Chapter 417: Fortunate meeting on the road (1)
"...Isn't this perfect...? I can both train holding back against humans in case that I will have to fight any of the capture targets, and release so much of my pent-up stress..."
Zombie focused on the holy-augmented blade in front of his chest and smirked mockingly while murmuring.
"Any last words, monster?"
Cherry, the future leader of the Brave Swords - an up-and-coming group of young adventurers who got slaughtered by Cranberry and Zombie during the first playthrough - spoke with a reasonable amount of confidence provided how much of an advantage his element had over the undead of all kind.
"Khahaha! Sure - clench your teeth or you will lose them."
"!!!!!"
Zombie laughed and grabbed the shining sword with his bare hand, and while pushing it aside, he took a step forward and smashed his fist against Cherry's face...
*crack*
...breaking his nose and sending him flying back, losing the grip on his weapon that was still glowing with white light in Zombie's hand without dealing him any visible damage.
"CHERRY!"
The masked rogue shouted and came to her companion's rescue without a second of doubt, leaving their original target free to do whatever they wanted - and she got in front of the incapacitated youngster with her daggers out in a defensive stance.
"Good job! Stall them as much as you can!"
The cunning merchant that up until then wasn't even aware that Zombie was getting closer to his carriage noticed the perfect occasion and shouted over his shoulder as a diversion - to make sure that the two foolish young aspiring adventurers would not realize their mistake.
"...hey..."
"...!"
Even though Zombie wasn't talking to her, Lychee finched the moment she heard the low voice of the blue undead, and that coupled with the sudden change in his aura caused her to straight-up tremble.
"Who do you think you are using me as bait?"
The undead asked and he merely flicked touched the crossguard of the one-handed sword still in the scabbard at his waist and...
*SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING*
With the flash of white light, the blade exploded forward, passed the two young aspiring adventurers, and reached the escaping carriage - splitting the carriage, the merchant, and the monster pulling the carriage, cleanly in half all in a single strike.
/Low-level player defeated
You receive EXP
/Low-level monster defeated
You receive EXP
Two quick messages popped up for the blue undead as he smirked once his blade returned to him thanks to the red threads connecting his right arm and the blade's pommel.
"Tsk. Some random living trash wasting my time."
Zombie clicked his tongue and almost spat to the side from disgust.
"Now. Let's continue."
He shook his head, going back to the collected, mocking smirk.
But was there even a need to explain what reaction did that cause?
"...! R-run, Lychee, run...! I-I'll try to stall him - you need to warn the guards and the guild...!"
Cherry - with the crimson blood spouting from his crushed nose like a faucet - got up on his knees and grabbed onto Lychee's side, pushing her away to make her escape.
"..."
But the girl was literally frozen solid from fear.
She was looking back on the destroyed carriage in the middle of the road and the ever-growing puddle of the mixture of monster and human blood.
"Lychee! Go!"
Cherry tried once again to make his companion move but his efforts were wasted.
"...I didn't see the attack..."
The girl finally opened her mouth, but the whisper she let out was not something that Cherry could expect.
"...so cool..."
She sighed in a dreamy voice.
"Wh-what are you say-URGH!"
The future leader of the Brave Swords'question got interrupted by another punch to the face.
"Well, well, well - someone has a very low magic resistance."
Zombie - who got bored of waiting, simply approached the two aspiring adventurers while they seemed busy and hit the slowly standing up guy - while not looking away from the female rogue as his eyes continued to glow with a pale blue light.
"What did you do to her?!"
Cherry rolled on his side and gasped, spewing blood and broken teeth, but not losing his spirit.
"Oh, just trying to level up a certain skill - I learned that to upgrade it into tier 2, I need to be using it on enemies in the middle of the combat - tough luck, you see - there's no way for me to train it any other way."
The blue undead shrugged his shoulders dismissively and apologized in a way that could not be interpreted as an apology by anyone with the speck of common sense.
"Training? You are training some skills on us...?! But you're just a monster!"
Cherry gasped, slowly getting up.
"...I swear you weren't such pushovers during the first playthrough... Though I suppose that it's still quite early on... and the blade you're using isn't the one I remember."
Zombie sighed and glanced down at the sword with a holy aura that he still was holding on to with his bare hand.
"Eat this!"
*thump* *thump*
That moment was enough for Lychee to shake off the allure of the heartthrob skill and attack the blue undead with both of her daggers - which had just as much effect as one would expect - the clothes that Zombie had on got pierced but the weapons were unable to penetrate his skin.
"Aww. Aren't you adorable? Sorry, but superbia gives ridiculous bonus points to DEF and MDF each time I level up - you would have to be at least mid middle level for this to work."
The blue undead laughed and winked at the confused girl - and thanks to the lust-based skill producing the pale blue light in his eyes - he effortlessly grabbed both daggers with one hand without any objection from the blushing female rogue.
"...adorable...? ...me...?"
She gasped fidgetting bashfully.
"..."
Zombie furrowed his brows - originally, he wanted to basically recreate the same end that the two had faced in the first playthrough, of course after he was done practicing holding back.
...but wasn't there something else that he could do besides gaining a miserable amount of EXP points from such weaklings?
He already felt a lot better after bisecting the merchant and the carriage...
"Hey. Lychee - do you realize that this is all a big misunderstanding?"
The blue undead suddenly spoke up, certain that it would be better to train the lust-based skill above the close combat one.
"...Misunderstanding...?"
Lychee made a sad face - undoubtedly thinking that the mistake Zombie was talking about was calling her adorable.
"Yes - I never intended to harm the two of you. After all, aren't we friends already?"
Zombie smiled brightly and asked.
"D-don't listen to him! He's an undea...!"
Cherry squirmed on the ground, doing his best to stand up and save his companion - but he froze while on all fours as he encountered the pale blue gaze of Zombie's black eyes, and felt his heart beating faster - but not from fear...
"Cherry... You silly boy - a good person like you surely understands that all I did was a little self-defense. It was all a terrible misunderstanding."
"B-but that evil merchant...!"
The young aspiring adventurer was trying to oppose the lust-base skill with sound arguments - but the sin-based skills did not abide by common sense at all...
"Evil needs to be punished... Do you think that I was too rough...? If so, then why won't you try and make me a better person?"
The blue undead smiled gently and asked in a soft voice.
"...I... I guess that it's better to educate those who stray from the path of good but want to change their evil ways... I... I was too hasty with attacking you."
/Skill level up
Heartthrob (level 4)
Cherry, still on all fours, bowed his head and apologized to Zombie, whose smile changed into a wicked triumphant grin, as he already saw the fruits of his training.