature that didn''t need to rest.

    During his travels, he thought about his recent gains. He couldn''t wait to eat all of the cores he''s obtained. If he didn''t want to waste more time he would''ve eaten them as he collected them, but beating the darkness was more important. In addition, he thought back to his recent looting, he obtained a mace that he didn''t bother to keep, a helmet that seemed like it came from the spartan era that he didn''t keep either. But he was more than happy to obtain a potion he has yet to receive before. It came in a small tube and was a light blue thin liquid that held a subtle glow.

    Noah didn''t have the analysis skill, but any gamer and avid fantasy reader could tell what the potion was. He knew it had to be a potion to restore mana, that and the gold alone was enough to consider the chest contents satisfactory.

    Mana has been a huge issue for him. He thought that having high magic would also reflect his mana recovery, but that doesn''t seem to be the case. He remembered from his books that sometimes sleeping would increase the amount of mana gained, a monster wouldn''t give him time to rest to rebuild his mana. The value of the potion was worth a lot more to a loner like him.

    Minutes went by before he finally could make out the dorm. A smile of relief appeared on his face at the thought of being able to rx for a moment. Having stamina that could regenerate didn''t help him carry around a heavy sword as much as he thought it would. At this thought, he looked towards Fenrir in regret.

    ''If I didn''t need you to fight then I could''ve rode you here instead.''

    "Sigh¡­." He then proceeded to massage his temples from the recent headaches he''s had on the way here. Because the sword was causing him distress, he thought of abusing his skill to exchange his states with Fenrir, receiving some of his strength to make the journey easier since it didn''t cost mana or stamina. But that n didn''t go as well as he intended.

    The skill stayed in effect as long as he kept up his concentration on its usage, but he found out quickly why the skill wasn''t as broken as he believed it to be. The pain in his head came subtly, he didn''t think anything of it at first. It was until he had to drop his sword and hold his head when he noticed that something was truly wrong. Thepse of concentration caused the skill to cancel and the pain began to recede, that''s when he began to realize the consequences of his actions.

    Noah soon began to walk towards the dorm with a gaze that appeared as if he had a score to settle.

    "I''ve been doing nothing but being carriedtely, at least I can take out my frustrations out on these guys. Noah was happy to see that there were quite a bit of zombies left in the vicinity. From the front of the dorm alone were about thirty zombies. He hoped that there would be a lot more when he went to the middle of the courtyard, considering the fact that when he had to jump out from his dorm window, there were still a lot of zombies trapped on the base floor.

    He was preparing himself to start the fight first but the current scene left him confused, before he realized it, he was rushing the current zombies in anger.

    "Those are mine!" He screamed with a hint of possessiveness. The zombies in the vicinity were eating the corpses scattered on the ground, but what triggered him was when he noticed the zombies aiming for the hearts specifically.

    He quickly used his skill to exchange strength from Fenrir and rushed to the first zombie feeding.

    Swoosh!*

    He didn''t need to, but he swung the sword with all of his might like he was attempting to hit a home run. The sword went cleanly through the zombies face diagonally before its face slid apart. However the strength of Noah''s swing caused him to spin in a circle before he had to retain his bnce, but his rage didn''t stop there. He quickly went to the next zombie to release his frustrations, but this time he held back his strength a little.

    "You damn zombies! You were supposed to be attracted to brains!" His eyes stared widely at the corpses in the vicinity, he realized that almost all of the hearts were missing. He clutched his heart as if he was in pain, water began to build up in his eyes from the nonexistent rain.

    "Fenrir! Arachne! Sniff* Kill them all! Ahhh!"

    On the verge of crying, his mind was so distraught that he didn''t notice the track star zombies like before were among the feeding zombies. But that''s what Arachne was for, while Fenrir was quick to go on a killing spree. It wasn''t just food that Arachne cared about, it was also Noah who allowed her to always have a full stomach that she now cared about just as much.

    She saw the threats approaching Noah and knew he was still somewhat vulnerable so she chose to go after the main threats first. She was too concerned that she forgot about his skill that made him almost untouchable against zombies that had yet to evolve.

    Two sprinters that Arachne couldn''t get to quickly enough had already approached Noah, but when they reached a few feet from him they paused.

    That sleight pause was enough for Noah to effortlessly take them out. Clumsily he swiped upwards hard, cutting the zombie in half starting from the bottom before cutting through its head. While still using his momentum, he turned towards the next one and had his sword crashing down, spitting the other in two.

    He had forgotten not to use so much strength due to his emotions that the sword even cut through the ground before stopping when almost half the de was submerged.

    Luckily the quality of the sword was greatly superior than the weapons he used before and he was able to retrieve the sword again. It''s been awhile since Noah has been able to let loose towards the end of killing the zombies, his emotions began to stabilize.

    He began to look around and observe Arachne and Fenrir finishing up. While he looked around, his eyes could help but wander over the coreless zombies once again, causing him to clench his fist, before rxing again.

    He wasn''t in the right state of mind to process it, but now that he thought about it, he began to have a bad premonition.

    "I can get mana and level up my skills from those cores, that should mean they should too right? But I also need to upgrade my skills using those stones¡­chest don''t drop for zombies, and using the shop shouldn''t be possible¡­right?" When his thoughts reached here, he began to think about how the zombies were able to progress so fast even though the amount of people they killed didn''t match the speed of their leveling.

    "!"

    "Are the cores the reason they are growing so fast?? If that''s the case then¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Gggrrrrrll!!"

    "No, no, no, no, NO!¡­.This isn''t happening right now¡­there''s no way a cliche like this can happen for real! I didn''t even finish what I was going to say!"

    The current situation almost turned him hysterical. To him this was one of those moments where the character would say something and it would set off a red g.

    The growl from earlier was obnoxiously loud, it reminded him of the Zombie King from earlier but the sound was definitely louder. His gaze looked towards the dormitory, towards the left dorm meant for the lower nsmen specifically.

    The sound was subtle, but he could hear it, footsteps were slowly approaching him, but the sound was confusing him with each step. The footsteps were slow, as if the creature was approaching in no hurry at all, but that''s what caused the confusion.

    As the footsteps sounded, the steps were sounding closer and closer each time, almost as if the creature was travelingrge distances.

    Other than the zombie approaching, Noah didn''t hear anything else and that made the current atmosphere more suspenseful. Noah had half a mind to run around the corner to satisfy his curiosity which was only expecting the worst.

    Boom!

    "Fuck me sideways¡­." Noah muttered with his bottom jaw cked open in disbelief. He was finally able to see what was the cause of the sounds and it was only his hand at first, but just that alone was enough to put him in a mood.

    The hand was almost twice the size of Fenrir''s which says a lot when Fenrir''s palms are huge, just its paw alone was enough to grip Noah''s upper torso, including his arms.

    Yet the hand in question is bigger than that! He was sure it couldpletely wrap around him and still lock its fingers. Even then, that wasn''t the issue that he found the most rming!

    "Tha-Thats the second floor¡­."

    The giant pale hand, that held the same dark veins that he did, finally made him feel a sense of dread when he saw the cement of the hand. The feeling was brief, because a momentter, the rest of the hand''s body apanied it.

    Gulp* Noah couldn''t help but swallow his spit loudly when he saw the creature in its entirety. The creature didn''t have eyes and its head wasn''t the kind of head that seemed natural. It was as if its face were made of twoyers. The inneryer contained its mouth which made up the majority of its face while the secondyer was just anotheryer of bby skin.

    The mouth alone was enough to make anyone shiver. He couldn''t count them from here, but each touch was as long as his head and extremely pointy. It wasn''t the teeth of a monster that needed to chew, but was used to rip through its food.

    Just from the position of the hand alone, he knew the monster was a big one, bigger than Fenrir. The zombie? Had to be over 15feet and its arms were just as long as his body! Its hands almost touched the ground, but that can also be attributed to the fact that its knees seemed to be bent.

    Noah dazzlingly looked towards the monster, his eyes having yet to blink from not being able to believe his luck.

    He wouldn''t lie if he said that he wanted to test out how strong he was against such a creature, but he wanted it to be on his terms.

    Plop*

    Slowly, Noah removed the bag from his shoulder and slowly started to walk towards the zombie who seemed to be looking at them even though it didn''t have any eyes.

    On cue, Arachne and Fenrir positioned themselves in front of him.

    ''Well this doesn''t seem like something I could avoid forever.'' Noah''s head lifted up to look towards the sky.

    "No matter what happens, I''ve enjoyed myself. This day has been more fulfilling for me than my entire life¡­" He soonid his eyes on the creature before him.

    "But I want to continue to enjoy it, I won''t let any person, monster or god take that away from me!"

    ...

    A/N: There won''t be a chapter tomorrow, but there will still be five for the week. I''ve enjoy seeing everyone''sments so I''ll strive to make a bonus chapter this week to make it 6.

 Chapter 71 71: Revaluation

    "But I want to continue to enjoy it, I won''t let any person, monster or god take that away from me!"

    As his fighting intent increased, His creatures were also affected by his emotions from their bond and took off to initiate what could be the hardest fight they''ve had thus far. That was if the creature wasn''t just like the Zombie King, but was a zombie that passed its limits and evolved.

    Screech!*

    Unlike the growls it sent out before, the sounds of Fenrir and Arachne approaching it caused the giant zombie to scream. The sound wasparable to what a banshee would sound like if it was real.

    "!" Even after his bold statement, Noah was then shocked a few momentster.

    Under Noah''s eyes, he saw the zombie take off into a run. He noticed that the zombies arms were more than just being able to grant it longer reach. When it began to make its way towards them, it leaned over and supported itself with its hands. It alternated its arms with its opposite leg, simr to what a bipedal creature would do when walking, but the creature resembles more of a gori in Noah''s eyes.

    The animation of the monster appeared slow, but just with three steps it had already approached Fenrir and Arachne. The reason for Noah''s surprise was because the zombie should be blind, but it didn''t hesitate or struggle at all in pinpointing their location.

    Deep down, Noah was feeling hesitant to join the fight because of his lowered stats, but that fear spurned him more to charge.

    "Argh! I didn''t choose to be a monster tamer to have my creatures fight all my battles for me!" He brought the handle of the sword to his waist while the de pointed behind him and took off towards the battle.

    A secondter, his speed began to increase after using his exchange skill for a percentage of Fenrir''s agility instead of his strength. The strength would help him swing the sword more efficiently, but would rather be faster to avoid the zombies clutches. Plus he felt he would need Fenrir to keep his strength since he would be their damage dealer after obtaining his new perk.

    Arachne was the first one to engage. She was aggressive as she jumped atop the creature''s strength. Noah wasn''t sure how heavy Arachne was but she was easily over 200lbs yet the zombie didn''t struggle to stand at all.

    She sank her fangs close into the zombies cor bone quickly before she used the zombies size against him. She didn''t jump off when she saw the handing from behind her, instead she crawled over the zombies shoulder to reach its back and found another suitable location to inject her venom.

    "Awhhooo!" Fenrir approached right after while the zombie was distracted with Arachne and howled instinctively for the signal of its hunt. He used his powerful jaws to mp its teeth around the zombie''s thigh and bit down hard. A dark red liquid began to seep from the area that was bitten, the liquid was borderline ck and appeared to be thick, almost like a syrup.

    "Grrrr!" Fenrir began to growl frustratingly as it gripped on tightly on the zombies leg with its sharp ws and tried to twist its head. It was impossible to tell unless you were Fenrir himself. But his jaws that could easily crush bone and even chew throw most steel, was having a hard time to breach through the zombies muscles.

    "Back down Fucker!" Noah roared towards the zombie when he saw it raise its arm to attack Fenrir after ignoring Arachne''s attempts to distract it. For a brief moment, not even more than a second, its arm froze which allowed Fenrir to retreat to the side but not without him bringing with him ayer of the zombie''s skin.

    Boom!

    The pupils of Noah''s eyes dted when he witnessed the destruction the zombie caused to the ground after Fenrir moved. The ground trembled slightly and the grass that almost reached the middle of his shins werepletely ttened and he could make out a small crater.

    Soon after, the zombie reached behind it to grab for Arachne who attempted to bite through the back of its cranium. However only a loud thud could be heard when her fangs tried to prate its brain, the bone was just too hard for the spider''s current stats.

    The danger of two arms reaching for her caused her to retreat from the giant''s body while Fenrir went for the same leg again. Trying to bite through it was too hard on his teeth so he did the next best thing he could. He stood on his hind legs and began to w ferociously towards the area it bitten through before.

    The scene from before reyed itself, this time the zombie lifted both arms and came crashing down and froze due to Noah''s skill once again which allowed Fenris to move to safety once again before another miniature quake was caused.

    Thud!*

    By this time Noah had approached the zombie and swung with his sword towards the side of the zombie''s knee. He wasn''t able to tell how tough the zombie was from Fenrir''s and Arachnes experience since everything was happening so fast. However, when his sword only went in a few inches and became stuck after the zombies'' muscles tightened and mped down on the de, Noah was made to realize the gap of an evolved creature.

    Noah could feel an attacking, but he also expected it. He quickly ced a foot on the zombie''s leg and kicked off backwards hard to bring the sword with him. He dodged inches away from the zombie motioning to grab for him. From his sensory hairs, he could tell what direction the arm wasing from so he was confident in which way to retreat even if he didn''t see it.

    He couldn''t help but feel a trace of death when the hand bypassed him after seeing its strength. But he had to act fast now that the zombie''s arm was close to its body.

    Noah was quick to spin around and extend out one hand before shoot a web aiming for the zombie''s arm while it was still hovering in front of its body so it could get stuck.

    He then encountered another problem.

    "Fuck that penalty!" He raged after missing his shot and only managed to hit the zombie''s stomach. With his pupils, he could easily track the arms speed and motion, yet when he brought his arm up to shoot, he realized that the motion of bringing up his arm was too slow.

    "Arachne! Stop trying to use your venom, help me tie him up!" I''ll get the legs, you get his arms!"

    He quickly attached a web to the zombie''s unharmed leg now that Fenrir re-engaged to strike the area it bit and scratch before. At this time Noah could easily make out the sap like blood flowing out of the zombie, but he was still surprised that he wasn''t able to see bone after Fenrir''s assaults.

    Having attached the web, he stabbed the sword in the ground and used this chance to use his other arm to shoot a web at the same leg but a bit lower and took off sprinting around the zombies side in a circle.<novelnext></novelnext>

    His n was simple, wrap the legs up and wrap the arms and they could spend however much times as they wanted trying to killing the undefending monster.

    Arachne quickly caught on to Noah''s n, she climbed to the zombies shoulder and tethered her web and jumped down to the side as she began to try to jump around the zombie to imitate Noah.

    But in doing so, it became difficult for Fenrir to interfere and that left them out as targets. The firstyer of the circle of webs for both of them were done at this time and were going for another, Arachne was almost done with her second circle, giving her extreme speed.

    The constant running and jumping of the zombies'' two targets began to rile it up and it screeched loudly again before aiming for the sound going the slowest which happened to be Noah.

    Noah smiled in contempt when he saw the zombie about to step towards him. He didn''t believe that the zombie was smart enough to notice the webs in casing it, given how tough its body was. He watched in anticipation for the zombie to trip up and fall over.

    "Oooof!"

    When the zombie took a step forward, the webs held, but it didn''t hinder the zombie from moving towards him. The webs were still connected to Noah, who was made to feel a heavy pull on his arms. He felt his right arm dislocated from his shoulder. He didn''t hesitate to cut himself off from his webs, but the problems continued to grow.

    Noah tried to get distance after almost being pulled towards the zombie and it used that chance to make a grab for him. The scene from before yed out again, but this time with Arachne. She was in the middle of circling him for the third time when she was snapped from the air during her jump and was almost mmed into the dorm''s building.

    Her reflexes were fast, she immediately disconnected herself from her webs, but the damage was already done and she was flying towards the side of the building

    Noah grew worried that she was going to crash into it, but he then witness a web shooting out of her towards the building in question and she somehow acrobatically sustained her body in mid-air.

    The speed at which she was going into the building still caused a heavy impact when shended.The ss of three surrounding windows shattered, while the entire frame of the one shended near fell apart due to the cracks formed on the wall.

    The n that Noah thought was a genius move, turned out to be the worst possible move he could have done. He gripped his dislocated arm and struggled to try to push it back like he''s read about before.

    Bang!*

    In his attempt to reconnect his arm, he heard a loud impact and then the audible sound of a ''dog'' whimper.

    He quickly looked up to the source of the noise. When he saw the zombie, it was alone, Fenrir was missing! He soon heard Fenrir in the distance growling while struggling to get up. From the distance, Noah could tell that Fenrir''s mouth was dislocated and one of its arms was twisted.

    His heart began to pound harder than ever when the thought of all them dying here began to run through his mind. Death has scared him before, but he didn''t realize that he wasn''t afraid to die because he never had anything to lose. Tears began to fall from his face unknowingly and he unconsciously wiped them away. But when the tears kept flowing, he realized what was happening.

    "Am I crying¡­?" The realization calmed his mind enough for him to think properly, the pounding of his heart was quickly brought to his attention due to the stiffness he felt in his chest. It wasn''t hard for him to figure out what was happening.

    ''Even if I was to die, is this how I want my end to be? I feel like a fucking cliche! I''m embarrassed if I go out like this when it''s my fault! No one told me to stay and fight, there was still a chance to run. I could''ve spammed my webs and used all my magic to make it stronger, but I held back on using the potion.''

    His breathing was bing heavier, the more he realized how much he could''ve done to prevent this, but when he saw his bag, his eyes grew incensed. He remembered the piles of cores he''s collected that he was saving to useter and the skill scroll inside.

    "Fuck I deserve to die, STUPID!" In his rage, he jerked hard into his arm, popping it in ce but he was too upset to even flinch.

    Soon his eyes began to go through a subtle change, the red of each of his pupils began to grow and gave off a soft glow.

    The serious and upset expression on his face became crazed and emitted the intent to kill.

    "I''ll admit that I deserve what''s happening right now, but I was doing perfectly fine until you came along. This is far from over!"

    "GRRWWWLL!" A roar ranged out like an enraged beast, but the beast turned out to be Noah himself. His pupils were almost fully red with a small outline still being ck. His teeth were on full disy and his eyes never left the zombie''s figure.

    He soon took off for the zombie that turned to face him after hearing the roar he released, but not without yanking the sword from the ground. Holding it much easier than he did before.

    A ck and red mist began to emit from the handle as he was about to start round two.

    ....

    A/N: This chapter is really important since I wanted to showcase how strong monsters could be when they reach the level to evlovle. There''s a big difference between level 9 and 10.

 Chapter 72 72: The Gods Thoughts

    A ck 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 exin 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 aplete 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 ising 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 y a better role in helping his creatures take down the zombie, not to mention the sharpness of the sword would y 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 particr was just a regr 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 bnce, 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 prated 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 iing 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 particr 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 regr habit. If anyone couldy 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 ko 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 hepares 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 aplishments came more from the equipment he had than his own aplishments. From the use of tanks and heavy guns and grenades, he mowed downrge 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 yer, 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 ss, he was only given the option to choose between an extra basic ss or the advanced ss 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 controble and to help her imagination of creating her spell. Arge firewall was created in front of arge 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 ko 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.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But he saw how pathetic most ces 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 ce of peace for far too long that their instincts for survival were almost non-existent whenpared 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 slowlying 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 rece 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 arge stimulus, the skill was still in effect. Because of that, he began to make his way back into the battle disregarding his pain and therge bruise sketched across more than half his face.

    The entire time this was urring, Fenrir had gone into a craze and hacked away at the zombies head with its two ws. 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 rtively easy for Arachne to build multipleyers 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 urred 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 hearding from Noah as he was growing irrational from not being able to reach its target. The fight had almoste 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 n into action, she vaulted onto the zombies face without hesitation, avoiding the zombies mouth that should be called a death trap andnded 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 andunched 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 urred 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 thest 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.

 Chapter 73 73: Passing His Limits

    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.

    ....

    Time continued to pass after the confrontation with their first evolved monster. The gains from killing the zombie should be nothing short of what he received from the Zombie King, and the chest that appeared to be the same color as the tinum chest that the Zombie King dropped as well. But there was an oblivious difference, the chest didn''t have the same metallic luster as the previous one, but it was shiny brightly as a gem.

    The sight of the chest stood out now that the sky was bing dark again, but the situation was peculiar. The chest was untouched since the time it appeared. It''s been some time since the fight was over and it has yet to be touched.

    A slight breeze blew through the night air and that breeze carried a heavy stench of blood, apanying the breeze should''ve been the silence of the night or at least the sound of mutated insects and creatures that wandered during this time.

    However munching sounds could clearly be heard, the sound of skin being ripped through and bones being gnawed on filled in the gaps of the sounds of the night setting.

    Following the source of the sounds of eating, anyone who has seen him once during the start of the apocalypse would notice instantly Noah''s figure eating through a heart the size of his head. Alongside him, Fenrir was busying himself gnawing on the zombies thigh bone with relish after it quenched its appetite with fat and muscles contained in the zombies leg.

    Thest member and the one who seeded in taking down the prey, used that right to take the brain as her trophy. A quarter of her backside was the only thing that could be seen while the rest of her was in the zombie''s skull. It was much easier for her to eat the brain without having to use much of her venom to break it down.

    The feast had gone on longer than Noah had intended, in fact he never had intended to eat the zombie right away, considering there were more important things. The effects of ''Killing Instincts'' had worn off when his target was no longer alive to fight back. However due to the effects of the skill that made him give into his instinctual urges, his mind that was strengthened by his spirit had no defenses towards the activation of his budding feeder skill.

    The skill caused him to eat until he waspletely satisfied and after his soul has changed till the point the system is even unable to correctly identify his race, his body was screaming for him to go for the heart, just like the instinctual urges of the other zombies.

    Gradually, the effects of the skill were wearing off now that he had filled his stomach''s desires.

    Groggily, he looked around with a confused expression and deeply breathed in the sweet scent of blood that seemed to overpower his senses. His eyes widened in shock when he saw the giant heart in his hands and the mutted body of the giant under him. But gradually he calmed down again as the memories of what happened reyed in his mind.

    Whenever he was in effect of his skill, the skill yed out to him like it was a dream and he was just a third party that didn''t realize he was dreaming. But the scene proved that everything was real and he easily epted it. If he nned to use his ''Killing Instinct'' skill more than he would have to get used to waking up to situations like this. At least he wasn''t totally oblivious to what he''s done.

    "So we managed to beat it¡­sigh¡­this has been one heck of a da-Argh! That hurts!" He grasped for his face that was stinging from his bruise, but then he had to withstand the body pain that he received from the kick and tumbling he experienced before.

    While bearing the pain, he dropped what was left of the heart that quickly reminded him of the core that would drop from it.

    "Shit! I forgot about the pain that fast." He grabbed his side in his hurry to check the heart''s remains. But he was determined to find it and so he bore with the pain to continue on with his search. Even when he lifted the heart again to look inside, it wasn''t there. He flipped the heart upside down to empty it of its contents and still nothing. His heart skipped as he quickly scanned the area around him for any sign of any ball shaped object, but still nothing.

    He was about to be dispirited at the thought of losing something so valuable, but the ringing in his mind began to stabilize his negative thoughts.

    ''Maybe I already ate it¡­that could only be the reason I didn''t find it yet. I want to check my loot, but my mind won''t rest if I don''t find out what happened¡­.?''

    When Noah looked over towards the chest when thinking about his loot, his mind had nked out when he saw the blinding light. It didn''t ur to him till now why there was a bright light source next to him. Unconsciously he took a step towards the chest before he stopped him.

    ''No, I need to set priorities, check out the notifications first and then loot. I''m sure this thing was a creature that passed its limits, there must''ve been something good I received from doing so. Please be an achievement!'' And without a second thought, he hurriedly dived into the space to receive the news.

    [Defeated an opponent that was a grade higher than you. +50% extra experience gained.]

    [Level Up! +5 attributes]

    [Tamed creature Arachne Level Up+5]

    [Reached level 10! Advanced ss unlocked! Options for hosts are now avable to choose from based on your achievements and the path you choose to level up!]

    [Unlocked ss specific loot!]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Absorbed mana core of apatible monster, mana and skill progression has been increased.]

    A/N: Since he reached level 10, he can''t receive a bigger boost from absorbing the core but it''ll be distributed like when he first ate the cores, receiving one mana and 5% to his skills. 5% to his level one skills and 10% to his level 0 skills.

    [You are not the first to be a tier one creature, but you are the ones to solo a tier one creature. You have gained the chance to also obtain a second basic ss to aid in your adversity of fighting alone.]

    "¡­.YES! I fucking knew it had to be level 10! I''m not too far off from the others! But I can get an advanced ss and a new basic ss? This is a game changer! I have some thoughts on what basic ss I need, but I''ll choose after seeing my advanced ss options.'' He went back to his news and focused on the advanced ss, seeing the options listed, when he went to view them he only saw three. He didn''t realize that three was already a lot for his first advancement.

    [Advanced ss for monster tamer has been unlocked:

    Monster Evolutionist-Your goal is to not only make your tamed creatures stronger, but to also open more pathways for their evolutions and even rarely you can incite a mutation to ur. You focus more on your own passives and abilities that will progressively allow your creatures to grow and evolve; Mag, Mag, Spr, will have a qualitative increase.

    Monster Legionnaire-Your sense of power isn''t by the quality of yourpanions, but the number of monsters that are by your side. This ss focuses on umting an army of tamed creatures, increasing the number of creatures you are able to tame by the strength of your spirit and the level of your tame skill; Spr, Spr, Mag will have a qualitative increase.

    Druid tamer-You are already considered to be a monster yourself, so why not officially get the ss to go with your title? Monster skills will also affect you and your abilities will develop based on the monsters you have in your arsenal. The focus of your ss will be more focused on you rather than your tamed creatures, but your skills obtained from this ss will not be effective without a tamed creature; Str, Con, Mag will have a qualitative increase.

    After overlooking the new sses once, twice and one more time to be sure. Noah was still left with no thought of what he wanted to do. ''Why are all the skills so good!'' He cried to himself. There was just no way he could choose one without thinking that the other one was better. The Druid Tamer was calling to him the most since the thought of his tamer skills being able to affect himself would be a godsend, especially when he obtained more ss rted skills, not to mention that his body stats would be increased a lot by choosing it too.

    ''But I already learned that I can''t do everything by myself¡­besides¡­'' His thoughts went to Fenrir and Arachne, the only living things that kept himpany and prevented him from losing his sanity. ''I want them to be stronger too and the other two sses will increase my spirit which might be a lot more important in the future when I get more spells. Maybe with my chimera trait, I can achieve something close to the Druid Tamer ss without having to choose it. I''ll just need to be more proactive with the skill.

    Just like with the skill scrolls and the mana cores, I''m not using every advantage given to me like I should. Being a backseat driver while reading those novels is a lot more difficult when I''m experiencing the real thing¡­''

    He looked towards thest skill that he hasn''t really paid much attention to, the Monster Legionnaire. The skill sounded broken when you think of the badass characters from other stories that used necromancy or summoning creatures, but there was just a huge problem with this ss.

    ''If my creatures die, I still receive a penalty! Why would I do something like that?? I can sit back and let them do all the work, but not only would that be boring, but if I''m penalized too much there''ll be a high chance of me dying and not being able to defend myself. I''d rather go with the Evolution ss, I''ll use the ss to focus on my creatures and the chimera trait to focus on myself. Right! I can use a basic ss to make up for not choosing the druid tamer ss! Ok I decided.''

    He no longer had any conflicting thoughts regarding his choice now, he quickly selected Monster Evolutionist before he had second thoughts again.

    [Advanced ss ''Monster Evolutionist'' has been confirmed, before initiating, it is rmended to be in a safe area before proceeding, do you wish to proceed?]

    "?" Noah broke out in a cold sweat when he almost pressed confirmation before reading the rest.

    ''Phew! I almost messed up there. What if I went unconscious and I ended up being eaten? The excitement was getting to me.''

    Noah recovered and limped over to retrieve his sword. He thought about using his extra stat points but, he waited until he chose his ss, he had to be smarter about how he does things.

    ''Now we can get to the next exciting thing. And the loot is supposed to be meant for my ss? Should I try to bring it with me until I advance so I can potentially get better loot?'' Noah tried calling over Fenrir to lift or push the chest, but Fenrir pushed hard enough that his ws dug into the ground and made a small pit and the chest still hasn''t budged, resulting in Noah having to give up.

    "Well it''s not like we won''t get another one in the future, thanks for trying buddy" He ran the bridge of Fenrir''s nose before making his way to the chest.

    ''Phew¡­.this has been one heck of a day. I''m d that zombie appeared when it did.''

    A warm smile graced his face after thinking about all the achievements he made today on his own. His smile brightened when he thought about his ss he''ll obtain soon while he opened up the chest to retrieve his loot.

    ......

    AN: I know that the other sses are good too, it was hard for me to actually choose between the three.

 Chapter 74 74: Loot From A Diamond Chest

    A warm smile graced his face after thinking about all the achievements he made today on his own. His smile brightened when he thought about his ss he''ll obtain soon while he opened up the chest to retrieve his loot.

    He wanted to slowly open the chest, but due to his anxiousness, he used too much strength to yank the chest open and blinded himself from a sea of doings and items.

    Noah always couldn''t retain his smile when he saw so much gold, but he couldn''t help but feel blessed when two of the times in the chest were what he needed most.

    "There''s actually two of them in one chest? Is this because of it being a gold chest or because the creature was an evolved creature? He pulled out two round grey balls with the number one etched in the center and it glowed with a white light. Leveling up his skills has been something that has been concerning him for a while now. He nned to use one when he advanced his ss and the other to save for when he reaches 100% proficiency with his taming ability.

    He continued to pull out the rest of the items, what he received this time was a scroll, but the scroll was different then the other ones he obtained so far. There was a name in the description and multiple skills he had to roll for. The parchment was more of a piece of paper that held the ss of the spell it was from and the spell itself.

    ''This is a really nice change! The bad thing is what if I wanted other spells from the other ss? Maybe that''s why I was given the option of being able to choose another basic ss, it''ll help affect my loot as well.''

    He was about to grab the other loot which was a lot more than he usually received but he paused while the skill was still in his hands. ''How about I just learn this now before I find myself in a position again wishing that I learned it before.

    He put his attention back to the skill in his hand and was willing to ept it, he wasn''t going to be picky, but when he saw the skill, he became d that he decided to learn it.

    [Skill ''Grant lesser strength'' Obtained]

    [Grant lesser strength-Increase the strength stat of a tamed creature by 10 percent of its ''total'' strength for 15 seconds. Increases after the usage of the skill will still apply. Can also be stacked with the same skill, but the usage in mana will increase with each stack of use. Skill is also influenced by spirit.]

    ''Yes, this is exactly what I need. If I had this while fighting that zombie then Fenrir could have torn through that thing''s leg or even its skull without me. The fight would have still been difficult but at least it would''ve been easier than what it was.'' After obtaining a good skill for himself, he looked through the rest of the loot.

    This time he saw a smallsilver ring that didn''t have a jewel in it but it was more like a t marble with a weird symbol that appeared to be a foreign or maybe even an ancientnguage.

    He gulped when he thought about what would happen this time if he put it on. He still didn''t forget the ring he currently had was forever bound to him. He flinched after putting on the ring, but nothing happened. Nothing magical happened or there was no pain. He was about to sigh in relief when he realized a notification was waiting for him. He took a deep breath before checking it.

    [Obtained a spatial ring! Would you like to bind the ring to yourself?]

    The thought of having a spatial ring was a dream for all light novel readers, but there was a concern. ''What if I obtain a better ring, would I not be able to remove this one?''

    He envisioned that in the future he would have to cut off his fingers and find a way to regrow them if that happens. He wanted to say no, but he really needed the ring. He was tired of carrying the heavy bag around all the time and having to set it down in every fight. Having closed his eyes, he confirmed to bind the ring to himself.

    "Sssss!" Moments after confirming, Noah felt a stab into the side of his fingers likest time, but when he looked down towards the ring. More specifically the marble that was ck and void of any color. He saw the ring slowly turning blood red and looked like a formless cloud. Soon after, the needle that was used to poke into his finger disappeared and he noticed that he could now remove the ring as he pleased.<novelnext></novelnext>

    ''Phew, that scared me! Now how do I use it.?'' He quickly grabbed one of the upgrade stones and ced it to the ring and nothing happened, but he was already expecting those results. Just like how he confirms things with the system, he needed to will for the action to happen. This time he thought about the stone being put into the ring while holding it next to it and before he could blink, the stone disappeared?

    Like a young boy who got his first toy, he yed with the stone over and over, retrieving it from the ring and cing it back before he realized that time was being wasted. He looked into the chest to pick up thest item there, when he leaned forward and retrieved the item, he came out holding a giant red sphere, he didn''t know how much the sphere would give him this time.

    Noah thought about using it for himself since the penalty is still under effect, but he needed for his creatures to be stronger since they aren''t able to carry equipment. Memories of the tentacle zombie from before yed in his mind and he knew that he couldn''t beat her by himself. Fenrir can already soak up a lot of damage, if it could deal damage too then he would be a force to be reckoned with.

    ''Fenrire here! He called the wolf over who was still busying himself with the zombie''s bone, but immediately ran over while wagging his tail. Noah sat the sphere down and beckoned for Fenrir to take it. Noah was only expecting for him to put his paw over it, like Arachne does with her legs when he gave her spheres. But Fenrir had a different thought process, he just scooped it into his mouth and tried to swallow it.

    "No you idiot." Noah stood to try to retrieve the stone, but somehow the sphere dispersed and still was able to increase his strength. He quickly checked Fenrir stats to see how big the increase was.

    "Sigh, you could''ve wasted 25 free attributes, you''re gonna drive me crazy, ok go back to your bones." Noah exhaustingly ordered before heading back to the chest, but then he noticed Arachne from the side of his vision on top of the building trying to keep watch, but she ended up looking towards Fenrir being gifted something and not her. She was beginning to feel jealous.

    "Don''t worry, I won''t forget about you. I''ll make sure you''re the strongest queen out there." He yelled over to her, it was impossible to tell how she felt based on her appearance but thankfully that was what the bond was for.

    ''Sigh, raising two creatures can be a handful, what will happen when I can get another?'' He half joked to himself, before realizing there was nothing else in the chest besides all the gold which he dly helped himself too. A little more time passed after retrieving everything, he quickly went to grab his bag with his sword now inside the ring and he ced the bag inside the ring as well, before wobbling his way to the first dorm building with Arachne and Fenrir, but as they were walking.

    "Arachne, what''s wrong with your leg?" He saw that his spider was walking funny and addressed her. When he observed her legs, he noticed that the very back leg was bent and she wasn''t using it all.

    "Dang it Arachne! You have to let me know when things like this happen! Hold on, IIll see if I can heal it." Thankfully besides using his webs, Noah didn''t waste anymore mana doing the fight, and had just enough to heal her. He held her leg and tried to rotate it back the right way before he used the skill. He was relieved that she didn''t seem to be in pain due to his actions. Quickly, he applied his healing skill right after.

    He was stumped by his spirit and increased magic once again after being able to heal the broken leg. He was feeling a little bit woozy from being so low on mana after his mana capacity grew so much, but it was worth it when he saw Arachne walking like normal again.

    The trio quickened their pace to leave the area. The blood in the area was intense, he knew that creatures would soon be attracted towards the blood just like he witnessed earlier before and he didn''t want to fight anymore till he recovered more. It didn''t take long for the trio to make their way to the dorm''s doors, thankfully Fenrir hasn''t grown anymore than he already was or he would have to sit outside by himself.

    "Grrrr" when they made it to the door, Noah heard Fenrir growling off to the side."

    ....

    A/N:I will be trying something different this week. The word count will be lower, but I''ll be doing 7 chapters a week than my usual 5 and see how that goes.

 Chapter 75 75: Are Zombies Growing Too Fast?

    "Grrrr" When they made it to the door, Noah heard Fenrir growling off to the side

    "Can we just get a break already?" Agitation was building in Noah''s voice. Thankfully he had Fenrir to depend on who seemed to never grow tired, but he and Arachne were still affected!

    It was hard to ignore his injuries right now and even though he healed Arachne''s leg, he could tell she was growing tired too. The excessive jumping she had to do was taking its toll.

    "Fenrir, it''s up to you boy." He patted the wolf''s side before motioning towards the door preparing to open it. To be safe, he retrieved his small dagger to defend himself, he couldn''t be too sure if there could be an unknown factor. The sudden emergence of the giant zombie has him a little paranoid.

    Before Noah opened the door, he switched the amount of experience he shared with his creatures to 10-90% from the 80-20% before. Having reached his goal of reaching level 10, his next focus was to have his creatures get a new ss or what he believed to be an evolution, just like the zombies.

    It was also the reason he was waiting to use Arachne''s points. He knew the description of the ss he was going to get, but he didn''t exactly know how he was going to help his creatures through his skills. So just to be safe, he wanted to get his skills first before he distributed her attribute points.

    When he was preparing to open the door, he noticed Arachne was edging closer to the door as well, eager to fight still even though Noah could tell that she was growing tired. He wanted to stop her, but he hesitated. He was beginning to realize even more that his spider was very proud and didn''t like to feel like she wasn''t useful. Her behavior encouraged him, knowing that the ss he was going to choose would help her in her goal.

    "Go!" Noah ordered while forcing the door open. It was a tight squeeze, but Fenrir rushed in immediately, unintentionally knocking the door off its hinges. Noah didn''t have to look in to see what was in there. The heavy stench of blood already filled his nose, causing his nose to scrunch in distaste. He usually enjoyed the smell of blood, but the blood smelled as if it was spoiled.

    On top of the blood, he could hear the growls on the other side of the door, before the sound of flesh and bone being chewed through followed.

    Right behind Fenrir, Arachne quickly followed, but the area wasn''t big enough for her to jump so she ran in while Noah trailed behind.

    The first thing Noah noticed were corpses on the ground and mangled zombies without a lower body still moving. Fenrir still hasn''t fully learned his lesson that a zombie isn''t dead if the brain wasn''t destroyed. However Noah did notice that the zombies who incurred more blood loss were a lot less active than the others.

    But it was difficult to make that case when the more injured ones were probably moving slower due to having more difficulty to move.

    Arachne was eager to clean up the zombies left behind by Fenrir like she always did. She would swiftly walk over to any movie corpse and pierce their skull with her leg. With the small area given to them, it was almost impossible to tell if the zombies here were regr walking zombies or if any of them developed the ability to run.

    Either way, The trio took care of the zombies in the first floor lobby area quickly. However there were still zombies further in the hallway, but it would be counterintuitive for Noah to send Fenrir into an even smaller space to fight them.

    That didn''t mean he couldn''t wait it out, the noise they created was a trigger for the zombies and the halls to make a break for them. There were only about 8 zombies left in the hall and even then, five of them were runners while one was definitely a sprinter.

    ''At this rate will all the zombies evolve by tomorrow?'' Noah couldn''t help but think. The ratio of running zombies to walking zombies was increasing by the hour. But it made sense when he once again saw the corpses on the floor missing their hearts.

    Why the cores were able to allow zombies to advance so fast while everything else had to kill in order to grow, Noah just couldn''t ce his finger on it, but deep down, he felt that his skill ''Budding Feeder'' might have the answer.

    ''Or I can try to talk to them now that I have that skill, but are they even capable ofmunicating yet?'' While deep in his thoughts, Noah didn''t bother to pay attention to the zombiesing to give him free experience. Just the huge increase to Fenrir''s strength caused him to be unmatched to any zombie under level 10 unless it turned out to be some form of unique zombie like the Zombie King from before.

    After clearing the first section of the floor they were on, Noah felt that he should at least go up one floor before initiating his ss change. He wasn''t sure what was going to happen and didn''t want to reduce the chances of a creature of some kind being attracted over anding through the window. Granted something could stille through the second window if it could fly or was asrge as the zombie outside, but the chances of that were smaller.

    ''But before that¡­'' Noah arrived in front of the silver chest that dropped. He was half expecting a gold chest since most of the zombies they killed seemed to be runners and some sprinters, but it didn''t upset him in the least.

    ''This is probably what happens when the fight is too easy¡­or maybe it has to do with me being level ten¡­Hmm, I won''t really know until Fenrir and Arachne reach that level too.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He continued to open the chest while he was thinking and saw that the chest only had three items, not including the gold. But he was already satisfied when he saw one of the times being another mana potion. He looked towards the other two items. One being a dark green cloak that Noah could wear and it goes down towards his elbows. The cloak had a hood attached and one simrrge button to keep the cloak holstered on.

    He first tried the cloak on, but just as quickly took it off when he didn''t see his stats increase. Looking good was fine and all, but he didn''t want to wear too many things that could get in the way.

    ''Maybe if It came with an ability or effect of some kind then I can still use it¡­I''ll just save it forter, maybe I can get that skill to identify items or find someone who can.'' He ced the cloak in his ring before going to thest item.

    When he saw thest item, his face turned into a frown but his eyes held a hint of nostalgia. He pulled out a rtively long weapon that looked exactly like the hammer he obtained when everything started.

    In a daze, he thought back to the moment everything happened leading up to here as he held the hammer before also putting it into the ring.

    ''I may not ever use you, but I''ll carry you with me for a little longer, old friend.''

    While he was busy collecting the gold, he realized he had another notification. This time he just quickly nced at it since he had a gut feeling that he knew what it was pertaining to.

    [Your tamed creature Fenrir Leveled Up! +5 attributes!]

    [Your tamed creature, Fenrir, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in agility, perk based on ss Lycan obtained; ''Predatory eleration'']

    [Predatory eleration-You enjoy the thrill of the hunt and a nice chase. Agility is increased by 20% when your prey is running away or hiding in fear of you.]

    ''I almost forgot that he was close to getting 50! This skill won''t help much against the zombies, but if humans nned to mess with me¡­.Well let''s see them try to run, wait? What am I saying? They would have to escape Arachne first.''

    Noah smiled to himself as he was reminded how strong he was bing, but he knew that time waited for no one and if he becamecent then he could see himself being left behind before he realized it.

    The thought made him in a rush to find a room to advance his ss, but the cores of the zombies still had to be retrieved.

    The area was too small for Fenrir''s ''delicate'' touch so he had Arachne help him retrieve the hearts. She couldn''t help him extract the cores without hands so he had to just settle with what she could do. It took them another few mins to aplish the task and the night was quickly bing darker.

    Noah was bing paranoid retrieving the cores while the door waspletely open, but he was low on mana. However with onemand to Arachne, she was able to set up a wall of webs to prevent most creatures from wandering in.

    And this time, Noah tried to begin his new take of creating better habits. For every core he removed, he just stuffed them in his mouth in one motion. The time required to do so would just be a little bit longer than just collecting them, but at least he wouldn''t dy using them.

    "I''m sorry Fenrir, but you''ll have to stay down here. We''ll just be one floor, you''re just too big to follow us. If you''re hungry then anything you see down here is yours." He talked to the wolf patiently as if he was saying goodbye to a family pet.

    Noah could tell that Fenrir wasn''t sad in the slightest, maybe it was because Fenrir could tell how close they were still through their bond. But Noah still decided to coax him to stay without going anywhere intuitively since he has always wanted a pet dog.

    Arachne led the way towards the steps while Noah followed, but not without ncing onest time towards Noah before heading up. He saw that Fenrir was still up on all fours silently watching the two leave before heid down in the same spot when Noah''s figure disappeared up the stairs.

