Becoming a Monster

Chapter 405: Chapter 405: Heart of the Dungeon

The forest erupted in motion. The ground quaked beneath Fenrir’s pounding steps as he tore through the underbrush, his two pack members on his heels, reckless and loud enough to shake the trees. From other parts of the forest, Kratos and the others moved with far more control, but their urgency was no less.

None of them knew what was happening. Pandora hadn’t explained, she didn’t care, nor had she needed to. Her only words had been, "Noah needs you." That was enough.

When they reached their home, they found Ailetta and Arachne standing outside. The moment the others saw that they weren’t merely standing outside, but vigilantly watching their surroundings, the tension among them grew sharp.

Instinctively they looked towards the entrance, attempting to see where Noah was, but the entrance was barred with a myriad of roots, preventing anyone from peering in.

Noticing their expressions when they arrived, Ailetta didn’t wait for anyone to speak, especially not Fenrir or Eve, who she was almost positive would shoot straight into their home and disrupt whatever Noah was doing.

"Noah isn’t in danger," she said, making sure her tone was calm enough to let them know that everything was still fine, though her tone left no room for argument. "But what he’s doing might draw unwanted attention. Until it’s over, no one goes inside, no one disturbs him...and no one can allow anyone else to."

Both Fenrir and Eve noticed that Ailetta’s gaze was on them throughout most of her speech. Fenrir’s growl rumbled in his throat, but even he knew better than to challenge her authority. Her words came second to Noah in the hierarchy chain.

Eve’s playfulness was nowhere to be seen. Underneath that naive girl was a vampire who was unnervingly aware.

The creatures all stood outside, surrounding the home at different points. Their caution was sharpened to the extreme; even the faintest rustle drew bloodthirsty stares. No one knew what to expect, or what Noah was planning to do inside that demanded such caution.

Only Ailetta knew.

She didn’t know how

he planned to do it, but through the merger of their souls, she could sense his intent. There was no point in explaining it to the others; they wouldn’t understand, nor would it change what they had to do. What mattered now wasn’t their confusion, but their neighbor.

The drake would definitely sense it.

If Noah succeeded, the effects would reach everything within the boundary the dungeon reached. Her memories from when she was human weren’t forgotten. The stories she read about dragons always depicted the mythical creatures as monsters closely linked to mana itself. And if the drake was a descendant of those creatures, then it would be impossible for it not to notice.

The question was, how would the creature respond?

During her thoughts, a strong change in the air suddenly stole her attention. It wasn’t just her; the others could feel it too.

Their gaze snapped behind them. All of them looked at their home as if somehow, they would be able to see through it. Mana all around them was being condensed in the air, and as the mana circulated, they could feel a strange sensation resonating within them.

Deep within its cavern, the drake was already behaving restlessly. The commotion Fenrir and the others had caused stirred its curiosity, but pride kept it confined. After its last humiliation, the mere thought of facing Noah again made its scales bristle with embarrassment.

And yet, something was wrong.

At first, it thought it was imagining it. But as it breathed deeply in the air, it sensed the potency of mana building up.

Its pupils constricted sharply as its head rose. The mana around it wasn’t just flowing, it was being drawn. Pulled toward a single point, and the point seemed to originate from a source that the drake was very familiar with.

"This presence..." the drake rumbled with disbelief. "That demon... What are you doing this time?

The drake stood motionless for a long moment, torn between pride and curiosity. It wanted to ignore it, to pretend it didn’t care, it had already made a fool of itself once too many times already. But the longer it stood still, the harder that became.

As the drake lingered, it became clear the mana wasn’t merely being collected. Its body naturally sensed it first. The mana was purer than before. It breathed in again, much more deeply than before. The mana stirred at the energy circulating inside its body.

The wound on its chest, the one that had refused to fully heal and was still tainted by that strange, foreign mana, began to sear.

At first, it thought the pain was returning, that somehow, its defenses weakened and the miasma began its attack on its mana and flesh again. But then the drake realized... It wasn’t painful at all.

The corrupted mana was being forced out. Wisps of black smoke rose from the wound as the mana within its body was using the new, pure energy to fight back.

It inhaled again, every muscle trembling as it sensed the shift within the air.

It had felt something like this before, in the far reaches of the draconic territory, where one of the strongest wyverns had built its nest. That place, its territory, was unlike any other. The air itself had pulsed with vitality, the mana so rich and refined that even breathing it in stirred one’s core.

For creatures of the draconic lineage, that land was sacred. Every scale, every drop of blood that carried a dragon’s essence would react instinctively. Drakes and wyverns alike grew stronger, breaking through their limits, and even lesser kin found their bodies tempered just by existing within its reach.

It was a place where the blood of dragons remembered what it once was.

But that power hadn’t been born from the wyvern alone.

The wyvern knew what slept beneath its dominion, the dungeon core buried deep in its territory. It didn’t just coexist with it; it drew from it. It hoarded the core’s mana, siphoning its purity to fortify its own strength, shaping its nest around the flow like a monarch guarding its throne.

That same resonance, the purity... although the mana here couldn’t compare to the purity from that place, the drake was still assured of its belief.

The demon possessed a dungeon core of his own.

A deep, gnawing hunger unfurled in its chest. Greed, pure, unrestrained greed, coiled through its thoughts. It remembered the taste of Noah’s blood, then the creatures that surrounded him. None of them matched any species it had ever encountered, yet all carried a strength that defied their nature.

Piece by piece, the drake’s earlier assumptions began to crumble.

No god, no ancient being had changed that human into what he was now. No, it was the core. The core had molded him, empowered him, and elevated him beyond what any mortal could become.

And if that were true...

Then what would happen if it took the core’s energy for itself? Just like the wyvern, perhaps it too could create a domain that rivaled that sacred land, a domain ruled by it alone. A place where no one could look down upon it again. It wouldn’t need Noah’s blood. It wouldn’t need Noah at all.

But then reality crept in.

Even as the thought burned bright, truth settled heavy in its chest. With how things stood now, it wouldn’t be able to stand against Noah or his creatures. Not after the demon unlocked a deeper portion of the core’s power. Just like the wyvern before him, Noah’s strength would only grow, and when it did, even the faintest notion of challenging him would be suicidal.

Was it worth it?

It had already missed its chance to claim the blood that could’ve helped it ascend. And if it acted recklessly again, if it failed this time, it wouldn’t just suffer embarrassment. It would be destroyed.

The drake’s thoughts tangled in silence. Slowly, the fire behind its eyes dimmed, leaving them dull and lifeless.

It was tired.

It had come to this forest to fade away, a broken remnant of what it once was. Deep down, it had already accepted that fate. Its only comfort had been the small pride that the creatures here were weaker than those from its homeland. That was enough.

Maybe it was time to stop chasing what it could never reach.

With a heavy breath, the drake lowered its head, curling its body against the cavern floor. The hum of mana in the air still called to it, distant and tempting, but it ignored it.

For now, it simply closed its eyes... and let the thought of strength fade with its waking will.

But inside Noah’s lair, mana raged.

Noah stood before it, hands hovering near its surface as his violet aura intertwined with its glow. The heart had already reached its limit, yet it continued to draw in and refine the surrounding mana, releasing ever purer energy with every beat.

His mana stabilized the torrent, forcing the heart to contain more than it was built to. Each cycle stretched its capacity further, reshaping it bit by bit.

As the heart neared its evolution, a tremor stirred deep within Noah, his mana resonating with the core’s, trembling as if answering its call. The boundary between his energy and the heart’s began to blur, each pulse syncing closer to his own heartbeat.

He just needed to help it take one more step.