169 Vol. 3 pt. 39 Patch 7.0: Monster Showdown (1/2)
”Three… two… one…” Fenrir counts down as the metal chain connected to the anchor sinks into the water. It comes to a sudden stop once the heavy, metal anchor crashes into the seafloor, and that means that it's time to attack. ”Fire!” Fenrir orders.
Serra, sitting in the ballista's chair, fires a hooked shot connected to the ballista by a metal chain.
The fired shot flies true and, just as Serra aimed it to, flies over the monster's arm. The hook's line runs out of slack and falls down onto the monster's arm, causing the hook to swing back and around the monster's arm. Serra then starts reeling the hook back in to get its sharp points embedded inside of the monster's arm.
Tied up and hooked, the monster tugs its arm forward to try and break free but fails. He can't proceed forward any farther, either. With the anchor keeping The Shoebill in place, it is a stalemate between the anchor's weight and the monster's strength.
”That must be one heavy anchor if that beast could so easily swing around a tree but not drag our anchor,” Nell says.
”Tabs probably has something to do with that. Right, Tabs?” Fenrir asks.
Tabitha looks back at him and shrugs.
When he looks her in the eyes, he sees that she isn't Tabitha. Or rather, the avatar is Tabitha without a doubt, but the one controlling said avatar is not the player that they have all come to know.
With the ship under attack, the overseer has temporarily taken control of her to fight back.
”What do we do, Fenrir?” Corwin asks, standing next to Tabitha.
Fenrir jumps a bit when Corwin talks. He forgot that the overseer could emulate the personalities and voices of the avatars that it controls, so to hear ”Corwin” speak when he wasn't expecting it is surprising and sort of disturbing.
”Reload the cannons and fire at will. Keep it distracted from trying to unhook itself,” Fenrir orders.
The monster lets out an annoyed growl from being ensnared. Just when it reached the serpent and picked her up with one of his hands, his other arm got restricted and now he has to drop her to try and free himself.
Though, rather than just try to free himself, he grabs the chain connecting him to The Shoebill and tugs on it with each of his hands.
The Shoebill lurches toward him and faces him directly now, rendering the cannons useless as they now are pointed at nothing but open water.
”Shit,” Fenrir curses. The plan was to try and hopefully delay the monster, preferably by bringing him farther out into the water, but now he's pulling the boat closer to him instead.
The anchor isn't heavy enough to stop him when he's using all the strength in both of his arms.
”Release the line,” Fenrir orders.
Serra pulls a lever on the side of the ballista which releases the chain and prevents the monster from pulling The Shoebill in any closer.
While The Shoebill is safe for the time being, the monster is now able to return his attention to the serpent. Having one arm tied up in metal chain isn't going to bother him now. If anything, it will just serve as some extra protection against the serpent's maw.
”Can we ram him?” Serra asks.
”Water's too shallow. We'd stop before we even reach him,” Fenrir answers.
”What about those?” Serra asks, looking at a sealed crate on the deck next to the ballista.
Fenrir doesn't want to use those thanks to how useful they've been… but isn't this a situation warranting using one of them? Only two are left of the original five, but he can't think of a better moment to use one of those than right now.
It's time to go all out.
”Load it up. I'll angle us to get the port side facing him again. Wait until he's distracted by cannon fire to shoot,” Fenrir explains.
Serra nods and gets to work.
”My hero, is there anything you would like me to do?” Nell asks.
”Help Serra load the ballista,” Fenrir answers before rushing to The Shoebill's stern.
Meanwhile, the monster's new ”armor” proves effective against the serpent. She tries to lash out and latch onto the arm that he swings at her, but her teeth are blocked by the metal chain surrounding his arm. If anything, chaining that monster's arm has only assisted him rather than the serpent. The chain allows him to smash his arm down against the serpent's body, breaking apart her scales underneath the metal.
She collapses in the water and cries out in pain. Whenever her opponent isn't slamming his fist into her head, his chain-wrapped arm comes crashing down against her neck with enough force to dent her scales in and crack them.
Without the advantage of deep water, she is severely outclassed by her enemy. She doesn't even truly qualify as being a boss-tier monster unlike him.
Yet, when she heard that horn sound, she knew where it was coming from and knew who the one sounding it was.
She refuses to let those who saved her suffer.
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That is exactly why she has been following The Shoebill from a distance ever since the tournament.
Gathering every last ounce of determination that she can, she rears her head up, dodges her opponent's fist, and lunges toward his neck!
His chained arm knocks her away.
Her vision is almost entirely black now. All she can see are the occasional waves breaking against her, washing over her beaten body, and the bloodthirsty monster looming over her.
The monster raises his hands in the air for one final attack. All he has to do is slam them down against her and she'll finally be defeated.
Except, just before he swings down to finish her off, he gets knocked forward.
”As soon as he turns around!” Fenrir orders, smoke rising from the recently-fired cannons.
The monster turns around to face The Shoebill once more. The cannonballs did no lasting damage other than bruising his skin underneath his fur and knocking him forward a bit. With the serpent all but killed, it is time for him to annihilate the only remaining annoyance.