Becoming a Monster

Chapter 399: Chapter 399: A Wise Fool is Still a Fool

The air felt heavier than before.

Noah’s mood had already plummeted, even before the drake continued, he could already foresee where this was going.

Yet the drake, with a sly grin on its face, continued.

"There are beings whose power dwarfs my own, creatures that even I wouldn’t dare provoke. Then there are many whose powers are close to mine. This world is larger than you can imagine."

There was a pause again. The drake finished with its answer, tilting its head with glinting eyes. "That’s the answer, demon." Its head rose as if it had won a challenge. "You asked how powerful, and I’ve answered!"

Noah didn’t respond, his eyes unnervingly staring towards the drake with a calm gaze.

"Well?" the drake pressed, feigning indifference though its tail twitched with excitement. "I’ve upheld my part. Now, it’s your turn to uphold yours. You promised me your blood."

Noah’s silence lingered a second too long. The drake’s grin stiffened.

"That’s your answer?" Noah finally asked.

The drake’s smirk wavered. "It was a fair one! You asked, and I told you. If you want details, that’ll cost extra."

Hearing that, Noah slightly nodded to himself.

Unlike the drake, Noah was willing to cooperate fully, but this was his test to see how he would deal with the monster for the foreseeable future.

And it failed.

There was no need for Noah to get along with it, or to rely on its...wisdom

. He’d already learned what he needed: creatures existed that were stronger than the drake, stronger than him. That was enough..

Who were they? How many? What were their abilities? Were they hostile toward monsters like him? All these questions would benefit him to know, but he no longer sought to learn it from the conniving drake before him.

The drake, unaware of the verdict just passed upon it, looked smug, mistaking Noah’s silence for acceptance of his loss. It licked its lips with glee, already imagining the taste of blood.

"I stand by my word..." Noah spoke with a voice so detached, almost lifeless.

That alone reassured the drake. It puffed up its chest in triumph, believing it had bested the so-called demon in a battle of wit and patience. Its expectant gaze followed as a tendril of slime split from Noah’s arm and extended toward it, hovering above it.

Just like before, Noah pierced his flesh hidden beneath the slime, forcing his blood to the tendril’s tip. The drake’s pulse quickened, anticipation surging through its veins. Its maw opened eagerly, eyes closing to savor what it believed would be the taste of victory and feeling of ascension.

The first breath it took of the blood’s aroma filled its nostrils with something sweet... but something was off.

Its eyes snapped open. The scent was different... It wasn’t the same invigorating scent that it fantasized about the prior night.

The realization struck too late. The drop had already fallen on its tongue.

For a moment, inside its thoughts, the drakes’ rage screamed of betrayal. Everything else melted away. The flavor hit its senses all at once. A tremor ran through its body, its wound pulsing with warmth instead of pain, in that instant, its mind blurred.

It felt... no, it swore it saw something.

A fractured image. A silhouette of itself, but greater. From its shoulders, down to its scaled arms were vast, breathtaking wings.

The vision was intoxicating, so real that it almost believed it could move them. But when it blinked, they were gone. Gone as if it were all just a hallucination.

Its pupils widened. Its chest heaved, breath shaky and uneven. Confusion bled into awe, awe into silent, trembling obsession. Its tongue flicked against its teeth, trying to savor that last drop.

Noah simply watched. His tendril retracted, the blood sealed beneath his slime once again.

Noah’s words, quiet as they were, snapped the drake back to reality. It blinked, realizing too late that Noah had already turned and was walking away toward his lair.

"No..." it growled under its breath, its pupils dilating with panic. "No!"

It couldn’t let this go. Not when it was so close.

"Demon, you’ve lied to me! You can’t leave until you fulfill the agreement!"

Noah stopped and turned his head just enough to meet its gaze. His expression was devoid of interest. He was done entertaining the creature. He had already given the drake more than it deserved.

But the drake didn’t care for his silence or his look. It felt wronged, cheated, mocked. The injustice burned hotter than its own fire as it roared again.