 Chapter 76 76: Battle Against Ants

    He saw that Fenrir was still up on all fours silently watching the two leave before heid down in the same spot when Noah''s figure disappeared up the stairs.

    ....

    A few hours before Noah fought against the Tier one zombie, the students from the cafeteria had just finished up the ants and were heading towards the campus gate, but they all had solemn moods.

    Everyone was walking silently with most of them with their heads down, the group that numbered more than a hundred were now down by at least 30 just from the altercation with the ants. They didn''t realize that ants could be so strong now when they were just a casual insect that you could just step on and be done with it.

    However ants were always fascinating creatures even whenpared to their smaller counterparts. They could lift up to 10-50x its body weight! But more importantly, they had a group like mentality and were very efficient.

    When they noticed the group of trespassers, what they considered intruders. They all sounded the rm to alert the rest of the colony and before Ishii and the gang realized what was happening. From the 30 or so ants they were on the surface. The number easily doubled within a few seconds.

    Even though the students group outnumbered the ants, not everyone there was a fighter or even had the intentions to fight. And with the sizes of the ants, their exoskeletons were that much harder to break through.

    With the ants hard shell, it gave the group no room to go on the offensive because they wouldn''t be able to take out an individual ant fast enough. Only a few, like Mark, Ishii and Bailey, who had ways to prate their shells could move could perform such a feat.

    However Mark would have to expend more mana just to take down one ant quicklypared to trying to whittle it down slowly and regte his mana use. While Ishii would have to rely on his unique skill to either take half of the ants strength to add it to his own or take half of its constitution to weaken its shell.

    Ishii seemed to have it easier based on his one skill alone, but every skill has its faults. To use his skill, all of his attention has to be on the monster or person he''s targeting, even a briefpse of concentration could undo the skill again and he has to perform his stance over to restart the skill.

    And then there was Bailey who could extract her mana to cause her spear to emit intense vibrations that could drill through the hard shells. But once again, that revolved around her having to have a high mana capacity to fight for an extended period of time.

    Luckily their group consisted of a few people who could act as a frontline. Paul stood tall and eager to show off his new skill.

    "Come¡­" He neither yelled nor whispered, but he used his weapon in hand to strike at his shield that activated his new skill provoke. The first wave of eats became provoked, before their heads turned, their antennas seemed to point towards him first. And while they swarmed, Paul activated his unique skill to turn his body and his clothes to a stone like texture that covered his shield too. Otherwise his shield would''ve been destroyed doing the fight of the King Zombie.

    With so many people in a group participating in earlier fights, they were able to increase their chances of getting loot. The people that benefited the most were the group that ''participated'' in the fight against the King zombie. Most if not all of the main contenders were able to get a skill of some kind that was exchanged with someone else. Everyone had a role to fulfill if they were to get through the fight without casualties. However not everyone was willing to put themselves in their roles.

    This resulted inplete chaos in the ce that became a battlefield. The scene quickly became everyone for themselves and people began to form the groups they were familiar with. People like Bailey and the few people she was close to had grouped up together. Mark, Jas and even Ailetta had formed their group, while Neal and Regina formed theirs.

    But there were still tens of people who were left out. While the groups were fighting off the creatures, ants nked from the sides to secure their unresisting food.

    There was no getting away from the ants when a person still only had the stats of a level one person. If the ant pincers didn''t outright kill them, they were either picked up and being dragged whole, while screaming in pain and calling for help, or they died of excessive blood loss after the ant was killed carrying them away.

    The battlefield was utter chaos, but hope wasn''t lost. Throughout the scene, individuals began to shine to overturn the situation.

    While Paul could distract up to 5 ants at a time, Bailey would use that chance to take out one ant at a time, but she wasn''t alone. ke tried to repeat Bailey''s stabbing motions without any results, but his squirrel provided more support than he ever could. The ants seemed to not be able to feel the squirrel digging through the head of its exoskeleton. It took close to a full minute just for the squirrel to breach their shell and it could chew unhindered. A full minute where during life and death was a lot of time.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Isabelle began to be more proactive during the fight. Healing wouldn''t y much of a factor until after the fight had ended so he used her other ability that came from being a priest, an ability called soothing mind. It wasn''t necessarily a great spell, but most skills, if used as intended, could be more than useful.

    And during a fight where young adults had to fight for their life, her spell was much needed to Bailey and others where their nervousness could cause them to make a mistake that couldn''t be forgiven.

    There was no use for her to attack the ants unless she wanted to be a distraction. The nging sounds could be heard going on all around in the distance. Not many could prate or even make a dent through their hard shells.

    But Mark and Ishii provide much relief to the ants'' numbers. The ants were at least level four or higher and a much more dangerous threat than even the first stage of running zombies if the risk of infections were not in y. Just with a few kills, they were able to level up and since they were inrge groups, it wasn''t hard for them to retreat and immediately apply their stats.

    This scene of leveling up in battle was happening sporadically in the midst of the chaos.

    Mark was finally able to show his worth, the first thing he increased was his magic, only only increasing the amount of mana he had, but also subtly increasing the effects of his aura. The aura that cloaked his sword and was used as an extrayer grew sharper than what it once was, and with the priest that continued to follow him enchanting Mark''s sword with his skill, the lethality of the sword rose. Using all of his strength, he hacked barbarically on the iing ants. With a few heavy focus swings, he was able to take them down.

    He didn''t have to worry about the danger around him while Jasmine continued to support him. She was constantly consuming her mana to restrict the ants as much as possible, luckily the setting yed in her favor since using the surrounding nt life consumed less mana. She considered trying to use the ability in the past, when she was able to crush the zombie under the pressure of the grass, but she doubted she could do the same to the ants that were far tougher than them. Not to mention the skill drained her of all her mana.

    Yet surprisingly on the battlefield, someone else was contributing just as much as Mark and Ishii. Ailetta was giving her all in this fight, she made sure to not try to save anything. This fight meant more to her than the people just fighting to stay alive. She knew her faults and her main one was that she was weak. She had thought hard about what she could to help her grow and her answer was to do like Jas did before her, try toe up with her own spells.

    Creating an entirely different spell was almost impossible, at least at this stage where people still weren''t sure what mana was. However changing and adapting from an already created skill wasn''t too far fetched. She had already learned when she interacted with Fenrir, that she could control the output of mana concerning her spell that could make the spell stronger.

    What she put into action now was almost the same. She had seen the corpses in the area and her eyes tunneled on just one in particr. Summoning the dark glob that resembled a slime, the scene yed out differently than before. There was a frown showing on Ailettas face as she concentrated hard before the slime began to separate into two. And after separating, Ailette furrowed her brow even more, to inject the slime with enough mana to make both the original size as before.

    She used one of the slimes to reanimate the giant rat that took Ishii so much time and effort to bring down. Thankfully the rat only died from blood lost so it had all of its limbs still intact. Even though the rat was dead and any skills it may have had was gone, its strength was still there.

    The rat''s teeth were thicker and more deadly than the squirrels as it was able to repeatedly chomp into the ants head before killing it. And because it was dead, it didn''t matter to it when the ants it attacked bit into it.

    While the rat was rampaging, she used the chance to inject the other half of the slime into one of the bigger ants that had fallen and she was able to wreak havoc on the battlefield with those two along. There was really no way for the ant she controlled to kill another one without much difficulty so she used the ant to bite the legs of the surrounded ants so even if she didn''t secure the kill, she would still get the experience from it. Noah was slowly wearing off on her.

    The entire fight was a bitter battle, but the chest at the end and the notifications of them leveling up was a huge reminder that struggling to survive gets you rewarded. Ailetta herself was able to go up by 3 levels alone, causing her to catch up with Mark who grew to level 7 from the fight.

    Night still hasn''t arrived yet. Even though they were tired, they wanted to at least leave the campus before finding shelter. Their next destination was the main gate, where true terror awaited them.

    .....

    A/N: I was going to skip over this scene at first, but felt it necessary since this would lead up to them meeting the zombie at the gates. Plus you can see the development that people are going through besides Noah.

 Chapter 77 77: Fear Over Reason

    Night still hasn''t arrived yet. Even though they were tired, they wanted to at least leave the campus before finding shelter. Their next destination was the main gate, where true terror awaited them.

    "I''m telling you we should go back! Those freaks may not understand, but everyone else isn''t like them! We were safe and had enough food for maybe weeks!" Regina was in the back raising up a storm towards Neal. Almost everyone had a disheveled appearance at this rate and their appearance matched their face after having to hear the yapping of Regina the entire time. Even Neal was beginning to reach his limits with her. You can be beautiful, but an ugly mouth can lower your attractiveness.

    "Are you waiting for an invitation? No one is telling you to follow us, head back yourself!" Ailetta spat back towards her. She was finally looking like a proper human in the apocalypse. She wasn''t able to obtain the suit of gear that Noah had on, but she was equipped now with sturdy brown leather garb but with half sleeves. The garb by itself looked simr to a skirt. The torso had an extension that extended to the half of her thighs that protected her legs.

    Her shoulders to her sternum was protected by an extrayer of armor that was made out of unknown animal hide. The apron-like extension and her stomach area was also made out of the same material, while her breast and the end of the arm sleeves were protected by a brass metal.

    She had found a better weapon from all the loot before, but she continued to wield the rod. She felt that even though another weapon would be more efficient, the extra points in magic benefited her more. Not only her but everyone there who participated in the fight had undergone a change. New weapons and clean gear could be seen in their possession.

    But even though their appearance had changed, the people who were familiar with Ailetta were shocked to hear what she said. Her tone was cold, it may have seem like too much of a change for just an innocent girl like her, but people who knew the history between her and Regina would understand.

    Regina was first struck with disbelief that anyone would talk to her like that, but when she saw who it was, her anger red. First it was Noah who stood up to her, someone she felt wasn''t even good enough to lick her feet and then his ''follower'' was now talking down to her. She was bing livid! With just flirty exchanges and empty promises, she could do and have everything she wanted, but now her world seemed to turn upside down.

    Her inner ugliness began to show more and more when men were too focused on surviving and growing stronger to think with their lower head. And the women were either just like her or they avoided women like her and stuck together. However the women like her who tried to leech off of people? There was no way they could get along, they were like cats trying to climb and own the highest tform, they were each other''spetition.

    "Don''t talk to me you slut! Noah isn''t here t-"

    Boom!

    Everyone became startled, borderline horrified when a loud explosion sounded in their ears towards the direction of the gate. The conversation that was transpiring between the two women was quickly forgotten, the girls themselves had even lost interest in each other.

    Following the explosion, gunfire and yelling was heard right after. By this time the group of students had reached the parking lot and were just about to make their way over. Without having to vocalize it, they had all silently agreed not to progress forward and wait. The gun fire was intense, but they noticed the firing was bing less and less by each passing minute.

    The sounds were bing unsettling, theck of gunfire could only mean two things, the people who stopped firing ran out of bullets, or whatever they were shooting was killing them off slowly.

    That second thought sacred those who were still capable of logical thought as they stood and listened in suspense.

    However they didn''t have to wait long, small groups of armed men made their way through the gate and then promptly turned around and began to fire.

    Seeing the men dressed in ck carrying guns had inspired a change in most of the students watching. Magic is real and monsters have been forced upon them so many times that they had to ept it, but the safety of guns just couldn''t leave their psych yet.

    Some of them smiled when they saw more peopleing through bearing arms but when the people never stopped shooting and there was no longer any backup withdrawing through the gate. Their smiles began to stiffen and their legs were bing heavy.

    "We need to retreat further!"

    "Bullets aren''t working! We need to run!"

    "Fuck that, we can kill it! Look i-" while one of the guards who dyed to back away was talking, a tentacle came from outside the gate and pierced through his stomach. The pain and shock forced him to spurt blood from his mouth and his hand forcibly squeezed the trigger, spraying bullets in every which direction.

    The guard was lifted into the air before ten more tentacles came attacking as if the tentacles themselves had eyes.

    "¡­.." The students didn''t know what they were watching right now. They could barely tell what the guards were fighting, but they knew that the monster on the other side was more monstrous than anything they ever encountered.

    "W-We need to get out of here before they draw whatever it is over towards us." Someone from the crowd spoke. They said what almost everyone was already thinking, but few still had different opinions, surprisingly Jasmine was one of the few who didn''t agree.

    "No!" She walked ahead before standing before everyone. "We need to help them." It took a few words for the group topute the wordsing out of her mouth, but another sound of someone roaring in agony brought them back.

    "Are you out of your mind, if they haven''t killed that thing by now then what can we do?" Neal was the first to speak. He lived with a family that owned their private guns. He had more belief in guns then most, but when he saw multiple armed people still dying, he wanted nothing to do with what they were fighting.

    However, Jasmine''s expression didn''t change. "It''s not about being able to fight that thing. We just need to stall long enough to let them retreat. They came from outside, they would have information that we don''t. Don''t you want to know what cities haven''t been attacked badly or what areas that could possibly have your families are still safe? We need to save them."

    If she was considered crazy before, now she got most of their attention. How many of them had the thoughts of their loved ones in mind as they struggled to survive? Or is the area they have to travel through to reach shelter too dangerous to walk through as they were prepared to do? They were beginning to be inspired to help out in any way they could.

    But when they saw the monstering into view, they could barely make her base appearance. The zombie''s dark messy hair covered her entire face and she was wearing a gown that was barely covering after the tens of holes were made through it from her tentacles.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The zombie walked slowly but as she moved closer and the guards were bing harder to take down and shot at her less. Hordes of tentacles shot from her back, the number far surpassed thirty!

    "Fuck that!" Jasmine''s idea was shut down without being given a chance before one by one, the students lost the confidence to interfere. But thankfully they weren''t the only ones who were afraid. Seeing the zombie they have been fighting all this time be even more dangerous, the armed men and women decided to run for their lives.

    "Look! It''s the students!"

    "What does it matter! Boss is dead! We''re not getting paid for this shit!"

    "Who cares about him now? They have to know a ce to hide if so many are alive."

    "Did you forget about his daughter! Do you have no shame!"

    "How will fighting that thing help us find her? That''s another reason to run!"

    With that said, the groups of guards began to follow the ones who seemed to run with a destination before they also saw therge group of students.

    There were only about twenty guards left. Their stats were still pretty high considering their level which averaged around 5 across the board. The fact they never attempted to use anything else besides their guns made them fail to realize that monsterse with drops after death.

    While they retreated, three more died before they managed to get out of reach. The distance the tentacles reached was close to 50 yards. No one in the guards group could determine its range of attack, but they were quick to realize that no one else was screaming to their deaths as they gained more determination to get away with their life.

    "They''reing towards us! We have to run before they lead that thing here!" Regina who was already quite a distance away screamed, but if anyone noticed, she didn''t go any further than she already did lest she gets attacked on her way fleeing.

    The main characters of the groups began to frown as they also began to think about what they should do.

    "Look, look at the monster, it''s not fast at all!" Ailetta pointed out. She was trying her hardest all this time to not give into despair, so when she saw the guards approaching them, instead of only worrying about what that signified, she was more worried about the capabilities of the creature itself.

    Her words made everyone look in the creature''s direction and notice the zombie slowly walking towards them, its tentacles were being used to shove the cars out of her way, making a clear path.

    Bailey looked towards Paul who hasn''t said a word yet, but he never took his eyes off of what was going on.

    "Wha-t do you think Paul! What does your skill tell you?" She tilted her neck to make sure she could perceive even the tiniest bit of emotioning from the silent giant. The people around them looked on in confusion wondering what they were discussing. They didn''t know about Paul''s ability to assess a person or creature''s threat level.

    His skill couldn''t evaluate the target''s stats in any way. In gamer terms, it showed him the difficulty of the monster and the potential threat; so easy, normal, hard, etc. But that information was obtained on an emotional level of fear. If he didn''t feel any fear from the target then it was easy. The higher the fear, the harder the difficulty.

    It was another reason why he was so afraid of Noah before and not so much after. When he first saw Noah and used the skill, his skill made him feel the fear of Noah''s threat level. If he had used it any other time after Noah fought the Zombie King¡­Well the scene would be an entire different story.

    Paul looked towards the creature solemnly at first, but then his body began to quiver and he began to sweat uncontrobly before he had to look away. No one knew what was wrong with him, but the sight caused Bailey and her small group who knew the ins and outs of the skill to panic.

    "It''s¡­.bad¡­.we¡­need¡­to¡­leave¡­.quickly.." He talked robotically, but Bailey could notice thepse in breath he took, the danger was serious this time. It didn''t seem like something they could even hope to contend with.

    By this time the groups had finally caught up to them one group at a time, but they didn''t immediately confront the students as they turned to make sure the zombie was catching up.

    It wasn''t until thest person arrived that they all acknowledged each other.

    But there was someone there that noticed one of the guards and it wasn''t a good thing.

    "Pam? Is that you? Where''s my father?"

    When the guard looked over towards the voice, she was in shock to find who they were looking so fast. There was a higher chance of her being dead instead of her being here, but Pam wasn''t happy at all as she looked at the person speaking to her.

    "I''m sorry, but your father is dead Regina¡­"

 Chapter 78 78: The Pros Of Reaching Lvl 10

    "I''m sorry, but your father is dead Regina¡­"

    Everyone else was shocked to hear that some of the guards there were guards of Regina, but Regina herself was focused more on the death of her Father, who spoiled her unconditionally. Just the fact he came all this way to try to save her showed how much he doted on the egotistical woman, but that may be the reason she turned out the way she did.

    Plop* Regina fell on her knees in disbelief while she muttered to herself words that no one could hear. She seemed to grow crazy, but then she looked back anxiously towards the guard.

    "And my mother? Where is my mother??" Her eyes screamed ''Please tell me that she''s here with you.'' But the darkened look on Pam''s face broke Regina''sobnoxious barrier.

    "Your mother¡­.your mother was the first of the people to turn¡­she''s dead t-"

    "Who gives a shit? Are we gonna sit here talking while that monster you brought to us makes its way here? You all could do thatter!" For once Mark''s arrogant behavior proved useful. Even while the two were having a heart wrenching moment, the zombie didn''t stop to allow them to have a heart to heart talk together.

    To the students waiting, it appeared that the zombie was moving faster due to their fear.

    "He''s right. Alicia, everyone? I don''t want to say this, but it seems we''ll have to stay the night here. Leaving from this direction doesn''t seem like an option anymore, we either need to make a detour from the side lots or find a way to get around that zombie."

    Ishii''s suggestion was epted immediately by the masses, the guards who were lucky to survive against the monster still heading for them were bing more emotional by the second, they were willing to ept any suggestion if it meant getting out of there.

    "It doesn''t matter where you decide, just decide already!" Spoke to one of the more paranoid guards, his gun still pointing towards the zombie, the action alone provided him some mentalfort.

    "If we have to stay another night here then I suggest either the cafeteria again or one of the dorms. The cafeteria would be a better option since we wouldn''t have to worry about conserving food we already have. But the dorms would provide us with much needed clothing and anything else we forgot after everything started."

    The group decided to talk on the way there since the directions for both were almost the same and the zombie was approaching closer and closer. They hade to a consensus to visit the dorms, much to the displeasure from the guards, but the women were more vocal in this regard to visit their rooms for undergarments and extra essentials that they could use for themselves.

    ....

    After entering the first door on the second floor, Noah quickly closed it while Arachne lightly barricaded the door with her webs. As soon as the room was secured Noah plopped onto one of the nearby beds, the exhaustion of all his earlier experiences hitting him at once. The adrenaline that helped him ignore the pain was gone, making his body feel heavier than it really was. He felt the need to sleep even though his body wasn''t tired. Yet his eyes shone in excitement, contrary to how he felt.

    [Proceed to advance ss ''Monster Evolutionist''? Y/N?]

    There was no hesitation, he confirmed without caring that he didn''t properly situate himself on the bed, his legs were still dangling off to the side.

    His body quickly entered into a state that resembled a deep sleep. There were no notifications for him to hear or see anymore, but his body was slowly changing. The stats he umted were finally taking effect on his physical appearance. Because of the situation where people would get an influx of stats per level, it was impossible for their bodies to adapt to the changes in a non harmful way, especially when their bodies were still getting ustomed to the mana being introduced in the world.

    The definition of his muscles were bing more noticeable. His muscle mass increased slightly and he grew an inch taller. His bone density had the most obvious changes. If his constitution helped him with his recovery and gave him more vitally, now his constitution would help him fend off attacks that his body before couldn''t. If one of the regr zombies tried to bite through his flesh, they would barely get past his skin and the runner zombies would never get past the bone.

    This is what the Divine Being meant when he said to pass your limits. Reaching level ten was surpassing the race you were before. If a level ten zombie was considered a tier one zombie then a level ten human would be considered a tier one human, no longer just a lowly human.

    The armor that he was wearing was bing more constricting for him to wear, but the ufortableness didn''t reflect on his face while he was going through the changes. But something more was happening with Noah now that he was advancing. His body would be the source of aiding his monster''s evolutions and for that to happen, the most important aspect of the skill would be his blood.

    From within the center of his heart where all blood goes at one point to be circted to the rest of the body, the mana that could not be said to be human or even any of the two creatures he had assimted with began to emit a thick murky purple substance that mixed with the circting blood.

    It would take the entirety of the time he was in his slumber for every drop of his blood resembled the purple substanceing from his core. His blood was already a dark red from obtaining and improving his zombie trait, now his blood couldn''t even rte to them. His blood would literally bleed purple blood if cut.

    But the difference in blood wasn''t the only change his blood went through. His blood was being assimted with his mana which means he could channel his mana through his blood that will be required to use his skills. The red glow in his eyes shimmered before the color slowly changed to the same purple as his blood but lighter in color.

    Cracks of bone sounded loudly in the room with his bones being readjusted in ce after growing. Arachne waited at the end of the bed watching curiously as the sounds constantly caught its attention. However as the changes were urring in Noah, Arachne''s curious eyes were changing to greed. The change in Noah''s blood was beginning to attract her, she didn''t view the blood as food.

    The food inspired an instinctive feeling just like the mana cores in the spiders did. She just knew that his blood would allow her to grow and her instinctive desires couldn''t help but be influenced. But she stayed in her spot and waited, no matter how enticed she was from his blood, she managed to control herself, but her gaze never left his body.

    ...

    Two hours went by since Noah was going through his change and therge group of students had finally arrived towards the dorms. The dorm Noah was currently in was used for the new arrivals so many of them didn''t have a reason to go to that particr dorm.

    That didn''t stop them from seeing the monster of a beast outside its building, well what was left of it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THAT??" Yelled one of the students before they were red at but the people around them.

    They silently looked at the remains, there was still meat and flesh attached to parts of the corpses and the face hadn''t been touched. But the massive bones were still in ce, not counting a femur missing from one of the legs, but they could still get a clear image of what kind of monstrousity it was.

    "Do you think another monster did this?"

    "Keep a look out¡­whatever did this could still be here."

    "No¡­" Ailetta rejected the murmurs going around when she saw something to confirm her original thoughts.

    "Look, there''s a chest. ''Someone'' was here, but it wasn''t a monster¡­" Her eyes shined with pride andfort, thinking about the person she knew was here and how strong he must be to take down such a creature, but her eyes also projected the sadness she was feeling from being left behind.

    Jasmine noticed that look on Ailetta''s face and even she had considered that this was Noah handiwork considering the fact that she hasn''t seen him in awhile.

    "You think it''s Noah don''t you?" She asked to confirm her previous thoughts, while receiving an immediate nod from her friend. Bailey also chipped in on the conversation.

    "It has to be him, look! There are webs still on the monster''s legs. It has to be from his spider. I wonder if he''s still here."

    "Who''s Noah? If you''re saying one person did this then you are fools" one of the guards interrupted the group''s chat much to their displeasure.

    As the time went by with grouping with the guards, the students quickly found out that the guards thought they were the leaders of their group. There hasn''t been any heated arguments yet, but it was surely a ticking time bomb.

    Regina, who was devastated at the loss of her parents, was slowly recovering when she realized that some if not most of the guards still followed her. With the old man out of the picture, she was the one to inherit all of his money and so she would also be the one to pay them, they were banking on that fact alone. But just having guards with guns to do her billing was a huge safety for her, she mourned her parents, but her life was more important.

    "Guys lets just go, if he''s here then he wouldn''t be hard to notice. We need to find our own shelter and prepare to leave first thing in the morning." Ishii, being the mediator, spoke. He also had felt ufortable with the new addition of the guards, but he also didn''t like the fact that they were trying to downy his role models achievements. A part of him wished that Noah was still in the vicinity.

    Cautiously, they made their way through the dorm''s courtyards, their destination was the dorm that housed the upperssmen which made up the majority of the female students there. But their eyes soon spotted something.

    "Look!, it''s more webs, but it''s blocking the door." Everyone was quick to respond to the voice, but the people who were on the lookout for the voice turned faster.

    "It has to be him, he should still be in there."

    "Should we meet him? He doesn''t know about zombie we saw right? If he knows, maybe he''ll join us." Bailey couldn''t help but voice out her hopeful thoughts. Many of the people who saw Noah''s achievements became more hopeful at the thought of having Noah with them, but they also shuddered when they pictured his monster-like appearance and his weird ''eating'' habits. They had half a mind to avoid someone as insane as him.

    "Why do you still care about that guy? We made it this far by ourselves, we don''t need him. We gave him multiple chances toe with us but he doesn''t care if any of us live or die. What''s wrong with you all?" Mark vented out his feelings. He hated the fact that now when he was able to showcase his strength to everyone, he was still being overshadowed by Noah''s past exploits.He wished Noah would just disappear from the world already.

    Mark attempted to head to their designated building in an attempt to herd the rest along with him. But people he didn''t think would disagree with him.

    "I want to see what all the talk is about this Noah."

    "Yeah! These kids think he could beat that thing when even we couldn''t. I''ll deck him in the face as soon as I see him if he looks like a punk. He better be at least half as strong as they make him out to be."

    Three of the guards became riled up. They all had a lot of pent up stress and anxiety from almost losing their lives and realizing their self worth isn''t as high as they thought it to be. Hearing that a college student could take out such a creature when their entire group couldn''t win against one creature and made them flee with their tails between their legs angered them without any logical reasoning.

    They immediately went up to the door of webs and grabbed at it to tear it down.

    "Fuck im stuck!"

    ........

    A/N I said I would do shorter chapters this week, but couldn''t help myself.

 Chapter 79 [Bonus ] 79: Youre Finally Awake?

    "Fuck I''m stuck!"

    "Me too! Shit, someone bring a knife or something and get us out."

    The duo lost all decorum as they shouted for theirpanions to free them. But the rest of the guards didn''t know what to do. They didn''t have weapons like the students did who were able to get their equipment from the chest. Were they supposed to go over to help and get stuck too?

    "Hey, give me your sword." One of the guards looked towards Ishii who appeared to have the best weapon in terms of appearances so it was more eye-catching than the others . But he didn''t get the response he was expecting.

    "A swordsmen never gives up their sword, use somebody else''s." Ishii lost the innocent and nice guy look when he was addressed. Being a swordsman has been ingrained into his soul if he likes it or not.

    However this is awless world and people''s arrogance and pride was more sensitive than before. The guard whomanded Ishii''s sword aimed his rifle towards Ishii''s face and when that happened. The guards''patriots began to do the same.

    The students didn''t get this far by backing down. There weren''t many that would risk themselves for Ishii''s sake, but it wasn''t just about him. This would be the deciding factor of how their travels with the group will y out. If they did nothing in support of Ishii and he had to give up his weapon, they would soon try to be more controlling, this was a power move by them.

    The scene didn''t go the way they were expecting.

    "Ahhhh!"

    The guard screamed in agony while an object holding onto a gun was seen flying in the air. The sight of blood squirting out his arm made everyone realize that his arm was cut off. But it was hard for the average person to see it if their agility and fighting experience wasn''t high enough.

    "You bastards! Fi-" One of the guards was quick to start a war with the students but when he was speaking, a small knife appeared at his throat pressing into his jugr. Blood was trickling down the edge of the de. And there wasn''t just one, Alicia''s limit was 5, but it was enough to spook the rest of the crew.

    The rest of the students braced for battle as well, they just weren''t out for blood like Alicia and Ishii appeared to be, but their rtionship wasplicated.

    The guards didn''t have someone to be a voice of reason, not against kids younger than them, especially when they had guns. It was up to one of the students to deescte the situation, but before anyone could, something beat them to it.

    "Ggrrrr!"

    Everyone''s attention was taken away from each other towards the growling originating from behind the webs.

    At first it was only the growling that could be heard, but then the webs itself began to show a dark looking shadow behind them. The two guards at first stared silently in shock towards the webs, they could hear the growling the loudest.

    And even though Arachne did a good job covering the door, there were still spaces within the webs to see. First the area behind the webs were still in darkness, but the two guards had yet to realize that the darkness just happened to be Fenrir''s body.

    They didn''t realize till they could feel the hot breathing bearing down on them before arge predatorial eye was bearing into theirs. Something red could be seen through the gaps as Fenrir licked its lips.

    Intense gunfire*

    Even though the guards were stuck, that didn''t stop them from spraying at the beast in fear. They felt more fear than when they encountered that horrible zombieter from before, at least that monster killed them quickly. The image of their deaths to the beast behind the door terrified them to their bones. They didn''t care about alerting anything to them as they continued to shoot.

    Everyone started in shocked at what was urring. The rest of the guards were hesitant to approach after their recent fire, but then the gunfire encouraged them to move. They moved closer to try to get position to aid, but they couldn''t provide support with friendly fire.

    "Argh DIE DIE DIE!" The two guards seemed to be as they both shouted the same thing before only the sounds of their empty clips could be heard as they still continued to try to shoot the beast.

    After the guns ran empty, there was only silence besides the clicking of the stuck guards guns and two yelling in a frenzy.

    "!"

    Yet to their horror, a mouth full with sharp teeth andrge enough to swallow half of their bodies whole broke pushed through the webs. With the extra 25 points in strength, Fenrir couldn''t easily rip through Arachne webs by any means. Even tearing through it would still prove to be difficult for a beast of Fenrir''s caliber. But that didn''t mean it couldn''t stretch the webs with brute force.

    The scene was slow, but as time ticked by, everyone could hear the frames of the door creaking and in front of their eyes, the frames broke down, carrying the webs attached with it. The copse of the wall caused the webs toe down on the two guards as they were now trapped on the floor and attached to Fenrir''s snout that was still stuck to the webbing.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Fenrir was still a foolish creature and didn''t n anything through. His snout being stuck on the webs weren''t part of the n. How could he eat his treats if opening his mouth was a challenge.

    Like a bull in a rodeo, Fenrir began to grow crazed and shook its head every which way, unintentionally throwing the guards around with him.

    Bang bang!*

    The guards hit the ground, then the building''s wall, then the wall again. The constant screams rang in everyone''s ears until the screams died down, yet the sounds of their bodies colliding into hard surfaces didn''t waver.

    When the guards came to the realization of their co-workers and even friends'' deaths, they began to fire at will at the giant beast. The bullets didn''t bounce off like the arrows in the past, but were embedded into his skin. The bullets did no real damage but it still managed to annoy Fenrir greatly.

    "Awwhooo!" It howled after it was finally able to force the webs off of its nose and making it stick onto another surface. It''s eyes pandered over everyone who held the weapon that shot out the tiny pellets.

    Boom!

    He didn''t bother on being cautious with the door and rammed through it before reaching one of the guards and biting down harding from the mans sides, lifting him up into the air as he did so.

    By the time the body was in the air, the halves of his body came crashing to the ground after being bit in half.

    The students had already made quite some distance away from the battle. They had a bit of knowledge already of what the werewolf of Noah''s could do and weren''t gonna challenge it in the slightest. They just hoped his owner woulde before it was toote and their lives became at risk.

    "Get over here and help! you rats!"

    One of the guards screamed in their direction, but it didn''t amount to anything as none of them moved. If anything they seemed to grow even further.

    By the time the person finished yelling, another guard was pped meters away from the scene, howling in pain and shock before dying upon impact. The scene was beginning to be a repeat of what they had experienced before. But unlike the monster before, they could actually witness their deaths before it happened which made the situation more horrifying than the other.

    If there were seventeen guards before, now they were down to eight, Fenrir was no longer in his hunting mode and was killing the people while enjoying himself. While he was in the middle of holding a woman in his mouth. His teeth digging through her legs as she fainted from the pain, but was awakened again from the same pain, he suddenly stopped. The guards had run out of bullets by the time Fenrir decided to start ying with his meals and they were all trying to run away in fear.

    They tried to run towards the students, but they realized quickly that the beast wasn''t pursuing after constantly looking over their backs hoping that they weren''t the unlucky one to be preyed upon.

    When they looked over, they saw Fenrir staring towards one of the windows on the second floor. They didn''t understand the reason, but the students did.

    While Noah was going through his transformation, Arachne heard the chaotic noise going on below and the growls that apanied it. She knew Fenrir had found more prey and she was jealous. She went over towards the window to see what was happening and saw the scene unfolding.

    She watched anxiously as each person died. The zombies she fed on were tasty, but the humans that resembled Noah were so much better. For each guard that fell was a meal she counted for herself. But just like Fenrir, she was interrupted and turned towards Noah who stirred awake.

    His change was instantly noticed from their bonds. And they could feel something very subtle affecting them alerted them of his presence even more. Noah felt drowsy, but he was more concerned about the noise that he woke up to that he ignored the ringing in his ears.

    Crack!*

    "Argh that felt nice!" He couldn''t help but say out loud when his bones cracked in the middle of his stretch.

    Thefort he felt didn''t affect the speed at which he walked to the window and saw a scene that seemed to repeat itself.

    "Why is it always them¡­"

    .....

    A/N: Short chapter, but now we can learn about his new skills and changes tomorrow!

 Chapter 80 80: Perks Of Awakening

    A/N: Wasn''t sure if I would be able to post this today. Power has been out for the whole day and still is, but I found my portable battery for my phone so here we are.

    ...

    "Why is it always them¡­?" Noah said exasperatedly, while seeing the students in the background first since there were so many of them. But then his eyes traveled towards Fenrir who still held a woman in his jaws while staring towards him. The woman in question had already passed out again.

    He then saw the other guards in the vicinity, all wearing the same type of clothing, with guns either strapped around them or hostered to their sides which confused him further.

    Opening the window, well that was the intention, but the strength he used was more than he realized. Not only was the window rising abruptly, the sound of the ss breaking sounded with the scene of ss flying in every which direction.

    Reflexively Noah closed his eyes when the ss exploded towards his face while trying to cover what he could with his hand. Moments passed and he realized there wasn''t any pain at all. When he opened his eyes, he noticed the ss on the ground around him, but there wasn''t even a scratch on his face or his hand at all.

    All of his attention towards what was happening outside disappeared now that his curiosity towards himself had peaked. He just remembered why he was waking up in the first ce.

    "Fenrir, drop it." He ordered without emotion, as if the person in Fenrir''s mouth was something of little value to him.

    As soon as he gave the order, Fenrir''s mouth became cked while he tilted his mouth towards the ground and dropped the women covered in his slime. The woman didn''t move at all, it was difficult to even tell if she was still alive, but looking closely, her chest was still barely moving from her breathing.

    After giving the order, Noah stood in ce by the window. His focus wasn''t on anything going on in his surroundings, even himself. He desperately wanted to find out what he had gained from what he wanted to consider to be an awakening.

    [Host is ongoing transformation, Ailments have been found in the host body interfering with subject change. Host body is undergoing a physical, cellr and spiritual change, and the ailment has been removed.]

    [Host has finished the transformation of obtaining a new advanced ss ''Monster Evolutionist''! You now gain an extra three magic, and two spirit per level up as well as an extra addition of 5 free attributes to spend on level up!

    Three main ss skills have been obtained and previous ss skills have been modified; Blood Essence, Bloodline Extraction and Guiding Pathways have been added!

    Blood Essence-Using your blood as a catalyst, you can input mana into your blood to relocate the use of a mana core. If used with a mana core itself, the core can then bepatible with your bonded creatures for less mana. 50 mana to achieve the effect of a tier 0 core and 100 mana to replicate a tier one. Through the use of a core, the amount of mana spent is 5 mana for a tier 0 and 10 for a tier 1 core.

    Bloodline Extraction-Use your blood as the medium to transfer traits and/or abilities to your tamed creatures using the blood of another. Only one trait can be given to a creature bonded with you, more traits can be added with the increase in Bloodline Extraction''s skill level.

    Guiding Pathways: Monsters and humans all have determined stats upon leveling up that can not be changed. However monsters bonded through the use of Blood Pact will be controlled fully by you to arrange as you see fit.]

    [Monster taming has been modified to ''Blood pact''(Lvl 0): When forming a bond with a creature, the Host can share one ability from your system abilities with said creature. Creatures tamed pre Blood pact can undergo the effects of the skill by initiating Blood pact on those creatures. The skill given to one creature can not be used for another and when that creature dies, the skill will be usable again for the next. The skill shared will also share the same level as the host and can only be leveled up as you progress the original skill.

    Soul cage has been modified to ''Meditative Temple''(Lvl 0): what was once used just for storage of your creatures with your soul can now temper your creatures spirit while they are being contained with your skill. The degree of growth is based on the period of time the creature has been maintained in the skill and based on the amount of spirit the Host of the skill currently has.

    Taming proficiency has been modified to ''Efficient Tamer''(Lvl 1) mana: Monsters bonded through Blood Pact will have a 15% increase in the amount of all experience they obtain. The amount will increase based on skill level, separate from the host.

    Unity through pain has been modified to ''Bone Tempering'': Monsters bonded to you through Blood Pact will receive an increase in constitution stats from ratio 1:1 to 1:1.5

    Monster tongue has been modified to ''Imparted Linguist'': The ability tomunicate with other creatures on a basic level still stands, but now through the ability of Blood Pact, any creature bonded through the ability will impart to you their nativenguage, making you able to understand them and their species perfectly.]

    [Your death penalty has been removed due to the changes urred from your transformation. All stats have experienced an increase in stats. Str, Agi,Con, and stamina has been increased by a ratio of 1:0.5 of your current stats. Magic has increased by 1:2 and sport by 1:1 of your current stats.]

    [You have achieved the first limits of 50 stats in agility, perk based on ss Monster Evolutionist obtained; ''Muscle tempering'']

    [Muscle tempering-Monsters bonded to you through Blood Pact will receive an increase in Agility stats from ratio 1:1 to 1:1.5]

    [Imparted Linguist(Lvl 0) Level Up!-From basic understanding to intermediate understanding. Your ability to understand other creatures have improved, yet your ability tomunicate with them is still basic.]

    [Efficient Tamer(Lvl 1) Level Up!-Monsters bonded through Blood Pact will have a 20% increase in the amount of all experience they obtain.]

    "¡­..This is everything that I''d hoped it to be¡­no wonder that fucker was such a pain in the neck. The benefits of awakening are huge!"

    Even though the information seemed to be too much all at once, surprisingly it didn''t take Noah long at all to go through them and mesmerized the details. He hasn''t realized the rity and processing ability his brain has gone through yet due to his increased spirit.

    He was so excited to see his skills that he couldn''t wait to see his stats now.

    [yer: Noah

    Race:Human? Chimera

    ss: Monster Evolutionist

    Gold: 381->3751

    Lvl: 9->10

    Exp:1053/6400->2543/12800

    Health:100%

    Stamina:100%

    Mana:370/370

    Attributes

    Defense: 25

    Strength:24->36(40)+5

    Agility:36->54(59) +7

    Constitution:53->79(87)+10

    Stamina:27->40(44)+5

    Magic: 56->168(185)

    Spirit: 103->257(282)

    Skills

    Active

    Blood pact(lvl 0)progression:75%

    Bloodline Extraction(lvl 0)progression:0%

    Blood Essence(lvl 0)progression:0%

    Grant Lesser Strength(Lvl 0):0%<novelnext></novelnext>

    Killing instinct (lvl1) progression:8%->8.4

    Decree of Equivalent Exchange (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Undead Webbing(Lvl 0)6.4%-7.1%

    Elusive(Lvl 0)progression:0%

    Passive

    Rodeleros(lvl 0) progression: .6%

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Guiding Pathways(lvl 0)N/A

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:100%

    Immortal body (lvl 1) progression: 10.1%->10.9%

    Budding feeder (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Subservient Hierarchy (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:50%

    Efficient Tamer(lvl 2)N/A

    Muscle tempering(Lvl 0):N/A

    Bone Tempering''(lvl 0)N/A

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0): N/A

    Imparted Linguist(lvl 0):N/A

    Spiders Alertness(Lvl 0)11.1%->16.7%

    Sensory Spines(Lvl 0): 9.8%->14.3%

    Titles

    The Fallen, Subjugator]

    From disappointment, to shock and then disbelief. Noah was sent on an emotional rollercoaster when he saw his stats. His low agility was the cause of his disappointment while his huge jump in mana was the cause of his shock, but his disbelief was entirely because of his spirit.

    ''I knew my skill went to level two but just seeing the numbers is out of this world! What does having this much spirit mean?''

    His curiosity meter was building up to the point that he was beginning to feel jittery.

    "Ants? It''s more ants? Where are theying from?"

    "Shit why isn''t that fucking wolf doing anything! Lead the the fuckers to the wolf!"

    "Are you crazy? And have that beast start attacking us too!" We need to run away!"

    "Why are you running when this is our chance to get stronger! You morons are nothing without your guns."

    "Mark, now''s not the time, this isn''t something we can handle right now, everyone is already exhausted! And the one in the back doesn''t look like something that''ll go down easily."

    "Noah was interrupted from his excitement from the stressed voicesing from outside. When he looked out he could see a small swarm of ants encircling the students below. From the looks of it, the students seemed to have a beacon that made the ants only focus them. Fenrir was watching in interest while growling excitedly.

    He wanted to join in on what was happening, but now that Noah was awake he needed his orders first.

    The group didn''t know that after the ents mutated, they gained a small amount of sentience and they became particrly vengeful. With their antennas, they could distinguish between the students that killed their fellow antsmen and the queen also wasn''t particrly happy with over 90% of her nest being killed off by the unknown and then the rest were killed off by the humans before it.

    She conspired with another small colony to take the humans down and to share the ''food''.

    The ants numbered to about 150 right now. The second colony only sent out its worker and soldier ants to retrieve the food the Queen mentioned. They weren''t desperate for revenge like the current Queen to risk the destruction of their entire Hive.

    The Queen was gigantic, she was close to the size of Fenrir when he was on all fours, but she appeared a bitrger. It was probably the reason why she didn''t appear in the fight before. She was just toorge to quickly dig her way out of the ground.

    Compared to the other ants, her back side made up most of her entire body and her pincers appeared even more deadly. Luckily for the students, the Queen sat and watched as the rest attacked.

    The soldiers from before realized how useless they really were. They had already run out of ammo and the rest was in the cars that they were too afraid to try to retrieve after the explosion of the car that held their boss. Without bullets or a decent weapon, the few guards that were left had already run to one of the current dorms instead of relying on the students to protect them.

    The nonbatants saw them leaving and attempted to follow, leaving the 40 or so students left to fight therge army of ants.

    With less targets for the ants focus on and from the earlier exhaustion from the past fight. The students were off to a rough spot, but thankfully their new skills and stats helped made up for what theycked.

    "Ahhhh!"

    However it still wasn''t enough for them to be prepared for the group of runaways to run back outside with a group of zombies following behind. And as the ratio of runners and sprinter zombies had been steadily increasing, it didn''t take a rocket scientist to guess that most of the present zombies were in fact those two varieties.

