Chapter 325 Bad News

"What spells did you buy?" Nadia asked as she lowered her blade before promptly attaching it to her belt.

She asked for some gauntlet-type of weapon, something that Mathew entirely forgot about. Her desire likely came from her bloodhound class and the fighting style that the girl created with her class at its foundation.

And yet…

She held her hand on the saber's handle, caressing it with her fingers in a way Mathew only saw her caress his dick before.

'She likes it,' Mathew thought. And that thought ended up putting a small smile on his face.

"I bought two spells in total. The first and more important one allows me to craft barriers and anchor them on items so that anyone who goes out will have an added layer of protection," Mathew revealed without even a hint of hesitation. "As for the other spell," Mathew cut his sentence short before turning around and showing the girl his back.

"You wouldn't be yourself if you didn't add a little bit of drama to even a simple question, would you?" Nadia pointed out with a smile on her own, her fingers still gently caressing the handle of her saber.

"Maybe I'm just a little bit jealous over how you treat your new weapon?" Mathew suggested with a smirk while looking over his shoulder.

"Huh?" Nadia jumped a little before turning her eyes towards her hip, where she attached the saber just a moment earlier. "Oh, I didn't even realize what I was doing," she admitted with her eyebrows moving up a little.

"Anyway," Mathew turned back to face the girl again, dropping the dramatic act. "The second spell I bought is something we were severely lacking," he said only to give the girl a wink.

"A means to production?" Nadia attempted to guess.

"That I have covered with the thing I whispered in your ear," Mathew replied. "As for what I believe we are lacking, it's explosive power with high penetration ability."

"So you plan to go against higher evolved monsters soon?" Nadia quickly figured out where Mathew's choice of spell would lead down the line.

"Yes and no." Mathew shook his head.

"Yes, because sooner or later, we will have to face them," he said while leaning over the stack of items he bought and picking them all up. "And no, because I have no intention to go out of my way…"

"MATHEW!"

Norbert shouted as soon as he crawled out of the vertical tunnel which, due to Mathew's decision to postpone the reconstruction of the entire school, remained the only easy way to access the top floor.

"I've been trying to reach you, but you didn't notice any of my attempts!" Norbert whined while breathing heavily on the floor.

"What happened?" Mathew rushed to the former policeman's side and knelled down.

It was an uncommon sight to see the man so tired.

'I spent so long at the merchant I kind of forgot about it, but we just returned from a pretty long expedition,' Mathew thought, gritting his teeth. 'And judging from his breathing, he ran all the way here before climbing as fast as he could.'

Mathew's face darkened as his emotions washed away.

"I received a distress message from Daniel," Norbert reported as soon as he regained some breath. "There is a huge horde coming their way," he added to his report as soon as he breathed in some more. "And…"

Norbert's face tensed up.

He closed his eyes and took a moment to stabilize his breath, relaxing on the dirty floor of top floor.

"I scouted at the very limits of my ability," Norbert muttered a mere moment later before opening his eyes and looking straight into Mathew's face. "At that distance, I can't be sure but…"

Norbert pursed his lips and looked away.

"Just speak," Mathew urged the man.

'If there is a horde coming to the media building, then there is no time we can leisurely waste on hesitating!' he protested in his mind.

"I think there are at least fifteen evolved zombies within the horde," Norbert reported in a soft voice, still refusing to look Mathew in the face. "And while I couldn't sense their level, there are some monsters in that horde too."

'Those are…' Mathew gulped his saliva down. 'Pretty bad news, are they not?' he thought, keeping those words behind the barrier of his lips not to put any further burden on their only scout.

'He already went through enough by pushing his ability to its limits only to see what had to be quite the gruesome sight,' Mathew thought.

"Those are pretty bad news, are they not?" Nadia muttered, free of the reservations that stopped Mathew from speaking up.

"Can you take a look at this horde again?" Mathew then requested.

"I might try," Norbert shook his head and looked at Mathew with a strange look in his eyes. "Is there anything you want me to look for in particular? Or just the usual level gradient?"

Mathew's hand traveled all the way to his chest, where he kept the two scrolls with the spells.

'I can only use that penetration spell once. Even if I could get some time to regenerate twenty points of mana, using it again would sap all my strength.'

"Look for any monsters or evolved zombies that might appear to be tough to slash," Mathew requested.

'Even if it will be hard, this is the only kind of enemy we need to worry about,' Mathew thought, certain that both his and his girls' levels were high enough to make the coming fight a relatively easy encounter.

"Ah, before you go to take a look, try to estimate how long it will take them to reach Daniel," Mathew requested right as Norbert was about to close his eyes.

"Sure thing, give me a moment," the officer replied, pushing himself up and sitting down with his legs crossed before closing his eyes.

For a fewteen seconds, nothing really happened, save for the slight changes appearing on Norbert's face, as if his mimicry reacted to what his ghost-form was seeing.

He then pushed his eyelids up… Only for some early signs of terror mixing with panic to appear at the bottom of his eyes.

"They split up into two," Norbert reported with a tense voice. "Most of the usual zombies are going as they were…"

Norbert gulped his saliva down.

"But a small detachment with most of the high-leveled zombies split up and is heading right for the school!"