The Villainess and I, her Zombie

*BOOOOOOOM*

*WHAM*

*CRUSH*

The purple-haired elf and the blue undead knight exchanged punches that caused destructive shockwaves to clash against the village buildings – going even as far as breaking windows and destroying fences.

"...you grew quite strong..."

Gooseberry smirked bitterly – feeling both proud and distressed about the improvement that Zombie made since the last time they saw each other.

"I would like to say the same about you, but you aren't using even half of your strength – let's make this whole situation easier and stop fighting. Let Cranberry try out her method – and then if it will not work, we can kill Lairs."

Zombie scoffed and looked at his indented chestplate with a bitter expression.

"Fuck no – I don't know how was it possible for the ancient blood curse to stop working for twenty years but I am not going to risk my child's life on mere speculations while the clear answer is right in front of me!"

The purple-haired elf called out clenching his fist and kicking off the ground, twisting in mid-air and stomping right at the blue undead's head...

*BOOOOM*

The attack was dodged at the last possible second as Zombie's body flashed white and moved out of the way with an overwhelming speed – but the attack wasn't finished by just the single kick – as soon as Gooseberry's foot stomped on the ground, a spear-like rock formation erupted from the ground right under the undead's feet, almost skewering him in one go...!

*CLING*

Zombie dodged it too, although this one was much closer than the kick itself – the rocks hit against his armor leaving a deep cut into the metal which only served as proof of the magic spear's sharpness.

"...say, how's your position resistance...?"

"...huh...?!"

The sudden question took the purple-haired elf by surprise – and his eyes widened the moment that he saw the blue undead's eyes and throat shining white – before Zombie spread his jaws and the concentrated venomous breath attack hit Gooseberry straight in the face!"

"!!!!!"

The old elf backed off immediately, holding back his breath and closing his eyes the moment he saw the purple vapor, but the venomous skill wasn't so convenient to block – even without inhaling it directly, the mere contact with the elf's skin caused the status effect...

/You got poisoned\\

/You got paralised\\

/You receive a debuff – stamina regeneration block\\

/You receive a debuff – health regeneration block\\

/You receive a debuff – mana regeneration block\\

"Tsk...! Aren't you hard to deal with, kid?!"

Gooseberry scoffed, gritting his teeth as the white light rose up from his body just to rain down upon him the next moment.

/Poison status effect diminished\\

/You are no longer paralised\\

/Health regeneration block – cleansed\\

"...fuck... you really are a piece of work..."

The purple-haired elf smirked, wiping off the drop of blood that gathered in the corner of his eye like some sort of gruesome tear.

"Just so we clear – I am not trying to deal any lasting damage – so seriously, just tell me how is your resistance – or else using the position against you might prove to be very unwelcomed.

Zombie scoffed, breathing out a cloud of violet mist to the side.

"I know that you couldn't get rid of all the side effects – of that skill – give it a rest already and just wait a little bit! Stop being so stubborn!"

The blue undead called out with an annoyed expression – thanks to using the overpower skill on the purple-haired elf, Zombie was stronger than him – BUT – someone as long-lived as Gooseberry made sure to train all of his stats – and so, even though the blue undead knight had a single stat with four times the skill points number, the elf's other stats made up for it.

The thing would be completely different if Zombie could kill Gooseberry – in that situation the fight would be already over with a single devastating overpower-empowered attack that would shatter the old man into pieces.

...but Zombie both wanted, and was expected to keep the other party alive...

No matter how he looked at the situation – Gooseberry was strong – and even as a background character without a unique name, he could be at least considered as a backup, just in case if Caramel's plan was just like Cranberry expected – for the reincarnated girl to force multiple special quests to trigger at the same time to get rid of all any allies that the villainess and the undead capture target could gather on their way, just so they would end up getting killed by Eternal – just so Caramel herself could sweep in and gain all the glory and possible bonuses from defeating the strongest monster in the system.

Yes – keeping the purple-haired elf alive was a way to go, definitely.

The path with less bloodshed was always more difficult – as the blue undead knight was experiencing firsthand at the moment.

"I cannot give up and will fucking not give up until my son is assured to be safe from the curse!"

Gooseberry declared furrowing his brows and glaring coldly at the undead.

"...!"

After hearing that, Zombie's eyes widened.

"...what is it...?"

The purple-haired elf twitched at the odd reaction and straightened his back with a challenging look.

"...you stubborn fool... deep down you want to wait for Cranberry to try out her solution, but you also don't want to unnecessarily get Cranbie in harm's way – so you just want to waste your time fighting me until the result of our option will be clear!"

"!!!!!!"

The blue undead declared in disbelief and the old elf flinched and stepped back with the expression of a person caught red-handed at the crime scene.

"...I don't know what you are talking about..."

Even though Gooseberry really tried to keep his composure, his voice trembled by the end of his sentence betraying him – and the purple-haired elf ended up with his face bright red from embarrassment.

"...so that's why you aren't using even half of your strength..."

Zombie scoffed, shaking his head.

"...How do you even know how strong I am – we never actually fought..."

Gooseberry asked, trying to push the topic away from himself at all cost to save his face as the crude, cold-hearted individual.

"The current you didn't fight the current me – sure."

"...?"

Zombie nodded, admitting the truth in the words of the purple-haired elf, which honestly made him more confused than anything.

...but during the first playthrough I have slaughtered this entire village – you included...

The blue undead thought silently, reminiscing about the past in another life.

"Fine – you helped out Cranberry with more than a few spells – I can help you deal with this anxiety of yours!"

The blue undead ended up smiling mischievously and deactivating his overpower skill – with that, there was no chance of him killing the elf in one shot.

"Thank you..."

Gooseberry breathed out and smiled...

"!!!!"

...before he disappeared in a flash of white light just to appear right behind the shocked blue undead...

*BOOOOOOOM*

With a single solid slam to the back of the head, Zombie ended up smashing into the ground with enough power to get burrowed up to his elbows in the rock-hard soil.

"...for being so naive..."

Gooseberry scoffed with a grim expression – there was not even a single trace of embarrassment or any other warm feeling on his face.

"...you would do the same if Cranberry's life was on the line, right...?"

The purple-haired elf added, looking at the limp body of the half-burrowed undead before he walked towards the mushroom-shaped outbuilding.