    Noah watched it all with a conflicted expression before looking down to Arachne and asked.

    "What do you think, should we help?" He waited patiently for her response. He was conflicted because Ailetta was in the group of students, but for the rest¡­why should he care?

    Arachne looked towards Noah and then back to the chaos happening outside before looking towards him and pointing.

    "My food!" She said, and surprisingly Noah could ''hear'' what she said instead of getting a sense for what she meant. Her words were simple and that suited Noah more.

    He smiled while he withdrew his sword from his ring and looked towards the students struggling for their lives as his smile grew wider by the second. Unintentionally, his predatory gaze sent shivers down the spines of both the students and the ants alike as they all briefly stopped and looked in his direction. Due to his excessive amount of spirit, his gaze easily affected those that didn''t even have half of his spirit.

    The pause was only brief before they engaged once again, but there were still one to two students who didn''t fully recover and paid the price for it.

    cing one foot outside of the window and his free hand holding onto the wall. He prepared to jump down to join the fray. But he stopped when he noticed Fenrir''s tag wagging furiously, dust was flowing everywhere because of it as he grew more excited.

    "Fenrir!" He called, quickly gaining the wolves attending?

    "Go y, but leave some for us!"

 Chapter 81 81: Arachneâ€™s Big Change

    A/N: Hey everyone my power has been out for two days now, but they finally got it back on! It was a big storm earlier this week. Enjoy the chapter and let me know what you think!

    ........

    "Go y, but leave some for us!"

    There was still so many things he wanted to do, the first was choosing his next basic ss. He felt that he needed to choose that wouldpensate his horrible body stats whenpared to his mana and spirit, but did he really?

    ''This would be a perfect time to test out how much my magic and spirit affects my skills. These ants chose a great time to show themselves.'' He thought to himself whilending on the ground, the jump barely fazing him even though it was from the second floor. The only reason it ''barely'' fazed him was because of the extra weight of the sword. He was prepared to quickly go after the smaller ants first since the queen sat and watched but he remembered something more important as he stood there and let his creatures do the fighting for him instead.

    ''There''s no point in saving their points anymore and I need to get a feel for how much their stats have increased after being affected by my new skills¡­'' With that thought, he wasted no time to quickly check both of their stats and while allocating their five attributes.

    [yer: Fenrir

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Lycan

    Lvl: 8->9

    Exp: 7/3,200->2,784/6400

    Health:82%->72%

    Stamina:70%?->78%?

    Mana: 10/10

    Attributes

    Strength:53->88(91)

    Agility:44->50

    Constitution:65->70

    Stamina:35->37

    Magic:5

    Spirit:40->42

    Unassigned Points: 0

    Skills

    Active

    Bloodlust(Lvl 0) Progression:1.2%->2.9%

    Passive

    Lycans Blessing(Lvl 1)Progression:N/A

    Bing deadly weapons(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Predatory eleration(Lvl 0)Progreesion:N/A

    Lunar Empowerment(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Supernatural Senses(Lvl 0)Progression:1.8%->4.5%

    Lycans Regeneration(Lvl 0)Progression:2.5%->6.1%]

    [yer: Arachne

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Arachnid

    Lvl: 8->9

    Exp:57/3200->2491/6400

    Health:65%->90%

    Stamina:58%->62%

    Mana: 10/10

    Attributes

    Strength:32->37(41)

    Agility:58->66

    Constitution:22->23

    Stamina:28->29

    Magic: 5<novelnext></novelnext>

    Spirit:28->29

    Unassigned Points: 0

    Skills

    Active

    Paralysis Venom(Lvl 0):progression-42.8%->44.5%

    Cursed Silk(Lvl 0):progression-37.4%->40.2%

    Passive

    Spider Sense(Lvl 0)]:progression-44.2%->46.2%

    Caught in the eyes of the spider(Lvl 0)]:progression-N/A]

    Noah frowned when he failed to notice the states taking effect from his skill, but then he remembered that he needed to perform his blood pact before the skills could take effect even though he was already bonded with Arachne and Fenrir.

    But if anything concerned him about his creatures then it would have to be Fenrir''s health. Noah couldn''t help but look in Fenrir''s direction and observe the creature that appeared to be oblivious to his own condition.

    Compared to the student''s group that struggled to break through the ants shells unless they used all of their abilities. Fenrir''s jaws were enough to crunch through the hard shells of the worker ants with ease, while the worker ants were tough enough that it required him to clench down hard with his teeth before the sounds of their shells breaking under the pressure could be heard.

    Noah shook his head when he saw Fenrir attempt to grab a soldier ant and rey the way he killed the others, but whimpered in pain before slugging the ant away. With only the ants head inside of Fenrir''s mouth, it was still able to catch Fenrir''s tongue between its pincers causing the Wolf to feel pain while being startled.

    ''I guess even though he can regenerate, maybe he''s not able to regenerate the lost blood and that''s why his health is low? or maybe it''s notpletely healing him as I thought it was¡­.'' In his thoughts, he turned to inspect Arachne before a frown appeared on his face.

    He noticed that she wasn''t in danger at all, in fact she was probably the safest out of every one here not including himself because of how fast she was. Adding in her perk and her sensory hairs, there was no one here who should be able to even contend with her in speed, let alone touch her.

    But her problem wasn''t her safety, it was the fact that she was having difficulties piercing through the ants shell. She didn''t have any strength rted skills yet and it would take multiple stabs from her legs to breach their hide. She wasn''t like Fenrir who could shrug off attacks so unless she attempted to tie them up in her webs, she would be interrupted every time before she could take down another one.

    "Die! Die! Die?" He could hear the stress in Arachne''s voice. She could be seen stabbing at the ants repeatedly towards their heads like she learned from killing zombies, but it was proving to be ineffective. The vigor she had at the start of the battle was waning after each encounter she had with the ants.

    "Arachne,e here!" Noah couldn''t bear to continue watching her struggle lest it develops into a mental blow for his prideful spider. Arachne flinched when she was called over, and her body visibly slumped believing that she let him down. But even though she was hesitant, she still chose toe back to his side.

    Noah could see that she was more dejected than before when she made her way over, he left everyone else to their own vices while he focused only on Arachne.

    "It''s not your fault that you aren''t able to keep up with Fenrir killing these things." He rubbed her head, but his words only put her into a deeper mood. He decided to leave words forter while he ced his hand to his sword and pierced the palm of his skin enough to bleed which wasn''t as easy as before now that his body was strengthened.

    At the same time he began to circte his mana in his blood to the point of the wound. While doing so no blood leaked from where the cut was, but a drop was slowly forming. The drop was purple and as the drop grew in size it began to radiate a small halo and release an intoxicating smell to the monsters around.

    Arachne became curious when she saw Noah cut himself but suddenly the smell of his blood attracted her entirely, rendering the act of cutting himself mute. Her urge to bite his finger was stronger than never before, but she realized that the smell was growing stronger and more alluring as she waited.

    The drop grewrger andrger till it was the size of a human sized fingernail, if the students saw the color of his blood then they would probably be more fearful and questionable of his actual race. The drop no longer grew before he brought his palm towards her mouth and she impatiently lifted her head enough to allow the drop to enter.

    While this was going on, Fenrir was the first to stop in his tracks and was immediately attracted to the scene of Noah and Arachne. He didn''t know what they were doing, but his enhanced senses made it too easy for him to smell the allure of Noah''s blood even if he was a mile away. His body craved for it, and before the students realized, the main heavy hitter was out of the picture and rushing back to his owner.

    "Wha? Where''s he going??" One of the students questioned when they noticed the beast they feared and relied on was leaving them. Mark and the group noticed it too, but they were more focused on the task at hand to be distracted even though they were curious and fearful at the same time. Curious as to why Noah allowed his creature to leave a fight when that doesn''t seem to be his forte. To them, Noah was the sort of person who would try to kill everything for himself and that reason was also the fact that made them fearful.

    "Just keep fighting! That beast helped us out enough, we should be able to handle the rest." Ishii shouted to encourage everyone. However even though his words meant well, it didn''t inspire them like he meant it too. At first they were in a state of fighting for their lives so they were putting their everything into the fight, but when Fenrir came and it seemed that he alone was going to take care of everything for them, they began to emotionally and mentally rx.

    It was almost impossible for most of them to switch back gears to where they were before. But thankfully for them and unfortunately for Noah, his creatures weren''t the only thing attracted towards the smell.

    ''!''

    When the students were beginning to believe all hope was lost again. All of the ants stopped in ce while their antennas began to move fervently in every direction as if they were trying to find something desperately. That''s When their antennas snapped abruptly in the direction of Noah.

    The Queen was the first to lookin their direction and it was her interaction that made all of the other ants turn their attention to the source of the smell. The action that followed confused the students who didn''t know what was going on, but Ailetta eyes began to panic just as soon as she noticed the direction of the ants gaze.

    From the Queens location, a chirp sound originated from where she stood as she rubbed parts of her abdomen together frantically.

    ''Bring me that food now!'' Was essentially what she was saying if Noah was paying attention. But by this time, Arachne had already begun to experience the change within her while also gaining a new ability and one that would only be shared between her and Noah and it was a skill that basically made him who he was now.

    [Blood Pact formed with your tamed creature Arachne! Arachne can now be influenced by your skills.]

    [Arachne''s skill ''Caught in the eyes of the spider''(Lvl 0) Leveled Up to Level 1!- You''re now able to perceive the target''s movements by a tenth of a second.]

    [Arachne has gained the skill ''Gic synergy'' that is being shared by the host.]

    [Arachne has activated Gic synergy to gain the human? Trait. Skill, human tongue has been acquired and Arachne can now choose a basic ss!]

    [warning! Choosing a ss will trigger a mutation, find a safe ce before choosing!]

    [Arachne chose the ss assassin! Transformation willmence!]

    "What the fuck just happened?" Noah cursed out loud as he came after being given the most surprising notifications of his life so far.

    "I only wanted to increase her stats¡­." His voice wasced with exasperation after what urred. Looking towards Arachne, webs began to shoot out from behind her, almost as if by magic, it began to wrap around her like a cocoon before quickly forming around her into a circle. When he touched the webs while it was forming, the webs were harder than the chest he looted from. It felt simr to metal.

    "Grrr!" Noah spun around when he heard Fenrir growling behind him towards Arachne being invaded in webs. Fenrir was prepared to destroy the webs entrapping Arachne before being stopped.

    "Hold it right there! She''s ok! But we need to do something about them before any of us won''t be." He looked towards therge groups of antsing their way, but his priority was the Queen. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her rooted to the same spot but her gaze was staring daggers into his body.

    To his surprise, the students that he thought would use this chance to flee were actually chasing behind the ants heading towards him. His pupils easily spotted Ailetta leading the charge with two of the downed soldier ants in front.

    He couldn''t help but smile warmly seeing that even now she would do so much for him, but his face was quickly filled with resolve when he held out his palm towards Fenrir, sending all the creatures in the area into a frenzy once again.

    "Alright, we''ll try this again¡­don''t let me down big guy."

 Chapter 82 82: Fenrirâ€™s Turn To Be Improved

    "Alright, we''ll try this again¡­don''t let me down big guy."

    Once again, the scene yed out with Noah materializing a drop of a translucent drop of blood from his palm. As soon as the drop was formed and he was about to have Fenrir ept it, Fenrir beat him to it, using his giant tongue to cover Noah''s entire hand and part of his forearm.

    The action would''ve disgusted Noah if his arm wasn''t being covered by his equipment since his entire arm would''ve been wet and sticky. However he had more pressing matters now that the ends were almost upon him. The blood pact has been forged and now he needed to give Fenrir a suitable skill that would give him as much of an edge as Arachne, and Noah just happened to have the next best skill in mind.

    "I haven''t used this skill as often, but I don''t consider it my trump card for no good reason. Make me proud boy."

    [Fenrir is now bonded through blood pact, skills requiring blood pact are now effective!]

    [Fenrir''s skill Lucan''s Blessing has leveled up to level 1!-Through your blessing, your blood can remove harmful aliments more quickly than before. More harmful ailments will still require higher constitution and spirit!]

    [Fenrir has gained the skill ''Killing Instinct'' that is being shared by the host. During its evolution, Fenrir''s transformation will be influenced by Killing instinct!]

    "AAAWWWOOOO!"

    There wasn''t a change physically that urred to him, but Noah could tell that Fenrir was different just based on his howl alone. His howl felt more oppressive than before, but that wasn''t all. The predator-like pupils of Fenrir''s eyes had changed color to the same purple as Noah. Yet the color was more intensified now that Fenrir immediately activated the skill.

    Crack!

    The ground cracked beneath Fenrir''s feet as he stood on his hind legs, visible bulges could be seen flexing throughout his entire body. The new appearance made him appear as if he was on some kind of drug. And to put the icing on the cake, his pupils began to dte to the point where the purple was barely visible, the purple halo-like glow made the darkness that were his eyes that much more frightening.

    "Ggrrr!"

    The skill literally made Fenrir into a ferocious beast. Noah anticipated a bloodbath and quickly jumped back when the ants were just inches away from them. However he learned that there wasn''t a need for him to move away at all.

    Four ants approached first and used their pincers to try to bite through Fenrir''s legs. When the pincers connected with his fur they became frozen in ce, but subtly you could see Fenrir''s body being lifted. The ants couldn''t prate his body at all, but with their increased size, it wasn''t impossible for them to lift the beast off its feet even when he resisted.

    But Fenrir wasn''t going to stand there, not when its only instinct was to kill. His ws fully extended and he angled both of his paws down into the ants heads so that his ws would piece into them. Instead of piercing through their heads, it was better to say that he shredded them like paper.

    The four ants were quickly dealt with, Fenrir''s ws not only tore through their heads but since his paws naturally curved, he literally ripped theirs off while splitting them at the same time. This couldn''t have been aplished if his paws weren''t so huge.

    It seemed that when Fenrir was under the effects of the skill, he relied on his ''weapons'' instead of just brute strength. The next wave of ants came, and he resorted back to swiping at the creatures like he habitually did before, but this time he swung with his ws still fully extended with the intentions of tearing through them.

    Everything began to happen faster than most couldprehend what was happening. One moment there were ants approaching Fenrir and then the next they were flying away with less of their body then what they had before. And the moment when he began to move to wreak havoc through their ranks, the scene became more chaotic. Noah himself was having a hard time to keep up with Fenrir when he considered Fenrir to be more of a frontline attacker.

    ''No no no¡­.'' Noah rubbed his eyes in disbelief when he witnessed what he was seeing. The Fenrir he was seeing now was already more dangerous than the awakened zombie they fought previously. He just couldn''t believe that just the skill he gave him could make him so powerful, but then he remembered the notification after forming the pact.

    ''That''s right! His stats are being upgraded by my skills and the Killing instinct at the same time! Just what are his stats now?'' Noah thought before hurrying to check in the midst of the battle. There was no way for him not to check when he couldn''t stay sane if he didn''t know how strong he just made his beast that he was treating as a silly dog all this time.

    Attributes

    Strength:93->(97)[146] (the 93 is from the 5 attributes from leveling up. I fixed my past mistake)

    Agility:50->75[113]

    Constitution:70->105[158]

    Stamina:37[56]

    Magic:5

    Spirit:42<novelnext></novelnext>

    "¡­.." Noah didn''t know what to say at first after seeing the stat increased, but when he watched Fenrir dominating over the little big ants, his heart was growing excited and he couldn''t help but smile widely from the scene.

    "I created my own little boss monster~!" He said out loud while trying to hold in his excitedughter.

    The increase to his creatures stats were huge after his awakening. Noah couldn''t help but wear a creepy smile from the pure bliss of how great his new ss was just by obtaining it. All of his personal stats may not reflect what he truly desired but the strength of his creaturespletely made up for it, especially when he thought about the fact that he has yet to even tap into his ss potential.

    "..."

    Meanwhile on Ailetta''s side, it was unbelievably quiet if you didn''t ount for the noise Fenrir was making. It was unusual, considering that they should''ve been fighting too. However when they saw the weird interaction with Noah and Fenrir that inspired the change within the wolf, their world turned upside down. ''Were we really just trying to save them?'' Some if not most of the students had the same thought.

    The group had visibly rxed when they noticed that ants never attempted to turn to fight back after they put Noah into their sights, but when Fenrir turned the tables, the only person who was relieved of the situation was Ailetta. Everyone else felt a dangerous chill down their spine when the beast was moving faster than what they could keep up with.

    It didn''t help that the bloodthirst stat Fenrir was in was affecting the students who hadn''t experienced the situation of being prey in the eyes of the predator. Ants didn''t have that same aura that something like Fenrir would have. They didn''t have the eyes nor the presence that made you visualize your death just by staring at them.

    "Gu-guys? I think we need to get out of here¡­" Bailey was the first to speak up, when she saw Fenrir''s unusualness. The others weren''t sure what she meant by that, but there were still some people there in the group with enoughmon sense to know what was going on.

    "I agree with Bailey, Fenrir seems to be under the effect of some kind of skill. I don''t think he would think twice about attacking us if we got in his way." Ailetta chimed in as she made her way back towards the others, but she didn''t forget to keep her skill in effect. She didn''t know when she could be attacked, especially after hearing the yells that originated from the dorm behind them.

    "Ah Sam! Som-someone help us alread-argh!"

    The students became aware of the deserters'' peril and turned around to see the huge groups being ravaged by the zombies from the dorm. The runner zombies alone were already a challenge for the average level three human and when you add in the sprinters that were strong enough to contend with a human with stats between seven and nine, those students who never tried to participate in the fights stood no chance at all to survive.

    But as someone who wanted to prove they could be a great leader, Mark was the first to lead the charge to help the students in need while Noah handled the most troubling foe.

    "Well I guess that leaves the big one to me until Fenrir is done¡­that''s the only downside of the skill, but it''s definitely a fault I can live with. But if she''s just going to be so kind and sit there then I''ll take her up on her graciousness, I still have time to power up!" He same with gusto when he mentioned the power up as he couldn''t contain his smile once again. Ever since he''s awakened, it''s been hard for him to contain his excitement. He was like a little kid who was given a new toy and just found out the correct way to y with it.

    Holding up his hand, a stone-like object came out from his ring that he held in his other hand, the stone was the upgrade stone from before. There were only three skills he could upgrade right now and he had his eyes set on one in particr.

    [Decree of Equivalent Exchange has leveled up to Level 1!-Through the will of the user, you can now temporarily recieve or grant your subordinates stats two specific attributes of 20%. Number of attributes affected and the percentage given/taken will increase based on skill level, and can only be used with the undead.]

    "This! This is exactly as good as I was expecting, haha~" Noahughed out loud before he became serious, he still had onest thing to do and he had to be fast because from the look of it, the ant Queen was bing anxious due to the deaths of all of her minions.

    [Host is choosing his basic ss! Choose between;

    Warrior

    Rouge

    Archer

    Apprentice mage

    Arcanist

    Priest

    Artisan

    Alchemist]

    ''Well at this point maybe I should just go with¡­.''

 Chapter 83 83: Inner Otaku

    [Host is choosing his basic ss! Choose between;

    Warrior

    Rouge

    Archer

    Apprentice mage

    Arcanist

    Priest

    Artisan

    Alchemist]

    ''Well at this point maybe I should just go with¡­.''

    He was about to choose his initial ss which was warrior. Obtaining the ss would fill in the gaps of what he wascking and that was having good body stats. But then he couldn''t help thinking about the mage ss. Using a ss that involves magic would be the most logical out of all of the sses considering how high his magic and spirit currently was.

    ''And I can essentially abuse my blood extraction more if I get more mana¡­I''ll just use my free attributes to focus on my body stats. I won''t get another chance at life and I know for certain that I would gain immediate results from this, not to mention its magic!''

    Convinced that he was making the right choice, he hurriedly confirmed his decision before he had second thoughts.

    [Host has confirmed the basic ss Apprentice mage! +1 Magic and +1 spirit will be added to your stats per level. Choose your main talent between; Magic control, magic regeneration, and magic power.]

    ''What? I didn''t get choices like this when I chose my ss! But this is still good¡­I was concerned about not being able to recover my mana unless I only used potions.'' Noah chose to obtain magic regeneration as his main talent before switching over to choose his skill.

    There were a plethora of basic skills, more skills than he could receive as a monster tamer much to his annoyance, but he calmed down when he thought about the fact that his creatures were essentially an extension of his skills.

    ''Huh? I thought there were a lot of skills, but it seems to be the same skill, but with just a different element for most of them¡­" He quickly nced towards the skills in question. One example of what he was talking about was the skill fireball. After the skill, the others skills were waterball, poisonball, lightning ball, etc.

    And after that it was the same with firebolt. He continued to look and saw other skills that were focused only on attacking. There were skills like fire ward,and lightning ward. He wasn''t interested in those types of spells. But he was interested in the debuffs he sawter on. Powerless strength, sluggish agility, frail constitution. Each skill targeted a certain stat and there just happened to be their counterparts that did the same thing.

    Noah knew he didn''t have enough time to look through everything. So far he found three skills to choose from. The three being manabolt, frail constitution, and surprisingly the skill called minor Illusion. Manabolt since he figured that the skill will not only cost less mana, but since it involves only mana, it would help him with his control and different from the skill Manaball, the skill piercing power was stronger.

    He couldn''t help but think of choosing frail constitution after he firstid eyes on the skill. The skill was essentially an aoe strength buff for everyone attacking the same target. Not only would Arachne be able to contribute more in fights where the enemy has too high of a defense, but he and Fenrir could deal more damage as well.

    And thest skill minor Illusion, well just the name itself was what attracted him the most. The thought of battling with illusions intrigued him greatly and the limits for the skill was only limited to his imagination. Now that he was down to three, the decision to choose became harder.

    ''If it''se down to this then I''ll just choose the best skill for this situation. If the smaller ants'' shells were that hard then I can just imagine how hard the Queen''s would be so the debuff would be a lot better in this regard.''

    A few seconds passed and Noah had finally chosen his skill.

    [Talent mana regeneration and mana bolt have been chosen!]

    Noah could help but smile evilly when the system confirmed his choices when his thoughts differed entirely from what he said he needed.

    ''Screw it, sending out a huge spell is more badass, I can''t keep lying to myself!'' He yelled inwardly before finishing thest notifications of his skills.<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Mana Regeneration(Lvl 0)- Kick starting your core to draw in the surrounding mana passively, you gain one mana per 5 mins! The skill can be progressed by increasing skill level.]

    [Manabolt(Lvl 0)- Circting your mana into your palms, you can release a destructive bolt to st through the enemy and circte even more mana to increase the damage. Requires five mana to activate the skill and twice the mana for every second you charge for the max of 3 seconds. Further charging of the skill can be increased by increasing the level.]

    Noah waspletely satisfied with what he saw but at the same time he was confused.

    ''Why am I suddenly getting so much more information than before? Even with my taming skills, the system told me how much mana I would need for the blood extraction. Urgh! I can worry about thister, I have an ant to kill.''

    Boom!

    Naoh came to, having to hear the loud collision of two giant creatures colliding. He looked ahead to find Fenrir shing against the Queen ant in a frontal battle of strength, shocking Noah to no ends. He quickly looked over to see the results of what happened to the ant minions. When he looked over, he realized that now even one ant was left untouched and when he turned back to the two creatures engaging he had another realization. The Queen ant was much closer to him than before!

    ''What the fuck! How long was I choosing my ss? It couldn''t have been that long'' Noah eximed with a hint of fear. He didn''t realize how absorbed he became when he became excited and time passed a lot more quickly than he believed it did.

    Boom!

    But he couldn''t stand in shock for long. He didn''t take his eyes off of Fenrir for more than a few seconds before seeing him getting tossed in the air by the Queen. If an ant could lift 10-50x their weight then it wasn''t hard to ept how the Queen was able to throw Fenrir the way she did. But to Noah''s shock, after she tossed him away, she immediately made her way to him!

    "What did I even do to you?" He felt that either his luck was bad or this creature had a vendetta against him. It''s been awhile since he used his skill and his small wound has already stopped bleeding so he was confused why she still was so dead set on going after.

    From his shock, Noah took one step back but then he steeled himself before lifting up his palm. Change began to happen in the area of his hand. What would normally be a blue ball mixed with white, made of energy. The dark ball of energy that was both dark and light purple was forming.

    Normally if someone uses the skill, the ball would form to only the size of their palm and by the time they use the spell after charging it for the full duration it would erge enough to be the size of their entire hand. But when Noah used it, the size was already the size of his hand.

    Unfortunately Noah wasn''t aware of this fact, he was too busy bing hysterical that he was truly using magic like the stories he read for the first time. And like a proper Otaku, he held his left wrist that was circting the spell and channeled it for the full duration of three seconds, erging it even more.

    The size, to his surprise, grew to almost twice the size from before, almost the size of basketball.

    By this time the students that were smaller in number and the four guards that were left were now watching the scene taking ce. No one knew what the skill was, even those who were mages and knew about manabolt wouldn''t be able to recognise the skill since Noah''s mana ispletely different from a regr human. But that didn''t stop them all from gasping in shock and awe.

    "MAANNNNAA BOOOLLTT!"

    Everyone could hear him scream out his skill before seeing the spell being released from his hand and sending himunched to the ground from not bracing for the impact. Because the skill was a bolt instead of a ball, the skill suddenly projected out in a streak, leaving a faint trail behind it.

    The line zipped towards the Queen who was almost upon him before the ant and the bolt collided.

    Boom!

    A collision, louder than the one from Fenrir and the Queen before, sounded and then the unexpected scene urred of the Queen''s head snapping upwards, dragging her body along with her momentum. She crashed onto the ground with a heavy bang and her body was left twitching and on her skull, small cracks could be seen.

    The scene left everyone watching speechless, it was then the female who followed Neal and was also the one who helped him attack Fenrir in the cafeteria screamed out.

    "He¡­.he said manabolt right? RIGHT??" She screamed, startling and annoying the people close to her who haven''t been able to recover.

    "We all heard him say the damn skill, now what about it!" This time it was Neal''s turn to be obnoxious. Whenever it had something to do with Noah, he seemed to never be able to stay in character, but no one seemed to mind at this moment from their shock. However the girl''s next words confused them, unlike her who knew what the spell was since she also had it alongside her lighting bolt. It was the only reason she was almost traumatized from seeing the skill. Struggling to find the right words to convey to everyone to make them feel the same way she was feeling, she was only able to formte a few words.

    "That''s not what the spell looks like¡­"

 Chapter 84 84: Youâ€™re No Queen

    "That''s not what the spell looks like¡­" she said, making the group appear more confused than they were before. Her saying that didn''t really rify anything for them.

    "Urgh! I''m saying that ''person'' is a freak!" She became agitated that she couldn''t get them to understand what she was trying to say. Did they not think about how freakish that spell was to knock out that huge ant? Was what was on her mind during this time. She still remembered the fear she experienced when she first encountered Noah at the cafeteria and seeing the disy of the skill which was supposed to be just a low skill that she owned now incited the fear even further.

    She turned towards one of the ants on the ground and raised her palm towards it like Noah, but without all of the gusto. A gaseous sphere started to form, the sphere was almost identical to Noahs whenparing the forming, but that was where the simrities ended. The students who saw the skill forming now realized that the skill Noah used was in fact manabolt, but it was better to consider his spell a mutated and improved version, especially after seeing the result of her sphere after being released.

    Her sphere visualized into a whitish blue sphere, and soon grew to the size that Noah''s sphere started from before she released it. The sphere turned into a bolt before impacting the ant''s shell causing the ant''s body to flinch and a small dent appeared on the area that was impacted. The result of her spell finally was able to ry the girl''s distraught feelings concerning Noah.

    There were different reactions from all of them, but the biggest was Ailetta, who not only felt immense pride, but the fear of being left behind was only bing stronger every time she saw him next. ''What else should I do to catch up? I need to get better skills¡­.Or¡­'' She began to ponder deeply about what she could do to inspire a greater change regarding her strength. Like the time she was able to gain insight after Jasmine created her own spell, she felt inspired when she saw the way Noah used his blood to make a drastic change to his creatures.

    It reminded her of something she read along with him in the past. It was the act of pledging or giving something in return for immense power, but that was also a story and the ''person'' the character was pledging to was simr to a devil so she wasn''t sure if what she was thinking could work.

    The other person who was almost as excited as Ailetta was Ishii, who began to admire Noah even more. He felt the need to go out and find a creature that he could have an epic battle with right in front of his idle to gain his acknowledgment.

    On the other hand Mark was bing infuriated with himself, but he was even more frustrated with Noah as he clenched his fist and stared daggers into Noah''s soul while Noah was oblivious to his internal struggle. Noah was too busy admiring his work and he had forgotten that the queen wasn''t dead yet.

    "Ha¡­HahaHa~That was sick! Ah! I wonder if I can do it with bot-"

    "Ahhoo!"

    Noah was interrupted by Fenrir, Fenrir didn''t take long to recover, and after being thrown, it was as if Fenrir was possessed by nothing, but hatred for the Queen ant as it sprinted towards the Queen recovering herself from the ground. This still made him harbor a deep grudge towards the Queen.

    The Queen was having difficulty recovering back on her legs, her big size didn''t help her in this regard afternding on her back. So by time she recovers, Fenrir was already upon her, gripping the sides of her backside and attempting to take a huge bite out of her.

    Crunch!*

    loud audible crunching noises could be heard originating from Fenrir while it tried to gnaw its way through the Queens exterior and slowly it was seeding. Three huge powerful bites were enough to pierce through the shell and cause giant holes in the form of his teeth to leak out a dark yellow hue of blood.

    This caused the Queen to go into a frenzy. She first attempted to reach behind her to remove Fenrir from eating into her, but Fenrir was worse than a leech. When she rotated her body to reach her sides, Fenrir would stay attached to her with his ws embedded into her sides and his mouth continuing to chomp.

    By this time, more of the queen''s blood was flowing out and this led up to the Queen bing more frantic. She lifted her backside, uplifting Fenrir along with it before swinging her behind left and right continuously before she finally brought it down to the ground hard.

    She aplished her goal of ridding herself of Fenrir, but at what cost? After Fenrir was mmed into the ground, arge hole was left in her backside as big as his jaws could open, leaving her with a 2 foot wound continuously leaking liquids.

    The first thing in mind wasn''t for the Queen to try to finish off the beast that did this to her. Her survival instincts began to kick in, she needed to preserve the colony! Her colony may be gone now, but as long as she lives, the colony will never die. It was impossible for her to dig underground fast enough to get away. She needed to flee back to the hole she emerged from but she felt something stirring in the air and what sounded like a whistle heading for her.

    Boom! Boom!<novelnext></novelnext>

    A manabolt crashed into her side and then another blew off a leg before crashing into the ground. The sudden blow almost knocked herpletely over but she was able to barely catch herself with her many legs.

    Coughs* Noah could be seen lifting himself off the ground before retrieving his sword, but he was smiling embarrassingly to himself aftermitting such a blunder. He really wanted to try to use two hands to shoot out the spheres that he didn''t ount for the huge kick andck of control he would have from doing so.

    ''Ok well that didn''t go as nned¡­Wait! Is it trying to run away now?'' Noah didn''t notice what the Queen was about to do before since she barely moved from her spot before being bombarded by his spells, but when he thought the Queen was about to retaliate she never bothered to turn back towards him and began to run away.

    "Oh no you don''t!" He yelled after her before taking off behind her. He reced his sword back into the ring to move faster without the weight and activated his elusive skill in spurts to gain more ground. He noticed that Fenrir had already recovered and was chasing after the Queen and had already begun to maul the ants shell in every location he could reach, but it seemed that it would take him too much time at this rate to bring the Queen down.

    Noah needed to get closer and fast. He could try to slow it down with his webs, but given how strong the ant was to fling Fenrir, that option was quickly weeded out. Fenrir was his best bet at taking the creature down while he was still gaining the stats of his skill. He only needed to get close enough to aid him with his skill or somehownd another solid hit on the Queens skill with his mana bolt.

    "Tsk! If I can find that shop again I''m definitely grabbing that skill for reasons like this." And with a thought, Noah began to grow unbelievably faster than before. Using his skill to exchange 20% of Fenrir''s agility and stamina, he gained an extra 23 points in his speed to quickly catch up to the duo. His target being Fenrir himself.

    "I know you can''t hear me, big guy, but let''s see what you can do with this." Noah arrived on Fenrir''s side while the wolf continued to ignore him. Noah ced his palm on Fenrir''s back while maintaining contact as best as he could and active the skill ''grant lesser strength''.The skill was just supposed to increase Fenrir''s strength by only 10% but Noah knew that the skill''s effect would be increased because of his spirit and that was what he was counting on.

    A purple aura emanated from his hand before it briefly traced around Fenrir''s entire body.

    "Grrrr"

    It seemed that Fenrir became stimted by the skill and began to growl and grunt in between his growls. Noah was able to tell how much the increase was but he knew it had to be huge when he finally saw Fenrir tear though one of the Queen''s legs with his ws. It just so happened to be on the same side where the other leg was blown off by him. This caused the Queen to lose her bnce and fall over, allowing Fenrir to ravage her body with his overpowering ws.

    However Noah didn''t end there. Reusing his exchange ability, he instead gave Fenrir 20% of his strength and agility. It wasn''t much but every little bit was enough to take down the queen faster and while Fenrir was busy teari through the Queen''s shell, Noah made his way around her huge body and arrived at her head.

    "Queen my ass! What queen runs away after sending all of her followers to their deaths, and worse!" He paused as he brought both his palms up to face her as she continued to struggle to get up, but it was no use. When she was close to standing with what little legs she had left, Fenrir had taken out another one, bringing her down once again. Three seconds passed before Noah''s spell circted fully and he was ready to release it.

    "Now I have to run all the way back because of you!" He yelled in frustration while simultaneously releasing the two bolts that forced him recoiling back. One of the bolts crashed into the Queen''s eye puncturing it and causing the eye to explode, splurging out the innards of her eye while the other way made its way to the area that was already cracked.

    The bolt broke through the ant''s shell before wreaking havoc inside. The Queen began to spasm uncontrobly for what went on for almost a minute before her body stopped movingpletely. All the way Fenrir continued to strike at her body as if she would move any second.

    Noah couldn''t help but look over towards his ferocious yet silly beast that was fighting a corpse before shaking his head.

    "It''s the skill¡­the reason has to be the skill, he''s a lot smarter than this." He tried to convince himself, but when he looked backed over to Fenrir, doubt began to bloom once more. But thankfully for Fenrir, the treasure Noah was waiting for expectantly had finally appeared.

    "My first chest after awakening!" He walked over and crouched towards the tinum chest that dropped. He wasn''t disappointed at all that the chest was a lower grade than the zombie he fought before. This fight was rtively easier than that one, but it didn''t quench his excitement in the slightest.

    ''I wonder if my luck got any better now¡­''

 Chapter 85 85: Nothing Good Comes From A Glutton

    ''I wonder if my luck got any better now¡­''

    He thought while he bent down to open the chest. There was a subtle prodding in the back of his mind, telling him that he had a notification, but his curiosity towards the chest needed to be pacified before he could give his attention to anything else.

    Noah opened the chest to first spot an intense yellow light mixing reflecting off of the gold and because the night was bing darker, the light caused him to be blinded briefly.

    "Fuck!" He couldn''t help but curse since he now had four pupils to take the brunt of the intense lighting. He continued to ce a hand slightly over his eyes while retrieving the orb giving off the glow. As long as it wasn''t able to reflect from the gold coins then he didn''t have to worry.

    When he observed the orb he realized that it was an orb the same size as the one he gave to Fenrir, but the orb was for the stamina attribute. Normally he was giving every orb he foundtely to his creatures, but now that he found a way to continuously make them stronger, he didn''t feel the need to do so anymore and started to use them for himself again.

    [+25 stamina]

    ''Well I can''t say it''s the best attribute I would want to increase but I''m notining about free stats!'' He thought as he readjusted himself to getfortable. Obtaining such an orb as the first item made him have high hopes for the rest toe. He quickly went for the next as he pulled out a long piece of light grey cloth. At first he frowned since it appeared like the same material as the short cloak he had obtained earlier.

    But when he attempted to rip it apart, he noticed that he couldn''t tear it at all. His eyes lit thinking that maybe the cloak was a lot better than he assumed as he reached for his ring to retrieve his dagger to test out the durability.

    "Ha, hahaha! This thing is great!" He cheered when even the dagger couldn''t tear through it using all of his meagre strength and that was enough for him to be satisfied.

    Noah didn''t hesitate to throw off the chest piece he had covering the full gear set. Everything he was wearing was already making him feel constricted now that his body had filled out more and his body grew. If he could he would also like to get rid of his current full gear set as well. The small attributes weren''t worth difort, he would have to find time to obtain more gear in the future.

    After throwing the top piece of his armor away, he quickly adjusted the cloak around his shoulders, letting it flow down to his knees. He felt behind the back of his neck noticing that the cloak came with a hood attached,pletely fulfilling the look that suited him.

    ''It looks great and it feels great, but what does it give me?'' He went to check the increase of his stats.

    [yer: Noah

    Race:Human? Chimera

    ss: Monster Evolutionist/Apprentice Mage

    Gold: 3751

    Lvl: 10

    Exp:2543/12800->3865/12800

    Health:100%

    Stamina:100%->94%

    Mana:370/370->185/370

    Attributes

    Defense: 25->40

    Strength:36(40)+5

    Agility:54(59) +7

    Constitution:79(87)+10->5

    Stamina:40->65(73)+5

    Magic: 168(185)

    Spirit: 257(282)+25

    ''Hmmm'' Noah pondered over his stats, he couldn''t quite put his finger on it, but the stats feltckluster.

    ''Well I guess the defense is still a huge boonpared to what I could get. If I think of the cloak as a piece out of an entire set then it is actually pretty good. Why can''t these chests drop more loot damnit¡­'' Thinking about the fact that people in groups gained more benefits than him, he looked to the other item in the chest that just so happened to be hisst, annoying him even more since he usually always gets four items.

    But before he could continue to stay aggravated for too long, his anger turned to confusion and then to curiosity as he picked up an enchanting circr orb the size of his palm. The orb didn''t radiate any light at all but there were constant golden yellow swirls forming inside of it like a swirling vortex.

    He lifted it up towards the moon to illuminate the sphere in his hands and he noticed that the swirls were constantly moving, but other than that, he couldn''t gleam anything else of interest or to verify what it does.

    ''Sigh¡­what''s the point of getting this if I don''t know wha-''

    Boom!

    Noah was startled when his sensory hairs picked up a huge object flying beside him, but he didn''t have the urge to dodge. Hearing the heavy breathing and the wind being created from heavy intense swings of its tail, he could already tell that it was Fenrir.

    He turned slightly to see the big lug eyeing the orb in his hand with a heavy desired gaze while his tongue hung out of his mouth.

    Noah moved the orb to the side and Fenrir''s gaze continued to follow before he whimpered after his desire for the orb grew.

    ''Maybe this is what the notification meant about having drops meant for my ss? Hmm¡­'' He thought about his options. Either to let Fenrir have it right now or to give it to Arachne since Fenrir was already strong enough.

    However the image of her in a cocoon re-emerged in his mind before he made his decision.

    "Don''t say I never gave you anything¡­" He held out his hand holding the orb to Fenrir. He wasn''t surprised at all when Fenrir took the orb from him with his mouth before quickly swallowing it.

    He stared Fenrir down waiting for a change, but all he received in return was Fenrir sitting there in silence with his eyes closed. Noah wasn''t sure if he was getting a boost in stats or what it could be, but the prodding in his mind would have the answers.

    [You have achieved the first limits of 50 stats in stamina, perk based on ss Monster Evolutionist obtained; Organ Tempering]

    [Organ Tempering-Monsters bonded to you through Blood Pact will receive an increase in stamina stats from ratio 1:1 to 1:1.5]

    [Fenrir has achieved his first limit of 50 stats in stamina, perk based on ss Lycan obtained; Faster recovery]

    [Faster Recovery- Regeneration doesn''t only affect your health but now has a small impact on your stamina, increasing the speed at which your stamina is gained when your health is regenerating by .1% of health regenerated.<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Fenrir level up! +5 free attributes]

    [Fenrir has reached level 10 and can now undergo his evolution! Due to your ss ''Monster Evolutionist'', Fenrir has been given an additional evolution path that is up for you to choose so choose carefully! WARNING! Choose when you are in a safe area, time for evolution is unknown.]

    [Fenrir evolutionary path Pure blooded Lycan, and Demented Lycan can be obtained.]

    [Pure blooded Lycan-You have perfect control of your werewolf instincts and abilities and can now revert back and forth to your human form willingly. Human skills can now be used along with your original ss before transforming. While in human form, you can perform partial transformation to grow ws, fangs or even transformrger limbs.]

    [Demented Lycan-The instinctual urge for carnage is what drives you and the act of letting that urge consumes you makes you stronger. You have rejected your human form in return for pure predatory strength that would put your other half to shame. Once you go this route there is no chance of reverting back to human form again!]

    [Fenrir has obtained a monster skill orb! Skill ''Storing Strength'' has been learned!]

    [Storing Strength-Your body structure isn''t adapted to have the strength capacity as an ant. However through the use of the skill, fully bring out the potential of your entire body down to the smallest blood cell to increase your strength. The increase starts off at 10% and increases by the amount of power being stored by intervals of 10% for each second stored for the maximum of 50%. Must remain stationary to use the skill and stat increase gradually diminishes every second by intervals of 10% per second. The longer the usage, the heavier the strain of stamina.

    Noah was definitely surprised when he found out that Fenrir had already leveled up again and even more surprised when he found out that he was given the option of choosing what they could evolve into. The decision was hard for him to choose between at first. The Demented Lycan seemed to be the best route to go but then Noah thought about the fact that if Fenrir could obtain a ss, his utility would increase exponentially.

    Not to mention that his ss could possibly advance as well, making him an even stronger force. However those thoughts quickly waned when he thought about the fact that if Fenrir regained his human form then he would have to see that irritating face again. Once that thought popped into his head, he no longer had any conflicting thoughts on the matter. He threw those thoughts aside forter, he wasn''t able to choose yet anyway and he was more eager to learn about the skill Fenrir received.

    ''This skill is both good and bad¡­this effect would be really sweet if it stacked with all of his other buffs and stamina has never really seemed like an issue for him, at least not to a point where I was able to notice, so I don''t think even his perk would be of much use to him. I wonder if he would use this if he was under the effects of killing instincts. At this rate he''s bing more broken than me!''

    Noah felt that Fenrir had already surprised him enough. All he wanted to do now was to allocate his points and then hurry back to Arachne''s side where she was undergoing her change.

    [yer: Fenrir

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Lycan

    Lvl: 9->10

    Exp: 2,784/6400->137/12,800

    Health:72%->66%

    Stamina:78%->58%

    Mana: 10/10

    Attributes

    Strength:93(100)

    Agility:50

    Constitution:70

    Stamina:37->56

    Magic:5

    Spirit:42

    Unassigned Points: 20

    The first thing Noah noticed was the 20 total points he could use, he couldn''t help but smile. This made it a lot easier for him to obtain any perk that he was striving for. But then he noticed something odd that he needed answers for.

    ''His strength is 100 essentially so why didn''t his skill level increase? Is it because the increase is from my skill and not his?'' He pondered deeply about the matter, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that it could only be the answer.

    ''Well it''s not like it matters now, I can still make it 100 and then I can even make his spirit 50 just for another perk!''

