Chapter 48 48: Why Are You Running?

A/N: after this week is over I can go back to posting a bit earlier, but enjoy the chapter!

...….

But something was wrong, the Lucas they saw didn't look like the same werewolf from before.

Lucas' form took a drastic change from before. He was almost the size of the new Zombie King. The dark grey fur turned to a midnight black and it now adorned a mane traveling down its back that retained the dark grey. He still contained the sword mark on his thigh leading to his shoulder but the scar now resembled a tribal tattoo that glowed from green to black.

If the King were said to have huge hands after its transformation, if it were to be compared to Lucas's palm now then its size could be said to be average. Lucas' palm was enough to grip around Noah's waistline while its fingers and claws were longer than its palms. His face appeared even more feral than before.

The overbearing howl from Lucas caused the King to stop in its tracks , it felt as if it had met its natural enemy. And when looking at Lucas now, he was also looking in the King's direction with the same gaze.

Lucas now was clearly a Zombie, no one thought about the reason why he changed so fast and why that change permanently made him into a werewolf that was clearly a mutation from what he once was.

Crunch!*

The two zombies may have been acknowledging one another, but there was still one person there who didn't care to notice the new foe.

The King roared and its gaze left Lucas to try to get rid of its tormenter who just took another chunk out of its thigh.

"Awwwhhhhoo!"

At the same time, Lucas took the King forfeiting from the staring contest as a form of weakness. Once the King turned its back, Lucas pounced towards him.

Bam!

The attempt didn't go as everyone watching perceived. The old King may have allowed itself to be taken advantage of, but Lucas was only around level five and even now after he became a were-zombie, his level didn't magically level up. With the new states from its mutation, Lucas still couldn't contend with the higher level King and its buffed stats.

Lucas' body was huge and heavy, the sound of its claws digging and scraping into the court was clearly heard by the King. Before Lucas was able to attend Noah's buffet, it was kicked right between the eyes, crashing back to its original spot by the wall.

Noah took the chance to take another bite out of the same leg, it wouldn't be long until the King wouldn't be able to stand if this kept up.

Instinctively, the King knew that going after Noah now would be useless. It must quickly take care of the wolf or the slippery worm would continue to take advantage of it.

With its sword in hand, it sprinted towards Lucas who was pulling himself out of the wall. Lucas didn't seem fazed at all after being blasted, his qualities of a werewolf had been enhanced after mutating.

In his bloodthirsty state, Noah didn't like that his food was running away from him. He couldn't allow this to go on anymore, he reached down to the closest weapon to him. After having to move around so much to dodge attacks. The nearest weapon was a simple long sword which he quickly retrieved and chased after the King.

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Bang!

On the other side of the room, the doors burst open and a group of students rush into the room brandishing their weapons. The one in the lead looked extremely worried and her head snapped in every direction, looking at every student left in the gym. She was looking for a specific person, but how could she ignore the sight occurring at the end?

"Why did you stop? Are you afraid now? You should be glad that you hea...me?"

Mark approached from behind, he was already bothered about having to come here without being able to rest. He was looking for any reason to nitpick at Bailey, but he too fell silent when he saw a scene that he would never forget.

Bang bang bang!*

One by one the rest of the group filleted their way in and ended up in the same way as the others.

Staring ahead, they all witnessed the Zombie King fighting a massive wolf. But their eyes could barely catch everything happening. The swings of the King's sword were too fast and the tenacity of the werewolf's life force made them incapable of understanding who was winning.

But among the two giants, a lone figure stood out bathed in blood, hacking at both the two creatures. The figure didn't appear to have a certain target. They would only attack whatever was close to it indiscriminately.

The figure was covered in blood and their demeanor was no different from the two monsters currently fighting so it was hard to make out who it was from a distance. However the two insects watching helped the group connect the dots.

"Noah….?" The sudden call of his name awakened the rest out of their stupor. Collectively, they all turned towards Ailetta who was the first to recognize him. His image in his current state was the same image she imprinted in her mind when she watched him fighting the hoard of zombies outside. There was no way she would not recognize him.

"Noah?" Mark voiced out in disbelief. "You mean 'that' Noah?"

No matter how much he looked at the figure, he just couldn't accept it. It hasn't been that long since the last time he saw him.

What he was seeing now was a completely different person from before. The way Noah was dancing between the two giants made Mark doubt everything he was doing till now. In his mind, there's no way Noah could progress this fast in such a short amount of time. He couldn't accept that.

"Haha~ That can't be right. Look! His creatures are just staring there. If that was really him then they would be fighting with him. Wake up!" He tried to delude himself into believing the words coming out of his mouth. Even while he talked, his fist was clenching harder and harder after each word.

Aliettas face snapped locked onto Mark, the loathing she looked towards him before still hasn't changed.

"It IS him!" She snapped before quickly returning to the fight. She could see how powerful Noah had become, but she couldn't help but worry.

