Being a Summoner on our Evolved Earth

Helping others to pass a test part 3 (12)

When Lucia no longer felt like she was being pushed around, she cautiously opened her eyes to see a deciduous forest full of lush greenery. Her skeletal soldier was offering her a hand to help her up. Lucia took her soldier's hand and stood up while looking around for Xantos. Xantos was not too far away scanning the surroundings with a serious expression.  Just as Lucia was about to call out to him they heard a bunch of screams and shouts in the distance.

"Did you hear that?" Xantos turned to Lucia and asked slightly panicked.

"Yes... Should we investigate?" Lucia asked hesitantly. The confusion of being in an unknown environment and unaware of the possible threats had them both anxious.

"I guess so." Xantos replied as he fought back his panic.  Lucia quickly caught up to him as her mission was to keep him alive. They didn't have to walk for long as the trees became less and they soon saw a small village. It was full of huts made of wood, mud, and leaves. However, many huts had lit on fire and they could see ants moving in and out of the village. The ones leaving were carrying chunks of flesh or body parts that looked human. Just at a glance, they saw more than seven flame ants.

"Great, more ants..." Xantos sighed exasperatedly. Then he realized the body parts were humanoid appearance and he looked horrified. Lucia was looking pale from recognizing the body parts as she felt her legs starting to go weak. She used her staff like a walking stick to keep herself standing.

"This... How much stronger are we than normal people that they can't even fight flame ants?" Lucia asked, her voice despairing.

"I mean... I don't know, but this does not bode well." Xantos replied with a bit of worry on his face now.

"We should still try to help them? I only see flame ants and not armored or bigger." Lucia said as she could feel strength returning to her limbs from the adrenaline that started coursing throughout her body.

"Yeah. Let's see if we can help them out... Whoever is left..." Xantos said and entered stealth.

"I'll distract them I suppose." Lucia responded as she sent her skeletal soldier over to fight the ants after reapplying the buffs. 

The ants entering the village quickly notice the skeletal soldier that showed clear hostility towards them. At least five ants started to attack while two that were carrying food to a shallow food pile moved to finish their duty faster. These ants were easily squashed by her skeletal soldier and Xantos  hit and run strategy. The flame ants were cleaned up quickly outside the village, so they moved into the burning village. There were a few corpses on the ground or in the huts with chunks of flesh or limbs missing. 

Xantos and Lucia felt like they were facing a natural disaster for the first time, yet continued to press forward to save any survivors. Soon they saw a couple flame ant corpses as well, letting them sigh in relief that people seemed to have some ability to defend themselves. They could still hear shouts not too far away so they picked up their pace. Soon they saw a barricaded area with several humans wielding wood spears with stone heads None of them were even wearing leather armor. In the back of the barricades were several civilians and children who desperately passed rock bowls full of water over the barricades to keep them from lighting aflame. There was a river less than a dozen feet behind them that the ants didn't seem to want to bother crossing. There were three armored ants attempting to ram the barricades while a flame ant stood on each of their backs to spit flames at the spear wielders. The people and fighters all looked worried or horrified at the face of impending doom.

"Try to peel one of them away from the barrier at a time?" Xantos suggested.

"My soldier tanked three armored ants before, and he can do it again." Lucia said as she picked up some fallen wood spears from the corpses to pass to her skeletal soldier. "Throw these spears at the armored ants."