"Ahhh! W-what happened to my legs?!"
As soon as Eldritz finished teleporting, he looked at his legs and was shocked to find four arrows sticking out of them.
He had fallen backwards immediately after he arrived, since the pain was too much for him to handle.
When he looked across the room, he was delighted at first to see Fae standing a few meters in front of him. However, his expression soon turned to dread when he noticed that she was the only one holding a bow.
"My beautiful wife Fae… were you the one that shot me?"
"Tch. Don't you dare call me that when we're not even that close. You even stole the Return Stone from my brother!"
Although Fae was pissed off at the moment, she was still able to focus on shooting the zombies in front of her. Dan and the other girl's didn't have a good impression of him either, but they didn't pay too much attention to him as they had other priorities at the moment.
As the number of zombies in the room was slowly dwindling, Dan wasn't as stressed as before, and he now had more leeway to protect the girls. Even though there were still a few zombies lunging towards the girls, Dan was able to better control his weapons to kill the zombies.
Similarly, Fae had more time to analyze which zombies to shoot to assist Dan. When she noticed two zombies running towards Eldritz, she hesitated for a brief moment before shooting one of them in the head.
When she took aim on the second one, the thought of Eldritz taking the Return Stone from her brother flashed in her mind, causing her to lower her bow. Normally, she would do everything she can to help the people of her race, but hatred welled up within her at this moment when she remembered the look on his face as he snuck up on Felix.
Eldritz was too busy removing the arrows out of his legs to notice what was going on. Even though it would cause his legs to bleed out by removing them, he had a potion ready to heal his wounds after he finishes.
"Grr.."
By the time the third arrow was removed, he heard a low growling sound, as well as something running in his direction.
When he looked up, the zombie was already a few meters away from him.
"Uwahhh!!! Fae, save me!"
Eldritz didn't even have time to take out his bow, so he opted to raise the arrows he took out earlier. Grasping all three of them in his right hand, he prepared himself to fight.
Right when the distance between them closed to 1 meter, the zombie jumped at him with its mouth wide open.
Eldritz raised his left arm to defend himself as the zombie bit down on it.
"Ahh!!!!"
Although Eldritz prepared himself to feel some pain, he was shocked to see the zombie feasting itself on his arm. Previously, he didn't pay much attention to the zombies that infiltrated inside the village, as he didn't bother joining the defensive lines.
Even when the other elves from Fae's team mentioned it before, he called them out for bullshitting to cover up Fae's mistake in letting half her team die.
Although he was surprised to see his left arm getting eaten, he was clear headed enough to muster some strength into his right arm before smashing it onto the zombie's head.
The three arrows in his hand lodged far enough into its head to kill it instantly. In a way, Eldritz could be considered lucky since this zombie didn't have a helmet, otherwise he would've had to witness himself being eaten to death.
"Ha… huff…"
When Fae and the others saw what happened to him, they already knew his fate. Strangely enough, this was the first time the girls didn't feel any sadness for someone that got bit by a zombie. Throughout the last few days, whenever someone got infected, a sense of pity or sadness would well up inside of them.
Luna was an exception to this, as her life was already near rock bottom. She hated Eldritz since he was the reason why Kio separated from her.
"Ha… Fae, did you see that? I knew humans can't be trusted, they even tried to eat my arm like some crazy animal!"
"..."
"However, you don't need to worry because as long as I'm by your side, I'll be able to protect you."
Fae ignored his idiotic delusions as she had more important things to worry about. Although there were less than 10 zombies left in the room, she didn't want to make any mistakes because the slightest injury would be fatal.
After another minute or two, Dan and Fae managed to clear the room of zombies. They then walked towards the other girls to take a break together.
Although there was a closed door at one end of the room, they didn't want to venture ahead while some of them were exhausted.
Eldritz walked closer to them, as he already healed his legs with a potion. However, before he could even move a few meters, a few swords and axes floated in front of him, as their tips were pointed at his head.
"I won't be polite if you move any closer."
Dan spoke with a threatening tone. He took action before Fae could even draw her bow since he knew Eldritz would've ignored her threat.
Based on his observation, Fae had a good reputation, as it was unthinkable for her to directly kill one of her fellow elves.
"My wif- I mean, Fae! Why don't you open your eyes and see for yourself what kind of people these humans actually are! They're all savage, bloodthirsty monsters that would do anything to fulfill their desires! I'm willing to bet that they will turn you into a slave soon enough!"
"Shut up! I would rather be with them than to stay with the person that might cause my little brother's death!"
"Fae, listen to me. Your brother is still safe, as I called your father back into the house before leaving."
"...Really?"
Eldritz mustered his willpower to hold back a grin that was about to form as Fae seemed to believe him. He knew his next words could possibly bring her over to his side.
"Yes! I know what I did to your brother was despicable, but I had to do it as the future Elder of the elves. If I was gone, who would be able to lead the rest of our people?"
"..."
"Before I left, I even gave Felix a gift to-"
"Hey. Shut the fuck up if you don't want to die. None of us wants to hear your bullshit. Now get away from us and sit in your little corner alone, unless you want me to end your life right now."
Dan couldn't bear to listen anymore, as he didn't want Fae to get swayed by him. Eldritz was already a dead man, so he didn't want Fae to suddenly have a change of heart and tell him about it.
After Eldritz moved a few meters away from them, Kaori took out some snacks from her inventory, which Kio had given to her previously. As she distributed them amongst her group, Eldritz had been keeping his eye on them the whole time, or more specifically, at Fae.
As he saw her munching on a snack, his throat felt a bit parched and his stomach started to rumble. He also wanted to eat some food, since his last meal was a few hours ago. However, his eyes subconsciously shifted onto her skin instead of the food that she was eating, as saliva started to leak from his mouth.
After 10 minutes, he couldn't hold back his hunger any longer, as the pain in his stomach became unbearable. He then stood up and slowly started making his way towards them. Dan's previous warning had already disappeared from his mind, as all he could think about was filling his stomach.
He didn't even notice that his body started to change as the veins became a lot more visible through his skin. The bandages around his wound already turned slightly black, which was different from the initial bloody color when he first wrapped his legs.
"Ur…. So hungry…"
Dan already noticed him the moment Eldritz stood up, and he was trying to observe the infection for as long as possible. Although he did believe in Kio's words on that night where he was told everything about the zombies, Dan wanted to see it for himself.
Fae and the other girls already noticed Eldritz after he started mumbling something incoherently. They were a bit creeped out by his weird way of walking, but they knew everything was fine since Dan was already looking at him.
After a few steps, Eldun suddenly stopped as he kept mumbling something under his breath.
"...gry… hungry…. food..."
All of a sudden, Eldritz dashed towards Fae's location as he couldn't resist it anymore. The only thing that filled his mind was how tender her flesh appeared.
Dan couldn't wait any longer as there was no time left. Ending his observation, he took out a sword and launched it towards Eldritz's head, putting him out of his misery. Dan didn't want to bind him from the start since he wanted to see the natural transformation process.
"Kyahhh!"
Kaori and Mary screamed a little, but it didn't last long as they were already accustomed to the sight of people dying. The main reason why they shrieked was because it happened at such a close distance from them.
Half an hour after killing Eldritz, Dan decided it was time to end their break as he stood up.
"Girls, let's go. It's time to see what's behind those doors."