The massive claw came crashing down. Neville’s lone arm shot out to grab the winch chain. His empty left sleeve flapped wildly in the wind while the veins in his remaining right arm bulged as he wrapped the iron chain as thick as his forearm around his waist. He managed to haul the tilting ship back half an inch through sheer force.
“Form the iron chain formation,” he bellowed. The deck trembled under his thunderous roar. 20 burly soldiers immediately rushed forward to hammer the chain’s barbed end into the gunwale posts.
When the giant claw struck the chain with mountain-shattering force, Neville’s knees buckled suddenly while his boot heels carved deep furrows in the planking. He forced down the rush of metallic taste rising in his throat.
“This beast’s claws could crush iron and stone,” he muttered as he watched the crack spreading along the iron chain.
With a sudden surge of strength from his lone arm, he yanked the chain sharply to the side.
The giant claw scraped past the mast and smashed a hole ten feet wide in the deck. Wood splinters mixed with seawater erupted upward while three soldiers who couldn’t dodge in time were instantly swept to the bottom of the sea.
Enraged, the Brineclaw swept its barbed left claw across the deck. Neville’s pupils contracted sharply while he ripped open the powder pouch at his belt.
“Light it!”
The moment the fuse began hissing, he hurled the powder pouch straight at the claw. With a deafening blast, dark green fluid splattered everywhere, leaving only a few scorch marks on the claw’s shell.
But those rows of spikes tore through the ship’s hull, and the resulting stench carried corrosive white mist. Wherever the droplets touched the deck planking, the wood began rotting at a visible rate.
“Its weak spot is the underbelly,” Neville shouted, his one arm pointing straight at the Brineclaw’s floating midsection. ” Eron, take ten men and use hooked spears to snare its legs.”
Ten figures launched from the deck like arrows released from a bow. The hook-bladed spears glinted in the dim light as they pierced the joints of Brineclaw’s massive legs.
But those joint shells proved equally hard. Sparks flew as metal struck its shell, and the hooks snagged on the jagged edges, tangling the spear shafts.
With a violent sweep, the Brineclaw yanked the ten soldiers off the deck. Their screams cut off the instant they hit the water.
“Use fire arrows on its eyestalks.” Neville unstrapped the composite bow from his back and fired three fire arrows simultaneously. 2
As the bowstring thrummed, the arrows’ trailing flames streaked toward the beast’s protruding compound eyes. But the arrows hadn’t even reached it before its massive claw swept through, turning them to ash.
Sparks flew across the deck, igniting the canvas sails. Thick smoke stung the crew’s eyes, making it nearly impossible to see.
Just then, the Brineclaw suddenly submerged its massive body, leaving only its back shell rising and falling with the waves.
A surge of dread slammed into Neville as he shouted, “Everyone, grab onto something! It’s about to overturn the ship.
Before he could say more, towering waves suddenly surged across the sea. The Brineclaw used its eight pairs of legs to churn the water frantically while the Surgebreaker bobbed like a leaf on the awe crests. The hull planking groaned with tooth-grinding snaps.
Even worse, its giant claws climbed the angled deck. With each snap, bronze cannons were crushed to scrap as if they were tin foil.
“Time to finish this beast!”
A soldier with a broken leg clutched an explosive pack and charged toward the giant claw with a howl. He pulled the fuse just before the pincers crushed him. Through the thunderous blast, several spikes on the massive claw were blown off, yet the shell remained completely intact.
Neville’s lone arm had gone numb from the shockwaves. He watched the soldiers fall one after another, then caught sight of a faint gap along the edge of Brineclaw’s belly plate. Pale pink flesh peeked through, rising and falling with each breath.
“Hand me the armor-piercing spike,” he roared toward the weapons crate.
A guard immediately tossed him a foot-long spike of blue-glinting steel.
Neville bit down on the handle while his lone arm gripped the broken mast as he used the ship’s tilting momentum to leap into the air. He spun half a turn in midair to avoid the sweeping massive claw, then landed hard on the Brineclaw’s back plate.
The barnacle-tipped spikes tore through his boots, and blood instantly stained the dark, glossy shell beneath him.
“Take this, you beast!” he roared, yanking the ring-hilted sword from his waist.
With one arm, he bound the hilt to the blade. The steel caught the sunlight, glinting with a deadly gleam.
It was all or nothing.
Sensing the threat on its back, the Brineclaw writhed frantically.
Neville nearly tumbled off several times but managed to cling to gaps in the shell while letting the barbs tear into his palms.
As the beast’s armored belly expanded with a breath, he thrust the ring-hilted sword into a seam of its shell. He pressed down with all his weight, and the blade sank half an inch before dark green blood exploded outward, spraying across his face.
“Now!”
He yanked the armor-piercing spike free and drove it with all his strength into the Brineclaw’s pink underbelly. The moment the tip sank in, the giant beast let out a deafening shriek, thrashing violently across the waves.
Neville was thrown high, then slammed hard against the ship’s railing as blood spurted from his throat, staining the scar across his chest.
But the spike remained firmly lodged in the Brineclaw’s belly armor, and it sank deeper with each struggle. Pale pink flesh turned inside out, and the flowing blood was no longer dark green but carried the fishy-sweet crimson of its heart.
The massive claws’ movements gradually slowed, and their sweeping force weakened. Neville struggled to his feet, supporting himself on the broken sword hilt with his lone arm as he watched the ship-sized crab convulse on the waves.
Its compound eyes gradually lost their luster while its legs flailed weakly. Finally, the enormous body rolled onto its side, exposing the blood-soaked underbelly. Silence fell, broken only by the waves lapping against the hull.
Neville stared at the spike lodged in the Brineclaw’s armor while his lone arm began trembling violently. Though the wound wasn’t fatal, it was enough to strip this near-invulnerable creature of most of its strength.
“General Elrod, you’re injured!”
A guard rushed over, only to discover that Neville’s back had been slashed open by the giant claw’s spines in several bone-deep wounds. Blood was dripping from his empty sleeve onto the deck.
