A town in chaos.

As soon as we started to look around the town, we saw charred bodies of different sizes and shapes everywhere.
I counted at least 10. But it wasn't just the charred nara; there were also bodies of villagers that had been murdered.
There were guards and farmers dead or dying. Even the old lady that had healed us was dead. Her body had suffered so much damage that the only way to identify her was by the remnants of her clothing, now covered in blood.

There were also pieces of broken and partially burnt crates and barrels all over the place.

We then spotted Faylinn. She was standing in front of the girls. Maria and Gabriela were hugging each other with their eyes closed while Xio was standing behind them.

Faylinn seemed to have some light wounds, nothing serious.

We tried to get close to her. As we were walking toward her, a humanoid nara jumped off a rooftop and attacked Faylinn.
This nara was wielding a sword and a shield. Faylinn blocked the sword with one of her arms and used the other one to grab her enemy's
head.
I knew what she was going to do.
But this time it didn't work.
The nara was not affected by Faylinn's flames.

Astra: That creature might be a salamen.

Leonel: Salamen?

Astra: Humanoid salamanders. They have high fire resistance. But their scales aren't that hard.

Faylinn then punched the nara she was holding and apparently defeated it in a single hit.

I tried to get her attention.

Leonel: Faylinn! Are you okay!?

Faylinn: I'm okay! I'm just a little tired!

Astra: It seems we will not have time to rest...

Alejandro: Leo! Turn around!

Apparently, a huge nara was slowly walking toward us from behind. He was probably aiming for Astra.
It must have been at least 4 meters tall.
It had a humanoid shape, but it didn't have bright shining blue eyes like the others.
The usual dark fog surrounding its body prevented us from seeing any distinct traits.

Leonel: Astra! Use the regeneration amulet on yourself! The town's healer is down!

Astra walked away from the huge nara while trying to open her backpack to grab one of the amulets.

Leonel: Faylinn! You stay there and protect the girls! Don't leave them alone!

Alejandro: Leo, how do we deal with this thing!? It's slow but it's huge!

Leonel: Astra, any ideas!? Does this thing have a weakness!?

Astra had just used one of our three regeneration amulets and was now waiting for her body to be healed.

Astra: I can't identify this creature. We might need to figure it out as we fight.

Alejandro: My dagger is supposed to be a poison dagger. Do you think it might work here?

Astra: If that's the same dagger you used against the gargoyle, then no. When you pierced the flesh of the gargoyle through the cracks in its rocky exterior, the poison dagger released all of its poison into it. Once the poison has been used up, it becomes a normal dagger.

Leonel: The creature is slow, that means we can at least avoid taking damage for now.

Faylinn: Guys! Move aside! I can at least attack it from here! she shouted from several meters away.

We proceeded to move aside, and Faylinn launched a large fireball at the creature. It exploded on contact with its skin but it had no effect.
And that's not all. The explosion didn't even push it back.

Astra: A physically strong enemy, perhaps with some fire resistance, but I'm not sure how much.

Leonel: What should we do!?

Astra: I'm mostly somewhat healed now. I'll try to figure it out. Stay away for now.

Astra walked toward the creature, probably trying to get it to attack her.

The nara tried to grab Astra with both of its hands while Astra tried to push them away with all her strength.

Astra: Try stabbing or slashing the creature. We need to figure out what kind of skin it has.

I went toward the creature and tried stabbing its arm with my dagger, while Alejandro tried to do the same with his dagger and sword.

The nara then started swinging its arms around, trying to push us away, and it ended up knocking us down.

Astra then moved to act as a shield so that the creature wouldn't attack us while we were on the ground.

Alejandro: This thing has strong scales! We couldn't even scratch its skin!

Astra: Leo, this is a flamigon. Its scales are almost immune to fire. And it has no mouth or eyes. But deep inside its flesh, there is a layer of flflammable chemicals.

Leonel: How do we set it on fire then!? We can't do anything about its scales!

The creature then lifted both of its fists toward the sky and swung down to hit Astra.
She blocked the attack with her arms, but the impact was so strong that her legs were now partially buried in the ground.

Astra: Heat up the blade of your magic dagger, and then try piercing its flesh through the narrow spaces between its scales. Once the heated blade reaches deep into its body, it will burn from the inside.

Easier said than done. I couldn't see the scales through the creature's dark fog. Landing a hit with my dagger right between its scales was going to take several tries.

I had no choice.
I tried gathering fire mana in my right arm, essentially covering it in flames. Then, the grip of the dagger absorbed part of this heat and transferred it to the blade. Once it was really hot, I tried attacking.
My attack was a failure.
The blade of the dagger was heated too much and as soon as I hit one of the creature's scales on its arm, the blade was completely ruined.

Leonel: Astra! The dagger is ruined! Next plan!

Astra: Tell Faylinn to switch places with me!

Leonel: Faylinn, take Astra's place!

Faylinn came running at full speed, while Astra tried to get her feet moving.

Once they had switched places, Faylinn went all out in close combat, but the creature was too sturdy and its scales were absorbing Faylinn's punches.

Leonel: Faylinn! Astra said the enemy is a flamigon! You need to pierce its flesh through the narrow space between its scales to burn it from the inside!

Faylinn: How the hell am I supposed to do that!? My fingers won't fit between its scales! I need a sword or a dagger!

Alejandro: Take this! Alejandro threw his sword to Faylinn.

Faylinn: Thanks!

Faylinn quickly covered her right arm in flames and heated up the entire sword.

She then rushed ahead, dodged the nara's attack, jumped onto one of its arms, and stabbed its left arm near the shoulder.

The nara stopped moving shortly afterward, with its scales falling off its body. They were silver scales, almost metallic, and then, the dark fog dissipated, revealing a dark red humanoid body that was no longer covered in scales.

Leonel: Is it finally over!? We can't keep going like this.

Faylinn: Don't worry, I can keep going even if more of them show up.

Leonel: Maybe, but I'm still worried about Astra. I hope she is fully healed by now.

Faylinn: Here, take your sword back. Faylinn returned the short sword to Alejandro. It was in good shape. I guess she knew how to use it.

Leonel: How the hell did the bald bastard summon so many nara around here? Those blue crystals he supposedly uses to summon them are about the size of his hand if not larger. Does he have a backpack full of them?

Faylinn: Maybe it's not a backpack that is full of them; maybe it's the town itself. It's possible he hid a bunch of those crystals all over town, waiting for the chance to use them against us.

Leonel: Wait, doesn't that mean he is probably still around!? He has to shatter those crystals to summon the nara, after all.

Faylinn: He is probably hiding in town, waiting until he can use his fire spell again...

Leonel: This is a serious problem. We need to tell the guards to search for him!

Faylinn: If the guards could find him, he wouldn't be hiding around here. We have to assume there is a way for him to go unnoticed.

Leonel: Then what should we do?

Faylinn: We might need to ask Astra. The battle seems to be over. Let's go to them.

We went to the place where Astra was shielding the girls.
The girls were fine, just scared.
But Astra was not fully healed.
She was still using her regeneration spell on herself.

We were in no position to deal with more enemies.