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4.39% Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse / Chapter 18: Hindrance

Chapter 18: Hindrance

'I can see the end of it...' Mathew thought, only to anxiously look towards the staircase, already swarming with zombies.

And a majority of the undead already moved on, naturally swayed to look for other paths.

'It's only a matter of time before...'

Boom!

The dull sound of the explosion shook the building.

"Tsk," Mathew clicked his tongue. 'They got the stairs already.'

In itself, it was just a part of the process. A planned element of Mathew's strategy.

But it also meant that they were all on the clock right now. Because only the main staircase was nice and wide. The two side-stairs were pretty narrow, only serving a supporting role.

In other words, even after demolishing the stairs, it was only a matter of time before they would bridge the gap.

'We are seriously running out of time,' he thought, anxiously tensing his fingers up.

Mat then shook his head and turned around.

"Everyone, get two nades and prepare!" he shouted before turning his head towards the pendulum team. "On my mark, stop the wheel!"

The horde was about to slow down and thin out. But it was only a matter of time before other points would come under attack as well, as the zombies that fell down before would find new ways to access the upper floor.

And then, it would be only a matter of time before they would tear the entire building down.

Mathew grabbed the explosives and moved towards the edge of the floor. He looked down at the flowing horde and took two deep breaths.

"On my mark!" Mat turned his head towards the pendulum group. He then slowly raised his hand up in the air.

"Pull it away after the next swing!" Mat ordered, calculating the time while observing the horde. "Pull the pins!"

For one mercilessly long moment, Mathew observed how the bloody hammer swung for one last time, shoving yet another group of zombies into the fall to the floor below.

"NOW!" Mathew shouted, throwing the live grenades down. And then, he spread his arms to the side, pulling everyone to the back.

Five seconds later, a series of explosions came from the floor below. Their combined strength easily sent some parts of the zombies flying to the floor above.

Thankfully, Mat pushed everyone back far enough and now stood with his trusty ax, ready to do some cleaning.

"You need help?" the officer approached the young man just as he was about to rush ahead and do the job. The man's hand on the holster of his gun clearly indicated his intended form of help.

"I should be okay," Mathew nodded his head with gratitude. "Just watch my back, would you?" he asked with a smile before rushing in.

'This is one of the few moments of rest that we will get now,' Mat thought, leaping forward and bringing the blade of his weapon down on a zombie's head.

He then kicked to his right, knocking the upper half of a torso, only to then swing his leg forward, crushing a severed head with his heel.

There wasn't a single zombie mobile enough for Mathew to be in any danger. One could say that it was a free farm of life cores...

As long as one could limit the corpses of his former friends and schoolmates to just this new world's currency.

'I guess there is no other choice, then,' Mathew thought when he stood up in the middle of the cleared-out part of the floor.

No matter what, the greatest weapon of the survivors was Mat's system. And now that Mat could see Nadia's level, there was only one thing he could do to strengthen their strongest force.

"I will be going down," Mathew threw before turning around and grabbing the blade he bought from the merchant.

He had his ax already, but Mat still wanted to test out how the weapons worked in this changing world.

'The system appears to be somewhat RPG-like,' Mathew thought, judging the distance, potential threats, and ways to return to the upper floor.

'Damn, those cracks on the walls...' Mat noticed the signs of wear on the structure of the building.

It wasn't strange at all, given the number of explosives the survivors threw downstairs.

'I guess I will have to watch out for those spots,' Mat made a mental note before turning his eyes towards the officer.

"I need all of your men to protect my back," Mathew announced, only to turn his eyes to the girl.

Nadia still knelt obediently, allowing the events around to just brush past her. Still, in a state of shock, she really needed someone to check on her.

'But there is no time,' Mat thought, biting down on his lips to the point they started oozing blood.

As much as he wanted to go and reassure the girl, he couldn't afford the time for that.

'There is still the problem of the monsters,' Mathew thought, gritting his teeth.

He clearly heard them before. And it only made sense for them to appear during a horde.

Yet, as far as the ongoing battle went, not a single monster made itself known.

