Kicking in the water Bran Ai held his breath unable to free himself from the unseen down below.

As the water became turbid it became difficult to see what exactly was grabbing his leg, with no certainty as to what he was dealing with Bran Ai could do nothing but fight back however he could.

With his free leg Bran Ai aimed at the spot his other leg was held from.

The creature trashed it's head from side to side attempting to rip off a chunk of Bran Ai's flesh, a kick narrowly missing its head.

This near miss caused the creature to react, pulling its head further back without releasing its jaws from Bran Ai.

This pulling motion forced Bran Ai to release a breath of pain causing his situation to worsen.

'Just what is bitting me! Let me go!'

As his fear of dying grew Bran Ai also started to get angry, being unable to simply accept his fate he fought back unwilling for it to end here.

Sending a flurry of kicks toward his assailant Bran Ai landed a few blows, these hits while not very strong landed near the eyes of the creature successfully warding it off for a moment.

With his leg now free from its jaws Bran Ai kicked blindly in the water as he could not see throught all the bubbles in the surrounding lake.

'Is it gone? I need to catch my breath!"

The water not being very deep even after being dragged further in into the lake, allowed for him to stand above the water with ease.

He attempted to keep his eyes open as he surfaced so as not to be surprised by another attacker but he could only manage to see warped images as the water bent the light around him.

His eyes couldn't take the sudden shift of environments closing his eyes as he broke free from the water.

Taking a moment to catch his breath and clear his eyes Bran Ai quickly checked his leg.

'It bit me pretty badly will it be okay?'

The wound was considerable in terms of size but failed to puncture any major blood vessels, it was the type of wound that would bother a person for many months but couldn't be considered life threatening.

As his blood mixed in with the water Bran Ai finally took a moment to view his surroundings clearly.

The water had gotten darker, taking on a red coloration not present before.

He couldn't see anyone among the group he was part off but he could feel that the water was still being pushed around in all directions while the occasional burst of water would splash around.

With the water turning red all the visibility into the water had become a murky mess leaving him to speculate on what may lie beneath.

'If I can't see whatever's down there how will I avoid it? I have to go back where the water isn't so deep'

He couldn't avoid the thing that grabbed him when he wasn't moving either way, so the best option left to him was simply to get the heck out there.

As for those missing among his group, he could only hope that they could get free of whatever may be holding them down under.

Bran Ai feared death, he knew very well that once someone becomes unresponsive they are either sleeping or dead.

While he could save himself he had no thought's about trying to find the others or even figure out what was making the water trash around like so.

'What can I even do for them? I don't even know what attacked me and now even my leg is injured'

Slowly he pushed himself to walk away from the deeper part of the lake.

The amazonians to the side had taken this time to retreat closer to the shoreline, they did not try to intervene as their former companions ravaged through Bran Ai's group simply choosing to create more distance from the enemy.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Don't blame yourself, you warned them to back away" a girl talked to the one who screamed at the boys.

"I... I don't" the girl couldn't find the words, the children had been even younger then her, how should she feel?

"Focus! The battle only just started"

Within a matter of seconds the group Bran Ai had been a part of was eliminated.

Seventeen died or went missing in such a short period of time, the remaining thirty-three children including Bran Ai made up elder Qez's party, all running away seeking the protection and comfort of the elder.

The elder did not bother to even look at them, his goal could not be achieved if he interfered now.

It was indeed a cruel thing to bring the children to such a place but for sake of the sect he was willing to do anything.

The group of boys to the east under the command of Nand formed a circle covering each others back.

Four carried sheilds, two held spears, one a mace and two carried swords including Nand.

They had not retreated to shallow water deciding to stand their ground where they stood.

"Get ready! here they come!" Nand made sure everyone in his group was at least cautioned.

He didn't exactly know what they needed to fight but seeing the result of Bran Ai's group his nerves entered overdrive.

"Wait until it hits our sheilds, then stab them with the spears and if any get too close those with swords and maces will knock them back"

The water rippled as golden silhouettes' made their way closer.

"Hold tight!"

The first of the creature's jumped out of the water slamming head first into a wooden sheild.

The creature held little similarity to its past human form.

Its arms and leg bones seemed to be stretched beyond their normal limit while the flesh had torn at the joints revealing the bone underneath.

Their necks had also been elongated beyond the normal capacity while the heads of what used to be the children took on a more reptilian look.

Gold failing to cover up the newly exposed parts of flesh and bone as certain ligaments held the flesh from falling apart all together.

While they had no scales whatsoever it was the torn flesh that gave these creatures a leathery look, if one looked close enough they could see that the gold covering the flesh had cracked in a scaly way.

All together the things looked to be some sort of hybrid mix of human and lizard bearing sharp claws on both their feet and hands plus razor sharp teeth to accompany then.

It's eyes like that of cats were bright yellow as it stared at the sheild before it.

"Now stab it!"

One of the children carying a spear stabbed from the side, hidden behind those carrying the sheilds he didn't fear being attacked.

The spear landed directly on the rib cage of the creature piercing deep into its flesh.

Not seeming to care about being stabbed the lizard like creature extended its neck several feet as it stared ovet the sheild.

Having stabbed the spear deep into the ribcage of the lizard man the boy expexted it to at least recoil in pain, seeing as such a thing did not happen he twisted the spear inside the lizard man nearing it's heart.

"Another one is coming get ready!" Nand saw the water had ripple again motioning to those carring the sheilds to hold strong.

"He- it isn't coming off!" The one holding the sheild with the lizard man on it struggled to balance himself as the weight of the lizard man shifted to one side.

"Hold steady! Don't break the formation!" Nand commanded.

Just then two more lizard like beings slammed against another sheild pushing the group against each otther.

Reacting the the situation one of the boys holding a mace like weapon hit the head of one such creature shattering part of the skull.

With a screech the creature fell back into the water with force.

As if this was some sort of signal ripples in the water surrounded the boys as fifteen lizard man crashed into four sheilds.

"Strike! Strike back, do not falter!" The combined weight of these lizard man was simply too much for those holding the sheilds, they fell to the water pushing those protected inside to readjust their weight in order to no fall.

One of the boys holding a spear defended himself slamming the spear directly on the head of one of the lizards only to be bitten in the neck by another.

Having slammed the spear away from his body he had inadvertently exposed himself, leaving no way to retrieve the spear to defend.

He managed to keep himself standing for a moment drawing his spear back and driving it into the lizard that took a bite out of him.

At the side the boy with the mace had been pushed half into the water leaving only part of his torse above, this did not stop him from slamming his mace against the face of another lizard man.

Nand not one to simply stand around and watch used his sword that looked like a club to maim the bodies of the lizards nearest to him.

"Push them off those in the water! Don't let them seperate us!" a lizard attempted to slash at him from the side only for him to sidestep just in time and counter, severing the arm cleanly from the shoulder.

To his back a boy with a sword in hand kicked a lizard away from the top of the sheild while he stabbed another in the chest.

The stab in the chest did not seem to hinder the lizard in the least as it pushing into the blade attempting to grab the boy.

The first boy whom had stabbed the lizard in the ribcage couldn't retrieve his spear from the ribcage in time having to abandon it and draw a dagger to his side.

He was quickly overwhelmed having to fight under such close quarters entering a grappling fight in the water.

To the west the group under the command of Huitaca used the environment to their advantage.

"The water will aid them in the deeper end but hinder them in shallow water, when they near do not hesitate to strike them down, they are no longer who we once knew"

Having twelve people to work with, she split her group into four parts with three in each group.

They only had to deal with eight of these lizard man currently, giving them the advantage in numbers.