The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"...raa... (...master...) ...raa...(...I... I'm sorry...)"

The large black wolf with shockingly long claws and uncommonly short jaws growled weakly, crawling through the fog while slowly inching forward, dragging her crushed hind legs behind.

It was Cinnamon, after leading the 7th wave's titan-class monsters away from the second defense line she spent every passing hour hunting them down and killing them all.

From the very beginning, she was a special one when compared to Arion and even to Blueberry.

Her determination to grow stronger and surpass everyone was comparable only to Cranberry's.

With each titan-class monster that she felled, the next one would get a bit easier.

The confusing fog was blocking the connection between her and her tamer, but Cinnamon had no time to time to spend worrying - she noticed something amazing!

As soon as the EXP from the beasts she slaughtered would nurture her, her body would turn slightly less beastly and her resemblance to the werewolf would increase.

Cinnamon's obsession with more humanoid forms had not just appeared all of a sudden.

It didn't even have anything to do with her natural predisposition that she had even before she became Mary's tamed monster.

The efficiency of getting stronger also wasn't a factor.

The only reason she had for that was...

Love.

The weak brown wolf that got the dig skill in order to survive being bullied by her own pack that abandoned her, fell in love with the blue undead who not only made her grow stronger with the effects of his hidden affinity but was the most affectionate creature that Cinnamon had ever encountered.

She adored the feeling of his cold hands caressing her fur and would always try to show off to him to earn more affectionate patting and hugs.

If only her brain stayed on the level of the brown frenzied wolf, those feelings would never develop further than those of a pet towards their beloved master.

But every tamed monster of certain quality gets a boost to intelligence and self-awareness the moment the pact is sealed making them basically on par with humans.

And Cinnamon as well as her pack members took a huge quality jump going from the weakest canine monsters right to shadow fangs, the monsters only a little less feared than dragons.

That had nourished the seeds of affection into a straight-up endless forest of love.

Being unable to see the object of her one-sided affection didn't help at all since the idealized vision of him that she carried inside her heart was growing more perfect with each passing day.

At first, Cinnamon was happy just as she was, the monster in the monster form.

Zombie was a monster, and she was a monster, the only thing that was needed was a chance to get close - those were her thoughts before she ever tried attempting to reshape herself.

But then one day, after another level up and increase in intelligence, a realization came t her.

She was a beast-shaped monster, but the creature she desired was a human-shaped monster who on top of that belonged to the human that was more monstrous than any beast.

Once she realized that, Cinnamon experienced the feeling of inferiority for the first time.

Even with all the added intelligence, Cinnamon's base instincts were that of a wild beast...

She realized that after factoring in all the details, she wasn't a suitable partner for the one that she longed for in her dreams, and there was someone so much more suitable for him right by his side.

Because she remembered how frightening creature Zombie's master was, Cinnamon simply couldn't imagine herself ever winning against that woman in the unlikely case where she would challenge her for a duel for Zombie.

But then an idea appeared in Cinnamon's mind.

If she can't win a brawl for his affection, why shouldn't she try to make herself more appealing?

Although her instinct was telling her that strength and smarts should be the deciding factor in choosing a partner, her new human-like side told her that compelling looks are of just as much importance.

And so her arduous journey towards the humanoid shape has begun.

Maybe if her efforts were in vain and her canine body didn't change, she would have given up.

But they weren't.

After just a few short months she developed a form that would make her bear the resemblance to the feral beastly werewolf, and once she began hunting - the angels at first, and the titan-class monsters - her shape would become more defined and one could even say elegant.

That fueled her desire to be good enough for Zombie to look at her even more.

And that in turn would make her act reckless.

Confident in her newfound strength and beautiful form, Cinnamon decided to finish off the remaining three monsters at the same time in order to start searching for more as soon as she could.

...that terrible decision had almost cost her her life.

Or depending on how you looked at her situation, it straight up killed her.

Even though she actually managed to kill the three monsters she aimed at, now, with her hind legs and back broken as well as a big part of her internal organs crushed and/or ruptured, the only thing waiting for her, was a dog's death.

No matter in which direction she tried to crawl, the confusing fog was everywhere, surrounding basically everything with a thick white veil.

No matter how loud she whimpered, her tamer wasn't able to hear her.

With straight-up lack of visibility of any sort, the chances of the other monsters - at least the ones still alive - to spot her from above seemed even less than zero.

In her current, pitiful state, Cinnamon could only hope for a quick death...

*sniff*

"...raa... (...impossible...)"

Cinnamon shook her head once a certain smell entered her sensitive nose.

That sensation... that smell...

...what was that human even doing in the very middle of the deepest part of the sea of mist?!

She of all people had no reason to be there!

"There she is."

But before the short jawed wolf had enough time to think whether it was just a trick or something, three people appeared in front of her from the mist, and the light brown-haired girl smiled at the sight of the crawling wolf as if she expected her to be there.

"...raa...! (...you...!)"

Cinnamon gasped in shock and her eyes widened once she managed to focus on the girl, who was now crouching in front of her with a big grin on her face.

"Ah! You recognize me, don't you? That will make things a lot easier."

The girl smiled and nodded her head a few times after witnessing the amusing reaction of the wounded wolf.

"Hey, hey. Little Cinnamon, I have a deal for you, are you willing to listen? Just one whimper is enough to answer."

The girl giggled and tilted her head.

"...raa... (...why are you here...?)"

Cinnamon growled weakly.

"I'll take it as a yes."

Of course, the girl had misread the whimper's meaning and put her thumb up as if congratulating Cinnamon for making the right decision.

"What if I told you that we could help you achieve your dream?"

"...?!"

The girl asked casually, making the wolf flinch.

"Sorry, I'm not talking about your love life, not directly at least."

She hurriedly cleared out the potential misunderstanding.

"I don't possess the power necessary to make him fall for you. But, something really amazing can be done to further your quest towards your dream body..."

"...raa, raa...! (...you don't possess even a single skill that could help with that, you battle crazy freak...!)"

Cinnamon scoffed and growled angrily at the girl that seemed to be mocking her.

"Oh? You are probably thinking something along the lines of: 'you don't have any skill that could help me!' don't you?"

The girl grinned and nodded, clapping her hands in amusement.

"And you'll be right about that. I don't."

She giggled and pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the two people behind her - a tall person in a robe with a large hood from underneath which only his piercing green eyes could be seen, and a short, frail-looking androgynous person with very long red hair and piercing blue eyes.

"But luckily enough for you - as long as they work together - those two most certainly do."