Chapter 392: Awaiting their turn (4 - the unexpected problem)
The next couple of fights went on smoothly, all the monsters were properly weakened so even the more feeble and unskilled kids could manage to finish them off without any trouble, but that did not make Zombie drop his guard.
There was no trace of his laid-back act as he stood right behind Cranberry, with his life signature detection skill active, cautiously looking for even a trace of change in the signature of any monster awaiting their turn to be slaughtered.
The blue boy could not help but grow more and more restless, with the new knowledge bestowed to him by the overseer sealed inside of him, he literally expected something horrible to pop up literally at any given moment - especially with how many flags did he set up himself with his reckless words.
"Young lady Mary Hope!"
The high-priest called out and the brown-haired girl sitting beside Cranberry flinched and gulped down her saliva clenching her fists with anxiety.
"Remember to not make too many sudden moves - he will be hurt and confused, don't add to it, and you will be fine."
"!!!!!"
The blue undead glanced at her and spoke loud enough for the girl to hear him and jump in shock.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you will tame your monster without any trouble, I believe in you!"
Then, to Zombie's great surprise, Cranberry went ahead and cheered on the future heroine patting her shoulder reassuringly, as if trying to ease the harsh tone that Zombie used.
"I-I will do my best!"
In response to her, Mary nodded her head, and then, as if Cranberry's words gave her the necessary determination, she stood up and trotted towards the middle of the arena.
|Little future villainess learned to encourage others, huh... Good progress, things seem to be going along just fine.|
Patience sounded as if she nodded with satisfaction in Zombie's mind, but the whole thing did not look just as good for him as it did for her.
|Why does it sound like you are just saying that to make calm me down even a little? Your voice is full with this overly exaggerated conviction, that's not how you sound normally.|
Zombie sighed internally, making a bitter face.
|You need to be cautious, but it is unnecessary for you to get so tense and grumpy, you know?
|It is too late for that. Let's just watch and hope for the best.|
Patience sounded as if she was fidgeting, but Zombie shrugged her off, literally shrugging his shoulders, watching as four people brings the wounded wolf in front of the visibly worried girl.
Although the monster was rather large, for anyone with any knowledge about canine-type beasts it was more than obvious that it was just a pup.
"..."
Zombie knew that Arion was in fact a capture target - a member of the Gluttony family who got affected by the curse of starvation way, way more than any other member of his family.
And although Zombie, as an undead and himself in general, greatly disliked humans, seeing Arion in such pitiful state, with his tail tucked behind his hind legs, and fearful eyes, looking around desperately searching for someone, anyone from his family who would magically show up and save him.
Once his shackles were taken off, he did not try to run away or attack the worried Mary.
"...nnnnn.... (...mom...? ...dad...? where is everyone...?) ...nnnnnn... (...what is this place...)"
Zombie should not be able to hear his scared, he most certainly did, and thanks to the beast master affinity, he understood it all too.
|...Pati... Could it be that Arion barely regained his mind only a few minutes ago? Locked up in the fucking monster pen?!|
Zombie tensed up, gritting his teeth so hard that they started creaking dangerously.
|Calm down! Yes, it certainly looks that way - but remember - everything will be alright from now on Mary will take care of him.... hopefully, at least...|
Patience spoke hastily, clearly to stop the blue undead from doing something reckless and stupid in the long term considering the knowledge they both had.
"Fine."
Zombie scoffed and shook his head.
"Is something wrong...?"
Cranberry furrowed her brows and asked, looking up at her familiar with concern.
"Nah, it's nothing."
The blue undead only shook his head and showed her a forced smirk, waving his hand dismissively to put her at ease.
"...nnnn... (...who are you...?) ....nnnnnn... (...go away...)"
"..."
But as in the middle of the arena, Mery tried to approach the wolf, raising her hand showing that she had no bad intentions, it only made him back off even more scared.
|This doesn't look like it did during the first playthrough...|
Zombie pointed out to the sealed overseer.
|This... might be because of you kidnapping Cranberry - Mary should have the whip and as she used it she should have made Aron agitated - but as she would only defend herself and kept him at bay, he would realize that she isn't trying to harm him. But...|
|...Cranberry should have been the person who gave Mary the whip...|
Patience explained her suspicion and Zombie finished her sentence for her, with a sigh.
"It's okay, mister wolf - I want to tame you, nothing bad will happen..."
Mary tried to kept her voice low and calm as her eyes began glowing with white light...
"...grrrrrrr....?! (...tame me... ME...?! TAME....?!) GRRRR! (I'M A HUMAN, NOT A MONSTER THAT YOU CAN TAME!)|
Despite Mary's best intentions - instead of making Arion relax, she made him furious.
Very furious.
|Zombie! I can feel the seal of Eternal getting agitated...!|
Patience gasped.
|WHAT?! How low did it drop because of this?!|
Zombie clenched his hands on the backrest of Cranberry's chair, feeling his insides getting filled with ice.
|No, it didn't weaken, but it is acting up - Zombie, Mary might be ready to get attacked by Arion, but Arion did not attack Mary in the game! At least not that early on... We need to do something! You have the Beast Master affinity - go and shout at the mutt or something!|
The sealed overseer sounded as if she shook her head and began giving the instructions to her host.