The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"..."

Just to add an insult to injury, with the corner of his eye Zombie spotted a movement outside of the red and black barrier.

The adult elves have finally shown up, alarmed by the foreign threatening-looking dome appearing on the edge of their village - just as Zombie had wished for – but none of them were able to get through - just as Patience predicted less than a minute before.

Nothing worked against the red and black wall that didn't even let any sound pass through, and the sigh of the utterly terrified elves trying their hardest to break through in order to help but failing, certainly wasn't uplifting and did not help clear Zombie's mind.

|...it must be the difference in status points...|

|WHAT?!|

And similarly, Patience's worried voice as she realized what the problem was, was just as bad...

|In the end, superbia is a skill that's based on the user's DEF and MDF... If this ant is able to harm you, it only means that its damage output tops whatever value your defense is reaching while you are using superbia...|

She explained not sounding very confident.

|That is such bull...! Fuck! Fine! I get it! I fucked myself with thinking that I should not waste time with raising the status point because they will be reset in a year! Sure! But why is this damned bug not getting hurt in recoil? I thought that superbia reflects the damage to the attacker too!|

*CHOMP*

Zombie gritted his teeth while somehow managing to dodge the next attack by the skin of his teeth.

|That... That's probably because...|

"Master? Why aren't we attacking the monster? I want to cut it down!"

Patience's worried voice was interrupted by the high frequency shrill of Kopia, coming from the sheath at Zombie's waist.

|!!!!!|

|Eh...?!|

Zombie and Patience were momentarily stunned by the very accurate question coming from the least experienced one out of the three of them...

Why weren't they fighting back...?

Both the future undead and the sealed overseer were so focused on protecting the young elf and getting him out of harm's way that the thought about retaliating against the sigil monster before Cranbie was safe has never even crossed their minds...

|You can just...|

|Toss Cranbie to the side and get this monster's attention by attacking it...!|

Patience began the sentence and Zombie finished it for her as he moved around, momentarily distracted.

|Then, where should I...?|

Zombie glanced to the side, unsure where he should throw the scared elf so that the ant wouldn't get him in the air.

...but the battlefield wasn't really a place for a sudden epiphany as no beast would ever miss a chance that presented itself...

*CHOMP*

"URGH!"

"KYAAAH!"

*WHAM*

...and that moment of hesitation has cost Zombie the precious fraction of a second and the giant ant's mandibles had reached him, tearing through his flesh with terrifying ease while he was mid-dodge and made him throw the elven boy all the way to the red and black wall while he himself slammed onto the ground and tumbled forward almost reaching the edge of the same wall...

"U-uugh..! Oww.... Ugh...!"

Cranbie cried out, trying to get up and shaking his head trying to get rid of the dizziness caused by the sudden fall.

"Ah...!"

His eyes regained focus just in time to see the human boy in front of him, sitting on the ground, staring wide-eyed at his own left leg...

The ant's mandibles tore right through his skin, muscles, and tendons and even dug into the now perfectly visible whitish bone as the bright red blood was spraying out the separated pieces of flesh...

To make things worse, the giant ant wasn't going to just pass this opportunity and was already charging right at them!

Instead of trying to get out of the way, the human boy was staring at his wounded leg and his face was getting as pale as a ghost's, his chest rising up and down in short spasmatic breaths that made it look like the human boy would start vomiting at any moment.

"L-look ou... HIIIIII!"

The elven boy cried out and tried to get to the human boy and push him away, but ended up screamed in terror and unconsciously jumping away the moment the human boy raised his head and his eyes meet with elven boy's...

/Condition has been met

/You receive a skill

Ira (level 1)

/Warning

/Target is already in possession of superbia (level 1)

/Calculating...

/Condition has been met

/Ira (level 1) has been assimilated into the sin of origin nucleus

/Skill level up

Superbia (level 1) »» Superbia (level 3)

/Condition has been met

/You receive a skill

Overpower (level 1)

/Condition has been met

/Registration of the heir to the throne of pride [completed]

"SCRUHI-HHH?! (NOW ME EAT YO-GHHH?!)"

*WHAAAM*

Within a heartbeat, the atmosphere inside the red and black barrier changed completely as the monster's screech was cut short when a massive black blade suddenly struck against its head and sent it crashing into the very barrier the monster itself had created.

"Who the fuck do you think you are up against, you repugnant filth...?!"

"!!!!!!!!"

The cold bloodcurdling whisper of the human boy, who not only managed to stand up despite having his foot being barely connected to his shin by a cracked bone mostly stripped off of flesh but was now also wielding an enormous sword that had no right to came out of the slim sheath by his waist and was the one who had sent the monster ant flying, has sent the chills of absolute fear down Cranbie's spine, as the elven boy was the only being except the monster ant who was able to hear it.

"...I'm going to make you beg for mercy before I slaughter you... you pile of waste..."

The violet light radiating from Zombie's body had never been stronger, not even during the first playthrough when he reached an insane level for a monster...!

"S-scruhii...? (M-me hurt..? How...?)

"How, you ask? I will show you how!"

*BOOOOM*

Zombie's face twitched as his mouth twisted into a wicked, inhuman grin before he launched himself using just one leg right at the confused monster ant trying to get back up with a weak screech.