“I don’t have a single clue,” Mathew replied while shrugging his shoulders. “I only learned a thing about arcane because I’m using it myself. As for mind…?” the young man shook his head. “As I said, I have no idea.”
Daria gritted her teeth before lowering her head. “I understand,” she said before turning around and jumping down from the wall.
“And it’s not something that we have the time to analyze right now, isn’t it?” Mathew asked before the girl had a chance to escape from the range of his voice.
“That’s true,” Daria replied as she threw a quick glance towards the gate.
It wasn’t a single, solid object like the gates one could see in medieval castles. The wall of the compound wasn’t of that kind either. In truth, if not for the force field created by the fortress, the silly fence that surrounded the area would have long been penetrated.
And the gate wasn’t any better. It was made with a set of metal spikes pointing up and then merged with four, thick metal bars that held all the spikes together. The gate itself consisted of two wings, both of which opened up to the outside of the compound.
‘That’s the one good point about this situation,’ Mathew thought before shaking his head and clapping his hand to get everyone’s attention.
“Everyone, the first wave will consist of Nadia, Leila, and…” Mathe hesitated. He looked at everyone’s faces only for his eyes to rest on the policemen.
‘Should I involve them?’ For a brief moment, Mathew hesitated.
He knew that they were already scheming something that they wished to keep outside of his ears. ‘But if I try to seclude them right now, won’t it serve as a push to make them potential enemies?’ Mathew thought, gritting his teeth in frustration.
‘Why can’t I have even a moment without a tough call?’ Mathew moaned internally before shaking his head.
“Nadia, Leila, and Daniel,” Mathew finally revealed his desired rooster. “But I need you to keep in mind,” he said while turning to the side and pointing his finger at Daniel, “you are going to stay back. On the other hand,” he then turned his head back to the girls, “I want the two of you to cut as many heads as you can without going for extra risks. Feed those heads to the back so that Daniel might level up,” Mathew finished his orders.
“That’s it?” Nadia asked, already weighing her machete in her hand.
“Almost,” Mathew smiled lightly. “The first and foremost rule, whenever there is a danger, I want you to retreat,” the young man said. “I, want, you, to, retreat,” he repeated his words putting a huge emphasis on every last one of them. “We have the grass-touching to heal you in case something happens, but I don’t want anything to happen!”
“Yes, sir!” Nadia jokingly put her hand to her forehead in a parody of a salute. “But why are we supposed to let him level up for free?” she then asked, sending a weird look toward Daniel. “I don’t mean to keep him at a low level, but I think he should earn his growth himself!” she then explained when everyone looked at her with varying expressions.
“I don’t mind being at the very front,” Daniel was pretty quick to announce. “In fact,” he smashed his fists together, “I think my system fits right in the heat of the battle.”
“But we are not going against just zombies,” Mathew cut out the protest. “We are going against an organized army of zombies,” he pointed out only to take a quick glance to the other side of the gate. “And we have our own objectives to fulfill in this fight!”
‘They likely cannot break through the barrier, yet,’ Mathew thought, desperately trying to see through the plans of the enemy before their assault would begin.
“Shall we start, then?” Nadia asked, clearly eager to stop wasting time and just start the action.
“One by one,” Mathew said, seemingly ignoring Nadia’s question. “You are the strongest one in the group. That’s why I’m leaving you the heaviest burden. It’s your hands that I expect to throw the most heads to the back,” Mathew said as he looked at Nadia.
“Roger!” the girl happily replied before repeating her parodied salute.
“Leila, you are going to support Nadia. Make sure your backs are secure and you are not taking too many zombies on at once,” Mathew instructed the girl.
Contrary to Nadia, Leila only nodded her head before putting a wide grin on her face and resting her machete on her shoulder.
“Daniel, you are to stay back and finish the heads of the zombies that the girls will throw your way. If you hear me shouting and pointing away from the campus, you will join the fight to help the girls retreat,” Mathew gave another order while facing the policeman.
“Understood,” Daniel replied in a relaxed manner. There wasn’t any hint of hesitation or suspicion on his face.
