As soon as we reached the shores, I took off my bag and boots, rolled up my trousers a little and stepped into the cool water. It felt so refreshing after walking and climbing up that last hill in the hot sun. I just stood there enjoying the views for a moment. I heard a bit of commotion from the girls behind me and turned around to see Altria had stripped off to her panties and bra. She was running towards the water’s edge.

“What are you doing?” Beth called after her.

Altria looked back and shouted. “Going for a swim!”

“But you don’t have a swimsuit!”

“This will do fine!” She said charging into the water.

She ran right past me, then dove in. She resurfaced a moment later.

“Come on Theo. It’s lovely in here.” She said splashing about.

I turned back to the rest of the group and shouted.

“Is this safe?”

“I don’t see why not.” Serin shouted back.

Feeling satisfied that if Serin wasn’t worried it probably was safe, I climbed out of the water. I quickly took off my trousers and the rest of my armour. Then in just my boxers I waded back in after Altria. I looked back to the rest of the group. It seemed that they had all come to the conclusion that the water was a good choice. They were all in the process of stripping off.

“See it’s lovely isn’t it.” Altria said as I joined her.

“It is.”

It really was. The cool clean water was just what I needed. Lunch could wait for a little while. The others seemed to agree with us as they joined us in the water. We had left a little ahead of schedule so a longer break now wasn’t going to put us behind. Soon I was surrounded by all four beautiful girls, in just their underwear. They were all splashing about and were dripping with water. It was quite the sight. Then I remembered Celine, I didn’t want to miss out, I mean have her miss out on the water.

“Is it okay to call Celine out?” I asked Serin.

“I don’t see why not. There isn’t a person in sight for miles around.” She replied.

“Great I’ll call her… Celine, are you going to join us?”

“One moment master.” Her voice replied from somewhere.

A few moments later she appeared on the edge of the water. She had squeezed herself into a small green bikini. I was glad that I’d asked her to come out.

“Demons have things like that too, huh?” I said to myself.

Celine was stood on the water edge as if she were waiting for something and being unusually quiet.

“Are you going to join us?” I called over.

“Just coming.”

She slowly waded into the water and joined us.

“What do you think?” She asked me.

“About the water?”

“No… My swimsuit.”

“Oh, sorry. Yes, it looks good on you.”

“Thanks! I prepared it just for this.” She said with a smile.

Then as we were talking a wave of water splashed over us. It was Altria, she thought it would be funny to soak us.

“Hahaha!”

“What are you doing silly cat!” Celine said before splashing her back.

It wasn’t long before it turned into an all on all water fight. Not a single one of us managed to avoid getting soaked, but it was good fun and it finished with us all laughing.

“That was fun!” I said to Altria.

We were at the edge of the group. A little further into the water with it being up to about chest it.

“It was.”

“We should probably head back to the shore and make lunch soon though.”

“Probably… Hmm Theo, you should wait until later. The others will want to join in.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your hands.”

“What?” I said lifting both arms out of the water.

“That isn’t you….” She said before breaking into a scream.

I was sprayed with water as Altria was pulled up into the air by her leg and the water behind her broke, as a massive tentacle pulled her upwards. I was frozen to the spot for a moment as I tried to process what was going on. Then another tentacle shot up from the water’s surface and grabbed her by the arm.

“Nooo! Help me!” Yelled Altria.

I looked back to the shore and my gear, it was going to take too long to head back and fetch my blade. The tentacle on her leg was gradually working its way up her thigh. I had to do something and quick. I wasn’t sure if the technique would work without a sword, but decided to try anyway. I fired off mana wind strike at the tentacle holding her legs. It severed it. The cut tentacle flailed around, and the section still attached to her leg gradually uncoiled before falling to the ground. She was now held up by her arm, being swung around wildly. I ran to the side and aimed carefully. She was being flung around so much that I could easily hit her if I missed. I fired again. This time it didn’t cut right through, but it was enough for it to loosen its grip and Altria fell towards the ground.

I was close enough to try and catch her. I got underneath, but the impact was enough to push us both under the water momentarily. As we resurfaced, I grabbed Altria and started to run towards the shore as quickly as I could. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the creature attacked again. Serin and Beth were running towards us. They had both quickly retrieved their weapons from the beach and stood their ground as we passed them. We reached the shore just in time to see two more tentacles shoot out from the water towards them. They were ready for the attack and soon chunks of tentacle were hitting the water’s surface with a splash.

We both stopped at the water’s edge breathing heavily.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

There was heavy bruising all the way up Altria’s left leg and right arm.

“I’m fine… Thanks Theo, that was a close one.” She replied.

 “You look like you need healing.”

“Not now, I need my bow.” Altria said getting to her feet and dashing towards her gear.

As she ran up the beach to her pile of clothes, I turned back to water. Serin and Beth were still in the water, they had cut off several limbs from the creature and for now the waters were calm.

“Where is it?” Altria asked as she joined me, with her bow in hand.

“I don’t know, maybe it gave up?”

“I doubt it.” Answered Liz from behind us.

As soon as she spoke the water some way out in front of Beth and Serin was forced up in a bulge, and wave of water flew over them. As the water cleared, I could see the body of the creature, it was like a dark black giant squid.

“What is that?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m surprised the lake is able to hold a creature of that size!” Answered Liz.

“I’ve seen something like it before… But only on the internet or in books fortunately.”

“What?”

“It looks like a squid, but considering it’s a monster…”

We were interrupted by the shout of the girls still in the water. The monster was making its way closer to the shore and towards them. They had severed more of its limbs, but it seemed to be able to regenerate them as quickly as they could cut them down.

“Get to the side!” Liz shouted from the shore.

Serin and Beth did as she asked, as soon as they had cleared the latest wave of tentacles. Once they were clear Liz let off a giant bolt of flame. It rocketed towards the creature and looked as if it was going to burn it to a crisp. But the creature simply rocked backwards in the lake and spat out a jet of water at the fireball. There was an almighty explosion from the steam and our view of the lake was almost completely obscured by the mist created by the blast.

“Out of the water, now!” Boomed Liz’s voice.

She held her hands up to the sky and begun an incantation under her breath. I could tell by the look of absolute concentration on her face that she was building up for something big. I heard splashes coming from the water in front of us. Then the shapes of Serin and Beth emerged from the mist.

“You’re both okay!” I said as they came ashore.

“Yes… What’s happening?” Asked Serin.

“Liz is doing something. I think we need to keep it at bay until she pulls it off.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do!”

Serin and Beth stood either side of Liz ready to intercept any tentacles that came their way. Altria was just to the side, her bow at the ready. I grabbed my sword and joined them, waiting for the thing’s next move.