A dozen children ran away, they did not care to be a part of this whatsoever.
The screams of the exposed lizard men echoed across the lake reaching even the ears of the onlookers.
Seeing the creature impaled on the spear was simply too much to deal with.
It was fine when they didn't know what happened to the golden statues, it was not the same now.
Bran Ai unable to hold the spear up was forced to let go, letting it fall sideways as the fake crawled away to deeper water spear in tow.
"What was that?"
"I- I, Elder! What should we do? Please help us!"
"This can't he real... It's all a dream, yes a dream"
They struck at the barrier separating them in hope that they could get through only to be disappointed.
Elder Qez kept quiet, he couldn't interfere in this ritual unless he were willing to lose his chance to enter the golden city.
'I truly hate these old methods, what can I do in this situation but claim ignorace' he knew this would build negative karma along his future path but at this point it was unavoidable.
'The only thing I can do now is hope for a good result, maybe then the loses will be worth it' unable to put the lives of the children above his own gain he could only wait.
This was not just a mission the sect selected for him, it was a personal matter that involved his future cultivation path.
He had the option to bring more experienced fighters in the venture regardless of the increase in difficulty, yet his choice to bring the children was strategic.
'The less variables the better, a seasoned cultivator would seek treasure ignoring orders while the more ignorant will follow orders without much thought. This way I can assure I aquire what I seek'
The children seeing the elder ignore their pleas could only gather together finding comfort in each other.
"What do we do?
"Should we help the rest?"
"I'm not going near that, you go if you want to get hurt"
"What if they attack us after?"
"Why would they? We didn't do anything wrong"
"They didn't either"
Unable to agree a portion of the children kept still, they held onto each other pushing against the barrier.
The rest of the kids took a breath and set their minds free.
'If I dont help what if they come for me next? I- I don't want that' one boy firmed their resolve.
"Kino, Kell-kell..." He looked at his sides, two of his friends stood near spear and dagger pointed out.
They looked at him, they understood what he wanted to do.
One shook his head, the other simply firmed his grip.
"Let's go!" The boy gripped his bone dagger and ran forward launching an erratic attack to help those struggling in the water.
His friends although unwilling followed shorty after not letting him go alone.
Without any real unity the attack could only be considered a warning, similar to a pack of monkeys warding off a leopard.
Yet with enough numbers the fakes took extra caution slowing the attack.
Clawing at the bodies of those they targeted trying to tear them apart each slash scarred the kids bodies beyond recognition.
"Augh!" A girl was bitten in the leg nearly toppling over.
Those nearby smacked the fake attempting to ward it off.
"Move!" A girl among her group unable to simply watch any further stood ready to attack.
1,2,3 second passed as the girl stood still pointing a skeletal hand in the direction of one of the fakes.
"Get ready! When I throw this pull them out!" She called out to her friends.
"What?"
"I don't want to get near to those things"
"I'm not asking! Now go!" The skeletal hand was thrown in the fakes direction gaining form as it traveled in the air.
The sekeletal hand looked the same as the girl that threw it with not a single hair out of place, with one major difference, the aura of this mirror image was considerably stronger then that of the girl herself.
The fake seeing this girl rush in its direction felt the need to run away, letting go of the child it held down it dashed away from assumed danger.
"It worked?"
"But we've been hitting them the whole time and they simply ignored us"
"Maybe her ugliness scared it?"
"Shut up!" She snapped.
The skeletal hand had a considerably stronger prescence then the girl herself, this prescence was simply a remnant will of a larger whole unable to do anything itself but with the infusion of Qi this remnant will had been forced out.
While this action had saved the child under attack the will inside the hand grew weaker.
The kids were not impacted by this will as much as the fakes, they were already under pressure so the addition of a girl recklessly charging was not the focus.
"Wait she used Qi to activate that right?"
"That's right!"
"But she is the only one with... That"
"What about our own gifts?"
As if a lightbulb lit the heads of each child they grasped their spears and daggers made of blue stone or bone attempting to infuse Qi into them.
Bran Ai having just lost his newly gained spear grabbed the gourd tied to his waist as he wondered if he could do anything with it.
The large boy hadn't seen what had happened at the side as he slammed his leg on a fakes ribcage freeing another just in time.
The fake took no visible damage simply changing targets.
One child held a staff with both hands, the staff made of wood with only a small blue stone at the tip started to shine bright.
