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Mathew stood on the broken end of what used to be the central stairway of the school\'s compound.

Looking down, he could see a crowd of exactly twenty-three people, two more than he expected to see.

\'It looks like he brought two more too,\' he thought after making a quick count and ending with his eyes on Kasper.

He brought two girls with him before Mathew even ordered the hunters to bolster their ranks and now, he brought what looked like a couple too.

\'So he didn\'t want two more girls but was scared of competition if he were to invite recruit single guys?\' Mathew thought, trying to figure out what was going on in Kasper\'s head.

Still, it was just a meaningless tangent. If anything, Mathew had the right to be angry and put Kasper down for going beyond the scope of what was ordered.

"Carol," Mathew turned his head to the side where his wives waited for the end of the mission briefing.

"Yes?"

"Once I\'m done, can you deal with that moron?" Mathew requested in a tired voice.

Just thinking about how he would have to deal with Kasper was enough to sour his mood and exhaust his mind.

"What moron?" Carol asked while turning her eyes down to where all the hunters and recruits gathered. She quickly scanned the entire crowd only for her face to twitch slightly when she locked her sight on Kasper. "Ah…"

Carol turned silent for a moment, her face showing a hint of the same annoyance that was the source of Mathew\'s mental exhaustion.

"Sure thing. Dealing with people like him is a part of my job, I guess?"

Mathew turned his face away from Carol and over to his earlier wives.

He put Carol in the center of his attention for a while because, no matter how much he wished to deny it, he pretty much put her in the back of his head up until now.

Yet, no matter how much he was willing to try to pull her into the tight group of the few people he actually cared about, he wasn\'t going to do so at the cost of neglecting his proper wives.

"Are you ready?" Mathew asked in a low voice while moving his eyes from Leila, through Daria, and at Nadia ending.

Daria smiled and nodded his head. Leila simply rolled her eyes, showcasing how little she cared about the briefing.

Even without speaking up, it was clear that she considered the entire meeting as nothing more but a damn waste of time.

And Nadia…

"Go on," she said with a gentle smile before raising her hand to her mouth and hiding a small chuckle that followed. "You\'ve got this!"

\'I guess there is no putting it off for later,\' Mathew thought as he released a deep sigh. Then, he turned his eyes back to the crowd on the level below.

"Ekhem!" Mathew cleared his throat.

Alerted by the sound, the people stopped the chatter and focused their attention on the man above them.

Looking down, Mathew could see all sorts of emotions reflected on their faces.

Most of the hunters managed to overcome the primal fear of the zombies, a fear of the unknown mixed with the impossible. They were no adults or scientists but even they knew that things like zombies went far above and beyond what the science and the world\'s laws allowed.

They managed to overcome their fears and now were mostly looking forward to the mission. Some craved the excitement and adrenaline of a real-life fight. Others anticipated the high of besting what they used to fear.

Still, without even a hint of doubt, all of them were more than eager to earn their right to get a system seed and elevate their status from mere hunters to system owners!

The hunters were mostly happy to set out on the mission… But the same couldn\'t be said about the recruits that they brought along.

\'I see way more fear than I would like to,\' Mathew thought while basking in all the attention focused on him from below.

Save for Kasper\'s wives and the girl of the couple he brought, there were only three more girls in the fold. While they were all pretty athletic, likely members of some sports club in the past…

They didn\'t have the qualities that made Mathew\'s wives so damn great at fighting.

They were chosen because of their physicality rather than the drive to approach the edge of the madness while remaining on the right side of it.

The rest of the recruits were all male. Seven of them shared the same physical qualities that brought three girls into the hunters\' ranks. In other words, they were strong, quick and they looked like their faces were never sullied by a single deep thought.

\'They are likely going to die first,\' Mathew thought before moving his eyes toward the remaining three.

In the grand scheme of things, the three men that caught his attention did so by being as unnoticeable as one could get.

They didn\'t boast massive, muscular physiques nor looked like they knew their way around any sort of weapons.

No.

The only thing that drew Mathew\'s attention towards them was the look in their eyes. Focused, determined, and also full of terror.

They understood what they were signing up for… but were willing to go against their wits and participate in it.

\'I wonder what their reasons are to join the hunters,\' Mathew thought while squinting his eyes a little. He then heaved a deep sigh. \'But it\'s not like it matters.\'

"Everyone!" Mathew shouted, finally starting the briefing for the mission. "I could keep you here all day to stress out many important points. I could tell you what you should be wary of and what you can safely ignore…"

Mathew took a short pause, only to end up putting a vile smile on his lips.

\'Right now, they need to rely on those who recruited them, not me,\' he reminded himself of the main goal behind the mission.

It wasn\'t to reach the castle ruins at the top of the hills but to train a new batch of hunters. As such, he couldn\'t let the recruits rely on him in the time of need that would surely come!

"But a single second of real combat will teach you more than I could by talking for hours upon hours!" Mathew stated before taking a step forward and dropping down an entire level to where the hunters and recruits gathered.

He took a moment before standing up and casually patting his clothes to get all the dust off them.

"You have your weapons," Mathew raised his head and said. "You have those who recruited you," he added while bringing his hands up and to the back before locking them at the back of his head. "So, in my book, you have everything you need for this expedition."

This time, Mathew didn\'t wait for the group to slowly absorb and digest his words. He allowed a small smirk to appear on his lips, released a single chuckle, and turned his back to the small crowd.

Mathew took a step forward… only to hesitate and turn his head over his shoulder, throwing the hunters a confused look.

"What the hell are you waiting for, guys and gals?" he asked, baffled by how they still stood as they were. "Let\'s go!"