The dragon's harem

"Burnhill! Hoi, Burnhill!" A red-haired woman called, sitting on her throne as she looked down on a bowing cleric.

The blond cleric blinked, "Sorry, your highness." She finally replied, "I zoned out a bit,"

"Mind that not," The red-haired woman replied, "Do you feel that? Is the spark trailing down your blood? The blessing I bestowed on your lineage,"

"We can't be thankful enough to be blessed by the great deity of the elemental plane of fire."

"I'm not talking about the present," The red-haired woman held her chin, glaring into the void as her eyes sparked red. "A faithless of your descendant dares to call upon my name. What do you think of that?"

"I have nothing to say," She replied, "That might be why I zoned out earlier. Do whatever you see fit,"

"Hehe," The red-haired woman giggled, standing up from her throne, "Fire is mindless. It doesn't discriminate and burn everything on its way to ash." She waved her hand forward, "Let the flames be her blessing and punishment,"

"As you wish," CLAP! The blond woman put her together, "May the eternal blaze guide them,"

*****

^We can fend for ourselves. We aren't as fragile as you see us.^ Amber remembered Merlin's words.

She took a step forward, her grey eyes shifting orange. The nails on her left hand fell off, replaced by a burning blaze as cracks expanded from them to her elbow.

^I came here to save them, not for them to save me.^ She stared at the boss, fire burning beneath her feet.

BOOOM! With an explosion, Amber blasted into the air at a blinding speed. "Amber! Get back here. You don't have enough power to fight it," Merlin screamed as she saw Amber's hat fall on the charred ground.

The boss stared back. Unlike the other worms, he can see and hear well. He won't miss her attack. "GRRR!" He growled, and tens of worms burst from the ground, trying to cut Amber's way and bite her.

SWOSH! SWOHS! Amber flew between the worms as her speed kept increasing. The flames gushing from her feet shifted from red to blue then to orange, and then to a bloody crimson red.

BA-BAM! Shockwaves burst around her body as she broke the sound barrier several times in a row. At that speed, she could barely keep her eyes open and had to rely on her mana sense to target the boss.

^Arad's magic, I can sense it. Faint, but it's inside that monster,^ Amber thoughts.

The inside of the brown worm was filled with toxic gases and acid. Arad should have lost consciousness almost immediately after falling down its throat. That is a blessing as the victim won't feel the acid burning them.

^Faster, hotter,^ She growled, the cracks on her left arm expanding. ^I only got one hit,^

Magic is divided into two types. Learned and hereditary.

Wizards learn magic, and sorcerers are born with it. This has its merits and demerits.

Since wizard are the ones taking the initiative to learn their magic, the only problem they can face is the lack of mana to cast their spells. But sorcerers have a different problem in hand.

The power they carry could be too big for their bodies, leading them to live their whole life without tapping into it. Albeit that is usually remedied by training to get used to that power, in some cases, it's fundamentally impossible for the sorcerer to withstand their power.

Ice too cold it kills, a speed so great that the user's organs instantly burst and fire so hot, their bodies burn to ash upon unleashing it. Magic might be real, but human bodies are still bound to their natural limits.

You can't be a human and have inhuman powers. Alcott was the first one to prove that by having to jump from being a vampire, werewolf, zombie, and more transformations just for his body to withstand the power he tried to cram into it.

Amber clenched her teeth, growling as she opened her left palm. ^I'm not a superhuman, I never was, and I never will.^ Flames gushed from where her nails were, forming a fiery claw.

A spark of fire jumped from the red-headed queen of the elemental plane of fire toward her clergy, trailing down their bloodline through the generations, heating up with each elemental that held it until it landed in Amber's soul.

Amber pulled her arm back, ready to swing a palm strike at the massive worm.

^Arad is stronger than me,^ Amber thoughts, remembering the first day she taught Arad magic and how he quickly overpowered her. ^He's better than me. He's stronger and can attune to his bloodline.^ She smiled.

BA-BAM! She broke the sound barrier again, going even faster before the impact. ^I won't let him die here, no matter what.^

Seven worms lined their bodies between the boss and Amber, trying to protect him.

^No, I only have,^ Amber growled but quickly changed her mind. ^No, be greedier, angrier like the flame you're about to unleash.^

Amber exhaled. ^Close your mouth, and tighten your chest, squeeze your anus closed so your organs don't fly out from the impact.^

Flames gushed out of her left forearm, leaving a crimson trail behind. ^Scream to mellow the burning pain and grind your teeth to draw as much power as you can.^

"BURN!" Amber shouted at the top of her lungs, swinging her palm at the first worm protecting the boss. A crimson flash of fire sparked right before the impact, turning the sky blood-red as she burst through the worms.

BOOOOOOOOM! The seven worms exploded into burned mush as Amber flew right through them, her now-only-bones left arm impacted the boss, sending a tremendous shockwave across his body.

The boss gasped, and Amber screamed, the flames gushing out of her bones and drilling a hole in his side as she flew right through, shattering his body into pieces.

"Give Arad back!" She screamed, snatching Arad directly from the boss's burned guts.

CRACKLE! The whole labyrinth shook, and the impact was heard even from the outside as the sand on the fourth layer turned into glass from the heat.

Merlin gasped, "That power, seventh, no, it might be the eighth level."

Amber flew toward the stairs with Arad in her right hand, but she lost consciousness mid-air, and they fell on a sand hill, rolling all the way to the stairs.

"Amber! Arad!" Merlin rushed at them, but she gasped the moment she saw them.

Arad's body was half digested with some of his ribs showing up, but Amber was worse.

Her left forearm disappeared, only leaving a roasted stem above where her elbow was. Severe burns spread from her left arm all the way to her face and stomach, coupled with visible bruising on the rest of her body from the impact.