Austin was not sure how Zach had managed to get all the Scouters already in the Labyrinth to come to their aid in such a short amount of time, but he was sure glad he had 𑁋 The battle would've definitely been lost to Austin and Aaron had they stayed fighting by themselves with their unconscious friend slowing them down.
As the Scouts charged, Austin took immediate notice of the 12 scouts, including Aaron, their unconscious friend, Trevor, and himself. But what surprised Austin most wasn't the fact that they outnumbered the 6 Annihilators, but the use of astonishing teamwork during battle.
Paired by twos, each pair of Scouts faced one Annihilator. Their in-sync movements are so fluid - so easy-seeming - that Austin understood a little more why scouts scouted the Labyrinth in pairs, but not the same pair every time: It is to get used to and familiar with one another not just as scouts, but also as wingmen and comrades - Brothers in a hellish place who'd fight for each other.
It dawned on Austin that their greatest weapons might have not even been their wooden spears with stone, razorsharp tips or the daggers and knives they had on them or even the pistols some of them possessed, but the familiarity they have with one another after years of being forced to work together.
'Focus,' Austin heard the Voice say in his head. 'We have to face the one before us, Austin.'
"The others can handle their own enough. You need to handle the one in front of us, Newbie." Aaron interrupted Austin's thoughts, pointing at the Annihilator In front of Austin, its eyes like a predator singling out it's prey, reading to attack. "I'll keep Trevor safe, Austin. You need to handle it, Newbie."
As Austin prepared to take a step forward, the beast must've sensed he was about to attack it because he hadn't even had the chance to load his crossbow before the Annihilator charged him.
Thankfully, he had already edged up far enough away from Aaron and Trevor so that they are not in the beast's line of attack. The good news was that Aaron and Trevor wouldn't be it's line of attack - They weren't where it's sole attention was focused on. Bad news: Austin was.
The beast leaped forward, tackling Austin backwards, into his back. Thankfully, Austin had unsheathed his short dagger and barely managed to keep the beast's from digging it's venomous claws and fangs into his flesh, but he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to do it and the creature was powerful, as well - and relentless. It took all Austin had to keep the claws and fangs from his face and any vital organs, but he knew that, if he stayed under this monster much longer,he'd get his head bitten from his body or a claw or fang to his chest and heart. He needed to get form under this monster, or he'll perish horribly real soon.
His senses had him vaguely aware of the battle around him. He sensed Zach and Atlanna's battle and how Atlanna fired the beast with multiple bow shots of arrows and how Zach, seeing their opponent is caught off guard by the arrows stuck inside the side of it's head, howling a monstrous roar of pain and rage, faced it head-on, used his spear to stab through the heart and diminished it by using his remaining blade and leaping in it's feline-lick back, to repetitively jab it into it's back, causing suckly greyish green liquids to squirt from it's wounds as it fell face first to the ground, motionless and dead.
Austin sensed another pair of scouts he had not really known the names of handling their own on either side of him. One of the pairs had brought their Annailator opponent down around the same time as Zach and Atlanna, but the other pair wasn't so lucky. This pair both were slashed up and both were on the brink of death, and, as their opponent came in for the kill, they both threw their flaming torches into the beast's wide-open jaws of death. Just before it could reach them to finish the job, still mid-leap, it instantly overheated, turning red from it's insides, and, as greyish green liquids, bolts and screws and nasty, greenish, veiny organs flew everywhere, the two who had been horribly slashed and bitten, collapsed, either dead or unconscious, Austin couldn't have been sure.
Other scout pairs were having a little better luck with their own battles,but Austin forced himself to stay focused on his own battle. Shifting his neck side to side, avoiding claws and fangs to the head, neck and face by deflecting and blocking the Annihilator on top of him with his crossbow in his hand, Austin struggled to keep the beast's jaw of razors from biting his face off.
As he struggled to get from under him, an idea came to him. It was crazy but he was desperate at this point. And, as he thought more and more to the fight with those attackers in the chamber the other day on the way to the Meadows, and then how that same voice that only he could hear seemed to have helped him navigate through many dangerous positions, giving him strength he hadn't known he'd had while also providing the feeling that something else was controlling his body and he was only a passenger enjoying the ride… Well, it made the idea that he was even thinking this was possible even crazier. But, again, Austin was desperate.
'Whoever you are, whatever you are,' Austin thought, unsure if he's thinking to someone actually in his head or just stresses of his messe up life shattering his psyche. 'Please, help me save my friends. Help me fight.'