"Lizards everywhere!"
They swarmed us from the Imperial Road to the north or poured out from the western forest, and the goblin captain Avalon struggled to keep his distance on his raptor.
"Hold the line!" He shouted as the first wave of arrows landed behind him. I was eager to fight but didn't expect this much opposition.
"Ember, do something already!" The beastmen Captain yelled at me. Not that I idled around, but he lost his usual cool after hearing about the enemy shamans. Well, I was surprised too, they said three villages were nearby. I expected a hundred or so warriors, but they kept coming, already outnumbering us five to one.
"Firewall!" My arms reached out, and my palms formed a barrier. I materialized it a safe distance from our troops, and a single spark lit them all. With so many flammable materials, it wasn't hard to imagine them burning. And no, I didn't have to announce my spells, but it was so much cooler that way. It helped me visualize the burning flames, the trembling air, and the heat. The things I loved the most in this world.
Some enemies were already too close and got through, the rest running straight into my flames and met their glorious end in the fire. The smell of burnt flesh filled my nostrils, but it wasn't that bad by any means. I wondered how the roasted reptile meat tasted while our vanguard cut down the rest, ogres and hobs did not mess around.
Their next wave stopped before the fire. They tried to flank it from both sides, but most hesitated, giving time to our archers to thin them out. I opened small windows in the fire to observe them, the flames danced the exact way I wanted.
"They are coming around, hold the flanks!" Gorgon yelled next to me. He calmed down a bit, shouting orders to each platoon individually. Beastmen commanders were rare, and our kind who served the Demon Lord in general. I wondered why.
Goblins flocked to him in droves, but they weren't exactly born for combat. Avalon for example was too small and couldn't even hold a large bow. He didn't have an affinity for magic either, lacking any redeeming qualities. Gorgon on the other hand was strong, although he couldn't control his magicules either, but had impressive bull horns and a tail.
He was a rare beastfolk since most of us resembled cats or wolves. He looked almost like a minotaur, which should have warranted a much higher rank for him in my eyes if only he weren't too old for me...
He got me sidetracked in the heat of the battle, but it was time for my next move. If the lizards refused to walk into my flames, I just had to move it for them. They were supposed to like warm things after all...
"Rolling fire," I announced, and the wall expanded. Looking more like a cylinder, it moved slowly toward the enemy lines, burning everything in its path.
"Ember, get down, don't just stand there!" Avalon shouted once he dismounted, taking cover behind a cart, but I couldn't tell what he was on about. I was clearly in control of the entire area until at least one more moment...
A lightning bolt came crashing down near me with a crackle, and I didn't like that...
"Fireball!" I yelled at the clouds that were still forming, dissipating them instantly. The ball of flame appeared like the sun in the night sky, lighting up the battlefield, although I couldn't create one that could rival a celestial body yet.
Some lizards approached from the east. They must have been the ones who chased us earlier, and it annoyed me that I couldn't persuade them to give up on that. Some shamans waited for me to take care of them as well, and as the goblin claimed earlier, they all seemed to be aiming for me now.
"First platoon, keep your position. Second, set up defenses on the right flank!" Avalon shouted, peeking out behind his cover. "Third platoon, archers, eliminate the enemy spellcasters."
"No need, I'm on it," I claimed, noticing a lizardfolk glow in the distance. Spirits liked to do flashy things while casting magic. I couldn't blame them, but it made the shamans easy to spot in the middle of the night. They lit up like candles after my fireball disappeared but I could make them glow even brighter than that. "Firebolt!"
All flammable gases from the air were extracted around me and then compressed before I sent them the spellcaster's way. I only added the sparks once they connected, and the lizards got their small, personalized fireballs. They went out gloriously together, but more started glowing not far away. They got the same treatment, but one would not have it.
He was too far from me to see what happened, but my bolt veered off to the left and exploded prematurely. My firewall moved slowly and was too far from him, but I didn't have time for another spell. The lizards finally reached our second platoon while the archers rained down their arrows, and while they held out, they were about to be overwhelmed. I needed to deal with the magicians too.
