Ember Tribe's Lioness

"Alexandria, come switch with me and protect your brother," Blaze ordered, taking the authority in front of the commander in charge as if he wasn't there. But even so, Kingsley had not the audacity nor the right to complain about it after Blaze saved him from his plight and continued to protect him.

How much can he do while injured, anyway? He felt as if he were being quite a burden…

Before, he never quite understood Blaze's way of thinking and simply thought that she was a feral woman who didn't know what she was doing. But he recalled how Winter and Blake used to keep up with her thoughts and synchronize with her attacks back in the past when he was on an expedition with them, and he realized that even though her way of actions wasn't systematic to the plans made beforehand, everything she did was always for the success of the expedition.

And somehow, only Blake and Winter understood.

Whether it was because there was something more important that came up during the raid that no one predicted before, or because she had found a better way to slay the target, Blaze would never hesitate to break protocol and take charge of her squad without informing the other units.

Of course, sometimes she was wrong, and was suffered heavy consequences because of those last-minute decisions. But those small mistakes could be easily overshadowed by the long list of good deeds she had done.

It was true most officials in the Lunargard Council disliked her and her defiance towards orders, but she still managed to earn their silent respect as a much-needed dragon-slayer. And Kingsley was one of them. It was in times like this that he knew to trust Blaze to take charge over the situation.

Alexandria stiffened upon hearing Blaze's command. "Uhh… Copy!" she said. She was supposed to be the deputy commander under her brother, but she couldn't protest the lioness of the Ember Tribe. Her aura alone was twice as frightening as all the Earth Wyrms surrounding them together.

"I'll hunt them down one by one!" Blaze informed. "Colleen, assist me with your pin-point shots. Cowser, don't leave Colleen wide open. Protect her at all costs."

Kaiser reddened the instant he figured the meaning behind the nickname Blaze gave him, and he wanted to complain. But right now, there really wasn't much he could do to prove to her that he, in fact, was not a coward.

Without much of a heads-up, Blaze took off like the wind, utilizing her top-notch speed and agility as if there was no tomorrow. She hit her metal javelins against each other as she continued to run, confusing the hearing-dependent Earth Wyrms as loud clangs echoed from different locations each time.

Kingsley's and Alexandria's eyes widened in astonishment as they watched Blaze easily maneuver around the dragons, light as a feather.

"B- brother, was she always that fast?!" Alexandria asked, and she simply couldn't take her eyes off her.

"Impressive… She was always fast, but this is more than twice speed last time I saw from her," Kingsley marveled, completely fixated on Blaze's rapid movements. "She must've trained like hell to achieve such aptitude…"

The air could be heard whirring about Blaze as she sped around, just starting to break a sweat as she took down the nearest Earth Wyrms one by one, at the same time evading their sharp, gigantic mandibles. As the saying goes: "The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in battle." Blaze was still unscathed despite carrying most of the fight herself, the others more focused on guarding Kingsley.

It was obvious that she was holding back earlier to protect her superior, but now the game had changed. From being stuck in defense, she reversed into offense, the merciless attacker. From being the prey, the Ember Tribe's lioness bared her fangs and became the predator, grinning ear to ear as she enjoyed the thrill of battle.

And before they knew it, she already took down four Earth Wyrms, and Colleen had slain two from behind Kaiser's back. Just a few of them successfully won against the dragons that outnumbered them.

"She's a monster…" The Storm Tribe siblings mumbled in unison, dumbfounded at the lioness's display of prowess.

'Damn,' Kaiser thought as he observed the Hastamvidé siblings' jaw-dropping reaction. 'I thought I left a good impression on the commanders since I risked my life to be here. But that insane woman stole the spotlight for herself. If it weren't for her being hot as f*ck, I would've cursed her to die…'

"Let's fall back!" Blaze said, wiping the sweat on her face with her arm. She waved for them to follow. "We should get out of here before more arrive. I'll lead the way. With my sense of smell, we should be able to avoid frontal combat."

Suddenly, a small handful of shadows emerged from the darkness of the tunnel, giving view to a few surviving dragon-slayers that failed to escape to the surface. They were bled red from their open wounds, most likely received from barely escaping a dragons' ambush. "Commander?!" they called.

"What's going on, Commander?! The left-wing squads were assaulted! How can there be so many Earth Wyrms?" one of them questioned, barely masking his frustration in front of the one in charge. But he had every right to be frustrated. Why did his subordinates have to die from the council's incompetence to deliver accurate information?

Kingsley grimaced. "I have no idea, either," was regretfully, all Kingsley could say. He was responsible for each and every one of the many lives were lost today under his command, and knowing so, he could feel the burden weighing heavily on his shoulders.

"Save the talk for later and get your asses moving!" Blaze ordered impatiently as she began to lead the way to escape. This many dragons shouldn't be able to live harmoniously in the same dungeon, and she knew something was amiss. But what was it? What was it that they still didn't know-

Boom!!

The fleeing group was suddenly taken off guard as a giant Earth Wyrm, visibly larger than the ones before, shot up from the quaking group beneath their feet, Alexandria caught between its jagged, size-mutated mandibles.