"What do I do now? Throw it?"
"Just hit them!"
Taking the advice given, the staff slammed directly on the back of one of the creatures.
The light flared creating a shockwave that both knocked the child holding the staff back and broke the creatures spine in half.
"!"
"Holy..."
The staff flew away from the childs hands landing far away from Its owner, a blue underwater light made it easy to locate.
"Quickly use your Qi to attack! Push them off!"
"I'm trying but it just won't work"
"My Qi doesn't listen to me"
Both this boy with the staff and the girl with the skeletal hand stood out among the group, everyone else struggled to infuse spiritual Qi into the stones at the tip of their spears, staffs or daggers.
"Then we just need to keep hitting them"
"But that hasn't worked so far"
"What else can we do then?!"
The creatures kept attacking without fear, while the kids had achieved some succes it was not considered good enough to ward off all seventeen of the attackers quite so easily.
The kids weren't all physically strong, they like all kids of the age four to five did not have muscle covering their bodies from head to toe.
Just the mere act of braving this event would be considered heroic.
Another kid picked up the staff that fell under the water, running at the nearest fake attacker.
"Hey that's mine!"
The kid ignored the staffs owner as he swung directly onto the face of both the creature and child being attacked.
"Ah!"
Two heads cracked mixing fluids in the air as the bodies of both fell slowly into the water.
"What did you do?!?"
"I didn't mean to hit him! I just- I"
"Worry about that later hit the rest!"
The girl wanted to retrieve the skeletal hand she tossed but was unwilling to put herself in harms way, it wasn't too far but it would put her directly in the center of the attackers.
"Why didn't it last longer?!"
She noted the staff was still shinning bright while the skeletal hand had fizzled out.
The only way to retrieve the hand was to clear away the attackers, otherwise she would be unwilling to risk injury.
"Wait, how did you use the staff if it's not yours?"
Ding*
"We can do that!"
"What?"
At this point several children took their last breaths unable to free themselves on time, those trying to assist them could only keep striking with all their might unable to accept the outcome.
The amazonian girls deciding to help the children took aim at those attacking the kids.
"Aim at those furthest, try and not hit the kids"
The position the amazonians stood was at a 105 degree angle infront of the children, if any arrow missed it could easily strike the children.
It wasn't intentional, they simply had no time to spare.
"Fire"
Arrows departed flying through the air for less then a second as they struck the backs of the attackers, only one arrow narrowly missed striking the arm of an unlucky kid.
The child fell to one knee as he held his arm in pain, the arrow managed to pierce through his bone nearly making it out cleanly through the other end of his arm only to lose momentum at the last moment.
He looked up to see just what had attacked him but as the water had risen even further the viewing angle did not allow him to identify his attacker.
"So sorry!" A girl cried out from afar.
The arrows that struck the assailants did not manage to stop them, simply slowing them down unable to put their full strength into their attack.
"Do they feel no pain?"
"Didn't one scream earlier in pain?"
"Them only some feel pain?"
They weren't sure, from their position the lizards hardly looked affected.
With the help provided by the amazonians the number of attackers decreased from fourteen to eight, one retreated after being impaled, another had its back broken unable to move, the last had it's brains splattered in the lake never to cause trouble again.
The one scared off by the skeletal hand simply picked another target.
Now as six of them had arrows logged in their bodies, their movement decreased significantly allowing for the children to reorganize themselves, at least that was what should have happened.
The kids weren't being strategic with their attacks, they simply attacked as needed with the word teamwork being a suggestion.
Without any leadership to bring them together the children could only act with uncoordinated actions.
From afar a group of lizard men watched the fights take place, to the east the group of boys entered a life and death battle being heavily outnumbered by their attackers.
With each attack lowering the defenders numbers the attackers gained the upper hand, eventually reaching a point where the defenders became isolated from each other.
The attacking lizard men seemed particularly vicious when conpared to those attacking Bran Ai's group.
To the west a group of lizard men taunted the larger western native group daring them to venture into deeper water, while the two groups in the south which seemed to be the easiest targets had suddenly grouped together greatly injuring a good amount of their ranks.
This group of lizard men watching the fights were made up of two significantly larger lizard man surrounded by four smaller lizard man forming a sort of kings guard around the larger lizard men.
Low rumbling spread in the water, as it reached the ears of the lizard men attacking the children there was a sudden shift in their movements.
