The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Chapter 435: Envys basement (2)

Even with all the speed gained thanks to the leg power affinity, the descend took Zombie longer than he wished for – and he was really running.

He didn't take the torch with him since the flame would go out anyway, and he didn't trip and fall only thanks to the support of the acrobatics skill.

After what felt like an eternity the blue undead arrived at the bottom, he looked around and easily spotted the passage leading to the next chamber thanks to the distinct greenish-white glow.

"Now I can see them... The life signature is really weak, there should be no problem dealing with it, but let's be careful just in case... Saint wanted to kill Cranberry when she came here during the first playthrough, so I don't think that their remnant will be any less hostile."

Zombie said while pulling Kopia out of her luxurious scabbard.

"Te-he~! Maybe I will be able to test out the automatic defense skill finally~"

Kopia vibrated and her blade released a high-pitched giggle.

"Let's be quick about things though – the avatar of envy was alarmed about our trespassing for sure, I don't mean to torment the remnant too much."

Zombie smirked at her and walked through the short hallway.

They arrived at the large circular cavern with an enormous veiny pillar giving off the greenish-white light flooding the surroundings with an eerie atmosphere right in its very center.

"Huh..."

Zombie raised his brows and nodded, looking around curiously, the last time he was there, it was already after the ceiling had caved in and most of the cavern got buried, so it was an interesting sight for him to witness the place in all its peculiar glory.

As he approached the pillar, he realized that it was composed of tens of hundreds of luminescent mold-covered roots.

...that clumped together made something like a cradle right around the middle point of the cavern's height...

The weak life signature was pulsating right there and it was obviously Zombie's immediate target.

"...you are not one of the Envy family..."

A sudden voice called out – to Zombie's slight surprise, it wasn't a voice of a monster that would require his beast master affinity to translate it, but straight-up human speech.

"I'm not. My name is Zombie, and I came here for you, the first incarnation of the physical remnants of the spirit god, Saint."

Just as Zombie told Kopia beforehand, he wasn't going to waste any time be it trickery or sweet-talk, he simply said things how they were.

"...why...?"

The weak voice asked in resignation, sounding as if its owner did not believe the blue undead even for a second.

"I require the help of all the remnants to achieve the future I desire. I already have one – the remnant of luck god, Happy. It's a little golden snake – its name is Monty now, and it is my subject. I want you to become my subject too. You've suffered enough under the Envy family."

Zombie said without slowing down, walking right towards the center of the cavern.

"...you seem to know a lot of things, strange undead..."

The voice sighed sounding as if its owner was shaking its head.

"...but why do you think that I will listen to you? From my perspective, it sounds like I am supposed to merely change owners..."

The voice added mockingly.

"Yeah. But for a comparison – Monty is up there slithering around eating valuables to its heart content, happy and at full health, while you are stuck here, barely alive. Do I even need to get more into details why following me is a better option?"

Zombie stopped right in front of the pillar of roots and looked up at the cradle at its middle.

"...what if I like it here...?"

The voice asked coldly.

"Pfffft! Nah, no way. If you are anything like Saint themselves was, you do not."

Zombie snorted and waved his hand dismissively as if he was trying to get rid of an awful smell.

"...pesky undead... you are getting on my nerves... leave before I kill you off..."

The voice called, chasing the blue undead away.

"Master, this guy wants to attack you the moment you turn your back on him – even now he is gathering the last remains of his strength to activate a life-drain skill and regenerate."

The one-handed sword in Zombie's head vibrated releasing a high-pitched noise and with a flash of white light turned into a crimson-haired girl in a blue dress.

...a girl whose few strands of hair were climbing up the fluorescent roots up to the cradle-like clomp in its center...

"..."

Though it didn't actually say anything, the sound of angry exhaling resounded in the cavern

"My, my. Someone is certainly taking a page from Saint's book."

Zombie nodded his head and glanced away from Kopia's back up to the pulsating life signature high above.

"Just so you know – you spawned into this world only because they were too bitter to take the helping hand offered to them by a stranger. You can choose another way."

The blue undead put his hands against his sides and declared in a calm, composed manner.

"I CAN CHOOSE WHATEVER I WANT!"

*RUMBLE*

The voice called out furiously, and the whole cavern shook when the pillar split into separate roots that all shot out right at the disguised undead.

"Of course you do."

Zombie nodded, calmly watching the approaching attack.

"The problem is, that you chose wrong."

He sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

*SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING*

In the next second, all fluorescent roots got diced into thin slices that exploded around the cave, like confetti shot out from a gigantic party popper.

"Green, I'll have you know that I don't like when someone is ignoring me almost as much as I don't like when someone is shouting at my master."

Kopia furrowed her brows and scoffed while hundreds of shining blades of different shapes and sizes were turning back into crimson threads which in turn were retracting towards the girl's shoulders and morphing back into the shape of human arms.

"What are you...?"

The voice of the remnant shook as the cradle it was hiding in was left in the middle of the cave hanging off the ceiling on a single root.

"The best sword in the world."

Kopia responded proudly raising her head and glaring at the root cradle.

"..."

With another anger-filled sigh, something moved inside the cradle.

*thump*

The next moment, a giant centipede thicker than the leg of an adult man crawled out and dropped down, right in front of the blue undead and his humanoid sword.

Its carapace looked like it was covered with dried-up moss, brown and brittle, while its many legs were similar to the dead branches.

The centipede raised its head up to the Zombie's eye level and moved its mandibles.

"It looks like I might have been too hasty in my judgment. If you aren't like the accursed Envy who trapped me here, are you willing to discuss the conditions of our cooperation?"

The voice that came out of it wasn't a screech of an insect, but a clear voice of an older man – a very tired man.

"You are lucky that I have a weakness for cheeky characters. Sure. But we have to be quick about it – I imagine that neither one of us wants to be found out by the returning Envys."

Zombie smirked and winked at the weakened centipede.