    Strength:93->100(107)

    Agility:50->55

    Constitution:70

    Stamina:56

    Magic:5

    Spirit:42->50

    [Bing deadly weapons has been increased to level 1!-Your teeth and ws have been sharpened and hardened even further!-]

    [Your tamed creature, Fenrir, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in spirit, perk based on ss Lycan obtained; ''Predatory Roar'']

    [Predatory Roar-Your howl already inspired fear and dread to your enemies, but now it can also lower their stats by 10%. The effect is increased per level and can be resisted.

    Noah nodded his head constantly while seeing the results of his actions. The skill was a nice bonus, but he was sure that after evolving Fenrir''s perks would change just like his did and possibly be even better.

    Retrieving all the gold that was in the chest, he was about to rush back towards Arachne, but he noticed something towards the end of the Queen. He wouldn''t have noticed it if it wasn''t for Fenrir going back to that position and making chewing noises. When he looked over, he saw eggs, eggs the size of his finger and Fenrir could be seen scooping tens at a time with hisrge mouth as he tried to eat them all.

    Noah stared at the scene with a nk expression, he wasn''t able to process what was happening. But when Fenrir was eating what seemed to be thest one, the thought of being able to obtain a Queen from one of the Eggs surfaced in his mind.

    "No, no, no, no, no! Why do you have to eat EVERYTHING?!"

    A/N: If you don''t know, any ant can be a Queen based on their diet, but Noah doesn''t know that.

 Chapter 86 86: Donâ€™t Badmouth Noah

    "No, no, no, no, no! Why do you have to eat EVERYTHING?!"

    Noah screamed while trying to tackle Fenrir down. Fenrir may be a huge, frightening monster to others, but to Noah, he was just a clumsy big ball of fur.

    Noah''s attempt to tackle Fenrir achieved nothing, besides Noah''s face being pricked Fenrirs'' hard fur that was hardened from being soaked in blood and then dried.

    Even though he couldn''t get Fenrir to budge, his actions still caused Fenrir to stop and look towards Noah in confusion as to why his alpha was suddenly showing him affection.

    "You eat too?" Fenrir ''asked'' before making a strange and disgusting regurgitating noise. To Noah, when hearing Fenrir speak, he sounded as if Fenrir was speaking inly when all anyone else would hear were growls and grunts.

    Fenrir managed to barf what hest ate, spilling some of the leftover contents of the eggs he ate before while trying to nudge it over to Noah.

    Noah''s face paled when he saw the hot mess being bright his way. He used all of his strength to try to push Fenrir''s head away from him.

    "I don''t want what you already ate! I just need you to stop eating!" He quickly shuffled away from the wolf and he grew a headache. He arrived at the huge gap in the Queens backside where the eggs had most likely spilled out from. Before submerging both of his arms up to his shoulders in the queen''s insides. Plopping noises could be heard as he threw the innards to the ground, hoping to find at least one egg.

    ''If I can get one while it''s still an egg then I could potentially have another creature without having to use my skill¡­Fuck, why do I have to have two gluttons¡­''

    Five minutes passed and he has yet to find anything that resembled an egg. He took onest handful of the ants'' guts and threw them away before he depressingly rose to his feet.

    "Sigh¡­.maybe all of my luck was used on the chest¡­at least I can still get its core and test out my new skill. it should be a tier one skill so the improvements to Fenrir and Arachne should be pretty big before they evolve" he looked over to Fenrir who was crunching one of the ants legs.

    "You,e here." He called out to Fenrir who was oblivious to Noah''s annoyance since he was happy to not only hunt but he was also able to consume a hearty meal.

    Fenrir trotted over to Noah''s side while wagging his tail. Noah feltpletely helpless with how clueless he could be. He ignored the wolf''s enthusiasm and pulled out a core from his ring, showing it to Fenrir who sniffed it first before bing dejected.

    "I need you to find something like this for me in that creature, can you do that?" He walked over to the middle section of the ant and pointed to it. It might be here, quickly fi-"

    Before he could finish, Fenrir had already smashed into the ants abdomen with his jaws, feverishly trying to bite through the ants hard shell.

    Noah stood off to the side and watched. He wasn''t exactly sure if the core would really be there since the spiders before were in their butts. But after spending so much time looking for the egg, he never caught a glimpse of anything resembling a core back there, leaving the abdomen and the head as his only options left.

    It didn''t take long for Fenrir to prate the shell after his teeth and ws were strengthened. After he managed to bite his way through, he used his ws to tear at the sides to widen the gate, allowing his entire head to go inside the ants abdomen in search for the core.

    "Gggrrrr"

    The sounds of Fenrir growling got Noah''s attention, he knew by that sound that Fenrir most likely was able to find it. And when Fenrir pulled his head out from the ant''s carcass covered in slime and whatever else was in its body, Noah spotted the stone lodge in its jaws.

    Retrieving the stone, he wiped it off with the inside of his cloak before cing it into the ring, not forgetting to pet the driest part of Fenrir''s head as a reward.

    "We both need to take the time to clean ourselves¡­" He said, not talking to particrly anyone but himself. But he has been idle for way too long now, Arachne may have alreadye out of her ''cocoon''.

    "Fenrir,e." He walked a little bit away from the ant to allow Fenrir space to walk over as he stood by Fenrir''s side. Fenrri quickly walked over andyed down when Noah motioned him to the ground before Noah proceeded to try to climb atop of him.

    "Whoa! Calm down will yah?" He beamed after Fenrir for some reason and grew excited when he noticed what Noah nned to do. As soon as Noah mounted him, Fenrir jumped to his feet, almost knocking Noah off who wasn''t prepared.

    "Awwhoo! Where to, where to??" Fenrir asked excitedly while his feet were moving sporadically in ce and his tail wagging uncontrobly. Seeing how excited Fenrir was managed to deescte Noah''s annoyance with him from eating his potential creature.

    "Sigh¡­let''s go back to ArachNneeee!" Fenrir took off in a dash before Noah could finish his sentence.

    ...

    "Do you think he''sing back?"

    "Why do you care if he does? Being around him is just as scary as being around those monsters."

    "Well¡­his spider is still here¡­I don''t think he''ll be gone for long."

    "Did you see how easily his wolf took care of those ants?? We wouldn''t have to fight at all if he came with us."

    "Shush! Be quietst time someone spoke of that, they were ye-"

    "Why do you all admire that bastard!" Mark screamed out, startling and frightening the people who were in the midst of talking.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "He''s not the one keeping you alive, we are! He wouldn''t care if any of you were to die right now and you want someone like that around?" The area became ufortably quiet. How could they answer yes and not ept Mark even more? Even if Noah didn''t care about their lives, it was already proven multiple times that if he''s around then all the monsters would be taken care of by that experience junkie.

    "What if he ran into the zombie from before??" Bailey gasped while covering her face at the thought of them possibly endangering Noah, not once, but twice. At the thought of the absurd and powerful zombie meeting Noah, a small smirk appeared on Marks face, but someone else was even more than happy for the encounter to happen.

    "I hope he does¡­"

    Thud!

    "Aaaahhh!" Regina fell to the ground holding her head. Looking closely, blood could be seen starting to leak from her hands covering the wounded area. Pam, who for some reason always stayed by her side, drew a spear that she ''borrowed'' from one of the dead bodies that just so happened to ''trip'' into the arms of one of the zombies before Ishii and the group arrived to help.

    "You bitch! What''s wrong with you?" Pam screamed at a heaving Ailetta who was still clutching the rod in her hands.

    When Mark badmouthed Noah, she was irritated by him, but her threats and insults towards Noah didn''t bother her as much as when Regina spoke about him. She had already swung before she could realize what she had done, but she didn''t regret it at all.

    "I hope you can say that to his face when hees back. You''re already lucky that he hasn''t killed you yet!" Her words that seemed to beced with venom weren''t able to reach Regina who was still rolling in pain. But her words caused Pam to be rmed.

    "You or that freak won''t touch a hair on her head while I''m here!"

    "I already did!"

    "Ailetta stop this please!

    The two went into a battle of words, but was finally interrupted by Jasmine who couldn''t stand seeing her friend act this way.

    She grabbed her hand first and when she noticed that Ailetta didn''t try to remove herself, she began to drag her away while Bailey and Isabelle came to de-escte the other party. Bailey talked to Pam while Isabelle healed the wound on Regina''s head. The wound only took a few mins to heal now that Isabelle was a couple of levels higher. Isabelle took this time to return to the others to make sure there wasn''t anyone who could potentially be infected.

    "Yo-you slut! You''re just as crazy as that bastard! Both of you deserved everything that was done to you, I hope you and Noah both die!"

    Ailetta became livid at Regina''s outburst, she gripped her rod with all of her meager strength and was about to circte her mana to reanimate one of the zombies to finish her off since the ants were not left in any shape to reuses, but right when she made the decision to go after Regina, she heard a voice yelling in the distance and that voice was bing closer extremely fast.

    Before anyone could figure what was happening, the huge figure of Fenrir running towards them could be seen.

    Everyone jumped in fright when they saw the beasting towards them so fast just out of instinct, they had briefly forgotten that Fenrir was a tamed monster.

    "Ahh noo! Get away, get away!"

    "Regina??"

    A hysterical Regina could be seen running towards the the closest dorm that they tried to enter before. She was terrified, believing that Noah heard what she said and was sending Fenrir out to hunt her down. As she was running away, the pants she was wearing were growing a wet stain that began to travel down her leg as she screamed without restraint.

    Meanwhile, Noah was oblivious to the little spectacle that happened between them as he was trying to recover after Fenrir''s stunt. Well it started off as something not very entertaining to Noah at first, but¡­

    "Next time I''ll use my skill to buff up your speed, I wonder if I increased your strength would that make you go faster as well? We definitely have to do that again!"

    He beamed with so much emotion that the people spectating were having a hard time determining if it was the same Noah as before.

    "Noah!"

    Noah was interrupted when he heard a familiar voice call out to him. He turned around to find Ailetta running towards him, wearing a smile big enough to stretch her face.

    "Oh! Hey Le." He responded as if they had already seen each other and her life was never in danger.

    When Ailetta approached, she smiled warily from his response, or ratherck thereof, but she remembered he would always have moments like that.

    She wanted to jump into his arms and hug him tightly after the many life and death experiences she''s had in the past day. She couldn''t feel the safety andfort from her friends and that''s what she wanted the most right.

    Her eyes began to water as she still tried her best to maintain her smile while addressing Noah.

    "No-Noah? Will you be staying here tonight?"

 Chapter 87 87: Open Your Eyes

    "No-Noah? Will you be staying here tonight?"

    Her smile she was trying so desperately to maintain was struggling to hold when she asked the question that troubled her the most.

    Even when they weren''t able to talk at school, she was still able to see him because she knew of his favorite spots. She unknowingly became a stalker and now when she felt that if he left she would probably never see him again or worse, if she wasn''t strong enough and she dies.

    Her tears began to fall to the thought of having to die with so many regrets or never seeing Noah again even though she patiently waited for so long for him to acknowledge her existence again.

    "¡­.." Noah narrowed his eyes when he saw the way Ailetta looked towards him. He almost answered yes instinctively since he had to wait for Arachne to finish changing and he didn''t want to risk going out at night. But when she began to cry he realized that her question meant so much more than what he naively believed it to be. The sound of his heart seemed to pulsate loudly as he felt the need to clutch his chest. Seeing her like that pained him and he couldn''t fully understand why since he knew how she felt about him, but he didn''t know what feelings he had for her.

    The briefpse of silence and the pandering gaze of Noah caused Ailetta to be worried and inwardly she panicked. She couldn''t gauge what Noah was thinking, especially now when his entire aura and even his physical appearance seemed to have changed. His childish features were gone after the structure of his face became more masculine. And his devilish eyes were much more oppressive than before. Even if he didn''t mean to, the way he stared was causing her to lose focus due to the pressure she was feeling.

    "I-I''m sorry!" With a tearful voice that could even make the deaf hear hear her pain. She turned to run away before giving Noah the chance to reject her once again.

    "Wait!" She stopped in her tracks when Noah called back to her, but she was too afraid to turn around, but that didn''t stop her from directing all of her focus on every word he says, not even the people watching her existed at this moment.

    "Why did you bother asking me a question if you weren''t going to let me answer? Are you an idiot?" His question made her want to crawl into a hole, but then she noticed the sound of footsteps and realized that Noah was approaching her.

    "Now if I were to answer yes, then what would your response be?" At this point he was seriously observing and analyzing every twitch, eye movement, any and everything to help him respond after hearing her answer.

    He doesn''t know why seeing her fighting for her life didn''t phase him, but seeing her in tears did.

    Everything about her made him feel like a contradiction, which is a huge reason why it was so easy to avoid him during school, him being the reason for her bullying was just an excuse to avoid having to deal with theplex emotions he had regarding her.

    He likes to be alone, but he allowed her to always keep himpany. He wasn''t going to trust anyone again, yet he shared his most prized stories with her. Even now after everything that happened, he was constantly reminding himself, well more like convincing himself that the best way to grow was to lose all of his humanity. Yet here he is now.

    Ailetta didn''t realize that Noah was also struggling with conflicting emotions. She was already surprised enough by his question. ''? Was my question not direct enough? Wait, would trying to sleep with him make me seem slutty? I didn''t want to do anything else¡­Oh no! My question does suggest that! What do I do??'' She tried to stayposed as she formted her feelings into words, but she couldn''t hold in her shock when her thoughts began to run out of control.

    However she didn''t know that her reaction and hesitation to respond only helped Noah''s thoughts have its own imagination as well. ''Why did she suddenly be shocked? I don''t understand¡­I just wanted to know what she wanted before I answered so I wouldn''t misunderstand what she wanted. Ugh why is talking soplicated?''

    The two sat in silence, both in deep thought, the noisy spectators were not only getting impatient, but they were mostly confused as to why the two hadn''t said anything for so long.

    But Noah was more important than them all. The more he had to think about so manyplicated things, his emotions were spiraling out of control, emotions that he wasn''t ready to deal with yet.

    "Yes! Coughs* I mean yes¡­I''m staying the night here. Now will you tell me why you wanted to know?" He said helplessly, but he felt more relieved to get those words off of his chest. Now he didn''t have to continue thinking about the what ifs that was the source of his internal struggle.

    The sudden burst from Noah had caught Ailetta off guard, but when she saw the look on his face and heard the tone of his voice that not only sounded desperate to hear her answer, but also curious. She struggled to hold in a giggle, but she couldn''t stop herself from smiling. Noticing the frown forming on Noah''s face, she was quick to realize that smiling wasn''t the right thing to do after she knew that this conversation was also hard on him too.

    Now that she received another chance to redeem herself, she took a deep breath to voice out what she wanted from him without implying what her earlier thoughts suggested she did before.

    "Th-this may be thest time we ever see each other again if, if¡­.." She hesitated to finish, she thought she was ready to talk about it, but she started to be emotional again. Noah noticed this, yet he thought that she was trying to imply that she was worried about him and that he could possibly die since he was traveling ''alone''.

    "You don''t have to worry about me dying out there, I''ve been doing just fine, In fact I''ve never felt better." Noah boasted proudly, but he noticed that Ailetta didn''t seem to feel happy or relieved to hear his deration.

    "I''M NOT WORRIED ABOUT YOU DYING!" She screamed before she caught herself and lowered her voice, but at the same time she clenched her fist tight enough to the point of shedding blood.

    "It''s me¡­I¡­I don''t think I''llst long enough to see you again¡­" She looked up to see the shock written on Noah''s face. Either his shock lowered the pressure that she felt from looking into his eyes or she was more influenced by her own emotions to care as she boldly stared into the pair of purple irises in both of his eyes.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "I''m not like you Noah, you know that right? You''ve seen how we all struggled to survive till now. Do you honestly think we can survive the way we are going now if we had had to fight something like that ant by ourselves, or that huge thing outside the dorms? I just¡­.I just want to spend onest time with you¡­"

    As she spoke up to this point, she noticed an expression on his face that she had never seen before and that was fear. Fearfully she turned around and then looked around her to make sure there wasn''t a monster lurking nearby. She didn''t know what could possibly make him wear such an expression when he seemed to have be the sort of person who bes excited in the face of death.

    She didn''t know that her words sparked a cord in him, the moment she talked about herself dying countless scenarios and images popped in Noah''s highly active imagination. Different scenes of her dying by every different kind of creature he has killed so far yed out in his mind.

    And with each death, each time the light in her eyes gave out and her body became limped, his heart would feel as if it was being stabbed and for reasons he couldn''t exin, he felt horrified at the thought of her dying.

    He tried to look her in the eye, but his heart just couldn''t bear seeing her face at this moment, not after seeing her lifeless face so many times in his visions. He looked towards the ground, his body slumped, resembling a person that was defeated.

    "Why¡­.?" He muttered just barely loud enough to hear, confusing Ailetta in the process.

    "Why are you telling me this now?" The way he peered into her eyes scared her. Ailetta didn''t know how she could have angered him. Her first instinct was to apologize until she noticed something odd about him, his entire body was shivering!

    She had to think fast about what was happening to him before this went from bad to worse. ''What does he mean, telling him about this n-!''

    She noticed what went wrong, she knew that he had serious trust issues and when he said ''why bring it up now?'' He must''ve thought that she had a hidden agenda. But that only made her frustrated.

    "You doofus!" She blurted out, causing the rising conflicting emotions Noah was going through to slightly falter.

    "Why do you think I could only say it now? Who was the one that told me not to follow him? Who was the one that repeatedly left me even when death was always around the corner? Who was the one who just leaves and never says where''s going?? You never gave me the chance to talk to you!" She heaved, trying to stabilize her breath after her much needed venting.

    At this point, any hint of mistrust was gone from Noah''s point of view and he could only look down in guilt. He remembers all of those moments she talked about clearly. During the times it happened, he felt that he was justified in doing what he did.

    If it wasn''t for thepse of fear he experienced from imagining her dying then he would probably try to argue that what he did was best for both of them. But now, deep down, he didn''t know what to think, what to feel, or even what to say.

    Ailetta didn''t like the fact that she had to yell at him or the fact that she made him out to be selfish. She knew that all he ever thought about was going into the worlds of the books he basically lived through. She couldn''t exactly me him from tunneling everything else out, but why did it have to be her too??

    "!"

    Noah was so deep in his thoughts that he didn''t respond to Ailetta approaching him before she grabbed his hand, startling him out of his daze.

    "I don''t want you to feel guilty about all of this¡­I just want you to understand why I want to spend this night with you. Just one night and then you can enjoy your adventures just like you always wanted." Even as she spoke those words, all Noah could see was a painful smile on her face, with tears running down her face."

    He motioned to wipe away her tears, but then he stopped from the guilt that was preventing him to show that he cared when most of his actions showed otherwise. The only thing he could do, something he didn''t intend to do, but did subconsciously was to squeeze her hands in his.

    The look on her face, that painful smile, it reminded him of a time from a long time ago. The time he was emotionally betrayed by Regina, and during that time when he found out he disyed the same smile Ailetta was showing now. He shook his head at the thought and smiled mockingly that was directed to himself.

    "I guess I can be an asshole too."

    ...

    A/N: I know a lot of you won''t like where this development is happening, but I''m making sure I stay consistent with the character''s personalities and I felt that this needed to happen at some point. Noah will not immediately be lovey dovey for Ailetta, but it''s a huge step for him to notice how he feels about her.

 Chapter 88 88: Fenrirâ€™s Changes

    "I guess I can be an asshole too."

    The self ridicule uplifted the once gloomy emotional atmosphere between the two, eliciting a quirky giggle from Ailetta who was trying to wipe away her earlier tears.

    The people watching didn''t know exactly what was being said except for the brief moments of yelling. However one thing is for certain after seeing Noah and Ailetta reconcile with one another. There were those who were happy for their own reasons, annoyed that the two were taking so long while they had to stand out such a danger area, and then there were those who were either creeped out or to what was transpiring.

    "Those two were an item all this time?? Does that mean he''sing with us now?"

    "He eats dead things and she controls dead things, those two freaks deserve each other."

    "I hope the two work out, I''ll feel much safer if he were to join us."

    "Eeew¡­is she really gonna date that thing? How can anyone sane want to be with him? He still has the blood around his mouth from the time he was eating those zombies!"

    "Shut it before he hears you! She probably thinks the same thing¡­"

    "Tsk! I should''ve got to him first¡­"

    "You too? Really?"

    "What? Who cares what''s wrong with him when he can protect you better than everyone here."

    Even though everyone had a different opinion, everyone''s discussion was centered around Noah and Ailetta. Even though they tried to whisper, it was hard not to hear them.

    The earlier warm atmosphere between Noah and Ailetta vanished quickly when Noah heard some of the more disturbing conversations. He released his hand from Ailettas hold before his eyes wander around the students before him, more specifically towards the voices that spoke the more annoying things about them.

    "Don''t worry about them, this is nothingpared to what you are used to right?" Ailetta attempted to pacify him, but she wasn''t aware of Noah''s true thoughts.

    "It''s not that, I just want to make sure I remember who they are¡­" He said softly while making his way back towards Arachne''s cocoon, leaving the rest of what he wanted to say to himself. Ailetta frowned in worry, but at the same time she wasn''t sure of what to do or if she should actually do anything for that matter. ''I was finally able to hold his hand and they ruined it!''. She screamed inwardly as she made her way towards Jasmine and the rest who were all waiting in anticipation to hear the good news. She wasn''t greedy for all of Noah''s attention, she knew Noah better than he thinks she does and because of that it was better to take things slow. She would have more time with himter, she wasn''t in a rush.

    Meanwhile after Noah made it towards Arachne, he remembered that someone was missing all this time. His head first spun around towards the ''miniature'' ants carcasses, thinking that Fenrir still hadn''t had enough. Turning around, he was fully expecting to see a giant wolf munching down ants, but to his surprise and worry, he didn''t spot anything resembling his wolf.

    ''Sigh where did he go this time? I feel like he''s bing more and more of a handful since before¡­'' He was prepared to yell out for him, but decided not to. After exerting himself so much emotionally, he wasn''t in the mood to somehow attract something over. Knowing that he was left with another option, he closed his eyes, seemingly in a trance as he tried to focus everything on the feeling of his bond.

    He could feel the excited feelings of Arachne who was probably dreaming about her new changes and he noticed that he could actually sense vaguely the direction that she was in. When he felt the feelings of Fenrir, he felt that he was just imagining it, but the emotions Fenrir was disying was almost exactly simr to Arachne and he could vaguely feel his presence as he turned with his eyes still closed. He opened his eyes feeling dumbfounded to what he just experienced, but then he felt it, the prodding that signified a notification. A lightbulb went off over his head, but it soon followed with the feeling of disbelief.

    "Don''t tell me¡­." He closed his eyes once again to confirm his thoughts.

    [Fenrir has chosen to undergo his transformation to evolve into ''Demented Lycan''.]

    Even though deep down Noah was expecting it, confirming that he was right was a different matter altogether.

    ''What is it with these two deciding to evolve all on their own? I thought I got to choose?'' Noah was feeling annoyed, but that didn''t solve his question of where Fenrir was. He remembered that thest time he saw him was when they arrived close to Arachne which just so happened to be right next to the dorm where they upied themselves long enough for Noah to advance his ss.

    He had nothing else to go on, but just the vague feeling from earlier. And sure enough as soon as he walked through what should''ve held a door, he could already hear the sound of loud breathinging from within. When he peered within he had to squint to fully verify what he was seeing. Fenrir wasying what appeared to be a nest of fur, ''his'' fur, but Noah could see that Fenrir was clearly still covered in it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The breathing grew louder the closer Noah became and for every step he took he noticed more and more changes happening to Fenrir.

    While standing, Fenrir was close to 10ft tall, half of that when on all fours and close to 3ft when lying down. However the Fenrir that he was observing was clearlyrger than before by at least two feet!

    That wasn''t the only change he noticed, the dark grey mane that appeared as a secondyer that ran down his back was now silver in color. There were parts under his belly that weren''t covered by fur anymore and when Noah moved around to get a better look, all he could see was abs of steel and half of Fenrir''s chiseled pecs that were covered with his fur.

    Noah had half a mind to strip down to check if he developed a sculpted like body all the same, but he withheld the urge to do so. He continued to make his way around Fenrir and observe his changes. Soon he came upon his paws that grew along with his body, it was hard for him not to notice when he saw that Fenrir''s arm was going through the same situation as its torso area. Bulging biceps, muscr forearms with protruding veins. The abundance of muscles caused Noah''s eyes to twitch as he grabbed Fenrir''s biceps and gave it a squeeze.

    "Are you evolving into a better werewolf or a bodybuilder??" He asked out loud, nervous to find a wolf with barely any hair, filled with muscle and going around flexing all of its muscles around. Unconsciously he shook his head to rid himself of those dreadful thoughts before giving his attention to Fenrir''s paws that caught his attention before.

    He walked over to try to lift his paw that seemed to grow a half of size bigger. Fenrir''s paw was closer to the size of the giant zombie even though the zombie was clearlyrger than him. Noah couldn''t help but gulp when he imagined someone being caught in Fenrir''s grip.

    "Ouch!"

    Noah suddenly dropped Fenrir''s paw without any prior warning. Before he dropped it, he was curiously inspecting the ws of Fenrir that were the same silver as his mane. He didn''t notice that as he was touching and holding the area around his ws, the pressure he used caused Fenrir''s ws to stretch out, cutting his arm through the armor in the process.

    There was a deep gash in his forearm that began to leak blood as he applied pressure. But he was more shocked about Fenrir''s ws tearing through his armor so easily than he was about receiving the wound.

    "Sssss! His ws is fucking sharper than my sword!" He looked back down towards his wound to find that it wasn''t anywhere near his wrist, allowing him to breath out in relief. He thought about getting someone to heal his arm, but he hesitated to ask anyone for help. That''s when he remembered a familiar face from the group. He put investigating the rest of Fenrir''s changes on hold as he went outside to where the students were. To his surprise he saw all of the students outside of his dorm.

    Without thinking, he released the grip of his arm to retrieve his sword from his ring. The students didn''t see him use his ring before, but when they saw him magically pull out such arge sword from thin air, they were amazed. However that amazement died fairly quickly when they noticed that sword being directed towards him. Besides the ones who were already afraid of him. Only some of the more skittle people, as well as the guards were the only ones to put up their guard to fight back.

    "You''re bleeding! What happened to you?" The heavy atmosphere faded with Ailetta running towards him, but Noah wasn''t in the mood to change subjects while he looked towards the others before talking to Ailetta.

    "Why are they here? I said I would spend the night with you, not all of them too."

    "Th-they thought it would be better if we all stayed in one ce¡­but we won''t have to stay in the same rooms so it should be fine right? Can we talk about it after we get your arm healed?" She turned towards the crowd of students who were beginning to feel uneasy.

    "Can one of you heal his arm?" She seemed to almost beg, if he knew it was going to turn out like this then he would rather let his wound heal naturally.

    No one moved for the first few seconds, but then almost at the same time two people stepped forward. One person was from Mark''s group while the other was Isabelle. They both stopped to look at one another as if deciding who to go which proved to be unnecessary.

    "You" Noah pointed towards Isabelle who for the first time since hisst confrontation with her finally showed a hint of emotion. She almost took a step back instinctively out of fear. Her feelings toward Noah was¡­plicated. She respected, hated, relied and was fearful of him all at the same time. And right now he was the only person that still left an impact on her after the death of Derrick.

    "You still owe me from before¡­" The following words caused Ailetta to open her eyes wide in shock before they narrowed towards Isabelle. She''s read the same kind of stories where the female love interest would have multiplepetitors who never gave the male lead any attention, but swarmed from everywhere when he obtained power. Her intuition was telling her that the same was happening now.

    Isabelle shivered after hearing that Noah never forgot about the promise she gave him that she failed to do after saving her. With a slight nod, she walked towards him while Noah''s eyes then roamed to the rest of the group.

    "And don''t think I forgot about you all¡­" He looked them all over, noticing the extra equipment that most of them were wearingpared tost time.

    "Where''s my money?"

 Chapter 89 89: Learning His Place

    "Where''s my money?"

    His gaze narrowed even more when he saw the confusion written on their faces, there were only a few there who seemed to know what he was talking about. Bailey and Jasmine in particr were the two that his eyes lingered the most on. He still remembered the cure he gave them for Paul''s infection and the fact that Bailey had begged him for the vial while Jasmine tried to lie to him about the price.

    It wasn''t just Ailetta, but any one of the people in the group felt ufortable when meeting his eyes that seemed to grow more ominous every time they saw him.

    Jasmine, for some reason seemed hesitant, but Bailey came prepared.

    "I- I have it right here!" She spoke while raising her hand without thinking, but with the present atmosphere, no one bothered to call her out for it. Ever since she had received the cure from Noah, she made sure that her and her small group collectively shared their gold so they could pay Noah back in the future.

    Unlike Jasmine, Bailey was always living with the fear in the back of her mind at the possible thought that Noah would actuallye find them and being around Ailetta all this time proved to be a constant reminder for her.

    Her outburst before was because of this reason. She felt proud of herself that she made the right decision earlier, otherwise who knows what would happen to them, especially after seeing how strong Noah had be.

    Due to her nervousness, she almost tripped in her attempt to run towards him and passed Isabelle on the way. The blood was still dripping from his arm, but money was more important than a little pain.

    She saw Noah motion out his hand, she nced over towards Ailetta who stood by his side before she took his hand. For a moment or two they just stood there in silence. Noah''s eye went from her face to her hand and repeated the action twice before he became confused.

    "¡­.Are you messing with me?" He questioned coldly. The question, coupled with his tone caused Baileys heart to pause in fright, before she yelped in embarrassment.

    "I''m-I''m sorry! I''m just nervous¡­" her voice fell towards the end before she closed her eyes toplete the transaction. The process didn''t require the person to close their eyes, but doing so helped Bailey to calm her mind so she could concentrate on the task.

    While that was happening, Isabelle was already tending towards his arm. Therge group stared at this particr scene in a daze. Two of what would be considered popr girls doing school were now at the beck and call to Noah when he supposedly already had a woman right by his side.

    Of course the thoughts that some of them were having were more than a little exaggerated, but their minds couldn''t help but be over imaginative during this time.

    "Are you ser-"

    "Mark no, this isn''t the time nor even a good reason to provoke him. It''s what she decided so we shouldn''t interfere." Jasmine was quick to reprimand her little brother who was just rearing to have a vocal battle with Noah again. She noticed a long time ago that Noah seemed to have a short fuse and from what she heard from what happened at the cafeteria before they arrived, that fuse was getting shorter. She prayed deeply that Mark would listen to her just this one time.

    Mark looked towards Jasmine in shock, then spontaneously he looked her up and down as if she was someone he didn''t recognize. His mouth wasleft half opened, the feeling of being betrayed by Jasmine left him speechless.

    However he couldn''t bring himself to say anything back towards her, instead he gazed towards Noah with an anger like never before. Unlikest time, he managed to contain his rage. Being made aware of where his sister stood in this regard helped him to not act on his impulses. He was also there to witness the carnage Noah and his monsters did to the ants that they struggled with even as a group.

    ''Just you wait¡­I''ll be stronger than you and make you regret ''everything''¡­''

    After Noah received what he wanted and Isabelle finished healing him, he walked away towards the dorm, but he spoke to Ailetta first while passing her.

    "I''ll be waiting on the next floor, the room closest to the stairs." He said briefly before continuing into the dorm. He didn''t want to stay around so many people, even before, he always felt ufortable in crowds, but now that ufortableness has be more of an annoyance to him.

    Ailetta could only smile wryly as she watched him leave before turning to the rest.

    "So is it safe to go in now?" Someone asked nervously, they just happened to also be one of the many who didn''t want to fight. After what happened when they ran into the group of zombies inside the other dorm, he or any of the students who followed along with him weren''t brave enough to follow into the dorm behind Noah without the rest of the group in the lead.

    Instead of answering, Jasmine looked towards Ailetta who looked back before her cheeks gradually turned red when she noticed what Jasmine was implying.

    "Well he didn''t say no¡­so it should be fine..I think?" Her answer didn''t do anything tofort the group at all, but it only made them more nervous to proceed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Well I''ll go, I don''t know why everyone is so worried. Noah isn''t as bad of a person that you all make him out to be. He did just save us after all and I heard this isn''t the first time he saved many of you here."

    Ishii stepped up withplete confidence. He was unsettled when he found out that Noah actually ate zombie meat and even killed people before. But when he actually questioned Ailetta about the situation, who he learned knew the most about his idol, he realized that everyone else waspletely biased against Noah and in his opinion a little ungrateful.

    It only took one to take the lead, before the rest soon followed one by one. Alicia and the few that were more loyal and dependent on Ishii were the first to follow before the rest followed suit. However when they saw Ishii go through the doors, they became restless when they saw Ishii literally jump out of the dorm, his breath quickening as he tried to steady his heart.

    Asking what''s wrong, Ishii turned towards the rest and scratched the back of his neck embarrassingly while sporting a smile.

    "Hehe I didn''t think that wolf of his was going to be in there sleeping, sorry guys."

    Trying again, they followed behind, each person being shocked as each one came in to witness Fenrir during his slumber. Just his presence alone was enough to frighten some of them to the point that they were afraid to continue in. Instinctively they walked on their toes attempting to be as silent as possible. After seeing what the werewolf could do, they were more afraid of Fenrir then they were of Noah, especially when his owner wasn''t there to keep him in control if they were to wake him.

    Feeling unsafe on the first floor since not only was the door broken, but Fenrir was also on that level, Ishii led his small group to the next floor while the rest naturally followed right behind.

    Outside, some of the main group were still waiting. Bailey, Isabelle, along with Jasmine were standing opposite of Ailetta while the rest of their groups waited by the side.

    "If he decides not to follow us, will you go with him?" Jasmine asked with a saddened tone, she felt that she already knew the answer but she needed to confirm it.

    "I¡­.I don''t know¡­.honestly I don''t even know if he will let me follow him still¡­" Her response made the three women look at her in disbelief.

    "But we thought¡­.wait, then what was with that affectionate atmosphere you two had going on before?" Bailey asked, she was sure that the two had decided to start dating, but why did Ailetta seem to suggest otherwise?

    The question caused Ailettas cheeks to glow rosier than before.

    "Well it''splicated¡­That man''s heart is like a fortress and that talk was basically me finally reaching the gate. Don''t look at me like that! You don''t know, but this is huge for me!" She began to pout towards the girls who were giving her both awkward and worried looks.

    "But¡­"

    She looked up towards the window above them, the same one that she saw Noah jump out of from before. She stared towards that direction with eyes that were determined and ready to do anything to get what she wants.

    "If he lets me then I''ll probably follow wherever he goes¡­" The girls were speechless, they just saw a woman who was too far gone in her own emotions and didn''t know whether they should encourage her or try to persuade her to stay with them.

    "Hmph! Well hurry up then, it''ll be nice not to see your face anymore."

    "Mark!" Both Jasmine and Bailey yelled angrily, only to receive a shrug from him in return.

    "Haha~" Soon after, they heard an adorableughing from Ailetta who was wiping away a tear when they turned to face her.

    "Have you still not notice that every time you open your mouth the more dumb you sound? Haha~" She continued tough in spite of the fact that Mark was quickly growing irritated.

    "Haa¡­you''re just a kid throwing a jealous tantrum. When you grow up you''ll realize that you will never amount to anything." The look everyone was giving Ailetta was the same look Mark gave Jasmine earlier.

    ''Who is this??'' The thought rang in the girls'' minds as they all heard what she said.

    Maybe it''s out of love or maybe what the world has turned into caused it, but they all noticed the fact that ever since that event when she was going to sacrifice herself, Ailetta has been slowly changing.

 Chapter 90 90: Watch Your Backs

    "Haa¡­you''re just a kid throwing a jealous tantrum. When you grow up you''ll realize that you will never amount to anything."

    Ailetta has been slowly changing, but that could also be said about everyone else who were adapting to the changes happening around them.

    Jasmine herself has witnessed how the world had changed her brother to such a degree, to the point that she was constantly reflecting on what actions to proceed with when dealing with him. She just wasn''t prepared for the quirky girl that would always smile and say the most random things to make such a drastic change too.

    What she said was enough to shock the others, but the impact it had on Mark was another thing entirely.

    Ever since he obtained his unique skill, any sign of weakness has be his own worst enemy. In any event in history, movies or books, history would always have legends of heroes, but those stories usually always symbolized their hero''s as one individual and that individual trumped everyone else. Either in terms of strength, charisma or potential, they were always a cut above the rest.

    Mark was more than stable when he first obtained the skill, when he felt that he was literally a cut above the rest, when he felt that he was the chosen one, the one to lead everyone out of this hell.

    But his pride suffered blow after blow after the repeated interactions with Noah. The first time, Mark still believed he was superior, that even though Noah killed an enormous amount of zombies than he did earlier, he could still best him in a fight with his unique skills.

    But the next time he saw him, he realized that Noah was developing a lot faster than he was. And that was when his mental state began to shift. He became more obnoxious and controlling, with the need to prove himself even more, without a boost to his ego, his pride was only going to continue to be more fragile.

    And when he felt that the goal that he set for himself, the goal that he needed to surpass to reim all of his diminished pride was almostpletely out of his reach. He became livid hearing Ailetta insult him, targeting his Achilles heel. She could''ve talked about him having a small third leg, or that no one ever loved him, but talking about his inferiority to the person who made him feel the most inferior was his bottom line.

    Heavy breathing could be hearding from both his mouth and nose. It was barely noticeable at first since everyone''s focus was more on Ailetta, but Ailetta''s eyes were never taken off of him from the start. The mocking eyes she had before had changed solemnly and that change of her expression made everyone pick up on the emotional changes Mark was going through.

    What followed after his heavy breaths was the intense trembling of his body as he was being ovee with anger. He wasn''t able to talk, not while he was gritting his teeth in frustration. Just insulting her back wouldn''t be enough for him at this point. Suddenly his body flinched as his eyes instinctively went to the source of his reaction. The window of the room Noah was presently in was still broken and his silhouette could be seen in the dark unlit room. He knew it was Noah from those monstrous purple eyes of his.

    At first, the anger within him was about to reside just from the gradual fear he''s built up from the interactions he''s had with Noah. However his anger red up even more when he noticed that those eyes that seemed to pierce into his soul weren''t even looking in his direction or their direction at all.

    This riled him up to the point that he couldn''t take it anymore. If at first he wanted to hurt Ailetta for what she said, now he wanted to do so much more since that would be his way of getting back at Noah who seemed to be out of his reach.

    "Ma-Mark?" Jasmine hesitated to question him when she saw the erratic state he was in. She has always felt a fear in the back of her mind towards her own brother since his change, but the fear she had now was iparable to those feelings before. She wasn''t sure how he would react now that he seemed to be consumed with anger.

    Her first instinct was to jump in front of Ailetta to protect her, before looking to the others for help. She believed that the first thing she should do was to physically stop him before trying to reason with him. She just hoped that it didn''t go that far.

    Thud!*

    While all of this was urring, for some reason one of the priests that followed Mark and his group fell over without any forewarning. Before that, there was a sound, but it was barely noticeable that it went unheeded when they all had more important things to worry about.

    "Ia-Ian?" One of the females that followed them bent over to observe his body.

    Suddenly she shrieked at the top of her lungs when she noticed the surrounding grass being soaked in blood and a horrible smell exploded into her nose. The lower section of his torso was almost split in half, cutting open his dder, the smell sting the girl in the face.

    The earlier death of Ian wasn''t enough to distract Mark from what he wanted to do, but the grating sound of the girl''s screams caused him to focus on the sceneing from behind him.

    Before he turned around, the scream ended abruptly andanother thud was heard and then another. The people that stood by them were falling quirkily.

    "Mark, get away!"

    "Everyone, run towards the do-No! ke!"

    Mark didn''t stop to turn to see what was going on behind him, not only was he naturally curious, but he wanted to blow off the steam he built up. But when he saw the culprit, the hairs on his body stood up and his eyes widened in panic.

    The zombie that grew tentacles from her body had finally found them!

    They may have lost her in the beginning, but they weren''t aware that when Noah chased the ant away from the dorm, their confrontation had alerted the zombie to the area of their fight. And not too muchter theirck of vignce and excessive yelling was the final touch that led her to where they are now.

    The zombie was also the reason for Noah''sck of attention to the events going on below him. He still remembered the zombie that was impervious to bullets and was the reason he wanted to hasten his growth. He was trying to formte his options if he was to engage the creature now that both of his creatures were incapable of battle.<novelnext></novelnext>

    He thought that maybe the skill scroll he had received from a long time ago could help him, but it turned out to be a summoner skill, even though he could still use other skills, the summoner skills relied on having a summon as the catalyst to perform the spells so it was unusable for him.

    His gaze was grave while his mind continued to process his other options while at the same time he continued to observe the zombie. He really wondered if he could contend with the zombie by himself now that he has awakened. However he couldn''t help but feel helpless at the same time when most of his skills all relied on his monsters.

    ''I either need to tame another creature for asions like this or get more skills¡­but what do I need to evolve my skill?'' He went to check his requirements for the monster taming skill. He was never in a rush to check the requirements of his other skills before since it seemed that even without fulfilling them he was still able to reach the point to upgrade them. He thought it would be the same with this skill as well, but it stayed stuck at 75%.

    [Monster Taming Lvl 0 progression requirements:

    Defeat 250 enemies purely with tamed creatures-416/250

    Tame two monsters-2/2

    Have two tier one monsters-1/2]

    Seeing thest requirement he needed wasn''t enough to provide him anyfort in fighting the zombie before him, but it was a hidden trigger to make him desire to fight the zombie at all cost now so he could use the zombie to finally allow Arachne to level up and she could evolve too.

    He jumped down from the window again, but he wasn''t going to engage the creature, not just yet. He would use the people here to get ustomed to the speed of the tentacle that was even harder to see with only the light of the moon to brighten the courtyard.

    He saw how ke, the one that followed Bailey and also was a monster tamer himself died tragically and pathetically without having a chance to fight back. Without his squirrel, he wasn''t capable of fighting most monsters on his own. The squirrel that always stood beside him at first attempted to dodge the tentacles, but after the death of ke, it fell over abruptly and began to spasm all over.

    Ding ding ding*

    Following ke''s death, Paul and Ibby would''ve been next if he hadn''t adorned his skill to block the tentacles from skewering them both like the rest, but the tentacles collided with such force and speed that it threw them forward, crashing into the building''s wall.

    Bailey was too traumatized to function correctly when she saw ke die so quickly, but the scene of Paul being thrown with ibby into the wall behind her awakened her from her state of emotional damage to help herpanions.

    During this time, two more people fell to the tentacles approaching at insane speeds.

    And soon a tentacle was approaching Mark.

    "Arrrgh!" Mark yelled with his heart in soul, splurging his mana to increase his agility to dodge the approaching tentacle.

    The speed of the attack was too fast for Jasmine to follow, but after she realized what happened, the fear in her heart intensified. Just a few moments ago she was afraid of losing her brother to Noah and now she almost lost himpletely. She was immensely relieved to see her brother dodge death by a hair.

    "Mark, we need to retreat! Only Noah can fight it right now! Pleasee back!" She screamed, her chaotic mind not realizing that what she did was far from helping.

    Mark was already nning to run as soon as he saw who the attacker was. After dodging the attack, his ego became satisfied enough that he was ready to leave right after. He was preparing to turn to run to safety, but then the words of his sister followed, ''only Noah, only Noah''. Was all he could hear, that made him stop in his tracks. He looked towards Noah and saw that Ailetta was standing near him with a fearful expression on his face while Noah, in Mark''s opinion, was paralyzed with fear.

