Chapter 42 42: Extortion

"Wait! Isn't that Noah? It is you isn't it? What happened to you?"

Noah's body stiffened when he heard the voice, his pupils hurriedly searched for the voice, hoping it wasn't her.

Yet it still turned out to be her, Regina, the girl who tipped him over his breaking point and has been the main factor of his tragic life outside of his parents.

Regina happened to catch the moment that his body language changed and a wide smile grew. She believed even though he now had two threatening creatures and he himself now appeared intimidating, she still held power over him.

"Why do you need to know?" However she was far from being right. He had to hold back the urge, and that urge was to strangle her then and there. Everytime a 'gang' would 'randomly' show up, his hatred for the woman grew. But he needed to control himself, he had just killed someone not too long ago who probably didn't deserve it, he's not a cold blooded killer. At least he hoped he wasn't.

To avoid dealing with Regina, he directed his attention towards the others who were analyzing the two's conversation .

"So you probably got your answer now right? How about you worry about the situation behind you or do we still have a problem?" Noah questioned them in a way that made it appear as if he was in a hurry.

"! What? You still hav-"

"Elroy, enough! It's true, we need to focus on the zombies behind us. I don't think anything we put in front of the door will hold 'it' back and we still have to worry about the zombies alongside it. Barricade the door and then we can make our way to the gymnasium. With more people, I'm sure we can take that thing out."

"Sigh…fine Lucas…"

Everyone around them busied themselves to find anything to hold the door, banging noises could already be heard on the other side. However two people stood still to address Noah, one was the man, Lucas, who asked Noah the question, while the other was Regina.

But Noah wasn't paying attention to her, or at least he wasn't trying to, but the irritating stare she was giving him was starting to annoy him. His irritableness clearly showed.

"Well? What else do you want?"

"What? Why does it sound like you're trying to pick a fight with us? You should've heard us just now, but there are tons of zombies trying to get through at this very moment! and then there's another…"

His expression turned solemn when he thought about the monster approaching.

"We need your help, you're in the same situation as us so why don't you fight with us? You seem to be pretty confident in yourself but believe me…what's out there isn't something you alone can handle, trust me, you're not the only one confident in themselves."

With that said, a fierce glint shone in his eyes that turned golden while his pupils became long vertical slits. Not only that, but his hair, as well as the hair that was visible on his arm began to grow, fully covering his skin before everything reverted back to its original state.

'Oh!' The show of 'strength' surprised Noah, which clearly showed on his face. The expression Noah showed satisfied Lucas, thinking he got his point across.

"But I don't need you, honestly, you have some gall, bringing them here and then saying that crap to me. The only reason I'm in the same position as you is because you put me in it. Just hurry up and finish what you need to do and go on, I was fine before your group barged in."

"….." The two didn't know what to say. Regina was still trying to take in Noah's new demeanor.

"Lucas! We did what we could! We think that should be enough to buy time. Let's head over with everyone else."

Lucas turned to see Leroy return and then observed their work. It was definitely enough to hold them off. He wasn't sure about the zombies that could run, but he also knew it would do nothing against that monster that even he was afraid of.

His eyes briefly glazed over when he thought about the identity of the monster. But soon he was awakened from his bitter memories from the sound of the banging increasing.

"Come on everyone, we don't have much time!" Lucas directed everyone to the back, but not without giving Noah one last look and parting words.

"Pride kills, but I'll be sure to remember your name." His words caused Noah to laugh. However his laugh was for another reason which they will find out about soon enough.

"Wh-what? What is this? This is the way to get to the other side right"

"Urgh! I think it's webs! Look! weapon is stuck, I can't get it out."

"Webs?"

Most people in the group had the same realization when they heard that word. First Lucas turned around and then everyone followed as they looked to the most likely source behind the webs. Only to find Noah watching them while he smiled in amusement.

"Did you do this?" LeRoy spoke out loudly and he was clearly upset . At this point, even if Noah said he didn't do it, he wouldn't believe it. Noah considered himself a lot of things, but being a liar wasn't one of them.

"Yeah it was me, what can I say? You guys just came at a ba-"

"Well take them down then! Or should we make you?"

"Yeah! We don't want to die with you!"

The rest of the group started to chant loudly. Soon the smile Noah wore turned into laughter, leaving the group confused and angry.

"I don't think this is funny…."Lucas spoke up, his eyes slowly changing to its primal form from earlier.

"You act like we really need you, but remember this moment, you'll definitely regret this soon…ugh!" He grunted softly as his body started to go through the changes. Starting with his body hair that started to spread throughout his body, while parts that were uncovered sprouted more hair. His muscle mass began to grow while his face gradually started to change features. The mouth and nose stretched out from his face to form a snout, while his hair quickly emerged from his skin, covering the rest.

It was a long process, but Noah noted that the change was at least quicker than Derricks. This man clearly was used to using the skill. If Lucas was average height before, standing around 5'11, he was now 6'3. But any resemblance to the man before was gone. What stood before him was a tall dark gray bipedal wolf or what everyone would consider a werewolf.

