The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Gooseberry reached out his hand towards the door to the mushroom-shaped outbuilding that served as his late wife's office when suddenly his insides tied up into a knot and the horrifying drear just dawned on him as if the reaper itself reached out its boney hand for his life.

"...!"

*SWOOOOSH*

*BOOOOOOOOOM*

The purple-haired elf ducked almost against his will – his self-preservation instinct kicked in before any sane thought appeared in his mind – and it was right in time as within the same heartbeat as the old elf got to the ground the armored leg passed through the air with an unbelievable sound and ended up causing a shockwave that both shook the entire house and shattered the windows in all the nearest buildings.

"FUCK...!"

Gooseberry cursed and immediately used the blink skill again to get out of the range of the effective range of the attacker – but the moment the purple-haired elf appeared fifteen feet to the left, and even though he had chosen the spot at random...!

*BOOOOOOM*

"UGHUUAGGHHHH...!"

The second shockwave hit him square in the back and sent him flying through the air until he crashed against the wall of the neighbor's house.

*BOOOOOOOOM*

Before the keeper of the archives could even properly catch a breath the third shockwave smashed him through the wall, right into the house where he crashed into the fireplace by the opposite wall.

"Ugh...! Ekhe! Ekhe...!"

Gooseberry coughed up a few drops of blood and inhaled a fistful of ash before he managed to crawl back up on his feet – still, just as he did...

"...!"

The elf was on his way to straighten his back and face his opponent, but before he could raise his head, he felt a cold hand grabbing onto his hair, and the next thing he saw was an armored knee flying straight to his face!

*WHAM*

*CRACK*

The hit crushed his nose into a bloody pulp and sent him against the wall...

*WHAM*

...or it would have if not for the opponent grabbing his long purple hair and pulling him right back for another kneeful.

*grab*

"AAAARGHH...! You little fuck let go of...!"

The next moment the disoriented Gooseberry felt an armored fist clenching around his right ear, basically crushing it and causing the elf to cry out in pain and fury, spouting blood mixed with saliva.

*SLAM*

...but the opponent didn't even consider showing mercy and with the stable hold on the elven ear, he started assaulting the nearby wall with Gooseberry's head.

*SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM**SLAM* *SLAM* *SLAM*

*SMASH*

In the end, the wooden construction gave in and the elf was smashed through, falling to the outsides – thanks to the blood gushing from the partially ripped-off ear the opponent lost the steady grip and Gooseberry managed to slip out.

"...fuck... fuck...!"

The purple-haired elf cursed, breathing heavily and clenching the gaping wound on the side of his head.

After getting his head turned into a battering ram, his brain sure felt as if it turned into a mush – it was almost impossible for the old elf to focus on the healing spell – but even still, his first thought certainly wasn't on that...

...after all, what use was of healing a single wound when in a second he might be straight-up dead...?

Gooseberry's experience was telling him to hide, assert the situation, heal up, and then counter-attack when the opportunity revealed itself.

The only problem was...

*SWOOSH*

*CRACK*

"GH-AH...!"

*WHAM*

The blue undead knight in jet-black armor simply appeared right behind the purple-haired elf and casually swiped at his legs – breaking both of the elf's ankles and then slamming him to the ground with his fist as if the initial attack wasn't enough.

"The head."

Zombie spoke up coldly for the first time after Gooseberry used his goodwill against him.

"..wha...?! The fuck...?!"

The purple-haired elf groaned on the ground and twitched, trying to turn around to look the blue undead in the face.

"The head is the most important part of the creature's body."

Zombie spoke indifferently as if he was never interrupted by the cursing elf.

"A living creature that is."

The blue undead raised his hand and pointed at his expressionless face.

"But I am an undead – every single organ in my body is unnecessary for me to remain active -my heart doesn't beat, my lungs don't inhale and exhale, the liquid circulating in my veins is venom and not blood, and similarly, my brain does have very little to do with me thinking."

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and he lowered his hand.

"I will take damage – a very substantial amount even – as long as someone manages to destroy one of the organs I mentioned no matter how insignificant they actually are but that's because it's how the damage works in this world. Still – attempting to knock me out by causing a concussion, and right after I put my trust in you..."

He sighed shaking his head from left to right.

"...now... that's a proper way to make me angry..."

Zombie scoffed, and his face twisted into a cold smirk.

"Cranberry told me to not harm you, Gooseberry – but honestly, borrowing the wise words of your kind – I don't give a fuck – anyways, as long as it is possible to heal you, does it truly counts as harm...?"

The blue undead knight raised his head and glared down at the crawling purple-haired elf who most certainly was experiencing how living creatures react to head and brain trauma.

Zombie raised his foot and casually aimed it at Gooseberry's face.

"Z-Zombie?! What are you doing to my father?!"

"...?"

Then, unexpectedly a scared and confused voice called out from the route leading to the center of the village – the blue undead turned his face and saw a young powder-pink-haired elf dressed up in the blade dancer's outfit coupled with a karabella strapped to his exposed waist.

...the young man's hair grew longer and honestly, in his current getup it was near impossible to tell that he was actually a male, and not a small framed, slim girl...

"...Me? I am simply demonstrating to him that it's far better to have me as an ally than the enemy..."

Zombie shrugged his shoulders and...

*WHAM*

"GH...!"

"FATHER...!"

Dropped his foot straight on Gooseberry's head, burrowing it into the ground, knocking the purple-haired elf unconscious at the same time.

"See? Like that."