    He felt betrayed by his sister once more, thinking that she would depend on a stranger more than her own brother. When he saw the fear in Ailetta''s eyes, Mark began to believe that even Ailetta didn''t have confidence in Noah, but for some reason his sister did?

    ''I''ll show them all¡­''

    He turned towards the direction of the zombie.

    "Jas, I''ll show you that you shouldn''t keep looking down on me!" He lifted his sword and without hesitation, he charged ahead.

    ....

    A/N: I just want to give everyone a heads up that their won''t be any chapters for the weekend. This, work and life is just living me a little burnt out so I''ll be using this weekend to rx.

 Chapter 91 91: Foolish Pride

    "Jas, I''ll show you that you shouldn''t keep looking down on me!" He lifted his sword and without hesitation, he charged ahead.

    "Wha? I''m not looking down on you Mark, get back here, please!" She literally broke down in tears with her hand outstretched in his direction.

    And as if a bulb went off in her head, her body whipped around to face the only person she knew that could save her prideful and idiotic.

    "All of it!" She practically screamed towards Noah, gaining his attention, but it was only a glimpse before he ignored her. He thought that Mark rushing in was just what he needed to see how much he could affect a zombie on her level with his ''Subservient Hierarchy'' skill.

    But she didn''t know what Noah was doing and assumed that he wanted Mark to die. She felt that it wasn''t too far-fetched at all considering the history the two created with one another in just one day. Anxiously she looked back towards her brother, her eyes shot out in terror when she saw at least five blurred tentacles heading towards him. And just when the tentacles seemed to reach him, they seemed to slow down enough that even she could see them, but it still didn''t lessen her anxiety to see when they were about to skewer Mark before he managed to maneuver past them and advanced forward.

    Seeing how effective his skill worked, a smile full of expectation appeared on Noah''s face. He felt that fighting the zombie should be possible if it was only this much, but he knew that five wasn''t the limit of how many tentacles she can weild.

    "I''ll give you everything I have! Just please! Please save my brother!"

    But even with that, it wasn''t enough to grab Noah''s attention. Besides the little bit of gold she could have, what else would he need from her that would make him want to save Mark? In his mind, he never even considered asking for her body when she mentioned everything. Would that make him stronger?

    Besides, Mark attempted to take his life before. The least Mark could do for him was serve as a testing dummy.

    Seeing that even that wasn''t enough to sway him. She was bing desperate, she really didn''t want to, but her brother''s life was at stake. Her eyes went towards Ailetta and the amount of guilt that was reflected in them made it easy for Ailetta to know what she was going to do.

    "Please Ailetta¡­.he''s all I have¡­" Even while crying heavily, Jasmine''s appeal didn''t change. If anything, her elvish features made her resemble a depressing painting, even without sound you would still be affected by her sadness and her despairing face.

    Ailetta couldn''t help but be affected by her friend''s plea, at this moment she wished that she never made eye contact with her. The guilt that Jasmine felt to ask her friend was even stronger for Ailetta who would need to do the same but with Noah.

    Helpless, Ailetta pursed her lips hard, she didn''t know what to do. Should she reject her friend who has always been there and never asked for anything in return? Or should she risk the connection she had finally established with the man she had fallen for.

    If the choice was only between choosing if Mark lives or dies then the answer would be simple for her, let him die since not only did he try to kill Noah, but he also chose to attack the zombie when he had the chance to retreat to safety.

    But deep down she feared the worst. If Mark was to die, Jasmine would not only me her and Noah, but she would feel that Ailetta betrayed her friendship. She knew it wouldn''t be long after where Jasmine would die from despair or she would live, leading a lonely and dull life, simr to an empty vessel with no real goals or dreams.

    "No-"

    "MAAARRRKKK!"

    Ailetta had given in to her emotions and was about to plead in Jasmine''s stead, but the hysterical scream had stomped Ailetta from what she was attempting to say.

    Mark''s ego was beyond the level of dangerous after the couple of times that he evaded the tentacles. He truly believed that he was strong enough to beat the zombie that he even made a few swings to the tentacles he evaded and was able to cut off a part of them!

    What Noah and the others didn''t know was that Mark really was growing stronger ''in this moment''. One of the biggest qualities and cliches of a hero was always to rise against the odds. Going against an enemy of the current zombies caliber was one of the hidden factors to temporarily unlock this strength. The other¡­Well Noah was the cause of this unknowingly, but for a hero, a hero has to have overwhelming confidence in themselves or they could never be charismatic enough to gain the favor of everyone else.

    Being able to ''dodge'' the iing attacks of a creature that guards with guns had to flee from had greatly increased Mark''s confidence in himself that he has long lost since meeting Noah.

    The thin blue aura that was usually barely noticeable was now radiant enough to glow through the darkness, bringing its own source of light. The aura now consisted of twoyers, the firstyer was white and thatyer appeared to be more solid and calm while the outsideyer still retained the blue, but the aura was chaotic as it red around him.

    If it was before, then there would be no way that his sword even coated in his aura could cut through a tier one zombie as he''s been able to just now. His skill, before allowed him to only increase one state by 50% and he could also coat his armor or weapon to increase the durability and sharpness. Now after his heroic spirit has been activated, all of his skills have been increased by 100%. Not only has the durability of his current armor and sword has increased significantly, but that also meant the sharpness of his sword was empowered as well.

    With the addition of his strength perk that were able to reach 50 attributes, it was enough to inflict harm to the zombie.<novelnext></novelnext>

    But even with all of these bonuses, it wasn''t enough when the zombie sent out close to 15 of her tentacles towards Mark. This was what Noah was waiting for, he focusedpletely and used his skill to interrupt the zombie as much as possible. The tentacles slowed to a pace where Noah felt that he could easily maneuver past them if he was aided with his elusive ability, but Mark didn''t have that.

    The tentacles left Mark with no room to dodge or to press forward. His prideful confidence that he was able to obtain in this brief moment had quickly diminished when he realized how out of his league he really was. The only thing he could think of doing was trying to avoid the tentacles while jumping backwards and hacking at the ones that seemed to be the most life threatening.

    All of this could still be done if he had more experience since the zombie was under the effect of Noah''s skill, but experience was what Markcked the most.

    He was only able to swing at two of the 15 tentacles and when he jumped back, that allowed 5 of the 15 to move off course since they would entangle with the others. Each tentacle had a radius of 1.5 inches, just one was dangerous enough to be life threatening.

    During the time Ailetta heard Jasmine scream, she was shocked to find Jasmine running in the direction of Mark. At this rate Jasmine would die alongside him!

    With her adrenaline pumping at an all time high, her first instinct was to support her friend. She believed that since she was able to stop Fenrir during that one point in time then she should be able to stop the zombie in its tracks now that she has grown stronger.

    Noah didn''t think of anything when he saw Jasmine running to danger, but his attention caught when he noticed Ailetta performing a spell. Since she was using it from a distance he didn''t attempt to stop her from using it. A ck slime, the size of his head appeared from thin air before it quickly spiraled towards the zombie. He had yet to see her skill in action before, and was more curious of what she intended to do that he didn''t think of anything else.

    The slime impacted the zombie''s head almost the same time as the tentacle had breached Mark''s skin. The tentacles punctured almost half an inch into his skin in eight different locations leaving Mark crying in agony before falling to the ground. The tentacles were strong enough to piercepletely through him with little resistance so it was surprising that Mark was alive and that he could still cry about his injuries.

    The tentacles were still hovering in ce from where they had impaled Mark, not only did the zombie not retrieve them back, but it didn''t send out any new ones to continue its attack. The zombie was stuck in ce, Noah remembered that something simr happened before he had tamed Fenrir. At first he was staring at the scene in admiration while he slightly nodded his head to the fact that Ailetta was truly growing stronger. However his expression became ugly when he also remembered what happened to Ailetta when she attempted the spell on Fenrir.

    His head snapped to his side and to his surprise, he had to witness a scene that instilled him with so much pain that was literally gut-wrenching to bear.

    He saw Ailetta struggling with all of her being to maintain her hold on her skill. Her will and experience of implementing and adapting her skills had allowed her to maintain the skill longer than what the limits of her skill and her body would allow. Blood was leaking through all of her orifices at an insane rate, to the point that her face was beginning to turn pale and her eyelids could barely remain open.

    Slowly, her body was beginning to tremble and lean unsteadily.

    "Ailetta? Ailetta stop this now!" Noah didn''t know what to do as he shouted her name, should he knock her out? But he only read about it or saw it in movies. He didn''t know if it would really work or if he would bring more harm to her. So he did the next best thing to it.

    p!*

    The sound of his hand against her face almost rivaled the sound of Mark''s cries. Noah, in his erratic state had forgotten how much of a difference his physical stats werepared to Ailetta. The p was enough to make her head turn and due to her dizziness from losing too much blood and from her mental strain, she still managed to fall over. The pain on her face hurt like never before, but the cause of her pain hurted her more than the act itself.

    "Wh-why¡­..?" She looked towards Noah while holding her face still, with a face that screamed why would you hurt me? It was a face that pained Noah to see, but there was still something more important to do so he wouldn''t have to witness her doing something so stupid again.

    "You win Le¡­"

    His words caused Ailetta to feel confused before she saw a sword appear in his hands. Suddenly he took off towards the zombie that was now able to move again.

    Ailetta should be happy at the current events, but instead of rejoicing, she began to cry uncontrobly.

    The look on Noah''s face while he was turning away wasn''t a look that Ailetta wanted to see. That look that showed the care he had for her that she had to wait so long for was gone.

    His eyes looked at her with so much confliction in his gaze, it was almost like he was questioning everything about her, about them.

    ''Argggh! Nothing changed! Why do I have to be so weak!" She cried with a heavy emotion while she stared at Noah''s back. Slowly her eyes turned hazy that she could barely see. The effect of the skill was catching up to her. She began to drift off to sleep, but even while doing so she couldn''t stop the tears from falling. Looking up towards Noah one more time while he ran past Jasmine dragging the screaming bloody Mark, she ced her hand over her heart with a tear felt gaze.

    ''Please don''t leave me again¡­.''

 Chapter 92 92: Iâ€™ll Snitch If You Leave Me

    ''Please don''t leave me again¡­.''

    Whoosh!

    Noah sped towards the zombie with his sword drawn to his side, the expression on his face was ice cold, but his eyes were telling a story.

    Lash aftersh, a tentacle woulde spearheading towards him and just like the scene from Mark, the tentacle''s speed diminished before it reached him. Noah would adjust his body before the speed of the attacks were even affected, with the use of his sensory hairs he realized he didn''t even have to use his elusive skill at all.

    What seemed to be effortless still didn''t change the way Noah was feeling at the moment. He didn''t feel the least excited as he did when he was anticipating the fight before. He just wanted something, anything that would distract his mind and that something just happened to be the zombie.

    The scene was bing a dance as he maneuvered his way through countless lines of attacks, the scene wouldn''t be possible if it wasn''t for his skill that was impeding the zombies control of its body.

    But the more the distance between the two were bridged, the less error was allowed in his movements.

    The zombie didn''t have the capacity to ''feel'' emotions, but its instincts were being spurned ever since it felt its body was being oppressed. And when the source of that oppression was growing closer to it. The zombie survival instincts had it unleash every source of its tentacles towards Noah to remove the threat.

    The number of tentacles it released formed what seemed to be a wave of limbsing towards Noah. There was no way for him to continue moving forward when most if all his routes ahead were blocked off, but he was prepared. The spell was shaky, but in his free hand, he was charging a manabolt after dodging the first round of attacks.

    When the wave of tentacles were shot out, he unleashed his attack towards the center. His goal was never the zombie, with the web of the zombies appendages in front of him, he couldn''t be sure that the attack could pierce through them all.

    And at the same time the spell was released, he chose to let his trump skill take over.

    Boom*

    A small explosion took ce between the two, but the two didn''t take a break to assess the situation. Multiple branches of her tentacles were blown and scattered in the air. A loud obnoxious streak could be hearding from the zombie. The zombie didn''t have a regeneration ability that could make her recover so many of her tendons and muscles to form and rece the parts she lost.

    As the tentacles became closer, mysteriously they had all stopped right before they reached Noah. There was a crazed glint in Noah''s eyes but his expression was full of resentment towards his enemy. The pain Noah felt, the conflicting emotions he had to stress his mind over. He pinned it all on the zombie and undergoing the effects of his ''Killing Instincts'' skill amplified that feeling even more. These feelings empowered Noah''s subservient skill that allowed him to forcefully stop the zombie in its tracks.

    Now that his skill was active, his sword was able grant him all of the benefits that were unusable to him before. The ck and red mist enveloped the handle just like before, but there was a slight difference to its new appearance. The edges of the sword''s de seemed as it was absorbing the mist being released as its colors changed to a dark red, releasing a sheen that seemed to glow from the natural moonlight.

    Noah wasn''t aware of the sword''s physical changes, but in his current state, he wouldn''t care even if he were.

    With the attack being stopped before him, Noah activated his elusive skill that granted him a 25% burst in speed, coupled with his killing instincts skill and the extra thirty stats given to his attributes from the sword, his agility easily shot past 100.

    With just one quick lunge, he bypassed the initial wall made up of tentacles before he swung with an underhanded swing with both hands gripping his de and sliced off a huge portion of the tentacles that struck out.

    The pain seemed to be the trigger for the zombie to resume moving again, but it just happened to be the limit of the amount of time Noah was able to control it.

    Another loud screech resounded through the night.

    The sounds were already enough to attract the students who already made their way into the dorm. People like Ishi and Alicia were the first of the few to exit the dorm to aid them in whatever way they could. While the others choose to crowd around the windows to watch from a safe distance.

    Alietta was carried to the dorm''s entrance, Mark on the other hand was being treated by Isabelle and two other priests that resided in Ishii''s group. His cries had stopped after the first treatment, but it wasn''t looking good. A hole in his cheek, three in mid section and a few more scattered through his limbs. If he wasn''t smart enough to use the sword to protect his vitals, mainly his heart and throat, he probably would''ve died instantly, even though the attacks were stopped before they pierced through him deeper than what they did.

    The sound of the second screech halted everyone''s action who was in the process of either caring for Ailetta or healing Mark. The area in the courtyard was barely lit and for most of them, the movements of both Noah and the zombie was too fast for them to keep up with. However the scene of the meters long appendages being cut could easily be observed by the group. The same appendages they saw being used to kill the guards without a challenge.

    "He really is in a different league than us¡­." Ishii smiled to himself when he thought about the fact he believed he could one day reach his idol.

    "Don''t botherparing yourself to him¡­You''re you and he''s, well you see his appearance." Alicia muttered while watching the scene of Noah barbarically rushing towards the zombie.

    "I really doubt if he can even be considered human anymore.."

    Now that the zombie is in control of itself again, it quickly tries to withdraw all of its tentacles back within itself to send them out again.

    Yet it didn''t realize that would be its undoing. With each step Noah exploded further with the use of his elusive skill. Each used would use more stamina than before that could potentially cause extreme muscle fatigue and then wear and tear. However the 25 added stamina and all of his other bonuses more than made up for the repetitive usage of the skill to reach the zombies side simultaneously while the tentacles were being retrieved into its back so the wounds inflicted could be closed off and reformed.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Once Noah made the fight into a close quarters battle the fight was already over. Noah didn''t go for a clean kill and attempted to cut off the zombie''s head. His resentment for the creature didn''t fade as he brought his sword above his head and swung it down as if he was trying to hammer the zombie into the depths of hell.

    If Noah still retained his rational insight, he may have hesitated to strike, thinking that the zombie would react considering that it was also a tier one zombie. However life, even if it''s evolution, would always find a way to bring bnce.

    The zombie''s strength revolved entirely off of its tentacles, reducing the need for a strong physical body, but that is also the reason the tentacles were not only tough, but were extremely fast and lethal.

    Maybe if it evolved again then it could also eject tentacles from other parts of its body to defend itself more. It tried to bring out the few tentacles that were barely ready to project out, but as soon as it tried, it froze once again due to Noah''s skill.

    The sword easily cut through the zombie''s skull, killing it instantly and then proceeded to cut through the rest of its body down the middle.

    Just like how the zombie left its prey after it killed them, its body remained motionless for a few seconds before the halves split apart. Blood sprayed from every seam that was made from the sword. Tens of objects that looked like disfigured worms dropped out of its body after it split apart.

    The fight was over, everyone watched in shock how easily Noah took care of the creature that brought them so much fear. However the result didn''t shock them as much as it did to Pam and the others.

    "Ah! Why did yo-"

    "Are you crazy!" Pam interrupted Regina as she screamed in her face, shocking not only Regina but thest three guards as well.

    "He is just as much of a monster as that wolf and you didn''t bother to mention any of this to us??" Her face showed how angry she was, but her voice held a tinge of fear. She recollected the time that she proimed that Noah was not only a freak, but she would defend him from Regina at all cost.

    "What did you do that would make him want to kill you like that girl said earlier? This is not something I want to risk my life over."

    Pam took a few steps away from her as she questioned Regina. Money is important to her, but only if she''s alive long enough to use it.

    Yet Regina didn''t continue to remain shocked. The question made her look towards Pam in confusion, then without warning she began tough hysterically. The current scene made the others believe she had gone crazy after finding out that they would no longer protect her when they heard her answer.

    "I''m disappointed in you Gina¡­" Pam shook her head in disappointment seeing the proud and selfish girl she had watched over being reduced to such a state.

    "Disappointed? Disappointed in me? Haha! You are really a fool¡­.do you not know who he is! No-Ah! Noah! Does that still not ring any bells?"

    "!"

    At first Pam stood rooted to her spot as she tried to ponder what seemed to be a sad attempt to get them to stay. However that name began to sound oddly familiar to her, it wasn''t until she remembered why that name was familiar.

    ''It''s ''that'' boy??'' Her eyes reveal her immense shock when she thought about the times she helped Regina ''hire'' some thugs to beat him up periodically. The first few times they were actually random people they bought off, but when that didn''t go as expected she had actually used some of the guards under her to fulfill that role.

    "It seems that you finally remember, it took you long enough. Now¡­" she walked over to one of the beds and sat down, resuming the act of her arrogant demeanor.

    "You can leave me, but I''ll also tell him how you were an aplice to everything that we did to him. Or you continue following me until we reach the meeting ce. I''m sure there are many of my dad''s friends that could help us get rid of him. You don''t have to worry about money, my father has a lot of it, I''ll make you rich in the end."

    ....

    Outside another shocking scene was urring, but the longer they watched, the more fearful they were bing.

    The fight was supposed to have been over yet Noah never halted in his attacks. He would raise his sword again and again, cutting the zombie''s corpse into pieces. Everyone felt that he wouldn''t stop; the corpse didn''t resemble a body anymore!

    Crack!*

    Just when it seemed that Noah would never stop, cracking sounds echoed near them, startling them enough that their life shed before their eyes. But the cracking didn''t stop, the noise led their eyes towards the cocoon of webs that sounded off like an egg shell.

    The emergence and awakening of Arachne was able to reach Noah causing him to falter in his attacks as he looked over to her. His cold stare began to show rity and his drained body had him copse on his butt as he watched Arachne, wondering what changes had urred.

 Chapter 93 93: Iâ€™m Creating Mini Bosses

    His cold stare began to show rity and his drained body had him copse on his butt as he watched Arachne, wondering what changes had urred and while that was happening he was able to barely make a smile despite how he felt when he felt that he had another notification.

    The first thing he noticed was a purple spear prating through the cracks, but when it reached out and bent to touch the ground he realized that it was actually her leg.

    Except there were also a few differences besides the shape. Her leg that was covered in hair originally, now appeared to be almost bare. From this distance it appeared that she didn''t have hair on the first segment of her leg at all, which is why he ended up mixing up her leg with a weapon.

    The white that made a pattern within her hairs disappeared too, leaving only darkness that made up the rest of her hair, but more than disappeared,

    It wasn''t until the other leg poked through that his tired mind caught up to how long they were. They were at least half the size longer than before and a few inches thicker.

    He could sense the urgency for Arachne to remove herself from the cocoon. Not only was she excited to show off her new improvements, during thest few moments of her awakening she was able to sense Noah''s chaotic emotions and the battle that was taking ce.

    Now that her second leg front was able to prate through, she stabbed both legs into the ground to forcibly bring out her head, following the rest of her body.

    Overall she seemed to have grown only a foot in height, but he felt that was more because of the increase in the length of her legs. However the length of her entire body was also elongated by at least a foot, as well as the circr shape of her back side had ttened some. If it wasn''t for Noah''s set of extra pupils, it would be extremely difficult to make her out from a shadow if not for the purple ends of her legs.

    If her front legs were longer than before, her two back legs could be said to be identical to the front as they extended behind her.

    Noah was in awe to see how much more deadly her appearance had be. Even her fangs were enough to give him goosebumps just picturing them digging into his skin, but he was more shocked when he noticed her eyes, they were the same as his. After choosing the ss assassin Arachne had lost the ability to see behind her. Her eyes were mainly located on the front and the partial side of her face now.

    Even without seeing behind her, her efficiency would only increase since her dynamic vision has been further improved to help her take down her opponents with surprise.

    Noah knew that her physical appearance had changed, but now he wondered what else developed with the change. He wanted to quickly get the notifications out the way so he could see the improvements in her stats but when as soon as he had that thought, Arachne had already appeared in front of him.

    ''So fast!'' Noah''s heart shook when he realized that her speed was almost as fast as Fenrir ''after'' his stats were buffed from his killing instincts skill. His focus wasn''tpletely on her but deep down he felt that she was even faster than that. Noah''s curiosity skyrocketed when he asked himself ''just how fast is she?''.

    "Hurt? Where? Where are you hurt? Why is Fenrir not here with you?"

    Arachne bombarded him with questions, interrupting him from his thoughts. But to her anxiousness, Noah didn''t respond to her at all. He was more focused on something else.

    "You can speak now?" He asked with a bbergasted expression. All this time he has been speaking with her, it was through her ownnguage. Yet the sounding out her mouth was actual humannguage. The sound of her voice wasn''t perfect, it felt weird to hear. It was almost as if her voice was vibrating when she spoke. Her voice made her sound slightly robotic, he couldn''t help but try to look in her jaws to figure out she wasmunicating.

    "? I''ve always talked? Do you not remember me? I''m Arachne! I''m your queen! You gave me food, we ate tog-"

    "Hey hey hey, calm down, I didn''t mean it that way, you just¡­well you''re speaking the same as me so that just surprised me. Of course I remember you, how could I forget you?" He responded while cing his palm above her two main eyes and caressed her head like he usually did.

    The interaction he was able to have with her in this moment relieved him a lot more than venting off his frustrations on the zombie moments prior. He relished being able tomunicate with his creatures and being able to tell how they felt while hemunicated with them, there was no reason to doubt their words or their intentions.

    But this peaceful moment made him remember why he was feeling this way in the first ce.

    He stopped rubbing Arachne''s head and turned to evaluate Ailetta''s situation. He saw that she has yet to awaken. His emotions became downcasted yet again when he remembered her pale like state and the situation she put herself in.

    He had half the mind to leave during the night so he wouldn''t feel so tormented by these feelings that have been continuing to be brought up when dealing with her. But just the thought alone began to make him feel uneasy. He was sure he would be paranoid about her safety after visualizing her death so many times.

    Arachne noticed the emotional changes Noah was going through and looked over to see the cause. Yet when she looked over all she saw was food.

    "Is food making you hurt?" She asked when she noticed the ''pain'' she felt Noah was experiencing before was simr to what he was feeling now.

    "Haha~no¡­it''s just something that is on my mind. But let''s worry about itter. I''m curious to check your improvements. However before he could check her stats, he had to go through the list of notifications first.

    [Aracane has finished her mutation! All stats have increased by 25% while her strength and agility has been increased by 50% because of her ss Rouge. +1 agility and +1 strength will be granted upon leveling up]

    [After obtaining ss Rogue, Arachne has obtained main skill stealth and chose the ability, Coated Arms.]

    [Stealth: Make your presence barely noticeable, leaving you undetected to unsuspecting foes. Noise, attacking or even taking damage could cause you to be noticed. Affected by agility and can be countered by agility and spirit.]

    [Coated arms-Imbue your weapons with poison to help you secure the kill when your surprise attack fails. As a spider you use your own poison as a base, but the poison is a lesser version to its original counterpart. Can be stronger with the amount of mana infused into the skill.]

    [Your tamed creature, Arachne, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in strength, perk based on ss Arachnid obtained; Painful death]

    [Your tamed creature, Arachne, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in stamina, perk based on ss Arachnid obtained; Recovering Leap]

    [Caught in the eyes of the spider has leveled up to Lvl 1!- You can now perceive a target''s movements by a tenth of a second.

    [Painful Death- A numbing corrosive poison isn''t enough. To truly disable your opponents, pain is always the best way. Your poison now has a stinging effect that would inflict pain after the first wave of your numbing corrosion.]

    [Recovering Leap-Reduce the strain and stamina drain when leaping far distances by 10%.]

    [Arachne has leveled up! +5 attributes!]

    [Arachne has reached level 10 and can now undergo his evolution! Due to your ss ''Monster Evolutionist'', Arachne has been given an additional evolution path that is up for you to choose so choose carefully! WARNING! Choose when you are in a safe area, time for evolution is unknown.]

    [Arachne evolutionary path Impure Queen, and Vaulting Shadow can be obtained.]

    [Impure Queen-You have mixed with something that shouldn''t exist, your existence itself has been tainted to the world. Other spiders will despise you for what you are, but they will also fear you. As a queen you will still lead through strength, but who knows what strengths that will be if you follow the path of the tainted.]

    [Vaulting Shadow-When there''s a shadow, sure enough enemies would take heed or their death will already be determined. Light is your aplice, because where there is light, there is also shadow. You will gain unimaginable speed fitting to your name and discover ways to bend light so you can benefit the darkness as you desire. No one will be safe from you even in the day.]<novelnext></novelnext>

    "..."

    There were a lot of things Noah wanted to say and most of it was justints.

    ''Now that I think about it, where are my perks after obtaining the mage ss? And why doesn''t Arachne have them either? AND what the fuck do you mean by tainted? I''m not some fucking disease!!'' Noah was feeling attacked, what made it worse was that it was the system that was insulting him.

    ''Sigh¡­calm down, calm down¡­maybe it means something else by tainted. Yes that''s right! It should be referring to my blood, yep that could be the only thing¡­'' He sounded unsure, but he would continue to say it until he made himself believe it.

    He looked back towards Arachne''s evolution paths, the choices this time were much harder to choose than Fenrir''s. The Impure Queen seemed like the one he really wanted to go for, but that was only because the changes had something to do with him. The only downside is that the description hasn''t really told him much of anything of what it does!

    The Valuting shadow, everything sounded ominous and Noah''s terms ''badass!'' And so he was very interested in that ss as well.

    ''I still have a little time to think about it, but¡­.I''m pretty sure I know what I want.'' Now he could fully satisfy his curiosity from early as he checked her stats, just to be in for another surprise.

    [yer: Arachne

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Arachnid/Rouge

    Lvl: 9->10

    Exp:2491/6400->234/12800

    Health:90%->100%

    Stamina:62%->100%

    Mana: 10/10->14/14

    Attributes

    Strength:37->56(60)

    Agility:66->173

    Constitution:23->43

    Stamina:29->60

    Magic: 5->6

    Spirit: 29->37

    Unassigned Points: 19

    Skills

    Active

    Paralysis Venom(Lvl 0):progression-44.5%

    Cursed Silk(Lvl 0):progression-40.2%

    Coated arms(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Passive

    Spider Sense(Lvl 0)]:progression-46.2%

    Stealth(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Caught in the eyes of the spider(Lvl1)]:progression-N/A]

    Painful Death(Lvl 0):progression-N/A

    Recovering Leap(Lvl 0):progression-N/A

    Human tongue(Lvl 0):progression-N/A

    He knew her stats were gonna be increased, especially when he saw how fast she became. But as he looked at all her stats again, specifically her speed that didn''t use a skill to increase it to such an extent, he just couldn''t help but think.

    ''And she''s not even evolved yet!

 Chapter 94 94: Call Me What You Want

    ''And she''s not even evolved yet!

    Noah couldn''t help but anticipate how much she would grow after her evolution. He already experienced how much of an impact Fenrir''s evolution had on his appearance and the sharpness of his nails when the process wasn''t done beingpleted.

    He felt that once again he had to continue growing stronger so his creatures would respect him as a leader. And most importantly his pride wouldn''t allow him to just be a bystander.

    Noah thought about waiting to spend Arachne''s stats, but changed his mind when he remembered that their stat could possibly increase after they evolved. Before he forgot, he quickly used her 19 attribute points.

    Attributes

    Strength:56->57(64)

    Agility:173

    Constitution:43->50

    Stamina:60

    Magic: 6

    Spirit: 37->50

    [Your tamed creature, Arachne, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in constitution, perk based on ss Arachnid obtained; Healing slumber]

    [Healing Slumber(Lvl 0)-Increase your health recovery when sleeping. Can recover health and even superficial wounds.

    [Your tamed creature, Arachne, has achieved the first limits of 50 stats in spirit, perk based on ss Arachnid obtained; Danger sense]

    [Danger sense-Your sensory hairs is your final defense, but now you can avoid positioning yourself into danger in the first ce now that you can sense a lethal threat targeting you. Only works on attacks that would kill you.

    Noah didn''t anticipate that his perk would create a domino effect, allowing him to help Arachne acquire two perks after just leveling up.

    Noah was bing anxious for the future. He was in the middle of imagining his creatures changes as he walked over to the chest. As if it was natural, he reflexively bent down to open it, but that''s when he noticed that the chest was only gold.

    "What? Do they not give me a better chest anymore unless I kill more than one like with the ants?" He muttered while he continued to open while deep in thought. The fight may have been considered dangerous to him since if he didn''t have the skill that literally countered zombies then he would have to really worry about his life. However the fact that he was able to kill a tier one zombie without the use of his creatures should make him realize why the chest was only gold.

    The first item he received, one that he would always wee, was another attribute sphere that seemed to be another sphere that would give him 25 attributes.

    ''Sigh¡­I shouldn''tin, I shouldn''tin, It''s my destiny to be a tank¡­'' He tried not to frown as he held the orb sphere in his hands before crushing it. He was prepared for it as the prodding feeling instantly began to notify him.

    [+25 constitution]

    [Your skill bone tempering has leveled up to Level 1!-The ratio of your pets bonded through the skill blood pact has now been increased to 1:2 ratio.]

    Seeing the results of his improved skill made Noah feel a little bit better about receiving the stats, at least having a high constitution will benefit them too.

    The next item he saw was even better than thest and one he felt he will need the most when the night is over. He slowly picked up the upgrade stone as if it was a treasure.

    ''After they evolve, I can finally upgrade my skill to get another creature!'' He looked in the chest more eager than before after seeing that everything has been good so far, but then his mood turned sour at the sight of the next item.

    In his hand was a ss vial that resembled the murky green cure he was able to obtain before. But this one in particr seemed less polluted than the first. The tone of the color was lighter than its counterpart, but the vial appeared to be the same size. It''s not something he needed but hopefully he could get something else out of it, he thought as he stashed it away.

    "Well I guess I shouldn''t expect much from a gold chest¡­wait¡­no I shouldn''t say that unless ''someone'' bes petty." He muttered as he looked up in the sky. After thatst announcement the ''God'' made, Noah felt that he was a petty being and didn''t want to gain his resentment.

    Like always he collected the gold left in the chest before heading over towards the zombie remains.

    "Did I really do this?"

    He looked at the scene in surprise. He could barely make out any part of the zombie at all and that worried him since it would be easier to find what he was looking for if he could pinpoint its heart.

    He scanned over the pile of meat scattered about and didn''t see it. He could take the time to search through the remains, but that would take time, time that could be used to start Arachne''s evolution.

    "Food!" But when he turned to walk away, he heard Arachne behind him, and from the sounds of munching, he already knew that she was feeding.

    The zombie was cut up in a way that it didn''t require for Arachne to use her venom to soften the meat to eat it, and after the increase in her size, eating solid foods was bing more of an option for her.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Deciding that it would be best to wait for her to finish, he stood by the side and took out one of the cores and scrutinized it in his hands.

    ''I wonder if I use my skill on this will it affect me too or does it only apply to my creatures¡­'' In the midst of his thoughts he was about to use his skill on the core, but suddenly he stopped himself. He remembered the time he imbued his blood with mana earlier and how the ants were attracted to him. He didn''t want to have to fight anything else anytime soon.

    "Eh?" While he was waiting he soon felt something hit his foot. He looked down to find that it was a core and from the size, it was a tier one core. He looked over and saw Arachne standing near him looking in his direction while he picked it up and asked her curiously.

    "I don''t get it¡­how do you know not to eat this, but you ate the one from the spiders?" He asked, not really expecting an answer, but Arachne surprised him.

    "It doesn''t smell or taste good so it''s not food." She said without a doubt in her mind.

    "Hmmm¡­" He left the matter alone. Now they could finally retreat to the dorm to start her evolution.

    However as he made it to the dorm''s entrance there was another problem brewing.

    "Use it again! How could the skill not be working?? It worked before!"

    Jasmine could be seen standing near Isabelle who would glow golden before the glow would transfer over to Mark''s sleeping body.

    Noah didn''t know what the skill was, but when he scrutinized Mark''s body he couldn''t see any wounds, but he did notice something. Mark was infected!

    "I''m telling you it''s not working, my skill level either isn''t high enough or it''s not an infection. Yelling at me isn''t going to change anything." Isabelle responded back with an expressionless face, but her eyes showed that she was growing annoyed.

    Looking at Mark''s body, all of his punctured wounds have been healed but recing them were dark ck marks that were simr to a bruise, if it wasn''t for the ck veins spreading out from those bruises it wouldn''t really seem like an infection at all.

    The current scene had him stomped. ''No fucking way¡­this is the second time i got the cure and they needed it.''

    He tried to ignore them as he made his way to Ishii''s group who were now watching over her. Bailey was too strung over ke''s death to think about anyone right now and Paul and ibby were there to try tofort her. However he was slightly curious about the skill they were attempting to use to heal Mark. From the conversation he assumed that it must be something to cure the infection which can be extremely viable, if not lucrative if they were to find a bigger group.

    "Why didn''t you help? Noah stopped in turn when Jasmine addressed him, he knew it wasing, this scene has happened a lot to himtely.

    He was prepared for an angry verbalshing, but all he saw was a crying, worried, and distraught woman.

    "I know you hate him, but why does that mean he has to die? Hasn''t enough people died already? Would you care if any of us die? At this rate it won''t take long for you to be numb to anyone''s death, even Ailetta''s" Jasmine ended up hitting a sensitive spot for Noah. He felt guilty because in the back of his mind he felt that she was right, but who was she to judge him?

    "Don''t spout your nonsense towards me, when the others were dying, did you call for them? Did you try to ask for my help then? No¡­you also only care about the people who are close to you and that''s how life should be in the world we live in now. I won''t risk my life for you when you won''t do the same for me. And I won''t be your savior out of the goodness of my heart.

    If I no longer care for Ailetta''s life then that would mean she became dead to me even when she was alive. But until that happens I''ll make sure at least she''ll be the one that gets to live¡­"

    Talking to Jasmine somehow helped Noah realize what was bothering him so much. ''It''s not wrong for me to care about her so much. What''s wrong is if I continue to protect her when I no longer do.'' His troubled heart seemed to have lessened tremendously and a heavy weight appeared to have left his shoulders.

    But Jasmine wasn''t able to get the same satisfaction. Noah''s words made her not only feel a heavy guilt, but she stood there like she was an empty shell.

    "¡­.you''re right¡­.you''re right¡­maybe I deserve this. So many people died following us, but I¡­.we, we were more focused on staying alive that we didn''t care¡­" She turned to look at her brother still sleeping, watching his face that would twitch every few minutes, not knowing if it''s the effects of the infection or just him having a nightmare.

    Slowly she walked over to his side and kneeled beside him to hold one of his hands and began to cry silently, ''muttering please forgive me over and over.''

    Noah looked at the scene as he contemted, but soon he shook his head and began to walk again, but yet again someone had something else to say.

    "You really are the devil.." Isabelle said to him, her mind reliving the past events of a traumatic moment.

    Noah was at first confused about what she was trying to imply, but then he remembered Derrick and he couldn''t help but chuckle to himself.

    "I guess you can say I am. But you can''t me me for anything then right? ''Never make a deal with the devil'' isn''t that how the saying goes.'' He smiled in amusement and began to walk away, but his face showed annoyance when he heard someone addressing him again, that was until he heard the contents of what they had to say.

    "If I was to make a deal with the devil, can you really save him?" Jasmine looked to Noah with a determined look that says she was truly willing to give anything. That was a look that Noah quite enjoyed, he felt it was a waste that she didn''t have the same mentality when it came to growing stronger.

    He remembered rejecting her before, there truly wasn''t anything that he really needed from her. However he was interested in how far she would go. Part of him was already indebted to her for opening up his eyes even though she didn''t have the intention. While the other part felt that he wouldn''t have to deal with another emotional woman after Ailetta woke up.

    What was a smile before, was a face ofplete seriousness as he looked into Jasmine''s eyes, even then she didn''t back down, but there was a slight sign of her faltering.

    "Even if I said you have to be my tamed creature?"

 Chapter 95 95: Sheâ€™s Too Far Gone

    "Even if I said you have to be my tamed creature?"

    The determination that Jasmine had built up for this moment waspletely destroyed by his question. Isabelle couldn''t help but to retreat further from the two. The thought of taking a human never entered her mind, but when she realized what could''ve happened to her when she didn''t own up on their deal. Fear overtook, she needed space away from him in order to breathe.

    No matter if it was the grieving Bailey or the worshipping Isshi. Everyone who heard Noah felt a shiver down their spine and their vignce against him went up even further.

    Jasmine was prepared to go the extra mile and have sex with him, that was the most logical thing that any male would ask for in this situation right? Or even an unimaginable amount of gold since she remembered that''s what he asked forst time.

    But bing a tamed creature meant more than just being a ve. It meant that her life would be tied to his, probably forever. A ve could still run away or could still choose to obey any order. But what he was implying seemed to strip away all of that. ''Why would he ask for sex if he could force me to do it anytime he wants?'' Her erratic mind began to panic.

    She took a step back and was prepared to turn him down, but the thought of her brother dying resurfaced in her head. And even worse, when she imagined him changing just for Noah to tame him just like she heard of Fenrir''s situation. She just couldn''t allow that to happen.

    Her body began to quake to the point that you can even tell through the equipment she was wearing. She bit her lip hard enough to pour blood as she resolved herself to make her decision. But for some reason, when Noah saw that resolve, he wasn''t as happy as he thought he was going to be.

    First it was Isabelle, then Ailetta and now Jasmine? Just how far will they go for someone? He just couldn''t understand it, no¡­He didn''t want to understand it. At first he asked the question as a bad joke, but now he was actually contemting about going through with it now that her selflessness was annoying him. Luckily for the both of them, Alicia was smart enough to make a hasty decision before either makes a bad decision.

    She pinched Ailetta''s nose and mouth shut simultaneously. It didn''t take long for her action to take effect, but to Alicia, the waiting period seemed to be much longer than it really was.

    An excessive coughing filled in the silence between Noah anticipating Noah''s answer that caused him and Jasmine to look over.

    The shaking within Jasmine stopped as she looked towards her friend waking up, neither her nor Noah knew what caused the stir. However Noah could only shake his head at her bad timing.

    It seems everyone was waiting for Ailetta to gather her bearings. They watched as she finally recovered from her coughing fit and seemed to finally remember what was happening before she fell unconscious.

    "NOAH!" Was the first thing she shouted while she attempted to stand abruptly, but fell back into Alicia''s arms. Her face showed a sense of panic and longing.

    The fact that Noah was the first person she called for instead of Jasmine had touched Noah considerably. The annoyance he was feeling before was seemingly put on hold for now.

    Her body may have difficulty moving but Ailetta''s head turned to look around energetically until her eyes made contact with Noah. Theck of color she had lost from the loss of blood seemed to have a visible improvement after seeing that Noah didn''t abandon her like she thought. But then she remembered that Fenrir might have been the reason for him staying and not her. She wasn''t ready to address him yet, but seeing him was enough to relieve her fragile heart.

    "Jas!¡­.what? What''s wrong? Mark? Is he¡­.." She seemed to finally recognize her best friend. Her gaze went towards Markying next to her. It was too dark to see, but the expression Jasmine had was hard for her to decipher, her first thought was that it had something to do with Mark.

    Jasmine didn''t know how to respond to Ailetta. She wanted to tell Her about what he said to her, but she didn''t want to do that in front of him, she was afraid to.

    "Mark is safe, well safe for now that is¡­" Isabelle was the first to speak, gaining everyone''s attention. Deep down they were hoping she would finish rifying everything else that was happening. The context of what she said was enough for Ailetta to know that Mark was still in danger. She truly believed now that was the reason for Jasmine''s current stat.

    "Well then what''s wrong? If he''s alive then he should be fine right? Is he infected? Isabelle can he-"

    "Her spell doesn''t work, Noah kinda suggested that he could heal him, but he told ''her'' that he wouldn''t do it unless she became his tamed creature. ''She'' was abou-mmph!"

    Everyone was shocked when Ishii began to reenact everything. And it seemed that as he rattled on he was bing excited to tell it all. He was seemingly going to continue before Alicia quickly covered his mouth.

    ''Urgh why do I hang around this idiot?'' Alicia thought, feeling exhausted.

    The shock was easily noted on Ailetta''s face, she couldn''t believe it at first and looked to Noah for answers. She couldn''t believe it when she locked eyes with him and he looked away! But when she thought about his recent changes and how those recent changes are the reason he''s still alive and as strong as he is now, she began to ept that it sounded like something he would do. But she was still upset¡­.more than upset, she was jealous!

    "Noah¡­" she called out, waiting for him to give her his attention. Yet when he turned towards her, she just couldn''t continue to say what she wanted to while facing him.

    "Why didn''t you ask me that¡­?"

    Gasp!*

    If anyone were surprised before when they heard the deal Noah made to Jasmine, then they were stupefied to hear what Ailetta just said.

    Even Noah didn''t know how to take that. He had to process it one then twice before he broke out into augh, gaining wary nces from the others.

    "Haaaa~Well who would actually ask that? Of course I didn''t mean it." He smiled awkwardly to hide away his guilt.

    "If I tamed her then I would have to protect her too and I wouldn''t do that to myself. Hey!" Out of nowhere, he shouted towards the dorms. Everyone was so focused on him that they didn''t notice the gigantic spider crawling towards the second floor window.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Arachne was beginning to feel antsy being around so much food. She knew Noah wouldn''t want her to eat any of the ones here so she decided that she would be productive and surprise Noah with her evolution.

    Everyone but Jasmine was focused on the gigantic spider, even though she was looking, she felt a huge blow to her self esteem. Noah made her seem worse than a nuisance. What kind of male would turn down a beauty as a ve and think it would be bothersome?

    "Don''t behave like that foolish wolf and choose on your own. Wait in there and wait for me ok?"

    Arachne looked down towards him with downcast eyes, but she couldn''t let Noah think of her as foolish along with Fenrir. She was a queen, not a foolish one.

    "Yes" she responded like a well behaved child. The people in the vicinity were constantly receiving a bigger shock after the next.

