"You two have been disturbing the balance of the forest! We are hunters! How are we supposed to hunt where there are no beasts to hunt?!"
A large minotaur shook his bull head and roared, waving a massive bow around.
"...?"
Zombie and Cranberry looked at each other with consternation, and then, together with Blueberry and Baron, they all looked back at the same time to check who was the angry monster talking to.
But the road was behind them was empty, only a few females and children were looking at them fearfully.
"Do you think that this fellow doesn't notice us up here or...?"
Zombie raised his brow, staring at the agitated monster, and leaned towards Cranberry to ask her in a conspicuous whisper.
"Grrrr...!"
...which of course was meant to agitate the minotaur even more - which it did, considering the angry growl that came out of his beastly throat.
"I want to say no, but honestly, the minotaurs are a species that is a little bit special."
Cranberry went along with her blue undead knight and furrowed her brows, wondering out loud with exaggeration.
"You can usually judge how intelligent and aggressive the specimen will be by the percentage of their body being that of a beast. This one here has his whole head looking like a bull, so I kind of doubt that he can be either perceptive or smart enough to count to four."
She explained while pointing between the furious one in front of them, and another male one that looked simply like a large human with bull horns, a tail, and hooves.
"...!"
The most human-like minotaur flinched once he was pointed at and backed off into his house, protecting the horned woman and a young horned child curiously peeking at the passing group.
"Oh! So that's it! But then - so, we were just unlucky enough to run into a village idiot, huh?"
"You...!"
Zombie nodded, looking down at the enraged beastly minotaur with pity.
"No, not really."
Cranberry shook her head, also ignoring the monster in front of them.
"Minotaurs find the aggression to be a good trait, so this one is most likely their chief - yes, look he even has the tribal necklace that shows his social position."
She added, motioning at the minotaur clenching his hand on the massive bow.
"This is their leader? Oh dear, poor creatures..."
The blue undead sighed, shaking his head...
"ENOUGH OF THIS! YOU RUN WILD IN OUR FORREST AND THEN REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR WRONGS! NOW, YOU ARE GOING TO EXPERIENCE THE HOSPITALITY OF THE MINOTAUR VILLAGE!"
...and as it turns out, it was a straw that broke the camel's - or rather minotaur's - back.
The beast roared furiously, put an arrow on a bowstring, and raised the bow, aiming straight at the blue undead.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt*rustle*
*clang*
*clang*
Instantly, at least a dozen of the beastly minotaurs all armed with enormous bows that even a mid-level adventurer wouldn't be able to dream about using with their STR stat emerged.
Some of them stepped from behind the houses, some of them were on the roofs, there was even one that must have been laying on wait inside one of the houses because it was aiming at the group from behind a window.
"GET THEM!"
The leader growled in a beastly roar and...
*BOOOOOM*
*BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM*
...the blue undead vanished from the red dragon's back to the series of loud explosions, just to reappear in the same spot only a second later...
*WHOOOOOSH*
*SPLAT*
The shockwave hit the surroundings and the blood and viscera of all the beastly minotaurs splashed around as only their legs remained intact from the lighting fast series of kicks that turned their heads and torsos into some gruesome fireworks.
/Multiple mid-level monsters defeated
Your receive EXP
/Level up
"Hmph."
Zombie scoffed and shook off the nonexistent dust from his metal-clad legs - his armor was releasing distinct steam caused by the metal heating up from the extreme speed of his attacks.
"..."
At first, the village was silent.
For a good few seconds, the villagers couldn't even comprehend what has happened.
"...!"
One of the minotaur females that was unfortunate enough to be standing close and got showered with the gore slowly raised her blood-stained hands and took a loud, panicked breathe before she opened her mouth and...
"Now, now, it's okay."
"...!"
...the blue undead jumped down the dragon's back and approached her and began gently patting her head - and he had to be reaching up as the human-looking female minotaur who was a whole head taller than him, even though she wasn't the tallest one around - and his eyes were shining blue the whole time.
"I hope that this makes you all realize that we don't appreciate getting threatened."
Zombie declared, turning around while continuing to caress the one female minotaur who stuck close to him and even stepped a bit closer and tilted her head so that she could lean onto his armor.
"Zombie - I hope that you know that you are making me jealous because you are making me very jealous."