The change was fearsome! Ferocious eyes, Dense fur, sharp teeth and long claws. Even his hands and feet were larger while his arms almost dangled past his knees. Noah definitely wouldn't want to go against something like him in the past.

Noah and his group prepared themselves, thinking that Lucas wanted to fight it out with them, but unexpectedly, Lucas turned around to face the wall of webs.

"Awwwhooooo!" He howled before raising his right claw that revealed its almost nine inch fully extracted claws. The speed of the attack was fast as it seemed to rip through the air. The gang behind him gathered as they all anticipated the same situation. They all envisioned his claws shredding the webs like paper.

Roars!*

Yet what they expected didn't happen. His claws struck through the webs, cutting down just a few inches to reveal the other side before it stopped in its tracks. He tried to remove his claw, yet as he pulled, the webs seemingly appeared as if it was gonna pull apart, but it proved to be more stubborn than him.

Lucas was very prideful after the change of his race and the pride trait was more apparent when transformed. How could he consider himself an alpha when he couldn't even break through some measly webs? He even took the time to criticize Noah and made a huge entrance with his transformation. He felt embarrassed and that led him to feel annoyed and the thought came to mind, If one couldn't do it, then why not two?

With another howl, he stabbed his other claw into the webs, adjacent to the other. His plan was that if he couldn't cut through it then he would rip it apart with absolute strength!

Growls!*

Just like a beast, Lucas began to growl loudly as he tried to exert all of his strength, growling louder with each tug.

"You can do it Lucas!"

"I've seen him sliced through a zombie's skull before, this should be easy for him!"

The people cheered him on, but the three in the back were no longer interested.

Poke poke*

Noah turned to face Arachne who was utterly confused. 'Why are they playing with your webs?' The question made Noah chuckle, granting Arachne another session of head rubs.

"This is what happens when people don't ask for things nicely." He couldn't really answer that question unless he went into details, but he was unsure if she would understand the longer version.

"Grim? What's wrong with you?" He noticed Grim looking back towards the barricaded door that started to bulge. The things out there appeared far more interesting than the creatures in front of it since he wasn't able to cut off their heads.

"Oh? Well we still have time for them, why don't you eat on the zombies Arac-"

"Noah help him!" Noah was interrupted by Regina who he saw at Lucas' side. He didn't know when, but Lucas was already undoing his transformation.

Apparently, Lucas created a big enough hole that even his enlarged head could fit through, but that was the most he could achieve after all that effort. What Noah didn't know was that even though Lucas' transformation appeared as if it held no drawbacks. Physically, the skill was draining and would only become less of a burden when his physical stats were increased.

Now he was almost back to his original self, yet he was still glued to the webs while he appeared slightly exhausted and exasperated.

"No! We don't need his help, if we all come together and pull then we shou-"

"Lucas, shut up! Do you want us to be stuck just like you? We would definitely die when the zombies come through. Noah, please! We've known each other since we were little. We were actually close once, can you help us this one time? Please….."

"No…." Noah quickly uttered, but he sounded conflicted. This gave reason for her to believe that there was still a chance to convince him, before she heard his following words.

"Now that you politely asked me, 'considering our past history' I will only free him if you all pay me in gold. I'm glad you still remember the past, so don't you DARE try to manipulate me into doing what you want." The earlier smile he had was nowhere to be seen. He was angry, and rightfully so. She actually had the audacity to bring up when they were younger and make it seem as if they were close?

He clenched his fist hard enough to draw blood when he thought back to the time that broke him.

However, how was the rest supposed to know? Lucas heard the crazy demand while he was still struggling to remove himself. He couldn't help but become enraged further.

"Money?? Are you really trying to extort us right now? How low could you poss-"

"LUCAS, I SAID, SHUT! UP!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, startling everyone, their attention quickly changed from Noah onto her. She stared into Noah's eyes sternly, but there was also a hint of confusion. This is the same person who she got beaten up every week and never told a soul. The same person she tricked into thinking she cared about him. 'How could someone change so much? Is this really Noah?'

But she had to accept it, there would be no other reason why someone would show such animosity to someone as beautiful as her, right?

"Sigh! Fine…how much do you want?"

"Of course I want it all?" He replied instantaneously to her question, dumbing not her but everyone else.

"Wh-what? All? We don't even know what it's for yet and you want all of it?"

"You're still stuck in here with us! Why should we give you anything?"

The backlash continued, but Noah didn't care in the slightest. After taking so many lives and seeing so many die. Are they still trying to argue with him over something they may not even get to use?

"It's either that or we stay here 'together'. It doesn't matter to me, but are your lives worth less than the gold you carry? I'm sure many of you don't even have any. Are you gonna let those few let you all die? Besides, your main fighter is out of the fight. Do you think you'll survive long enough when they get in without him?"