Dawn Architect

Chapter 32: Seeds of will

**POV: Eirlys**

When we arrived, the cave was occupied by two beasts. They were not strong, so we eliminated them and I reorganized the children.

"Everyone who thinks they are in the best condition, stands forward. The rest save energy and support the rest," I said.

The cave was spacious enough for eight kids to stand side by side to block the entrance. I stood in front along with Clayton and six other kids, waiting for them to arrive.

Tension was in the air. Silence and the children's agitated breathing could be heard. The only thing that kept them calm was the functionality of the shield.

Otherwise, I'm sure some of them would be crying or panicking about the situation. Facing around 50 beasts is not easy, and the pressure is immense for us.

"Pa...pa.a'," we could hear the sounds of the beasts' footsteps. When they were in sight, we braced ourselves. They were led by two-star beasts, there were more than ten of them. The good thing was that they were in the rear, so we didn't have to worry about them right now.

The clash between us happened. They were physically bigger than us, so only five could be ahead. We didn't have to worry about the sides and back so a long battle began. When I eliminated one, I stepped back and allowed another boy to enter in my place. This was something we had agreed upon so we wouldn't exhaust ourselves in case the battle dragged on, and it worked.

When someone was wounded or killed a beast, they would fall back, and only eight could stay ahead. There were almost forty of us, so we had five cycles to rest. When my turn came back, I saw that the cave entrance was filling up with corpses. Luckily, they were only from the beasts, but then I noticed more beasts approaching behind, and some had some bows, although they looked in bad shape. That's bad news for us.

"Back off," I shouted to get us deeper into the cave, but that would put us in a tight spot, as they would be slowly cornering us. But as long as we can hold out until big brother arrives, that's enough.

the arrows had difficulty reaching us. I braced myself and picked up a corpse from the ground and used it as a shield. Apparently, the beasts don't mind hurting their own kind, because some arrows hit the beasts nearby. The beast leaders in the rear noticed that their attempts backfired.

They grunted and the archers stopped firing. That's a good thing. Having to watch for projectiles is more stressful in this fight. I had the slack to look around and noticed that some kids got arrows, but none were fatal, so they were replaced with others and taken to the back of the cave.

This is how the battle went on for a while. Unfortunately, on the basis of sacrifices by the beasts, we were being driven back, and the beasts two stars back again howled and moved forward, knowing it was dangerous. I asked the leaders and the strongest children to position themselves forward, putting mana in my sword I prepared myself.

The faster we finish with the two-stars, the better. So I used the best I had. And when he approached me, I used the only art technique I know, and with a heavy blow I hit the dog-headed beast, but this time he dodged me and made an attack with his spear at my side. I was able to parry it with the shield, I put mana back into my sword to attack it, but the battle was more difficult than the previous one. It seems that this one is of the same rank, but stronger than the previous ones.

Two of us were able to deal with one because of how big they were. The person helping me was Misha, and during our encounter, he attacked the beast while concentrating on me, causing wounds, but none were lethal.

And the worst part was that even though there was little space, the ones behind us were spreading their spear across the available spaces. We were outmatched both in strength, attack range, as well as stars. We were in a desperate situation.

I had no choice but to fall back and give up my place to someone. I needed to figure out how to resolve the situation. Luckily, when I saw, I could recognize that Clayton and another kid were able to take down a two-star beast together.

I noticed that we had something going for us being so big and with spears, besides stabbing, they have trouble moving the spear freely. I took the opportunity and grabbed one of the spears to compensate for the attack range and did the same as them. I looked for opportunities to stab the beasts from behind the front line. Finally, overwhelmed by the attacks, our enemy suffered many wounds and died.

But another two-star beast immediately stepped forward, but the others who imitated me and took the spears of the guys started stabbing from behind. the fight was back in our favor, but The wounded were piling up and there were no more than half of manpower left, but the good news is that the beasts did not have much left and only a few of the two-star beasts were left.

"Auuuu," but again I heard that howl. My body tensed and cold sweat ran down my body. Despair washed over me regardless of the effects of the shield. I could hear some children crying behind me, even Clayton had a look of despair on his face.

Everyone understood what that could mean, and we could only wish it meant something different. But our prayers were in vain. After a while and after eliminating all the beasts beyond the forest, two beasts came out.

They were the same size as the two-star beasts, but in their hands they had axes instead of clubs and spears.

Although we managed to eliminate all the beasts inside the cave, we could not celebrate. We knew that was beyond our reach. Putting all the courage I had I walked out of the cave, I knew that, unlike the others, the short axes they had would give them an advantage inside the cave.

Behind me Clayton and four other boys followed me. We knew we would probably die, but death is something slum kids struggle with every day. Still, no one wants to die, we always fight to survive.

In these cases, there is only individual will left. Either you give in to despair, or you stand up and fight. And those of us who are here, we have decided to fight.

So when we were only 4 meters away, I took the spear I had and threw it at them. The others did the same. Some were blocked, but others were able to go through his skin, though not as deep.

Then we stepped forward, Clayton and I, and attacked a beast each, but no matter how much you want to there are things that cannot be achieved and our will to fight was not enough to fill the gap I couldn't even notice it was too fast, before I knew it, the axe was in front of me.

Time passed slowly before my eyes 'so this is how I will die eh... sorry big brother' I couldn't help but think of my last moments, It was too late to raise the shield, and the axe was already cutting my throat.