“Did you see that?” Fenrir asks Cassiel while Rock tries chasing into the water after the monster but stops as soon as the water touches her paws.

“Yeah. What was that?” Cassiel asks back.

“What’re you two talking about? We need to figure out what to do about that oversized ape instead of just standing around and talking!” Oleander says.

Fenrir feels something. The feeling is familiar, but also one that he has not felt for quite some time. Furthermore, the feeling is being relayed to him through Nell rather than feeling the sensation directly himself.

The only time something such as this has ever happened was when the juvenile serpent’s feelings were relayed to Nell through him during the tournament back at Port Tugator.

“What are you smiling about?” Cassiel asks Fenrir when she notices the massive grin spread across his face.

“Are you so masochistic that you get off knowing your boat is about to get destroyed?” Oleander asks, also confused as to why Fenrir seems so excited.

“This is going to be epic,” Fenrir explains.

Cassiel and Oleander look at each other with confused expressions. They have no idea what he could potentially be talking about, but when they see his eyes lock onto a spot of water, they look where he’s looking.

The monster stops in his tracks, the water up to his chest now. He looks around at the water, twisting and turning to watch all around him, and even smashes his giant fists into the water as if trying to scare something away.

That feeling of panic that Fenrir was originally picking up from Nell has been replaced by one full of excitement and gratitude.

The monster shrieks out in pain while slamming both of his fists into the water toward his right leg!

To everybody’s amazement, it looks as if something is actively trying to pull the monster as its body unnaturally slides to the side.

Cassiel looks at Fenrir when she hears him giggling. “Is something funny?” she asks.

“They’re his epic giggles,” Oleander explains.

“’Epic giggles?’”

“Yeah, whenever he thinks something is epic or awesome enough, he starts giggling like an excited little kid.”

Cassiel looks up at Fenrir’s face. Between those excited eyes of his, his beaming smile, and his giggles in addition to the fact that his tail is wagging behind him faster than she’s ever seen before… she blushes and finds him extremely adorable. She would never admit such a thing to him, of course, but this is by far the cutest she has ever seen him and she loves seeing him like this.

However, her attention gets taken away from him and redirected to the monster when she hears the ferocious beast howl.

The monster has been dragged out to the point where his head is hardly above water anymore. He is frantically trying to make his way back toward land, splashing in the water and howling out in desperation and fear, but the salty water reaches his mouth.

A serpentine body extends up from the water as it wraps itself around the monster.

Cassiel and Oleander didn’t get to see much of her during the tournament, but they see her now in all her glory as she coils around the monster’s torso.

Her body coils around the monster’s neck and stops with her head hanging above the monster’s own, her serpentine figure available for all to see. The very same serpent that helped them win the tournament is now here to save them once more.

Furthermore, she is much larger than she was when they last saw her. Her head is thrice the size it was during the tournament, and the rest of her body has grown thicker and longer as well. They were all afraid of the gorilla-bull monster, but even he looks small when wrapped up by the serpent.

She can even make sounds now as evidenced by her opening her mouth and releasing an undulating call that reminds Fenrir of the very waves she rose from. The sound she makes is both smooth and graceful, but violent and the warning of a predator ready to kill its prey. Just like the ocean, she is beautiful but more than capable of destruction.

Her spread jaw is larger than the monster’s head is. The last that anybody sees of the monster is when the serpent latches onto his head—going between his horns—and pulls him beneath the surface of the water.

“Fuck yeah!” Fenrir shouts. “That was awesome!”

“You’re such a boy,” Cassiel says, looking over at Oleander to see how he’s reacting.

As much as Oleander likes to look and act feminine, even he’s excited and hyped up over what he just saw.

Cassiel, figuring that it would be okay since they’re both hyped up themselves, lets some of her own excitement show.

Whether man, woman, or a man who likes to pretend to be a woman, everybody loves a good fight between monsters. Of course, Fenrir would prefer there to be a giant mecha involved, but straight up monster versus monster is more than acceptable on its own.

And the show isn’t over yet.

The gorilla-esque monster rises out of the water with the serpent in his hands, one hand gripping the center of its body while his other hand holds her behind her head.

A serpentine tail tries smashing into the monster’s head, but there just isn’t enough force behind the attack to deter the monster from throwing her toward the beach.

He knows that if he gets the serpent on land that she won’t be able to fight back nearly as well as she can in the water. In the water, she’ll win. On the land, he’ll win.

The serpent splashes down in shallow water that only comes halfway up her body.

Any excitement that the spectators felt watching the fight is now gone as their favorite writhes around in the shallow water, trying to slide back into deeper waters before the monster reaches her.

Fenrir looks at the monster and sees that he’s not just some gorilla-bull hybrid anymore. His eyes are glowing red as blood stains his black fur crimson. A number of gashes surround his neck and chest where the serpent was latched onto him, and in general, he looks far stronger now.

“He wouldn’t be a boss without multiple phases,” Cassiel says.

“Screw his phases. Our girl will win. Olly, think you could try stalling him while she gets back out there?” Fenrir asks.

“I’ve only got a few thorns left on me, but I’ll try,” Oleander says, taking thorns out from his satchel and enlarging them with magic.

Three thorns get shot at the monster at once!

The monster raises his left arm and uses it as a shield to block all three thorns.

Whereas before, the thorns at least slowed the monster down a little, now they appear to just minorly annoy him.

“How did you guys even find that monster?” Fenir asks.

“D-don’t worry about it, you bastard,” Cassiel answers.

“We found this little temple and there was a sword that Cass Cass tried taking, and then the boss showed up, scared her into dropping it, and chased us back to you and Nell,” Oleander explains.

Fenrir looks at Cassiel.

Cassiel looks away and whistles.

They both look at the serpent when she lets out another call.

She was too slow getting back into deeper waters, and now her opponent has reached her. The water she’s in isn’t deep enough for her to properly maneuver in, but it’s just shallow enough for the monster to not slow him down anymore.

“We have to help her,” Fenrir says.

“How?” Oleander asks.

“We just have to help her get back into… is everything on The Shoebill repaired?”

“Yeah, Tabs got everything working, but she probably won’t be too happy about the mast.”

Fenrir looks toward The Shoebill’s bow and decides on his plan.

“I’ll be back,” he says, rushing into the water and diving in as soon as it’s deep enough.

“The hell is that bastard doing?” Cassiel asks.

“Just Fenny things,” Oleander answers.

Serra and Nyaiko, still swimming toward The Shoebill, get grabbed by Fenrir and dragged along the surface of the water until they reach the ship. Pulling them through the water is easy thanks to the increasing proximity to Nell on top of the passive buff he’s been granted by her.

“Let – let go of me-nya! I’ll kill nya! Only my Fenya can touch me!” Nyaiko shouts before realizing that the one holding onto her is Fenrir. When she finally makes that realization, she clings to him and eagerly presses her breasts up against him. “Nya should have said if nya wanted attention!”

Fenrir, ignoring her for the moment, tells them to hang on while he climbs up the rope hanging off The Shoebill’s port side.

It’s the first time that Nyaiko has ever seen and heard him sound so serious, and she has no idea how to react to it other than by staying silent and listening to him.

Nell helps pull Fenrir and the two girls clinging to his back up once he’s within reach.

“My hero! What are we going to do?” Nell asks.

“Serra, it’s time for you to do your favorite kind of fishing,” Fenrir says, looking at Serra and then the ballista.

Serra fixes her hat and gives him a thumbs-up.

The weapon that once caught the serpent is now going to catch a different kind of monster.