    "It-it talked!" The conversation that was happening prior didn''t seem to hold a candle to the new revtion.

    While everyone was still stumped, Noah made his way towards Ailetta. When he was almost upon her, she finally realized how close he was.

    She reached out her hands subconsciously, thinking that he was going to help her up. But what she got in return was a bottle with a green liquid. She was asleep thest time so she never saw what the infection cure looked like.

    "This should be able to heal him, if it does then you can make the deal in my stead, we don''t do anything for free." He walked away after the interaction. He first wanted to check on Fenrir before he started Arachne''s process.

    Everyone else sat there in silence, but their eyes were glued to Ailetta, more specifically, the cure.

    Jasmine''s eyes were already tearing up when she realized that her brother''s life could be saved.

    "Ailetta please, we have to hurry! Who knows if there''s a time limit!" She urged while Ailetta struggled to get to her feet with the help of Ailicia.

    Jasmine was bing more anxious the closer Ailetta was approaching and had half the urge to meet her halfway to receive the vial. However she began to grow nervous when she saw the conflicted expression on Ailetta''s face.

    "Jasmine¡­.I''m giving this to you, but I can''t let Noah down, we have to work something out in exchange for this¡­" She said with a guilty conscience, but her face showed that she meant every word.

    "...I can''t believe this¡­fine¡­" Jasmine gave up trying to argue, at least her brother will be saved and Ailetta would be less difficult to talk to.

    "Wow, she''s really in love with him.."

    "Sheesh! More like whipped." Isabelle and Alicia said respectively.

    While Ailetta and Jasmine were discussing the terms for the cure, Noah was now in the room with Arachne filling almost a quarter of it.

    "Can I start now?" Arachne asked impatiently, she wanted to hurry and grow stronger, she already was beginning to feel inferior to Fenrir and he already started evolving ahead of her.

    "Yes we can start, but before that¡­.would you like to choose? I''m not sure if you already know the cho-"

    "Impure Queen! I want to be a Queen!" She shouted in excitement, her fangs moved sporadically, showing her emotional state.

    "Do you even know what it does?" Noah asked in reassurance, but he was already feeling helpless while expecting her answer.

    "Yes! It makes me a Queen! I''m ready!"

    Noah hung his head in defeat, he didn''t even want to bother to try to sway her in any way. It was already the choice he wanted anyways.

    [Confirmed evolution path, Impure Queen. Beginning evolution!]

    "Well let''s see how you''ll look in the morning Queen¡­" He muttered as heyed in bed and stared at theatose Arachne standing in the middle of the room.

    ....

    A/N: I notice some peoplesments are being deleted. I think it has something to do when they use profanity. So if you want toin or tell me that the story isn''t good, try to do so without the profanity so I can at least reply.

 Chapter 96 96: Notice Me!

    "Well let''s see how you''ll look in the morning Queen¡­" He muttered as heyed in bed and stared at theatose Arachne standing in the middle of the room.

    Soon his eyes drifted towards the ceiling and his thoughts returned to the cores from earlier.

    ''I can at least try my skill on a few of these as I wait."

    [Mana:290/370]

    He checked to make sure that he had enough mana.

    ''If it costs only 5 mana for each tier 0 then this will be perfect! Maybe the effect will be lower on them since they will now be considered a tier one creature, but every little bit counts.''

    The first thing he needed to do was draw some blood, which was easy for now since he had his sword. That''s when his mind finally recollected the transformation during the use of his skill.

    "I wonder." He stared towards the sword, a momentter a change urred on his face, his eyes held a slight savage glint, but it still held rity at the same time. Doing so he saw the mist emerge from the handle of the sword while the blood red traced around the edges of the de. During this time he had activated his Killing Instincts skill, but he didn''t go the full 50% but only chose an amount that was more like 10%.

    Even though the amount was small, it was still enough to activate the sword''s effect. A wry smile appeared on his face due to shame.

    "There''s just so much more I can be doing better¡­"

    He took a moment to self reflect before he made a cut on his finger. He noted that he couldn''t easily cut through his hand like before and had to put slightly more pressure. Of course that was without the sword being activated.

    After doing so, he ced his finger slightly above the core and activated his skill, blood extraction. Simr to blood pact, he stirred his mana to mix with his blood at the area of the cut. However the scene yed out differently. His blood seemed to havee alive as it mysteriously turned into vapor and began to be absorbed into the center of the core and merged with the mana inside.

    Each mana core was essentially different from what Noah could tell for different species. The shape of the cores were the same, but the inside was where they differed. Human cores were a faint blue and white while zombies were faint ck and red and then you had animals like the spiders that were a faint grey. Noah used the word faint when describing them because the color was barely noticeable, maybe because there wasn''t enough mana or maybe because the entire core itself was the mana, he couldn''t say for sure.

    But as his blood was being absorbed he noticed that the current orb, which was that of a zombie, was turning from ck to a dark purple. The process only took a few seconds, maybe five at most before the skill was finished. Noah couldn''t help but scrutinize the core in his hands after the anti-climatic event.

    ''Well if it works then that''s all that matters¡­'' He sat the core to the side and took out another. This process went on for a while until he lost track of time, he was so focused on what he was doing that he forgot to observe Arachne''s changes and he didn''t notice the noise at the door.

    Creak*

    Although he wasn''t aware of the noise, the sudden movement was caught out of his periphery and caused him to stare menacingly towards the door with his hand ready to grab his sword.

    The first thing he spotted was auburn hair that seemed to be repeatedly being lifted before he saw Ailetta''s face appearing from under it. He was so caught up in his work that he had half forgotten about her. Even though he was initially surprised to see here in ''unannounced'', he was more surprised to see the changes Arachne was going through. Even Ailetta didn''t bother to address Noah as she slowly closed the door behind and gawked at the current disy. Unconsciously, she slowly made her way around Arachne to not only get a better view, but to also be near Noah where it was safe.

    "Wha-what''s going on?¡­" She asked, her eyes still haven''t budged from Arachne''s body. Noah wasn''t sure how to answer, because even he was unsure at the moment.

    Arachne''s body seemed to be moliting, they could clearly see anotheryer emerging from within her own body. Her entire body seemed to be splitting apart.

    If it was only this happening then their shock wouldn''t havested for so long. It was what was happening at the head of Arachne that was causing their irrational behavior.

    At her headyed a cocoon, but unlike the cocoon that she surrounded herself in during her mutation. The cocoon now appeared to be made entirely out of flesh and was even pulsating! Ailetta was barely keeping herposure, the more she stared, the more nauseous she became, to the point that her hand couldn''t help searching for Noah''s, it contradicted her current actions because she couldn''t turn away.

    Unlike her, Noah was half tempted to touch the flesh like material, but he held his rising curiosity back. This could be an important step for her that he didn''t want to interrupt. After a period of time passing, both Noah and Ailetta mindlessly sat on the same bed together and continued to watch.

    "Is what''s happening what I think is happening!" Ailetta couldn''t help but ask another question.

    "Un huh¡­"<novelnext></novelnext>

    "Is she really gonna be half human and half spider? Will she have the body of a beautiful woman?"

    "Un hu-wait¡­why does she have to be beautiful" Noah mindlessly responded again before catching himself. Everything was happening in real time, it was hard for him to pay attention to anything else.

    "Well in situations like these, don''t they usually be beautiful Women?" Noah wanted to answer, but he was lost for words when he thought about a scenario to dispute her ims.

    "But those were just stories¡­this should be her evolving, I don''t see how being beautiful wou¡­..Nevermind.." He decided to quit before he dug himself a whole. In his mind evolution shouldn''t bother about sexual appearances since the goal was to be a better predator or in most cases, give the creature attributes and traits that would further improve their chances of surviving. However when he thought about it, having a high sexual appearace would help in both cases.

    Seducing potential food toe to you and catching them unaware and causing predators to be less wary of you or even cause them to hesitate to do you harm. The only problem with these theories of his is that they all required humanoids to be the food, and the predator.

    Enough time went by to the point that they could finally see the cocoon take shape as it began to rip apart, revealing a glimpse of her torso. Unlike the silky smooth skin both of them were expecting to see. What was instead emerging out of the flesh was a back that resembled a tight fitted exoskeleton. They could already make out the spine and the shoulder des that poked out as Arachne was slowly bringing out the rest of her body.

    But the process was so slow! At Least two hours has passed since the start of Noah making enough cores that werepatible for his creatures, that he was close to empty on mana, up until the present point now. Thankfully for them, the process, no matter how long they watched, continued to hold their attention, but Noah was soon getting a notification.

    "AWWHHOOO! Master,e look! I''ve changed, I''m stronger now!"

    Just as he felt the prodding, hinting that he had received a notification, Fenrir''s loud howl reverberated through the dorm invoking a few screams along the way. His howl was deeper than before, and the impact it caused on the people situated in the dorm was simr to the results of a skill that inspired fear.Unlike the Arachne, Fenrir didn''t have the ability to speak in human tongue which left Noah being the only one to hear what he said, which would have greatly relieved the tension if everyone knew just how doglike Fenrir really was.

    Boom boom!* Not only could Noah hear it, but he could feel a slight tremor in the building in the direction of the stairs. It seemed that Fenrir wanted to climb the stairs but was having a hard time achieving his goal.

    "Sigh¡­" Noah palms his face due to Fenrir''s antics, but when he removed his hand from his face he revealed a big smile that he couldn''t hide. Just the thought of an overgrown, threatening wolf, wagging his tail and asking for attention was enough to constantly put Noah in a good mood.

    Noah proceeded to stand up from the bed before Fenrir decided to try to bring the whole ce down to get to him, but that''s when he felt a tug on his arm and then he finally came to notice a warmth around his hand. He looked down to his hand and noticed Ailetta''s in his. The feeling was soforting to him that he couldn''t recollect when this happened. But thatfort and warmth made his heart unsteady, causing him to quickly loosen his grip from hers.

    It didn''t cause a rise from Ailetta at all, nor did she appear sad, but fear was written on her face. He wasn''t sure if she was genuinely afraid of Fenrir''s howl or if Fenrir''s howl really did have some kind of effect on people.

    He really wanted to inspect everything that he gained from his evolution, but he had something to do first.

    "Come outside Fenrir!"

    Boom!*

    Noah didn''t think the whole thing through before another loud impact was made and a tremor bigger than before shook the building. Fenrir didn''t think twice when he heard Noah''s voice and zoomed out of the building, effortlessly taking parts of the rest of the wall with him.

    Thinking that he was already prepared to see the new and improved version of Fenrir, he was proven wrong when he saw Fenrir standing on his four paws under the moonlight. The bulging muscles and the thick coat of fur made Fenrir''s presence astounding to say the least.

    But what made the scene even more spectacr was the faint translucent white aura hovering around his body, making his silver mane and ws appear to glow.

    "Master?.." Fenrir''s energetic exterior began to subside when he didn''t get the reaction he wanted. Even the wagging of his tail gradually came to a standstill while he watched Noah look towards the moon that he realized was full before looking back to Fenrir.

    [Lunar Empowerment(Lvl 0)- Under the full moon is when a Lycan can exhibit their full strength, increasing all of their body attributes by 50% for the entire duration thay the full moon is out.]

    "Lunar empowerment huh?"

    He muttered to himself as he was trying to find the reason for Fenrir''s glow. That''s when he noticed Fenrir was beginning to look downcast, but continued to stare towards him with an anticipating gaze.

    "You look better than I had hoped, Fenrir, I''m proud of you."

 Chapter 97 [Bonus ] 97: Is This Balanced?

    "You look better than I had hoped, Fenrir, I''m proud of you."

    It wasn''t much, but to Fenrir, Noah''s praise was everything. And it showed, just his praise alone was enough to have Fenrir''s tag wag without a sign of pausing, generating a small amount of wind that blew on the grass surrounding him.

    Just like Arachne, Noah just couldn''t help himself from smiling when interacting with Fenrir. He only knew them for just one day and yet, he felt that he already had a bond with them.

    Before Arachne finished with her transformation, Noah took this time to go through the notifications and see the new changes.

    [Fenrir has finished his evolution, bing a Demented Lycan! He now gains an addition of 10 extra attribute points per level!

    Three skills have been acquired and previous ss skills have been modified; Decimating Trance, Blood fury, and Demented Reckoning]

    [Decimating Trance: Sending an army against you would be the worst decision your enemy can make. For every kill you grow stronger, increasing your body stats by 1% per kill that caps at 50%. The window for each kill increase is open for how long you remain in a battle state.]

    [Blood Fury-Even when you''re at a disadvantage, your body will take advantage of it. For every percentage that your health drops, your body stats are increased by .5%.]

    [Demented Reckoning-Who says size doesn''t matter? You now have the decision to decide how you enjoy your blood fest. From making yourself smaller, increasing your speed and stamina in exchange for your strength and constitution or erging yourself, sacrificing your speed and stamina for your strength and constitution. There is only one change in size for both options that will lower and increase your stats by 25%, Can increase with level.]

    [Lycans Blessing has been modified Double-edge curse(Lvl 2): You lose the ability to reject and rid your body of ailments as quickly as before, but you now gain strength for every debuff ced on you. For every negative status effect your stats are increased by 15%]

    [Bing Deadly Weapons has been modified to Demented Bane(Lvl 2)-Your ws and fangs can induce an toxic, that when inflicted will cause the victim to be distraught and estrange before slowly losing their sanitypletely. Can be resisted.]

    [Predatory eleration has been modified to Speed Kills(Lvl 0): When an opponent is faster than you, your strength and constitution will be increased by 10%]

    [Predatory Roar has been modified to Howling Savagery: Your howl contains your savage aura that instills your enemies with fear that could potentially disable them or make them lose their will to fight. Allies are affected by your skill, rallying them and potentially ridding them of any mental debuff.]

    [Faster Recovery has been modified to Berserkers adrenaline: You be lost in the heat of the moment the more tired you are. The lower your stamina bes, the more you are unfazed to attacks and ailments.]

    [yer: Fenrir

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Demented Lycan

    Lvl: 10

    Exp: 137/12,800->1574/12,800

    Health:66%->100%

    Stamina:58%->100%

    Mana: 10/10->16/16

    Strength:100->200(207) [310]

    Agility:50->88 [132]

    Constitution:70->210 [315]

    Stamina:42->73 [109]

    Magic:5->8

    Spirit:50->75

    Skills

    Active

    Killing Instinct(Lvl1):N/A

    Demented Reckoning-(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Storing Strength(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Bloodlust(Lvl 0) Progression:2.9%->3.4%

    Passive

    Decimating Trance(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Blood Fury(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Double-edge curse(Lvl 1)Progression:N/A

    Demented Bane(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A<novelnext></novelnext>

    Speed Kills(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Howling Savagery(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Lunar Empowerment(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Supernatural Senses(Lvl 0)Progression:14.5%->18.8%

    Lycans Regeneration(Lvl 0)Progression:6.1%->9.3%

    Noah knew Fenrir''s stats would be insane after he saw his own stats from his advancement, but Fenrir''s stats were just as amazing. Maybe even more so than Noah''s since he doesn''t have the skill variety to fully make use of his stats yet. He really felt that Fenrir could now be considered a real boss monster and that wasn''t counting his skills! The numbers may seem small when you take into ount the small percentage increases, but all of the increases stack!

    Instead of being happy, Noah''s mood grew solemn instead as he recollected his thoughts pertaining to his first tier one monster he had to fight earlier.

    "I''ve truly been lucky till now¡­If that zombie had stats even remotely close to Fernrir''s now then would I even of had a chance in surviving?" Noah thought what would''ve happened if that giant zombie''s skin and bone was even a tad bit harder or if its strength was just a little bit stronger when it connected with him.

    But while thinking about this, Noah grew excited re-enacting the thrilling fight in his head. Yes, life may be difficult moving along, but that also meant that he will just continue getting stronger along the way and having more exciting battles toe.

    When Noah''s vision returned, he nced outside and noticed that Fenrir was still obediently waiting there. But he appeared to be growing bored. His head could be seen swerving every which way to even the tiniest of sounds, wanting to investigate.

    "Fenrir you can go out and y, but don''t go too far from here. And if you see any of those boxes" he pointed towards the chestsying on the ground after it was distributed out to the students. "Make sure to bring them back here." Noah wasn''t worried for Fenrir at all after seeing his stats and the fact that it was a full moon tonight made his assurance in Fenrir go up even more. If anything, he was more worried that he would miss out on any loot that Fenrir may obtain if he found monsters to kill.

    Fenrir''s head snapped in Noah''s direction and he stared. "I can really go?" He asked, receiving a nod back from Noah. Without even saying goodbye, Fenrri took off away from the dorms, excited to go on an adventure and test out his strength.

    ''Should I have specified how far is far?'' Noah watched Fenrir''s figure fading away in a daze. He assumed Fenrir would just stay near the dorm, but he didn''t take an animal''s territorial behavior into ount. What if Fenrir believed that the whole campus was its territory and so, ''far'' was anything past that?

    "Sigh¡­.he could only sigh to himself as he turned around to continue watching Arachne. Yet when he was gonna make his way back towards the bed he found Ailetta curled up in a ball in a deep slumber. The day has been overwhelming for her, this has been the first time she could truly rx. Everyone else couldn''t say the same, they were either too fatigued and fell asleep or they were anxious about their future.

    And when they didn''t have to use the time to worry about their own life, some of their thoughts began to shift towards their loved ones and families. Were they alive? What should I do if they''re dead? How many people immediately turned into a zombie upon awakening? Will we meet them at our next destination? Those thoughts made up what most of them were thinking.

    Noah''s gaze was filled with tenderness when seeing her sleeping state. But it was also filled with sadness, from time to time she would twitch violently while having bad dreams. No matter how unfazed she tried to appear, the life threatening situations she has experienced, the numerous deaths she had to bear witness to, killing zombies that still resemble humans. All of it was something that he felt was too much to bear for her. He reminisced about the times he was apanied by her and Ailetta was always smiling.

    He sat on the opposite bed, thinking about how many other people couldn''t appreciate how much better the world is now. Slowly, exhaustion from draining his mana was catching up to him as his eyes fell.

    ...¡­..

    "Ahhhhh!"

    "Put your weapons down! It''s his fault for coveting something that''s not his."

    "Kyle didn''t have to die for it! That beast needs to die!"

    "We chose to follow it STUPID! You can leave us out of it!"

    "What are you all doing??"

    Noah awakened from the constant yelling outside of the broken window. He wanted to see what was urring out there but when he tried to get up, he first felt a heavy weight on his chest before seeing the view of a giant spider head, with numerous eyes staring into his face. He panicked reflexively from just having to wake up to the sight, but he calmed himself when he remembered who that face belonged to.

    However that too began to confuse him, he remembered that she was gaining human body, well that''s at least what they assumed from what they observed. He took the time to allow his sleepy eyes to adjust to notice that it didn''t feel as if those eyes were looking at him at all, soon he felt a slow sensation rising and falling on his chest.

    "She''s sleeping?" He muttered to himself, but that question brought more questions. When could Arachne''s body show signs of breathing, unless!

    He first scrutinized her face, this time he was fully awake. He followed her spider head, noticing that as he went down, closer to her mouth, she still retained her fangs but they were now closer to the side of her face. Her face appeared as if it was a living mask when he saw that right below her upper lip, her face took on the characteristics of a human. Her bottom lip was ck, but her skin was a pale purple. He was so focused on her face that he didn''t recognize the silver threads moving around as she breathed was hair. The hair wasn''t much when looking at it from the front, but from her sides and the back of her head, her hair cascaded down to her mid-back.

    Speaking of her back, she really had a torso of a human, but her entire body appeared as if it was a skin tight exoskeleton that was connected to her original spider body. The exoskeleton retained her original jet ck and purple color pallet.

    The dark color pallet made it easy for Noah to see glowing lines running through her torso and throughout her spider form. The lines were the color of an emerald green, more than lines, they appeared to be simr to veins, and when those veins reached the ends of her legs, he could see that the ends which used to be purple were now the same glowing emerald green as her veins.

    "Aahoo!"

    Noah was taken out of his stupor when he heard Fenrir''s howl from outside, with the apanying sound of screaming following it.

    "Hey, Arach-?"

    With a face that showed how annoyed he was, he reached out to wake up his slumbering spider. Well he tried but he discovered that Arachne wasn''t the only person taking up space on his bed.

    On his side, Ailetta wasying there. Ailetta woke upter on that night and couldn''t fall asleep. Not with a fully opened window and the sounds of the night creatures ying through the air. She quickly scurried to Noah''s side and fell asleep while watching his face.

    But unlike the present Arachne, she was fully awake. She wasn''t able to withstand Fenrir''s roar and awoke full of fear, causing her to reach out for Noah''s arm as he was reaching for Arachne.

    "Sigh¡­" Noah took a deep breath to calm himself, and in doing so, he recognized an important fact. He didn''t know if he should be angry or not.

    "Arachne¡­I know you''re awake, go stop Fenrir please or I won''t forgive what you just pulled just now."

 Chapter 98 98: What Have You Been Doing?

    "Arachne¡­I know you''re awake, go stop Fenrir please or I won''t forgive what you just pulled just now."

    He wasn''t really upset that she was lying on him, he was upset that while the racket was going on outside, she still pretended to be asleep. That still didn''t stop Arachne from bolting off of his body and quickly darting out of the window. Even with her size, somehow she still managed to get through the tight squeeze as if it was natural.

    "And you, you either let go or follow behind me so I can see what''s going on." He turned to Ailetta before he got up himself. When he got up, naturally she chose thetter. Fenrir''s skill was much stronger than Noah was giving it credit for.

    Smack!*

    But when he arrived towards the window, he just couldn''t, he was lost for words, and astonished so much that he could only palm his face forcefully to make sure he was believing what he was seeing. The p was enough to stir Ailetta from Fenrir''s roar.

    Noah was lost for words when he saw how high the grass grew overnight, the grass was now high enough to reach his knees. And he was astonished to the scene concerning his creatures.

    ''I told her to go ''stop'' Fenrir¡­what in the world is she doing? I didn''t stay to help him.'' He looked dumbfounded at what was going on down below. Half a bodyid next to Fenrir while another was lifeless, punctured in the lower back by one of Arachne''s legs.

    "I-is that really Arachne and Fenrir?" Ailetta managed to say over the mental strain. She was more surprised over the two creatures'' appearance that the fact they killed two people didn''t register with her.

    Before Noah said anything, first he observed what was going on. They only killed two so it should be fine, what was more important to Noah was why. That''s when Noah saw at least seven chests ced a little further behind Fenrir. The chests weren''t that great, they were only bronze and silver, with one being gold. But what wasn''t great to him was a literal treasure to anyone else.

    He could already hypothesize a few reasons for why they were here. But he noticed that just like Ailetta, they were stunned from Fear, but there was one that wasn''t. The fact he didn''t see them all this time while traversing the campus already had his mind set on them being weak, but that one must have a unique skill at least.

    He was about to jump down, but he needed to grab the cores he spent so much time working on. If his creatures killed a few more then they could only me themselves.

    "Fenrir, Noah told me to stop you. Because of you I got in trouble!"

    "But, but what did I do?"

    "It doesn''t matter, it only matters that Noah believes you did something bad, you owe me now."

    Noah arrived jumping out of the window to hear his two creatures talking. Just from the conversation alone he could already tell the personality of the two after evolving. He was also surprised that unlike Fenrir, Arachne actually was calling him by his name.

    "Arachne you''ll be in further trouble if you don''t tell me why you have that under your foot." The two stiffen when they heard Noah''s voice.

    Arachne panicked since she felt that she was going to get in trouble again.

    "The food tried to touch me, food should know it''s ce." She said with a shaky voice but her demeanor showed just how emotional she felt towards the subject.

    ''Oh no¡­'' Noah felt a headacheing on when he heard her. ''Her arrogant Queen mentality is starting to bloom.''

    "Wait! These are your creatures?"

    "Ah! He''s a monster too!"

    Someone shouted when Noah turned to face the new arrivals.

    He couldn''t tell who they were, but he knew they were students too, given their age and number.

    They weren''t aware of Noah''s existence so they weren''t prepared to see a human with four shining purple pupils, nor were they prepared for the instinctual fear they felt when looking into his eyes, it was almost on the same level as the two monsters before him.

    "Fuck! Why did you tell us to follow that beast? Look what it lead us to! You need to get us out of this!"

    Noah noticed the group getting upset at both him and a¡­little girl? No It was just a short woman. In her hand was a bow and on her back was an open book bag being used as a quiver. Unless she found the mystery shop keeper, Noah didn''t understand where she obtained the arrows. But the girl was apparently very sheepish. She seemed to cower when the students yelled at her, but that didn''t seem right. If she didn''t have the qualities of a leader then why did the group follow her?

    "N-no, I¡­I said that it mig-might belong to someone, b-because it was collecting the chest¡­"

    "Wait there''s other people here! Please save us!" The group ignored her trying to defend herself when someone shouted.

    At this time Ishii and the rest came out of the dorm, they saw what was happening outside and rushed toe out before Noah killed them all. That result may not happen, but deep down, people like Ishii and Jasmine all felt that way. They were justteing out because Fenrir''s roar had affected them too.

    "Noah let m-" Ishii, who was the most rxed to interact with Noah tried to remove Noah from the interaction, but was met with a cold stare.

    There were a lot of things going on in Noah''s head, but the only emotion he had was of annoyance as he faced the new group.

    "You''re lucky I have more important things to worry about right now¡­"

    The new group were left dumbfounded when they saw Noah turn away from them and left to his two monsters.

    "That''s it? What about our friends?? You killed them!"

    "So? It''s only food, you all die all the time." Arachne spoke in Noah''s ce. She didn''t make the situation any better, but at least with that, they would at least avoid them.

    During this time Jasmine, who was standing besides Mark, watched Noah with a conflicting gaze before she, along with Ishi, addressed the new people.

    When Mark awakened, she cried in happiness. Mark was confused about what had happened and felt that he died. Jasmine exined to him about how Noah was going to leave him to die and then defeated the zombie, just to give them the cure to save him in the end. But it was the question that Jasmine asked Mark that made her see Noah in a new light.

    "What was that skill you used? The one that made all of the zombies'' attacks slow down? Why didn''t you tell me about this before?" But she was only met with confusion as Mark looked towards her in bewilderment and said.

    "What skill? I didn''t use a skill like that, I was just movi-!"

    The two seemed to finally realize what had happened. During that time, Mark believed he was going so fast that time would seem to slow whenever the tentacles approached, but if Jasmine could see it too then that could only mean one thing.

    "He was helping you all this time."

    "He was helping me all this time." They both said in tandem before looking at each other in disbelief.

    ....

    Noah wasn''t aware of the new development between the two, he was more focused on his creatures.

    "Why can''t you ever behave? He asked impatiently towards Fenrir whose demeanor became downcast until he heard Noah''s following words.

    You two are always creating trouble when I''m not watching you. Either start trouble when you''re around me or don''t start it at all." Noah didn''t realize it, but there were still curious people that were focused on what he was discussing. They could only gain more distance from him as a result.

    "Don''t forget me too!" Ailetta came out of nowhere before entering their circle. Fenrir remembered her from before and looked to Noah for orders, while Arachne stared her down.

    "Calm down Fenrir, she''ll be with us for a while. That reminds me¡­" he pulled out the space bag from his inventory and quickly dumped the valuables inside into his ring before giving her the bag.

    "You can help me by sorting through these chests." He specified how he wanted it to be sorted. The attribute orbs would be collected and sat next to each other forter, and skill scrolls would be ced in its own pile while potions would be put in the bag. Everything else will be put into a pile so he could check individually.

    It didn''t take long for the two to quickly empty the contents. Thankfully, Fenrir traveled back and forth through the area so many times that the grass in the area was ttened considerably. In the chest, there happened to be only one skill scroll, mundane weapons that he didn''t bother to collect that was obtained from the bronze and silver chest and two potions. One was a tier 0 mana potion while the other was a tier 0 cure for the infection. Within one of the silver chests they found armor resembling the full body one he currently had. Not only was the defense meagre to Noah, but so were the stats. He nned to just give it to Ailetta before they left.

    Out of the orbs, there were 6 of them, but 5 of them were only the attribute orbs that increased the stats by 5 while the other one increased it by 10. Two of the five happened to be mana, while two of the others were strength and thest being agility. The +10 attribute orb was for spirit.

    He looked towards Ailetta who happened to be staring towards him, wondering what to do next. "What''s your level and stats?" He had to ask to figure out his next steps. If her steps were truly abysmal then he would distribute some to her if he was gonna allow her to follow him for the time being.

    "Well¡­.I''m-"

    [yer: Ailetta

    Race:Human

    ss: Arcanist

    Gold: 320

    Lvl: 7

    Exp:1231/1600<novelnext></novelnext>

    Health:100%

    Stamina:100-%

    Mana: 96/96

    Attributes

    Defense: 5

    Strength:12

    Agility:15

    Constitution:12+2

    Stamina:12

    Magic: 45+3

    Spirit:24+2

    Unassigned Points: 0]

    Noah''s eyes winced when he heard her tell him her stats and level. He thought that she was just ying a bad trick, but when he saw her cheeks turning red, along with her eyes not being able to stop looking towards the ground, he knew that she was telling the truth.

    "What the hell have you all been doing??" His voice caused everyone to turn towards them. But no one dared to go over.

    "W-well¡­we all agreed that those orbs should go to the people who need them, so strength, constitution and stamina would go to the fighters. The magic and spirit to magic base sses and¡­yeah¡­" She poked her fingers together innocently while taking brief nces to Noah, who just couldn''t believe what he was hearing.

    "Wha-what are you doing?" Ailetta became startled when she saw Noah ce all of the orbs in front of her. But each time he ced one, the strength of how he ced it became more aggressive.

    "Never again." His single phrase caused her to be confused.

    "Not giving those orbs to yourself is essentially saying that you trust those people with your life more than you do yourself. I''ve seen the few times you could''ve been killed. Where were those people then? You can''t be so naive, not if you n on following me, strengthes first, because without it you''ll only die. Use these now so we can go."

    Defense: 5

    Strength:12->22

    Agility:15->20

    Constitution:12 +2

    Stamina:12

    Magic: 45->55 +3

    Spirit:24->34 +2

    After using the orbs and seeing her stats, Ailetta looked towards Noah with watery eyes ready to fall.

    "Sniff* I promise to get stronger soon Noah¡­"

    When she was getting emotional, Noah noticed that she paused, he thought something went wrong until she unfroze and looked at him again.

    "I got something called a perk¡­it''s a skill for getting my mana to 50."

    Noah was shocked once again, not by what she said, but how she said it.

    "Don''t tell me no one in your group has received a perk yet?" He hoped that she would say they had, otherwise he would question how they stayed alive so long. But her question only made her more emotional.

    "I don''t know¡­.are those things you''re supposed to talk about? No one shared their skills with me¡­Jas has Mark, Bailey has Ibby and Paul, Ailicia has Ishii and Isabelle rarely talks¡­I¡­I¡­I don''t know.." She began to tear up when she realized that even though she was surrounded by so many people she was more alone than she had realized.

    Noah didn''t know how to react to this. But he knew that he shouldn''t press her anymore.

    "Sigh¡­well that''s in the past, I''ll help you get stronger along the way." He helped Ailetta to her feet to finish going through the rest of the items. He had her ce the armor in her bag to wearter while he emptied the chest of its gold.

    "Well what skill did you get from the perk?" He couldn''t help but ask, all of his perks have benefited him, he hoped it would be the same for her.

    "It''s called ''Summoners conservation''. The skill lets me save 10% more mana on skills that use my summon creature." She said, astonished at the fact she was able to get a free skill for free.

    He nodded his head in satisfaction before bringing his attention to the skill scroll. The skill happened to be a taming skill. He appreciated the fact that the skills he get are now based on his ss, but he also has the mage ss too, he wanted more mage skills, his monsters were already fine without him.

    Even though he felt this way, he couldn''t say no. His creatures were his greatest asset and strength, and he would always have to rely on them when he encountered something he couldn''t handle. However he just didn''t know how this skill would benefit him at the moment.

    [Grant lesser magic confirmed!]

    Grant lesser magic-Increase the magic stat of a tamed creature by 10 percent of its ''total'' strength for 15 seconds. Increases after the usage of the skill will still apply. Can also be stacked with the same skill, but the usage in mana will increase with each stack of use. Skill is also influenced by spirit.]

    He felt that he would have to search for a creature that could use magic in the future or at least find magic skills for his creatures. On the topic of skills, he looked towards Ailetta, half tempted not to ask.

    "How many skills do you have? Don''t tell me you shared those too?" He was already expecting the answer, but he could only frown when he saw her silently nod her head.

    "¡­They said that the skills should go to their required roles, it sounded right to me.."

    "I just can''t¡­..you guys are really treating this like a video game. And they call me crazy¡­.wait¡­" He stared at his ring, his eyes seemed to have gone in a trance. To others, that''s what it would look like, but Noah was in the middle of searching through his ring for an item.

    "Hear learn this, it''s not something I can use. However I don''t know how your ss works so I can''t tell you if it''s good, but for now any skill would be good for you.

    He gave her the scroll to use. She looked towards the scroll and then to Noah before looking towards the scroll again, more determined than before.

    "The skill is called ''mana flow'' and it allows me to reabsorb 20 percent of the mana that was used to summon it after I end the skill." She said excitedly. But then she looked at Noah, clear shock in her eyes.

    "Has the system asked you if you want to integrate your custom skills into it? I''ve been meaning to ask you since you are probably the best person to ask. Jasmine decided not to, but I have two skills that I could integrate and I feel that it might be better to do so." She ranted without even knowing the mini explosion she caused to go off in Noah''s head.

    "Wait, wait, wait¡­you can create your own skills?" He asked impatiently, gradually he came to realize how stupid he sounded. ''Now who''sparing this to a game, of course you should be able to make your own skills!''

    Ailetta felt that something wasn''t right, ''he was so strong and he never once made his own skill? Then how did he get so many skills?'' Even though she felt something was off, she was gonna answer him anyways, but Noah beat her to it.

    "Nevermind, that was a dumb question. I would say if it''s a skill you feel that you can upgrade on your own then you shouldn''t integrate it. You might not even need an upgrade stone if you do it that way. But some skills might be better to have in the system just for tha-"

    "Noah? Noah? The food is waiting for you"

    Noah and Ailetta soon became aware of what was going on around them when Arachne nudged his shoulders with her hands; it was the only part of her limbs that didn''t have the glowing green color, which he assumed was poison.

    He turned to the direction she was facing and noticed the ''food'' she was referring to.

    For some reason the people there were looking towards them with dumbstruck expressions and some even had looks of jealousy and envy. Noah wouldn''t know that they all had stopped what they were doing when they saw Noah give Ailetta a small pile of attribute orbs and even a skill!

    The worst part of it was that Ailetta was just average! This was only bound to set off the women who would kill to be given resources like that.

    Coughs* Jasmine became aware that Noah and Ailetta had finally noticed them, even though she was originally only calling for Ailetta, but Arachne for some reason had to say they were calling for Noah.

    "We are all nning on leaving soon after we collect some things from the dorm, are you twoing with us?"

 Chapter 99 99: Pathetic

    "We are all nning on leaving soon after we collect some things from the dorm, are you twoing with us?"

    Silence was all that followed, everyone, including the neers waited while holding their breaths, all for two different reasons. One side wanted the maniac to go away while the other felt that the journey would be literal hell without him. Noah looked at her as if he was looking at an idiot.

    "Of course we''re not going t-"

    "Noah, wait!"

    Ailetta interrupted him, her face full of concern. Hearing her behind him, Noah''s shoulders slumped and he breathed out slowly before turning around.

    "Don''t tell me you want to follow them, even after they used you?" His question confused the people listening in, they weren''t sure what he meant by those words at all since all of them had also agreed to share their things.

    He noticed the slight reluctance in her behavior, but she still looked him in the eyes and said.

    "Yes, but¡­I just want to make sure they get there safely¡­after that then I don''t mind going anywhere else, with just us.." She spoke thest part almost in a whisper from embarrassment, but Noah''s focus was on another particr bit she said.

    "Make it there safely? What are you talking about? Make it where?" He asked, Noah wasn''t privy to the information about the government making one of their many checkpoints that was nearby.Ailetta took the time to exin to him how they had bought a radio from the mystery seller that actually worked, and how they were able to find out about the location that was supposed to be safe.

    This was definitely news to Noah, but he felt that it was also logical. They had guns, vehicles and a better mentality to fight back what was happening. Of course, he wasn''t aware of the fact that using guns not only would cause monsters not to drop any loot, but it would also lower the quality of their advancement. But as he was thinking these things, Ailettta pressed on.

    "And remember when you told me to get a good ''deal'' from Jasst night? Well we thought that giving you rights to a certain amount of their loot would be nice, and¡­and not just that but if we go in arge group then wouldn''t that mean that we would attract more things for you to kill? I thought that even you would like that.." she tried to find reason with what she was saying but noticed the dissatisfaction on his face. "I''m sorry Noah¡­I just want to make sure they get there safely¡­"

    She told her true feelings in the end, but Ailetta had no idea that her words had struck a chord of fear into most of the people there. Instinctively they believed that there was safety in numbers, but they failed to realize that even though that may be the case, theirrge numbers are bound to attract more monsters. The wheels in their panicked minds turned fast while Noah considered Ailetta''s plea.

    "Noah" Hearing Arachnes voice call out to him, he turned to hear what she had to say.

    "Food attracts bigger food." She said while licking her bottom lip, thinking about all she would be able to eat. Yet her words frightened everyone even more.

    "Maybe we should stay here and wait for the army."

    "We should have enough food to hold out for a week."

    "No! I can''t stay here another week!"

    The discussions had already started again, lowering the morale of everyone one at a time.

    Noah knew that the two had a point, but it was still hard for him to ept, epting would mean being around these annoying people even longer. However he knew that it meant a lot to Ailetta, if all it took for her to finally move on was to just take them to that location then it didn''t seem like such a bad decision anymore.

    "Fine.." His agreement caused Ailetta to smile, also causing the few that actually wanted him to join to sigh in relief.

    "But I''m not part of their group, if they die then it''s not on me, and don''t pull a stunt like you didst night. If you were to die saving them then wouldn''t they just die anyway when they find themselves in danger again afterwards? I''m not going to make you stronger just for you to sacrifice yourself for these pathetic people.

    "H-hey"

    "Why are you evening then?"

    Noah turned to see the angry faces of the neers pointing towards him. He also noted a few from the original group, as well as many that clearly showed dissatisfaction.

    "I''m noting for you, just act like I''m not even there, how about we start now?" Noah turned his back to them and began to address Ailetta again, wanting to hear her response.

    "Grrrr!" The ones that were the most upset with how Noah treated them wanted tosh out, but when they heard the growling of Fenrir next to Noah they were smart enough to hold their tongues.

    "¡­.So it''s fine for me to still help them?" She asked to be sure, earning a slow nod in return.

    On the outside, Ailetta was relieved that Noah agreed, but inwardly she was nervous about what could happen. Jasmine, who was listening this entire time, thought this would be a good chance to interject.

    "If you decided then know that we will be leaving soon. But we all have to make a decision now before we go anywhere. Afterst night, we thought that maybe it would be better if we acquired transportation to reach the checkpoint or would it be better to walk there? We need to alle to an agreement on this, and soon."

    "Of course we should go by car!

    "South Kenyastad is almost on the other side of the town! It would take at least the entire day to get there if we walk! Even longer if we run into those things!"

    Immediately the masses began to make their decisions, but the majority were an overwhelming yes for using transportation. They just didn''t know that there was really only one person who had the final say.

    "What do you think?" Jasmine asked in worry, she knew best about the difficulties they will have to endure if Noah didn''te. The best oue would be making it to their destination with half of them still alive, and the worse? She didn''t want to think of it.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Ailetta looked to Noah and saw that he was frowning. She looked towards his creatures and immediately assumed that he would rather walk because of them.

    "Jas, That''s not fair to Noah, his creatures are too big, they won''t fit in a car.."

    "Then they should just follow along, I''ve seen how fast that wolf is. It should be easy for it to follow along even if we are in a car, that spider¡­.thing, should be no different!"

    "Right! If we all decide to drive there then what does it matter what he thinks?"

    Their words even caused Ailetta to grow upset listening to them. Noah''s frown only deepened, but his eyes were resolute as if he had always had his answer.

    "Like I said before, you all are pathetic. Ailetta, I''m sorry, well not really, but I''m not going if killing themselves is their way of staying alive." He walked towards Fenrir and Arachne, prepared to leave if Ailetta still decided to follow them. His heart was restless, but he just couldn''t go through with what they were doing and he couldn''t follow Ailetta''s decision if she still chose to go through with their idiotic n.

    "No-Noah wait!" This time, to Noah''s surprise, it was Mark who called out to him. Noah was ready to hear stupid bbering about self sacrifice and stuff that didn''t pertain to him, but when he turned towards Mark. That spiteful, arrogant demeanor wasn''t there. He looked, troubled?

    "What do you mean by killing ourselves? What do you know?" He asked, but his face began to look distorted, Mark was trying hard to keep his real thoughts to himself. He couldn''t help getting upset seeing how selfish and uncaring Noah was, but he had to admit that Noah was stronger, stronger than him, stronger than their entire group, he had to respect his strength at least.

    Noah was stunned to hear Mark speak to him without hearing a toneced with venom, for a second he didn''t respond, but seeing that even Ailetta looked curiously to his reasoning, he decided to exin.

    "Look at Fenrir here." He patted Fenrir''s thick leg full of muscle. "He can easily knock a car over and probably even cut it in half. There are creatures out there that could do the same thing, and yet you would gamble your lives in something where you would have no escape or no way to fight back to protect yourself?

    But most importantly. How will you grow stronger if you are avoiding the things that will make you stronger? Like I said, just pathetic."

    His reason wasn''t enough to convince them all. If whatever could kill them while in a car then wouldn''t that mean their death would be more certain if they had to fight it? However the people who were slowly epting what the world was turning into knew that Noah was right.

    And then there were people like Mark, Ishii and Ailetta who took histter words to heart.

    "Jas, we''re walking." Mark suddenly said to her. Surprising the masses.

    "What? What about all of us deciding? You can''t make that decision!" Regina shouted in protest, but then from her surprise Ishii spoke up next.

    "I think driving is a bad choice as well, I''m with Mark." With Ishii agreeing, the entire group that came with him from the library supported his decision as well. Everyone else was too afraid to speak up.

    "If only we decide to walk, will you stille with us?" Ishii asked Noah.

    "Isn''t that what I said before?" Noah''s confirmation made Ishii''s eyes light up excitedly.

    "Do our voices not matter! We don''t want this!" The people who were against the decision raged, leaving Jasmine to respond to their frustrations.

    "Well it seems this is where we part ways then. Who knows who is making the right decision, but I hope we will all get to where we are going safely." Jasmine had already made her decision when Noah had made his stance. He may not feel obligated to help them, but she''s seen the way he''s done things and she didn''t believe that he would let them fight on their own all the time. He was obsessed with strength. As long as they handled their part then he would be potentially saving them unintentionally.

    However her words put the others in a tough predicament, those people were the same who believed in safety in numbers and now those numbers were cut by half. What was worse was that the half that was cut consisted of most of their strongest people. Forget about what if they encountered a creature that could destroy a car, they would have difficulties with everything they encounter if they couldn''t solve the problem by driving away.

