The rest of the pack remained behind, more interested in the lava feast than the newcomer to their cavern. The lone sprite sprang toward me with claws poised to attack, but I swung my sword around and caught the sprite with its deadly, bright tip. Ash flew, the creature screeched, and it fell to the ground, twitching and writhing. I hadn’t come for ember sprite cores, but that didn’t mean they weren’t worth having, so I knelt to finish off the beast. But before I could pull out the core, something else drew my attention.
At the end of the room, the lava rippled and ran in fresh cascades down the side of the crater. With a gloop, the surface parted. A long snout appeared with thorned frills extending from a neck, then a pair of lizard legs and a long body covered in scales. The faded scars across its scales and its muscled limbs told me this was a more ancient and more dangerous salamander than the one Hamon had killed.
The mighty beast sniffed the air, then looked at me. Its bright eyes glowed against ash-black skin. From its wide maw, a tongue flicked out, its end speckled with tiny flames.
I raised my sword and shifted into a defensive posture when it broke into a run. The salamander raced across the floor, thickly muscled legs giving it a surprising turn of speed. I tossed the lure a few feet to my right, and the salamander pounced on it. It tore apart the cage and gobbled up the bright orb that was my lure.
While it was chewing, I aimed my sword for a decapitating slice, but the salamander suddenly shifted around and sprang off its hind legs. The creature’s hardened skull slammed into my stomach before I could complete my attack, and I fell head over heels.
I scrambled to my feet as the clatter of claws against the stone echoed around the chamber. I had less than a second before the lizard would strike, so I steadied my breathing and gathered my Vigor. I knew wood techniques were almost completely ineffective against fire beasts, but I’d already attempted and succeeded with thinking a little creatively.
So, I got creative.
I lifted my palm and summoned a Plank Pillar directly in front of the salamander, but it dashed to the side just as the wooden beam appeared from the ground. The pillar immediately caught fire, the heat inside the cavern too intense for the combustible plank. I produced a second pillar, and instead of leaping around it, the salamander burst straight through it. A cloud of embers covered me in ash, burnt tiny holes in my robes, and seared small patches of my bare chest. With all the Vigor flowing through me, I didn’t feel a thing.
I had one last shot before the salamander would be on me, so I used Stinging Palm. Rather than fire at its body, I aimed my thorns for its right eye. All but one wooden spike hit its head and fell off harmlessly, but the successful thorn punctured its eyeball. The creature stopped immediately and reached up at its eye with its clawed paws.
I raced toward the salamander and brought my sword around. It recovered while I was in mid-swing, and I felt the heat of the salamander’s passing claw as it tore across my stomach. My swing continued, and as the blade hit, the scorched salamander jerked aside.
Pain flared from my burning wound as I summoned a Plank Pillar beneath my feet. I used the wooden platform as a springboard and somersaulted a few feet behind it. I looked down at my stomach and saw four shallow slashes across my flesh. The salamander’s burning claws had cauterized the wounds, so there was no chance of bleeding out, but they hurt like hell.
The salamander growled, and I noticed that I’d left my own mark upon its body. A nasty scratch ran across its flank, and its punctured eye oozed lava-blood. The salamander opened its mouth, and a bright orb showed behind its forked tongue. I dove to the side as a scorching sphere of fire the size of a football rocketed out of the creature’s mouth and through the cavern with a rush of air. It exploded against the far wall as I jumped to my feet.
Another fiery sphere split the air, and this time, there was no dodging it. I summoned a trio of Plank Pillars so close to each other that they would be three times as thick as a regular one. The fireball broke through the final pillar, but it had been reduced to the size of a golf ball, and I easily evaded it. My breath came in heavy gasps, and I realized my Vigor was running too low.
A croak came from the salamander, and it seemed to be choking on something. I smiled at myself.
“All out of gas?” I asked. “That makes both of us.”
I rushed toward the lizard and gripped my sword in both hands. I raised the weapon, but the salamander knocked it aside with one claw and slashed at me with the other. I staggered back just in time to avoid having my gut sliced open. We were at a stalemate, neither able to get the better of the other without our magical abilities. I knew I could gain back some Vigor with a little breathing room, but I wasn’t certain if the salamander could do the same. It was a risk I’d have to take.
Rather than attack the salamander, I focused my efforts on
