Back to New Herbal (part 7)

"...Vernlily..."

Zorey returned to the present and whispered tearfully, reaching out his hands towards the defaced Bound Guardian knight.

"..."

Vernlily didn't make a sound this time and instead backed off, looking away...

*CHOP* *THUMP* *RIIIP*

"Ghaaa...gh..."

...only that instead of doing that because of feeling ashamed or not wanting to receive pity, the black-haired undead downed a zombie that had its incapacitated timer run out.

"Vern...! Ghh...!"

Zorey gasped and tried to close the distance between himself and the girl, but the arrow going through his foot reminded him of its presence.

"...get off...!"

Zorey gritted his teeth so hard his gums started bleeding as he glared at the feathers of the arrow sticking out of his shoe.

"OFF!"

*crack*

The black-haired boy howled in borderline fury, and while blood vessels in his eyes kept breaking he swiped his fist at the arrow, snapping it in two pieces and...

*slurp* *thump*

Forcefully pulling his foot off the ground before stomping down heavily.

[Movement impediment... removed...]

"Mend." *CRUNCH*

"...kaaah...?! (Z-Zorey...?!)"

Even the system notification that popped up in Zorey's vision seemed to be taken aback by what happened, but not as much as the undead girl was at the black-haired boy's behavior.

Zorey rushed at the undead girl, who reached out the hand with the remains of the shield to stop his approach, but the boy ducked under it and grabbed her waist with one hand as he stood up.

Before she could let out another hiss, the black-haired boy reached out his other hand and gently touched her destroyed face.

"Mend."

[Target already has full HP]

Zorey said decisively, using a Skill that... didn't activate properly...

"Mend. Mend. Mend. Mend! MEND!"

[Target already has full HP]

[Target already has full HP]

[Target already has full HP]

[Target already has full HP]

[Target already has full HP]

The boy's body trembled from absolute rage, and he tried using the Skill again and again even though the effect would not change.

"...khaaah... (Zorey, it's okay...)"

Vernlily hissed apologetically. She didn't try to push the boy away or step back herself and instead moved her own hand and returned the gesture of gently touching Zorey's face.

"...no... no, it's not okay... What did they do to you...? Why did that happen to you...! You didn't deserve any of it... not you...!"

Zorey flinched, and his body trembled – but not from rage this time – and the boy sobbed as tears stained his face once again.

"Mend...!"

[Target already has full HP]

The boy desperately attempted to use his healing Skill to no avail...

"I SAID MEND, YOU PIECE OF SHIT SYSTEM! WHAT ARE YOU EVEN GOOD FOR!?"

[Target already has full HP]

The anger overtook him, and she roared, subconsciously looking away from Vernlily so she wouldn't misunderstand it as him shouting at her.

"HEAL HER, YOU USELESS PIECE OF JUNK!"

[WARNING!]

[Malware detected within one of the files – attempting to delete the corrupted files...]

Zorey's anger only increased, and he completely stopped paying attention to any notifications that began showing up in his vision.

"...k-khaaah...! (Z-Zorey, please, calm down...!)"

Even as an undead, Vernlily hissed anxiously and attempted to hug the boy to ease his anger even a little bit...

[The current version of the software isn't fully compatible with the hardware. The player's hardware lacks the necessary connections and backdoors. Unable to remotely stop the Malware.]

[Player's MP is being corrupted]

[Skill – Lesser mana spring (passive) (level 4) – is being corrupted]

[Skill – Patience (passive) (level 2) – is being corrupted]

While Vernlily was doing her best to embrace Zorey, notifications in the boy's vision kept getting more and more worrisome.

"...kha... Khaah. (Zor... Enemies.)"

"...!"

Vernlily's actions had a good chance of succeeding, but all of a sudden, she flinched and hissed, and her emotionless words appeared within Zorey's mind, causing him to freeze up.

"...khaaaaa... (Protect the village.)"

The undead girl hissed and let go of the boy, turning around to face the monster that was raised again.

"..."

The bound guardian knight shielded the last living villager and stepped forward with her broken sword at her side, ready to strike.

As she moved forward, Zorey managed to catch a glimpse of the creature she was facing, and its Status Window popped up for him.

[Race: Undead (Conjoined undead)

Rank: E

Level: 14

HP: 130 MP: 20

ATK: 80 MAT: 11

DEF: 11 MDF: 9

SPD: 8 LUC: 2

Skills: (Low-level Appraisal skill necessary for viewing)]

It was a truly repugnant sight – the dead were composed of discarded body parts of other undead – most of which seemed to have been stripped of flesh. The most common body part in the figure seemed to be heads, and it wasn't hard to guess the reason...

Vernlily did say that she ate many villagers, including her own parents as well as Zorey's – the heads were easily the most troublesome parts to devour, so hence, their number was greater than the number of limbs the amalgamation had.

This enemy was simply... Vernlily's leftovers.

It had insane ATK for its rank, but it suffered in every other aspect.

"...!"

"...khaaah... (Zorey, stay back.) Khaaah. (I will take care of this.)"

The black-haired boy made eye contact with one of the heads and trembled, but Vernlily hurriedly shifted her position and hissed in assurance.

The head that Zorey stared at belonged to the undead that was formerly his mother.

"Ghuaaaaagh...!" x11

"Khaaah...! (Don't you even dare...!)"

All the heads of the Conjoined Zombie opened their mouths and growled, causing Venrlily to hiss aggressively as she approached her opponent, making sure that it would not be able to lay its eyes on the black-haired boy.

