there were two enormous reasons why that wouldn't have worked
A thing to keep in mind is that localization teams may or may not have access to the creators and supplementary information, and some of the choices to emphasize a different aspect of the creature or translate less literally may be a result of behind the scenes conversation.
EDIT: Also author seems to be not quite familiar with standard Japanese fantasy terms. "Dragon zombie" might sound striking when you first hear it, but to a Japanese player, that's just what undead dragon enemies are called, most of the time.