"They are running away!"
"We did it!"
"I thought I would, what's it called?"
Sighs of relief spread until they looked at those laying still.
One child that had survived had the flesh in his arms basically stripped away leaving only bones behind.
He had curled up into a ball protecting his neck with his arms, too afraid to move that even the pain he suffered turned into an unreasonable resolve to protect himself.
Out of the seventeen kids attacked nine had died while the rest had been heavily injured or in the case of the large boy simply gained a few scratches.
Bran Ai held the gourd with both his hands attempting to infuse spiritual Qi into it, with every second that passed with no results he could only blame his bad luck.
'I need to find another spear, or something useful to defend myself with!' he looked at everyone that held a spear, dagger or staff in envy.
'They wouldn't just give up their only means of defese right?' he then looked at the children that had just died.
'They don't need anything to protect themselves anymore, it shouldn't be a problem if I take their things right?'
The eastern boys had successfully killed three attackers, while the number was small this was already considered above expectations.
Normal living beings would have died from being stabbed in the chest, these lizard men seemed to ignore any mortal wounds suffered and simply kept attacking even after having several of their limbs severed.
Nand attempted to regain a semblance of unity from his group but as the battle progressed his group had been dragged appart both in distance and physically.
Now he stood alone while only two among his group remained standing a distance away. If the battle continued as it did now he would surely die.
While the injuries he suffered were minimal comparatively to the rest of his group this wasn't enough to be able to help his remaining companions
The lizards took turns attacking and retreating, he was forced back with every step he attempted to take
Unable to see any other way out Nand took a risky action slamming hesdfirst into a lizardmans chedt. .
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I can't die here!" Nand cleaved a path closer to one of his allies pushing the lizard men that was attempting to distract him away, he couldn't survive on his own and he knew it.
Even if the lizards avoided his blows choosing to wear him out they couldn't stop him from moving around without risking great injury.
Although they wouldn't die from the injuries it would force them to retreat in order to heal.
'Who do I go help first?'
The boy to his left had been surrounded from all sides, his leg had been torn to shreds and the majority of his body had deep gashes bleeding perfusely, Nand knew he was not the best option to rely on.
To his right one of the sheild bearers had recovered to a degree, his injuries could be considered light on first look but deeper inspection would quickly reveal the lethality of these wounds.
'If I go left I would be instantly surrounded by a swarm of those lizards and even be dragged down by my ally, but if I go right I will have a considerably stronger ally but it will also create more distance from the rest of the groups which would be an even worse outcome'
While Nand was in combat the entire time, the lax attempts to kill him allowed him to view the surrounding situation with clarity.
'No I can't go right even if the lizards leave us alone for some reason, we would basically be left on our own. At that point we would be at the mercy of whatever the outcome of their battles are'
The boy to the right had ventured further away from all other groups, basically isolating himself as he attempted to protect himself.
Deciding to help his ally on the left he rushed at the lizards getting ready for the final attack on the lone boy.
'This water is so fucking annoying! Not only that but it's rising quickly, or maybe we are falling. Either way it really slows me down'
Nand dragged a lizard under the water, he would be using their own tactics againt them.
If he couldn't get near them normally, then maybe if he forces a direct encounter under the water with greater risk to himself would make them more willing to attack.
Unable to swing the sword underwater the same way as above the water, he switched to his dagger.
He was still being chased and now under the water as expected they tried to overtake him.
'Yoi have sensitive eyes huh! Don't mind me!'
As the lizard struggled to break free from his grasp he stabbed it's eyes one at a time, with this the lizards body lost its power source ceasing all movement.
'One down, two more and I should be able to break us both out from this encirclement' he quickly pushed to the side avoiding being encircled again.
As Nand ambushed the lizard men using their own tactics, the boy surrounded from all sides was losing hope as everytime he swung his mace his swings lacked the strength needed to break the skulls of his attackers.
His wounds heavier with each encounter further lowered his combat capabilities, with only one of his legs working properly his balance was off lowering any extra leverage he could use to grant extra force into his swings.
"...I guess this is where it ends"
From the turbid water a lizard men watched as the boy gave up hope, seeing this as the perfect time to attack.
From behind it a figure rouse from the water pushing the lizard men watching down as a dagger stabbed into one of its eyes before it could react.
The sudden change startled the boy, he was thinking that his life would end here but just when all hope was lost a savior appeared.