The Villainess and I, her Zombie Chapter 143

"Haa... does that mean that the legend about lady Envy abducting you is false then? Do you even know about that legend in the first place?"

Cranberry sighed and asked, squinting her eyes in suspicion.

Once again the answer didn't come immediately, just as if Saint had a hard time making words come out from his dead-looking shell of a body.

Cranberry was also silent, but in her case she was focusing on the surroundings, preparing to counter any surprise attacks that might come at her from the darkness.

Nothing seemed off for the moment so she cautiously stepped forward.

"Mostly...?"

Saint suddenly spoke, getting alarmed Cranberry's attention.

Saint stopped talking as if they had to recharge their energy, and Cranberry walked a bit closer.

The empty husk sounded angry, but there was no passion in their voice as if the fires of hatred burnt out through the years, and only lukewarm ash remained in their place.

Saint had to take another break before he could continue, but this time he started speaking much faster than before.

It seemed like he was slowly getting used to talking with someone after the long years in isolation.

The anger in their raspy voice changed into self-loathing.

Saint let out a tired sigh, but if he wanted to gain some empathy, he picked the worst possible target.

"I was under the impression that the gods, or how you call it, the administrators, had the power to change the system to their will?"

Cranberry spoke, checking the countdown in the corner of her vision.

There were still four whole minutes until it would reach zero - which felt a bit odd to Cranberry, with all the lengthy breaks that Saint took while talking, she almost expected it to have finished already...

The husk answered in a pained voice.

"Seeing them getting routinely abducted, stripped from their beauty, and imprisoned, I would say you aren't doing a very good job with ruling them. Whoops, I meant with guiding them."

Cranberry smirked mockingly.

And it looked like she struck the nerve.

The amount of self-loathing in Saint's voice increased by a large margin causing Cranberry to raise her brow curiously.

"Ha..."

Cranberry furrowed her brows and nodded, the countdown was still at the three-minute mark...

"So what you are saying, is that the avatar of Envy can bend the elves to their will?"

The red-haired girl tilted her head and smirked.

The husk didn't answer.

Cranberry took a small step forward.

Saint explained with a hint of joy in their raspy voice.

They added.

"Haa... I would prefer to have a proper sit-down and learn everything the way it really went, but I guess this has to do..."

Cranberry let out a deep sigh and shook her head in disappointment.

The last administrator became silent.

And so did Cranberry, only with a mocking smile plastered on her face.

Funnily enough, it was Saint who broke the silence first.

"I'm saying that I will begrudgingly settle with learning those half-truths since they do seem to be real enough to trigger the quest completion."

The girl shrugged her shoulders and enlightened the confused administrator.

"Ha ha! Haa? Are you mad that your pathetic trick was seen through?"

When Saint's voice became dyed by real anger, Cranberry laughed in delight.

Not even Saint stopped talking, but even the gaping mouth of his empty husk closed.

"You were too impatient and made some mistakes, but I guess that's what centuries of imprisonment would do to you~"

Cranberry giggled playfully, not dropping her guard for even a second.

Then, she suddenly pointed her thumb at her right eye.

"You've said that you've lost all the privileges? But you're the one who makes the quest timer loop, aren't you? The timer for my Zombie's rewardless quest. Just now it went from 1:00 to 1:59, again. You seriously thought that talking only right when the loop happened would distract me enough so I wouldn't notice?"

The lighthearted feeling surrounding her disappeared.

Saint refused to comment.

"And then what was that system message informing me that you've tried to check my player's info? Hallucination? Or maybe your powers momentarily returned?"

Cranberry's voice was cold as ice.

"You would either start talking before the timer would loop, or when I got closer to you. You moldy bastard, you are leading me in."

She raised her head up high and glared at the glowing husk with disgust.

The empty husk not only talked again, but it also moved and stood up in its rooty cradle and stared down at Cranberry with its empty eyeholes.

"Haa? I gave you the benefit of a doubt since you could speak, but it seems that you really are just as brainless as you look."

The red-haired girl scoffed mockingly, while the moldy shedding's glow intensified, it looked exactly like a light of the active skill.

"Haa... idiot..."

Cranberry shook her head and sighed.

"Listen, Saint. I'll give you a choice."

Despite all the warning signs, she seemed to drop her guard and lifted up her index finger.

"You can wait for me to go back onto the surface and kill the avatar of Envy who is in possession of your so-called missing powers. After that, you will be free and able to restore all the damage they've done to your favorite elves through the years..."

She declared.

"Or - if you choose to attack me - I will kill you. But don't despair. You've said that yourself - Envy cannot save the changes to the race setting - Their steal-type skills cannot exist without an original owner. Without you, the elves will be able to free themselves just as good."

Cranberry raised her middle finger.

*RUMBLE*

Husk's mouth tore open forming the creepiest smile and the whole cave trembled.

Countless roots, those fluorescent as well as the plain ones erupted from every square foot of the cave and shoot right at the distracted girl.

Saint's voice raised in a mad song as the roots reached their target, destroying everything in their path.

But when no EXP was gained and Saint's laugh stopped.

As their head was raised, Saint could clearly see the red-haired girl materializing above him from the thin air after a perfectly timed blink skill.

Her body, eyes, and even the weapon she was wielding were shining with the blinding white light of multiple active skills.

The girl realized that the last administrator had noticed her and a joyful smile bloomed on her face.

"Wrong choice."

She said and swung down.

Chapter end

Report