The reason colonel Darius had decided that he, major Reeves, and Brock Ulrik were to fight the emperor rank beasts outside the city barrier was to make sure the barrier and humans didn't suffer from collateral damages from high-level battles.
So far the fire salamander wyrmling had fired enough spells to put multiple holes in the city barrier or to turn a large portion of the new forest into a wasteland. All these had been averted thanks to colonel Darius who had continuously snuffed them out of existence.
It was because of this that the emperor rank fire salamander had decided to take a close-quarter approach since the human didn't seem to be a physical type and the air element gave it a massive boost to its speed.
It was correct about Darius not being a physical fighter, but who said close-quarters combat was his weakness?
Creation pathway: Fire Scutum!