Doro came to a halt directly beneath that person. It spread its limbs and sent its soul power into the earth around it, controlling the environment to move according to its will. It created a deep hole directly beneath the summoner's feet. Then, without warning, Doro reached out of the ground and grabbed their ankle.
That man's terrified scream rang out over the chaos of the battle. His two summons, a stag beetle and a porcupine, looked at him in confusion. Before anyone could figure out what was happening, he disappeared into the ground, leaving a suspicious mound of soft dirt behind.
Underground, Dodo’s strong hands held onto the struggling human as if he was a slippery fish. Doro squeezed both hands together, bending the man’s spine backward. He screamed pitifully, his mouth and lungs filling with dirt. A moment later, his life came to an inglorious end, out of sight of his companions, man or beast. Doro didn’t make a sound, completely unimpressed by such a weak enemy.
The two summons above ground suddenly froze as if struck dumb. They blinked their eyes rapidly like they had suddenly awoken from a long dream. The porcupine let out a joyful cry and ran off into the deep jungle. The stag beetle followed not long after, flying aimlessly, without purpose for the first time in a long while.
Their summoner was dead. Doro had snapped the man in two as easily as breaking a dry branch. Trapped beneath the ground, his fate had been sealed.
And when he died, the active soul bonds he had with his summons were broken. The stag beetle and the porcupine became wild beasts once more. They didn't retain any sense of kinship and fled at the first opportunity. Such was the relationship between humans and Ensouled they had captured by force. The only thing holding their loyalty was the mysterious powers of the soul and that soul no longer existed.
After this, the tide of battle quickly turned. The attacking summons retreated into the jungle, some in good order under the command of their summoners, some fleeing for their lives as if nothing else mattered. A short while later, there was nothing left but silence, the ambush was over.
Heather groaned in pain as she stood up from behind her cover. She surveyed the scene, the wounded which included both summoners and their summons. It was a miserable sight. The battle was costly for both sides. It seemed so pointless.
"Careful everyone. Make sure to reestablish our scouting perimeter," She said.
After catching her breath, she brought two summoning cards to her brow and summoned a large rat and another parrot.
"Hazel, Terry, keep an eye out for intruders."
Stolen story; please report.
Following her lead, Carlos and Nellie also summoned a few critters to replace those that had been lost.
Zachary summoned Timber and let it fly into the trees. The mantis did not specialize in scouting but it was competent enough to serve as a sentry. He then recalled Blue which fluttered out of the canopy and onto his head.
It looked like it had suffered a fright. Its plumage was in disarray and it was missing a few feathers. He was thankful the silly bird was still alive.
"Zach, come here. Shuhua needs help," Heather said.
Zachary went over and found her in terrible shape. The poison was spreading rapidly, having already reached her neck and across her chest. Without bothering to negotiate or ask for favors, he knelt beside her and activated Wander's healing powers using ability summoning. A soft green glow covered his palm and he pressed it against her skin. She winced at first but her knotted brow gradually relaxed. As the poison receded, she let out a sigh and slumped to the side in a dead faint.
"How is she?" Carlos asked.
"She'll be fine." Zachary said, "She'll wake up after a good nap."
"Great, can I get a little help here too?" Nellie asked.
She was slumped beside a tree nearby. She couldn't even get up and was sitting on the ground. Zachary went over and helped heal the deep cuts on her legs. It was a simple task. It took far less energy than neutralizing poison.
After he was done, he turned to Heather, "What about you? Any quills this time?"
"No.” She smiled wryly. She quickly sobered and let out a heavy sigh, "But our summons are wounded. Toby is in really bad shape. Shuhua’s Wisteria also got torn up. The Dark Star Gang, they got us good this time."
"Don't be so glum, it’s not like they escaped unscathed," Jean-Pierre said when he finally reappeared.
A black cloud flew overhead and dropped him onto the ground. He was he was carrying a limp body on one shoulder, a woman.
"She’s dead. She’s from the Dark Star Gang but I’m sure you’ve guessed that already." He replied, answering their questioning gazes, "Most of her good summons ran away but there are still some decent ones. Anybody care for some giant bugs?"
He held up three summoning cards in one hand while holding more in the other, acting like a door-to-door salesman.
"Any takers? No?”
Nellie glanced at the cards and scoffed, “Lucky you. I tried to get one of them with my chameleon hunter but he had quick reflexed.”
She beckoned with her fingers and a large multi-colored lizard appeared on the tree trunk beside her. It had come back without being noticed, perfectly camouflaged against the tree bark. She fed it a piece of fruit and rubbed its head. It then turned to Jean-Pierre and hissed, revealing rows of sharp teeth.
“Ooo, scary,” Jean-Pierre said playfully, “Zach, what about you? Want some bugs?”
Zachary made a face.
Jean-Pierre chuckled, “My good brother, why don't you show us your spoils from the battle?"
"Okay," Zachary said and beckoned to the ground by his feet.
Doro appeared as a mountain of earth. It flung a body to the ground beside his feet, the enemy it had killed. Zachary quickly rummaged through their belongings and examined their stack of summoning cards. Most of them were creatures commonly found throughout the jungle but one of them happened to be at the adept rank, a flower demon. He kept that one and showed the rest to the others.
Jean-Pierre clicked his tongue in disapproval, "Such poor bastards."
“Really poor,” Zachary agreed, “I’ll trade you this swamp rat for your purple butterfly.”
“Deal!”
Heather shook her head, "You two are assholes."