Boundless Evolution: The Summoning Beast
Chapter 31: The Battle Erupts

Chapter 31: The Battle Erupts

The party charged past the dilapidated wooden gates of the village, the soldiers moving in disciplined formation while Boy and the feline summon prowled ahead like shadows in the chaos.

The sight of armed reinforcements caught the bandits off guard, momentarily freezing some in their tracks.

A few of the raiders, sensing the immediate threat as the soldiers on horseback pulled out their blades, turned to flee but they were swiftly cut down by the leading soldiers.

Others roared in defiance, unwilling to let their spoils be taken away from them as they rallied to defend their plunder.

The clash began instantly as steel met steel, and the air quickly filled with the cries of the wounded and dying.

The village was in chaos, the heat of the flames mixing with screams and the clashing of steel.

The once-peaceful settlement had completely changed, its streets were now littered with debris with the fallen scattered around.

The soldiers surged forward, disciplined and relentless, cutting through the disorganised groups of bandits as bandit blood quickly began to stain the ground, and the acrid scent of burning wood filled the air.

Boy’s golden eyes locking onto a group of bandits cornering a defenseless villager. The sight of them surrounding the defenseless villager with such evil looks on their faces reminded him of the battlefield- how many had fallen that day and how little life was valued by those who sought only power and destruction.

He hated that feeling... Of not being strong enough to do what he wants.

’I will not let this happen again...’ he resolutely decided as he surged forward.

In an instant, he was among them, his teeth tearing through flesh as his momentum carried him straight in between them and the villager.

The man did not even have a chance to realise what had hit him as he collapsed onto the floor, dead.

[Ding! Killed a F Class Bandit Grunt. 50 exp gained. +5AP]

Another barely had time to raise his weapon before Boy lunged again and clamped his fangs around his throat, ending his life swiftly.

[Ding! Killed a F Class Bandit Grunt. 50 exp gained. +5AP]

Suddenly seeing his comrades swiftly have their lives ended, the last panicked and immediately turned to flee, only to be struck down by a soldier’s spear.

The first area was secured, the soldiers immediately began searching the nearby houses for survivors.

"Are there any survivors?" one of them shouted as he neared a house.

They forced open shattered doors and peered into smoke-filled rooms, but what they found was grim- many homes were already empty with the belongings being messy and strewn all across the floor.

The inhabitants either fled or dragged away.

However, a small number of villagers were not so lucky as their lifeless bodies laid sprawled where they had fallen, cut down in their own homes.

Boy moved alongside them, his mind grappling with the horror around him as he realised how defenseless these villagers were from seeing the expressions of desperation, fear and hopelessness in their faces. The overwhelming scent of blood and smoke filled his nose, burning into his memory.

’War and the battlefield isn’t the only place where cruelty thrives,’ he realised internally as the look on their faces brought up memories of the ritual. The emotions that he displayed if he viewed it in third person, would’ve been similar to the look on the dead villagers.

The existence of such an injustice to Boy was deeply troubling to him and he silently spoke to himself with conviction, ’I am going to kill them all...’

With heavy hearts but no time to grieve, the soldiers and party pressed deeper into the burning village, their boots kicking up dust and embers as they navigated the wreckage.

The further they began to advance, the more brutal the scene became- more and more homes were reduced to smoldering ruins while the bodies of the villagers increasingly began to rise in number and brutality of their killing blows.

A faint cry echoed from one of the alleyways, drawing their attention.

As they turned a corner, they found a group of bandits looting what remained of a small marketplace, shoving stolen goods into sacks as the terrified shopkeeper was cowered in the corner.

The soldiers wasted no time- charging forward with disciplined precision. The bandits barely had time to react before a clash of steel erupted, the once-lawless raiders now suddenly forced into a battle against significantly tougher foes.

Amidst the fighting, Boy moved with lethal speed, as he struck at isolated enemies like a predator in their element. His jaws bit right through an unarmoured bandit’s side from behind as he was preoccupied with looting, a strangled scream escaped from his lips as he crumpled to the ground.