But...

*whoosh*

"Khaaah...?! (What are you doing...?!)"

Zorey had other plans as he rushed past Vernlily and charged straight at the undead amalgamation, causing the undead girl to hiss at him in panic.

"Khaaah! (Those aren't your parents anymore!) Khaaah...! (None of them are their former...!)"

"PNEUMATIC PUNCH!"

Vernlily hissed in desperation, thinking that Zorey's actions were meant to stop her from fighting the corrupted remains of the villagers – but the boy's roar interrupted her.

*WHOOOOOOOOSH* *UMPF* *WHAAAM* *SQUELCH*

The young priest of death's fist accelerated and unleashed a shockwave that dispersed the steam that raised from his forearm before riping the undead apart and sending all of its body parts flying just to rain down on the village like some gruesome rain.

"You ungrateful trash...!" *WHAM* *SQUELCH*

"...!"

Zorey spat through his teeth while walking towards the discarded heads and stomping on each and every one of them while Vernlily could only stare at him with the burgundy fire burning with confusion in her eye sockets.

[MP has been corrupted into EP (Energy Points)]

"You worthless scum...!" *WHAM* *CRUNCH*

The black-haired boy growled, breaking apart the head of one of the hunters with the sole of his shoe as a new notification popped up in the upper left corner of his vision.

"Filth that's unable to appreciate other's effort!" *WHAM* *SQUELCH*

[Skill – Lesser mana spring (passive) (level 4) – has been corrupted into Skill – Drain touch (passive) (level 4)]

He gritted his teeth, separating the jaw of the former blacksmith from the rest of its head with his heel.

"You don't deserve to be returned to the System...!"

"KHAAAH! (ZOREY, STOP!)"

Zorey approached the head of the monster that was his mother and raised his foot to bring it down on it, but Vernlily rushed at him and grabbed him from behind, hissing in panic.

The conjoined undead became incapacitated, and therefore, the undead girl regained the freedom of movement.

"KHAAAH! Khaaah...! (DON'T! I am no longer angry! I had my revenge already, so please...! It's okay...!)"

"..."

Vernlily hissed, but her voice translated into an apologetic cry, which made Zorey's expression turn blank.

[Skill – Patience (passive) (level 2) – corrupted into...]

[Warning!]

[Disabling the Malware from completing the installation]

[Disabling attempt – failed]

[Issuing a self-destruct order]

[Self-destruct order – failed – player's hardware isn't equipped with a self-destruct function]

[Attemtping remote shut-down]

[Remote shut-down attempt – failed – Player's hardware lacks the necessary backdoor]

[Attempting remote system reset]

[Remote system reset – Failed – Player doesn't have MP necessary for resetting and rebooting the system]

[Malware installation complete]

[Skill – Patience (passive) (level 2) – corrupted into Skill – Wrath (level 1)]

The wall of notifications almost blocked the entirety of the left side of Zorey's vision, but the boy wasn't even fully aware of them.

The only thing on his mind at the moment was rage at the remains at his feet.

His mother?

That ungrateful being?

"Ungratefulness for ungratefulness."

Zorey muttered coldly, taking a deep breath and concentrating on replicating the movement of a pneumatic punch but with his leg as it wasn't restrained by Vernlily like his arms were.

"...khaaah...? (Wh-what are you talking about...?)"

*WHOOOOOOOOSH* *UMPF*

Vernlily hissed, trying to pull Zorey away from the severed head, but the boy was faster, and his calf and thigh swelled up so much they broke the seams of his pants and released a cloud of steam before accelerating to the point of releasing a shockwave...

*WHAAAAAAAM* *SQUELCH*

...which led to a stomp that completely obliterated the loose head and created a small crater in its place...

[Warning!]

[Anomally outside the World System database detected]

[Updating the World System database]

[…]

[Data previously existed within the World System]

[Data recovery completed]

[Proficiency level reached. All conditions met. Skills – Unarmed combat (passive) (level 8) and Pneumatic punch (active) (level 1) – integrated into Skills – Biomechanical Enhancement (passive) (level 5) and Overdrive (active) (level 1)]

"...Prayer..."

*Haaa*

"Appease undead."

*Haaa~*

[You have successfully appeased the undead (Conjoined Zombie)]

[EXP points granted]

As more and more notifications would scroll through his vision, Zorey hesitantly used one Skill, and when he saw the fragments of the undead he destroyed light up, he used another one with more confidence.

*crack*

Just as he saw it happen many times before, the earthly remains of the targetted undead began to crumble and released an ethereal whitish specter.

The whole fifteen figures...

It turned out that despite having eleven heads, the Conjoined undead was composed of more courses than that.

"If you have any decency left, don't even try to open your mouth."

Zorey scoffed, glaring at each and every one of the specters of which not a single one – including his mother – dared to look his way, staring down as if gravely ashamed of themselves.

*whoosh*

After a few seconds of heavy silence, the white figures broke down into hundreds and thousands of 0s and 1s that floated into the sky and disappeared without a trace as all the fragments of the undead crumbled into ash.

"...!"

Not being able to see the spectacle, Vernlily put up her shield arm defensively while staring at the dust being blown by the passing breeze.

"Everything will be okay. I promise. Prayer."

Zorey looked at her and smiled, walking back to her and gently grabbing her hand before turning to the side and casting the Skill on one of the dozens of incapacitated undead lying around.