My Harem of Dangerous and Crazy Women as a Reincarnated Necromancer-Chapter 82: Ticking Time Bomb

"...That should be me, not her," Alice said through clenched fists as she watched Rose walk cheerfully alongside Mark.

Alice couldn’t take it anymore, she had been walking behind Mark and Rose since they set out, watching the vampire laugh and press herself against Mark’s arm as if he were her personal property.

Every laugh from Rose and every centimeter she moved closer to her lord, Alice felt something inside her chest tighten a little more.

’I have to go over there.’

Alice didn’t know exactly what she was going to say when she got there, she had no plan, no excuse prepared.

But her legs were already moving before her brain could stop them, and when she reached Mark she extended her hand and grabbed his shoulder.

"Alice?"

"Master, something is—"

"Master."

Yuki’s voice resonated directly inside everyone’s heads, making Alice go quiet all at once.

"There’s a semi-human camp about two hundred meters to the northeast," Yuki’s voice continued in her usual calm tone, as if she were reporting the weather. "The others and I will take care of clearing it, but some of them will likely try to escape in your direction."

A brief pause, then Yuki spoke again.

"Alice," Yuki said. "Kill anyone who tries to escape."

And with that Yuki’s warning ended, leaving the three of them in silence.

Mark looked at Alice, who still had her hand on his shoulder and her mouth slightly open with the words she hadn’t been able to finish saying.

"Alice," Mark said with a tone of surprise and admiration. "Your instincts are pretty incredible."

"Huh?"

"You sensed enemies approaching before Yuki even warned us," Mark said, nodding. "That’s why you came running over here, right? You felt something was off."

Hearing her lord’s words, Alice went still.

He thought her combat instincts had alerted her to the danger, that was why she had hurried over.

Not because she couldn’t stand watching Rose pressed against his arm.

But because she was an experienced warrior with sharp instincts.

"Y-yes," Alice said with a trace of nerves. "I sensed something approaching and wanted to... make sure you were safe, my lord."

Her voice came out a little higher than normal, but Mark didn’t seem to notice.

Rose, however, was a different story.

Alice made the mistake of glancing at her, only to find Rose already looking back at her with that expression that said "I know exactly what you were doing."

’Damn vampire...’

Alice looked away from Rose and stepped forward with a sudden determination.

"I’ll go ahead," Alice said in a firm tone, trying to sound serious. "To eliminate the semi-humans coming in this direction."

"I trust you will," Mark said.

"Don’t go too hard on the poor semi-humans," Rose added.

Rose’s voice carried such a clear and deliberate mocking tone that it was impossible not to notice.

And the light laugh that followed, that soft, restrained laugh Rose let out while covering her mouth with one hand, was the cherry on top.

"..."

Alice didn’t respond. She simply clenched her fists and began walking forward, heading into the forest in the direction the semi-humans would come from.

Fortunately she didn’t have to wait long, because the first one appeared between the trees, a humanoid ant.

Seeing it, Alice closed the distance in an instant.

Her fist hit the ant’s torso with an absurdly disproportionate force, shattering the exoskeleton and sending the body flying into a tree.

"Who does she think she is?" Alice muttered as she spun toward the second ant appearing on the right.

She threw a downward strike and the ant was driven into the ground.

The third and fourth appeared together, running side by side.

Alice intercepted them without slowing down, throwing a punch for each.

"And where did that little laugh come from?" Alice said, snatching the fifth out of the air as it tried to leap onto her, then slamming it into the ground with enough force to shatter its exoskeleton into pieces. "Does she think I’m some kind of damn clown?"

The sixth appeared between the trees.

"Does she think I don’t notice?" Alice said, meeting it with a right hook that split it in two.

The seventh tried to flank her.

"And she still dares to look at me," Alice said, crushing it against a trunk that cracked on impact. "Like she wants to make sure I’m watching."

The eighth and ninth appeared together.

"Well of course I’m watching!" Alice said, smashing them into each other without breaking stride.

The tenth never even saw her before a fist went clean through its skull from one side to the other.

And finally Alice stood in the middle of the forest completely alone, breathing in a controlled manner, surrounded by semi-human bodies covering the ground in every direction.

"...Maybe I went a little overboard."

She slowly lowered her fists and turned around to walk toward the semi-human camp.

Meanwhile Mark and Rose walked in silence for a couple of minutes after Alice headed off.

There were no screams or sounds of prolonged fighting, just brief, dry impacts coming one after another, almost like someone driving stakes into the ground.

And then silence.

When Mark and Rose finally reached the area where Alice had been, Mark stopped at the sight of the destroyed bodies scattered along the path.

Mark counted the bodies, or at least tried to.

Some were in so many pieces it was difficult to tell where one ended and another began.

"Alice really is efficient..." Mark said, looking at the scene with an expression of admiration mixed with a hint of unease.

Rose, standing beside him, let out a small laugh under her breath at the sight of the scene the nun had left behind.

"What’s so funny?" Mark asked, turning to look at her.

"Nothing," she replied. "We should hurry and check if Yuki and the others have already cleared the camp."

Mark looked at her without understanding what Rose found so amusing, but decided to let it go.

"You’re right," Mark said. "Let’s go."

And both continued walking, passing through what remained of what had once been semi-humans, in the direction of the camp that Yuki and the others should have already cleared.