Becoming a Monster

Chapter 407: Chapter 407: The Queen’s Offspring

Noah stepped outside, where his creatures were already waiting for him. More than the power still coursing through their bodies, what struck him most was their focus; the way every gaze was on him, concern written clearly across their faces.

No words were needed. Through their bond, Noah could already tell that each of them had been affected by the dungeon’s evolution, just as he had. But his curiosity stretched further than that.

What about those who weren’t bound to him?

His eyes moved between Fenrir’s and Ava’s subordinates, then to Pandora’s serpent coiled in the distance. Activating his Nexus Eye, he examined the flow of mana within them. Aside from Ava and Diablo, whose power intertwined with Eve’s, there wasn’t much visible change, at least not yet. But the subtle signs were there: deeper, steadier breaths, faint ripples of energy beneath their skin. The mana was still working on them, reshaping them slowly from within.

Over time, it would strengthen them all, permanently.

The same applied to him and his bonded family. The surge of energy they felt now wasn’t truly theirs; it was borrowed power, drawn from the dungeon’s heart. Once they stepped beyond its radius, that strength would fade.

But the traces it left behind, the slow, natural refinement of their bodies and mana, would remain, and those changes would be irreversible.

He knew that as long as they had time, strength would come. But deep down, Noah doubted he would ever be afforded that time. Whether it was fate’s cruel humor or some higher power pulling strings, the world itself seemed intent on denying him peace. Maybe that was part of what it meant to bear the title of Fallen, to always be dealt a losing hand.

Even if the thought sounded paranoid, he believed it with every fiber of his being.

His gaze swept over his creatures, a quiet weight in his chest. He wanted to ask them how far they would follow him, to warn them that the path ahead would only be drenched in blood. That there would be no peace waiting for them at the end, only the one they carved for themselves.

But such a question would have been an insult. He already knew the answer.

They would follow him through anything, through ruin, through hell itself. Even if the gods descended to strike him down, they would stand with him until the very end.

"This is what it means to have a family," he thought, the corner of his lips lifting faintly.

But sentiment had its time, and that time had passed. His eyes turned toward the cavern where the drake resided. "Did it try anything during this time?" he asked, though his attention was fixed on Ailetta.

She frowned. "No," she finally admitted with suspicion. "That’s what’s strange. With what you just did, I expected it to come storming out. But it didn’t move at all..."

Noah’s gaze lingered on the cave entrance, his eyes narrowing faintly. For a creature as prideful and greedy as that drake to remain silent, he couldn’t fully make sense of it. But as he thought about their interaction earlier, he wondered if the drake was already reflecting. Or maybe... it was biding its time.

The uncertainty gnawed at him, especially when they involved something powerful enough to threaten his home if left unchecked. But in the end, he exhaled slowly, carefully thinking with a level-head.

If the drake was planning something, he would know soon enough. He doubted it had that much patience. And when the time came, he would be prepared.

The dungeon’s evolution had changed everything. If the worst came to pass, he was now assured of his strength to fight the drake to the death. He was willing to take that gamble. Because as of now, the drake was still more useful to him dead than alive.

However, the drake was actually the least of his worries.

The drake might have been the strongest creature here, but that didn’t mean it was stronger than all of the creatures if they ever united. And Noah knew how fate seemed to favor the worst outcomes for him. If things followed their usual pattern, that unity, or something worse, was inevitable.

He couldn’t afford to be optimistic, not after what his dungeon had become. Monsters were already being drawn within seconds after its change, This was only the beginning. Unlike humans, he didn’t need to guess what their next moves were, and he wouldn’t have to waste time with negotiations and scheming. It was simple: kill or be killed.

The thought should’ve unsettled him, instead, Noah felt his pulse quicken, his spirit flare. He wanted peace, but his body craved the fight, the growth that came with struggle. Deep down, he was eager for this war.

His gaze swept over his gathered creatures; each one was alert and waiting when they sensed his serious demeanor.

