Flames of the Lamia Queen
“Fools, daring to invade my domain.”
The queen’s voice was majestic yet menacing. With a single sweep of her hand, flames sharpened into blades, blocking their path.
“We can block this attack!” Adria raised her sword again. But the queen’s next assault mocked her resolve, surging even fiercer. The flames twisted in midair like a massive serpent, crashing down toward Adria.
“Ngh!” She parried with her flame-wreathed blade, but the heat pierced her body like needles.
“Professor!”
“I’ll help!” Elisha and Melina fired arrows and spells to support Adria, but the queen’s flames shifted like living things, devouring their attacks.
“Magic won’t work through these flames!” Elisha cried out in shock.
Adria caught her breath and gripped her sword tighter. Sweat trickling from her brow sizzled on the blade, rising in steam. Lamiel’s flames crushed the air around them, making even breathing labored under the weight.
“We need a concentrated strike together. All at once!” At Adria’s desperate call, Eily, Elisha, Melina, and Varis moved to their positions. Eily darted with swift footwork into Lamiel’s blind spot, slashing her sword. Elisha tried weakening the flames with ice magic. Melina loosed arrows infused with wind, aiming for vulnerabilities.
“Foolish whelps. Do you think banding together will defeat me?” The queen remained composed. A low chuckle escaped her lips, echoing across the battlefield. She raised one hand skyward, and a massive fireball began forming overhead. It pulsed like a beating heart, its heat cracking the scorched earth.
“We have to block it!” Varis hefted his greatsword high and charged, swinging with full force. But Lamiel’s tail coiled around his blade, flinging him away. He crashed into a tree, his iron armor clanging.
“Varis!” Melina shouted. But her arrow vanished into smoke against Lamiel’s flame barrier. Elisha kept trying to nullify the queen’s magic, but the flames consumed her ice, closing in on her.
“A gap—!”
“Where do you think you’re going!” Eily seized the moment to thrust at the queen’s side, but Lamiel’s animal instincts and reflexes countered with her tail, toppling Eily and slamming down.
“Ah!”
“We need to combine our strength!” Adria cried, raising her sword high. It glowed red, vibrating as if alive.
“Elisha, use ice to hold back the flames as much as you can! Melina, wind alone is just fanning the blaze!”
Elisha chanted with trembling hands. Ice formed at her fingertips, clashing with the flames, but the queen’s magic melted it like snow.
“If we do it like this…!” Melina tried channeling wind currents onto Elisha’s ice to chill the air, but Lamiel laughed mockingly and unleashed another torrent of flame.
“Pointless.” With a wave, the flames became a massive wave, bearing down on them all.
“Ngh, Goddess… hear my prayer. In this trial, be our single ray of light and protect us!” Adria shut her eyes tight and plunged her sword into the ground. A barrier of light erupted around her, halting part of the flames. But it couldn’t hold long. Her stamina drained rapidly in the inferno, and the queen’s power was overwhelming.
“How is she this strong…?” Elisha gasped, her face pale with exhaustion.
“It’s not over yet!” Varis rose again, shouting as he gripped his greatsword with both hands and advanced.
But Lamiel was still at ease. She lowered one hand and declared, “I’ll end this.”
In an instant, the flames writhed like serpentine avatars around her. They formed a massive shape resembling a wingless dragon, awaiting her command.
“How do we even…?” Eily swallowed hard.
But Adria gritted her teeth and raised her sword again. “We can’t retreat!” Her voice shook, but her resolve was ironclad. “If we don’t finish it here, it’s all over…!”
Determination burned in Adria’s eyes. Yet the reality was dire. Drenched in sweat amid the cruel, searing flames, every breath brought burning agony, and thinning oxygen allowed no respite.
“Heh heh, I admire your guts.” Perhaps this was the queen’s strategy. Lamia required far less breath and oxygen than humans, letting her smile leisurely in the same hellish conditions.
“Can you endure this too?!” Lamiel thrust her hand forward, and the burning serpent shape let out a shrill cry as it lunged at them.
“Everyone, to me…!!” In that moment, Elisha recalled something and gathered them close, chanting a spell.
“Great Spirit of Ice, shelter us in your protection, lend us a fragment of your pure crystalline power!”
Thick ice walls formed like a bunker around them. The coolness was a brief relief in the heat, but the fierce crackling outside kept them on edge. Whoosh—crackle crackle— The ominous sounds fueled their imaginations. Adria’s face especially betrayed hidden anxiety.
“Ngh…!!” Elisha’s hands on the ground glowed intensely blue as she strained to maintain the ice. Her pained groans showed the ferocity of her resistance.
“Hah… hah…” As the flames finally subsided, Elisha’s strength gave out. Though enemies, Lamiel looked down on them with approval for blocking her attack.
“Elisha? Are you okay?!”
“What happened?!”
But Elisha collapsed, her body spent. Melina supported her as Adria voiced her worry.
“I’m sorry… I can’t… anymore…”
Even in the heat, her skin was cold and blue. Adria realized what was happening and clenched her jaw.
“Mana exhaustion…”
Her eyes sharpened with bitter fury. She’d failed to protect her student—instead, she’d pushed her too far.
“Elisha, rest now.” Adria gripped her sword again. The situation worsened, but her conviction never wavered.
“Hmm, still not done? More tenacious than I thought.” The queen smirked arrogantly, toying with her staff.
