As the barrier broke, the beasts attacked the group in front of me, none of them appearing to be expert fighters, but they all knew how to use magic decently.

Of that group of 10 people, only the boy with the dagger was cared about me, the others were all focused on their own survival.

A woman in full armor hurled projectiles of fire at the beasts standing behind the group next to me, in her left hand she held a sword while in her right she created the spells.

An old man with a powerful body fought on the front lines using a huge sword flanked by a shield capable of covering his entire body, unlike the others he seemed to follow very specific patterns but did not use magic often.

The boy with the dagger performed fast and precise movements, used wind magic as support in hand-to-hand combat and to speed up his attacks.

The other 7 already seemed to know each other, they fought as an organized group, they were all quite young boys around 18 years old, 3 of them used the earth element and directly fought the monsters using stone armor and erecting walls to divide the enemy forces .

Behind them were 4 other wizards, 2 of them using ranged attacks, one using fire whirlwinds and the other one water projectiles. Beside them to protect them were 2 wizards equipped with short swords and without armor.

I made myself useful too, molding pure mana into a bow and began to slay beasts from a distance.

The beasts were mainly of three types:

The first were the one-horned wolf-like monsters, from which they hurled blades of wind and storms of lightning.

The second type were gorilla-like beasts, with long fangs, a brown hair but above all incredible agility, even if they didn't use mana directly, they used it for body enhancement.

The last type was the most hideous, not because they were particularly strong, but because of their appearance. They were humanoid felines, hairless and with light pink skin that revealed the bones, the waist was very narrow, their legs were practically all bones and they were just a meter tall, but apart from this they were still very strong. Like the gorilla-like beasts, they too used mana to enhance their body, and their speed was impressive, their hands were equipped with huge claws that injected a powerful paralyzing poison.

After several minutes the beasts still hadn't managed to enter the square, we could easily push them back, but I didn't understand: if we were holding out for so long, then why were the soldiers defeated in an instant?

There were 2 options, either the beasts were so numerous that they couldn't hold them all or something happened to the soldiers.

I kept shooting arrows, several minutes of battle passed, my group like everyone else was starting to get tired, but the number of enemies, however, continued to increase.

A wolf grabbed the old man's shield and vaulted over it, he drove his sword into the beast's head but left his side defenseless and a gorilla-like beast bit it.

He replied quickly cutting off the beast's head, but the wound left on his side was serious, he would not be able to continue fighting.

Three wolf-like beasts hurled a combined wind spell at the old man who covered himself with his shield, he didn't have time to recover that a feline beast jumped on him.

The wounded old man fell to the ground with the beast's claws dug into his shoulder, the paralyzing venom spread all over his body as the beast prepared to slash him alive, but the boy with the dagger intervened and thrust his weapon into the feline beast's neck .He dragged the old man to me and without saying a word he went back to fighting.

The number of beasts kept increasing as our number decreased, and my mana reserves began to run out, I couldn't just shoot arrows.

I molded the bow into a dagger and empowering my body I charged into the fray. My first victim was a gorilla-like beast, although it was very fast, I was faster, I dodged it punch and I jumped on it, stabbing it neck.

I then moved on to a group of 5 wolf-like beasts, before I could get close one of them noticed me and hurled me at a crescent of wind, I easily dodged the blow by moving me sideways, the other 4 beasts turned towards me, but it was too late.

I quickly approached one wolf creating a gash in it side, then moved on to the next one who leapt at me with it jaws open in an attempt to bite me, but before that could happen I stuck the dagger in It neck.

The other wolves took advantage of it creating a ball of lightning, they hurled it at me but by erecting a mana shield I protected myself and counterattacked. With one snap I stabbed a wolf in the neck.

I grabbed the tail of one of the two remaining wolves and threw it against the other, I get ready to finish them off, but a feline beast approached me from behind, it tried to scratch me but I moved aside, stretching the dagger blade I transformed it into a sword and beheaded the monster.

