Chapter 20 - Avoid the Water

The ship violently shook as the Leviathans heads made contact with the wood. The crunching of wood caused splinters to fly in all directions. Archer watched helpless as the beast removed its head from the ship. Its red eyes flicked across all the individuals on board, wondering who do attack next. There was another loud sound after the snake creature recomposed itself.

*BOOM!*

"Ya missed me! Try coming my way again and see what happens to ya!" Olrick yelled from below again. His voice could be heard from down the stairs and through the now gaping hole in the side of the ship.

The round shot that fired from the cannon hit the water right in front of the snake, causing it to flinch slightly. The beast began to tense the muscles within its body again, causing the fibers to ripple slightly through the scales as it did so. The tail of the monster was still wrapped around the mast of the ship and as the muscles clenched, it seemed to pull the ship towards the maw of the monster slightly.

As the Leviathan release its build up energy into another powerful strike, its head went for the same part of the ship it had hit previously- the gun deck where Olrick and his crew were. As more of the ship began to splinter into the water, a voice from below bellowed out in pain, undoubtedly it was Olrick. The beast had made contact with its target.

"HELP! THE BITCH GOT ME!" Olrick was yelling from below.

Captain Brutgard yelled to some of the crew to man the few cannons that were on the deck. Pointing the barrels downwards, to the back of the beast that had still yet to be able to remove its large body from the boat. All the men stood ready, unflinching as they held the torches mere inches away from the wicks of the cannons.

"READYYYY!" The captain yelled. All the men followed suite:

"READY!"

"READY!"

"READY!"

There was just a moment of hesitation as everyones words made contact with the captains ears.

"FIREEEE!"

The was a sound of multiple fuzes being lit.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

The coordination from the firing of the cannons, followed by the scream of the monster was enough to make any man grow chill bumps down their arms. The scream from the monster made it very apparent the it had been wounded. Despite this, Olrick sounded franctic.

"STOP! STOP! No.. N..!" Then there was silence from below.

"AGAIN! LOAD ANOTHER VOLLEY!" Yelled the Captain.

As the beast recoiled itself for a third time, it eyed the deck this time, looking straight for the Captain. Somehow the beast knew where to strike, towards the source of the demands. Archer couldn't help but think that the beasts were more intelligent than what the humans were giving them credit for.

Archer gripped the pommel of Spada, running what his next move should be through his mind over and over, trying to think of what the outcome would be based on what he did next. It was quiet enough to hear the few seagulls above the boat, squawking at the impending meal that they were looking for, regardless of if it was human or snake.

The fire began to surge slowly through Archers limbs as he withdrew Spada from its sheath. The familiar sensation he had felt the few times before. This time, it didn't seem uncontrollable. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, allowing the mist in the air to enter his lungs as he felt the flame make its way to his heart. Although prior to this, his heart was beating out of his chest from the anxiety, but now it seemed steady- knowing, almost.

The feeling of the time stop seemed to disappear as another hiss released through the air and the snake launched itself in the captains direction. The beast bit through a large chunk of the ship, removing the cannon in the process. Archer drove his right foot into the surface of the wood beneath his feet and launched himself towards the beast. Although his mind was clear, his body seemed to be reacting on instinct now. The final words Archer heard were "FIRE!" as the other three cannons fired into the Leviathans side. As the monster released the boat to let out a cry of pain, the prince was already airborne and his feet met with a slick surface of scales under him, with his feet on top of the monsters head.

After looking behind him, Archer could see the ship steadily growing further and further from him. Only then did he realize the true size of this creature. The majority of its body was still submerged in the ocean. The damage to the ship was immense as well. The spot where it had struck at the gun deck was demolished. Majority of the mid section of the ship was gone and floating in the water. The only reason the boat wasn't taking on water was because the broken wood was higher than the water level compared to the ship.

Olricks body could been seen through the opening, unmoving. Another body laid slumped over not far from Olrick and Archer could tell it looked like one the guys that could pass as brothers. The spot on top that the Leviathan had attacked was left a crumpled heap of wood and rope. The muscles began to tense under Archers feet and he could feel the raw power under him as the tensing got tighter and tighter. It reminded him of when he used to pull back the wet branches from the courtyards of Draconvale just to let them go and watch them slap through the air.

