Boundless Evolution: The Summoning Beast
Chapter 32: Change In Perspective

Chapter 32: Change In Perspective

Amidst the carnage, Boy’s ear twitched, catching the faint cries of terror from within a partially collapsed home. The house was deeply doused in flames but Boy could hear the cries of a small group of villagers trapped inside.

Focusing his view, in between the fan of flames, he was able to see a mother shielding her two young children from hot debris from the burning structure which was threatening to collapse upon them.

The scarred veteran leading the soldiers barked out orders, "Push forward! Secure the villagers and eliminate every last one of these bastards!"

His eyes then fell on Boy, "Hyena! Watch the left flank!"

However, his words seemed to fall on deaf ears as Boy moved, his focus elsewhere.

Boy bolted forward, ignoring the veteran’s command. He reached the doorway just as the roof gave way, a massive wooden beam crashing toward the family.

With a powerful leap, he barged into the beam mid-air, breaking it and sending it off-course with his weight, allowing the remains to scatter around the trio, not harming them other than through small wisps of flames.

The woman immediately gasped, staring up at the dark-furred beasts that had just saved their lives but instead of gratitude, there was fear as she clutched her children tightly and stared fiercely at Boy, standing protectively before them.

Boy, still too focused on saving them, did not pay attention to this and immediately turned around and began slamming his paws on the debris, pushing them to the side as he carved a clear path through the debris.

The mother gasped, clutching her children tightly as she looked around for any debris that might fall down on them as a result of the vibrations of Boy’s powerful paws.

Having cleared the path, Boy turned back and made his way back revealing the outside world.

He walked to the mother and nudged her with his nose, urging them forward.

The mother seemed to immediately pick up on this and as she scrambled to her feet, bringing her children up and they ran out following the path he had created.

And just in the nick of time, the moment they had cleared the wreckage, the structure gave way completely, collapsing into a pile of ash and rubbled.

Boy exhaled sharply, relieved as he had saved them but as he made it out, he knew there were still more who needed him.

The trio that he had saved were trembling as relief spread through them. The two children are looking outside and suddenly let out gasps, their eyes lighting up with recognition. Without hesitation, they bolted past him, rushing toward the feline summon, who was standing in the middle of the area that had been cleared.

"Big sis!" one of them cried, throwing himself into the older girl’s arms.

The girl immediately heard a familiar voice and as she turned around, she also ran towards them, limping. She stumbled slightly before hugging them tightly, her own fear momentarily replaced by relief. Tears streaked down their soot-covered faces as they clung to each other.

The mother exhaled sharply, watching her children run towards the girl, then she turned her gaze back to Boy. Her expression was a mixture of exhaustion and deep gratitude, "you saved us..."

She dipped her head in a respectful bow as she said softly, "thank you, truly."

Boy gave her a faint nod before he returned to the fight.

However, the veteran soldier had seen what Boy had just done as he had briefly stopped to watch what Boy was doing right after disobeying his orders.

But after seeing the three villagers that Boy had saved, a newfound respect flickered in his gaze, "That summon... he found survivors that we would have not known were there..."

The cries of the trapped and wounded filled Boy’s ears, cutting through the clash of steel and roars of battle. He had seen enough death- he would not let anymore villagers perish here if he could do anything about it.

He let his natural senses open up to their fullest and found instinct screaming at him to move, and he obeyed without hesitation.

Shadows of the Pack!

With a flicker of aether, three shadowy duplicates of Boy emerged, each one an ephemeral extension of himself. They moved with eerie precision, their forms like living shadows as they darted away to locate other trapped villagers, weaving through burning debris to reach them before the flames could consume their shelters.

One stood its ground against a collapsing wall, pushing against the crumbling structure long enough for an elderly man to limp away.

The other intercepted a bandit mid-swing as he attempted to strike down a fleeing woman, biting down hard on his hand to make him drop his weapons and unable to pick it up again.

The final one, swift and silent, was gathering the villagers that had been saved through the chaos, guiding them to the feline which had become the gathering point for all the saved villagers.

The real Boy moved independently, lunging towards another collapsing structure, where a family cowered beneath the remains of a broken roof.

A massive wooden beam, weakened by fire, creaked ominously above them. He burst through the doorway, gripping the beam with his claws and using all his strength to shove it aside before it could crush them.

The mother clutched her child, sobbing in relief, before Boy nudged them to escape from the house.

As he came out of the house, he found that a villager had run up to him, desperation etched into his soot-covered face, "Please! My brother- he’s still inside!"

Boy did not hesitate as he darted into the burning house that the villager was pointing to, the heat searing his fur as he navigated the collapsing interior which was literally on its final legs.

But his sharp eyes were able to find the unconscious man trapped beneath fallen rubble. With a power body slam, he managed to push apart the debris that was one the man before Boy hoisted the man onto his back but as he did so, he found that the man slipped off.

Without the man holding on too, there was no way for him to be carried on Boy’s back.

Thinking quickly, Boy opened his mouth and bit down on the man’s forearm, firm enough to not lose him but also delicate enough to not cut into his arm. With this, he then began to move out and brought out the unconscious man from the house which soon gave away and fell, sweeping up dust and dirt everywhere around it.

The rescued villager took his brother into his arms as Boy released him, weeping "you save him! Thank you so much!"

Boy replied with the same curt nod before he continued moving, there were still more to rescue.

The veteran soldier who had tried to command him earlier observed everything, he witnessed Boy tirelessly pulling villagers from danger and even his shadow clones doing so. And with each person that thanked him, he gave a nod.

Initially, he had brushed it off as a coincidence but now it was crystal clear. He saw coordination, the intelligence behind the summon’s actions- it was beyond anything he had ever seen from a creature before.

And it was not just him, the other soldiers too had taken notice as they watched Boy rescuing villagers silently with the same determination that they, as soldiers, had sworn to uphold.

With a grunt, the veteran turned back to his men, raising his voice for all to hear, "The hyena will save the villagers! He knows what he is doing! Focus all efforts on taking down the bandits!"

His command rang clear, cutting through the chaos as the actions of Boy had filled the soldiers with renewed vigor.

They could not let a hyena act so determinedly and not match it.

’He’s more than a beast...’ the veteran soldier thought as he saw Boy moving without a shred of hesitation into the burning buildings, ’Darius, my old friend, is this what you saw in him?’

The old commander’s image burned in his mind, memories of his former comrade, his friend, surfacing for a brief moment before he clenched his jaw. He exhaled, his grip tightening as he charged forth once again to strike down another bandit.

As the soldier pushed forward, the tides of the raid had begun to turn in their favour. The village was still burning, but now there was hope- a positive end to the chaos in sight.

Yet, just as the defenders began gaining momentum, a chilling presence washed over the battlefield.

Without warning, a soldier was sent flying backwards, his body crashing into the dirt with a sickening thud.

The impact sent a ripple of unease through the ranks as the man groaned in pain, clutching his side. The veteran soldier turned sharply, his instincts screaming before his mind could even process the danger.

From the heart of the village, amidst the smoke and destruction, a heavy-set figure emerged. Unlike the other bandits, who fought with reckless desperation, this one moved with an unshakable confidence as he approached slowly. His armour, though pieced together from various different sources, was well-kept, and the massive, curved blade resting against his shoulder gleamed ominously in the firelight of the evening sun.

At his arrival, savage cheers and a boost in morale burst out from the bandits... Their leader had come!