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Chapter 57 - The Green Tide

The battle raged on.

Scars marred the creature's tough hide, yet it fought on with relentless fury, and the lizardmen were beginning to tire.

The Gulper's sheer resilience was a grinding stone, wearing down their strength with every passing moment.

"This beast just won't die!" Rez snarled as he dodged a clumsy swipe from the toad's webbed hand.

Corliss, grunted as he parried a blow with his spear. "It doesn't matter. As long as we follow the ways of the elders, it will fall eventually."

"Less talking, more fighting!" Rokar roared from atop the Gulper's back. He plunged his spear deeper, his own scales in his forearms bulging with the effort. "Don't break formation! Don't even let it breathe!"

With a deep growl, Krum launched himself from the water. "Hard as a rock!" he bellowed, slamming his shoulder into the Gulper's side and sending a visible shudder through the massive creature.

From his perch in the trees, Aurelion watched the struggle unfold, his one good eye taking in every detail.

He rolled his eye at Krum's battle cry. "It is logical to strengthen your technique by focusing your will with words," he mused. "But it is also an embarrassing and foolish way to reveal your capabilities to any observant enemy."

His gaze then swept the pond, searching. "And Zura... as always, is nowhere to be seen." 

The female lizardman remained submerged, a ghost in the murky water, refusing to engage the toad directly. 

He looked away from the fight, his gaze drawn back towards the direction of the goblin nest. He closed his eye for a few seconds, a storm of calculations running through his mind.

"I need to speed things up" he decided. "And I still need that spear. I had to leave it behind because, it would have slowed my escape. But now... now I can retrieve it."

Slowly, carefully, he began to descend from the tree.

His body still screamed in protest from the after effects of Limit Breaker, every muscle a burning wire of agony, but he was growing accustomed to the pain. It was becoming a familiar, almost constant companion.

He reached the shore and moved along the edge, his steps careful in the sucking mud until he reached a spot marked by one of the Gulper's massive, webbed footprints.

Without hesitation, he waded into the murky pond. He didn't stop until the water reached his waist.

Rokar and the others spared him a brief glance, their reptilian eyes registering his strange action, but their focus immediately snapped back to the Gulper, refusing to be distracted from their struggle.

Aurelion came to a stop where he estimated he had dropped his weapon. He extended his left hand just below the surface of the water. He summoned a tiny, crackling spark in his left palm, channeling a minuscule amount of energy into it.

His intent was simple. To make his spear, long attuned to his unique energy, react to the his energy and reveal its location.

The moment the spark flared to life, the water in front of him rippled.

But the ripple didn't come from the murky depths where his spear might lie. It came from right in front of him.

The surface of the water erupted and...

A figure broke the surface with a sudden gasp, followed by a small, sharp shriek. Sputtering as water cascaded from her form. Her body gave a slight, involuntary twitch as the faint energy washed over her.

Aurelion raised a single, questioning eyebrow, his golden eye fixed on the Zura who had appeared so suddenly before him.

Zura met his gaze, her own expression a mix of concern and inquiry.

"Shouldn't you be helping them?" Aurelion asked with a flat voice.

"I'm aware," Zura retorted, her tone surprisingly firm. "The real question is, what are you doing here?"

"I came for my spear," he stated simply.

A flicker of disbelief crossed her face. "And you thought electrifying the water was the best way to do that?"

Aurelion's expression didn't change. "Yes."

She just stared at him for a moment, the sounds of the brutal battle raging behind them.

"I did it so my spear would react to my energy," Aurelion elaborated, a hint of impatience in his voice. "You don't need to waste your time here."

"Wait here," Zura said. Before he could protest, she took a deep breath and dove beneath the murky surface.

Seconds stretched on, each one punctuated by a pained roar from the Gulper or a shouted command from Rokar.

Then, the water in front of him broke again. Zura emerged, holding his spear in her hands. The weapon was slick with mud and pond scum, but it was intact.

She held it out to him. "Take this and get out of here," She turned her back on him, ready to rejoin the fight.

"You should be quick," Aurelion said.

Zura spun back around, a questioning look on her face.

"The goblins sent a party to hunt me yesterday," Aurelion explained, "All of them died. They might come back. Finish that toad quickly and leave this place."

Zura seemed to process his words, her expression softening slightly. "I understand, but don't worry. Goblins can't fight us in the water. You should get to safety. Be careful."

With that, she dove back into the water and vanished.

Aurelion watched the ripples fade for a second before turning towards the shore. With his spear now in hand, he move out of the water. Reaching the treeline, his gaze lingered on a thick cluster of bushes nearby.

After a ten minutes on the pond, the fight was reaching its climax.

"Rip and Shred!" Rokar roared, using a burst of strength to drive his spear deep into the Gulper's fleshy underbelly.

The toad let out a pained, gurgling roar and reared its head back. A high pitched, piercing shriek tore through the air.

The lizardmen still in the water surfaced, dropping their weapons to clamp their hands over their ears.

"Not again!" Corliss hissed through gritted teeth. "The elders never spoke of this ability."

"Then it must be an illusion, right?" Rez shot back sarcastically. "Since the elders didn't mention it."

"Show the elders some respect!"

"I am but-"

"Cut it out!" Rokar snapped.

While the lizardmen were disoriented, the Gulper stopped its shriek and, with a powerful push of its hind legs, leaped towards the shore.