‘Is he that good of an actor or is he going to cooperate during this fight?’ Mathew thought. The fact that he was aware of Daniel’s scheming something made it insanely challenging for the young man to trust the policeman with anything.
Especially in a situation like this one, where even the smallest mistake could easily lead to a disaster.
‘Worst case scenario I will have to grab the girls and just run to a different place,’ Mathew thought before shaking his head and moving his eyes on Daria.
“Weren’t I supposed to stay back?” the girl asked before Mathew could even open his mouth.
“No, you have two tasks,” Mathew replied while shaking his head sideways. “First, you will be collecting the cores from the heads that Daniel will destroy,” Mathew revealed before a small smile appeared on his lips. “Once you can’t carry any more cores, I want you to go back, dump them inside and repeat.”
“Understood!” Daria reported, copying Daniel’s response while mimicking Nadia’s salute.
“Okay then, I believe we wasted enough time,” Mathew said before grabbing his ax from where he left it by the wall and approaching the gate.
Its locking mechanism was extremely simple. From the inside, as long as one kept the main slab lowered, it would block the wings of the gate from moving at all. Yet, as this was a place normally filled with mischievous kids and young adults, there was an additional lock that kept the slab in place.
‘Destroying the slab would be both hard and counterproductive,’ Mathew thought before raising his ax and then taking an aim.
Ting!
A metallic sound filled everyone’s ears when Mathew cleaved right through the thin metal of the lock.
“Daniel, I might need some help with this slab,” Mathew called out, only for the policeman to approach without a word of disapproval. “On three!”
“One… Two…” Mathew tensed and relaxed his muscles in quick succession, warming them up for the heavy exercise ahead.
“Three!”
Three things happened at the same time.
Mathew and Daniel lifted up the metal slab from its handle in the middle of the gate.
Deprived of its lock, the wings of the gate parted a little, pushed by the random gust of wind.
The zombies in the first row rushed forward.
“So it begins,” Mathew thought, glancing through the gap between the wings of the gate. He then shook his head before letting the slab fall down to the ground. “Go!”
Mathew’s short shout was all that the expedition part of the team needed.
Nadia rushed first, just like she was ordered to. She reached the gate thrice as fast as Mathew, only for her real speed to reveal itself as soon as she moved past the narrow gap of the gate.
The zombies only managed to cross half of the initial distance separating them from the gate when Nadia crashed right into the central rank.
“DIE!” Leila shouted, hurrying up to catch up with Mathew’s first wife. Yet, while her shouts were pretty wild, she didn’t make a single unnecessary movement.
‘Good,’ Mathew thought as he turned away from the gate before sending a quick look at Daniel. “Now it’s your turn.”
“Okay,” the middle-aged man nodded his head before starting to tap his leg on the ground. At first, it was simply weird, but as time went on and the sounds of the battle nearby reached Mathew’s ears, his annoyance shoot through the roof.
“Are you…”
Just as Mathew opened his mouth to scold the man, Daniel suddenly rushed forward.
‘Is he dancing?’ Mathew thought, watching the man’s movements as he instantly started crushing the heads that the girls threw his way.
“Daria!” Mathew shouted once disciplining himself.
The moment Daniel crushed the first zombie’s head, Daria could start her work.
‘So far, so good,’ Mathew thought before moving away from the gate and climbing the wall back to where Norbert remained.
“Is everything okay?” the younger of the two policemen asked, alternating his eyes between the situation below the wall and Mathew’s face.
“Everything is fine for now,” Mathew replied only to squint his eyes as he looked at the movements of the zombie’s army. “But the real challenge starts now,” he added before tearing his eyes away from the battlefield and moving them on Norbert’s face. “And you are going to play the most important role in it.”
“Pardon me?”
Norbert’s face was full of confusion. There was even a hint of worry in his eyes as he looked down on Mathew’s face.
“You used your system-given ability the most out of everyone in this group,” Mathew pointed out only to stretch his arms towards the battle and give Norbert a cold look. “Now, I need you to figure out which zombies are the evolved ones out there!”
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