The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"A monster?! W-we need to run away! Hurry!"

All blood seemed to drain from Cranbie's face as the giant ant was closing in on the two of them. Without much thinking, the powder-pink-haired boy grabbed Zombie's hand and tried to pull him away from the beast, but he met with a rather unexpected outcome.

"Hu... EH...?!"

One moment the elven boy was trying to run away from the monster together with the younger human boy, and the next one, he was picked up – princess-carry style – by the very same human boy much smaller than himself, now glowing with vibrant violet light and flying through the air many feet away from the hungrily clicking mandibles of the giant ant.

*thump*

As Zombie was about to leave the training ground area with Cranbie safely in his arms, the walls that formed from the red and black smoke, released by the sigil monster once it came out of the ground, turned out to be impossible to break through, even though they were half-transparent and the rest of the elven village was visible past them.

"Tsk...!"

"Kyaaah!"

The barrier that the red and black smoke walls created, caused Zombie to bounce off of them, making him click his tongue in anger while Cranbie let out a scared high-pitched noise and clung to the younger boy, closing his eyes.

|What the hell is this supposed to be, a new iteration of system walls?!|

Zombie growled internally, gritting his teeth with fury.

"Scruhii...? (Soft larvas got away...?) SCRUHIIII! (WON'T GET AWAY! ME EAT!)"

And as proven by the bloodcurdling screech of the monster ant, he wasn't the only one pissed off being there, although their reasons differed greatly.

|This one is still not as powerful as the sigil monsters that will show up once the global event starts, but it's still far more powerful than the demon centipede you've dealt with before. That barrier is not a system wall, but it might as well be since it was created by using the fraction of Eternal's power... Sorry to say that, but not even Olive or the hidden boss librarian will be able to pass through those unless the ant is dead.|

Patience explained, sounding a bit anxious and apologetic.

|What?! But they are max-level and had hundreds of years to boost their stats and skills weren't they?!|

*CHOMP*

"Kyaaah!"

Zombie scoffed while hurriedly jumping away from another charge and bite from the giant ant, making Cranbie scream again, completely terrified.

|You seem to be forgetting that in the previous playthrough you managed to kill their entire village, librarian included, using just the fraction of the power coming out of the partially unlocked seal of the Eternal. Eternal really is the strongest thing in this world... Thankfully, judging from the fact that our demon-ant here isn't making the barrier any smaller, its sigil allows it to create a barrier but not to control it at will, so that is good news.|

Patience pointed out, looking at the bright side.

|Easy for you to talk! This ant gives off a much more threatening feeling than the centipede was, and I have to worry about this kid here too!|

Zombie scowled internally while dodging and jumping away from the ant's constant unrelenting attacks while securely holding the powder-pink-haired boy in his arms.

|Aww! So now you're worried about him?|

Even in such a dire situation, Patience snickered at the brown-haired boy.

|Shut up! It's not the time to be messing around!|

*CHOMP*

Zombie growled internally while the ant's mandibles nicked his undershirt as the monster was getting faster and more precise with each attack.

|Sorry...! Couldn't help myself...! You're right though, we can't let this kid get hurt, if we save him, then forget about being punished for your freakout, you will literally gain the gratitude of the entire village.|

Patience's sounded as if she flinched and bit her lips in shame, and then her voice turned serious.

|Easier said than done!|

"Kyaaah!"

*CHOMP*

|Kid sure can scream, you think that that would alarm other elves?|

Zombie smirked while drops of sweat emerged on his forehead as he was doing his best to get away from the rampaging ant.

|What would that do? Do you want an audience or something? Nothing will be able to pass through these walls unless the sigil monster dies and they disperse.|

Patience scoffed, sounding as if she wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"SCRUHII! (STOP RUNNING!) SCRUHUII! (ME EAT YOU!)"

*CHOMP*

The demon ant screeched and bit right at Cranbie in Zombie's arms.

"KYAAAAAH!"

"Fuck off!"

Zombie gritted his teeth while lifting the elven boy up above his head in the desperate effort to protect him from the mandibles of the ant that was smart enough to start targeting the elven boy screaming in fear instead of the one carrying him.

"Tsk...!"

But as he did so, he exposed his stomach and the ant's mandibles scratched against his stomach, cutting through the thin cloth, and dug a deep scratch in his skin, which started bleeding immediately despite the violet light of the activated superbia still enveloping Zombie's body.

|WHAT THE HELL?!|

Zombie gasped, jumping away.

|!!!!|

Even Patience seemed taken aback and went silent while she focused on finding out the reason.

"SCRUHII! (HAHAHA! BLOOD!) SCRUHII! (TASTY TASTY BLOOD!) SCRUHII! (ME EAT HUMAN LARVA!) SCRUHII! (ME SMART!) SCRUHII (ME KNOWS HOW TO HUNT!) SCRUHIIIII (ME WILL EAT HUMAN LARVA AND ELF LARVA!) SCRUHI! (TASTY TASTY)"

*CHOMP* *CHOMP* *CHOMP*

With its mandibles stained red the ant screeched triumphantly and began attacking with even more ferocity than at the start of the fight.

|THAT FUCKER...! HOW IS IT POSSIBLE FOR IT TO PASS THROUGH SUPERBIA?! I THOUGHT IT WAS SUPER HIGH-TIER DEFENSE SKILL OR SOMETHING?!|

Zombie shouted angrily inside his head now that the monster ant got excited and more and more of its attack reach their mark - which was the young boy's body - leaving Zombie with more brand new shallow wounds each time it snapped its mandibles.

All those cuts were only on the level of painful abrasions only because of the high agility and good reflexes on Zombie's part, but they were piling on and on and it wasn't like the boy had infinite mana and stamina to keep fighting indefinitely while continuously losing blood...

...Zombie was rapidly approaching his physical limits...