Archer took his sword in both of his hands, with the point of the blade facing towards the back of the monsters skull. With every bit of strength he could muster, he thrust the weapon downwards. The point pierced the first couple inches of flesh till the blade came in contact with the bone of the skull. Although a kill blow didn't happen, the Leviathan began to sling its body back and forth, trying to shake Archer of the top. Slightly content with the fact he knew that he had interrupted the monsters next attack, the prince squatted down, hold onto the sword that was still imbedded into the skull as an anchor to hold on.

Knowing that the monster couldn't shake its assailant off, it released the boat with its tail and lifted its head slightly higher above the water. Archer watched the body begin to follow suite behind the rest of the monster and once it start diving towards the water, Archer knew he need to do something. Archer quickly pulled his sword from the hide of the monster and lifted the bottom of his leather vest, he thrust the sword back down, through the leather. Although he was now pinned to the monster, he knew that the vest would hold to upcoming impact.

Archer gripped the sword in both hands again and braced himself for the upcoming collision with the water surface. The wind slammed against Archers eardrums as the head dove straight down. He couldn't hear Shuien yelling at him from the ship as the sound of the waters surface breaking crashed around him. The force of the water caused his to release a hold of his sword, but luckily the leather of vest held like had hoped it would. His heart still beat steady in his chest surprisingly. He grabbed another hold of Spada and waited his tiim for the monster to resurface.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Archer felt the pressure across his body beginning to decline and he assumed the monster was headed back to the surface. His lungs were on fire as he continued to hold his breath, and as the rush of cold air above the water met his lungs, he began to choke and gag as he recollected his senses. The coiling began under him once again as he tried to regain his composure and forcing his will to mean more than the oxygen his lungs need, he stood up, still anchored to the monster.

He removed Prides End from the holster on his back and hefted the heavy end in his right hand. He took one more deep breath and felt the fire that he had initially felt throughout his entire body seem to converge on his arms and forearms. The concentration of power within his arms made him afraid the he would break the faithful warhammer if he wasn't careful. Standing on the tips of his toes and releasing a battle cry to caused the monster to hesitate its strike on the ship, Archer brought the hammer down, onto the left eye of the creature.

There was a splatter of blood and juice had seemed to hit the prince as the anvil end of the hammer smashed through the soft flesh of the monster. The rocking of the beast before was nothing compared to what it was doing now. Archer did his best to hold on the both the hammer and the sword with being thrown off and the beast began to slam its large head into the side of the ship, over and over. The monster leaned back slightly and began to blindly and angrily strike the deck of the ship.

Screams erupted from around Archer despite his sole attention being on not getting thrown off of the Leviathan.

"I have to end this. I'm just pissing it off." The prince thought to himself.

Removing Spada from the flesh of the creature, he re-holstered Prides End. Laying on his stomach, he crawled his way the nap of the snakes neck. Eventually, the prince made it to the fins that guarded the base of the snakes neck and tried to channel the strength into his one arm, like he had somehow done when he tried to swing the hammer. The flow left his arms feeling like a void that would explode at any moment and with a final cry, he thrust Spada into the back of the snakes neck, where the skull met the main body. The fire within his body seemed to dwindle only slightly as the sword grew hot in his hand.

The creature erupted into a bloodcurdling scream that made it freeze in the air. Archer stood up and readied himself. He put the blood covered Spada away and took off running, tranferring the majority of his power into his legs as he did. Once he made it to the Leviathan's nose, he jumped, aiming for the deck of the ship.

The hang time he felt in the air seemed to go forever. Archer felt his stomach upturn as he began to descend. Reaching for the railing, made a lunge for it and made contact. As he groaned to pull himself up, the wood crunched and gave away from the new weight. As Archer began to plummet, a hand reached over just in time to grab his hand and heave him on board.

Laying on his back for a moment, all Archer could do was stare at the sky for a moment and process what he had just done. He looked up to his savior and saw both Shuien and Alora, standing there and looking at him in awe. Whatever he had just done, was something that no one alive had ever seen before.