169 Vol. 3 pt. 39 Patch 7.0: Monster Showdown (2/2)

Serra, looking through the ballista's scope, smiles.

She pulls the trigger and fires the ballista.

The fired bolt pierces the monster's chest!

Its tip only managed to barely penetrate his muscular chest, but that's enough.

The real damage doesn't come from the bolt itself. It comes from the explosives packed into its tip.

The bolt explodes! The monster lets out the most pained scream of any monster that Fenrir has ever heard.

Smoke obstructs the damage done to the monster's chest, but they know that it had to deal a decisive blow given that he can barely remain standing.

With one hand clutching his chest and the other keeping him held up on his knees, the monster raises his head and glares at Serra.

Serra shivers when she sees the monster looking directly at her through the scope that she's looking through.

But, as intimidating as the monster may be, he doesn't scare her.

”Let's finish him,” Serra says.

Fenrir looks down at the final bolt gifted to him by Thelmes.

The monster isn't dead yet and looks ready to sacrifice himself if it means taking them down, and the serpent is vulnerable to him until he's finished.

”Load and fire,” Fenrir orders.

Fenrir helps Serra and Nell load the ballista with the final bolt.

The monster recovers from the first explosion just in time to see Serra ready to fire another one.

With one hand on the ballista's trigger, Serra raises her middle finger with her other hand and pulls the trigger.

Another direct hit.

This time, the explosive bolt detonates inside of exposed flesh and muscle.

If anybody watching were to have traumatic content enabled, they would see a very gory and messy aftermath.

Even more shocking than any potential gore is the fact that the monster is still standing after having most of his chest blown away.

”Seriously? Why won't you die already? Fire the cannons!” Fenrir shouts.

Two cannonballs fly toward him but get blocked by his arm.

”Overpowered asshole,” Fenrir says.

Everybody onboard agrees with him.

”Wait,” he says.

”Do you feel it, my hero?” Nell asks.

”Yeah, I do.”

”Feel what?” Serra asks.

”We've done all we can here, but there's somebody else who's still in the fight,” Fenrir answers.

Serra looks through her scope at the monster.

He's still somehow managing to stand and is in the same spot that he has been.

However, when she looks behind him, the serpent is no longer there.

”Time to tap out and let her finish the fight herself,” Fenrir says.

”She's a good girl, is she not?” Nell asks.

”She is, but don't let Rock hear me say that or she might get jealous.”

The monster looks around himself and notices that the serpent is gone.

Before he can turn around to try and escape back onto land, he sees a plume of water shoot up in front of him which reveals the missing serpent.

Both monster and serpent are clinging to the last shreds of life that they have.

This next exchange of blows will decide who survives and who dies.

Neither of them plans on losing, but one of them must.

The monster smashes his fists down into the water and howls while the serpent coils around herself and shrieks.