A tornado appeared out of nowhere, extinguishing my firewall, and not only that, but it came toward our lines at high speed. The vanguard got thrown out of the way like they were nothing, but some lizardmen became victims of it too. They weren't playing nice.
"Run, don't get caught up in that!" Gorgon shouted to the soldiers, but I felt like he overreacted. I just needed a way to stop the thing before it reached me... I had so many options. To be fair, only fire-related spells came to mind, but why change a tactic if it works? I could disrupt the unstable hot and cold air inside the cone and boil away all the humidity inside... Without them, the tornado would collapse.
And what better way to do all that, other than a big sphere of flames?
"Fireball!" I yelled and made it explode right in the eye of the storm. It spewed out all the debris and the people it shallowed beforehand, then ceased to exist. With no time to celebrate, I considered sending a heatwave towards the right flank.
Lizardmen liked warm, but I was curious how hot was too much. The one I sent could easily make their clothes spontaneously combust, and their screams told me, they didn't enjoy it. I saw small but sharp icicles flying toward me a moment later, coming from the direction of the shaman I missed earlier. With barely enough time to raise a heat shield around myself, I managed to melt the icicles right before impact.
That guy wanted me gone, and I found that rude. He tried to bully the only girl in the area, me being the youngest too, but far from defenseless. And eager to punish bullies...
They aimed for me, but tracing back their attacks I knew where to shoot as well. They must have thought about it though, because the next few spells manipulated the ground around me, instead of striking directly. My legs sunk into quicksand, and I had to turn it into glass.
They could no longer control that, and it gave me another idea. I created a few more pockets of glassed sand near the second platoon, and every time the lizards got near one, I increased the pressure and temperature until they burst, sending molten glass into their faces.
The attacks kept coming and I struggled to find their sources. It was annoying, but nothing I couldn't handle. My response needed to be swift, and efficient, a very innovative solution that nobody expected from me, and I had just the thing.
"Inferno!" My shout echoed in the night, drawing a big circle around my body. It unleashed all the heat energy the rocks of the Imperial Road stored during the sunny day. All, that still resonated in the air from my previous attacks and even the body heat of the soldiers. It was all focused on a single point, barely the size of an atom. I squeezed and squeezed it in my mind.
I released it about a hundred yards from our first line of defense, and it exploded in the middle of the enemy, engulfing everything instantly. That hundred yards between the epicenter and our lines got obliterated by the huge firestorm, replaced by a sea of flames.
Of course, I made sure not to hit our warriors with it, but the shockwave was enough to knock over a few wagons. My ears rang for a while, the only sound that reached me was the calming crackles of a forest fire. No more shouting, no more clangs of clashing weapons...
The orcs silently stared at the place where the swarms of their enemies stood moments ago. The trees in that area practically evaporated, the rest burning like candles. It was so beautiful that I felt a tingling sensation in my tummy. The others looked a bit shocked though...
"W-what the hell was that?" Gorgon stared at me with his jaw dropped. Avalon left his cover too, scratching his head. The orcs had to pull back because of the immense heat, but they had no reason to keep their formations anyway. The lizards were gone, every single one of them.
A note to self, I should have used this spell more often. It wasn't even offensive magic, it was art itself. Nothing could survive that. I waited for the praises of the horned captain, but he just stared into the fire, mesmerized like me.
I truly gave it my all and started laughing.
The tingling sensation got stronger, and my tail and entire back arched. My body started to tense up, and my eyes rolled back into their sockets, muscles convulsing rhythmically, wave after wave. My legs shook so much that it was impossible to remain standing over our camp as I watched the burning battlefield.
As beautiful as it was, that last spell might have used up too much of my mana. I was about to pass out, but only after finishing a perfect job.
It was a well-earned rest, my lips stretched into a satisfied grin. The shaking intensified, and my laughter became louder, almost hysterical until I struggled to breathe. My body tensed up again, and my legs gave out. I collapsed into the ground, still glassed after one of my spells. Warm and smooth like my thighs that shook violently...