The Villainess and I, her Zombie

Chapter 447: Prolog: The griffin (1)

"HIYAAH!"

*SHING*

The blond-haired fourteen-year-old boy shouted, swinging his greatsword – the massive weapon which blade, shining with white light, alone was longer than his entire height – and as he was falling down to the ground he cut right through the wing of a large griffin.

"SKREEEEE!"

The beast cried out in pain and confusion as the attack came from above and the griffins were supposed to be the rulers of the skies and were always looking for prey down below and not for the danger coming from above.

That's why this beast had to pay for the lack of attention while it was diving towards a wounded black wolf with orange luster to its fur...

*WHAM*

The griffin slammed against the ground with so much power that it would be completely reasonable to assume that it either broke its neck or literally every other bone in its body.

"Whew...! That was incredible! Yo! Mary, did you see that?! Am I good or what?"

The boy landed surprisingly light on his feet and waved towards the shrubs in which the rest of his party was lying in wait.

"Pffft... seriously, what a cute dork... Yes, yes, my prince – you were amazing!"

A short brown-haired girl, who was the same age as the blond boy but would be mistaken for a much younger kid if not for the size of her chest, snorted and cleared her throat before getting out of the hiding spot and smiling at the boy puffing out his chest from pride.

"Arion, thank you for acting as bait."

The brown-haired girl smiled at the black wolf – who was no longer limping in circles but instead approached the pair while wagging his tail.

"Alright! There was no message, so the dumb turkey must be still alive – who wants to deal the final blo..."

"SKREEEEEEEE!"

As the blond boy was counting his chickens before they hatched, the so-called dumb turkey that was supposed to be barely alive, stood up on its hind legs and let out a deafening screech while its talons long as kitchen knives shone with pure white light mere inches away from the boy's head.

There was no time to even scream – the brown-haired girl reached out towards the blond boy to pull him away while the boy himself was trying to use his enormous sword to block the oncoming attack, all while the black wolf was jumping at the griffin from the side.

...but all of them were far too slow...

..because a mysterious black cloud had already fully formed above the one-winged monster's feathery head and before the griffin ould unleash its attack...

*BOOOM*

Blinding lighting followed by the powerful thunder struck the beast's head, blowing it apart into a bloody mess while sending bolts of electricity through the monster's body, sending it right down to the ground to convulse as the paralyzed status activated even though the monster was undisputably dead by that point.

/Mid-level monster defeated

Your party receives EXP

A message showed up for everyone, confirming the kill.

"Haa... Seriously – how long have we been through it already?"

The last member of the group showed up – a red-haired girl holding a black baseball bat in the reverse grip so that the magic crystal at its end would be pointing at the enemy.

"Roan, it's good to have confidence, but don't start boasting before you are sure that your opponent is dead."

The red-haired girl sighed and shook her head.

"WHAT...?! I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING!"

"!!!"

But the response from the blond boy took her aback by surprise as the young prince shouted while holding onto his right, bleeding, ear.

"Whoops..."

The red-haired girl gasped and covered her mouth with one hand.

"...uuugh... Cran-Cranberry... Thanks for the save..."

Similarly, the brown-haired girl was shaking her head trying to get rid of the ringing in her ears.

"...nnnnn...."

Still, the most pitiful one by far was the four-legged member of the party who had the best ears – the black wolf was straight up knocked out and was whimpering while unconscious.

"...ah... right, healing first!"

With a slight blush of embarrassment, the red-haired girl approached the rest and raised her hand that started glowing with a soft whitish light that enveloped the other three.

After a few minutes or so, they were somehow brought back to normal condition.

"Cranberry! What was that supposed to be?! You wanted to make us all go deaf?!"

The blond boy complained while wiping off the remaining blood that managed to flow down his face before the healing skill closed the wound.

"Ha?! What, are you telling me that you would prefer being beheaded by the griffin?! I told you so many times that in a real fight you can't stop every five seconds to pose and say something cool, you idiot prince!"

"I...! I... thought that it was dead..."

The blond boy, Roan, the first prince of the kingdom of Fruit Salad, straightened his back and was about to argue back – but as he met the worried look of Mary's eyes, his need to fight with the red-haired girl evaporated.

"Haa. Yeah, I know. That's the problem!"

The red-haired girl rolled her eyes and sighed.

"It's my fault too, Cranberry, I also didn't realize that the griffin was still dangerous..."

But as she was about to continue the scolding, the brown-haired girl bowed her head and hit her with the honest apology from the side.

"...!"

That made the red-haired girl close her mouth and look down.

"...fine... I should have used another skill but I also kind of panicked and used the first one I could think off... sorry."

Cranberry's shoulders slumped down and she breathed out before apologizing herself!

"Ah! N-no, You don't have to say that! If you didn't react so fast both of us could get seriously wounded!"

Mary gasped and started waving her hands while shaking her head in panic.

"Well... I guess we both need more training – it's not like we're as cool as Zombie was..."

Roan scratched his cheek awkwardly, glancing shyly at Cranberry.

"Yeah... My Zombie would just..."

Hearing his words the red-haired girl flinched and looked away while lowering her head.

"...my prince...!"

The wide-eyed Mary sucked up the air and nudged the blond boy to the side in a quiet scolding.

"Ah! I-I mean...! Hey, the griffin's nest should be nearby – they are always two or more, right? We can't leave it alive or the nearby villages will become the target of the remaining one's revenge!"

Roan hurriedly changed the subject, trying to sound as if he did not notice the Cranberry biting her lips and clenching her fists so hard that her knuckles turned white.

"...that's right..."

And as it turned out, he used the right argument.

Cranberry hurriedly wiped her eyes and stood up.

"We need to get the other one. Finding the nest is the right decision, good call."

She nodded without looking at the other two.

"What about the corpse of this one...?"

Mary, half playing along to Cranberry, glanced between her wolf and the corpse.

"..."

"..."

That made both Roan and Cranberry look at each other and sigh in unison – it looked like this time also they won't have anything to show off after their training...

"Arion will have to eat it, I guess."

"Exactly."

The blond boy shrugged his shoulders and smirked while the red-haired girl nodded as if they had a lot of practice in acting as if their decision had nothing to do with the fidgeting brown-haired girl.

"Ah! Can he?! Thank you! Arion, go on!"

The surprisingly naive girl gasped happily and motioned at her wolf with a bright smile, while the other two shrugged at each other while smiling softly.