I Became A Zompirewolf

Ashton found the answer to the question that had been running into his mind. The grim reaper, whoever he was, was the one responsible for this mess. The reaper probably experimented around with the tree, turning it into the menace it was. Either that was the case or he died trying to complete the trial and the tree absorbed him or something.

As soon as the notification popped up, a black mist shrouded everything in sight. Ashton's vision was compromised but he could feel death rising once again. The undead were back on their feet, along with the behemoth.

"So annoying!" Ashton exclaimed as he used [Wind Elemental Control] to clear the mist.

It took a couple of seconds before he finally managed to clear the area. Only to see the behemoth had his back turned towards him. However, Ashton did not bother much with the creature and instead began looking for the tree, thinking the tree might have had the grim reaper's equipment.

Sadly, it was nowhere to be found. It had disappeared into thin air... or someone had made it disappear.  But with the tree gone, only one thing could have the grim reaper's equipment: The Behemoth.

The creature still had his back towards Ashton. The latter saw this as a golden opportunity to end the trial once and for all.

"I can't waste this time!"

Ashton yelled as he prepared to lunge towards the Behemoth with Balmond in his hands, ready to sever the undead's head. But before he could even move, the Behemoth let out a bloodcurdling scream.

"ARGH!"

Ashton fell to his knees while covering his ears. The pain wasn't overwhelming but for some reason, he couldn't think clearly. The high-pitched wailing felt like someone was scratching his skull with a metal brush. It might not have been painful due to his pain resistance, but Ashton felt like he could lose his mind at any moment.

He wasn't the only one who suffered from this sudden attack either. The wolves along with the undead were having a hard time as well. It was as if the Behemoth did not give a fuck about anyone or anything except himself.

Which was true, after all, the tree might have some control over the other undead. But the Behemoth did not.

Meanwhile, blood flowed out of Ashton's nostrils and ears as he forced himself back to his feet. He even managed to open his eyes, but the vision was hazy. He could roughly make out the things in his surroundings, but that was it.

Suddenly the wailing stopped. Ashton felt relieved for a second. But if the wailing had stopped that meant the Behemoth was about to attack him.

He hurriedly equipped Hydra's armour before opening his eyes, but couldn't find the undead behemoth anywhere. Instead, he discovered a gaping hole in front of him. It was dark and Ashton could not see inside the hole so well, thanks to his head being a mess.

However, judging from the size of the hole, the behemoth must have escaped through it. This move made sense. After all, no matter how strong the Behemoth was, he must have been hurt after being thrashed by Goliath. Therefore, he had to make a hasty retreat.

On top of that, since the trial was still incomplete, Ashton knew what he had to do. Even if he didn't want to.

[You're not planning to jump in... are you? No matter what I say, you can't possibly be such a moron to do something like this. You should send your goliath instead, that would be a better option.]

Ashton nodded. It could easily be a trap as well. In any case, sending goliath inside would have been the better option. After all, it wasn't like Behemoth would be able to kill it.

'I think I have-'

Before Ashton could even complete what he was saying, a gigantic hand ripped through the ground, lunging at him. He tried to dodge, but he was still under the influence of Behemoth's previous attack and his body coordination was a bit off.

The hand was going to smash his head. But out of the corner of his eyes, Ashton saw the white giant rushing in to stop the attack. Within moments, Goliath had grabbed the hand and pulled Behemoth out of the hole with ease.

Goliath wasn't going to take shit from anyone. How dare that damned undead bastard to have the audacity to hurt his master in front of him? As soon as Behemoth was back on the ground, the Goliath slammed his knee right into Behemoth's face.

The kicks kept coming, and Behemoth couldn't do anything but take them as Goliath already had his hands forcing Behemoth's face downwards.

But Ashton could feel something was off. Goliath's kicks were just as explosive as before, and yet after taking so many hits, Behemoth stood there as if he wasn't hurt at all. He immediately rushed in to help the giant, but he was a bit too late.

As Goliath threw another kick, Behemoth blocked it using his forearms, before freeing himself from his opponent's grasp and headbutting the white giant. Headbutting a skeleton would have been painful, Behemoth was doing himself more harm than good... at least that would have been the most logical outcome. But something unexpected occurred.

"How the hell..." Ashton mumbled in absolute shock as the head of Goliath shattered into bits as soon as Behemoth's strike landed on its head.

So far, no one except him had managed to do so. Not even Sven or Gokung for that matter. The only one who had ever overwhelmed Goliath like that was him. But Ashton knew his eyes weren't playing any tricks on him.

Just like that, the giant was down and out for good. It was quite a feat to destroy something that was made to absorb an astronomical amount of damage.

Once Goliath was down, Behemoth turned his attention towards Ashton. It was the first time Ashton got a good look at the evolved behemoth and it looked much uglier than before.

His facial features had changed a lot. The behemoth no longer had those empty eyes. His entire forehead was covered with blisters and tumours which entirely covered his eyes. On the other hand, the undead had grown a mouth-like slit across his face and had a tongue that was covered with thorns and dangled down, almost touching the ground.

"And here I was thinking you couldn't possibly look uglier." Ashton smirked, "Well, it isn't the first time I was wrong."

[Nor would it be the last.]

He was no stranger to how dangerous the Behemoth had become. Yet, his mind was as calm as a freak's. It wouldn't have been much fun if the trial ended like that either way. Not to mention, the stronger the enemies were, the harder it was to beat them and the more fired up Ashton would get while facing them. This case wasn't any different.

With Balmond in his hands, Ashton charged at the Behemoth. The creature saw him coming and snarled loudly, before whipping his vicious-looking tongue at him. Ashton didn't dodge it though. He had had enough. No more running. Now was time to either go big or go home.

Instead, he caught the tongue and wrapped it around his arm. It felt like hundreds of syringes were trying to pierce through his skin, but the Hydra's armour ensure he wasn't hurt. Ignoring whatever discomfort he felt and Ashton pulled the undead toward him with extraordinary force.

A moment later, the behemoth's feet were off the ground as he made an arc over Ashton before being slammed into the horde of undead.

"I must say, the way you crushed Goliath's head was impressive. But that doesn't make you stronger than me."

Even after evolving, Behemoth's level barely exceeded Ashton's cumulative. In other words, the behemoth might look scary, but apart from his looks, there was nothing more to be scared of.

But Ashton wasn't done yet. The tongue was still wrapped around his hands, so he did what any logical person would do... he sliced it with a swing of his blade. Behemoth screeched in pain, thrashing everything around him, including the undead.

"Hm... this tongue might be useful later on. I can think of a few things I could get made out of it." Ashton examined the tongue while his opponent was down, "But I can get a lot more things made out of your body."

Behemoth got up once again, chowing down on whatever he could get his hands on. Ashton didn't know why, but his guess was the damned monster wanted to recover some of his lost HP as, unlike his other wounds, the tongue did not heal back.

"Could it be his organs are his weak points?"

[You will have to operate on him either way. It would be a waste to not get at least one of his skills. Also, the fucker had most likely digested whatever that piece of equipment was, so you'll have to tear him up either way.]

Ashton swung Balmond in anticipation, "Who wants some behemoth soup."