The lizardlings approaching him were in rough shape. Even though they had protective measures, it just wasn’t enough to shake off a close-range detonation. They came at him, slow and steady behind their shields, with their wand-users casting spells at him, and Ethan only took a few steps toward them in response.

Beyond, the chanting continued, like a countdown in his mind. He had to interrupt them. The high-level ritualists. He had to stop whatever it was that they were doing, but he had to turn his attention to the bunch of warriors at his back.

He shouldn’t let himself be surrounded.

Ethan took a step to the side, pointed a hand backward and drowned the oncoming lizardlings in a gout of concentrated fire.

Shields grew red hot in seconds. Barriers cracked, and armors couldn’t cover the whole body. Certainly not the eyes, unlike the magic bone-armors used by the high-level lizardlings.

The warriors screeched and howled with pain, but Ethan didn’t let off his flamethrower until they’ve gone silent. He was mostly watching the conductors, but he still spared a look behind him. Where there used to be a dozen or so warriors, a mound of charred and smoking flesh littered the cave floor. The only still living lizardlings were further away, and they were already down from the fireball.

Good enough.

Ethan turned his attention back to the ritualists and this time, he threw a fireball at the pyre itself. He was leery of rushing the three conductors, so he hoped his provocation would drag one of them to him. One of them raised a hand, and a new barrier intercepted the blast midway to the pyre, engulfing a handful of chanting lizardlings that died instantly.

Ethan glared at the leading lizardlings. And they glared back.

You don’t want the pyre damaged, huh? How about the singers?

Ethan began burning through the ranks of chanters while the chanting grew more feverish. Something trembled in the air, and Ethan stole a glance toward the fire at the center of the cave. It had surged up. Whatever the lizardlings were doing, it was progressing quicker than Ethan liked.

He cursed. If only he could use the fireball faster.

Ethan resolved himself to take the cast refresh upgrade more seriously in the future.

By the time he’d gotten through half of the chanting lizardlings, one of the leading ritualists pulled out a dagger out of thin air, then stabbed the first kneeling individual in the heart. A moment later, he pushed the dying lizardling in the fire, along with the human head in its lap.

Provocation isn’t working. Plan B.

Ethan abandoned the chanters and rushed at the dagger wielding conductor. He managed five steps before he slammed into a translucent white-tinted wall. To his left, another conductor stepped forward, wand raised, bone-armor ready. It said nothing.

The dagger-wielder stabbed and pushed a second lizardling into the pyre.

Ethan pointed at the wand-wielder and pushed against the barrier with a gout of flame. It lasted for a second before it cracked, making the mage’s slitted eyes narrow. It shook its wand as Ethan rushed it, and another barrier went up right as Ethan’s flames burst toward it.

A third lizardling was thrown into the fire. Ethan didn’t know how many there were, he couldn’t see what was happening behind the pyre.

He punched the barrier and threw as much fire as he could once more, overtaxing the wall of light. It shone brighter for an instant before it cracked like a glass pane and dissolved into motes. Ethan raised his left hand and shot a [Small Fireball] at the defending conductor before it could manage another barrier. A new wall of light appeared and Ethan was about to curse, but he stopped himself and a chuckle escaped his lips. The barrier separated Ethan from the fireball.

It had come up too late.

The spell blew up into the barrier-creator’s face while two more lizardlings were pushed into the fire. Ethan saw two different body parts go flying, one of which he was pretty sure was an arm. A couple of seconds later, he got the notification for its death, but he couldn’t pay attention to it. The fires of the pyre were growing wilder and brighter.

Ethan raised his arm and aimed at the dagger-wielder as it plunged its dagger into another glassy-eyed lizardling and before he could shoot, a part of his mind ground to a halt. Something was off with the scene ahead of him. Something very important. As panic filled his chest, he realized what was off.

Wasn’t there a third shaman?

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

In the same instant he realized one of his opponents had disappeared, Ethan felt the air right next to him move. He barely had enough time to flare his flames around him and to raise his arms to protect his neck and chest when the third lizardling shed its invisibility and stabbed.

Ethan felt the cold metal sink into his side. The blade sunk into him like a punch in his gut, cutting and tearing. The shock was distracting, as well as the odd sensation of cold metal against his flesh, but it was all wrenched away and smothered with another wave of pain when the lizardling pulled its dagger out, twisting for good measure.