    "He''s just one person¡­.why are you doing this?" Neal was the one to cry this time. He didn''t want this to happen. Who cares about trying to get stronger? They can do that after they reach safety!

    "We made our decision, there''s still time before we go if you want to grab anything from the rooms before we leave!" Jasmine dered, spurring the people to start moving. The girls were the ones who most needed to grab their things, but they wouldn''t do so if there was no one to apany them. Everyone had to go in groups.

    There were some people who were smart enough to change their minds to stick with the group, but the majority of the new arrivals, along with a few others, still decided that taking vehicles was a better n. They were desperate to reach safety as soon as possible.

    "I''m sorry¡­" Ailetta approached Noah with a guilty conscience.

    "Just don''t make me regret this, are you going to go grab anything?" He asked, but Ailetta only shook her head in response.

    "Then go put on that gear you put in the bag before we go." He motioned her back to the dorm.

    There were still few people outside, but none of them mattered as he turned to his creatures, specifically Arachne. After frowning most of the time, he had finally revealed a small smirk.

    "Now let''s see how strong you became."

    ....

    A/N: Some or you may not like the route Noah took, but this is the best way for Ailetta to progress faster that doesn''t seem forced.

 Chapter 100 100: Leaving The Campus

    A/N: I have came to a decision that I will not continue doing 7 chapters a week. I''m still too inexperienced after realizing that I''ve made too many blunders recently. I''ve spent the time yesterday to fix those. Honestly the mistakes missed wasn''t enough to change the story in any way so far, but I''ll list the changes so you don''t have to find them.

    Noah was supposed to had receive a perk for his stamina reaching 50 at chapter 85 which in turn would have Arachne and Fenrir gain perks pre-evolution and change their stats. I won''t list those skills here because the skills will change anyways after their evolution, but Fenrir''s new perks are;

    Faster Recovery has been modified to Berserkers adrenaline: You be lost in the heat of the moment the more tired you are. The lower your stamina bes, the more you are unfazed to attacks and ailments.

    and you can see Arachne''s new skill in this chapter.

    ...

    Chapter 100:

    "Now let''s see how strong you became."

    As he spoke, Arachne disyed a proud smile almost as if she waspletely assured that her new strength would please him.

    "I''m stronger than Fenrir!"

    "Gr?"

    Fenrir was confused why he was brought into the conversation. ''What does she mean stronger? How does she know?'' His mind just couldn''tprehend what was going on.

    Noah made sure that he was close enough to his creatures so he wasn''t interrupted as he went through his notifications, he was sure that there was gonna be a lot of information just like there was with Fenrir.

    [Arachne has finished her evolution, bing an Impure Queen! She now gains an addition of 10 extra attribute points per level!

    [Since Arachne allowed herself to be tainted by you, she has also chosen to follow your path and has obtained the title ''The Fallen''.]

    Three skills have been acquired and previous ss skills have been modified; Sinful Decree, Wrongful Judgment, Embodiment of Sins]

    [Sinful Decree- You are a queen and no one should stand higher than you, for if they do, they aremitting a grave sin. When you are opposed, for every heretic opposing you, you can lower any, one stat by half if that stat is higher than yours. If the heretic happens to be the same race as you then you can lower two stats by half, for going against their own Queen is an ever greater sin. Each use consumes 10 mana, when the enemy is inflicted, mana isn''t needed to continue the skill.]

    [Wrongful Judgment- Imbuing your webs in your tainted mana, you can attach it to those you view are wrongful doers that will punish them when proven guilty. The webs would slowly attempt to imbed itself into the heretics skin and when the stat that was proven sinful by Sinful Decree bes lower than half of your stat that was sphemed against, they will be inflicted with your judgement pertaining to that attribute. Consumes 1 mana to imbue your webs for each web used.]

    [Embodiment of Sins- All atrocities against you should be punished, when the heretic is under the influence of Sinful Decree and is in the process of being judged, Embodiment of Sins will test their loyalty. Every second will decrease the state being judged by one point per second until their sin has been decided.

    [Caught in the eyes of the spider has been modified to Queen''s unfair gaze(Lvl 2): Why anticipate an action when you canmand it? When your eyes are set on a target, you have a higher chance to manipte the target''s actions .

    [Painful Death has been modified to Tainted demise (Lvl 1)-Your poison is more than just a weapon to kill, your poison will now constantly decrease the opponents body stats by .5 points per second.

    [Recovering Leap has been modified to Gracious offering(Lvl 1): Choosing a target, as long as both targets allow it, connect yourself with the target, allowing your webs to imbed itself into them. For every 5% of stamina absorbed, only 1% is retained.

    [Healing Slumber has been modified to Reconstructinglimbs(Lvl 1): No matter if it''s your spider legs or human arms, as long as the limb is lost, you can regrow it. A fully lost limb can take up to 24 hours to grow.]

    [Danger sense has been modified to Queen''s Intuition(Lvl 1): When there''s anything that can threaten your hierarchy, your sixth sense will notice. From plotting, to intentions, you will sometimes notice it as long as it is within one of your senses.]

    [yer: Arachne

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Impure Queen/Rouge

    Lvl: 10

    Exp:234/12800

    Health:100%

    Stamina:100%

    Mana: 10/10->18/18

    Attributes

    Strength:57->114(121)

    Agility:173->303

    Constitution:50->150

    Stamina:60->105

    Magic: 6->9

    Spirit: 50->100

    Unassigned Points: 0

    Skills.

    Active

    Sinful Decree(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Wrongful Judgment(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Embodiment of Sins(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Paralysis Venom(Lvl 0):progression-44.5%

    Cursed Silk(Lvl 0):progression-40.2%

    Coated arms(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Passive

    Spider Sense(Lvl 0)]:progression-46.2%<novelnext></novelnext>

    Stealth(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Queen''s unfair gaze(Lvl 2):progression:N/A

    Tainted demise(Lvl 1):progression-N/A

    Reconstructinglimbs(Lvl 1):progression-N/A

    Gracious offering((Lvl 1):progression-N/A

    Danger sense(Lvl 1):progression-N/A

    Human tongue(Lvl 0):progression-N/A

    He didn''t have to take long reviewing the information he received, but her skills weren''t as direct as Fenrir''s so he took longer to fully understand her new developed skills. She appeared to be the direct opposite of him.

    ''Instead of obtaining stats, hers skills seem to focus on lowering the enemies stats. But both are good in their own way. Lowering someone''s stats would make it hard to adjust if the decrease isrge enough and if a fight is drawn out long enough then it''ll only be in her favor.''

    But while he was thinking that, his eyes narrowed on two particr things that concerned him with what he saw.

    ''There it goes calling me tainted again¡­but what does it mean for her to be a fallen too! She never cared about humans in the first - I shouldn''t count right? No¡­.her evolution even said that she would be despised by her own kind so it could mean that as well¡­I should just count this as a blessing because¡­''

    He looked towards the bottom of her stats, to what was causing him the most concern.

    ''With only 9 magic, she would only have enough mana to use that skill one time in a battle!''

    Now he had to change his opinion. Fenrir waspletely superior for right now until she was able to increase her mana, but this is also why he was happy that she obtained the title. With it, she can also use the cores to increase not only her skills, but also her magic.

    Since Ailetta hadn''t arrived yet, he grabbed a handful of cores from his ring to give to Arachne. As soon as the cores appeared, both Fenrir''s and Arachne''s gaze snapped towards his hands; they didn''t have to know what it was, but their bodies were automatically attracted to it. Arachne desired the cores more than she did the cores of the spider.

    "Wait your turn Fenrir, I''ll give you some in a bit." He dumped the cores into Arachne''s, causing a few to fall down and her gasping in panic because of her hands that were surprisingly smaller than his, however the fingers weren''t like his at all and appeared more like ws.

    Noah picked the rest of them up to give to her why she slowly savored the cores one by one. Noah didn''t notice the first time, but after she took her time with the second one he was growing impatient.

    "Fine, here Fenrir, since Arachne doesn''t want anymore you can have the rest."

    Gasp!*

    Arachne gasped even louder than before, with both hands still holding cores, she attempted to shove them all in her mouth at once.

    "...Just eat them faster, you don''t have to try to eat them all at one time." Even though he could tell both Arachne and Fenrir became smarter, they both had their childish moments and were still growing.

    Noah was tempted to tease her, but he just needed to see how much of an impact the new cores would have on her so her action right now actually benefited him.

    [Your tamed creature Arachne has consumed the mana source of itspatible species. Mana and progression of its skills linked to the mana source has been increased. Due to the title ''The Fallen''you have acquired an affinity to mana and extracted the full amount of mana to increase your magic source.]

    Attributes

    Strength:114(121)

    Agility: 303

    Constitution:150

    Stamina:105

    Magic: 9->17

    Spirit: 100

    "Why are you smiling like that?" Noah was interrupted by Ailetta who was now wearing the full suit of armor. The smile he wore disappeared, but he still wore a small smirk when seeing Ailetta wearing something that didn''t match her personality at all.

    The two waited for some time while the rest of the people were finishing up retrieving their items. Almost 30 minutes passed until there were signs of peopleing out of the dorms.

    "We were nning on going through the side gate to avoid the zombie from before, but now that it''s not an issue anymore, it''ll save us the trouble of making a detour. How do you all think we should proceed?" Mark was the one to step up to answer Jasmine''s question.

    "She should stick to what we have been doing in ourst fights. Front line should be anyone who is efficient in closebat and have our Mages and support in the back. But we should atleast have someone ready to aid our back line in case we are nked." Everyone nodded their heads instinctively in agreement, but something wasn''t right.

    "What about them? Shouldn''t they be in the front instead?" Someone pointed out Noah''s creatures. Putting a wry smile on the faces of the people who had a sense of Noah''s character.

    "That''ll be up to him, don''t think of him as part of our group." Ishii was the next to respond, but there were many people who didn''t like that answer.

    "If he''s not part of our group then why does he get to decide if we walk or not? And why does he get to choose to walk behind us while we confront the danger? Are you trying to say his life matters more?" Neal began to do what he does best, ying with words.

    Almost everyone saw the scene from their windows when Noah defeated the tentacle zombie and they all experienced the fear provoked within them just from his wolf howling. If Noah was going to follow them then Neal would rather Noah take care of all their burdens while he was at it.

    Naturally the people who fear the most for their lives agreed with Neal''s rant.

    "He''s not deciding, we are, we also said that you didn''t have to follow our decision, just like everyone else here. If you don''t want toe with us then don''t. We will also be there fighting with you, yet you don''t see usining. Now let''s go before we waste anymore time." Mark surprisingly defended Noah, but he had other intentions on doing so.

    If Noah was leading the way then how would he ever grow stronger?

    Even though there were people who felt aggrieved from their decision, they didn''t want to be left behind either.

    Just like Neal surmised, Noah dyed himself before following in their footsteps, feeding both Arachne and Fenrir the cores fromst night while Ailetta watched in deep thought after Noah had exined to her about their benefits.

    This went on until they arrived at what was supposed to be an empty lot, but now there were enough zombies to rival their own group when counting the number of zombies both in the lot and the ones that could be seen past the gate.

    What was most concerning were the zombies that didn''t appear as ordinary zombies, one in particr reminded the others of the giant skeleton they witnessed outside of the dorm.

    Even Noah was surprised at what he was witnessing as he began to have second thoughts and began to mutter loudly enough for Ailetta to hear.

    "My exp, my exp¡­."

 Chapter 101 101: Youâ€™re Dispensable

    "My exp, my exp¡­."

    Noah felt conflicted when seeing the zombies that could him so much experience. But in doing so he would be doing exactly what everyone wanted which bothered him greatly since it wouldn''t feel like his decision.

    "Master, let me show you how strong I am!" Fenrir spoke as if almost begging, his paws were already itching with excitement.

    "Noah, I also want to prove myself, and I haven''t eaten yet." Arachne followed behind.

    Hearing his creatures helped to clear Noah''s internal struggles. ''What do they have to do when ites to what I want to do? My goal has never changed, I''ll continue to keep getting stronger. If they believe that I''m saving them then so be it, if they want to hide behind me then that''s even better, and if they die? Well then they should''ve been stronger..''

    [yer: Arachne

    Race: Jumping Spider

    ss: Arachnid/Rouge

    Lvl: 10

    Exp:234/12800

    Health:100%

    Stamina:100%

    Mana: 34/34->90/90

    Attributes

    Strength:114(121)

    Agility: 303

    Constitution:150

    Stamina:105

    Magic: 17->45

    Spirit: 100

    Unassigned Points: 0

    Skills.

    Active

    Sinful Decree(Lvl 1):progression-.8%

    Wrongful Judgment(Lvl 1):progression-.8%

    Embodiment of Sins(Lvl 1):progression-.8%

    Paralysis Venom(Lvl 1):progression-1.8%

    Cursed Silk(Lvl 1):progression-1.1%

    Coated arms(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Passive

    Spider Sense(Lvl 1)]:progression-1.6%

    Stealth(Lvl 0):progression-0%

    Queen''s unfair gaze(Lvl 2):progression:N/A

    Tainted demise(Lvl 1):progression-N/A

    Reconstructinglimbs(Lvl 1):progression-N/A

    Gracious offering((Lvl 1):progression-N/A

    Danger sense(Lvl 1):progression-N/A

    Human tongue(Lvl 0):progression-N/A]

    Noah''s eyes gleamed when he went over Arachne''s stats and skill progression after devouring the mana cores. But he didn''t n on using the few tier one cores. Just the tier 0 cores he had already was enough to inspire huge changes in both Arachne and Fenrir.

    Arachne was able to increase the level of six of her skills to level one. He was beyond excited when he learned that his creatures wouldn''t need to use upgrade stones just like him. But he wasn''t sure if her human skills would be the same.

    All of her skills were able to give her a rtive increase in strength after leveling. Her biggest change, in Noah''s opinion, was that the Sinful Decree went from 10 mana per use, down to 8. And Embodiment of Sins now lowered the enemies stats by 1.5 stats per second.

    That doesn''t mean that the improvement of her other skills were any less useful. The same was said for Fenrir.

    [yer: Fenrir

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Demented Lycan

    Lvl: 10

    Exp: 1574/12,800->9,933/12,800

    Health:66%->100%

    Stamina:58%->100%

    Mana: 16/16->38/38

    Strength:200(207)

    Agility:88

    Constitution:210

    Stamina:73

    Magic:8->19

    Spirit:75

    Skills

    Active<novelnext></novelnext>

    Killing Instinct(Lvl1):N/A

    Demented Reckoning-(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Bloodlust(Lvl 0) Progression:3.4%

    Storing Strength(Lvl 0)Progression:0%

    Passive

    Decimating Trance(Lvl 1)Progression:0%->.2%

    Blood Fury(Lvl 1)Progression:0%->.2%

    Lunar Empowerment(Lvl 1)Progression:0%->.4%

    Supernatural Senses(Lvl 1)Progression:18.8%->2.1%

    Lycans Regeneration(Lvl 1)Progression:9.3%->1.1%

    Double-edge curse(Lvl 1)Progression:N/A

    Demented Bane(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Speed Kills(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Berserkers adrenaline(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    Howling Savagery(Lvl 0)Progression:N/A

    The same with Fenrir, all of his racial skills had leveled up as well. But every skill that leveled up for him was important to mention. Everyone, in some way, increased his stats even more. He was really bing a powerhouse in his own right.

    Seeing how quickly Fenrir was growing after his nightly adventure made Noah remember that he still had to change the way they were sharing experience. Since his creatures were now getting bonus experience, he chose to do a 60-40 split for each. The extra experience would make up for the difference while allowing him to grow stronger.

    Turning towards Ailetta, he noticed that she was already looking towards him with the intent to fight.

    "Are you willing to fight with me?" His question caused her eyes to widen in shock before she eventually smiled.

    "That''s what I''ve always wanted!"

    Noah couldn''t help but smile in return, his smile faded just as quickly as it came before addressing her.

    "For now, just stay close to me and use your skills. We will slowly raise your level as we go. Do you think you can control one of the special ones after we bring it down?"

    "Hmm I should be able to if I try hard enough. But¡­is it fine?" She asked while shifting her gaze towards everyone ahead of them.

    Noah was quick to catch on to what she was referring to since he was just thinking about it not too long ago.

    "Yes¡­its fine¡­." He stated with a calm mind and looked at his creatures once again.

    "They may think they are using me, but in the end, when the words of that ''God'' transpires, they will soon find out why they should''ve been fighting this entire time."

    Ailetta appeared to be hit by a sudden revtion. ''How could I have forgotten?''. Everyone, including her that were within their group paid any heed to the ''Gods'' words after they got over his ominous deration. She couldn''t help but look over to Jasmine and the people she still considered friends.

    "Shouldn''t we tel-no¡­.is it fine if I tell them?" She asked with an expression full of worry. If she nned to leave them like she said she would then wouldn''t they be fated to die if they continued like this? But Noah could only shrug.

    "It doesn''t matter as long as they don''t try to tell me what to do. But you need to wake up." Her face showed that she was confused but internally, she felt a tinge of shame.

    "I''m not going to tell you to stop caring about them, but you need to focus on yourself more because they are doing the same thing. They will do any and everything to try to keep themselves and the people they love alive. And because they are weak, that could mean sacrificing the people around them to make sure they survive." He didn''t have to say anything else to make Ailetta understand.

    It wasn''t something that she wanted to ept, but it wasn''t something she could deny either. But the words ''because they are weak'' constantly reyed in her mind before she found herself another goal to grow stronger.

    "That''s the look you should have, as long as you are strong then you can do whatever you want. Fenrir, Arachne, it''s your turn now.

    ...¡­.

    "What should we do? Should we turn back?" Bailey was the first to ask, the recent trauma of losing ke was making her more fearful to lose anyone else. Everyone was also beginning to have cold feet as they looked towards the group of zombies loitering about. Their eyes were not able to move away from the zombies that Noah would consider to be evolved.

    "And if we turn back then what? What if we encounter even more? Should we then just stay in the dorms and wait for these things to find us? He was right to call us pathetic." Mark argued, irritation was in his voice, but unknowingly to the rest, he was more angry with himself.

    "This isn''t something we can just charge into. I''m not sure about the weird ones, but do you think those other zombies would be like the rest and start ru-"

    "Awhhoo!"

    Jasmine froze in the middle of her sentence when they heard a beast howling behind them. Just like before, the others were also frozen in ce.

    "Just one time can you not start a fight without making so much noise?"

    In everyone''s panic, they were able to see a blur and a giant wolf making their way past them while Noah''s figure followed behind while carrying Ailetta in his arms.

    ....

    ''Is there no way to stop her from being affected by that? Ear plugs maybe? Or¡­..''Noah stopped when his thoughts seemed to be going down a drastic route, the fighting had already started. What he thought of as a fight, wasn''t a fight at all.

    Any zombie or creature that didn''t evolve yet wouldn''t stand a chance against Fenrir and Arachne. Those were the first few to be taken out quickly.

    With a swipe from Fenrir, if their bodies weren''t broken apart from his overpowering strength, then they were either torn apart with his ws.

    Arachne was even fearsome, for every zombie she passed, a hole was spotted in the center of their head. It was only until the next one was killed that the one prior would eventually sumb to gravity.

    Fenrir held off on using his killing Instinct, just like Noah, Fenrir wasn''t fully conscious of his actions and he couldn''t allow that when he wanted to fully enjoy himself while also showing off to Noah. But that didn''t take away from his prowess in the least.

    It was only when he arrived at a Zombie that Noah hadn''t seen before which gave Fenrir trouble. The zombie appeared like one of normal zombies when it came to size. But unlike the others it''s legs seemed to be reversed from the knee down to its ankle. Two huge pupils could be seen for its eyes and its feet and hands were sharp and pointed like des. Its ded feet had pierced through its shoes.

    Noah and Ailetta approached close enough to allow Ailleta to perform her spell, but just when she was about to, they noticed the zombie disappear away from Fenrir.

    To the current Ailetta, the zombie appeared to have briefly vanished, but Noah was able to catch what happened. The zombie was unbelievably fast, at least faster than what they had encountered so far. It was at the same speed as the past zombies tentacles.

    Since he was able to keep up with the zombies speed, Noah noticed a disturbing fact. ''That thing ising here, will even evolve zombies target us first?'' Noah thought as he brought out his sword while confusing Ailetta in the process. What Noah didn''t recognize was that it wasn''t ''them'' that the zombie cared about.

    Noah braced himself and stepped forward to confront it. With his skill that could possibly control zombies, as well as the skill to transfer a percentage of Fenrir''s stats.

    But just as he was about to activate the skill. He noticed the blur from before passing by before mming into the zombie approaching him. When the blue stopped, everyone could see Arachne towering over it with two of her legs nted inside of it. On those two legs, the emerald green pattern that is on the tip of each of her legs began to glow and secrete a liquid that flowed into the zombies wounds, making it squirm as she looked down on it in disdain.

    "Arachne wait?" Noah called out to her, stopping her from doing anything more. He called her just in time when he saw that she was about to reach for the center of its chest, most likely in the attempt to remove its core.

    "Just finish it off, but don''t damage it too much, I''ll need its body."

    ...

    A/N: Just want to thank everyone for supporting me so far! I haven''t had the chance to read and respond to everyone''sments the past two days, but I''ll be sure to do thatter on today after work.

 Chapter 102 102: Just The Beginning

    Arachne seemed to be displeased at not being able to mutte the zombie that dared to attack Noah, she made sure to use her hand instead of her legs to destroy the zombies brain to fully experience the feeling of finishing off the pest. She then looked towards Fenrir who was still running around killing everything while fully enjoying himself, she felt disappointed that Fenirr would allow its own prey to attack Noah.

    "Don''t worry about him, just go or do you want to get left behind?"

    Arachne''s expression became horrid before she sped away again.

    "Hehe~I can see why you care for them so much." Ailetta giggled after seeing the frightening spider behave so innocently.

    "Wha-what?" She panicked when meeting Noah''s gaze.

    "There''s a body for you, Your skill is to reanimate right? Just go after the weaker ones with that one there."

    ...¡­..

    "I-I thought he wasn''t going to help us!" No one knew who said it since they were watching everything transpiring, there was only one person who didn''t like what they were seeing.

    "He''s not¡­" The contradicting and ominous words caused everywhere to turn towards the voice to find Mark at its source. Jasmine thought Mark was having one of his jealous fits again and asked worriedly. "What do you mean?"

    For a few moments he didn''t bother to respond to her question since he was just witnessing Ailetta reanimate the zombie that even he could barely keep up with visually. Then like if the zombie was never dead, it sped off into the groups of zombies while wing into the nearest zombies face and attempting to bite through its skull before going towards another.

    Mark could understand why everyone assumed Noah was helping them.

    "He''s not helping us¡­he''s helping himself and¡­.her." His gaze was stuck on Ailetta who was concentrating diligently to control such a creature.

    It only took for him to point it out before the others began to realize what he meant. Most of them still didn''t care, that meant they didn''t have to fight. But the smart ones had different opinions.

    "I say we should fight too!" Ishii eximed while brandishing his sword. He didn''t want to get left behind either.

    "But do you think he would like you interfering?" That question caused the fire in Ishii''s heart to die down quickly.

    "I don''t think so¡­.he said it himself, we are pathetic for not trying to fight, he wouldn''t get upset that we decided to fight now. He may seem like the devil, but he''s true to his word." Isabelle stated while watching the carnage happening with Noah''s creatures.

    But everyone was more interested about how she could insult andpliment a person at the same time.

    "Tsk! There''s no point in thinking about it, I''m not going to let others fight for me. If there''s anyone else who also thinks the same then follow me!" Mark charged without any hesitation towards the fight.

    What was surprising was that as soon as he left, the small woman from earlier followed right behind him as if she was already prepared for him to leave.

    Seeing this, Ishii grew excited again and rushed off after them, which led to the others following behind.

    ...¡­

    ? Everything seemed to be going right for Noah. He had noticed the gradual change in Fenrir as he became faster and stronger overtime. He made it seem effortless as he yed any zombie he encountered. But that wasn''t enough for Fenrir to show Noah how strong he was. He needed a stronger adversary.

    He sped towards the zombie that resembled the tall one from before. But this one actually had eyes and had one gigantic muscr arm that almost reached the ground while its other arm was half the size and was devoid of 90% of the muscle of its counterpart. But both legs appeared to be extremely muscr as well. It was just that it was outshone by its overlyrge arm.

    Fenrir approached it and immediately wed at one of its legs before making a hugeceration and then another before a gigantic fist came crashing into its ribs. It wasn''t that the zombie was fast, but it''s fist left Fenrir with little room to maneuver around.

    When it seemed as if Fenrir was about to be sent flying, Fenrir went a couple of meters and rolled twice before he sunk his ws into the ground and bounced back towards the zombie with more fervor, his speed increasing once again after that attack.

    This time, with his increased speed, he lunged himself into the zombies torso, knocking in down abruptly and began to swing in a craze at anything he could reach. Blood sprayed almost like a fountain, but zombies rarely let pain stop their actions as it sent Fenrir flying once again.

    Even when being sted away, you could still see Fenrir''s tail wagging, he was enjoying this.

    The Zombie prepared itself to meet Fenrir head on, but two things happened that turned the fight into something not worth mentioning.

    "Fenrir, is this the strength you wanted to show Noah, our master?"<novelnext></novelnext>

    Arachne appeared next to their fight, she was constantly being made aware of everything going on in the vicinity. Not just because of her skills, but because of her new increase in awareness after transforming into half human. She was particrly watching Fenrir ever since his mishap of allowing his prey to escape and she didn''t like what she was seeing now either.

    She didn''t have to say anything else, Fenrir didn''t even turn to look at her, instead his pupils dted exaggeratedly as he was nowpletely focused. He started off wanting Noah to be proud of his new strengths, but he began to enjoy himself, Arachne made him realize his error.

    Without any hint or warning, Fenrir''s size began to gradually change, growing in size. His size increased by an extra three meters while everything else appeared to stay in proportion to its growth. The skill wasn''t instantaneous, it took about 10 seconds toplete, but why would the zombie wait for Fenrir to finish its transformation? And what about the zombies around him?

    The sprinter zombies converge on Fenrir immediately and began to attempt to chew through his fur. There wasn''t any goal in their mind other than to feed. But their actions left little to no result besides lowering the amount of fur he had in some areas.

    Therge zombie pace quickened as it instinctively roared. And just when it approached Fenrir, a dark purple aura suddenly enveloped it. Its actions weren''t impeded In anyway, but the next scene clearly showed what happened.

    The zombie didn''t have any proper form when attacking Fenrir but it swung its dominant arm barbarically, this time connecting to Fenrir''s face. The scene that was to be expected didn''t y out the same way. The only change that urred was Fenrir''s face turning to the force of the p.

    The strength in the zombies body became meager to Fenrir''s current status after Arachne activated her skill on the zombie and went to find more prey, dissatisfied with Fenrir''s performance.

    Fenrir wasn''t aware of what Arachne did and just assumed that it had be that much stronger. Growling arrogantly, Fenrir grabs the zombie by its sides, holding it in ce. The zombie couldn''t fight back at all but it continued to struggle.

    Chomp!*

    Now that they were around the same size, Fenrir directly submerged the zombie''s head into its mouth before loud sounds of flesh tearing and crushing bones could be heard.

    If things were to continue going this way then he would continue to stay ahead. His vignce began to rx at the thought of how strong he waspared to the current zombies. But he couldn''t rxpletely because he always had a troubling thought in the back of his mind. Even though he was strong now, that was only if the creatures and monsters didn''t grow as fast as him.

    However the first domino was already ced when he heard voices approaching from his side before watching Mark and everyone running past them to reach the zombies.

    Noah made sure that he and Ailetta were a good distance away from the horde, besides the tier one zombie from earlier, the other zombies didn''t seem to be aware of their presence as they focused their attention on the only figure they could see which was Fenrir.

    Yet when Mark''s group entered the fray, all of the zombies seemed to experience a trigger.

    It was as if they were no longer aware of Fenrir or Arachne''s existence. Because they were always confronting the zombies directly, the others couldn''t tell that every zombie that wasn''t a tier one zombie was what Noah considered to be a sprinter.

    There were sprinters that were almost as fast as Noah, which would mean their agility was close to 60. Much more than what Mark and them were prepared for, but thankfully for them, there were a lot less of the zombies than there could have been.

    But when the zombies headed in their direction, a space began to open up within the gate, that finally allowed the rest to approach from the other side.

    Boom, Boom*

    Subtle footsteps could be heard against the concrete. The steps could be felt more than they were heard. Unlike a certain group under duress, Noah was able to notice the odd noise.

    "Ailetta you have to get back." Noah used his arm to nudge her away.

    Ailetta didn''t notice the odd variable at all as she was even more focused to support her friends in their endeavor. She wasn''t sure if Noahmanded his creatures not to help them, but she had prepared herself for something like this to happen. She couldn''t me Noah, but she couldn''t let them fight alone either.

    ''Sigh¡­''

    Noah noticed this and didn''t bother anymore. Instead he turned his attention on what wasing through the gate.

    The first thing he saw was other regrsing through, he was sure they would be sprinters too, but for some reason they weren''t running to get in.

    However he noticed that when one of them reached a certain distance, its gaze looking towards the group of students, it soon took off into a sprint.

    More zombies piled in before the sign of the odd variable showed itself.

    The zombie wasn''t much taller than Arachne. It had to be about 8 feet tall, but it was built like a truck. What was supposed to be skin appeared more like armor which exins why the thing sounded so heavy.

    Noah was d that they came this way, already he could feel that he had a notification. He was sure that Fenrir must have leveled up. This was one of the greatest experience farms he could ask for and it was just beginning.

 Chapter 103 103: Fighting For Attention

    [Your tamed beast Fenrir leveled up!]

    [yer: Fenrir

    Race: Werewolf

    ss: Demented Lycan

    Lvl: 10->11

    Exp: 9,933/12,800->124/25,600

    Health:100%>77%

    Stamina:100%->93%

    Mana: 38/38

    Strength:200->208(215)[411]

    Agility:88->100[173]

    Constitution:210[415]

    Stamina:73[126]

    Magic:19

    Spirit:75

    [Speed Kills has been upgraded to level 1! Your strength and constitution will now increase by 20% when an enemy is faster than you.]

    Not only did Noah spend Fenrir''s unassigned points, but he was also able to see just how powerful Fenrir was after the umtion of his skills.

    Fenrir may let that strength get to his head, but he didn''t mind Fenrir''s attitude as much as Arachne did, but that was because he just felt that Fenrir wasn''t as smart as her.

    "No-Noah!"

    Noah turned towards Ailetta, he noticed that her voice was struggling to get out. Her face appeared to be constipated, but Noah believed it was because it was a lot harder to control a zombie that was a higher tier than her.

    She couldn''t take the chance to look at him, but she was on herst legs.

    "I''m running out of mana! They''re dying! Wh-what do I do?"

    Ailetta was panicking, she has constantly used her skill since the apocalypse started and she has rarely overused her mana before. But she wasn''t prepared for not only the amount of mana used to reanimate the creature, but also the time to maintain it was higher than she could bear for such a long amount of time.

    Noah took the time to look over at their situation. There were people who were dead, yes, but he saw that Jasmine and the people that Ailetta supposedly cared about were still alive so he didn''t quite understand.

    "They are doing just fine, it''s not like we told them to rush in. Arachne has already killed off most of them anyway. However if your mana is low then you should use the blue potion in the bag. This is the best time to grind as much as you can." Noah tried to remind her about what was important, but Ailetta stopped listening when she heard about the potion.

    In one swift movement, she hurriedly pulled the bag off in front of her and rummaged frantically for potion inside before chugging it down forcefully.

    Noah shook his head when he saw how distraught she looked over those people who he believed weren''t worth it, he just couldn''t understand. And it''s not like he was lying when he said they were doing fine, to him they really were. Swarms of the sprinter''s zombie would certainly seal their fate, but when they had Arachne killing them off before they were targeted and then Ailetta, who was using her zombie to kill off as many as she could, they weren''t left with too many to fight with.<novelnext></novelnext>

    Yet even with these factors, people were dying. It was because the sprinters were literal kamikazes and would just dive straight into their group without a care. This led to the group to fight defensively, not everyone could be protected.

    But Noah didn''t find their situation interesting enough to care, what he found more interesting was the situation at the gate.

    The first thing Noah noticed was that this time it was Fenrir who was attacking the tier 0 zombies while Arachne was about to face off against the unknown creature. Deciding on their own, Arachne didn''t want Fenrir to obtain all of Noah''s attention, even though she killed so many zombies and easily killed the tier 1 zombie was extremely fastpared to her counterparts, Arachne felt that she wasn''t able to fully disy her strengths.

    She wasn''t fighting at this moment to enjoy herself so she nned to use her best skills from the start. Her eyes seemed to glow with a purple aura and that same aure appeared to form on the zombie in front of her. While doing so, a couple of the zombies tried to approach her, but were quickly dealt with when she was able to kill 4 of them swiftly at the same time and finished off thest one with barely any effort. To the current Arachne, they were moving extremely slow.

    With eight legs, not counting the arms she previously gained, taking care of multiple low tier zombies at the same time wasn''t hard for her at all. But she didn''t want to keep getting interfered with, and at the rate Fenrir was going, the zombies were already almost finished off.

    With a powerful jump she arrived behind the zombie, and at the same time she faced it while lifting her body onto the tips of her legs before bringing her bottom end under her and shooting out her webs all in one motion.

    The webs appeared to have no effect, and it was a web that remained connected to her as it melded into the cracks of the zombies armor.

    The zombie attempted to maneuver around to face Arachne just for her to continue to stay behind it and shot a couple more webs to secure the process of her skills.

    She would have attempted to wrap the zombie in her webs using her imbued webs as a faster process, but doing so would only use more mana.

    All it took was for one of her 6 webs to pass through the armor before it took root into its skin, enabling the skill ''Embodiment of Sins'' to take an effect. Once that happened, she continued to move in circles around the zombie while constantly making stabbing motions with her legs into its rough back.

    Unlike the situation that would''ve yed out before. Her legs that were like miniature spears were able to pierce into the rough armor like skin.

    Because of her ability ''Sinful Decree'', she lowered down the stat that was higher than hers and that would provide her the best benefit. It was strength for the zombie with the overlyrge arm, but she lowered down the current zombie constitution by half. Otherwise she would only be able to use her ws and legs just whittle down its armor which would take a lot more time and effort than it should.

    With each stab, a green liquid was released into the injuries inflicted, and with the use of her poison that now lowers down her opponents stats, including her earlier abilities, it wouldn''t take long for her to finish it off.

    Noah realized that as long as she was faster than her opponent, then she would most likelye out on top. But after seeing all the skills she had to use and the mana that is required for those skills, he realized that she was really mana dependent!

    He also realized the strengths and weaknesses of both of his creatures. In Fenrir''s case, the current zombie wouldn''t take him as much effort as it would with Arachne, but he would need the same amount of effort if it came to the faster zombie from before.

    And even though Arachne wouldn''t really struggle with any single one of the tier one zombies, monsters with higher constitution or with the ability to resist her effects would give her much more difficulty.

    ''But together¡­.these two wouldpletely dominate.''

    Noah couldn''t help but think. He imagined how fast the tank-like zombie could''ve been brought down if Arachne lowered its stats while Fenrir attacked it head on. Theyplimented what the othercked.

    The fight was almost over. Fenrir had already run back to Noah looking to beplimented, the surrounding zombies were already taken care of and Mark''s group had finally established a rhythm tobat the zombies, not without losing at least 30% of the dead weight.

    What caught Noah''s eye were two unlikely women that overshadowed the group in the battle. One was Alicia, the power to control objects was extremely effective against the zombies that were still able to be affected by weapons of low quality. And given the speed at which the zombies were running, their speed was being used against them as they impaled themselves. Unfortunately for her, the knives were stuck in their heads.

    But the other woman was the girl with the bow. Every now and then he would hear a loud thud before seeing a zombie fall and an arrow sticking out of its head.

    That sound was the main reason for him to take notice of their situation as Arachne was fighting. He just couldn''t help but wonder what those arrows were made of to create such a noise.

    "gggrrrrhh¡­."

    Noah refocused on Arachne when he heard the defeated roar originating from the zombie before. The zombieid t on its face while Arachne stood over it while attempting to dig into the back of its skull. The zombie continued to growl as it struggled, but when the growling stopped Noah knew it was finally over.

    .....

    A/N: Short chapter today. I''ve started my new schedule after my recent job permotion and it will take me some getting used to.

 Chapter 104 104: Her Decision

    A/N: Sorry everyone, I''ve been really busy and tiredtely. After this and next week my schedule should be back on track. But I''ll still find the time to write when I can.

    .......

    Even with the huge group of zombies they had to fight, the amount of experience wasn''t enough for Arachne to evolve. But Noah wasn''t impatient enough to run off just to find something to kill. With how the world is now, living is a constant battle.

    After pleasing the attention seeking Fenrir, Noah was approached by Arachne while on his way to his loot. He was curious why Arachne approached him, but he noticed something that he wouldn''t be able to encounter before. Because of her bottom lips and developed cheeks, he discovered that she could smile.

    To Noah, the smile was precious, but a half human, half spider whose head was more spider than human wasn''t really a sight a normal person would consider precious.

    Her smile was infectious to Noah who didn''t realize he was smiling back. This was probably the first time he witnessed true emotions from his spider bedsides the feelings he experienced through their bond.

    He waited for Arachne to say something and yet she stood there without a n to speak. If it wasn''t because of Fenrir earlier then he would have a hard time guessing what she wanted at this time.

    "Don''t worry, I saw everything. You really have grown strong enough to be a queen." He continued to smile as he talked to her, he could feel that Arachne''s happiness was growing, but he couldn''t allow for her pride to grow to a point that it could allow her to becent.

    "But don''t forget the reason you became this strong in the first ce. If you slow down even for a little bit then you could potentially be a queen only in name."

    His words caused Arachne''s smile to abruptly disappear. Food and her status as a queen are two of her most sensitive things to talk about.

    "I won''t let that happen! I''ll always be a queen!" She spoke with a heavy emotion. She didn''t even want to entertain the thought of it.

    Noah smirked before continuing to walk past Arachne to collect his loot while Fenrir and Arachne followed behind.

    Ailetta was still recovering, not from the mana exhaustion itself, but from the strain of constantly controlling a tier one zombie''s corpse. Her skill was more than just a simple order and guide, it involved concentration to achieve. The weaker the monster, the less consecration she would need to control it. While the stronger the monster, the more focus she would need or she could potentially lose effect of the skill or themands would be less efficient.

    Noah was determined to make her stronger, but the fight that just urred was affecting him more than he felt it should. He just couldn''t stop himself from having negative thoughts.

    ''Why does it feel that the reason she''s only getting stronger is to protect ''those'' people? She doesn''t seem to even care about what happens to her at all, but she constantly puts their safety before her own¡­it''s annoying¡­.I don''t like it at all¡­'' He tried to preupy himself with the thoughts of his newly attained loot instead.

    He didn''t know that while he left Ailetta without speaking a word, she had also taken notice of his change. But she didn''t know what to say, there was nothing for her to say unless she was going to apologize. However, that was something she was afraid of doing. Because saying sorry would mean discussing why she was apologizing and she didn''t have a good reason to do what she did. She was just worried for her friends, but would he ept that?

    She knew he wouldn''t, she knew that the only way he would ept it was if she was stronger. He didn''t need her help to take out the surrounding zombies and here she was, barely able to stand while only trying to keep her friends alive.

    Sooner thanter she knew she would have to make a decision, either it was to believe in Noah and focus on the path of her own strength, potentially losing her friends in the process, either by disassociation or through them dying. Or she will continue to put her friends before herself and potentially lose Noah, because she can already see the warning signs.

    While those thoughts were going through her head, her imagination yed through both options. Just after going through the options once, she already felt which one option was the one she just couldn''t give up.

    She looked at the strength she was able to gain in just a little time, she saw the amount of help she was able to give. And the person who made it happen didn''t ask her for nothing in return and after all of his history.

    Her eyes flickered briefly, before her gaze became resolute with a goal, a decision to do what she felt was the only thing to make sure she doesn''t lose what was slowly leaving her grip. She set her sights to the chest thatid nearest to the zombie''s corpse that she was no longer in control of and headed into its direction.<novelnext></novelnext>

    The other group were now trying to recover their bearings. They didn''t have the satisfaction of being able to loot their drops immediately. Not only did they have to check over their deaths and try to cure the injured, but they also had to focus on curing those that were infected during the fights.

    "We can''t keep going on like this, we lost so many already¡­If this keeps up then who knows how many will be left in the end." Jasmine tried to be the voice of reason to the group. Noah''s words earlier constantly yed in her mind, especially now after so many people died because of her brother''s decision. She was beginning to feel guilty and the guilt was affecting her actions, as well as making her doubt her leadership. However Mark didn''t like the way Jasmine was acting.

    "And what do you think we should do? Go back and wait? Or are you thinking of letting Noah take care of everything? Neither of those decisions are going to keep us alive and you know it! We have to fight, we have to grow stronger so we don''t have to continue losing people in the future. If we had fought like I wanted in the first ce then we would be strong enough to prevent this from happening." His words were a small wake up call to his sister. It wasn''t enough to overshadow her doubt, but it was enough to allow her to allow others to make the hard decisions for a while until she was sure of herself again.

    "Ah Ailetta?"

    The small conversations stopped when Bailey spoke out a name. A name most of the people there who were there from the beginning knew, especially after seeing the zombie that was wreaking havoc against the other zombies. By this time they all knew who skill it belonged to, and the ones that didn''t had found out through word of mouth.

    Bailey wanted to thank her for all that she''s done, but when she called out to her Ailetta didn''t respond. Her expression didn''t change nor did her eyes change directions. It was almost as if she was in a trance.

    This worried the others, especially the people who were considered close to her as Jasmine, Bailey and Alicia came forward to check on her.

    When they approached her and touched her shoulder, Ailetta became startled and raised her rod to defend herself before realizing who it was.

    At first she was surprised, and then momentarily happy to see her friends before her eyes grew conflicted. The change was too obvious that the others were quick to pick up on the changes.

    "Ailetta what''s wrong? What happened?" Jasmine was the first to question her. None of them could easily guess what was the cause for such a change in her. The question made Ailetta aware of the expression she wore, the conflicted demeanor disappeared and was reced with a look of disappointment.

    "It''s nothing¡­I''m just not happy with myself¡­.so many people died and¡­and I''m just too weak¡­.excuse me, but I just can''t talk right now¡­" She continued to make her way towards the chest that she knew was hers, leaving the three girls behind, bewildered as they all watched her walk away.

    "Do you think Noah said something to her? We all saw what she was able to do, why would she say that?" Alicia asked out loud.

    The three were left to speak their own theories about what urred while both Ailetta and Noah opened their chest. Ailetta was able to obtain a tinum chest after killing so many zombies that were as strong as her or even stronger, While Noah obtained the same kind of chest for defeating multiple monsters that were a high tier.

    Both received an attribute orb, sadly for Ailetta, the orb she recieved was orb to increase her strength by 25 while Noah obtained a orb that increased magic. She held onto the orb while she stuffed it into the bag. She didn''t feel that strength was necessary for her and she wanted to repay Noah after all he''s done.

    Besides the orb, both chests dropped an upgrade stone for a tier zero skill, but Noah recieved a tier one health potion while Ailetta received a skill. The skill happened to be the imbue weapon skill that originated from the priest ss, she recalled that someone in their group also had the skill, but sadly he was one of the casualties after encountering the tentacle zombie. The two collected their equipment and gold in the end. Ailetta wasn''t knowledgeable to decide what was good or not when it came to her equipment so she decided to make her way towards Noah nervously.