"I would love if you could get someone to oversee the girl," Mathew added in a lowered voice, wary of others potentially hearing him. "And organize some guys to either finish off the scraps I will throw at you or catch the cores," Mathew announced now in a normal voice.

He then turned back and approached the edge.

'This is the only window of opportunity that we will get,' Mathew thought.

It was only a matter of time before the horde would threaten the other entrances to the floor. Then it was also a matter of time before monsters would appear.

And against monsters, conventional weapons would prove much less effective.

"Well then, let's go," Mathew muttered to himself. The weapons in his hands bore a certain, reassuring weight to them.

"Mat!" Right before the young man could jump into the fray in hopes of somehow leveling up or at least gathering life cores, Nadia broke free from her shock, only to rush ahead.,

It seemed that she somehow read Mathew's intention to jump down, an intention she instantly associated with danger.

And following her natural instinct to protect him, Nadia ignored the weird state of her body, jumped up, and rushed ahead.

Her face smashed into Mathew's back, only for the girl to wrap her hands around his waist and then fall down to the ground in an attempt to tackle and anchor Mat down.

"What are you doing?!" Nadia screamed out, scolding Mat in the voice of a worried parent that caught their kid in dangerous mischief.

"Nadia?" Mathew shook off his focus for a moment. "Are you okay?" he asked, instantly looking at her status.

The "In a shock" status from before was now replaced by a new one.

[Status: Worried for her love]

Initially, about to just shove the girl away and do his thing, Mat suddenly froze in a place.

It was one thing to have her accept his marriage proposal right as she witnessed the wave of the agile zombies.

'But for me to be her love,' Mat thought, instantly assaulted by his morals.

Learning about Nadia's feelings in this way felt like robbing her of something precious.

But it also made it all the harder for Mat to allow the situation to develop as it was right now!

"Dear, I will be safe," Mat said, patting Nadia's head before decisively pulling her hands apart and freeing himself from her grab. "Just wait for me, for a little, okay?" Mathew asked, smiling gently at the girl.

"I'm done with waiting," Nadia refused without even a second of hesitation. "I feel weird... But I can feel my body got stronger, somehow," she added, raising her hands and looking at her palms.

For a moment, Mathew stood in place, unsure what to do. And then the image of Nadia getting torn apart by the zombies and monsters alike appeared in his head.

"No freaking way," Mat shook his head before bitting down on his lips even harder than before. Because what would follow would hurt him as much as it would hurt the girl.

"Nadia, I'm sorry, but in your state, you would be nothing but a hindrance."


CREATORS' THOUGHTS
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Chapter 19: Disaster

Mathew's words voiced out and then disappeared, replaced by the constant and everpresent noise of the ongoing battle.

Now that the horde was properly thinned out, the pendulum returned to its usual job, pushing those few zombies remaining down the gap.

"I see..." Nadia muttered. She hung her head down. The hold of her fingers over Mathew's arm weakened.

"For now, I can only say I'm sorry," Mathew whispered, putting some weight on Nadia's shoulders to make her sit down.

'Sorry, but I have to do this,' Mathew thought as he turned around.

The young man didn't stop there. He moved forward, his weapons ready in his hands.

'Well, I don't think I can do it if I hesitate,' Mathew thought, looking over the edge at the swarming river of the zombies.

Even now, after all the explosions and the hammering, some of the zombies still managed to keep swarming the corridor.

'Then let's do it all at once,' Mathew decided.

He closed his eyes and took one long breath. And then, he rushed forward.

With just a few steps, Mathew managed to get enough momentum to make the jump. The gap between the edge of their level and the floor below wasn't big... But for a human, making the jump wasn't an easy feat either.

"Off we..." Mathew hyped himself out as he rushed towards the edge. "GO!" he shouted, knocking himself up.

Mat pulled his knees up, looping over the mass of the zombies that gathered below. And after just a single second, his feet touched the lower floor.

Tssk.

Mathew could hear the plaster crumbling away from the many cracks present in the building's structure. But so far, the floor held on.

'Let's begin,' Mathew thought, fixing the hold of his weapons.

A swing to the right.

Mathew's ax broke right through the skull of a zombie. He then swung his sword, cleanly cleaving another zombie's head out.

