Becoming a Monster

Noah shook his head when he heard the answer. It seems that the guy always means well but he was just absurdly stupid.

He couldn't allow Mark to keep annoying him though otherwise Noah may end up mindlessly killing him just like he did the guy in the shower. He was hoping that making the decision to kill someone would be less conflicting after feasting on the Zombie King. Even now when he thought of ending Mark's life, the act of doing it didn't bother him at all. To his surprise, he even felt himself salivating after imaging the blood spilling from his corpse. However it was the reason for killing that was still holding him back.

Should he kill him just because he was annoyed? If he allowed himself to stoop that low then would he also start killing people if they looked at him funny? He wanted to become a monster like the Dragons in Legend or the epic boss Monsters in his stories, not a psychotic killer.

He looked towards Mark who continued to struggle with mild annoyance. He wouldn't have to think about this if it wasn't for him.

"Arachne…"

"Aahhhh Fu-Fuck! Damnit!" At the sound of his voice, Arachne placed one of her legs in Mark's palms before pierce clean through it. Unlike before when Mark was bitten, there was not much adrenaline pumping through his body to withstand the pain. He screamed out in agony and tried to grab for his hand, but wasn't able to when Arachne was still towering above him.

Jasmine almost rushed to his aid, but stopped in her tracks when she saw the pupils of all the three 'monsters' looking back towards her.

"500.." The random number caused Jasmine's brain to go haywire as she panicked to figure out what 500 stood for. She never bothered to look behind her to see the awkward expressions on some of the people who had experienced this before.

"E-Eh? 500? Wh-what does tha-"

"Sigh! 500 gold, that's what I want." Jasmine's eyes widened in shock when she realized what he was insinuating.

"You won't give Mark back unless we give you money??" She wasn't expecting this outcome after all they had gone through and it just so happens that money wasn't something they had right now.

Soon however she became confused when she saw Noahs questioning face to her question.

"Why would I want money for him? He isn't worth anything, but since he brought up the fact about contribution…Well I think it's fair to say that the chest now would be unobtainable by all of you if it wasn't for me and all i'm asking for is just 500. Keep the weapons and the items and you may still have a bit of gold left over."

And almost as if it was planned, Arachne released her grip on Mark which he quickly used that chance to scurry away. Even during the time he was under her, unnoticeably he tried to use his skill to increase his strength, yet he was still under the spider's control. He was too prideful to show it but he was terrified with how powerless he was at that moment.

The rest saw that Mark was released and all began to relax, but they still had an issue to solve.

"Noah? What if we also need the gold for something?" He turned to the voice to see that Bailey was now confronting him about the issue.

To the question, he just shrugged it off, making it appear as if he didn't care.

"I'm not forcing you." He said while he took out two glowing orbs from the chest and placed them on the floor, one yellow and the other orange in front of Arachne for all to see before turning back towards her.

"But don't expect any kind of help from me again." He didn't mind the looks that he received. If anything it made him realize that he got the point across.

The others thought that not receiving his help wouldn't be so bad if they could keep their gold. He already took care of two of the biggest threats here. What else would they need to worry about? They were unaware of the panicked faces of not only Bailey, but also Blake, and Paul who were finally on the road to a somewhat full recovery.

Noah then continued to ignore them while he received the gold from the chest and the rest of his items. One which was surprisingly another skill parchment.

'I haven't received a skill in awhile…is it because the zombies are leveling up or did I just get lucky?' He continued to receive the last two items before reviewing the skill. He didn't want to be around the people here too long.

When he retrieved the first item, the item he held in his hand this time was an item he hadn't seen before, but the people who just came from the cafeteria knew all too well.

"Is that the zombie cure?" He looked back towards Bailey and noticed her shocked gaze.

'A cure?' He looked at the murky green liquid in wonder. With his situation, he didn't care about it at all, but he could understand why the others would think it was so valuable. He could use this.

"Is this something you need?" He extended the vial out to Bailey. She continued to gaze towards it before slowly nodding her head. Since the fight with the werewolf, she wasn't sure if the scratches that Paul acquired from it infected him because of his skill. However she was positive that the saliva and the blood from the other zombies would cause him to slowly turn.

The people who followed her currently were the ones she could trust the most and she didn't want to risk losing them. She starts to take faltering steps forward before witnessing Noah withdrawing the cure.

"Ah ah ah…first I need to know what it's worth. Don't worry though, as long as you're honest with me then I'll sell it to you cheaper." His plan this time was to prepare to leave this place since when the mystery shop keeper leaves, he wouldn't have anything keeping him here. But first he wanted to use the shop.

Bailey hesitated to answer him, not because she wanted to lie to him, she was just nervous that even with the price he says, they still wouldn't have enough.

