As they approached the monster, the gargantuan size only became more apparent. It took half an hour to even get within combat range. Time which Jenny Mae had spent filling them all in on everything she could remember or look up about kaiju. Which basically amounted to being big and dangerous, hard to damage, and having at least one magic attack. There weren’t enough dungeons to get more specific than that, and the ones that existed had long cool-downs and no public delve records.

  The entire time, Heath had [Ship Link] running at a low level in the background. He wasn’t as proficient as he wanted to be yet, but it gave him a better connection to the Loon, and a slight ability to use his own skills on the ship itself. Something he expected they would need.

  When they got closer, Jenny Mae and Ekaterina both primed the stations to target weapons. As part of their latest argo upgrades, there was now enough weapons on the Loon for both of them to help, and Jenny Mae’s [Sharpshooter] bonus would carry through to ship-mounted ordinance. But it took longer for her to get a grip on the aim via the skill. Heath would take anything he could get.

  Beside them, Copperfield floated in space. The mana tether was firmly secured on both ends, letting him stay connected to the ship, without suffering any ill effects from maneuvering. With the Kaiju in full view, it was almost comical how small the Swashbuckler appeared. Like a flea gearing up to fight a lion.

  “Everyone ready? Timing is important on this one.”

  “Ready.”

  “Hells yeah.”

  “Locked on target, Captain!”

  “Sure thing, kid.”

  “Ready, on my mark. Three, two, one, mark!”

  Copperfield shot forward, his mech’s thrusters angling him towards the front of the kaiju. A timer appeared on screen, counting down from twelve. When it hit zero, both gunners fired. Ekaterina sent off five more shots before they had to pause.

  Their first volley slammed into the kaiju at once, Copperfield leading the way with a glowing saber. Three eyes burst.

  “I just got a level in [Sharpshooter],” Jenny Mae shouted, stunned.

  On screen, Heath watched as Copperfield leapt towards the next eye. He never made it there. A roar slammed into the Loon, despite the lack of air through which it could travel. Space itself shook with the kaiju’s rage.

  The Swashbuckler was thrown off the head as the beast thrashed. Heath felt the feedback in his connection with the Loon, like his whole body threatened to vibrate apart.

  He came back to awareness to see Copperfield land on one of the fins, now rippling like the surface of a storm-tossed ocean. Heath knew every level of [Lucky Bastard] and [Sea Battles] was coming into play to keep him upright. Sword still in hand, he stabbed downward. A tear opened, and Copperfield started running, dragging the sword behind him.

  [Mech Pilot] wouldn’t be able to let Copperfield maneuver like that forever. He needed support

  “Keep firing,” he told the others..

  “I am. The bolts aren’t doing anything to that thing except on its eyes.” Ekaterina’s voice was tensed, but focused, more angry than anything else.

  “Defensive power, maybe. Or could just be tough. Switch to Skilled rounds.” Heath scanned the Loon’s estimation of damage. Far lower than they had hoped for an opening gambit.

  Their Wizard’s eyes glazed over for a moment, then a beam of fire left their turret, burning mana as fuel and streaking towards the kaiju. It splashed against the scales and did even less than the plasma bolt. A steady stream of cursing came from the station as Ekaterina tried again. Maybe they would make a spacer of her yet.

  Switching through force, water, and earth magic. Lightning and ice made an appearance as well. Only the earth and force lances had enough power to do more than annoy the beast. The first had manifested as a jagged piece of granite, now lodged deep in one of the forelimbs. The wound was slowly leaking blood, the liquid holding together in pockets of neon green that obscured their view when they passed between the ship and the battle. Force bolts shredded flesh wherever they landed.

  It was just that the kaiju was so godsdamned big. They were making progress but not enough.

  Far too fast for anything that size, the kaiju threw itself into a roll. Both shots streaked past, and Copperfield was flung off into space.

  “Shit. Loon, activate the tether.”

  Their opponent was done sitting around and taking damage. Copperfield had done a number on one of the fins, large holes gaping in the membrane where his sabre had bit through flesh.

  That wasn’t to be borne. The fins glowed. Light coursed from the body, turning the black scales into a void and flowing into the fins, where it concentrated at their orange edge.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  An orange that was getting brighter by the second.

  A thud in his senses told him Copperfield had smashed into the airlock. Just in time. A wave of energy exploded off of the fins. Washing the battlefield in destructive force. Heath toggled the Loon’s shielding to be concentrated towards the front, then sank into his [Ship Link] skill, dumping his mana into [Shield] at the same time.

  He screamed. His body was on fire, there would be nothing left but ash, he was sure. Or maybe that was the Loon screaming. Or both.

  “While it’s recovering!” Heath heard the shout but couldn’t place who the voice belonged to. But he could feel the jarring recoil of the guns going off again.

  He returned to himself, shaking and sweating, to find battle once again engaged. The guns fired in a steady beat. Heath’s head flopped to the side to watch Ekaterina and Emerald trading off to conserve mana. Somehow their most experienced crewmember had figured out how to use [Mage Hand] through the gun, sending blasts of telekinetic force to keep the beast from collecting itself.

  He probed the connection with the Loon, still aching and sore inside his chest. They were in bad shape. The ship had weathered the hit but another one would probably put Heath in a coma, or disable the Loon entirely.

  He shuddered and focused back on the battle. They were winning. Copperfield had re-engaged, attacking the same fin as before. Heath watched as large chunks started floating off, detached from the beast. As they were sheared off, the color leached away, going from vibrant neons to dull pastels, fading to bone white as they got further from the kaiju.

  That enraged the beast more than anything they had done before. Three remaining eyes locked on the Loon. The kaiju had realized where the majority of its problems were coming from.

