33: Roasted

“Bob—” was the only thing the ninja girl had time to say before Bob fired from his crossbow, aiming at Ember’s stomach.

“[Unholy Roasting]!” Ember shouted the name of her spell and a dark flame flew from her hand directly at Bob, intercepting his arrow. The arrow disappeared in the flames, disintegrating from existence.

“Uwaaah!!” Bob scream and tried to dodge the firebolt, but he was too slow. The flames engulfed him completely.

“Aaaaaaahhhh!! UuAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa!!!” The man screamed in agony running back and forth while the tunnels filled with the stench of burnt meat, leather, and hair. Within a couple of seconds, Bob collapsed to the ground and burned silently as the flames slowly subsided.

“You bitch!!” the scrawny guy, Garry, screamed and ran at Ember while throwing knives at her.

“[Curtains of Hell]!” Ember shouted and a wall of flame rose in front of her. Five feet wide, seven feet high, reaching all the way to the ceiling. The knives entered the flames, but did not go out, burnt to a crisp.

“What are you standing there for you useless whore?” Sebastian shouted at Tabitha and got out his greatsword.

“I-I’m sorry,” the green-haired mage whimpered. “I’m still weak from… this morning.”

“Useless slut!” Sebastian cursed and ran at Beatrice, aiming to run past the firewall together with Garry.

Beatrice took a couple more steps back as the flame wall in front of her bodyguard dissipated. Come on, don’t make me fight! Beatrice thought and glanced at Ember. If they get any closer I’ll have to active my [Sharp Claws] and use [Daze] on one of them.

“[Curtain Fall]!” Ember shouted.

The same wall of fire that appeared in front of her now fell from the tunnel ceiling right on top of Sebastian and Garry.

“Guh!” Sebastian tumbled and dodged the flames at the last second. He ended up against the tunnel wall and nearly lost his sword.

“AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaa!” A scream once again filled the tunnels.

As Sebastian rose to his feet he looked at Garry and saw the scrawny man fall to his knees as most of his clothes burned away.

The poor man let out the most gut-wrenching screams of pain as he touched the molten flesh on his face with his charred hands. He only had a single charred pinky and both thumbs remaining, cracked and burned like campfire wood that was about to crumble.

His fingers stuck to the molten flesh of his cheeks that were blue, black, pink, and white, burned all the way through the muscle. His nose was gone completely, revealing the openings in his skull. Both his cheeks were black and white as his eyes poured down his face, leaving blackened, soul-chilling openings.

What… the… Beatrice was left speechless by the power her slender, unassuming bodyguard could unleash.

Suddenly, the ninja girl appeared behind Ember, having dashed through the carnage. Without a moment of hesitation, Olivia thrust her kunai through Ember’s robes, just above the waist. She sunk the blade through the cloth and deep into Ember’s flesh, all the way up to the hilt, before turning it to open up the wound.

“Guh!” Ember let the air out of her lungs and arched her back with and looked back with wide eyes, astonished by the ninja’s sudden attack. The next second her entire body burst into flames.

“Ah, a fire clone!?” Olivia winced from the heat and jumped further back from the blazing hot flame where Ember’s body should have been.

Now Olivia found herself way behind Beatrice, separated from Sebastian and Tabitha. The green-haired mage ran up to Sebastian while Ember was nowhere to be seen.

“[Phoenix Tears]!” Ember shouted, materializing in a cone of fire even further behind Olivia. Ember formed a circle with her index finger and thumb at her mouth and spit fireballs one after another at Olivia, driving her away from Beatrice, nearly pinning the ninja to the wall, and forcing her to retreat to hop and dash back to her comrades.

Olivia kept a few feet of distance from both her comrades and the walls to avoid getting pinned by area of effect attacking spells that Ember hurled one after another so effortlessly. The narrow but obstacle-free tunnels proved greatly advantageous for the fire-wielding mage.

“Enough of this!” Sebastian shouted and took his broadsword into both hands, holding it firmly in front of him. He got deeper into a stance and let out a deep grunt. His silhouette started glowing light-blue, increasing in brightness.

Charging some sort of an attack or a power-up? Beatrice thought. I could interrupt it, but… Beatrice looked behind her. Ember calmly walked forward, toward Beatrice. They’re completely outclassed, aren’t they?

Giving me such a strong support unit right from the start… Beatrice thought, remembering the goddess Luluna. Someone that can not only waste my enemies but gladly satisfies any of my needs? It’s like I’m playing a game with cheats! But although it is fitting to let my underlings do my dirty work for me, it is also dangerous to have them remain stronger than me. I’ll have to adjust that eventually.

“Ghek!”

Beatrice quickly looked back at Sebastian and saw blood seeping through his throat and a knife next to his neck that was in the mage girl’s left hand.

“T-t-t-t-Tabith—” Sebastian attempted to speak while looking behind his shoulder.

“Now you remember!” Tabitha cheered and sunk her knife into the side of Sebastian’s neck, splitting the previous wound wide open.

“Ghlruahk!” Sebastian choked on his own blood and dropped his sword.

“WHAT!?” Olivia turned her attention from Ember and saw Sebastian fall to the ground while futilely trying to keep the wound in his neck closed.

The ninja girl pressed her feet against the ground to leap away from the treacherous mage, but the ground under her lit up in a two-foot wide, bright-yellow circle. Olivia’s feet barely got a couple of inches into the air before her arms and legs were bound together tightly by four bright-yellow rings. The ninja girl plummeted to the ground like a sack of potatoes.