Bit by bit, Mathew moved through the floor.

He would finish any zombie that he could afford to, leaving them for harvesting later. Yet, most of the time, he had no other choice but to focus his full attention on warding off the ongoing attacks.

'This is pretty tough,' Mathew thought, grinding his teeth against each other.

It wasn't that each of the zombies was much of a threat. It was their sheer number that made the operation difficult.

"Just..." Mat swung his ax sideways. Yet, as he had no time to turn its blade around, he used the back of the weapon to cave the skull of yet another zombie in. His blade then cut at the arm that reached out for Mat from behind...

The blade got stuck.

Mat wrestled his hand, attempting to free the weapon.

It wouldn't be a disaster if he were to lose it, but it would definitely mark the end of the easiest phase.

Math continued to move forward, dealing with the zombies he encountered on the way.

Step forward. Step backward to dodge. Another step to the back to avoid a group of three undead. A forced lung three paces ahead to escape from the zombies reaching out for his head from the side.

BOOM!

The noise of the shoot rang in Mathew's ears, causing him to waver for a second.

What was supposed to be a support ended up as a hindrance.

'Fuck,' Mat cursed in his thoughts, shaking off the surprise. 'I forgot about that guy,' he thought, glancing over at the officer standing at the edge.

The position of his pistol clearly indicated who was guilty of the distraction.

But now that Mat recalled this part of the strategy, he moved his attention back to the only task that he had.

To advance.

The prime time for harnessing the stones has yet to come. But for it to happen, Mathew had to cull the numbers of the horde even further.

'More,' Mathew thought, swinging both of his weapons sideways.

'More,' Mat called out in his soul when two loud bangs took two zombies off his back.

"More," Mathew muttered, getting into the rhythm of the zombie killing.

"MORE!" the young man groaned when a zombie cleaved at his side, leaving a bloody bruise where its sharp, broken nails cut Mat's stomach open.

'Fuck,' the young man thought, taking a step back and a breath to calm himself down.

'I can't let myself get into the heat,' he thought, gritting his teeth. He then took another retreating step.

It was only a small injury. But it also marked the end of Mathew's forward adventure.

"Kill them all!" Mathew shouted, not even turning back. And then, a barrage of shots fell most of the zombies around. And in the few seconds that followed, the gunshots cleared out all of the zombies remaining in the corridor.

'Now!' Mat raised his eyes on the officer at the edge. But this time, he didn't even need to call for any order.

"Get them stones, now!" the officer shouted, hurrying his people up.

What followed could only be called magnificent.

The anti-terrorist squad of the police all leaped from the edge at the same time. Their orderly rows made Mat feel safe, with just the level of organization they represented.

'Wait, isn't this bad?' Mat thought, a sudden thought making his face freeze. Then, his eyes moved over to the cracks that caught his attention before.

Then, two things happened simultaneously.

First, the police squad landed on the floor. And then, the already exhausted material it was made off... just gave up.

BOOM!

The sound, many times stronger than the explosions before, shook the air within the corridor. And just like this, nearly half of the floor that made up the level broke off and crumbled down.

The rubble crushed onto the floor below, its momentum big enough to shatter the next floor as well.

For two more times, the hellish noise shook everyone that heard it, only for many tons of destroyed concrete to bury the brave police squad.

'Fuck...' Mat cursed under his nose.

It was already a blessing for the building itself to keep on standing. But it didn't lessen the shock of watching those experienced veterans go out all at once.

'Wait,' Mathew raised his eyes, refusing to accept the two things that this changed.

He raised his eyes... but he couldn't see the negotiating officer anywhere over the edge.

Just like the rest of his team, he jumped down to help gather the cores. And now rested somewhere below all the ruble that most of the floors in the building turned into.

But that was something that Mat couldn't influence any longer. Who died was dead. It was a simple truth, but one that turned out to be insanely hard to accept and adapt.

Still, that left Mathew with one problem.

Because all the routes that he intended to take to return to the floor above were now gone.

And to make it all even worse, the screeching scream of a monster suddenly filled the devastated building.


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