9 Surrounded (1/2)

Everyone's eyes grew wide hearing Joshua announce they were more serpents coming.

”How many are there?” Eric asked.

”At least three. We have a few minutes before they catch up to us.” Joshua said.

”What are we supposed to do? There is still no land in sight. This could be the end of us.” Lydia concluded, a hint of fear in her voice.

”Calm down, sis. We're not dead yet.” her sister said while putting her hand on Lydia's shoulder.

”We'll think of something, just keep moving at full speed for now.” Catherine ordered.

The twins nodded and resumed pushing the boat forward for about a minute but then…

”STOP! There is another one coming right in front of us.” Catherine yelled.

The twins immediately slowed down the boat. With a snake in front of them and three behind them, the situation was looking grim.

”How the hell are we going to escape this? If anyone has a plan, now would be a good time to share it.” Eric asked.

”Hold on… Catherine, there is something weird in that direction.” Joshua said, pointing his finger.

Catherine nodded, a new mass had just been detected as the twins stopped the boat. They were barely on the edge but it appeared to be… land? It was hard to tell. It wasn't anywhere near the walls of the cavern.

”Let's go that way. We'll have to hope it's what we think it is.” Catherine said.

Low on options, the twins began to push the boat full speed toward the direction Joshua had pointed out. As they got closer, the signal became more clear, it appeared to be some island in the middle of the lake.

”Hopefully we can take refuge there.” Catherine mentally told Joshua.

”It has to work. We're out of options.” he replied.

They weren't sure how the snakes tracked their movement, but they adjusted to their direction, even kilometers away.

'Maybe they can sense the ripples in the water?' Joshua thought, biting his lip.

Luckily the island wasn't too far off and with the twins moving at full speed, it soon appeared in sight. It was a relatively large mass of land and although it was surrounded by rocks, various passages going inside could be seen.

Unfortunately, this is when the first snake caught up to them. Worse it appeared in front of them, blocking their way to the island. Even though they were less than a hundred meters away, the head of the giant snake was standing in the way, almost taunting them to approach.

”We need to bypass this thing quickly, the others are right behind us.” Catherine started. ”Lydia, Cynthia you two keep going at it at full speed. The rest, we'll attack it together, we just need to make it move out of the way.”

This was risky but they had very little time left. If the other snakes appeared they would be screwed.

The boat sped forward aiming straight for the island. The snake opened its mouth and charged, clearly intending of swallowing the party. Joshua and Catherine launched their attack together, Catherine used electrified water and Joshua added his own lightning on top of it. Those strikes hit the creature's skin causing it to slow down a bit and yell in pain. Eric followed up by throwing a fireball, which exploded in the creature's mouth. The monster's face was covered by smoke due to the explosion but was still moving forward. Finally, when it was near the boat, Boris struck it's fang with his morning star, breaking the tooth. The finally caused the creature to yell in pain and back up a bit, allowing the boat to reach the land.

As soon as they reached the island, everyone jumped off the boat and ran toward one of the many openings in the rock. The snake tried to grab one of them, but luckily it missed. The creature shrieked in anger. Joshua observed the creature from a safe distance. He saw that the tooth Boris had just broken was being remade and something hit him. The way the tooth was regenerating was similar to how he was healing up his body after being damaged, the snake was pouring energy into the broken part to restore it.

'This thing is a spirit!' he realized. That would also explain why he couldn't pass through it.

”Is everyone all right?” Catherine asked.

The others nodded.

”That was waaaaaaay too close.” Joshua said.

”Let's advance until we're totally out of its reach.” Cynthia said.

The others agreed and the group moved forward toward safety, reaching a point where the creature had no more chances to hit them. The rocks surrounding the island were just a thin wall and after a few seconds, they emerged into the inner part of the land. It turned out to be a forest made of giant mushrooms. Joshua had never seen anything like it and had the impression to be a Smurf.

”Lalalalalala...” he hummed quietly.

The others put down their sacks and sat down, the whole ordeal had left them exhausted. Catherine was checking out the area with Luna, she didn't detect any lifeform apart from small animals. It looked like they would be safe for the time being.