The Villainess and I, her Zombie

"YOU FUCKER! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?!"

Whatever the creature it was, the old elf wasn't going to risk letting it touch the ground and raised both his hands – they shone with light comparable to the sun, and within the same heartbeat, an enormous fireball ignited in front of him heating up so much that the branches of the tree that Olive was standing on got set on fire while its leaves were straight-up evaporated.

The skill was ready so fast that it launched right at the red monstrosity before Olive's words echoed through the forest.

"..."

It wasn't his strongest offensive skill, but it was certainly the strongest one that he didn't hesitate to use s close to the village.

The fireball was locked on its target's trajectory – it was a sure-hit lightning-fast attack!

That was dodged!

"....wha...?!"

The old elf was so shocked that he didn't even curse as his jaw dropped when the human-faced monster tugged on the dragon's body forcing it to do a barrel roll at the last possible second dodging it in a ridiculously spectacular way!

The fireball instantly exploded into a blooming hellflower, but all its destructiveness destroyed only the illusion of the gigantic ancient beast and not the intruder, as the red dragon controlled by the crimson monster accelerated its descent to a breakneck speed and was far enough for the shockwave to only boost its speed.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEH*

The third illusion was activated right after that and tens of thousands of illusionary disgusting scab-like bugs reeking of death rose up from the ground and shoot up at the intruder.

"... how about this...!"

Using the illusion as a cover Olive switched the element of magic that he was using and launched several volleys of ice-spears.

Ice was one of his weakest elements together with the holy element but the old elf decided to bank on the number and the near invisibility of the crystal-like projectiles...

But in response to that, the human-faced hair monster's face twisted with a mocking smirk a thick strand of the crimson hair unraveled itself from the dragon's body and flashed  with a white light...!

*SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING* *SHING*

The next moment, a dragon wing-shaped blade appeared on the end of the crimson hair and began swinging at the ice spears, shattering all of them in rapid succession before even one was able to even reach its target - all while completely ignoring the illusionary bugs...

...no...

It was as if the monster didn't even saw any illusions, to begin with!

"FOR FUCKS SAKE!"

Olive cursed loudly looking around, considering his options – stay there and try to kill the ridiculous monster then and there while using only the limited strength to not pose danger to the village – or lead it away and try to finish it with large scale fire magic that was the strongest offensive type out of the old elf's arsenal.

He didn't have much time as the monster would crash land right next to him within the next few seconds, but Olive didn't need that much time to make the decision anyway.

With one hand glowing from the next skill that he would use to get the freak's attention he already activated the speed-enhancing skills that he would use to lead it as far as possible.

He was prepared, both mentally and physically, waiting for the right moment.

"Olive! OLIVE! Whatever you doing! Stop! It's me, Zombie!"

But then the dragon spread its wings, slowing down to a relaxing glide, and a voice of a child whom Olive was thinking about just now, called out to him!

"...huh..."

The old elf gasped, blinking rapidly in confusion.

"HUH?! WHAT THE FUCK?! ZOMBIE?! DID THAT THING ABDUCTED YOU?!"

Olive gasped, shouting out the first thing that came to his mind without thinking.

"What...?! No! Of course not! Do you remember my shape-shifting sword? That's her! The system considers her as an object, so your illusions don't work on her! Sorry for scaring you, but I really need your help – remember the girl I wanted to protect? She's with me right now, and both of us need shelter for a bit!"

The child explained while the strange hair monster was staring intently at the old elf with its humanoid face without actually letting go of either the dragon or the boy that supposedly was on the dragon's back covered by more crimson hair.

"That...! That fucking thing is YOUR SWORD! It didn't look anything like it a year ago!"

Olive shouted back while using every single anti-illusion skill that he had to make sure that he wasn't just being hypnotized or brain-washed by the creepy crimson thing instead – but no matter what, it seemed like nothing like that was being used...

It really seemed to be Zombie under there.

"Long story!"

The boy shouted back.

"And what is it about the fucking dragon?!"

Olive couldn't stop himself and asked next, waving his hand at the winged red monster, even though Zombie should not be able to see him.

"Also a long story!"

The boy responded simply.

"Will you help me? I will explain everything once we get to the village!"

Zombie added hurriedly, correctly guessing that Olive was about to scoff at him for answering in such a way.

"Kid! We don't see each other for a year and then you suddenly arrive with some creepy monster-thing riding a dragon! You better have a really good explanation – because if this really is a trick I will leave you at Mirabelle's mercy!"

The old elf surprised even himself with that lighthearted response – Mirabelle's mercy? That just means that he is okay with the boy and his companions hiding away in the elven village!

"Thank you! I knew I could count on you~!"

The boy called out happily.

"Oh... right... You better prepare for one more rather shocking revelation, okay...?"

But then, before anything else happened, he called again sounding a little bit worried.

"...the fuck do you mean...?"

Olive retracted with suspicion, glaring back at the supposed sword glaring at him.

"You see... my complexion might have worsened... a bit..."

The boy started sounding very awkward all of a sudden.

"Your complexion...? Like what...? You got paler...? Don't worry, a couple of healthy meals with surely solve it."

The old elf scoffed and shook his head, waving his hand dismissively.

"No... Oh, Kopia, it's okay, you can change back now."

The boy denied with hesitation and then spoke to the hair monster.

"Alright!"

The creature, or rather the object, smiled and with a flash of white light changed from a creepy-looking monster wrapped around a dragon straight into a simple one-handed shortsword balanced perfectly on top of the dragon's head.

...That also meant that the dragon's passengers were revealed to...

"...not paler... Blue..."

The little blue undead hugging a little red-haired girl with one hand, smiled timidly while awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.

"...Zombie..."

Olive froze in place, staring at the blue boy in utter disbelieve.

"...WHAT THE FU-!?"