She also could barely follow what was happening in front of her. All she knew was that if she tried to approach then she would be dead without even realizing it.

And from the gazes of everyone else watching, they two felt the same. However the others that were already in the gym noticed Mark and the group's arrival.

"Bailey…? Bailey! Waaahh…I thought we were gonna die!"

A women from one of the groups whose job was to fight off one of the Kings subordinates jumped onto Bailey.

Bailey's attention was on Noah's fight, so many thoughts were going through her mind right now that she was beyond surprised when she was hugged out of nowhere. Instantly a smile of relief washed away the overly worried looks she's had since hearing of the attack.

After checking her friend physical condition, she was soon told about everything that happened. How the person was myseteriously killed in the showers, to how Noah, Lucas and his group ran to here and were followed by an army of zombies. She described it all, however none of that information was more important than what they heard during the rambling.

"Ib-Ibby…Wha-what do you mean….he was eating it? You're not making sense…" Bailey and the rest were left confused when Ibby talked about the scene of Noah consuming the flesh of the Zombie King.

A scratch alone was enough to turn someone. And the idea of eating zombie meat was so sickening that they felt the need to hurl. Who in their right mind would cater to such an idea even if you were able to gain something from doing so and how could they possibly not become infected?

"What do you know?? We all saw it! Wait! What if he's just like one of those things? Those zombies…?" Ibbys' emotions got the best of her before she entered a rant of mumbling. But her question was heard by everyone else and they too started to ponder that very question. Someone in particular was more than intrigued to think about it.

"Yes…yes! That could explain everything. There's no way he could become that strong unless he turned to those things and mutated like that overgrown zombie there. But instead of size he probably got faster…HA! Jas, we came here to find answers to avoid turning and he actually became one of them? You can't make this up!"

He began to chuckle to himself, no one else said anything to respond. Even Ailetta herself couldn't say anything. More than anything she didn't want to believe it, but what else would explain Noah actually eating the flesh of a zombie? What sane person could do such a thing.

"Aaawwhooo!"

"!"

"Everyone! Now's not the time, it's coming!"

"Wha-what happnened to Noah?"

"Who cares? Worry about yourself first!"

From a distance they could see the enlarged beast running towards them on all fours. Visible deep cuts could be seen on every one of its limbs, but the cuts weren't bleeding as badly as they appeared. The wolf was slowly regenerating the wounds. Compared to the current humans now, the pace it was recovering was abnormally fast.

Ailetta prepared herself to fight for her life, but not without glancing towards Noah. Worried as to why the wolf decided to make its way here.

As Noah was constantly attacking both monsters. The King was also getting attacked by both Noah and Lucas. It barely received any damage from Lucas at all. But it wasn't able to finish it off either, for every swing it would deal, a sword would hack at its lower limbs.

Surprisingly the damage was a little less than Noah's bites. The sword has been through so much that after hacking into the new thickness of the King's skin, the sword became dull extremely fast.

Noah couldn't bother himself with this observation, he just had to swing harder and faster. The swings grew in number but while this proceeded, the King had to change its priorities once again.

Since it couldn't finish off the wolf fast enough, it needed to remove it from the fight for a while so it kicked the wolf as far as it could. This resulted in the wolf becoming distracted before it noticed the large groups of food. The constant loss of blood and continuous use of recovery made its appetite grow. Even though it could be considered a zombie, its body functions were still active.

This resulted in the group to now have to battle it out with the wolf, while Noah re-engaged with the King.

Arachne observed that Noah was no longer eating on the King and felt it best to now protrude on his fight, but the aura that was radiating from it didn't allow for them to do so.

So the both speechlessly agreed to turn both of their frustrations on the wolf instead.

Noah on the other hand was gaining an overwhelming advantage against the King. Both of the King's legs were badly damaged, no matter how hard it tried, its swings were less powerful and fast as before without having a proper posture.

He proceeded to stay on top of the King, leaving it with barely any chance to swing his sword now that it couldn't move properly. It had to resort to stabbing towards Noah and a downwards motion. However Noah continued to maneuver around and through the King's legs while he unceasingly hacked at it before…

Snap!*

Even without Noah cutting through its legs, the bone was so far cut through that the weight of its body caused the rest of it to snap apart. It was impossible to prevent itself from falling over.

Mindlessly it attempted to prop itself up, but wasn't able to and soon it saw the little monster heading towards its face. Noah was upset that its food kept running around and then it continued to repel him back. Now he just wanted to stop it from moving all together so he can finish what he wanted to do from the very beginning.

Even though Noah was a bloodthirsty wreck, his body instinctively knew how to kill a zombie. Now that he could finally reach it, he went directly towards the head.

The king finally had to relinquish its hold of its sword if it planned to prevent Noah from getting closer. With an open hand, it made a swiping motion to keep Noah at bay, but then it saw a black substance that it hasn't seen since the very beginning of its encounter with Noah.

If the King was able to talk, it would have only two words to say.

"Fuck me…"