Air escaped out of his lungs through his gritting teeth and Ethan stumbled along with the dagger. The lizardling began fading once more, reactivating its invisibility when Ethan pointed with his palm and grinned with bloodied teeth.

“Fuck you.”

A narrow gout of intense fire surged at the almost invisible lizardling. Ethan saw its eyes go wide right before fire engulfed it and it screeched. Not even the bone armor was enough for this new focused flamethrower.

A couple of seconds later, Ethan heard the thud and stopped the stream. He turned, flaming hand on his bleeding gut and walked toward the last shaman, leaving the charred remains of the second.

Ethan aimed at the last one and shot a fireball. He didn’t look if it landed or not, instead, he pulled his level notifications and dumped every new stat point he had access to in Toughness.

You have defeated [Lizardling - Level 19]

…

You have defeated [Lizardling (I) - Level 32]

You have reached Level 27. 1 stat point awarded.

…

You have reached Level 30. 1 stat point awarded.

Side quest was updated.

Warning. Cannot level further at the moment.

Lesser Wand of the Fire Elemental: 31 fragments collected.

…

Lesser Wand of the Fire Elemental: 45 fragments collected.

Ethan grimaced from the sharp pain as he dismissed the message, while another lizardling was pushed into the fire.

Blocked from leveling? Shit. I can’t look at the quest right now… but the stat points should help.

Ethan raised a hand and shot another fireball at the pyre, only for one of the chanters to run and jump in its path.

“Forgot about these.”

They were mostly under level 20. Too busy with the ritual to be of any danger to him compared to the leaders, and in any case, there weren’t that many of them left. If Ethan was to put a number on the surviving lizardlings, he’d say there were ten at most, with only one being dangerous to him.

The remaining ritualist has to die.

Ethan felt a worrying wave of hot and cold in his stomach. He pushed more fire on the stab wound and forced himself not to panic.

Think of something else. Where’s that last lizard?

Pain continued pulsing in his stomach, and Ethan felt cold sweat bead down his back. It wasn’t a great sign. He tried to shape the flames of his left hand into some sort of wrap around his midsection.

Finally, he laid eyes on the remaining shaman. The lizardling was holding its bloodied knife against its second palm and as Ethan met the reptilian’s gaze, he thought he saw a gleam of triumph in them, right before it sliced its palm open and let the blood flow over the flames.

The fire surged up in a column of bright yellow flames, making contact with the cave’s ceiling for a few seconds and then—it winked out.

“A master!” screeches the shaman as it fell to its knees, and its call was echoed by the remaining lizardlings. “A master comes! To guide us! To SAVE US.”

“TO SAVE US,” echoed the rest.

Ethan gritted his teeth from the pain. Still, he frowned. It was as if they forgot all about him. Looking down at the pyre—or what remained of it—he saw blackened bones. Charred flesh and, in their midst, an ember.

A large one. At least a couple of feet wide. Glowing red lines were spreading among its surface and from the bones, a glowing mist was flowing into the ember. Fragments.

Ethan saw something move in the corner of his eye and tensed, but it was only more fragments flowing toward the ember from all around the room.

The young man blinked, and his mouth opened in disbelief. Wait…My fragments!

But it was too late. The fragments were sucked in in a matter of seconds. The cracks in the ember deepened, spreading out all over the surface and then, the first chunk fell out. Another was kicked out, and a gout of flame surged out of the egg as whatever was within it tried to break free and then, as if it got annoyed, the ember exploded in deflagration of fire and embers.

The flame faded. Ethan’s eyebrows shot up at what he saw, then he stilled when he saw its levels.

“No… no no nononono!”

The shaman lizardling clawed at its face, surprising both Ethan and the newcomer, who didn’t seem to enjoy being startled like that.

“It is not one of the masters! It’s—aaaaAAAAAH.”

The lizardling was drowned into a gout of flame at least twice as wide and intense as the best Ethan could manage. Then, the creature turned its attention to the rest of the cavern and its gaze finally landed on Ethan.

The creature’s pupils dilated, as it began walking toward him. Small wisps of fire danced all around its fur, its legs, and over its ears whenever it moved. As if the flames had always been around the creature’s small body, and it just needed to move for them to be revealed.

[Feline Fire Elemental (I) - Level 50]

Ethan swallowed and restrained himself from panicking as he eyed the fire-cat that slowly, confidently was making its way toward him and he only had one thought as flames danced around his stabbed stomach.

I wish I had some cat treats on me.