“Don’t you get it? You can’t beat me. If it were the old me, maybe.” Lamiel hinted at her past.
“Five years ago? I learned a harsh lesson from a monster disguised as a young human.”
“Back when I arrogantly thought my small forces were enough.”
“But after bowing to that human, I realized the world is vast and the strong are legion. I built my ambitions, expanded my forces, conquered the forest.”
“I never neglected training! That’s why I can cast chantless magic now!!”
She chuckled bitterly, a strange aura lingering from refined painful memories.
“That’s how I became who I am! Without that monster, I’d have stayed small-time. Now I rule this entire forest with my legions! Meeting him changed my fate!”
Flames erupted from her staff’s tip, soaring skyward with her confidence.
“Enough boasting—time to end this!” She thrust the staff forward, unleashing a whirlwind of fire.
“Ngh!” Eily barely dodged but lost balance in the gust, collapsing. The scorching storm seared her skin.
“Eek—?” As Eily tried to rise, Lamiel’s tail pinned her down.
“Falling to this? Disappointing.”
“One down.” Lamiel sneered. Adria charged, squeezing out her strength. Her sword flashed like lightning, but Lamiel summoned a blazing orb with one hand, halting her. The clash exploded in light, hurling Adria back.
“Ugh…!” Adria groaned in pain, struggling to rise. Lamiel approached slowly, aiming her staff.
“You tried to lead like a true commander. But you and your pack are too weak.”
“P-Professor…!” Elisha desperately chanted through her haze. She wrung out her last mana, hurling ice spears at Lamiel, but they melted on contact.
“Hmph, child’s play.”
“Ngh, aaaah!!” Ignoring her, Lamiel lifted Elisha into the air with a gesture. Flames engulfed her as she screamed.
“You thought this power could topple me?” Lamiel’s voice dripped with mockery. Elisha dropped limply, barely breathing.
“No way…!!” Melina gripped her bow, gritting her teeth. She nocked a wind-amplified arrow, but Lamiel’s tail shattered it. As Melina staggered, the queen smiled coldly.
“Weak elf, you’re no threat.”
Varis summoned his final strength, raising his greatsword high and charging. But Lamiel brushed him aside effortlessly.
“Gah!”
“A staff isn’t just for magic!” His blade was nullified by her heavy strike, and her tail sent him flying again.
Once the queen decided to finish it, the battle ended swiftly. It had been mere sport until now; she overwhelmed them one by one.
“……”
Silence blanketed the field. All lay exhausted and fallen. Lamiel surveyed the despair with satisfaction.
“Is that it? To challenge me with this? Humans are such fools.”
“No… not yet…” But Adria rose then, armor shattered, blood streaming from her head. She lifted her trembling sword, eyes filled with fear and resolve.
“These are my students—I’ll take responsibility… no matter what!” She charged the queen, clutching her blade.
But hope was gone here.
“Still underestimating me!” Irritated, Lamiel whipped her tail. It struck Adria violently, binding her as she flew back.
“Think I’m weak up close just because I use magic? Lamia bodies surpass humans’.”
“Ngh—?!!” Like a snake constricting prey, her tail tightened. Adria squeezed her eyes shut against the crushing pain.
“Guh?!” But resistance was futile. Pressure crushed her lungs, blocking her airway. Blood flow cut off, dizziness overwhelmed her; her head lolled skyward, limp.
“Ha… hah……” It was pure hell. Five humans writhed in agony, dying.
“If you endure this inferno, I’ll praise you.” The queen’s words were pure taunt, reveling in certain victory.
‘No…’ Adria despaired inwardly. Her bold vow to slay the leader ended in a crushing defeat, What fate awaited her? Her precious students? And the academy group waiting at the rally point if she fell? The missing students wouldn’t survive either. Imagining the aftermath, she numbly accepted fading consciousness.
“……” In the roaring flames, she resolved to close her eyes peacefully, surrendering her life to the heavens.
Shing—!!! A sharp sword cry rent the air, unleashing a massive gust.
“Eh…?”
Even Elisha’s desperate efforts hadn’t quenched the unyielding flames; now they flickered out like candles in the wind.
“This is…” Adria opened her eyes. The searing heat cooled instantly; trees swayed in the gale.
“Wh-what…”
Adria wasn’t alone in sensing the anomaly. Eily scanned her surroundings with a meaningful expression as the flames abruptly died.
“What?! Her Majesty’s flames suddenly!!” Lamiel’s forces, watching the fight, were baffled.
The hopeless situation shifted inexplicably in a blink.
“Oh dear.” A voice broke the silence—calm, leisurely, utterly at ease.
“Eek?!” Adria fell to the ground. The tail crushing her released, dropping her.
What had happened? Cautiously, she lifted her head, looking up at the queen who’d pinned her.
“Hm…?” But Adria’s face twisted in confusion. The queen’s smug smile had shattered, replaced by swirling tension and fear.
Who could scare her like that?
“Eh?” Turning, even Adria was stunned. Everyone present froze at his arrival.
“I suspected as much, but it really is you, Kara.”
“Y-you, y-you… that time…!!”
His appearance reversed the tide instantly. In the forest depths, overrun by lamia, at the center stood the queen—her pupils reflecting one man. He emerged like a legend’s hero, each step silencing the battlefield.