Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

"Was it really necessary?" Nadia asked as the three of them rushed down the stairs and towards the barricaded entrance to the building. "They didn't strike me as someone who knew the value of the cores," she pointed out.

"So there was no reason to bring it up to their attention, right?" Mathew replied, perfectly aware of the point that the girl made.

He thought about it himself, all the way back in the mall. And yet, when seeing the number of zombies within the horde, Mathew still decided to go against his earlier plan.

"That's right," Nadia nodded her head right as she reached out, grabbed the railing, and jumped over the last few stairs only to land on the next flight and continue her dash downwards.

"Back there, we could play dumb," Mathew replied, opting to save his strength for the fight instead of using it for elaborate moves while simply running down the stairs. "Here, if we start gathering the cores, we are bound to attract attention," he replied.

Yet, the truth behind the change in Mathew's mind was slightly different. Yet, as it was based on an extremely far-fetched guess, he dared not to speak about it.

'What are the chances two damn evolved zombies would appear in a place that doesn't have a merchant already?' he thought to himself. 'If I recall correctly, we only had to face the first few evolved zombies after summoning the first merchant!'

There was no way for Mathew to prove this guess right or wrong. He had no ability to figure out the range of where spending the cores would affect the zombies. As such, he could never know if it was his spending on the cores that influenced the zombies or if the evolved ones simply approached them from a different area.

'Still, if my guess about this bastard being here is correct…' Mathew closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 'Then there is no way he failed to figure it out.'

They reached the bottom floor of the building.

"I will take care of the one down south!" Leila volunteered.

"Sure thing," Mathew nodded his head, stopping in his steps and sliding the last few meters before reaching the barricaded doors.

He innately felt the pressure to just smash through it… but doing so would attract way too much unnecessary attention. And so, in the end, Mathew ended up dismantling the barricade they set up not that long ago while making sure to cause as little noise as he could.

"I will need two minutes to reach the place," Leila added right as Mathew pulled down the last broken piece of furniture that blocked the building's entrance.

Mathew raised his right eyebrow as he looked at the girl.

"Don't give me this kind of look," Leila rolled her eyes. "I need to get there without alerting the zombies at all, don't I?" she pointed out. "If I were to just run through the streets, fifteen seconds should be enough."

"I didn't say anything," Mathew raised his hands with his palms towards the girl while putting up an innocent smile.

"You didn't need to," Leila countered while rolling her eyes again. "Oh right," she twitched a little before turning her eyes to Nadia. "Are you okay with me taking that one?"

Nadia leaned her head over to the side, taken slightly aback by the question.

"I'm far more suited to fight in a dense crowd," she pointed out. "It would be a waste of your ability to make you fight the evolved one at the front," she stated.

"So you are not going to say I got an early advantage later?" Leila pressed the topic.

"Where did you even get the idea that I would?" Nadia asked, raising her eyebrows as high as her forehead allowed.

"Ah, I didn't mean to imply…"

"Girls, calm down," Mathew spoke out, cutting into the chatter between the two. "We are going out in three, two, one…"

"Now!"

Mathew pushed the doors open before sprinting towards the nearest zombie.

The girls quickly followed suit, each aiming for a different group of zombies directly ahead.

'Die,' Mathew thought, slashing his saber sideways before ripping the heads of the remaining zombies off their necks with a simple thought turned into mind's flesh.

'Damn,' he then stood in one place, taken aback by the bloody results of his ability.

'I only ever expected to disturb them a little, not to end them so easily!'

"I will be going, then!" Leila called. She then took a quick look at the result of Mathew using his ability. For a second, she simply stood in her place with her eyes wide open.

Leila shook her head, dropping the shock that overtook her mind. She turned around and bolted off down the street, only to stop by the nearest corner, taking her time to check the situation out before pushing further.

"We need to get going too," Nadia hurried Mathew up. "I'm counting the time, so let's not waste it."

"Sure thing," Mathew replied, following after the girl as soon as he managed to shake off his own surprise.

'I didn't expect this ability to work so well,' he thought while following the girl and mindlessly finishing off all the zombies that Nadia left aside for him. 'It's not that I'm complaining…' Mathew thought, taking one glance to the back.

And then he shook his head, opting to drop the topic.

"One minute left," Nadia reported once they passed by one block and reached the crossroads currently fully occupied by the horde of zombies.

"Fifteen seconds should be enough, am I right?" Mathew whispered, squatting down behind the cover of a random car left to rot on the street.

"Half a minute left," Nadia replied while nodding her head.

"I will leave the evolved one to you, then. In the meantime, I will try to take down as much of the fodder as I can."

Nadia raised her hand with her fingers stretched out. And then, second by second, she pulled one of her fingers down.

'Here we go,' Mathew thought, grabbing the edge of the car before using it as a support to jump over the metal wreckage. 'Mind's flesh!'