Becoming a Monster

Chapter 422: Chapter 422: The Weight of a True Evolution

The troll was making one last-ditch effort. It was only now, while the beast in front of it wasn’t taking action, that it could do so.

The fire from Fenrir’s barrier of flames, which it wore as a cloak, clung to its arm, spreading across the stone plates and searing into the flesh beneath. Before its attack even landed, chunks of the hardened stone began glowing red.

But the troll didn’t stop. This heat was bearable; the heat on its stone casings was barely felt. Only the flesh underneath made its skin crawl. Even then, it would heal.

It wouldn’t stop regardless of the pain, because it couldn’t. This single strike was the blow that would shift its fate.

Its fist slammed into Fenrir’s chest. Fenrir’s fur parted from the force, leaving the fist open to strike against flesh that was devoid of its armored hide. The troll felt a surge of hope and satisfaction as it could feel Fenrir’s flesh subtly giving way, shaping around the contours of its knuckles, the quick warmth of blood that was eventually burned away.

The troll gritted its teeth, fierce determination flashing through it. With the heat burning its eyes, it had to keep them shut to avoid them being melted. It couldn’t see the effects of its attack, yet it relied on the impact of its fist, the sensation of Fenrir’s body jerking that gave it the resolve to follow up with another powerful blow.

This was it, the attack that forced the beast to topple over; they always do. Its other fist descended again with everything it had; every ounce of mana within it surging to reinforce the blow. Its body screamed under the strain despite its abnormal vitality, but it didn’t matter. It only needed this one hit.

Thud!

A vibration shot through its arm so violently that the troll’s eyes snapped open despite the burning heat. The intense wave of flames immediately flared through its vision as if the door to a burning room had been thrown open, every flame inside lunged outward at once.

Cracks webbed across its dense layer of stone in an instant, splintering from knuckles to its elbow. It staggered, completely thrown off; not by Fenrir’s reaction, but by the lack of one.

Its most powerfullest attack had hit something that it couldn’t break. From the impact alone, it felt like the hardness of a material that was sturdier than any stone.

For a split second, the troll couldn’t comprehend the sensation. It had never felt recoil like this, never struck something so unyielding that the blow rebounded entirely into itself.

Worse than that was the realization sinking into its chest. There was no cry of pain, only the sensation left in its broken fist.

The troll felt its heart throb, followed by a coldness that even the flames couldn’t burn away.

It still couldn’t see, but it didn’t need to. It could feel the beast already making its move.

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The last elite didn’t stand a chance against Fenrir, a beast who thrived in close combat. With his mana and flames no longer hindering his full combat potential, even an elite proved to be less than a challenge.

From Noah’s perspective, he realized something simple: If these three species were truly the strongest the forest had to offer, then as long as his family stayed within the confines of the dungeon, he could scout the forest freely without fearing for his home—

As he was speculating, a loud crash sounded. The sound threatened the surroundings as if the earth would split at any moment.

He had to revise his earlier thoughts.

Noah’s eyes locked onto the battle between Arachne and the troll chieftain. When the leader missed a strike at her, its swinging arm smashed into a tree and shattered half the trunk without slowing. His creatures couldn’t achieve that with raw power alone.

Its strength alone put it on a different powerscale than the other trolls who followed it. And if that wasn’t enough. Arachne continued to maneuver around the monster; her attacks were fast, and her speed seemed impossible for the troll to keep up with.

Yet, her attacks appeared to achieve nothing. Instead, cracks appeared under its feet with each blow. It was as if Arachne’s every limb was filled with deadly force.

This, however, Noah knew wasn’t true. His body, although not his complete one, was able to use his Nexus Eye to get an understanding.

Terra Absorption.

Terra Enhancement.

The world was empowering the chieftain’s unique ability. As long as it stayed connected to the ground, its defensive and offensive abilities were heightened.

Seeing how effective the skill was, it was an ability that he wanted badly for one of his creatures.

"So that’s it," Noah replied as he and Ailetta, whose thoughts were merged with his, spoke after the two had discussed the scene.

Noah wasn’t just watching the chieftain fight; he was dissecting it.

What bothered him wasn’t its raw strength but the difference. The enormous jump between the chieftain’s subordinates and its own power. It wasn’t just a gap; it was a different tier entirely.

Only after seeing the troll’s unique ability in action did Noah recall something from when the system still existed.

If he puts it into perspective...The chieftain may not be a higher level than the other trolls, but the moment a creature undergoes a mutation and then an evolution, the scale changes completely.

Their levels could be the same, but their strength was not.

Mutations were already absurdly empowering. Even now, Arachne’s prowess had overshadowed Fenrir purely because she’d undergone another mutation. He could only imagine her strength if she were to go through an evolution.

That thought dragged up another question he’d been ignoring: What exactly were the conditions for evolving? How is mutating different from evolving?

"You do know that your situation was no different from an evolution, right?" Ailetta’s soft voice in his consciousness answered his thoughts.

Noah’s eyes flickered with sudden understanding.

She was referring to the moment he accepted what he was becoming, the moment his power surged beyond every creature he commanded, altering not just his strength but his appearance, his very essence.

He didn’t respond. After acknowledging it, he was more focused on the trigger. He didn’t believe his trigger for evolution was just a trigger; however, he also understood that it was a major component.

It was just like back then-

"The system was hinting at us all along, wasn’t it?" He felt as if he had just uncovered a world-ending conspiracy that was out in the open for all to see.

The system was never capable of creating something from nothingness. The same was true for when his creatures evolved, and it was the same for when humans underwent awakenings. Even with the system, there were requirements that you needed to achieve, and level conditions you needed to reach to get there. That shouldn’t have changed.

What was more hiddenly altered was that a person’s unique ability also affected the awakening. If that were true, then what he considered unique abilities would play a bigger role than he thought. Not just for him, but for everyone.

As he was thinking this, he noticed Ailetta never entertained his theories at all, as if she was already aware of it.

"That’s because I was. My situation was different, but the being that made me what I am had led me to understand my own transformation."

As she said this, Noah was already about to ask, ’So why didn’t you say anything?’ She could already anticipate the question.

"Because if I’d said it, there was a chance it would hold you back. If I told you that you could only evolve by accepting yourself... you would’ve tried to force it. You would’ve lied to yourself just to reach that state. That would’ve had the opposite effect."

Her voice lowered. "And even now... I don’t think I can cross that road again on my own anytime soon."

Her last sentence was voiced with a heavy, yet foreboding shadow. One that Noah felt needed to be discussed. But then there was an explosion much stronger than before that nearly shook the entire forest. A pressure that affected even his body.

The pressure didn’t just affect him, but all of his creatures, including the chieftain, were affected, leading everyone to pause what they were doing.

Their gaze all led to one direction.

Noah realized that his other half, his true self, had made a big move.

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The chieftain looked over to the north for barely a second before it took off in the direction they arrived from.

Its heavy steps instantly alerted Arachne, who disappeared, hot on the chieftain’s trail.

The chieftain didn’t understand what was happening. Wounds covered its body, tiny cuts that bled an energy gnawing at its mana bit by bit. Victory had still been possible; it only needed a single clean hit. But when it looked across the battlefield, reality struck hard. All of its troops were dead, and not one of the enemy was defeated.

It despised the other species for leaving it alone with such creatures. Why was it left to fight the strongest?

But as it recalled that explosion of power earlier. Its expression was ashen, at the same time, it was relieved. It was neither them nor the lizards who had it the worst.

The chieftain ran with the thought of never coming back again. In fact, it was going to relocate its tribe closer to the outer forest.