In the hole made in the wall red flames came out along with the burned lizards, their leader who was completely covered by his earth armor had his complete focus on Ana, who was throwing away the dead lizard that was still impaled by her sword.
Leader against leader, this fight was unavoidable because both the lizard and Ana can kill the weakest on each side quickly, so neither side will allow it. The lizard can be an intelligent magical beast as he is able to lead his pack effectively and logically as he showed just now when he sacrificed two elite lizards in order to avoid being ambushed.
But that doesn't mean he's capable of sacrificing his entire pack in a suicidal strategy, he's a leading magical beast and to remain one he needs a pack. I don't know if I should say this is his animal instinct or simply pride, but from the fierce eyes that are locked on Ana he seems to have no intention of letting a few more of his pack die by this mortal enemy.
Since both leaders are 'out' of combat, it's up to Carmilla to be the front line with the assistance of Abel and Luke who can fight offensively and defensively in coordination with Carmilla. Nolan or Fim are so compatible with her because the range of one is better for stabbing enemies and Fim is not able to keep up with the fast advances and retreats that Carmilla usually uses in combat.
I stand in front of Tania and Quinn with my bow as I watch two elite lizards come towards us as some level two lizards come out of the flames, unlike the first lizards we saw come out of the fire, these lizards are in much better shape even though they are same level.
Some of them seem to still have some parts of their body covered in earthen armor and scales, but they were still badly injured by the flames, being so long inside those flames was more than enough to injure the body of the level two lizards. Their defense should be almost completely destroyed by now, without their strong defense even Quinn's earth element magic that shouldn't have much effect on them should be able to injure their burned bodies.
Two elite lizards attacked Carmilla who had just joined the formation, a hammer was against the attacking lizard on one side while on the other side a great flaming sword blocked the attack of the second elite lizard. This confrontation was enough to perish how much we depend on Carmilla, both Abel and Luke lost in the direct confrontation of brute force the lizards' claws couldn't damage the weapons, but were able to push them back.
Carmilla who was being protected advanced against both lizards at the same time using a sequence of moves that I had never seen before, she is actually a duelist who are famous for being able to fight multiple enemies at the same time or against a level enemy. superior to them.
The two blue and green sabers danced, cutting the limbs of both lizards, several cuts were made on both of the lizards' arms as they tried to shred Carmilla's advance.
When a risky fight broke out between them, I shot a wind arrow and killing the tier two black lizard that came out of the hole, I intend to eliminate as many of the weak lizards as possible while the elites are busy.
Ana's combat with the pack leader was far from the group but it was still capable of interfering on that side, the shock wave between the two was strong enough to feel several meters away.
Two earth humanoids were exchanging blows, it was pretty easy to identify their identity. Not only was their body size quite different as the leader of the lizards is almost twice the size of Ana, he was truly a giant among the lizards.
The color and shape of their armor was quite different, Ana's armor not only had better shape and quality its color was much darker than the light brown armor that covered the lizard that used its claws to try to break through Terra's shield from Ana.
The lizard's physical strength was really great but her nails weren't very sharp, Ana's earth armor wasn't really damaged by the lizard leader the only damage she received was the impact that must be being transferred by the layers of earth covering the two lizards.
Unlike her opponent, Ana's black sword which is now covered in a cutting stream of wind is strong and sharp enough to break through the lizards' armor, each blow she delivers to the lizard's skin is broken into a reasonable cut for magical beasts, but because of the life element of lizards, these two finger-deep cuts are superficial wounds, which heal in a short time.
But if their fight remains stable it is very difficult to know who will win, Ana has a clear advantage in combat, but the lizard's life element is strangely potent so I'm not sure if Ana's energy can last the same amount of time as her vitality of the lizard, even though Ana is a master of energy efficiency and combat stamina.
I've never seen her run out of energy or stamina during missions even fighting nonstop for a long period of time and with multiple opponents at the same time. If she doesn't increase the damage, she is doing to the lizard's body her fight with the lizard will be an uncertain factor.
The fight continued for a few more minutes until the point where the elite lizards were close to falling but we were already surrounded by several tier two lizards. As the two elite level three lizards fought Carmilla, Abel and Luke the level two lizards began to harass the three with wind blade and stones hardened by their earth element and hurled with their superhuman strength.
The combination of ranged attacks from those eight lizards our group got into a difficult situation because I couldn't get a clear shot as Tania was getting ready to use her magic on my signal, I had already warned her that there were lizards underground.
Usually defending the team from underground attacks is Quinn's task, but now she's defending us from the lizard attacks so it's up to Tania to prepare with short-range spells and concentrated multi-target power to kill the lizards the moment they attack us.
Being surrounded by almost all sides Carmilla reacted by increasing her aggression leaving her defense neglected and focusing on killing the two elite lizards, but in order to do that both she and her two bodyguards will have to pay a price to do so.
A fist slammed into Abel's armor making a good dent in it as the hammer of light hit the slashed lizard's face. Carmilla lunged forward to puncture the momentarily blinded lizard's internal organs, she took aim at the wounds already in his body.
But when Carmilla tried to kill the injured and blind lizard, his companion jumped at Carmilla wanting to tear her to pieces, but was intercepted by Luke who ended up being injured in her place, his two-handed sword was able to stop the lizard's claw and its momentum when blocking the lizard's charge with the groove of the sword after turning the claymore's blade to the side.
But that didn't stop the lizard from biting Luke's shoulder breaking through his physical armor as his shield made of aura, the lizard's teeth pierced the flesh of Luke's shoulder greatly impairing his ability to use his claymore, but Luke only stood his ground when Carmilla killed the elite lizard behind him.
The weaker lizards did not stay behind, they continued to harass us with ranged attacks, but advanced to attack us in a desperate attempt to save the life of the elite level three lizard that Carmilla had just pierced the heart, condemning him to death.
Quinn released a high-speed circular shower of stones from the ground to not only stop the attacking lizards but also break up the earth around us preventing the lizards that are still hiding on the ground from getting any closer to us.
The lizards that were buried couldn't get too close to us because of Quinn's movements, but that didn't stop them from jumping from the earth in a suicide attack, Tania released several small fireballs in all directions to hit the suicide lizards, but these attacks were not strong enough to kill the lizards.
Tania's magic was too scattered to deal enough damage to the lizards that were covered in thick earthen armor that blocked a large part of Tania's magic damage. Without the earth armor the lizards charged at Nolan and Fim who protected the rear sides of the group, but the lizards didn't just attack them with their claws and fangs they were actually killing each other.
The lizards only detonated in a shower of black thorns with great penetrating power when hit by the sword and spear, this suicide attack hit almost the entire team. Even Tania who took cover behind Fim who carried a shield was hit by the wreckage of the lizards' body.
The sharp scales and bone fragments that contained large amounts of mana and earth elemental energy not only broke through the defense of Tania and the warriors who were within range of the blasts, it poisoned the bodies of its victims with its earth element energy.
Even without being able to see the victims' skin to see the effect of the earth element, I could still see the lizard's earth element energy petrifying the wounds. From the rear area of the group, only me who protected myself using my lightning element and Quinn who had a solid defense because of her cloak's skill, avoided being hurt.
But when the last elite lizard was killed, we thought most of the danger was over, but we were wrong.