114 Vol. 2 pt. 51 Patch 9.0: Confrontations and Revelations (1/2)
The Steel Tiger limps back into port to the sound of booing and mocking. The fire that was once spreading across its hull and sails has been put out, and they are down from seven to four crewmembers remaining.
”Should we do it now?” one of the crewmembers asks.
”No. We'll repair first and wait for the others to get back,” Alexander answers.
Meanwhile, The Shoebill keeps just enough distance from the longship for them to easily hit it with cannons while being too far away for their thrown weapons to accurately hit them.
The serpent is still latched onto the bottom of its hull to keep it in place as an easy target for The Shoebill.
”Two shots should be enough. One to make them bring out that summon to put it out, another to reignite them as soon as it's gone,” Fenrir tells Serra.
She already has her fingers on the trigger of the ballista just waiting for the order to fire.
Despite them being in the final round of the tournament and facing opponents who want to mercilessly kill them, the crew of The Shoebill is relaxed. Their enemy can't attack them and is being teamed up on by a fully crewed ship and a serpent.
”This is way easier than I thought it would be,” Fenrir says. ”It's actually kind of anticlimactic. I mean, we could just sail past the tower on the other side and win. We don't even really have to take these guys out.”
”But I want to,” Serra says.
”And we will. Fire.”
Serra grins and fires the first shot. Just as planned, it pierces through the side of the longship's hull and explodes sending flammable shrapnel throughout the ship!
”My assistant told me I just got a new rebirth counter,” Serra says.
”Oh, yeah. You must've killed somebody, and I remember being told you can get them from killing other players who are a way higher level, basically, than you. Sweet,” Fenrir says and gives her a few congratulatory pats atop her hatted head.
Between the raging flames and sustained cannon fire, the captain of the longship summons the water sprite before long to douse the flames and then turn into a mighty wave to crash into The Shoebill. However, as Oleander was expecting this, he easily turns the ship into the wave to ride it without issue.
”I got a better idea than lighting it on fire again,” Fenrir says. ”Let's give them a taste of their own medicine. Hey, Bone, you up for something brutal?”
”Da,” Bonekraka answers with the largest smile that he's shown in a while.
Fenrir gathers everybody, tells them the plan, and then get ready at the sides of the ship.
”Ya sure that serpent will know the plan?” Tabitha asks.
”I hope it gets an idea of it,” Fenrir answers. ”Alright. Olly! Full speed ahead!”
While The Shoebill sails towards its target at its maximum speed, the serpent does exactly as Fenrir was hoping it would by tilting the longship partially onto its side with its deck facing The Shoebill. The longship's crew have to hold onto the side lifted above the water to not fall overboard, but when they see what's about to happen, some of them go ahead and jump anyways.
The Shoebill rams right through the center of the longship! The longship is torn almost in half from the impact, and the serpent finishes the job by pulling on its bow to fully break the longship into two halves.
A few of its crew are in the water trying to climb onto The Shoebill, but Bonekraka is ready with his axes to chop away at anybody trying to scale the ship. While he protects the port side, Tabitha uses her hammer to swing at anybody trying to climb up the starboard side.
The serpent triumphantly raises the front half of the longship into the air, revealing its body to the crowds, and swings it into the city's tower! It doesn't do much damage aside from cracking one of the walls, but it makes Fenrir cringe nonetheless and has him hoping that he won't have to pay to repair that.
”This isn't satisfying,” Serra says.
”It might not seem like it, but think of it this way: these assholes were – well, huge assholes, and if this were some sort of anime, there would probably be a huge and epic final battle with a bunch of monologuing and taking a bunch of time to kill them. That's how it always is, and I bet they'd like that. Instead, they get rammed and then smashed away like some bugs that are just a pain to deal with,” Fenrir explains. ”It might not be as cool or as satisfying as the traditional way of taking out the bad guys, but it's going to piss them off way more, and the more pissed off they are – the more we win. Isn't it satisfying when you think of it that way?”