Cranberry called out from Blueberry's back looking very upset - she even already had her hands on the baseball bat scepter and was glaring down the minotaur by Zombie's side with all of her cow-sized features.
"Oh, then come over here too."
"!!!"
Zombie smirked and started caressing the female minotaur's cow-like ear which caused her to visibly shiver and her eyes ended up losing focus.
"Ah...! Weak point located~"
Zombie gasped and pointed out with an evil smirk while the female minotaur was leaning onto him more and more as her brain was turning into mush from the pleasure - which may or may not have anything to do with the mindbreak skill that the blue undead used a moment earlier.
*WHOOSH*
*WHA-thunk*
The next second a baseball bat had fallen down right onto the unexpecting minotaur's head but was blocked last second by the blue undead himself who had caught it in one hand which caused the hollow sound.
"...what are you doing, haa...? I told you that I will kill any girl who tries to steal you away from me..."
Cranberry grumbled in an ice-cold voice, glaring down at her blue undead knight, she tried to take back the bat, but Zombie wasn't going to release it.
"...let it go..."
The red-haired girl demanded in a low voice and glared up at the blue undead.
"Remember when I told you that I can handle you?"
"...HA...?!"
Zombie asked quickly and as Cranberry gasped in disbelief, with her face twisting in a furious expression, the blue undead tugged on the black baseball bat and pulled her close, sealing her angry lips with his own, pleasantly cool ones.
"!!!!"
At first, she wanted to struggle, but at the same time she was far more reluctant to leave - she merely glared into the clear black eyes as Zombie didn't need any skill to keep her with him - and ended up calming down slightly and at least relaxed her grip on her weapon just a little bit.
"Are you willing to listen now?"
Zombie asked with a smile pulling away only a little bit.
"...maybe..."
Cranberry pouted and send one evil look towards the female minotaur who was so much into getting spoiled that she didn't even realize how close she was from death just a few seconds ago.
"We decided that we will take hostages... that is, ambassadors, from each village so that we could establish the one that we will create as open for other cultures. Well, since the driads can be recruited at any time because of their low defense, thin one seems like a good match for the first ambassador."
The blue undead pointed out whit a light shrug.
"...I really meant ambassadors, you know - willing ones...?"
Cranberry sighed and glared at the blue undead while rolling her eyes in disbelief.
"Oh, minor detail. My method simply assures that there will be no hostile ones amongst them, that's all."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmZombie smirked and shrugged his shoulders.
"Ha? So do I have to expect that the others will all be women too?"
The red-haired girl gasped, straightening her back and giving the blue undead knight an ice-cold death stare.
"No?"
Zombie furrowed his brows and shrugged his shoulders looking back at his furious wife with confusion.
"I'm picking the ones with the strongest life signatures of course."
He felt comfortable enough to release Cranberry's baseball bat and waved his hand dismissively.
*thump*
"...?"
"...haa...?"
Suddenly a soft noise - and in Zombie's case, a sudden tug on his other hand - got the attention of the pair.
...it was the blood-splattered female minotaur - she fell to her knees.
She was panting heavily and was clinging to Zombie's hand with her bright red face while clenching her legs together as if she was struggling to hold something back.
"...chief..."
She whispered, staring dreamily at the blue undead who has raised his brows as he honestly didn't think that ear-rubbing would bring forth such a reaction.
"Pardon me, but what did you say...?"
Zombie blinked a few times before leaning toward the minotaur and asking.
"...you have defeated our strongest hunters... and you have brought me down... you are the new chief of our village..."
The female minotaur moaned in explanation and reached out to her neck.
She then snapped off an intricate necklace and while pulling away from Zombie's hand with visible struggle as she wanted him to keep caressing her, she put her necklace into his hand.
"...I also offer myself as the concubine for our new chief..."
She declared, closing her eyes and bowing her head down to the blue undead.
"Shit...!"
Zombie cursed and...
*SMAS-thunk*
*WHOOOOSH*
*clatter*
...hurriedly blocked the baseball bat from crushing the minotaur's head the second time in less than five minutes - this hit was so powerful that it caused a shockwave so strong that it doused the window in the houses to tremble.
"I AM GOING TO KILL THAT BITCH!"
Cranberry growled furiously, clenching her fists on the baseball bat so hard that her knuckles turned white.
"...this will take a while to resolve, will it not...?"
Zombie sighed, shaking his head.