"Hm?" Noah’s eyes shot up when he sensed ’something’ watching him intently as he finished absorbing a spider that finally satisfied his hunger. Unlike the others, eating until he was "full" wasn’t exactly the same as the phrasing meant. To Noah, full didn’t mean the filling of his stomach, but the substance required to further replenish the energy needed for his body to continue cycling mana throughout his body. The more mana he has, the more it would require for Noah to "eat" just to satisfy his body needs to feed.
Even now, with his body temporarily sated, he knew that after this upcoming battle, he would be able to eat the same amount as before, maybe even more if he expended both his mana and stamina past the point that he had reached earlier. The feeling of his body becoming empowered by the absorption process made his body feel almost euphoric, as the coursing energy invigorated every fiber of his being.
Yet, the sensation of being watched disrupted any sense of comfort he might have felt. His body tensed instinctively, his Nexus eye whirred to life, scanning the area that he felt the presence was coming from. For a being to sneak up on him , they had to be powerful, or at the minimal, dangerous; not even the others were aware of the presence.
As he tried to pinpoint the presence, he began to understand why the others weren’t aware of it. The presence was all around them. Noah’s breath caught for a moment as realization set in this presence wasn’t something singular or straightforward. It enveloped the surroundings like an unseen force, permeating the forest itself and making it difficult to pinpoint a single source. His Nexus eye struggled to comprehend the vastness of it, only able to sense fragments at a time, as if the entity was both everywhere and nowhere at once.
It felt as though the forest itself had come alive. Despite the severity of the situation, Noah could "feel" a subtle emotion emanating from the forest, curiosity....and anxiousness. From the moment he noticed the presence, not once did it harbor hostility towards them, something that was quite baffling considering the amount of deaths piling up in their name.
"Master! Look what Dummy fou-Look at what I found!" Noah turned around seeing Fenrir shoving Dummy away from a pile of corpses. On first inspection, Noah didn’t see anything noteworthy. But then he noticed the residual aura of one of the bodies in particular being drained at a slow and steady pace. That same corpse was the one Fenrir dragged out from the rest, tossing it "lightly" between them.
The moment the corpse was tossed into the air, Noah felt that presence becoming more anxious than before. It only took him one glance to understand why.
"It’s just like with the trees." Ailetta spoke, noticing Noah’s strange behavior. The spider’s belly that was touching the ground following its death was brittle, crimson energy formed cracks within its exoskeleton, displaying vein-like symptoms just like the destroyed trees from earlier. The aura it emitted was also the same familiar energy that Noah noticed spreading among the trees and also held an unknown relationship with the other pressing aura.
"And whatever it is, it’s currently watching us." Noah’s unintentional warning caused everyone to grow instantly alert, everyone except Dummy and Diablo cautiously began to look around their surroundings.
"There’s no use looking. It isn’t here physically.... I’m thinking it’s more like your ability, Le. It’s using the trees as its eyes.
Arachne, who felt a sense of comfort in the confines of the trees and was able to keep a vigilant watch for any lurking enemies, quickly jumped down from her perched branch. She didn’t doubt Noah’s words; if anything, that made the trees more dangerous than anything she had yet to encounter, even when it came to Ant Queen, she was able to sense its presence that was hidden from her at that time.
"Should we take them down?" Arachne spitefully spoke, her eyes shifted from tree to tree.
Fenrir’s ears immediately perked up; destruction was something that he was fully confident of being the best at.
Noah mused at the offer, he thoughtfully looked around him, thinking, while at the same time he was focusing on the forest intent; wondering how it would feel after hearing their conversation. However, instead of fear, anger, any form of retaliation, the anxiousness in its feelings grew surprisingly eager, arousing an uncomfortable security within Noah’s thoughts that he relayed to the others.
"Interesting...." Ailetta amusing spoke, looking at the forest with tinge of appreciation. Her mind began to race, diving into a list of what the forest intentions could be, or atleast the intentions of the being that was using the forest for its own purpose.
"Not once have we been attacked by the forest itself, nor did it try to prevent us from killing the creatures that reside here. And from what we can tell, it only intervenes when something "dies", including the trees...." Her thoughts quickly arrived at an answer as she spoke to herself, eventually her gaze landed on Noah.
