Chapter 550: Chapter 549: Everything Has a Price

The forest had grown completely quiet by the time the conversation finally ended.

Fenrir and Kratos had gone out to find prey for the rest to eat. And just like them, Dog and Alexandria went out together to do the same.

Noah remained standing outside alone for a while longer afterward.

His thoughts were on everything that he had begun piecing together tonight.

And then they drifted back toward the final part of his conversation with Arachne.

Truthfully, Noah understood why she believed she was improving.

She was improving.

Over time, Arachne gradually stopped obsessing over proving herself solely through direct combat. It was also why she began focusing more heavily on expanding her nest and creating stronger soldiers instead.

At first glance, it genuinely appeared as though she was overcoming that flaw.

But Noah had already understood that wasn’t the case.

She hadn’t abandoned the mentality. She had simply changed the form of strength she used to validate her existence.

Instead of proving her worth through her own body, she now sought to prove it through the strength of her nest.

And the thing continuously pushing her forward remained the same.

Fear of falling behind and fear of becoming unnecessary.

Truthfully, Noah didn’t believe fear itself was a bad thing. Fear has always been one of the greatest driving forces behind growth.

But eventually, fear also became a cage.

And once a creature reached that point, they would simply continue circling the same wall over and over without ever understanding why they could no longer move forward.

Noah’s thoughts drifted back toward the expression Arachne made earlier when he brought up Bolas.

"You know Bolas was stronger than you when you first met him, right?"

Arachne hadn’t even needed time to think about the answer.

"Of course he was."

Noah remembered nodding afterward before finally asking the real question.

"Then do you also understand that without me... he most likely would’ve remained exactly like that forever?"

That was the moment her expression changed.

Because it was hard to imagine a creature like Bolas, who in her eyes had so much power, so much potential. And yet had reached a point where he couldn’t grow stronger on his own.

"Someone that strong still couldn’t evolve... Because he couldn’t find his answer."

At that point, Arachne already understood what Noah was implying.

How could she not?

The more she reflected on her own growth, the more she realized how much of her strength originated from Noah’s existence.

Would she truly have reached this point on her own?

"...Then what am I supposed to do?"

The question came out quieter than before. And for once, Noah didn’t immediately have an answer ready for her.

This wasn’t something he could simply solve on her behalf.

"You’ll have to find the answer in your own way."

Noah could feel the conflict weighing in her heart, perhaps wondering why he couldn’t help if he knew what was wrong.

"It sounds simple for me to just tell you the answer you think you need, but it’s not that easy."

"If someone had simply told me that my human side was holding me back..." A faint self-mocking smile briefly appeared across his face. "Then I probably would’ve convinced myself that I abandoned it."

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully afterward.

"When in reality, I would’ve just been lying to myself."

That was the terrifying part. A false answer could easily become another shackle entirely.

"And when the time came..." Noah’s voice lowered, the topic affecting him more than he had thought. "I might’ve never accepted that I failed to let go of it at all."

"But at the very least... You already started walking the path toward understanding what’s holding you back."

—

After their conversation, there were a lot of things on his mind.

Doubts even.

It was only after saying those thoughts out loud that he finally began recognizing his own actions as part of the problem.

Because no matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t fully separate himself from the barriers his creatures eventually encountered.

It is a fact that most of his creatures’ power came from him. Any sense of worth wasn’t necessarily earned on their own, and they were subconsciously aware of this.

But someone like Arachne absolutely did.

She understood better than most that the strength she gained wasn’t entirely her own.

And more importantly... 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

She understood that everything Noah gave her could just as easily be given to someone else instead.

The thought caused Noah’s expression to darken slightly. Because that mentality was even more dangerous than Bolas’ situation.

How could someone truly confront themselves if the foundation supporting their growth constantly came from another person?

Noah slowly closed his eyes.

Was he wrong in helping them grow? Or was it wrong to allow them to grow too fast?