Meanwhile the 2 wolf-like monsters had stood up again, I could see the lightning bolts accumulate on their horns as they readied their next attack, I transformed my sword into a bow, materialized a mana arrow and shot it at them, killing them both in one single shot.

The beasts continued to increase, but I was able to keep up with them, in a short time real hordes began to arrive, but thanks to my enhancement I was able to tear apart the beasts without problems. Even having never used a sword, my speed was enough to make up for it, but I couldn't continue indefinitely.

My great physical abilities are the result of the use of mana, once my reserves are exhausted, not only will I no longer have a weapon, but I will return to having the physical abilities of a 3 year old.

"Look out!"

Three feline beasts overtook the 3 wizards of the earth element and in a short time they reached the 4 boys of the rearguard. They were all low on mana and none of them were good at close combat, they had no hope, I turned away from looking and continued to fight.

"Help!"

"I don't want to die"

"Stop, no stop!"

They kept screaming and begging for help as they were being torn apart and paralyzed, but none of us could help them, everyone was busy defending his position.

However, someone still had to kill those 3 beasts, we couldn't leave them free in the square, I turned to observe the trio of feline monsters, two of them were dismembering and eating the bodies of our companions, while the other was lying on the ground with a blade stuck in the neck.

I kept an eye on the beasts as I fought to avoid them attacking me from behind, after their meal the two feline monsters headed against the three earth wizards.

"Careful, from behind!" Urals to warn them, among the many screams of the crowd they did not hear me and were attacked from behind, the claws of the feline beast crossed the light layer of the stone armor located on the neck, scratching and thus paralyzing one of them, the wizard screamed attracting the attention of his companions who reacted in time and swung their stone spears at the two feline beasts.

Luckily they killed them on the first shot, but we had lost another comrade.

The boy with the dagger, myself and the earth mages all had very good stamina but the woman throwing projectiles didn't, she passed out from the effort leaving the of us alone.

The other groups were also not in good situation, piles of bodies began to accumulate as terror spread among the people, children crying in their mothers arms as they watched the blood cover the square.

Minutes of silence passed as I continued to fight with the survivors, the number of beasts increased and the situation was desperate, I was completely focused on the battle, even though I was strong enough I had to work hard to be able to fight with this body as a child.

I didn't have great skills with the sword, I limited myself to swinging it with speed, but it was enough, the monsters died under the blows of my shining blue blade of pure mana, while the fatigue began to feel.

It was only a matter of time and we would all be killed, there was no future or hope for anyone, yet I felt good, I was happy, I was tearing apart the beasts as blood splattered over my body, for the first time in my life I felt alive.

It's funny, I could go on like this forever, I wish this moment would never end, I want to feel the pain, the pain!

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The feeling of fighting for your life, the thrill of killing, the burning of wounds, the dread and the fear of death, it all made me feel good.

I continued to slaughter beasts with the biggest and most sincere smile of my life, I was no longer human, I had become a beast myself. I didn't think, I didn't reason, I didn't love, but I killed, I kept fighting driven by adrenaline.

By now I was closed in my little world, I ignored everything that was happening around me, the screams, the looks of my companions, the danger, everything. I had found my paradise, and ignoring the problems I continued to fight, not for my life, not to defend anyone, but for fun. For me, fun is everything.

My thick black hair covered in blood, my blue eyes focused on beasts, both were inherited from my mother, I had gotten all the beauty of her, yet at that moment I looked like a demon savoring his preys.

I turned towards the square to kill a feline beast, I cut it in two with a sharp blow under the chest, its body fell to the ground lifeless, revealing behind It the same little girl who had asked me to play just before.

Our gazes met, I could see the terror in her eyes, but she wasn't scared of monsters, I was the one scaring her. I kept staring at her, the frightened girl turned and hugged her mother.

I stood staring at the scene with an astonished look, or maybe… terrified, terrified of myself, I had hit rock bottom, yet I felt so happy.

No! I slapped myself and gritted my teeth before starting to smile again with my head down.