    She was aware of the prodding in the back of her mind, she has leveled up plenty of times to know what the feeling meant by now. When she looked at the results, she was astonished to see that she had increased by a level and was already more than halfway to reach another. She hesitated to use her points, she felt that she should discuss it with Noah first before she decided. He seemed to know the best way to get stronger so she felt that her decision was right as she made her way back to him.

    She forced herself not to look back or she might second guess the decision she hade to.

    With a heavy mind, a troubled heart, but a decisive gaze, she acted oblivious to the fact that Noah still hasn''t said anything to her, she still looked him in the eye and said.

    "Noah, please tame me!"

 Chapter 105 105: Dangerous Thoughts

    For someone who was feeling pretty annoyed with the person at hand, the sudden request from Ailetta caused Noah''s mind to stir. He blinked rapidly as if trying topute that he heard her right. It wasn''t that the idea wasn''t talked about before, it was the time and ce she decided to bring it up.

    Noah momentarily didn''t respond, but he just observed her, trying to figure out what''s her reason for wanting to be a tamed creature. From what he''s seen so far he slightly felt that it had something to do with her friends again.

    Because he couldn''t tell what she was thinking or feel her emotional state, he found this predicament to be rather suspicious. And because of that, it reflected in his answer.

    "No.." He reluctantly said while shaking his head. You could see Ailetta wasn''t prepared for a t out rejection. She was tantly shocked and quickly became dejected when she thought about the fact that Noah had offered Jasmine the opportunity but he denied her. But Noah wasn''tdone with his answer.

    "I only get to tame up to a certain amount of times per level, and if I would use it on you just because you want to be stronger then what about me? Fenrir and Arachne are my strengths, but I won''t be able to consider you when you are not strong enough."

    His words left a huge impact on Ailetta, but unlike the troubled feelings she had originally, she now felt that she still had a chance.

    "So as long as I get stronger then you will consider it right?" She asked with a newfound energy that caught Noah off guard. He slowly nodded, while he was inwardly confused about her sudden change, he also found it pleasing.

    ''I won''t let you take that back Noah¡­'' Ailetta said to herself, a dangerous n cooking in her mind what she could do to grow stronger fast enough so she could be epted.

    Noah wasn''t aware of what he started, nor what was not fated to happen in the future. He was already mulling over his recent findings from the fight from earlier.

    ''I was right, the zombies are really advancing at a fast pace. I''m pretty sure almost every single one of them was a sprinter. But they aren''t my goal, it''s what that God said will happen that I should be preparing for. The zombies and animals are just preparing me for what''s toe.''

    "Noah? Noah??"

    Noah was brought back from his thoughts and saw Ailetta walking close to him with a questioning expression.

    "Noah, I was able to get these things from my chest¡­After everything you''ve done for me, I thought that I should give them to you."

    She took out the things she received from her chest and ced them near Noah. This action surprised Noah, especially when he saw the orb and the upgrade stone. When he had received his orb, he didn''t think twice about using it for himself, increasing his magic by 25. And he had considered himself to be pretty strong, but even after he called Ailetta weak, she didn''t attempt to use the things to make her stronger for herself.

    Although he hesitated, he still reached down to grab the orb and used it to increase his strength, but when he arrived at the stone, he looked back towards her.

    "Are you sure about this? Are there any skills that you have that are close to leveling up?" He couldn''t help but ask. Considering the orb, it was more as if she was paying him back. However the upgrade stone was a lot more valuable than he suspected she knew.

    Hearing his question, Ailetta nkly stared into space as she checked her stats before addressing him.

    "No¡­" She looked down embarrassingly, her progression wascklusterpared to Noah''s.

    He had forgotten that the only reason his skills have progressed so much were because of the cores. The thought of his new skill had crossed his mind, but he shook the idea away quickly. He knew that if he wanted to, forming a bond with her could easily increase her strength exponentially. Not only would she receive a buff to her attributes but she would also obtain one of his skills and she could use his cores without having to use a core that was only for humans.

    But the risk of that was too high for him to take. He remembered how much of a risk he was in after grim died. He wanted whatever he tamed to be strong to not only be an asset to him but they could only protect themselves. If Noah didn''t assume that saving her friends was her only source of reason to grow stronger than he may have considered it more.

    "Fine, I''ll take it for now. We will find more if we continue to fight. Anyways, use this for now, it will help you more than that rod you''ve been carrying around this whole time." A staff appeared from his ring before handing it to her.

    She didn''t know what to think of this gesture, a staff isn''t something she found useful. The uncertaintysted until she held it in her hands. Something within her just felt different. She felt morefortable in her body then she had before. When she checked her stats, she noticed that the staff increased her spirit by 30 points.

    "Don''t worry about thanking me, it''s something I wasn''t going to use, and this stone is worth more than that staff." He cut her off when he noticed she was about to be sappy.

    The action put a wry smile on her face, making her avert her eyes when she happened toe upon Noah''s creatures interacting with the corpses.

    "Noah? What are they doing?

    Noah turned around and noticed what was going on, even he didn''t know what they were up to at first, but Fenrir''s hearing was already more advanced than normal as he responded.

    "Arachne said to retrieve the snacks!" He spouted excited, even while he talked, he continued to use one of his ws and attempted to carefully pry the cores out, unlike Arachne who just thrust her hand into their chests and ripped out their hearts. Their roles seemed to have reversed fromst time now that Arachne has hands.

    "They are getting the cores that I told you about before." Noah exined while trying to hold in a half amused smile. Ailetta''s gaze changed when she saw that. She enjoyed seeing him smile, but she didn''t like that she couldn''t make him smile that way. Her eyes soon gazed over towards some of the bodies that she had killed. The urge to try the cores so she could grow stronger faster emerged in her mind.

    "Don''t even think about it, unless you want to turn into one of them." Noah noticed how she was eyeing the bodies.

    "If I wasn''t what I am now then I wouldn''t be able to absorb those cores either, unless you have a way not to turn then you should get rid of any thoughts of consuming them." Noah tried to nip her concerning thoughts at the roots before they began to grow. Even after he said it he wasn''t sure if he was getting through to her so he decided to change the subject.

    "Sigh forget about it, here, you can have your skill back. It''s a low mana skill and there could always be a chance that you won''t have a corpse to use so you can only fend for yourself." He handed her back the scroll which distracted her for the time being.

    Noah then left everyone to their own devices now that he had a couple things he needed to do.

    [Level up! +10 attribute points!]

    [You have achieved the first limits of 50 stats in strength, perk based on ss Monster evolutionist obtained; Fiber Tempering]

    Fiber Tempering-increase the ratio of your tamed creatures strength from 1:1 to 1:1.5]

    After receiving the orb, Noah was finally able to gain a perk for every attribute, making his creatures even more lethal than before. With every fight he felt that he was growing stronger and leveling up was just the icing on the cake. He couldn''t wait to hurry and spend the rest of his attributes.

    [yer: Noah

    Race:Human? Chimera

    ss: Monster Evolutionist

    Gold: 3751->6923

    Lvl: 10->11

    Exp:3865/12800->780/25,600

    Health:100%

    Stamina:94%->99%

    Mana:185/370->370/424

    Attributes

    Defense: 25->40

    Strength:61(67)+5

    Agility:54->66(73) +7

    Constitution:104->107(114)+5<novelnext></novelnext>

    Stamina:65(73)+5

    Magic: 168->199(212)

    Spirit: 257->263(289)+25

    Skills

    Active

    Blood pact(lvl 0)progression:100%

    Bloodline Extraction(lvl 0)progression:0%

    Blood Essence(lvl 0)progression:0%

    Grant Lesser Strength(Lvl 0):0%->.3%

    Grant lesser Magic(Lvl 0):0%

    Killing instinct (lvl1) progression:8.4%

    Decree of Equivalent Exchange (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Undead Webbing(Lvl 0)7.1%

    Elusive(Lvl 0)progression:0%->.9%

    Manabolt(Lvl 0)progression:.8%

    Passive

    Rodeleros(lvl 0) progression: .6%

    Soul cage(lvl 0) progression: .76%

    Guiding Pathways(lvl 0)N/A

    Stamina regeneration (lvl 0) progression:100%

    Immortal body (lvl 1) progression: 10.9%->

    Budding feeder (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Subservient Hierarchy (lvl 0) progression: 100%

    Gic Synergy(lvl 0) progression:50%

    Fiber Tempering(Lvl 0):N/A

    Muscle tempering(Lvl 0):N/A

    Bone Tempering(Lvl 1):N/A

    Organ Tempering(Lvl 0):N/A

    Imparted Linguist(lvl 2):N/A

    Efficient Tamer(lvl 2)N/A

    Insatiable Hunter(lvl 0): N/A

    Spiders Alertness(Lvl 0)16.7%->17.5%

    Sensory Spines(Lvl 0): 14.3%->15.6%

    Mana regeneration(Lvl 0):1.9%

    Titles

    The Fallen, Subjugator]

    He decided to put the rest of his attributes into agility. Every attribute is important, but when he could barely visibly keep up with Arachne''s speed then what would happen if he went up against something with a speed simr to hers or even faster? His abilities wouldn''t be enough topensate.

    Even after spending his stats, he still didn''t move, but he withdrew two stones from his ring in preparation to upgrade two of his skills.

    "I haven''t found a creature now, but there''s no way I''m not upgrading blood pact, but what other skill should I do?"

    He looked over his skills that could be upgraded, but only one of those he felt would be the best for him at the moment.

    [Blood pact increased to level 1! You can now form a bond with one extra creature!]

    [Decree of equivalent exchange increased to level 1!-state increase has been improved to 20 percent!]

    Noah had decided on the equivalent of exchange over his subservient hierarchy since he could use the skill in any given situation, unlike the other where it could only be used against zombies. He was satisfied with the 20 percent when 20 percent is a lot when he uses it after Fenrir buffs himself.

    However he wasn''t satisfiedpletely with his taming skill.

    ''I can only get one? But I start off getting two! This will only make it harder for me to choose my next creature now¡­'' Hemented to himself.

    He became relieved that he didn''t tame Ailetta when she asked or he would really have felt wronged. His way to obtain absolute strength would be a shoe-in if he was able to obtain another creature on the same level as his previous two, so his next choice needed to be considered carefully.

    Now that he had to be more considerate of his choice, he went back to check through his skills onest time to help him determine what hecked or what should be considered when he chose his next one. However, while he was going through the list that seemed to be growing longer each time, he came across a certain piece of information that had to be investigated immediately.

    ''The chimera skill went up to 75% progression??''

 Chapter 106 106: Unexpected Bonus

    He looked at the skill once more in astonishment. He wasn''t astonished that the skill could level up, but it was the fact that it was so close to achieving 100% when it wasn''t intentional. It didn''t have to be mentioned, but when he saw the skill increase without a known reason, he just had to inspect what changed.

    [Chimera trait(lvl 0) progression: 75%

    ? Progression- Level up four skills obtained from the skill: 3/4

    Can be upgraded with chimera mana core.

    Upgrade stone Lvl 1 required for upgrade]

    ''Is it really that simple?'' He thought to himself, but when he thought about how long it would have taken him to level up his other skills if it wasn''t for the use of the cores, he knew that it was far from it.

    His next goal was to focus on leveling up one more skill which would be simple enough for him, he was only missing an upgrade stone. However now that he thought about it.

    "Fenrire here!" He impatiently called. The restlessness in his voice caused Fenrir to drop everything and sprint to him. Even Arachne paused in her actions. She looked over with worried eyes and curiosity as to why Noah called for Fenrir instead of her.

    "I need some of your blood." He exined after finding that Fenrir was also bingo restless from Noah not immediately saying anything.

    Chomp*

    Without any hesitation, Fenrir dug into his arm with his teeth, blood spilling out of his wounds while dripping from his mouth. The action bbergasted Noah and it confused Ailetta even more who was watching.

    Fenrir was too anxious to follow Noah''s orders that he subconsciously reacted in an exaggerated manner.

    But if anything else, Noah wasfortable with the scene of blood. So even though he was shocked by Fenrir''s actions he didn''t let Fenrir''s blood go to waste as he cupped his hands and attempted to hold as much as he could before Fenrir''s wounds healed.

    This would be the first time Ailetta has witnessed Noah doing something like this as she watched in shock while Noah drank the blood in his palms. Of course she heard how he ate zombie meat and even ate their hearts, but seeing it was different than just hearing about it. And from the way he gulped it down she had a feeling that he took delight in it.

    Noah didn''t believe that there would be such a big difference in the quality of blood. Fenrir''s bloodpared to the zombies was likeparing an exquisite wine to vored water. He couldn''t help but reach out one more time for another round. He had almost forgotten his reason for drinking it in the first ce.

    ''Why isn''t it working?'' He frowned while he waited for anything that would resemble a notification. But nothing was happening, there wasn''t any prodding in his head or any kind of sensation in his body. Besides the after taste of the blood that coated his throat and tongue, he couldn''t find anything different.

    His first thought went towards his taming skill and how he had killed off the vulture when he attempted to tame it. He thought that this situation was simr.

    ''So my limit for this skill is two as well¡­'' Noah went into his own world while in deep thought. Not realizing the weird stares he was getting from Ailetta. Fenrir and even Arachne.

    Ailetta was trying to determine the reason for Noah to drink Fenrir''s blood, while Fenrir was just excited that Noah enjoyed his blood to such a degree. But then there was Arachne, a feeling of jealousy was oveing her. She had emotions even when she was just a spider, but her emotions were more simr to instincts.

    But now those emotions were a lot stronger after gaining the emotional and mental capacity as a human. She already felt a bit bitter when Fenrir was called on instead of her. And after seeing Noah drink Fenirs blood with such relish, that bitterness turned into full blown envy.

    "Noah!"

    Arachne put an end to Noah''s thought after she emotionally called out to him.

    Noah was only able to grasp that Arachne was standing directly in front of him, that he didn''t register the oddness in her voice and expression. That all changed when she suddenly cut her arm with her w like nails and extended her hand to Noah, simr to how a noble would put out their hand to be kissed.

    Noah was confused only for a moment. The moment was brief after already encountering his creatures'' rivalry before.

    With blood leaking out of his mouth and covering most of the bottom of his face. The smile that she showed could only be seen as creepy. And with that smile he re-enacted the scene with Fenrir''s and drank her blood the same way.

    He expected for her blood to be just as good as Fenrir''s. What he wasn''t expecting was while in the middle of drinking he would experience two changes. One of those changes originated from his head, signaling that he had a notification while the other change was urring with his body.

    As he drank her blood, her blood seemed to meld with him on a cellr level. He noticed that his vision seemed to take a sudden change. Due to the change it resulted in him having to shut his eyes.

    What also followed was his sense of awareness changing. Even with his eyes closed, as long as he focused on the movement around him, he could almost visualize what the object was.

    Noah was about to freak out, he couldn''t help but think that something may have gone wrong. It was until he began to also feel the movement in his arms that he finally understood.

    The changes that were happening were simr to when he consumed the blood and flesh of the Zombie King!

    He couldn''t wait anymore, excitedly he wasted no time to check what was happening.

    [Detecting genes of a higher strain from the host spider trait! Trait is being upgraded! Regr spider genes have mutated into the genes of the unique spider consumed. The zombie trait has changed to Impure King! Your abilities experience has been increased, previous skills have been mutated due to your traits evolution.]<novelnext></novelnext>

    [Undead Webbing has been changed to Demonic sealing-When making contact with your webs, your webs will have a restricted effect on the target''s skills the longer they are contacted with your webs. The effect only takes ce when infusing your mana into the skill, consuming 10 mana per web. The higher the level, the higher the restriction.

    Spiders Alertness has changed to Kings Perception (Lvl 0): When there''s anything that can threaten your hierarchy, your sixth sense will notice. From plotting, to intentions, you will sometimes notice it as long as it is within one of your senses.]

    Sensory spines have changed to Tainted Aura-As long as an object is moving within 10 yards of you, you can visualize that object without having to see it.]

    This was an unexpected surprise to Noah, and it was more than he could hope for. Just his new webbing skill alone was enough to satisfy him. And that was all! He noticed that even his skills pertaining to a spider have also increased in progression. The increase was meagre, not even reaching 1% but just a handful of blood shouldn''t bepared to a core that was the literal embodiment of their mana.

    He wasn''t the only one who was surprised.

    Arachne''s gaze had changed the moment Noah began to experience the change in his body.

    There was a dangerous glint in her eye, but the gaze wasn''t hostile at all and that glint barely surfaced for long after she recovered her mental state.

    A Queen longs for a king and with any spider species, they would soon seek a mate, not out of love, but just because of their instincts to proliferate. After Noah''s change, the pheromones he gave out were enough to rile up the basic instincts within her, but her human instincts helped her to control it.

    Noah turned to Arachne on full alert before his gaze turned to confusion when he noticed the danger that was originating from her was gone. His gaze narrowed as he looked at her suspiciously.

    But as stared, he noticed that she seemed to be oblivious to the feeling that he felt from her.

    "Wh-what is that?" Noah heard Ailetta from the side. He turned to see her reaching forward before retrieving her hand and reaching out again. The action didn''t make sense, yet alone her words. She noticed that he was paying attention to her before exining.

    "When I moved closer, I got this feeling as if I was being watched¡­Even now¡­.Does this happen just from drinking their blood? What would happen if I drink it?"

    "Nonsense!"

    Grr* ''You''re not part of the pack!''

    Both Arachne and Fenrir immediately shut her down.

    But the question was something worth thinking about, Noah wondered if Fenrir''s blood would have regenerative properties or if Arachne''s blood would contain poison or some other kind of insidious effect.

    Noah ignored the three when he noticed that the other group was now approaching them. Almost all of them were in somber moods.

    "Are you ready?"

    Noah asked in an urging manner, receiving unpleasant gazes in the process.

    "What do you mean are we ready you bastard! Our friends just died?"

    Noah looked to the source of the voice and saw that it was someone he couldn''t recollect talking to before. But the guy''s words seemed to trigger some of the others.

    Noah''s emotions were beginning to be dull to these repetitive situations.

    "So¡­you''re not ready?"

    "Wha-are you making fun of me!"

    "Quiet, why are you trying to make a scene? We need to get out of here before something else appears."

    Mark was quick to stop the male, before the conflict rose. He was in a bad mood when he realized howcking their group was. Only a handful of them were strong enough topete with one of the current zombies on their own. It made him wonder just how far they could have gotten with Noah and that made him even more frustrated since he wanted to depend on himself.

    "Let''s just get going. We don''t know how long it''ll take us to get there so we at least need to get far enough so we can think of a ce to stay." Jasmine addressed the rest.

    The rest of what they discussed didn''t concern Noah as he turned to the small pile of hearts stacked to the side and ced them in his ring. He would have to remove the cores at ater date.

    The other group didn''t seem to want to take the lead, but this time Noah wasn''t nning on letting them. He set out without looking back.

    He was already expecting a new world as soon as he left the gates.

 Chapter 107: Arachnes Showcase

    Chapter 107: Arachne''s Showcase

    Noah shook his head when he saw how distraught she looked over those people she believed weren''t worth it, he just couldn''t grasp her attachment. His assurance that they were "doing fine" wasn''t a lie; from his perspective, they were. Despite the fact that their fate could be sealed if they were swarmed by sprinters, Arachne''s swift elimination of many before they reached the group, coupled with Ailetta''s overly determined use of her zombie, left them with manageable numbers to contend with.

    Realistically, Noah''s argument held validity, but it was rooted solely in logic,cking any semnce of human empathy. Despite the mitigating factors, people continued to perish. The sprinters'' suicidal tactics, charging straight into the group without regard for their own safety, forced the group into a defensive struggle where not everyone could be shielded.

    But Noah didn''t find their situation interesting enough to care, what he found more interesting was the situation at the gate. Noah immediately observed that Fenrir was engaging the unevolved zombies, while Arachne positioned herself to confront the unknown creature. Acting independently, Arachne seemed determined not to let Fenrir monopolize Noah''s attention. Despite her impressive kill count and effortless dispatching of the swift tier 1 zombie, Arachne felt restricted, unable to fully demonstrate her capabilities that would showcase her Queenly status.

    She wasn''t fighting for pleasure; she intended to employ her best skills from the outset. Her eyes glowed with a purple aura, and the same aura enveloped the zombie before her. As she focused, a couple of zombies attempted to approach her, only to be swiftly dispatched. With four of her spider legs, she effortlessly eliminated four zombies simultaneously, finishing off thest one with her human hand, barely exerting any effort. To Arachne''s perception, they moved at an excruciatingly slow pace.

    With eight legs, not counting the arms she had previously acquired, dispatching multiple low-tier zombies simultaneously posed no challenge. However, she grew weary of constant interruptions, particrly since Fenrir was swiftly dealing with the remaining zombies. There was no doubt in her mind that Fenrir, with his simple-mindedness, would attempt to insert himself into her battle.

    With a powerful leap, shended behind the zombie, simultaneously facing it while elevating her body onto the tips of her legs. Then, she brought her bottom end under her and shot out her webs in one fluid motion. Noah was taken aback as he witnessed Arachne motioning her hands towards the zombie, her upright palms pointed towards the creature before webs sprayed out of her wrists, a direct resemnce to his own physical make-up.

    The webs seemed to have no immediate effect, but the webs remained connected to her, melding into the cracks of the zombie''s armor. As the zombie attempted to turn to face Arachne, she deftly stayed behind it, shooting out a couple more webs to secure the progression of her skills.

    She contemted encircling the zombie, unleashing a barrage of imbued webs to ensnare itpletely and expedite her skillbination. Yet, she suppressed the impulse. Despite her evolution, which had doubled her once meager mana reserves, she didn''t want to deplete herself entirely to showcase her strength. Her thoughts turned to Fenrir, still brimming with energy after his confrontation. She knew she needed to conserve her strength in a simr manner, otherwise, wouldn''t that mean she was the inferior one?

    As one of her six webs passed through the armor and took root into its skin, her skill ''Embodiment of Sins'' took effect. With this aplished, she continued to move in circles around the zombie, making constant stabbing motions with her spear-like legs into its almost imprable back.

    Unlike the situation that would''ve yed out before, where the strikes would emit sparks without any value. Her legs that were like miniature spears were able to pierce into the rough armor like skin, even if it was only surface level wounds. Due to her ability ''Sinful Decree,'' she lowered the attribute that exceeded hers. However, in cases where multiple attributes met the vague condition, the next step was to lower the highest attribute among them. When activating her skill on the evolved zombie confronting Fenrir, it was evident that both its strength and constitution exceeded hers. Nheless, it was apparent that the zombie''s highest attributey in its strength, making that specific attribute the target of her ability.

    In this scenario, the monster''s highest attribute appeared to be its constitution, which Arachne aimed to diminish significantly. However, despite her ability seemingly taking effect, the zombie persisted, its level and spirit working together to resist the effect by half the intended value. Consequently, instead of fully submerging her ws and legs into the zombie''s hide and bypassing its armored figure, Arachne could only achieve a 15% decrease in its toughness. Dissatisfied with this oue, she realized she needed to adapt; her previous strategy was no longer effective.

    With every stab, a green liquid seeped from the inflicted wounds caused by her rogue ability ''Coated arms'', allowing her poison to coat the ends of her many legs. The additional debuff from her webs,bined with her venom, gradually diminished the opponent''s stats. Over time, the zombie''s proud armor would deteriorate, leaving behind a mere husk of its former self.

    Noah scrutinized the entire process, even employing his new vision to aid his observation. His mouth slowly gaped as he fully witnessed her unparalleled speed. Despite his enhanced vision, which marginally slowed down reality, he could only perceive a blur, catching glimpses of her figure only when she went in for her strikes. The monster, resembling a tank, could do little but endure her onught without retaliation. Noah concluded that as long as she maintained her speed advantage, she would likely emerge victorious. However, upon observing the array of skills she employed and the substantial mana required for them, he realized her heavy dependence on mana.

    He also recognized the strengths and weaknesses of both his creatures. In Fenrir''s case, the current zombie wouldn''t require as much effort as it would with Arachne, but he would face a simr challenge if confronted with the faster zombie from before.

    And although Arachne wouldn''t be significantly endangered against most newly evolved creatures, those with higher constitution or resistance to her effects would pose a greater challenge to her thanpared to Fenrir, as he was witnessing now.

    "But together¡­.these two wouldpletely dominate."

    Noah couldn''t help but entertain the thought. He envisioned how swiftly the tank-like zombie could be brought down if Arachne lowered its stats while Fenrir attacked it head-on. Theyplemented each other''s weaknesses and strengths perfectly.

    Minutes passed, and the fight dragged on. Fenrir had already returned to Noah, looking for praise, with the surrounding zombies already dealt with. Mark''s group had finally established a rhythm tobat the zombies, though not without losing at least fifteen of their weaker members.

    What caught Noah''s eye were two unlikely women who stood out in the group''s desperate struggle. One was Alicia; her power to control objects proved extremely effective against the zombies, especially those vulnerable to low-quality weapons. The zombies'' own speed worked against them as they impaled themselves on the weapons she controlled. However, the knives were permanently lost, embedded in the zombies'' skulls.

    The other woman who piqued his interest was the one wielding a bow. Every now and then, he heard a loud thud followed by a zombie copsing with an arrow lodged in its head.

    That impactful sound was the main reason he took notice of their situation while Arachne was fighting. He couldn''t help but wonder what those arrows were made of to create such a noise.

    "Gggrrrrhh¡­"

    Noah refocused on Arachne, feeling her growing impatience through their bond. He saw her bing more daring, her strikes filled with the weight of her momentum. With every few strikes that pierced the zombie''s body, she attempted to attack its face in a fierce attempt to destroy its brain.

    Seeing that the battle was nearing its end, Noah quickly turned to Fenrir, grabbing his attention before parting towards the others. "Bring me one of those zombies, the err-the undead-no¡­.just bring me one of those things that we''ve killed so many of, but don''t kill it." Noah helplessly directed to the simple beast, at a loss on how to exin to Fenrir what a zombie was. This was the perfect time to try one of the experiments he had recently thought of. The shine in his eyes glistened intensely at the thought while continuing to observe Arachne''s battle.

    The damage was piling up, while the progression of her debuffs finally seemed to influence the oue of the battle. At least six minutes passed with Arachne applying her venom repeatedly, the effects umting to the point that the zombie''s deterioration became noticeably more pronounced. Its once terrifying swings, which had generated immense pressure, were now only capable of sluggish, half-hearted attempts to strike.

    Analyzing the defeated creature, Arachne''s impatience had finally paid off. After the initial use of Sinful Decree, she had only one more opportunity to use it before it became ineffective against her opponent. She could only activate the ability when her opponent''s attributes were higher than hers; if her venom reduced their stats below her own, they would no longer be suitable targets. However, through her relentless strikes, she gathered enough information to confirm the zombie''s toughness. Instinctively, she sensed that the zombie''s constitution threshold was nearing her own, making it a critical moment to strike decisively.

    During the final minute of their six-minute battle, Arachne once again used the skill Sinful Decree, this time sessfully lowering the zombie''s constitution by a full thirty percent. With Sinful Decree in effect, her webs, imbued with the aura of Wrongful Judgment and Embodiment of Sins, also began to lower the zombie''s constitution every second,yering with her poison.

    Within the next 60 seconds, the zombie underwent a massive transformation. A purple aura, simr to the one that appeared when she activated her skill, enveloped the creature with an intensity stronger than before. Then, the unexpected urred: translucent chains began to snake around the zombie''s figure, forming a web-like pattern centered on its core.

    These spectral chains formed an intricate, web-like pattern centered on its core, glowing with a dark, otherworldly light. Each link pulsed with malevolent energy, tightening their grip with every heartbeat, as if drawing strength from the zombie''s own corrupted essence.

    Even Noah was unsure what was happening, but when he saw Arachne plunging her human hand into the zombie''s chest, effortlessly reaching through its supposedly armored flesh and bone, he realized something significant had urred. He deduced that Arachne''s primary effect of Wrongful Judgment had finally activated, cing a curse on the attribute affected by her Sinful Decree skill. Intrigued, Noah rechecked the skill''s description, focusing intently to uncover more details, revealing hidden information he hadn''t noticed before.

    Strength: Severe weakness, reducing physical damage dealt by 50% for 1 minute.Agility: Paralysis, reducing movement speed by 50% for 1 minute.Constitution: Frail, weakening body vitality by 50% for 1 minute.Stamina: Fatigue, increase the exertion of stamina rted actions by 50% for 1 minute.Magic: Confusion, causing a 50% chance to fail spellcasting for 1 minute.Spirit: Disorientation, reducing resistance and uracy by 50% for 1 minute. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

    Goosebumps threatened to emerge on Noah''s skin as he reviewed the effects. While he had always considered Fenrir to be a formidable opponent, Arachne now seemed even more terrifying¡ªthough only when Fenrir wasn''t empowered by Ruler''s Fury.

    Boom!

    Distracted, Noah snapped his head toward the source of the defeated roar, followed by a heavy thud. The zombiey t on its face while Arachne stood over it, attempting to dig into the back of its skull. The creature continued to growl and thrash lightly, but when the growling ceased, Noah knew it was finally over.

    Even with the huge group of zombies they had to fight, the amount of experience wasn''t enough for Arachne to level up. But Noah wasn''t impatient enough to run off just to find something to kill. With how the world is now, living is a constant battle, there will always be more monsters to kill. By this time, Fenrir had finally returned, the battle on the students'' side apparently over. Fenrir held one of the savage zombies in his mouth, treating it as a mere chew toy despite the trouble it had given the others. Noah was eager to start his n but paused as Arachne approached him. Curiously, her first instinct usually involved feeding on her trophy, but this time something was different. Noah noticed something he hadn''t seen before: due to her now-developed lips and cheeks, Arachne could smile.

    To Noah, the smile was precious, though a half-human, half-spider creature with a predominantly spider-like head wasn''t something most would find endearing.

    Her smile was infectious, and Noah found himself smiling back without realizing it. This was probably the first time he had witnessed true emotions from his spiderpanion beyond the feelings he experienced through their bond.

    He waited for Arachne to say something, but she stood there silently. If it hadn''t been for Fenrir earlier, he would have struggled to guess what she wanted at this moment.

    "Don''t worry, I saw everything. You really have grown strong enough to be a queen." Noah continued to smile as he spoke, feeling Arachne''s happiness growing. However, he couldn''t let her pride swell to the point ofcency.

    "But don''t forget the reason you became this strong in the first ce. If you slow down even for a little bit, you could potentially be a queen only in name."

    His words caused Arachne''s smile to abruptly vanish. Food and her status as a queen were two of her most sensitive topics.

    "I won''t let that happen! I''ll always be a queen!" she responded with heavy emotion, refusing to entertain the thought.

    Noah smirked before returning his attention to Fenrir, who still held the zombie in his jaws. "Okay, buddy, drop it."

    At hismand, Fenrir ckened his jaws, allowing the zombie to "softly"nd on the pavement. As soon as it hit the ground, Noah quickly stretched out his hand, releasing his newly improved webs totch onto the zombie, pinning it effortlessly. Despite the zombie''s struggles, Noah''s webs were imprable to creatures without sufficient strength. Nodding in satisfaction, Noah analyzed the creature, noticing signs of infection already setting in.

    The undead, unlike most of the sprinters he had encountered, was a female. Her tattered clothing was almost shredded, courtesy of Fenrir''s "gentle" transport. Her most sensitive areas were exposed, allowing Noah to observe the puncture marks from Fenrir''s fangs, which were already showing signs of festering. Dark veins began spreading from the wounds, a clear sign of infection. As Noah looked closer, he noticed the wounds were slowly starting to heal, almost unnoticeable to an untrained eye.

    Confirming the process, Noah remained unimpressed. The transformation was too slow; the faster it progressed, the quicker he could check his loot.

    "Fenrir, I want to change this thing into something like you. Can you speed up the process?" he asked, hopeful that Fenrir would understand. Initially, Fenrir showed confusion, tilting his head to the side. But then, suddenly, his eyes widened in understanding, and his tail began to wag excitedly, eager to fulfill his master''smand.

    Reaching over the zombie, Fenrir flexed his massive paws, causing one of his already extended ws to grow even longer. A dark purple liquid began to form around the w, turning its silver hue into a deep, malevolent purple. As Fenrir edged his ws toward the undead, a droplet formed at the tip and fell to the ground, sizzling upon contact, the acrid smoke curling into the air, a testament to the corrosiveness of his venom.

    Before Fenrir withdrew his w, the zombie''s body jerked violently off the ground, only to smack back onto the pavement, restrained by Noah''s webs. Despite this, the zombie''s reactions persisted, its limbs jerking at unnatural angles, joints dislocating from the force of its spasms. The grotesque sight made Ailetta, who stood by Noah''s side, grip his arm tightly, her fingers digging in with an almost desperate intensity.

    Noah felt her strong grip on his arm, and although he already knew who it was, he naturally nced over to confirm before returning his attention to the transformation. Within that brief interruption, the zombie had already begun showing extreme signs of mutation. Bodily hair gradually sprouted from its flesh, while its physical characteristics changed in real time. The transformation reminded Noah of the time Lucas had arrogantly disyed his own metamorphosis, though this change was slower and more exaggerated.

    The air grew colder, and an unsettling silence fell over the scene, broken only by the wet, tearing sounds of the zombie''s body contorting and reshaping itself. The stench of rot and venom mixed, creating a nauseating miasma that clung to the back of Noah''s throat.

 Chapter 108: A Dangerous Plan

    Chapter 108: A Dangerous n

    Seeing that the change would take a bit more time, Noah turned towards Ailetta, intending to inform her of his ns. However, her current state reminded him of something unpleasant, making him hesitate. Instead, he addressed Arachne, who stood guard by his side.

    Blood and bile mixed with the dark purple venom, oozing from every orifice as it thrashed against the webbing. The veins around the puncture wounds pulsated violently, as if something was crawling beneath the surface, eager to burst free.

    "When that thing finishes its change, kill it quickly but cleanly," he ordered curtly, unfazed by the agonizing scene. He then hesitantly ced his hand on Ailetta''s hand, gently prying himself away from her, his thoughts once again conflicted.

    Ailetta was startled by his sudden touch and even more rmed by how he silently pried her away. She looked at him, searching for an exnation, but Noah''s expression remained unreadable.

    Ailetta''s current state was surprisingly messy, given the fact that she didn''t need to act personally. Her body felt alien to her, the burnout more intense than she had anticipated, not merely from mana exhaustion but from the strain of constantly controlling a tier one zombie''s corpse. Her skill was more than just simple orders and guidance; it required intense concentration to be effective. The weaker the monster, the less focus she needed to control it. Conversely, the stronger the monster, the more focus she required, or else she risked losing control, making themands less efficient and the corpse''s movements more robotic.

    Noah naturally recognized the state she was in, still, he was determined to make her stronger, but the earlier fight was affecting her more than he felt it should. He just couldn''t stop himself from having negative thoughts.

    ''Why does it feel like the only reason she''s getting stronger is to protect those people? She doesn''t seem to even care about what happens to herself at all, but she constantly puts their safety before her own¡­ it''s annoying¡­ I don''t like it at all¡­''

    The longer he delved into his thoughts, wanting to understand her actions, it only gave rise to more concerning thoughts instead. His current thoughts were bing dangerous, and he didn''t like the Ailetta that he was painting in his mind. So instead, he tried to preupy himself with thoughts of his newly attained loot.

    He didn''t know that while he left Ailetta without speaking a word, she had also taken notice of his change. But she didn''t know what to say, there was nothing for her to say unless she was going to apologize. However, that was something she was afraid of doing. Because saying sorry would mean discussing why she was apologizing, and she didn''t have a good reason to do what she did. She was just worried for her friends, but would he ept that?

    She knew he wouldn''t. She knew that the only way he would ept it was if she was stronger, a concept that seemed too far out of her reach. Even now, he didn''t require her help to take out the surrounding zombies, and here she was, barely able to stand while only trying to keep her friends alive.

    Sooner rather thanter, she knew she would have to make a decision. Either she would believe in Noah and focus on the path of her own strength, potentially losing her friends in the process, either by disassociation or through their deaths. Or she would continue to put her friends before herself and potentially lose Noah, because she could already see the warning signs.

    While those thoughts were going through her head, her imagination yed through both options. Just after considering the options once, she already felt which one was the path she just couldn''t give up.

    She looked at the strength she had gained in just a little time, she saw the amount of help she was able to give. And the person who made it happen didn''t ask her for anything in return, despite all of his history.

    Her eyes flickered briefly, before her gaze became resolute with a goal, a decision born out of necessity to prevent losing what was slipping from her grasp. She directed her attention to the chest nearest to the zombie''s corpse, the evolved zombie no longer under her control, hoping to obtain anything to improve her strength even further.

    The other group were now trying to recover their bearings. They didn''t have the satisfaction of being able to loot their drops immediately. Not only did they have to check over their deaths and try to cure the injured, but they also had to focus on curing those that were infected during the fights. "And what do you think we should do? Go back and wait? Or are you thinking of letting Noah take care of everything? Neither of those decisions are going to keep us alive, and you know it! We have to fight, we have to grow stronger so we don''t have to continue losing people in the future. If we had fought like I wanted in the first ce, then we would be strong enough to prevent this from happening," his words were a small wake-up call to his sister. It wasn''t enough to overshadow her doubt, but it was enough to allow her to let others make the hard decisions for a while until she was sure of herself again. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

    "We can''t keep going on like this, we''ve lost so many already¡­ If this keeps up, then who knows how many will be left in the end," Jasmine tried to be the voice of reason to the group. Noah''s words earlier constantly yed in her mind, especially now after so many people died because of her brother''s decision. She was beginning to feel guilty, and the guilt was affecting her actions, affecting her actions and sowing seeds of doubt about her leadership. However, Mark didn''t like what his sister was implying.

    "And what do you think we should do? Go back and wait? Or are you thinking of letting Noah take care of everything? Neither of those decisions are going to keep us alive, and you know it! We have to fight, we have to grow stronger so we don''t have to continue losing people in the future. If we had fought like I wanted in the first ce, then we would be strong enough to prevent this from happening," his words were a small wake-up call to his sister. It wasn''t enough to overshadow her doubt, but it was enough to allow her to let others make the hard decisions for a while until she was sure of herself again.

    The small conversations stopped when Bailey spoke out a name. A name most of the people there knew, especially after witnessing the zombie wreaking havoc among the others. By this time, they all knew whose skill it belonged to, and those who didn''t had found out through word of mouth.

    Bailey wanted to thank her for all that she''d done, but when she called out to her, Ailetta didn''t respond. Her expression didn''t change, nor did her eyes shift direction. It was almost as if she was in a trance.

    This worried the others, especially the people close to her, like Jasmine, Bailey, and Alicia, who came forward to check on her.

    When they approached and touched her shoulder, Ailetta became startled, raising her rod defensively before realizing it was her friends.

    At first, she was surprised, momentarily happy to see her friends, but then her eyes grew conflicted. The change was too obvious, and the others quickly noticed.

    "Ailetta, what''s wrong? What happened?" Jasmine was the first to ask, concerned. None of them could easily discern the cause for such a shift in her demeanor. The question brought Ailetta''s awareness to the expression on her face, the conflicted look fading into one of disappointment.

    "It''s nothing¡­ I''m just not happy with myself¡­ so many people died, and¡­ and I feel too weak¡­ Excuse me, but I just can''t talk right now¡­" With that, she continued toward the chest she knew was hers, leaving the three girls behind, bewildered as they watched her walk away.

    "Do you think Noah said something to her? We all saw what she was capable of, so why would she say that?" Alicia voiced her thoughts aloud.

    The three friends were left to specte about what had transpired, while both Ailetta and Noah opened their chests. Ailetta managed to obtain a tinum chest after vanquishing numerous zombies that matched her strength or were even stronger, while Noah acquired a simr chest for defeating multiple high-tier monsters.

    Both received attribute orbs, but unfortunately for Ailetta, hers increased strength by 25, whereas Noah''s orb enhanced magic. She held onto the orb briefly before stuffing it into her bag. Strength didn''t seem necessary for her, and she felt a desire to repay Noah for all he had done.

    In addition to the orb, both chests dropped an upgrade stone for a tier zero skill, but Noah received a tier one health potion while Ailetta received a skill: the imbue weapon skill originating from the priest ss. She remembered someone in their group also had this skill, but sadly, he was one of the casualties after encountering the tentacle zombie. In the end, the two collected their equipment and gold.

    Ailettacked the knowledge to discern what was good or not when it came to her equipment, so she nervously made her way towards Noah. She felt a familiar prodding in the back of her mind, signaling a level up. When she checked the results, she was astonished to see that she had leveled up and was already more than halfway to the next level. However, she hesitated to allocate her points, feeling that she should discuss it with Noah first. And yet, she still faltered to ask, knowing that she had already gained so much while offering little. Besides guidance on using her points, she also desired something else from Noah. Torn by indecision, she ended up allocating her points herself before making her way back to him.

    With a heavy mind and a troubled heart, but a decisive gaze, she forced herself not to look back, fearing she might second-guess her decision. Oblivious to the fact that Noah still hadn''t spoken to her, she met his gaze directly and said, "Noah, please tame me!"

    For someone who was feeling pretty annoyed with the person at hand, Ailetta''s sudden request caused Noah''s mind to stir. He blinked rapidly as if trying topute if he had heard her correctly. It wasn''t that the idea hadn''t been discussed before; it was the time and ce she chose to bring it up.

    Noah didn''t respond immediately; instead, he observed her, trying to discern her reason for wanting to be a tamed creature. Based on what he had seen so far, he suspected it had something to do with her friends again. Unable to gauge her thoughts or emotional state, Noah found the situation rather suspicious. Consequently, his answer reflected his uncertainty.

    "No," Noah reluctantly replied, shaking his head. Ailetta clearly wasn''t prepared for such a t-out rejection. She appeared shocked and quickly became dejected, thinking about how Noah had offered Jasmine the opportunity but denied her. However, Noah wasn''t done with his answer.

    "I only get to tame up to a certain amount of times per level, and if I were to use it on you just because you want to be stronger, then what about me? Fenrir and Arachne are my strengths, but I won''t be able to consider you when you are not strong enough," he exined.

    His words left a significant impact on Ailetta, but instead of feeling disheartened, she now felt that she still had a chance.

    "So, as long as I get stronger, then you will consider it, right?" she asked with newfound energy, catching Noah off guard. He slowly nodded, inwardly confused by her sudden change but also pleased by it.

    "I won''t let you take that back, Noah¡­" Ailetta muttered to herself, a dangerous n forming in her mind as she plotted how to grow stronger quickly enough to earn Noah''s eptance.

    Noah wasn''t aware of what he started, nor what was now fated to happen in the future. He was already mulling over his recent findings from the earlier fight. "I was right," Noah thought, "the zombies are advancing way too quickly. I''m pretty sure almost every single one of them was a sprinter." His eyes darted from side to side at crazy speeds, reflecting his vivid imagination as he envisioned a sea of evolved zombies by the next day. There was a sense of wariness in his gaze. He couldn''t help recalling God mentioning how the zombies were potentially adapting and evolving faster than humans, when zombies were supposed to be inferior. "But they aren''t my goal; it''s what that God said will happen that I should be preparing for. The zombies and animals are just preparing me for what''s toe."

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