In a way, Noah valued this moment just as much as he did gaining power. Because he was aware that this was one of his own contradictions that he needed to get past if he wanted to grow.

And he also understood that he himself was still continuing searching for meaning through strength.

Searching for security, for that certainty that he won’t fail.

The only difference was that Noah possessed the ability to continue moving forward on his own.

A quiet breath escaped Noah afterward.

Yet strangely enough...

Despite understanding all of this now, Noah still couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

He looked around himself, acknowledging everyone and everything around him. None of this would’ve been possible if he didn’t do what he did.

And thinking about what lay ahead for them, none of it could be kept if he stopped now.

’My path was already set the moment I decided to take it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not responsible for this either.’

For several moments, he remained standing there silently. Then slowly, something within his thoughts settled.

Perhaps he truly couldn’t hand Arachne the answer she needed.

Perhaps forcing an answer on her would only create another false shackle entirely.

But that didn’t mean he was incapable of helping at all. That was where he went wrong.

If he was willing to continue accelerating their growth, he also needed to take responsibility for the consequences that followed afterward.

Noah had already acknowledged it himself. He possessed the ability to continue moving forward on his own.

The same couldn’t necessarily be said for the others.

Perhaps he couldn’t help them now, but eventually he would learn how to.

His quiet revelation was only able to last for a short period of time before his head suddenly twitched.

A hard yet distant thud sounded in his ears. There was a small pause before it happened again.

Because the surroundings had grown far quieter than before, the sound carried clearly to where he stood.

Noah’s expression flattened as he tried to determine what exactly he was hearing.

He silently followed the noise, making his way past several trees while the impacts continued every few seconds apart.

Behind him, he noticed someone following, but realizing who it was, he didn’t say anything.

Gwen didn’t know what she should do, so she only quietly followed in his footsteps, unwilling to allow him to go into his domicile before inquiring about her own living conditions.

And the moment he finally found the source... His eyes immediately became filled with exasperation.

"...Seriously?"

Dummy remained trapped behind the thick reinforced bars Noah created earlier.

The beast had regained enough coherence to no longer be rampaging mindlessly after losing himself before.

Unfortunately, that still didn’t stop him from continuously trying to free himself.

"Food... food..."

Dummy grumbled almost angrily beneath his breath before abruptly throwing his massive body forward again.

Thud.

This time, Noah clearly saw the nearby tree shake violently from the impact.

The lower portion of its trunk had already begun splintering inward from the repeated collisions.

Noah stared blankly at the sight for several moments before slowly extending a strand of slime toward the reinforced bars.

Meanwhile, Dummy immediately noticed him.

The beast’s glowing eyes visibly brightened afterward.

"Food?"

"No," Noah replied immediately, causing Dummy’s excitement to vanish almost immediately. Truthfully, he didn’t even look angry that Noah had forgotten about him.

If anything, the creature looked genuinely depressed that Noah approached him empty-handed.

"You promised food," Dummy grumbled bitterly.

"You promised.."

Noah’s eyes twitched under the accusation. Because, unfortunately, Dummy was right.

Noah pinched the bridge of his nose afterward while the beast continued staring at him accusingly from behind the bars.

And somehow, despite Dummy currently resembling a massive monstrosity. The expression on his face still somehow resembled a neglected dog waiting to be fed.

A quiet sigh escaped Noah while he finished returning the dark metal back into slime before returning it into his body.

There was nothing holding the glutton down anymore, and yet Dummy remained motionless without trying to stand.

Instead, the beast simply sat there staring at Noah with visible betrayal.

Noah stared back at him blankly.

"I mean, I don’t have it here, you goof."

Dummy’s ears twitched slightly.

"Come on." Noah jerked his head toward where he came from. "I’m sure the corpses are still there."

The moment those words hit his ears, Dummy abruptly sprang upward before nearly slamming into Noah in his excitement.

Noah immediately sidestepped before Dummy barreled past him like an oversized, starving animal finally being released.

Noah watched him disappear in silence.

"...Why am I surrounded by lunatics?"