"You said that the aura was also mixed with the aura that commanded the creatures.....I don’t think we need to worry, in fact, I think we should hurry to take down the other presence instead of worrying about the forest."
Noah quietly observed her while also analyzing the information she spoke of to herself. The speed at which she quickly came to a conclusion made his eyes shine, thinking of a particular entity that gave her information before.
"Did ’it’ tell you anything?" Noah questioned, a question that only he and Ailetta understood. Ailetta’s multiple eyes briefly paused as if in a trance before she embarrassingly chucked to herself.
"No....’she’ hasn’t responded to me ever since that incident with ’that’."
Noah quickly understood who ’that’ was referring to, the entity that was living, growing, inside of him. His thoughts quickly were filled with that entity inside of him, a heavy reminder that time for him was different compared to everyone else. But then his thoughts centered around a specific word Ailetta mentioned.
"You said ’she’?" Ailetta’s eyes met Noah’s, a hint of surprise flashing through her many shifting orbs at his question. A surprised giggle escaped, one that she quickly tried to hold in.
"Yes, despite her genderless voice and form, there’s no way someone as nitpicky controlling as her isn’t a woman. Even now, I’m sure she’s watching, but she’s giving me the silent treatment. You know, sometimes I-"
The moment Ailetta was about to go on a rant about her entity, her speech halted, her gaze sharply turning towards the direction of the forest that her slimes had advanced through. A heavy hum sounded through the forest. It was accompanied by the sound of immense weight dragging through the underbrush, the tremors of something massive drawing nearer. The ground shuddered beneath them, a deep, rhythmic thud echoing with each movement, as if the very earth itself was reacting to the heavy object.
Ailetta’s playful demeanor vanished in an instant, her eyes narrowing, judging the presence in a different way from the others. Then, her eyes softened, a warm smile tug at the edges of the other mouths around her as she made her way forward towards the source approaching them.
"Noah, we should be ready to go now, right?" She turned towards Noah, her smile full of anticipation to go to battle. Behind her, a being that defied life emerged from the trees. The creature was the final creation of her five abyssal creations after fully absorbing the entirety of the army that she had expended so much mana to create.
The creature that emerged from the trees was a titanic amalgamation of monstrous forms, radiating a stifling presence that eclipsed even Ailetta’s most powerful creation. Its lower body was that of a massive serpent, coiling and undulating with a menacing movement that caused the very ground to tremble beneath it. The serpent’s body was thick and muscular, covered in scales that shimmered with a dark, iridescent sheen, transitioning from deep blacks to striking purples that mirrored the violet energy coursing through its form. It towered even over Fenrir gargantuan form, its length extending into the depths of the forest.
From the serpent’s waist up, the creature transformed into a horrifying hybrid of various beings. Its upper half was a grotesque fusion, featuring the segmented body of a titan ant. The ant-like exoskeleton was dark but with a menacing shine. Powerful limbs extended from the torso, each tipped with wickedly sharp claws.
The head of the creature was a chilling blend of features. It bore the elongated jaws of the serpentine, lined with rows of razor-sharp teeth. Its eyes were reminiscent of an insect, shining with an eerie sense of intelligence after the abyssal slime’s sentience merged into one. These eyes glowed with a phosphorescent light, intensifying its nightmarish appearance.
From the back of the creature’s thorax sprouted the massive iridescent wings of a dragonfly. The wings were veined with intricate patterns of dark purple and black, capturing and refracting the dim light of the forest in a way that made them look almost otherworldly. As the creature moved, the wings produced a low, ominous hum, a hum that sounded louder than its heavy serpent figure. For original chapters go to n̷o̷v̷e̷l̷f̷i̷r̷e̷.net
Crowning the creature was the armored carapace of the beetle, providing a protective shell. The beetle’s features were pronounced, with a formidable ridge along its back and sharp spikes jutting out.
Looking at the creature, Noah was in disbelief once again. The creatures they killed didn’t seem to be able to create a creature of this caliber. But then he remembered, the creatures they were fighting now were supposedly a lot stronger than the overall creatures from before. It was just Noah’s party’s progression that had skewed his perception of power.