"It's 1,000 gold! That's how much the vial portion cost, I was the one to buy it earlier." Jasmine interjected when she felt that she could use the opportunity to make up to Bailey for taking their money earlier. She tried her best not to break eye contact with Noah when his eyes snapped to her and his gaze narrowed down.

Bailey was shocked to hear Jasmine lie about the price. At first she thought Jasmine was just trying to get over on Noah, but not only would that not be smart since he would find out eventually, she also didn't think Jasmine was that sort of person. 'She's doing this for me?' She quickly judged, however before she could think of Jasmine's reasoning for doing such a thing, she had to correct it. There's no telling if this would be Noah's bottom line for turning on them.

"No! That's not true, Jasmine is mistaken, it was 1,500 gold! But even then, I won't have enough…is there another w-Ah!"

She panicked when she saw the glass vial tossed in the air towards her. The panic turned to confusion when her mind finally comprehended what happened. Tears began to feel her eyes once again from her gratitude. Noah respected her honesty and when that meant that could possibly not receive what she needed to save her friend,

"Don't think this is free, I still expect to be repaid, that may be through gold, equipment or you can give me skills that you happen to find. It's not like I have a need for that anyways. However, make sure you pay me back before I leave, or I 'will' find you."

There were a few key things they picked out from what he said. Not needing the potion is what Jasmine caught onto, however Bailey's focus was on 'before I leave.'

"Wait…What do you mean you don't need the cure for the infection? Is there a way to not get infected??" She almost ran up to hold him, but was frozen in place from his dead stare. He didn't like the fact that she tried to lie to him.

"…..Just get a skill for it, it's that simple." He returned back to the chest to reach for the last item. His eyes shined for a moment before the interest dissipated. He pulled out from the chest a shield big enough to cover his entire torso, down to his knee. The shield was mostly bronze in color while parts of the border were red. He liked the aesthetic of the shield, especially the molding designs on the top and bottom of it, but sadly he wasn't sure if he wanted to go the shield route anymore.

'Maybe when I can hold that sword with one hand then I can try using a small shield with it…' He thought to himself, his eyes turned towards the heavy bone sword laid near the chest.

The spectators watched in awe when they proceeded to watch Noah stuff the huge shield into his bag that was clearly bigger.

"Wh-What on earth….?" The mystery surrounding Noah increased.

Restrapping his bag, he picked up the sword to head on his way again. He had a lot of time still before the shop disappeared, but he wanted to quickly spend his gold so he can decide what else he needs to save for next.

'Sigh…I need to stay in one place. I try avoiding one idiot and then meet another, there's no point in avoiding them now.' He thought to himself while he motioned for Fenrir and Arachne to come along again.

"Noah, wait! What skill? And that bag! Did you also get it from the shop?" Jasmine was pressed for answers. If she was going to help lead this group of people to survive, she needed more information. Information that Noah seemed to have plenty of. But she didn't get the answer she was expecting.

"What's the point of being so smart when you don't use your brain? Books, games, movies, why leave your thoughts tethered to our regular standards? There's not one answer so find your own." This time he let Fenrir go through first, he couldn't risk a surprise attack in his weakened state. Zombies were free game, but he was sure that the animals would be a pain to fight right now.

While he was leaving, everyone regrouped again. Mark's hand was bandaged with torn clothes. Isabelle didn't have the mana to continue healing, but at least his hand didn't have a giant hole in it anymore. Bailey and Jasmine spent the next few minutes discussing what they talked about with Noah while Paul took the potion with a frown.

"I knew we couldn't expect anything from that guy. Skills? Even I could've thought of that! He's just too arrogant, Jas, don't worry, I'll become stronger than him soon."

Almost everyone in the room was becoming accustomed to Mark's character. In order not to provoke him, they tried hard not to react to what he was saying.

"That's not true…" Jas couldn't help but say. One of her biggest goals has been to contact outside help, however all phones were down. The landlines in the cafeteria didn't work and she couldn't access the internet on her phone either. But after talking to Noah, his answer may have been simple, yet after thinking about it, the answer really was simple.

"I was planning on trying to find a radio to call out for help, since phones weren't working then that would be our best bet. Now I've realized…why did we never check the shop for one? I'm sure if it had one then it should definitely work and the government would surely figure it out as well. We really have been thinking outside the box.."

Everyone took a moment to think about what she said. If she put it that way then maybe they could even find skills in the shop too. Bailey had a .

realization

"Guys, it's not just the shop. The chest….with so many of us, we have a higher chance of getting skills that way too. He was right, the answer may be simple, yet we weren't thinking at all."

The group had a sudden realization when they realized that important fact. They witnessed Noah receiving a higher grade chest than them, but if they amounted all of their items together then they obviously obtained much more than him.

"Speaking of skills….I think I got one that might help."