I'm a fool, I can't give in to the pleasure of killing and I won't choose to fight blindly waiting to be killed, somehow I have to survive, this world is cool and this is just the beginning, if I want to fully enjoy it I have no left than to survive.

I came to my senses, I no longer looked like a thirsty demon, I was back to the weird kid covered in blood.

I turned to the boy with the dagger as I began to slaughter beasts again.

"You there"

"Call Me Mel"

"Mel can you get on the roof of one of these houses?"

"I think so, why?"

"To check the situation, the other groups seem very tired, they won't last long."

"I don't like taking orders from a child, but I'll do it, but you'll have to take my share of beasts at bay too, I'll do it as quickly as possible"

"It's not a problem"

"Then I go" he slew a wolf-like beast before walking away, using wind magic he slowly rose into the air and levitated up onto the roof of a house to my left. He began to run across the rooftops along the street.

Having always been shut up at home, I didn't know anything about how this world worked, but that leavening technique was spectacular, but at the same time it had to be very complicated, even my father was a wizard of the wind element but he had never talked about a thing like that.

While I was fighting even the beast part of him, time seemed to slow down and never pass, my efforts were doubled and I couldn't afford to overuse mana.

I chopped off the head of a gorilla-like beast and then noticed Mel running across the rooftops as he returned to us. He levitated next to me and resumed to fight.

"So? How is the situation?" I asked

"All 8 streets leading to the square are full of beasts, the whole town is surrounded."

"It was to be expected, now we are locked up with no escape"

"But there's something worse"

"What do you mean?" I asked

" When I was on the roofs I not only saw a crater, but there were several areas that collapsed, and beasts kept coming out of them too."

"So there have been other meltdowns?"

"That's right, it looks like we've all unearthed an underground cavern full of monsters"

"It makes no sense, why everything now?"

"This is not the time to think about this, focus on the battle"

"I see it hard"

"Mom!" A little girl's scream resounded

from behind catching my attention, I turned around and noticed a little girl I had been terrified of hugging her mother's legs as she was being dismembered by a feline beast.

The desperate mother wept as her chest was pierced and opened by the beast's claws, the venom expanding until she fell paralyzed to the ground.

Instead of killing the little girl, the monster decided to eat her mother's paralyzed body in front of her eyes.

Should I go help? Should I abandon my mates to help the little girl? I don't know how to act in these situations.

"One of the groups has been annihilated, the beasts are entering the square" explained Mel seeing me confused "we're in deep shit"

"What do we do? Should we keep fighting? Should we run away?"

"I don't know, don't leave this burden on me"

"Then we'll all make a decision together" I decided to take matters in hand "two options, either we run away making our way through the beasts or we stay here to fight until they kill us all"

One of the two stone wizards intervened "Let's make our way through the beasts though...we can't take everyone with us"

Mel annoyed intervened: "What do you mean, we can't escape leaving everyone here!"

"Mel, face it, we don't have enough strength to leave with a large group"

"So you want to give up like this?" Mel continued irritated

"No, the other groups will make their way through the beasts as we will, each of them bringing civilians"

"Ton, they are not all as skilled as us, it will be impossible for them to survive" explained the boy with the dagger.

This part of the discussion intrigued me a lot, not only did Mel know the name of the earth wizard, but he said with certainty that they were stronger than the other civilians who were fighting.

The square is slowly filling up with beasts, civilians were running chaotically trying to escape them, some mosters even started attacking us from behind, our discussion was going on too long.

"Don't be stubborn Mel" I said " Ton is right, if we want to survive we can't take everyone with us, I understand it too that I'm only a child. We have to decide quickly"

"You are not just any child, and anyway I can't let these people die"

"If we take them they will die anyway"

"But at least then there will be a chance"

"Thats enough!" The other earth wizard intervened "Mel, be realistic, it's the most sensible thing to do, we have no choice"

“Alright.” Mel didn't seem too sure of his answer, but he had to keep it all inside and keep going, abandoning people like that apparently went against his ethics.

