"Nnn...? What happened...? Weren't we in the forest...?"
The young kobold girl riding on Zombie's back woke up and asked in confusion, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"..."
Zombie was looking at the path opened by George – and he was rightfully stunned – so he didn't answer Raika's question.
The blue undead closed his eyes, breathed out, breathed in, and opened his eyes.
"...George, we need to talk about your definition of the word path..."
He sighed and started walking again while making sure that the little kobold will not fall off while half-asleep.
"This is a freaking highway and not a path – it- it looks like this goes straight to the elven village too! Oh for fu-mgh. They must be freaking out thinking that they are under attack or something!"
The blue undead shook his head in disbelief while complaining.
"Go big or go home. Also, I have no idea what a highway is, but I take it as a compliment."
Gorge responded in a happy, completely unperturbed manner.
"Though if you wish, master, I can make it a bit smaller to not alarm the elves."
The half-plant centipede offered after a little bit of consideration.
"How thick-skinned do you think they are if you think that the entire forest splitting apart like this did not set off every possible alarm in their heads...? Well, all things considered, you did your job – but I bet that you get the overachiever title because of this."
The blue undead scoffed, tilted so much that the machine mind had to reset him back to a calm state.
"Remnants of gods do not receive any new titles – we simply unlock more levels of the gods' power as we grow stronger."
George answered the question that wasn't even asked and return to acting as a fancy bracelet.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"..."
Although Raika kept quiet, Zombie could feel her questioning look burning a hole through his skull.
"Remember the nice place I told you about back in the city? Well, we will get there much sooner than I expected. It's right at the end of this...path..."
The blue undead lowered his head to sigh and explained as he raised it back up.
"Oh! That's good, right?"
The little kobold girl perked up and leaned to the side to take a peek at Zombie's face.
"...sure..."
He tilted his head and nodded, sounding more unsure than anything.
"Anyway, hold on tight, since you are awake now, I'll accelerate a bit."
*boom*
"Kyaaah!"
Even though Zombie barely used his self-created method of accelerating, the sudden boost was enough to make the young kobold squeak in fear like some sort of small dog toy.
"..."
Zombie glanced to the side to make sure that Kopia was following, and after confirming it with satisfaction, he focused on the road ahead, preparing for experiencing various illusions set in place by the village guardian, Olive.
He wasn't really worried about himself, but he sure hoped that the experience won't be too traumatic for the kid clinging to his back like a scared koala bear.
…
But if he expected any sort of illusion triggering, he sure ended up disappointed – or rather relieved since literally, nothing happened no matter the distance.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})After a while, he could already spot the cliff that was hiding the masked entrance to the hidden village...
...or rather the breached cliff split apart by the shocking power of the small remnant of spirit god, Saint.
Zombie didn't even have to activate his life signature detection skill to pinpoint the elves since even from afar it looked like everyone able to fight was gathered bear the opening, some elves were already glowing with the light of the activated skills.
"...haaaaaaaaa..."
That sight forced a long sigh out of the lungs of the undead who didn't even have to breathe, to begin with.
Yeah.
The elves were alarmed, to say the least.
"...You think that they even realized that the system no longer holds them back from doing and saying whatever they want...?"
A sudden thought appeared in Zombie's mind and it was such a good question that he decided to ask out loud to no one in particular.
"Ummm... I... I don't know...?"
Though the only answer he got came from Raika, coiling her arms around his neck for support, and it wasn't a very satisfying answer, to begin with too.
To spare himself the trouble of being attacked and having to dodge a barrage of magic missiles of various elements, the blue undead stopped at the distance that would allow the ones using the detection [sight] skill, even the low-level one, to recognize him.
"YO! IT'S ME!"
Zombie waved at the elves with one hand while supporting Raika with the other before continuing the approach with much lower speed.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
Before long, the first voices reached him – and the long-haired village guardian's voice was probably the most prominent of them all.
"...hello there... I returned after fulfilling my promise – aren't you happy?"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})As Olive ran up to meet him, the blue undead smiled awkwardly and shrugged his shoulders.
"Wh-what the... Zombie? The fuck is happening?! It's just you? You've caused this?!"
The old elf gasped, leaning to the side, looking past Zombie as his ears began glowing with intense light as he used the hearing-enhancing skill to check for himself before the blue undead could even answer.
"Well... I might have gotten myself a rather overpowered ally this time."
Zombie laughed awkwardly, glancing at the green bracelet around his wrist.
"...Oh, that's right – master, about that power – I'm only able to muster so much power because the trees here were soaking in mana for hundreds of years – please don't expect anything spectacular like that anywhere else.."
George raised his head segment and put out a disclaimer with an easygoing voice.
"...huh...?"
Zombie flinched looking down at him.
"It's best to tell you now – if it's a new plant without much mana, I can't do much with it. I'm the strongest in the old forest like this, but that also means that I will be useless in cities and on plains..."
George continued his explanation not really caring about the circumstances.
Though, honestly, he was right about warning the blue undead to temper his expectations since Zombie was already making plans with the ridiculous power of the remnant of Saint as a basis.
"Sssssss! (AHA! I knew he was just a show-off!)"
Kopia and Monty joined at the right time to hear George's confession which caused Monty to hiss out triumphantly.
"...you have some explaining to do, kiddo..."
Olive sighed while massaging his forehead.
"(Master, you're back!)"
"ZOMBIE...!"
Whether the old elf had something else to say, the next moment everyone present received a telepathic message of the red dragon, flying out of the village right towards the blue undead – which was followed by an excited shout of the red-haired girl riding on the said dragon's back.