"Is it trying to escape? to the shore?" Rez asked as the others began to recover.

"Krum!" Rokar roared.

The stout lizardman dove into the water, swimming with surprising speed towards the fleeing toad.

Zura, who had remained on the back, was now closest to the toad. Now It was her turn to act.

So close to the land, she couldn't submerge her entire body. Instead, she pressed both her palms against the surface of the water.

"May your body freeze like this water!" she chanted, and the water around the toad's feet instantly began to crystallize, a sheet of ice spreading outwards and encasing its legs.

The Gulper roared in frustration, struggling against the icy bonds.

"Krum, hurry!" Zura shouted.

Krum grunted, pushing himself faster through the water. Then, his eyes widened.

"ZURA, MOVE!" he roared.

Zura barely had time to register his warning, her head turning in confusion. A sharp, searing pain exploded in her back. At the same time, a volley of arrows splashed into the water around her, their crude shafts quivering in the mud.

A roar of pure fury erupted from Krum and the other lizardmen. They began to charge through the water, carving messy furrows as they move towards their fallen kin.

Zura let out a low whimper of pain, then forced herself to move, trying to swim away from the shore and the new threat.

But she wasn't fast enough. The Gulper, now free from the ice, turned its head. Its powerful leg shot out in a sideways kick.

The blow connected with Zura's side, sending her spiraling through the air before she crashed into the pond and sank into its murky depths.

While the lizardmen move to the shore, a new host emerged from the dense treeline.

Goblins at their head was Chief Grommash. Flanking him were roughly twenty goblins, their eyes glinting with malice. But the true centerpiece of the war party was the monstrosity beside their chief.

A green spider, its green carapace nearly one and a half meters tall, shifted restlessly. Behind it, seven smaller, green spiders skittered.

Grommash surveyed the scene. The heavily wounded toad, the enraged lizardmen, the bloodstained water. He let out a booming laugh.

"Well," he rasped, a cruel amusement in his voice. "I wasn't expecting this."

He turned his gaze to the massive spider at his side. "Veridia!" 

The giant arachnid turned its head, its emerald eyes focusing on its master.

"Kill anything that steps onto the shore," Grommash commanded.

Veridia let out a low, chittering click and turned its gaze back to the lizardmen in the water.

Grommash then faced his warriors. "The rest of you, that toad is mine! Don't let it escape, you filths!"

A war cry erupted from the goblins and they surged forward, a living tide of green skinned fury splashing into the pond. They scrambled towards the Gulper, ignoring the lizardmen for now.

The toad caught one mid air with its long tongue, swallowing it whole, but the others were already clambering onto its back, plunging their knives into its skin.

The Gulper bellowed in agony, thrashing in the water, but the goblins clung to it like leeches.

Krum had reached the melee. "Crushed like a rock!" he roared, slamming his shoulder into the Gulper's side. The impact was immense, knocking several goblins off and forcing the toad to stumble sideways.

The other lizardmen arrived a moment later. "Rez!" Rokar commanded, as his eyes locked on the swarm of goblins. "Find Zura! Tend to her!"

Rez gave a single, nod and dove beneath the surface. Rokar and Corliss then charged into the goblins.

Several goblins, seeing Krum as the larger threat, leaped onto his back, their knives scraping against his thick, earthy brown scales.

With a grunt of annoyance, Krum reached back, grabbed one of the goblins, and with a crunch, crushed its head in his jaws. He tossed the limp body aside and impaled another with his spear.

But even as he fought, more arrows hissed from the shore. Several found their mark in his shoulders and back. The wounds weren't deep enough to stop him, but the persistent attacks were beginning to show its effects.

Corliss was at Krum's side in an instant. As another volley of arrows rained down, He stabbed one of the goblins with his tail and while goblin screams he swing goblin around to intercept the incoming projectiles with a series of wet thuds.

"Krum! Stun the archers and protect yourself!" Rokar commanded.

Krum grunted in acknowledgment. While Corliss use goblin shield to protect him, he slammed the butt of his spear into the muddy ground with both hands. "Be fertilizer for the land!" he roared.

A deep tremor ran from the spear, and the solid earth beneath the archers turned to a sucking, thick mud. The goblins cried out for help as they slowly began to sink into the ground.

From the shore, Grommash simply smirked at the sight of his own troops being swallowed by the earth.

He raised a hand, signaling Veridia and the other spiders and he wait with a smile in his face.

Seeing the archers neutralized, Rokar saw his chance. "Kill them all!" he roared.

Corliss tossed the goblin corpse aside and, with Krum at his side, charged forward.

Grommash's smirk widened and he lowered his hand.

The moment the signal was given, a volley of green venom erupted from the maws of Veridia and her kin.

The projectiles arced through the air, landing on the charging lizardmen.

The three warriors staggered, crying out as the venom sizzled against their scales and a burning agony shot through their bodies.

Rokar, gritting his teeth against the searing pain, push Krum and Corliss with all his might, sending them stumbling behind the half dead body of the Gulper. He dove after them, taking what little cover the dying monster could provide.

Grommash let out a laugh that echoed across the pond. Then he looked down at his spiders with a pride.

The old goblin slung his heavy mace over his shoulder and began to advance.

In front of him, Veridia and her children descended into the water, their multiple green eyes fixed on the last hiding place of the cornered lizardmen.

"Come on, girls," he rasped. "There's a feast to be had today."

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