บท 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."