Cranberry was floating in the endless darkness, suspended between the state of consciousness and unconsciousness.

She couldn't open her eyes nor make any sort of movement but was aware of what was going on around her in general.

She heard the sounds of a massacre.

Of flesh being ripped into pieces.

Of bones getting grounded into dust.

Of streams of blood pouring onto the forest soil

She could feel the ground tremble with each devastating kick.

She could hear the screams and cries.

Of terror.

Of pain.

Of despair.

And countless voices begging for mercy and for help that would never come.

/Proficiency level reached

/Servant receives a title

Terror of the elves

/Master receives a title

Terror of the elves

But soon, all the voices went quiet and the only sounds were those of someone dragging something back and forth.

/Quest progression

*investigate the hidden elven village (completed)

(50% completion - MP regeneration skill)

5th tier reward granted

/Master receives a skill

MP regeneration (level 1)

/Servant receives a skill

MP regeneration (level 1)

Even in her state, Cranberry could still see the system messages that popped up.

Then, in the outside world, the sound of footsteps grew closer and Cranberry felt that someone is lifting her up and putting her on something pleasantly cold.

She recognized that feeling instantly.

She was sitting in Zombie's lap.

Soon she felt his numb right arm embracing her stomach, then his left hand began patting her head, and she knew that everything will be alright.

"... (Cranberry, you sleepy head, it's time wake up~) ... (I've already cleaned up the entire village~)"

Zombie didn't make any sound, and yet Cranberry clearly heard him humming into her ear.

But if waking up was that easy, Cranberry would do that a long time ago.

"... (Now that I think about it, this red gas looks similar to mana that usually heals me...)

Zombie seemed to have figured something out.

"... (...alright, let's try it...)"

?

Intrigued Cranberry - still completely immobile - waited for her servant's next action.

She felt Zombie removing his hand from her head, and grabbing her chin instead.

Then, he guided her head towards himself.

For a moment nothing happened.

Then something tickled her nose.

It was a warm funny feeling as if her skin got licked by a strand of smoke.

...smoke...?

If she had any control over her body, she would tens up from the realization and her heartbeat would accelerate several times over.

Then, slowly, gently... she felt the smoke touching her lips and sneaking inside her mouth, coiling around her tongue, teasing her gums and palate...

...!

...an electric-shock-like sensation spread through her body as the smoke pushed its way even deeper inside as if it wanted to possess her whole body.

/Servant unlocked servant exclusive skill

Damage absorption (level 1)

The sensation changed, it began to feel as if the smoke was sipping straight into her body, bypassing any boundaries of the flesh, reaching right to the very core of her being.

For a moment the red-haired girl lost track of what was her own body and what was the smoke.

Then, all of a sudden, an unidentified forced sucked all the foreign matter right out of her in an instant.

"?!?!?!???"

Cranberry opened her eyes, gasping for air like a shipwreck survivor who managed to get above the water surface.

The first thing she saw was the red gas shaped like a head staring at her with its featureless face.

"I...! You...! What did just...?!"

She gasped, disoriented, blinking repeatedly in confusion.

Zombie removed his hand from her chin and the girl instantly touched her lips.

"You just...! We definitely just...!"

Cranberry had a hard time focusing her thoughts enough to form a single consistent sentence.

Zombie tilted his fleshless face in confusion and pointed at his old head laying in the mud, half-buried into the bloody soil.

"Wha...? Ah! Right, right... system, regenerate my Zombie."

Even though she was still unable to fully grasp the situation, she at least didn't repeat the mistake she did many years ago and watched how she phrased the command.

/Permission received

/Regeneration in progress...

The message popped up and in an instant, the blue head with the expressionless face exploded into the dark-red cloud and shoot towards Zombie's body and mixed with the red gas of his temporary head.

When that happened, the blue undead's body trembled.

A spine shot out from the blue flesh like a stalk and a skull grew on top of it like a brand new bud while the missing chunks of organs popped up like mushrooms after the rain.

Then the naked bones grew the nervous system, veins, muscles, and tendons.

Lastly came the eyes, teeth, skin, and finally hair.

/Regeneration complete

The rather gruesome spectacle was more than enough to clear Cranberry's mind and push out the previous topic right out of her brain.

Zombie tilted his regenerated head and smiled at his master with his fresh new face.

"This feels way nicer than that other form, whatever it was."

Zombie giggled, poking his cheek with his index finger.

"...haa... rotten brain..."

Cranberry shook her head and breathed out with relief.

She raised her hand and also started examining his face.

"How does it feel? Nothing seems off? No unexpected side-effects?"

She asked, turning around and carefully inspecting him from up close.

"Everything feels the same as before. Does it look any different?"

The blue undead asked innocently turning his head to check the mobility.

"Haa... No, it looks as good as always."

Cranberry breathed out to calm herself and sat back in Zombie's lap.

Suddenly she jolted and sprung up.

"Your right hand! Did your right hand got reattached?"

She asked with sparkling eyes.

Zombie flinched and checked his limb.

But sadly, it was hanging down on the loosened stitches just as it was before he got hit with the holy magic.

"Haa... sorry..."

Cranberry looked down and apologized with a bitter expression.

"...?"

Zombie tilted his head and frowned in confusion.

"Master, I don't mind. I got used to it already."

He laughed it off and waved his left hand dismissively.

"I'm just glad that you didn't mess up with my head as you did with my right arm. Could you imagine that? That would be so creepy!"

Zombie laughed cheerfully, but that only made Cranberry blush.

"Don't try to tease me, you rotten brain!"

She complained and looked away pouting.

"Eh? Did I say something weird...?"

The blue undead frowned and pondered.

"...haa..."

Cranberry rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.

Then she looked around.

The two of them were sitting in a rather odd place - by the well in the corner of the village square.

The red-haired girl leaned to the side and glanced over the blue undead's shoulder at the pile of corpses stacked neatly right in the middle of the settlement.

Right by the pile-up of dead bodies was a pile of various items, nod doubt looted from the victims before they got stacked.

"You really did clean the whole village, huh?"

Cranberry nodded with an impressed smile.

"Yeah! By the way, this place is more like a medium-sized town. They even have a library. The guy protecting that place had similar strength to that elf who brought us here, so I expect that there's something important inside."

"I see. We should check it out then."