Just as he killed the bandit, his attention was caught onto a rapidly moving bandit.

A wiry man with twin daggers, managed to slip past the front line, his sights set on one of the younger soldiers who was preoccupied with a group of bandits.

There was something strange there too, the soles of the bandit was coated with a layer of aether, resulting in it glowing a pale translucent green.

But it was not the appearance that caught it off-guard, it was the fact that with the pace that the bandit was running, his footsteps should have been audible to everyone nearby... yet, it did not make a sound. He was going to be able to strike freely and the soldier would not even know who and where the attack had come from.

’Behind you,’ Boy hurriedly sent a telepathic message to him as he dashed forward.

"Huh?" The soldier received the message and turned around in shock as the voice was something that he did not recognise but as he turned around, he saw the wiry bandit rushing straight at him and hurriedly created separation between the bandit that he was fighting and him.

The wiry bandit stared at the soldier with shock as he saw him turn...

’How?’ he questioned as he was sure that the soldier would not be able to tell that he was sneaking up on him, ’I used silent steps, how in the world did he sense me?’

But he had charged and committed to the attack that turning back now was no use, his presence had been detected by the soldier so they would be wary of him if he tried another sneak attack.

"Raaah!" he shouted as he raised his sword up, slashing as hard as he could downwards.

The soldier saw the attack coming and prepared a parry.

Shing!

The ear-piercingly shrieking sound of metals scraping against each other sounded as the bandit’s sword found itself embedded into the ground after having its path moved off-center by the soldier’s sword which was also off-balance as a result.

The bandit immediately reacted as he used the sword that was firmly embedded into the ground as leverage and he swung himself forward as he delivered a brutal front kick to the soldier’s mid-section, sending him taking a few steps back before he could gather himself and even caused him to drop his sword too.

’Gotcha...’ the wiry bandit thought as a small smile graced his dry chapped lips as he saw that the soldier was now weaponless.

The bandit then pulled out his sword from the ground with one intense pull, his gaze still focused on the soldier who was staring at him with full focus.

"You are one dumb soldi-"

Chomp!

Before he could finish his sentence, a blur of dark fur intercepted him. Boy moved like a shadow and struck the bandit while his attention was fixed on the soldier, causing him to forget to look at his surroundings.

At that moment, Boy bit down hard on the back of the bandit’s neck. Breaking his spinal cord in one bone-cracking chomp.

The bandit did not even have a chance to realise what had happened as Boy’s momentum sent him to the floor, he died immediately and a system notification rang out.

Having the kill confirmed, Boy lifted his gaze and stared right at the soldier who was also looking back at him.

The soldier’s breath was heavy, his grip tightening around the sword as he processed what had just happened.

A mixture of shock and gratitude flicked across his face, but before he could say anything-

A blur of motion caught Boy’s eye. From the corner of his vision, he saw the bandit that the soldier had initially been fighting lunging towards the distracted soldier, his blade poised to strike again.

’Behind you again,’ Boy sent through telepathy again, his voice sharp and firm.

The soldier reacted instantly, pivoting just in time to raise his blade. The bandit’s attack clashed against his steel, the force sending sparks flying as their weapons met.

However, this bandit was weaker than the wiry one and with a grunt, the soldier shoved the bandit back before driving his sword deep into the enemy’s chest.

The bandit let out a gurgled cry before the soldier kicked him down to the ground to free his sword and the bandit crumpled, dying.

The soldier stood frozen as he gathered himself for a moment, his breathing heavy as he turned around instinctively.

"Thanks for th-" he started, expecting to see a soldier behind him, but there was no one.

His gaze landed on Boy, the only one near him.

His brows furrowed in confusion as he could not understand where the voice had come from but then realisation dawned upon him as Boy was still directly looking at him.

His lips parted as he muttered, "Did you just... speak?"