Chapter 218 Battle at the gate

Chapter 218 Battle at the gate

The wings of the gate swung open, throwing the zombies right by it out of balance.

Such was the force of Mathew's leisure kick.

"Let's go!" Mathew shouted, rushing in to make the most out of the momentary confusion that his action caused within the horde gathered by the school's barrier. And just like he said, he did.

Mathew kept his saber resting on his shoulder for the first few steps that he made, traversing the space opened up by the swinging wings of the gate. Only when he reached just a single meter away from the nearest zombie did he pull his hand down, swinging the blade of his weapon down at the unlucky zombie.

Just like when he showcased the power of his weapon to the hunting squad, Mathew's blade sliced the zombie with ease. Be it flesh or be it bones, it was all the same when faced with a quality weapon supported by the powerful force of Mathew's swing.

Mathew swung his saber down. Yet, contrary to how he did it just a moment ago, this time he twisted his wrist before pulling it up, slicing the next zombie from its crotch up.

The hit itself was a complete failure. It failed to reach the one vital point of the zombie nor did it render it immobile. Yet, for the purpose of the current excursion, slicing off the entire left side of its bottom half was actually perfect.

'Now that we have a cleaning squad behind us, we don't need to kill all the zombies with a single swing,' he thought, moving his attention towards the next zombie.

Yet, before Mathew could swing at another enemy, two of his girls rushed right past him, eager to join in on the fun.

Yes, fun. Because with no evolved monsters in sight, slaying this entire horde wasn't even a challenge for them anymore.

"Kill them all!" Nadia shouted when she leaped forward. She flew right past the first few rows of the zombies that were quickly starting to gather by the gate, softly landing in a less congested area. Nadia then bent her knees to kill the momentum of her drop. She also swung her saber sideways, cutting at the knees of the few zombies that were in front of her.

"Don't get too excited!" Leila shouted over, slamming her body right into the area where there the zombies gathered.

For a normal person, this would be a suicide move. Yet, even though Leila instantly had to pay for her recklessness with several scratches, she didn't appear to mind the cost at all.

Several zombies managed to bring their hands, claws, teeth, and broken bones to her skin... but this was the ultimate reward they could get. Contrary to everyone else in Mathew's group, Leila was right in her element when surrounded by tightly packed enemies.

'This surely does look encouraging,' Mathew thought when chunks of rotten meat started to fly all over the place from where Leila joined the fight. With the saber in one of her hands and the machete in the other, she wouldn't waste a single movement of her body, slashing and cutting with everything she had.

Even though not a single zombie within the horde was strong enough to be her opponent, she gave the fight her all nonetheless.

"I will just help you out," Daria then said in a meek voice, reaching Mahtew's side and cutting the few zombies that attempted to move around his side and flank him. "I can't really be as flashy as the two of them in the daytime, after all," she then added, intentionally keeping her face away from Mathew's eyes.

"There is nothing to be ashamed about," Mathew encouraged the girl, slashing the head of the nearest zombie only to kick away another one, swirl on his landed foot, and cut across the chest of yet another one. "We are all doing whatever we are best at," he then added, only to cut at the last of the zombies in his direct proximity.

With Leila and Nadia cutting down the zombies several meters ahead, Mathew alone was enough to keep their numbers by the gate relatively constant. And with Daria now doing her best to keep his back safe, the number of zombies that managed to get close to the open gate quickly started to dwindle.

"Guys!" Seeing that his group managed to get the situation under control, Mathew turned around. "It's your turn to join now!"

The squad of hunters has yet to join the fight. And it wasn't something that Mathew could find fault with them for.

After all, there was a massive difference between cutting down a limited number of zombies within the safety of the school's barrier and fighting off an actual horde with no real protection to hold their numbers down.

"Come on, you cowards!" Carol shouted, only to proceed to push and kick the men that failed to break free from chains of fear right away. "Do what you are here to do!" she screamed from the bottom of her lungs.

"Guys, come on!" Frank quickly joined, rushing forward himself.

'This guy...' Mathew thought, glancing at the man in between cutting down the zombies that mindlessly wandered within the reach of his blade. 'Isn't he actually quite good for a random survivor?'

Mathew saw scores of people like Frank in his first run of the apocalypse. That is, he saw them during the first three days, only for their number to quickly dwindle as wave after wave of zombies approached the school.

'Back then, people like him had no support whatsoever,' Mathew thought, gritting his teeth at the mere feel that the unsavory memory brought him. 'But now, it's different,' he thought, cutting down a group of three zombies and letting Daria finish the two more that followed. And within the short break that this quick skirmish granted him, he glanced to the back...

Only to see Frank finally reaching the frontline of the battle only to pierce his spear right into the skull of a zombie that managed to sneak past Mathew.

"Die!" Frank shouted, forcing his spear to the back only to take a step to the side and swing it around, using it like a polearm to smash the side of the head of another zombie nearby.

'It's good to see that there are some quality people within this group,' Mathew thought, turning his eyes back to his own proximity only to ward off what appeared like a coordinated attack of two more zombies.

Mathew stepped forth, lunging forward only to trust his saber into the head of the nearest one. He then retracted his weapon with a quick pull, only for Daria to finish off the other zombie before Mathew could even attempt to cut it down.

"No problem," Daria said with a small grin only to recover her weapon and take a step back, obediently falling back to her role as Mathew's support.

"Thanks," Mathew nodded his head, turning his attention back to the zombies in front. "At this rate, we will be able to..."

Yet, before Mathew could finish his sentence, his entire body froze.

And in a single instant, he could sense a massive projectile flying right above his head only to crash right into a group of seven zombies several meters ahead.

"I'm here too!" Carol shouted with a crazed look in her eyes.

She stood a few meters behind the gate with several pebbles the size of a football floating above her. Yet, rather than relying on throwing chunks of earth at zombies, she somehow invoked fires around her hands only to then coat the blaze over her earthy projectiles.

"And I will burn them all!"