"What in the Hell kind of name is that...?" Leon asked, raising a brow at Grian and chuckling. His gaze snapped towards Maka as she tapped his shoulder, giving a swift nod before standing and making his way to the side she assigned for him. Picking up the oar, he dug the flat slab of wood into the choppy waves, churning it slowly through the water and eventually straightening the boat as they were propelled forwards by sheer manpower. He kept alert as they made their way into the misty, vision-imparing part of the dark lake, not liking the atmosphere one bit.

He sniffed around, hoping to guide them through the eerie waters by scent alone. Everything had a familiar smell, so Leon would know if they were getting ready to smash into some rocks, or hit the shore. He needed to be 100% focused on his navigation, his attention turning in many directions in the span of a couple minutes. It was evident that he hadn't been too worried about his rowing, the man just barely keeping his strokes in sync with Maka. Nonetheless, they continued on at a decent speed, the front of the boat cutting through the white fog like butter.

Leon suddenly dropped the oar, standing and sniffing multiple times, his sharp teeth bared as he looked around. "Both of you, keep quiet!" He barked at them, his voice a slight whisper as he reached for his sword, locked neatly in its sheathe. "Some kind of animal is circling the boat... No... Two. Three, maybe? They have been for awhile now..." He explained, crouching as he did his best to stay away from the sides of the boat. "The scent is fuzzy... Something reptilian, from what I can tell. Big, too." He continued, suddenly remembering the man from the dock's warning about serpents. Leon didn't think he was lying, but he still never thought they'd actually be in this scenario.

His eyes widened as the sound of water splashing echoed behind them, Along with an ominous hiss. Turning slowly, his eyes locked onto those of a massive snake, its head and part of its long, slender body coming up from the surface of the lake, its scaly body dripping and glistening as a black, forked tongue flicked from its closed jaws. Leon stood, shield and sword held defensively, the snake opening its mouth to reveal a pink, fleshy chasm outfitted with two deadly fangs. All around them, the heads of two more snakes burst forth, hissing and snapping as they examined the vessel that lay before them. "Dammit... I was hoping I wouldn't have to shed any blood today..."

Although Grian couldn't smell his way through a fog, he could certainly navigate one. Years spent on the open ocean and in the bays had prepared him for this sort of weather, and it wasn't difficult for him to keep the rudder effectively directing them away from the shore and any rocks and towards the river that would lead them downstream out to the ocean and to Rivers Ward. What he wasn't familiar with were the great serpents Leon was able to detect just moments before they burst forth.

Grian kept one hand on the rudder to try to maintain their course towards the river, where the shallow waters and narrow banks might provide some level of protection. His other hand went to the hilt of his sword, clearing it of its sheath in one pull, cringing at the sharp pang of pain shooting up his side from his wound.

He aimed the boat at one of the beasts, the boat swinging around and hitting the serpent as he used his sword to slash at the beast. He wasn't able to cut as deeply as he would have if he had been in good health, but at least he was able to do a bit of damage as he continued to steer the boat to their best advantage.

Maka had an idea. It was probably rather mad, but she didn't see many options- she couldn't fend the massive serpents off with just her staff, not for long.

"Hold them off, give me a few minutes!" she shouted to her companions, bracing herself in the middle of the boat and holding her staff out in front of her, parallel to the water. She closed her eyes and took a breath, tapping into the power swirling in her core.

She hated doing this. It was so cold. But she pushed through the discomfort, reaching out with that freezing mental touch, down down down into the water. There had to be something she could use- there!

Her eyes suddenly snapped open and rolled into the back of her head. With a sharp gasp, Maka felt every muscle in her body tense and she intoned, "Rise." Her voice seemed almost doubled, shivering through the air.

For a few moments nothing happened. Then the water started to ripple, then roil as suddenly things burst through to the surface. Dead things, the remains of the serpents' previous victims, human and animal alike.

With a flicker of thought, Maka sent her necromantic summonings to attack the creatures.

Leon gripped his shield tightly, spinning his sword once as the snakes dove in for the attack. He gave a grunt, rolling out of the way to evade the snapping jaws. He turned quickly, swiping the sharp blade at one of their bodies and leaving a huge gash. With a scream of pain, the snake sunk back into the water, the other three snapping back around to lunge at the boat yet again.

Grian's skillful maneuvering of the boat truly helped in avoiding the serpent's erratic attacks, even going out of his way to make the risky move of ramming one of them head-on. As it screeched, sinking back into the water, the other three came straight at Grian. Leon quickly stepped up, blocking one of the lethal bites before wildly slashing at the other two snakes, managing to get a hit on the tip of one's snout. The little gashes and cuts only served to anger the creatures... Leon knew that. Still, what else could he do? These things were huge.

He sighed in relief as Maka finally stepped into the conflict. He had been glancing at her every now and then, noticing her doing her little magic thing. From how long it took her, he could only assume the spell was something big. His guess was right, looking around at the old, waterlogged bones rising from the lake around the serpents, who were all examining their surroundings in confusion. As the corpses flew at the snakes, they began hissing, slamming the flying bodies away and even gobbling a few up.

Leon, smirking at the distraction, leaped off the end of the boat straight at the nearest serpent. Clinging onto the beast's head, as well as many other corpses, he continuously bashed the snake's skull with his shield, nearly falling off as the beast shook around frantically. Letting out an animal-like growl, Leon thrusted his sword through the snake's skull, killing the first out of the entire bunch. However... Things, while looking up at first, quickly went south as the carcass of the snake began a quick descent right on top of the boat. Leon gritted his teeth, clinging on for dear life and wincing as the snake nearly crashed through the small vessel. Something stopped it, though... Another blade. A long one, wielded by a cloaked, lithe man with bright red gauntlets. The type of image that Leon could never forget.

Leon, jumping from the thing's skull and turning towards the man, narrowed his eyes. "You..." He spat. The man, tossing the carcass into the water and off of his sword, turned to Leon, pulling down the hood of his cloak to reveal his messy, red locks. Around them, the other serpents had already begun to retreat, overwhelmed by Maka's corpses. The man narrowed his eyes at Leon, sliding his sword into his scabbord as he tossed the cloak to the side. "Always nice to see familiar faces." The man murmured.

"Hello, Leon. Long time, no see."