Chapter 492 - Durian's Mansion (part 16) - (Un)expected Twist

*CHOMP*

*crunch*

*gulp*

The jaw and throat of the blue undead shone with orange light and he finished the left side of the bisected bald man before the red-haired girl and the dark-skinned woman jumped down and approached him.

"In my defense – I asked all of them whether they want to join us or die -and as you can clearly see, none of them chose the smart option."

Zombie wiped the corner of his mouth with his thumb, looking back at the agitated Cranberry.

"Zombie...of course they are going to reject such proposition when a random undead will ask them that! Why do you always choose violence, there should be some room for negotiations...!"

The red-haired girl shook her head and stomped her foot in anger.

*CHOMP*

*crunch*

*gulp*

"And could you at least stop eating them while we are having a conversation?!"

She added in absolute disbelief when her undead familiar casually used the gluttony-based skill and began eating the rest of the corpse.

"No, not really. No."

The blue undead casually shook his head and...

*CHOMP*

*crunch*

*gulp*

Took another bite as if to mock the girl staring at his back with disapproval.

"You wanted to help out Marary, right? She's right over there together with Roan, Carambola, that griffin of hers, and I suppose the ninth one of those slaves who did not lose their minds like the rest. Just so we're clear, I don't think that he wants to help them run away."

He pointed out in the direction where the silver-haired gentleman was having a standoff with the armored Persimmon Kabuto.

---

"Mia?! You are alright? How come Durian's skill had no effect on you?"

"Luke?!"

While the master and the familiar had a talk, Luke crawled back up and approached the dark-skinned woman standing a little bit behind the red-haired girl, leaning away from behind her and sending angry glares at the blu undead – who already moved to another corpse.

"Wait... if you are here why aren't you trying to help the other elite slaves?! Aren't you one of them?!"

Mia flinched and took a step back, sounding part confused, part disapproving.

"Because Zombie told me not to interfere? And don't change the subject! Why aren't you like the other lower slaves?"

The young healer furrowed his brows and scoffed

"Eh? Why does it sound as if you are disappointed that I'm not some vacant-faced puppet?!"

The dark-skinned woman gasped and puffed out her cheeks while frowning.

"That's not what I meant! Is there another way of getting out of Durian's control than using an extremely powerful healing spell!"

Luke shook his head and scoffed, showing off his shoulder he had the slave crest on – but said crest was looking a little bit smudged – and the young man pressed his finger against it and smudged it even more revealing that it was merely a skillful drawing.

"What do you need that information for anyways – it's not like you want to leave that bastard – hah... I bet you just want to know it so that no one else can escape freely in such a way."

Mia shook her head and crossed her arms, glaring down at the shorter man with disapproval.

"..."

The healer leaned back and squinted his eyes at the dark-skinned woman.

"Oh, so that's how you think of me now? I'll have you know that even I got the healing skill level high enough to completely remove the slave crest without causing any damages to the target!"

"You experimented on other slaves?!"

He spoke, but his argument got turned around and used against him...

---

"They are in danger?! Then we must...!"

Cranberry flinched and took a step in the direction that her undead familiar pointed her and...

*hug*

"?!?!?!"

She got embraced from behind by the reassuringly cold arms – the golden shield flashed momentarily in front of her face and then...

*WHOOSH*

*CLANG*

*crack*

A purple-colored wind blade slammed against the golden shield that the blue undead put in front of the red-haired girl, craving a deep mark in the defensive equipment including the ruby mana stone in the middle.

/Skill level up

Shied mastery (level 9)

The system message popped out in front of Zombie's vision right as his left hand hung down – with most of the bones turned into dust from the power f the impact.

"Well... this might be more problematic than what I originally thought..."

Zombie muttered to himself, slightly shifting the red-haired girl to the side and raising the estoc – that turned into a bastard sword – in a defensive stance.

"You are stronger than I remember... though I guess that four years can make a huge difference if someone is focused enough."

The blue undead scoffed, smirking mockingly at the armored man that showed up surrounded in purple flames, looking more like a demon than a human.

"You must forgive me, but I do not recall ever meeting you."

Persimmon Kabuto shook his head in a full helmet and raised his sword for another strike – and the purple flames started dancing alongside the brilliant singled-edged blade.

"W-wait...! Is he the ninth one? What about Roan and Carambola?! And if he is with Durian, then where is Mary?!'

Cranberry gasped in shock, looking between the armored man and the blue undead protecting her.

"The foul kidnappers had been dealt with and the young lady had been escorted to sa..."

"He knocked everyone out and hid them all in the destroyed shed."

The armored man responded in a cold voice – or at least he tried but got interrupted by the blue undead whose eyes were glowing with a reddish light and looking past him.

"Ha?!"

"..."

Cranberry gasped in shock and looked over at the shorter undead while Persimmon didn't even flinch, but his lack of response somehow made it seem as if he was disappointed at being found out.

"Wait – what?! Sir Kabuto didn't deal with his targets?!"

"What?! Impossible!"

Both Mia and Luke turned around, stopping their own conversation, and let out shocked gasps.

"...I don't quite get it, but since you didn't kill them – I guess – thank you...?"

Cranberry flinched in Zombie's arms and spoke to the armored man.

"...my passive skill – danger detection – is telling me that the undead monster that holds you captive is the real danger here. I merely figured out that things might not be as clear as I thought at the start and merely decided that he should be dealt with before I pass judgment on all of you... Including you, young Luke – I thought that you have a resurrection skill. Not using it to help our comrades puts you in a very bad light."

Persimmon shook his head as if he tried to clear his head of the distracting thoughts and declared in a cold voice – clearly lancing at all the corpses still littering the space, while raising the blade that he lowered slightly, back up.

"That's really nice of you to say, Persimmon, but are you sure that I am the strongest monster here...?"

Zombie smirked and stepped in front of Cranberry with a cheeky smile.

"What do you...?"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

The armored man asked in a slightly confused voice – but right at the moment a pillar of red and black smoke erupted from the mansion and spread all around the estate's ground like a gigantic parasol, forming a half-transparent red and black barrier that everyone gathered there at least heard about before....