"This isn’t the same blood that you give your subordinates; I can attest to that in my ancestors’ lineage! I wanted the same blood that you gave them last night! That was what you promised me!"

Its eyes were crazed, Noah’s blood was more like a drug than an elixir. But even those who desperately needed an elixir would come to see the miracle medicine as a drug.

"Pathetic," Noah felt a flicker of disgust as he watched the drakes’ tantrum.

He despised beings, humans and monsters alike who were like this. You shouldn’t dish out what you can’t receive yourself.

The drake was fine when it manipulated others to get what it wanted, and yet it wasn’t fair when he did the same?

The drake trembled with rage, claws scraping the ground. "You mock me! You think you can trick me and just walk away?"

Noah’s eyes narrowed faintly, "If I recall, you only asked for my blood... Did you specify what kind?"

He turned his back to the drake whose eyes widened in shocked realization. "Consider that a gift. You should be grateful I gave you anything at all."

Watching Noah leave, the drake’s wings twitched. No, not its wings, its arms spasmed. A phantom ache pulsed through its joints the moment it realized that it may have lost its chance to ever get them.

It had been played.

Not tricked by any deception, but by its own greed.

The realization sank in, dragging down what little pride it had left.

The drake’s claws dug into the ground, trembling as its mind raced. Its eyes followed Noah as he walked away.

It didn’t know whether to curse him or chase after him. But it did know one thing, if it ever wanted to truly receive its wings, it needed to put away its pride... at least when it came to the demon.

Noah didn’t care about the drake’s thoughts, his mood was already soured. He thought monsters would be better, yet the drake was no different. Just like humans, Noah knew that the only reason the drake didn’t force Noah’s hand, was because it still respected his power.

With his thoughts brewing, Noah still charmed himself He shouldn’t compare the creature to humans. At least, despite the drake not getting what it wanted, there was still a key difference. He didn’t see the drake going after his family, whatever difference they had, it was between them. And that was the only reason Noah didn’t plan to act against it... as long as the drake continued to respect that boundary.

That, in itself, was enough.

He exhaled slowly, letting the irritation fade from his expression. His heart warmed when he saw Eve’s face brighten as she watched him approach.

"Sorry to keep yo-"

"Blood! Let’s go!" The vampire was too eager to hear Noah’s apology. Her hand already gripped his as she led him to their home.

He was stumped, following her lead before he chuckled to himself.

_____________

The drake had already returned to its cave. Deep inside, not a sound echoed. It was thinking deeply about the experience it had. Noah’s blood, the sensation, the taste, the illusion. The drake began to truly wonder what Noah’s real identity was.

It had never heard of a creature whose blood could trigger evolution.

No... that was a lie. For the drake, a pure dragon’s blood had the probability of doing the same for creatures of the same lineage. Vampires were the same, they could evolve creatures who were branches of the same species. And there were more situations just like it.

But they all had one thing in common, no one could breed evolution from another species, yet the drake had no doubt that Noah was the exception.

It wasn’t in the mood to eat, sleep avoided it. The drake just lay there in silence.

Meanwhile, Noah watched Eve sleep on his bed, Ailetta resting beside him. Since her transformation, Eve hadn’t been able to sleep as much, yet now she was in a deep slumber. Her cheeks held a rare warm sensation, her lips a vibrant red from Noah’s blood.

Eve murmured in her sleep, turning over, her fingers curling unconsciously toward where Noah stood. His expression softened, Ailetta smiled as she watched his expression change.

It was strange how easily he could forget what they were when moments like this existed. Monsters or not, they were his, his family, his responsibility.

But then his brow furrowed. He couldn’t shake the memory of how bold Eve had been during her feeding. If he hadn’t forcibly stopped her through their bond, she would have drained him dry without hesitation.

He couldn’t allow that again. It had to be controlled, restrained because he feared that if he let her feed freely, she would never be able to taste anything else but his blood ever again.

And yet, even now, he could tell that something inside her was changing from just that one session.