The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"This is it. The tower of sloth, the permanent residence of the avatar of sloth."

The group stopped before a tall, menacing-looking tower that pierced through the fog all the way to the cloud level - though that wasn't really visible from the group's position.

"Depending on the progress of the preparation of the new avatar is, we might or might not encounter a member or members of the Sloth family. I can be here, there's no problem with that - but- whether or not someone would raise a ruckus over me bringing outsiders, is all up to luck."

The rat-faced man tapped the wall of the building, looking up at it as if he could see through the fog.

"That's why we got this guy."

"...!"

Cranberry smirked and motioned at the panicked Corvus.

"Huh... that's a big building... How fast do you think that it will crumble if I kick it seriously?"

Zombie casually leaned toward the red-haired girl and asked in a flat voice, not bothering about whispering or anything.

"...! Please refrain from destroying any buildings in the city! Especially this one!"

Shanks stepped towards the pair and requested in a hushed voice.

"Haa... Zombie, we're keeping destruction to a minimum. Shanks, relax."

The red-haired girl looked between the blue undead and the rat-faced man and sighed.

"Yeah, sure... then I'll be keeping venom cannon at the ready."

"Definitely do not do that either!"

The blue undead simply shrugged his shoulders and his comment caused Shanks to gasp in a panicked voice.

"Shanks... you are not a stupid person, are you?"

Cranberry glanced at him with a mixed expression.

"You must at least suspect why the two of us are here... we won't be ending this audience with just a talk."

She smirked and menacingly rested the black baseball bat on her shoulder.

"..."

Shanks flinched and gritted his teeth.

"Wait! You won't?! Then I don't want to be a part of whatever you are going to...!"

"Rabbit, no one asked your opinion."

Corvus's tried to turn away but Zombie's right hand extended and rested on the white-haired man's shoulder, securing him in place.

"..."

Shanks became slightly paler than he was before but kept eye contact with Cranberry.

"Young lady, do you swear that the titan-class monsters are no more...?"

He asked in a very serious voice.

"That's right. That's not all. Make use of that Sophia skill of yours and check for yourself what is the requirement of the extinction achievement."

The red-haired girl snorted and shrugged her shoulders.

"...it's the annihilation of the entire species and its spawn points... that's why I'm okay with whatever you are planning, young lady. Since there is nothing to protect the rest of the world from, the Sloths should be finally allowed to have some rest."

The rat-faced man had an answer already prepared.

"It's just that... well, the last body of the avatar of sloth belonged to my older brother - the same one who made this gun for me - I guess I'm just a bit... sentimental."

He sighed while resting his head against the beloved weapon.

"It's alright. As long as those feelings won't make you try to stand in our way - you'll be fine."

Cranberry nodded benevolently and turned to the rest of the group.

"Mary, Arion, Corvus, and Shanks will enter together with me and Zombie, the rest of you should stay here and don't stick out, we will be leaving immediately after we'll be done with this small errand."

She spoke carefree as if speaking about the weather.

"Skwee...? (Why can't I go in too...?) Skwee... (You are even taking Arion...)"

Blueberry hoofed nervously and screeched in a low voice.

"Raor, raor. (It must be because I can mask my presence to some degree, while you are very recognizable.)"

The massive black wolf barked and reassuringly brushed his back against the griffin's back front leg.

"It's because we might need a trashcan just in case."

"Raor...?! (T-trashcan...?!)"

Zombie confirmed but his choice of words didn't really meet Arion's expectations.

With all said and done, the group split in two and the one selected beforehand entered through the unlocked front door.

/You have entered the tower of sloth

/All skills disabled

/All affinities disabled

/Status points reduced to 10 points each

"Weakening seal of sloth. Feels like home..."

Shanks sighed, looking at the system message that popped up for him as it did for everyone else who stepped inside the building.

Every single one of them - no exception this time.

"That's... not something that I have expected to see..."

Cranberry furrowed her brows looking at the pop-up.

"Tsk...! How is it possible that it got past your rotten brain and superbia? Does that mean that it's not an attack? That changes everything..."

She clicked her tongue and leaned close in order to whisper to her blue undead.

"That said... Shanks told us that the avatar of sloth went into a slumber... All we need is to take them outside..."

She added in a hushed voice.

"Seems like the legend about the first Sloth fusing with the god wasn't false after all... Setting up something like that... The first Sloth's cunningness really was something else..."

Then the red-haired girl turned around and declared in her normal voice.

"True, he was."

The rat-faced man agreed.

"Ha. Let's see..."

Cranberry muttered looking up, instead of reacting to that, and followed after the others who were already beginning to climb the seemingly endless spiral staircase leading straight to the top.

"Thank you for the good work."

"A-ah...! Thank you, young lady. It's nothing, really."

Cranberry greeted the man cleaning the railing who others ignored and begun the ascend.

Even though the tower itself was massive, it consisted mostly of the staircase and only a few small spaces where larger groups could rest or pass each other on their way up or down.

It looked like the only people other than Cranberry and Zombie's group present in the building were the servants keeping the inside clean.

"Young lady Pride, I thought that you don't want us to be remembered, why are you greeting them all...?"

As on their way up they passed another servant who Cranberry greeted and thanked for their hard work, Corvus couldn't help himself and ask.

"I have blood-red hair and am carrying a black bat and a severed hand, Zombie is a blue corpse puppet wearing high heels, and Arion is a giant dog - do you actually think that we wouldn't be remembered if I ignored the servants?"

"...!"

The red-haired girl asked and shook her head, causing

Corvus to flinch.

"As long as I receive due respect, I will be just as respectful."

Cranberry explained - and truth be told, each and every servant up until that point had bowed their head deeply as the group was passing them.

"We're almost there, be on your guard, even if the current state of the avatar of sloth is called a slumber - their brain is still active so you better be careful."

As they've reached the top of the spiral staircase, Shanks warned the rest before putting his hands on the hatch that could only lead to the top level of the tower - the giant sphere from which the avatar of sloth was watching over their entire mist-covered territory.

"Pffft...!"

All of a sudden the brown-haired heroine snorted and hurriedly covered her mouth, but it was too late to cover for anything.

"I-I'm sorry... it's just, doesn't the avatar of sloth sounds like a reverse Zombie...?"

Mary apologized and explained.

"No, it does not."

Zombie grumbled though it was hard to say whether it was because the rotten brain title was dulling his sense of humor or just that the joke wasn't that funny, to begin with.

"Zombie."

"Huh...? Yes, what is it?"

Cranberry whispered tugging on the undead's armor, getting his attention.

"There are twenty-seven servants in total. If we will be forced to kidnap the avatar and get him outside the tower so that I could use my skills on him - will you be able to take them all out while under this whole weakening seal?"

She asked with a serious expression.

"Sure - but will it be necessary? I can take out the avatar for you. Look, the seal blocked skills and stats but not titles..."

The blue undead smirked confidently and discreetly raised his index finger - for an instant a drop of translucent liquid appeared above it and instantly ignited into a flickering violet flame surrounded by a deadly aura.

"Venomancer and the Heir of flames."

He shrugged his shoulders indifferently before making the violet flame go  out the next second.

"Ha! Isn't that perfect!"

Cranberry nodded in approval, making an evil smile.