The Villainess and I, her Zombie

|That said, what the hell is the Prophecy of the Eternal?|

Zombie asked Patience while Olive was healing and modifying the sleeping merchant's memories.

|I'm sure you can figure it out from the name alone.|

Patience snickered in response.

|Oh, I see. So now you're acting as if you don't read my mind whenever you like... Sure.|

The boy furrowed his brows and picked up Kopia.

As soon as he did, the scimitar changed into a simple one-handed sword, and Zombie could easily put her into the expensive sheath by his waist.

|Eh...? EH?! What the...?! That's unfair! Like what, you can tease me whenever you like but when I play around you get all grumpy?!|

|...yeah, I'm a huge hypocrite and that's how it works.|

Patience cried out at this blatant injustice and got a stubborn stern answer for her question.

|Seriously! You sure are acting according to your physical age right now, you know?|

She added.

|Fine! You don't know about the Prophecy because it's not a part of any event, and you are only left with the knowledge about the story events! The Prophecy of the Eternal is a questline that we need to complete to achieve the special true ending! Remember when Caramel shouted to Mason that the only way to have a chance against Eternal is to complete seven secret missions for all the capture targets once they inherit the titles of the avatars of sin? This questline is what she was referring to. If we complete it correctly, then Eternal will lose its Invictus title and its stats and skills will get nerfed to all hell and back, allowing the player to defeat it.|

...but eventually, she ended up giving up and started explaining everything properly.

|Wait up. Does that mean that no matter what we will have to fight with Eternal?|

Zombie flinch while being reminded of the overwhelming power he had at his disposal as the primordial god of destruction by the end of the first playthrough.

|Yes, but like I said after we complete the questline, bringing it down will actually be doable.|

Patience sounded as if she nodded and encouraged the young boy.

|Once again, that's not what I've meant.|

Zombie scoffed with a bitter expression.

|It just feels like I've been slacking off too much recently. Since the Eternal needs to be brought down, I can't just stay within the safe range of strength.|

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, unintentionally releasing a dangerous aura.

|This time, I will not let her die...|

|...|

Zombie thoughts grew cold and distant and Patience decided it was better to not comment on that, even though she couldn't stop having a bad feeling about staying silent.

"Done. I'll set up some illusions that won't let this fucker leave even if he'll wake up sooner than expected. Now. I'll take you to meet someone. I want to confirm a few fucking things and she will help with doing that."

Olive stood up and turned to the young boy.

"Yeah. Sure. Lead the way."

Zombie breathed out, getting rid of the evil aura surrounding him, and nodded obediently without voicing any objections.

"Do you have any speed-increasing skill or should I fucking carry you?"

Olive offered, and if Zombie still had the rotten brain skill, he wouldn't have picked up on the thick sarcasm spread all over Olive's words.

Truth to be told, Zombie almost wanted to just play the innocent fool and agree on the fake proposition just to see the old elf's reaction, but he stopped himself and only activated the appropriate skills in preparation.

"Good. It may take a while, but don't worry about running out of mana – I do actually have an MP recovery skill that will deal with it if necessary."

"I will be counting on you with that."

This time Olive sounded as if he was serious, so Zombie nodded with appreciation, and the two of them darted away just a second later.

"You have good reflexes for a supposed child!"

The old elf looked back and smirked at the young boy struggling to keep up with the amazing speed that wasn't even one-tenth of Olive's capabilities.

|He... He wasn't that fast before...!|

Zombie gritted his teeth getting more and more annoyed as Olive was running forward and slowing down again to let him caught up.

|Nope, you know that's not how it is. What you're experiencing right now is the difference between someone who didn't reach level thirty and someone who is max level. Not to mention the bonuses that the stats give. You never tried to increase the stats alone so they are much lower than they could be – not that I'm trying to bring you down, don't take me wrong. I was the one who advised you to not waste time on training those since they will all reset once you turn into an undead.|

Patience tried to calm Zombie down a bit, but it was a far more difficult task than one could imagine.

The run continued for more than an hour, what interrupted it momentarily wasn't the end of the journey but a system message that showed up for the young boy.

/Proficiency level reached

affinity upgrade

leg power (level 10[max])

/skill upgrade

strong kick (level 15)

/Proficiency level reached

two skills interact with each other

strong kick (level 15) & blade storm (level 10)

secret synergy unlocked

you received a skill

whirlwind kick (level 1)

|Huh?! The hell is a secret synergy?!|

Zombie was so focused on the series of messages popping up that he almost crashed into a tree which Olive dodged in the last second whilst he was leading him.

|You know, two or more skills or titles that compliment each other will sometimes create an unexpected bonus benefit for the user. You surely experienced it in your first playth... EH?! You didn't?! You're telling me that you completed a couple of secret achievements but not encountered even a single secret synergy before?!|

Patience tried to explain calmly, but then she peeked into Zombie's memories and exclaimed in shock.

|I'm seeing this for the first time ever! I've seen skill level-ups and even rank-ups but this is the first time seeing two skills just spawning another skill without merging! Say, is whirlwind kick strong?|

Zombie quickly got over his shock and asked.

|Strong kick is a tier 1 skill and whirlwind kick is tier 2, it should be much stronger, though, when comparing a level 1 tier 2 skill to level 15 tier 1 skill is a bit unfair, your strong kick should be better than whirlwind kick for a bit, at least until you will level it up to level 4 or 5, then you should start noticing the difference.|

Once more Patience shared her vast tutorial-like knowledge with Zombie.

|Is that so...|

Zombie squinted his eyes mischievously.

"Hey! Olive!"

He called after the speeding elf in front of him.

"Yes? Do you need me to fucking replenish your mana, or maybe is my speed too fucking much for you?"

The old elf asked with a bright smile.

"Nope, I just wanted to ask how much longer will we should be running to get to that friend of yours?"

Zombie waved his hand dismissively, denying Olive's words.

"We're about halfway there."

The elf responded indifferently.

|Khahaha! Isn't that perfect? Why won't we try to level this new skill up just a bit?|

Zombie laughed internally and the white light surrounding his legs dimmed momentarily before becoming slightly brighter than before once the strong kick skill got replaced with the whirlwind kick.

"Well, then – let's continue, shall we?"

The boy asked out loud with a bright smile.