It took the group around 15 minutes to get Iris and Bill up to speed about everything that had been happening while they were knocked out from exhaustion.
With all of them caught up to speed, the spotlight was back on Mako as now two more people were in agreement with Erin and Leon about escaping the highlighted zone and skipping the final wave of the horde night.
All four of them were eagerly waiting for Mako's answer as they gave him deadly stares, wanting to know what his reasoning was to even suggest such a crazy option.
Mako took a deep breath and slowly started to explain to everyone why he thought that they should stay and fight the final wave, and he began by asking them a question.
"Let me ask you all something. Do any of you believe that any of us have done anything remarkable during our entire time on this island, that would be worthy enough to guarantee a spot in the special class?" Mako asked all of them.
The group was confused as they didn't understand why would Mako ask them such a thing at this point, but nonetheless, they put a couple of seconds of thought into it but nothing quite remarkable came to mind.
"I spent my early days just running around the island frantically looking for an antidote for Bill and after that, we just stayed in caves for almost five days. Sure we had a couple of fights and we even faced an advanced-tier beast, but those fights were nothing remarkable considering our level and that advanced tier bested us and got away in the end." Mako began explaining.
"Leon, you started your days by eliminating a couple of people but that wasn't really your focus as you were just trying to locate me, and by the time you did, neither one of us had accomplished much, and the same can also be said you too, Erin and Iris. You guys also joined us in the cave and before then, you guys didn't accomplish much either." Mako added.
All four of them looked confused as to why any of this had anything to do with them fleeing from the highlighted zone.
"My point is, none of us have really done anything that would make us really stand out in the eyes of the military. We have just been following the guidelines they had provided for us and trying our best to survive, and it's not because we are weak or anything, but just because the circumstances we have found ourselves in time and time again didn't quite let us rack up points like most other groups who had an ideal landing and a shelter built on day two." Mako said.
"The announcement said that even if we just face the 5th wave, there is a massive reward and if we succeed in defeating it, we would personally get a special reward from the main commander himself. We only have food to recover once more which would make all of us be in the best condition tomorrow night. If we flee and escape from the west mountain, we would have limited food as well as no shelter which would make us an easy target." Mako stated further to solidify his reasoning.
After listening to Mako's reasoning, the group admitted that he did indeed make valid points and that they needed to fight if they ever hoped to reach the special class and that they would be more vulnerable after the night is over.
"Please guys, think about it. We won't get killed if we give it a shot, the patrolling officers will save us if we are about to get killed so there is no fear of death in this fight. Even if we do end up losing, I believe we will be more praised by the military that we stood and fought instead of taking the coward's way out." Mako said as he rested his case leaving the group to have a discussion among themselves to decide whether they wanted to listen to Mako's reasoning or not.
***************
[Meanwhile at the military headquarters]
The sergeant wanted to scratch the ears and eyeballs right off his face after hearing the discussion Mako and his comrades were having inside the shelter.
The entire island was completely covered with nanobots that acted as cameras and microphones which could be attached anywhere and would be too small to be noticed and could record everything that was going on the island.
At this point, the sergeant was observing the main group that had managed to completely capture the main commander's attention, and as he listened to Mako explaining to his team members why they should stay and fight the final wave of the horde at night, he wanted to literally jump through the screen and personally strangle Mako to death to even attempt to say those words.
Mako and his group were already identified by every single official on the round table with them already granting all five of them a special class title. All five of them could quit right now and would receive the highest post that a cadet could receive.
The sergeant couldn't believe Mako's innocence as he said that the military probably wouldn't recognize them if they don't face the fifth wave as their performance up to now was pretty much satisfactory at best.
However, what Mako failed to realize is that they had shattered their limits so much and had grown so much in such a little time, awakening super hard and advanced-level techniques such as Mutant Genes and Ability Variants that their rate of growth was something the military had only seen a handful of times prior.
The sergeant went over all of their files to check out their backgrounds, and except for Mako all four of them were from a decent background and were trained by sponsors so they should have been educated on what was the norm for cadets and how high their level was compared to some of the cadets that were still surviving on the island, thinking they would easily make it to the special class.
However, those files failed to acknowledge all the personal events that took place in each of their lives that led them to this point.
Both Bill and Leon had an out with their dads, leaving them practically on their own and never learning more than what was in front of them while the lectures on "Current Power Affairs" was optional for both Iris and Erin. Iris spent that time practicing her healing ability while Erin wasted that time by spending more time with Andrew at the gym.
The sergeant reluctantly and fearfully compiled the report of the discussion that just took place and slowly brought it over to the round table to review by the officials and the main commander.
***************
The group spent some time thinking and discussing what Mako had proposed and in the end, they ended up agreeing with him.
They didn't know whether he just had a way with words or what, but they felled compelled enough by Mako's reasoning to take a gamble and do a high-risk play to receive a high reward.
The weird tension was instantly broken as soon as the group said that they would stay and fight alongside Mako in the fifth and final wave.
"Now how about that feast, first thing in the morning, 'cause I am starving!" Bill said lifting up all of their spirits with a joke.
Mako promised that he would fix them all a massive feast as soon as the sun came up so that they would be well-fed and energized for the final wave.
However, since it was still nighttime, the group decided to just eat the MREs, for now, to quiet down their hungry stomachs a bit until the feast.
This was the first time during the whole night that all five of them had been able to sit together and talk as a team because, throughout the whole night, someone was either knocked out or outside fighting a wave of beasts.
Everyone shared all their experiences with everyone else. Erin ratted on Leon in a teasing manner for being a scaredy cat which made everyone give him a certain judging look, but before they could do any more emotional damage, Erin also backed him by telling everyone how she was saved by him twice during the whole round.
Erin was thankful to Leon for saving her and she allowed him to also keep her share of Frost Cobra crystals that they had collected earlier. Leon was speechless at Erin's generous act, but before he could accept or deny her offer, Mako butted in.
"Actually, Leon owes you 40 High tier crystals so you basically get all these crystals and he still has to pay you some more to balance out the score," Mako said.
Erin was very confused as she didn't remember ever making a bet or gamble of any kind that would make Leon owe her 40 High tier crystals, so she asked Leon what all of this was about.
"Well, you know how I suddenly got the fire ability..." Leon slowly began to explain.
"Yeah, I was meaning to ask you about it, how did you suddenly learn that ability?" Erin replied.
"Well... I kinda broke 40 of those High tier flaming lion beast crystals that you and Mako defeated in order to gain that ability," Leon explained while showing a little bit of guilt.
"YOU WHAT!?"