"Weird kid, my name is Gru, what's your name?" asked the earth wizard

"My name is Roseth, it will be a pleasure to collaborate with you"

"Don't be so formal, even if it feels strange to say it, right now we are a team and we have to fight together if we want to survive"

"What's wrong with saying that?"

"But you've seen yourself, you'll barely be 5"

"Actually… I have 3," I replied sheepishly as I continued to fight.

"3?!" Ton intervened "you are too mature for your age, kid, so you won't be able to enjoy your childhood"

"Do you think this situation allows me to enjoy my childhood"

"You're not entirely wrong, but once you get out of here alive, enjoy the best years of your life"

It's only right that Ton is trying to boost morale, but he was still wasting precious time, yet I was trying to play along. It didn't seem like him, initially when I joined the group the only one who cared about me was Mel, but now they seemed friendly. "Thanks, I didn't think you were so empathic," I said

"don't get any weird ideas, Roseth" explained Ton "it's just that you inspire me a lot"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, lets see..." Ton looked bewildered he didn't know what to say, but even as he thought an answer he continue to fight flawlessly

"We must hurry, the beasts in the square are increasing" Gru interrupted

I turned back to the little girl who had asked me to play, the feline beast continued to eat her mother's organs as she continued to watch frozen in terror with tears streaming down her cheeks.

A gorilla-like beast noticed her presence and headed towards her. She remained motionless resting her head on her mother's body.

Should I help her? Even with the enhanced body I would not arrive in time, but I can…

I turned my sword back into a bow and shot an arrow of mana at the beast, I had practiced a lot with the bow over the last few months, but wasn't fully proficient yet so I failed to hit it on the neck as expected, but, piercing it chest, I had the same effect. The gorilla fell to the ground writhing in pain, while making noises similar to roars.

The beasts in the square had become too numerous by now, Dozens and dozens of people were being eaten alive in front of our eyes, but we had now made a decision.

"Ready?" Ton asked

"Yes," Gru and I answered in chorus

"Y-yes," Mel said reluctantly.

"Let's go!"

"W-wait!" the little girl's voice resounded from behind

"Ignore it," Ton ordered

Mel looked shocked at the little girl, then resume fighting irritably. "Let's have her come with us, I won't take a no," Mel ordered

"Don't…" Ton was interrupted

"If we don't take her with us then I won't come either!"

"Mel…"

"Let him," Gru said

"but..."

"Ton be a little permissive for once"

"Okay..." he sighed "let's take her with us but you'll take care of Mel to protect her"

"Thank you," replied the boy with the dagger.

"Let's stop and wait for her," Gru ordered.

The little girl cried as she ran towards us, she wiped the tears from her eyes and jumped on me.

"He-hey!"

"You guys are too cute," Mel sarcastically stated.

"I pretend I didn't hear."

The little girl cried against my chest, her tears wet my bloodstained clothes.

"It's all right" I said stroking his head "now we have to go, are you ready?"

The girl didn't answer, she kept crying, at that moment I realized that I had never observed her well, neither she nor any of my mates, I was so caught up in the situation that I didn't even remember their faces.

I pulled the little girl away from me and looked into her eyes, they were huge and light brown, just like her hair, her sweet desperate and terrified look had left me empty, that little girl had seen her mother being eaten alive in front of her eyes, but above all she had to abandon it to save himself.

"Let's go!" yelled Ton.

"Stay behind us and everything will be fine," I explained to the little girl.

"Really? Do you promise me?"

"Sure, what's your name?"

"L-livia"

Even though she seemed calmer her gaze was still gloomy, she had stopped crying, but seeing her so dejected hurt me.

"Let's go Livia" I turned my back on the girl to observe my companions protecting us during our conversation.

Until that moment we limited ourselves to remaining still at one of the entrances to the square, killing the animals that arrived, but now we had to become predators ourselves, running along the street and killing all the monsters that we found in front of us.

We set out on our escape, abandoning everyone to their fate.