Leveling Up Wives In The Apocalypse

Mathew's fist struck the ground. It was a pretty unnatural move as hardly any normal human would find an activity requiring a movement like that and necessary to go through their usual day.

And yet, the few times that Mathew used this move in his past made it extremely easy for him to repeat it now.

Swipe!

'Hah?'

This was the third time for Mathew to use his ability in a real fight. But for the first time, he heard any sort of noise in the tiniest window of time between him using it and his skill activating.

SWOOSH!

Stormy winds gathered around the young man only to explode outwards, pushing all the zombies away. It all happened in a single instant, making it impossible for a normal human to perceive those changes.

BOOM!

The real shockwave formed right after the powerful gust of wind. This time, however, rather than being of a physical nature, it was entirely composed of the same, condensed energy that Mathew could feel in everything system-related since a while ago.

'I really need to figure it out,' Mahtew thought as he continued to hug Daria's weakened body close to his chest, hoping to shield her from the upheaval that he himself called for.

'Is it over?' Mathew thought after the insanely long single instance of time passed and the world around him appeared to calm down.

The young man raised his head to confirm the situation. And just like he expected, there wasn't a single zombie anywhere near enough to be an immediate threat.

Yet, there was an element that Mathew didn't expect. It was aligned with what he hoped to achieve by detonating a core, yet as it was connected to the zombie's evolving on the spot, there was no way he could ever predict it happening.

Because the zombies that were struck by his skill reverted right back to their usual form.

'So this was some sort of a buff,' Mathew thought as he tightened his grasp over Daria's weakened body before raising up and starting to run.

The most important paradigm of Mathew's strategy was to preserve everyone's lives for long enough to bring them to the merchant. And with a single touch of the grass, he could revert them back to their peak state.

"Hold on for just a little longer," Mathew whispered while dashing through the open space.

Once Mathew escaped from the encirclement of zombies he put himself in not a single zombie was then left to stop his mad dash back towards the fortification.

"You are back," Nadia appeared by Mathew's side the moment he entered the open space. And while her words were etched with relief, when the girl's eyes moved on to the body in Mathew's hands, Nadia's face darkened.

"How did she...?"

Everyone knew about the miraculous ability Daria somehow got. It was the very thing that made Mathew order her to act as a messenger.

"Now now, we need to hurry," Mathew said. 'She is getting weaker by the moment,' he noticed only to speed up his dash... And then end up slowing down again, worried that too much momentum would make it harder for Daria to hang on.

"Almost there," the young man added a moment later, right when he rejoined with the rest of the group.

"What took you so..." Daniel was already at the wall. The moment he heard footsteps, he turned his face away from Leila, ready to chastize Mathew. Yet, the moment he saw the state of the girl in his arms, he choose to shut his lips close and push the wings of the gate open a bit more than they were before.

"Close the gate once you are in, Nadia, I need you to help me carry her up."

Mathew didn't waste any time stopping and giving his orders. In fact, Daniel could only hear the first part of his sentence as by the time Mathew turned his attention to Nadia, he was already too far for the policeman to hear him.

"Carrying her up might be problematic," Nadia pointed out the one obstacle that Mathew actually worried about.

"I guess it will be a test to the strength of my arms, then," Mathew replied, refusing to elaborate as he ran through the ruined wing of the compound to enter it.

A short moment later, Mat was done climbing the stairs and finally came to a halt by the upwards shaft.

"I need you to help me out, now," Mathew said as he laid down on his stomach with his head reaching right to the edge of the floor. "Place her armpits at the back of my knees," he asked before raising his hips to make his legs create a small angle.

"I will support her from the bottom," Nadia offered right as she brought Daria's lifeless body up and helped Mathew secure her with his legs.

"That would be much appreciated," Mathew thanked before reaching out with his hands and grabbing the ladder at the back end of the shaft. He then pulled himself even closer before starting to climb up with just his hand alone.

"Here we..." he muttered before finally reaching the hard part where he would actually have to pull both his own weight and Daria's on his hands alone.

'There is no way I would be able to do so in the past,' Mathew thought when he finally felt the combined weight of two people in his arms.

Back in the past, he would struggle to make a single pull-up on his own. And now, after increasing his power through his system, he barely had to put in any effort to do something far harder!

"Just a little bit more," Mathew muttered, hoping for his encouragement to reach Daria's mind in spite of her pretty bad state.

At first, climbing up the ladder wasn't a challenge at all. Yet, as Mathew climbed higher and higher, his arms quickly reminded him of how he was before. Thankfully, from the moment he climbed roughly half the floor up, Nadia followed him into the shaft, using her own shoulders as a foothold for Daria's legs.

'It doesn't help much when climbing but I can at least take a momentary rest between each attempt to go higher,' Mathew thought, despite being fully aware that he could not afford those rests in the first place. As such, he continued to climb even when his arms started to feel as if they were on fire.

All for the sake of bringing Daria higher and higher. Once the three of them finally reached the top floor, Mathew could breathe a partial sigh of relief. Yet, rather than taking his time to enjoy himself, Mathew rested Daria's body on the floor. And once his legs were free from the burden of her weight, he grabbed her in his arms before rushing towards the merchant.

"They are back!" one of the civilians that Mathew saved yesterday shouted. Even though they didn't play any role in his plans so far, only an idiot could expect them not to be aware of what was going on. After all, while they couldn't use Norbert's ability nor the map at the merchant, they could still look out through a damned window!

But not a single of those things mattered to Mathew. He focused all of his attention on dragging Daria towards the merchant instead.

'Please, make it work,' he prayed in his thoughts before grabbing Daria's hand and pressing it against the bundle of light.