To Kill Gods or Die Trying

♋️Chapter 43-Cancer♋️

July 8th, 2304

"Here we go," I announce to everyone. The five boats filled with 100 people each, pass through the waterfall entrance, letting its cold moisture splatter across the deck.

The wall of cloud to the battlefield entry is ahead in the middle of the water, and not on shore. Weird... We cautiously proceed through.

"Land Ho!" Margot yells in the crow's nest. "We got our enemy!" she relays. I squint my eyes trying to see into the distance through the fog. The further we sail, the clearer the figure on shore appears. It's Cancer: the crab.

"Fire harpoons!" I yell manning the front gun. I aim and tilt the ballista up a tad to compensate for velocity drop. I squeeze the trigger and the harpoon soars through the air. Our fleet gets a 100% hit accuracy as no one misses a shot.

We approach the god with a jump-started 950 bars of health. The crab begins shifting towards us.

"Full power ahead!" I order. The Druids procure harder winds to propel our boats forward. With a claw raised, scuttling through the water, the humanoid crab plans to meet us halfway. I rush to the railing. It's gonna try to smash the ship the smithereens. As it approaches, I can make it out to be about 200 feet tall, 8 legs, two large claws, with a long slender abdominal. This is the biggest god we've fought so far.

"50-foot sword!" I yell leaning against the guardrail. The nine-foot blade of my greatsword extends rapidly. I prepare to strike accordingly.

The crab swings. I try to parry but with my sword's length, I miscalculate and end up slicing it in the neck all the way to the tip of my blade. The ship shakes violently.

An Assassin rushes worriedly from the hold. "We're taking in water!" he cries. Slowly, our boat begins to sink lower and lower, closer to the water level.

"We're almost to shore! Punch it Druids!" I urge. Cancer tries to continue its rampage on the other ships, but can't get close as they zoom past the god and fire harpoons.

The hold is flooded with water and the ship slows down, traveling more nose-first than leveled. The Druids are to the point of almost ripping a hole in the sail and draining mana, with our ship zooming across the water towards shore. We've almost sunk. Water is rushing up the stairs to the deck. If we don't get to shore, we'll be at the bottom of the—thud! Crrrrraaack! I can hear wood splitting as I am thrown forward off the boat, completely losing my sense of direction, free falling for a few seconds, and slam onto wet sand.

I compose myself and look at the ship. Actually, more like the shipwreck. The bowsprit and hull are completely submerged in the beige sand. There is a giant crack in the deck on impact. All of the masts have been cracked like cut trees and the sails ripped away or torn. The boat is almost split in the middle from the force, with a canyon in the deck down to the hold down the keel, where the density of the water is barely keeping the ship in place instead of breaking in half. It's useless.

"Druids, clear this debris," I say blandly.

As the other ships come to a slow halt and their forces start pouring out, the Druids from my broken vessel step forwards and create a giant sinkhole in the shoreline, allowing the wreckage to be swallowed into the ground.

I clench my teeth in frustration and slight panic. I haven't even explained the rules. These guys are not ready!

Cancer scuttles quickly in the water.

"Havanna, can you stop time?" I yell to her floating above me in the distance. Cancer is approaching quickly...

"Can I what?" she replies with a confused smirk.