"You all should’ve sensed the changes. As long as you stay within the territory of our home, that power remains with you." The information didn’t sit well with most, but the ones who didn’t understand, didn’t seem to necessarily care about the details either. Noah just skipped over Dummy, even the newest member seemed to have more common sense than him. The beast was merely salivating just breathing in the air, his mouth chewing at nothing as if he could eat the mana itself.

Noah avoided looking at the simpleton, fearing that he wouldn’t be able to speak out the rest of what he wanted to say with a straight face.

"But... that power also brought us some unwanted attention." Instead of speaking, he showed an illusion of when the hobgoblin had entered, before being forced out by Pandora.

"I don’t know when, or how many, but expect uninvited visitors. We need to be ready to fight at any time." They continued to listen in silence, their focus sharpened by the weight of his tone. Noah continued, beginning to outline what to expect, and if they were going to fight, to never go past the wall.

He was going to continue to specify what they should do while they waited. Then, in an instant, both he and Arachne froze.

Sharp bursts of mana pulsed, coming from within their home. Arachne reacted first, and before Noah could speak, she bolted into the entrance without acknowledging the others.

Noah turned sharply on her departure, he could sense more than one presence, and one was more powerful than the others. What worried him wasn’t creatures’ power, it was the fact that they’d managed to get past Pandora and into their home without even him noticing.

As he followed Arachne, something finally clicked. He should’ve realized sooner. Arachne’s eggs were hatching.

And if he wasn’t mistaken, the timing wasn’t a coincidence. He felt the dungeon’s evolution played a part in it, accelerating the process.

The others followed behind him, curiosity consumed them more than anything. Only Kratos radiated a sense of danger, he couldn’t tell the difference in the atmosphere. His mind was still focusing on the intruders Noah said to expect.

When Noah entered. He was expecting to see baby spiders, maybe even little Arachne’s. But what he saw made him remember that monsters were... special.

The nest was veiled in thick webs blocking most of their view. They had to stretch their necks to catch a glimpse past the strands.

Arachne stood before the cluster of eggs, motionless except for the subtle tremor in her hands. Her eyes gleamed with a nervous, restrained anticipation; not the soft warmth of a mother awaiting her young, it was sharper, conflicted. These weren’t mere offspring. They were the first of her many "children". The subjects on her path to becoming a true Queen. Despite her composure, even she wasn’t ready for what that meant.

Would they be strong enough? Would they surpass Fenrir’s chosen pack? Would they prove themselves useful to Noah?

These were the questions going through her mind as her fixation was on the tremors rippling through the eggs.

The smallest two eggs split almost simultaneously. Black legs struck out one after another, eight, each long and shining at the tips. The newborn crawled free of their shells. Each of their bodies was uniquely the same. Their bodies were covered in a deep, pitch-black carapace traced with faint violet lines that glowed faintly.

Each stood nearly four feet tall, almost as large as Arachne herself had been the first time Noah met her.

They moved cautiously at first, their legs were clumsy. But it didn’t take long for instinct to steady them. They turned toward Arachne almost immediately, drawn to her scent, the one their instincts recognized as their mother.

A low series of clicks passed between them. The sound vibrated softly through the chamber.

Arachne wasn’t bothered by the clicks. Even with her human side, it was still her first language. They were hungry.

Arachne brushed her clawed hand over their heads. Their eyes gleamed dangerously as they stared at what remained inside their eggs.

Their eyes lingered on the remains of their shells, on the mana-rich fluids pooling beneath them. But none of them moved. Not without her command.

She ran her clawed hand gently over their heads once more. "Not yet," she said quietly. Her eyes traveled to the last one to come out.

Then, a sudden vibration shifted. The largest egg pulsed faintly, its surface tightening as mana built within. The smaller hatchlings stepped back. It wasn’t from fear, but an instinctual hierarchy.

Arachne’s first general.