Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

“Are you for real?” Carol protested Mathew’s plan. “They are…” she added in a loud voice, only to glance over her back for a second and then turn her tone down to a mere whisper. “They are not ready yet!”

Rather than waiting for the hunting squad to get familiar with their weapons by striking pieces of rubble down the hole, Mathew pulled them all along as soon as he ensured the workers knew what to do. And now, after taking some time to get everyone down to the ground floor of the school, he had no other choice but to listen to Carol protesting his decisions.

‘At least she is wise enough not to do it out loud,’ Mathew thought while the girl continued to whisper her opinions in a voice just loud enough for him to hear yet silent enough for it not to reach the hunting squad tagging behind them.

“Okay then,” Mathew said out loud once he reached the edge of the southern wing where the proper school building turned into a field of ruins. He then turned around on his spot and faced the future hunters that followed closely behind. “Just beyond those ruins, all of you will have to go through the baptism of blood,” he announced.

Even though the hunting squad consisted only of five members and Carol, a noise composed of all of them either gasping for air, clenching her teeth, or whispering the prayers reached his ears right away.

“In other words, I need you to go and kill the few zombies that my wives brought within the barrier,” Mathew then announced, only to glance over his shoulder as he looked past the ruins in search of what he just brought up.

Yet, be it a lack of luck or a simple coincidence, the place where Daria and Leila continued to play tag with the six zombies they kidnapped wasn’t visible yet.

“You guys can train all you want, but not a single one of you has any experience of fighting the zombies,” Mathew then said, resting his hands on his hips as he looked past everyone’s faces, eager to see whether someone in the squad was dumb enough to challenge his words. “Right now, you guys believe them to be some sort of monsters, unkillable entities, a product of nightmares,” he said only to shake his head and breathe out.

“But that’s not what zombies are at all. And today, all six of you need to learn this simple fact by hand,” he then added only to turn back towards the ruins before taking a step through the opening in the barricade that he set up with the girls all the way back in the first day of the apocalypse.

“All six of us? Doesn’t that means that she didn’t kill any either?” Mathew heard a whisper from one of the hunters, clearly aimed at Carol.

‘I know it’s not a good idea to reveal how Carol is the same as them… But I need her to realize this fact as well,’ Mathew thought, gritting his teeth as he struggled to move through the ruins at a pace slow enough for the others to keep up. And a mere few minutes later, a short window of time that extended nearly into infinity in Mathew’s personal perception, the group finally reached a point where they could see the zombies Mathew’s wives kidnapped.

The girls were leisurely jogging in a circle, talking about something to each other while a group of roughly ten zombies continued to do their very best to catch them.

‘This is the first lesson,’ Mathew thought.

He didn’t even need to turn himself around and steal a glance at the hunters to see how baffled they were by this sight.

In their experience, zombies were this unavoidable threat that one could only escape from. And yet, right before their eyes, they could see a small group of them… struggling to keep up with a leisurely jog of the girls!

“Oh, you guys are here!” Daria shouted once she took notice of their presence. She then raised her hand and enthusiastically waved it at the group. “About time, you know?!” she shouted only to take a glance over her shoulder at the zombies who struggled to move any faster than an old man with a cane.

Their flesh was already rotting. All of them had some of their bones broken with only two of the zombies keeping all their limbs up to this point.

In other words, they weren’t anywhere close to the image of zombies that the newbie hunters had in their minds about them.

“Now then, every zombie is worth between one to five points,” Mathew announced, not bothering to turn towards the hunters this time. Instead, he brandished his weapon and stepped down from the ruins, finally revealing himself to the zombies. “And by the end of the day, I want every last one of you to amass at least a hundred points.”

Mathew didn’t wait for the reaction of the hunters, opting to step forward first. And as an effect, the zombies that saw no other targets than the two girls suddenly found a new potential source of human meat they craved.

“Right now, as long as you guys stop pissing your pants, you will be able to deal with all of them… all on your own,” Mathew announced only to rest the dull side of his saber over his right shoulder before topping in his tracks and turning his head towards the hunters. “But just for convenience’s sake, let me show you how it’s done first.”

Mathew didn’t bother to waste any more words of his. Instead, he leisurely walked towards the small group of zombies with his weapon still resting on his shoulder.

Step by step, he got closer to the undead. Step by step, the zombies continued to crawl their way forward. By the time only about three to four meters separated the young man from his nearest opponents, the zombies started to reach out, ready to grab and then consume his flesh.

And so, Mathew took a single step forward with his left only to swing his right hand and slice the nearest zombie from its right shoulder to its left hip. His blade went through the rotting flesh and weakened bone as it would through butter. Yet, rather than pushing forth and fluently transitioning to another attack to keep the onslaught going… Mathew retreated.

“Whoever scores the most points against those will get the bonus of the points from the zombie I just downed,” he announced only to turn around and jog back toward the rest of the ruins. “Oh, and before I forget,” Mathew spoke up as soon as he reached the group while turning his eyes toward Carol. “In this fight, you are banned from using your magic.”

“Wha…?!” Carol opened up her mouth wide, ready to protest Mathew’s decision again.

“You need to feel how it is to kill a zombie,” he announced. “Not safely from a distance but with your own hands and weapon,” he explained only to turn around again and steal a relaxed glance at the zombies steadily approaching the group.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but fighting with zombies in front and those messy ruins to your back… I don’t think this is the best option,” he added only to raise his hand and inspect the state of his fingernails.

“…”

Not a single of the hunters reacted. Not even Carol dared to make the first move.

‘She might have received a massive boost to her power, but she still has yet to feel how easy it is to fight those zombies off,’ Mathew thought while releasing an inner sigh.

“L-let’s go!” Frank suddenly shouted, raising his spear above his head. His voice was full of reluctance, his teeth gritted against each other. And yet, he still charged forward, unwilling to let the others take the lead in the situation.

“Don’t be so hasty!” Mathew shouted after the man. “Rather than speed, what you need in this fight is patience!” he yelled his advice, only for the rest of the hunters behind him to finally cut the slack and follow suit.

“Nadia, dear,” Mathew then whispered, finally addressing the silent figure that followed him without a word ever since he created the hunter’s unit.

“Yes, my dear husband?” Nadia replied with a smile and in an openly mocking tone.

“Keep them safe, would you?”