  It turned and snapped forward, rocketing at the Loon. The lack of one fin wasn’t slowing it down at all.

  “Everybody hold on! Engage harnesses.”

  He overrode every safe-maneuvering protocol at once, and seized control. The Loon spiraled past an outstretched claw, the acceleration higher than the offset could handle, shoving them back in their seats.

  May the Huntress bless the [Sharpshooter] skill, Jenny Mae sent a bolt straight down the mouth as they skimmed by.

  “Copperfield, status!”

  “I’m good,” came the tinny reply. But the thrusters on the suit are shot. You’ll have to pick me up.”

  “Fuck,” Heath hissed, dodging the flippers and tail as they sped out towards their teammate.

  In an ill-advised maneuver, Heath flipped them around to bleed off some momentum, then had to dive in the wrong direction as the tail proved more deadly than he realized.

  He activated the tether, forcing Copperfield back and draining it’s mana charge to zero to keep from splattering him across the inside of his suit.

  “Strap in!”

  Heath was still in an active [Ship Link], seeing more with the Loon’s sensors than his own eyes. Which meant he saw energy start to swirl within the body of their foe.

  “It’s charging another attack. Everybody hold on, we have to get this right.”

  “To the entrance?” Ekaterina sounded panicked, and Heath didn’t begrudge her the fact. It was no fun being stuck behind a console and unable to fight while under attack.

  “Not enough time. Not with that blast radius.”

  No. Fleeing wasn’t his plan. Heath pointed the Loon straight at the kaiju’s head, and throttled them up to maximum acceleration.

  “Captain?”

  He ignored Jenny Mae’s shrieked question as he kept on target, not slowing at all.

  “Heath!” Emerald’s shout was brushed off just the same.

  The energy was at the tip of the remaining fins. Hold. Hold. There!

  Heath spun the ship to the side. They were far past the Loon’s artificial grav control limit, and if anyone wasn’t strapped in they would have been flung across the bridge.

  But they slipped straight through the holes in the fin, escaping the blast. But not the damage. Scales scraped against the hull as they sped past, shearing off pieces of both.

  “Unload everything!”

  His crew rose to the challenge. Bolt after bolt drained the prodigious reserves of their new guns and crewmember alike as Ekaterina opened fire. The range was point-blank, and a lifetime of combat training was proving its worth.

  Kaiju hide was tough, but not tougher than a steady stream of plasma from meters away. As the Loon kept flying, Jenny Mae got off a single shot. Straight to the center of the gaping hole left by Ekaterina’s onslaught.

  The rest of the fins paled to white all at once.

  “Yes!”

  Then the tail whipped straight into the Loon and chaos bloomed inside Heath’s mind.

  Agony came back first, like his flesh had been torn apart, his bones shattered, his organs turned to liquid. Then hearing, every alarm on the bridge going on at once. Not that his head was in any position to deal with the sensory input, not when they were spinning and tumbling through open space.

  He was aware of hands closing over his, and easing them back to a level course. Which gave him just enough brainpower to parse what the alarm was saying.

  “Hull breach. Bulkhead sealed. Hull breach. Bulkhead sealed.”

  “Fuck.” he said. Or tried to. It came out more as a moan than words.

  His crew was screaming, the automated alarms were screaming, his Class was screaming. The Loon was screaming.

  “Nooo. I have just started to live. Please do not let this be the end.”

  Now was the time to be a Captain. His body was spent, but he didn’t need it right then. Heath’s mana reserves were still a third full, and he dumped every point he had into [Ship Maintenance]. It was like throwing a bucket of water on a house fire, but it was what he had.

  “Who’s hurt?” This time the words came, through a throat scraped raw from all the screaming.

  “Just you, kid.” Emerald’s voice cut through the haze. He still couldn’t see, his mind not yet adjusting to being in his own body once again. “The girls are freaking out, and the pirate is picking up the loot.”

  “Loot?”

  He felt Emerald move closer peering into Heath’s eyes from a few inches away. “Oh. [Ship Link]. Yeah. We won. So he’s picking up the loot. Since we’re going to die when the whole ship breaks apart, at least the people who find us will be able to get something interesting with our bodies.

  “No one is dying.”

  “Copperfield. Get your tin can back inside the ship. Loon. I’m sorry. Take us out please.”

  “I will do my best Heath. I do not know how far I can take you, but know that I would rather rust away to nothing than give up before you are safe.”

  Slowly, ponderously, the ship began to move. Heath could feel it all. The gaping tear above their living quarters was the worst of it. They would be bunking down in cargo and on the bridge for a while. If they made it at all.

  But it wasn’t the only problem, not even the worst of it. All his maneuvering came with a cost, and the engine itself needed attention. The artificial gravity was just a bit too low, the drive having been overworked to keep them all alive through the fight.

  There was not a system on the ship that didn’t need repair, and Heath could only spam his [Ship Maintenance] skill for all it was worth, watching and waiting as it did next to nothing.

  His vision returned in time to see them make it through the dungeon entrance, back out into normal space.

  It felt like the whole universe should have shifted in the time they were inside, but it was exactly as they had left it, a scant three hours before.

  Safe, or as safe as they could be, Heath laughed. Which quickly turned into a sob as the tension released. Every muscle in his body spasmed and shook as they tried to make sense of trauma that they remembered, despite being physically unharmed. His body expected to be grievously wounded, but all he had was a glut of adrenaline slowly working its way out of his blood, and a horrific headache building behind his eyes.

  “Huh. We made it out.” Ekaterina said.

  “We did.” Heath agreed.

  “So does anyone want to tell me what is going on? And why the ship is crying?”