Becoming a Monster

Noah stood before all the creatures gathered around him.

Inwardly, he felt more than a little exasperated.

His gaze shifted toward Bolas, and for a moment, he had to resist the urge to glare at the drake.

Far too many of the creatures currently looked nearly traumatized. Some were unusually stiff, while others kept nervously glancing between Noah and Bolas as though they were waiting to learn what they had done wrong.

Judging by their expressions, one would think Noah had gathered them here to punish them rather than make them stronger.

Fixing the misunderstanding with words would take more time than Noah cared to waste.

Instead, he called a single name.

"Dobby."

The sage feline calmly made his way past everyone before stopping beside him.

Seeing Dobby take his place without asking what Noah wanted reminded him of just how accommodating the cat could be.

"I’m going to give everyone my blood again. Sorry, but you’ll have to be last." Noah glanced toward Morvyr and the elves accompanying him. "I need you to make sure our guests don’t do anything drastic while it’s happening. Can you manage that?"

Dobby didn’t answer immediately. His eyes slowly closed instead.

For several moments, the feline remained completely still before eventually opening them again.

"Some wills are too firmly guarded for me to interfere without considerable effort. Effort that could harm them if resisted too far. The others... I should have no trouble."

Noah wasn’t surprised.

Morvyr and the elves accompanying him possessed considerable mental strength. The same was especially true for the lone goblin whose presence reminded Noah of a shaman.

"That’ll be enough."

Noah turned toward Morvyr.

"Are you able to keep your troops in line once I begin?"

Morvyr almost answered instinctively.

"Of course I-"

He stopped himself.

"That depends on what you’re about to do."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Whatever you did earlier affected all of us. My subordinates lost control of themselves, and even I felt my body trying to act before my mind could stop it." Morvyr briefly glanced towards his troops. "You don’t have to tell me what you did, but if you’re about to do that again, then I can only promise that I’ll do everything within my power to restrain them."

His attention returned to Noah.

"But if any of them still manage to act against my orders, I hope you won’t take it personally."

—

The rest didn’t need to be said.

When Noah turned his attention back toward everyone else, however, he was surprised by what he saw.

All of them looked completely different from before.

The fear that had been present only moments ago was practically gone. The creatures who had been standing stiffly under Bolas’s threats were now visibly more relaxed, while some had even begun moving closer without seeming to realize it.

More noticeable were their eyes.

Almost every one of them was staring directly at Noah with an eagerness that hadn’t been there before.

The change was so drastic that Noah briefly wondered if they had been exaggerating how terrified they were earlier.

Some were staring at him so intently that they almost appeared possessed. A few were even beginning to salivate.

Noah could only smile with resignation when he realized what was happening.

The short amount of time his blood had been exposed earlier had left a strong impression. Whatever lingering fear Bolas had instilled in them didn’t stand much of a chance against that.

If their current expressions were anything to go by, some of them had probably been thinking about his blood ever since.

At least that made things easier.

Noah took another look over everyone before briefly falling into thought.

The only question was how he wanted to do this.

Previously, he had separated everyone into smaller groups. At the time, there had been several reasons for doing so. Noah still didn’t completely understand how his blood affected different creatures, leaving him to extend the process by verifying how his regular blood reacted compared to his blood infused with mana.

Not to mention, giving too much of it away at once risked weakening him considerably.

Neither concern felt as relevant anymore.

Ailetta, Eve, Pandora, and the others had already given him a much better understanding of what his new blood was capable of. There were still things Noah didn’t understand, but his instincts had improved enough that the uncertainty no longer bothered him nearly as much as it would’ve before.

Just from his instincts alone, Noah could tell there was no reason to start with his regular blood when it came to a creature that already possessed his blood within them. Their bodies and souls had already been molded by it, so he could skip that step and give them his infused blood directly.

However, the same couldn’t be said for those receiving his blood for the first time, especially if their physical and spiritual parameters were relatively weak.

For them, Noah would have to start with his regular blood.

Giving them his infused blood immediately would expose their bodies and souls to far more than they were prepared to handle. Instead of gradually adapting to his blood before experiencing its stronger effects, the changes could overwhelm them before their bodies had a chance to properly accept it.

More importantly, his body had also changed considerably.

The merging of his bloodlines had already increased his vitality considerably, and gaining the characteristics of a dryad had pushed it even further.

Noah could feel the difference without testing it.

Even if he gave everyone here his blood at the same time, he doubted the loss would affect him anywhere near as severely as it had before.

Or it would be different if all of the creatures were on the same scale of power as his main creatures. If that was the case, the stress on his soul would affect him more than the loss of blood.

With that in mind, Noah’s gaze passed over everyone before making up his mind. There was no reason to separate them.

He could do everyone at once.

–

Morvyr didn’t dare look anywhere else. If he could help it, he would rather not even blink.

He hadn’t missed what Noah said earlier.

His blood.

Morvyr understood the words perfectly, yet some part of him still refused to believe that the answer could be that simple. He continued watching closely, almost hoping that Noah had left something out.

After everything he had witnessed, how could all of those changes possibly be caused by his blood alone?

If that were true, wouldn’t the devil’s blood be more valuable than most dungeon cores?

No...

Morvyr’s eyes suddenly widened.

His gaze shifted toward the creatures anxiously waiting for Noah to begin.

Their behavior told him something he hadn’t considered before.

This wasn’t their first time.

None of them appeared confused about Noah offering them his blood. If anything, their eagerness suggested that they already knew exactly what receiving it meant.

Morvyr’s thoughts immediately returned to everything he had witnessed since Noah disappeared into his lair.

He had convinced himself that Noah’s dungeon core had to be responsible somehow. It was easier to believe that the devil possessed some extraordinary core with abilities beyond anything Morvyr had encountered than to believe a single living being could cause so many creatures to change.

But what if the dungeon core had nothing to do with it?

What if the creatures standing before him had reached their current state because Noah had been doing this all along?

Morvyr slowly lowered his gaze toward his hand.

The ring around his finger suddenly felt much heavier than before.

It was supposed to be one of their greatest treasures, containing a small portion of the power belonging to the Demon King’s dungeon core. Something so valuable that it was a sign of the highest status that a demon could have.

Yet now he found himself staring at that ancient treasure while wondering whether everything it was capable of amounted to little more than what flowed naturally through the devil’s veins.

If that’s the case, just maybe...

Morvyr’s anticipation grew. Maybe there was still a chance that he could make the request to the devil to help make him stronger.

Honestly, he had to hold back the thought of trying to manipulate the devil to give him his blood, using the excuse that it would increase their chances of winning the upcoming fight.

As his thoughts continued to spiral, they were dismissed the moment Noah took action.

Tens of tendrils filled the air, each guiding their way directly in front of every single one of his creatures.

The scene momentarily confused him. He thought Noah was going to use his blood, not his slime.

And then, off to the side, he noticed a group of monsters standing there. A small group of goblins that the devil intentionally ignored.

All except one.

The elf wondered why that was the case. The other goblins looked rather weak compared to that one goblin. In Morvyr’s perspective, wouldn’t it be better to make all of your troops stronger?

Stronger cannon fodder was still better than weak fodder.

Morvyr wasn’t able to continue trying to understand why the goblins were excluded when his senses had shot up the moment a drop of blood began to build at the tip of each and every tendril.

He had no time to be surprised that Noah’s slime could bleed, nor by the fact that the scent from before didn’t appear.

Something about just seeing the blood left him a bit mesmerized, and that feeling of desire crept up again.

He could only stare with a hint of helplessness and greed as the blood dropped into the creatures’ mouths.