A couple of days before the battle, I gathered Captain Aileen, Alira, Seleria, Grain, and Levris in the captain's cabin.
"Judging by the composition, I can assume that you've finally come up with a plan for the battlefield?" Seleria glanced at the nautical chart spread out on the table.
"Yes, we won't be able to fight him on his terms," I replied.
"But we are unlikely to lure him onto the land either," Seleria added.
"Exactly. We won't be able to handle him at sea, and we won't be able to drag him onto land. So, there's only one option left... to bring the land to our target," I explained.
"Hey, hey! Think whatever you want, but even with Levris, we won't be able to lift such a mass of earth that can withstand that monster!" Grain protested.
"Yes, yes, but if we help you a little, it will be a different story," I pointed to the surroundings of the island on the map. "Miss Alira, do you happen to know exactly where Dagon was imprisoned?"
"Of course, that place is known to all sailors, even though they don't know what it conceals," the dragoness pointed to several distant reefs about ten kilometers to the north. "These reefs are the remains of the crater in which he was imprisoned."
"Let me clarify once again: Saraz awakened a huge volcano at the bottom of the sea, in which Sephris and the monster were imprisoned," I said.
"Yes, I already said that," Alira confirmed.
"Meaning, the eruption was stopped at the last moment, and since then, the tension has been building up in the core?" I pondered.
"Perhaps, although it may have weakened over the years," she replied.
"No, the earthquake triggered it, and the crater opened, releasing the monster, but the eruption never occurred. Most likely, Dagon stopped it himself to avoid being buried by the explosion," I elaborated.
"And what do you plan to do with him?" Seleria smirked. "Are you going to throw me into the volcano again to awaken my power?"
"I would like to, but no. Of course, if you can't hold your breath long enough to dive three hundred meters underwater," I said.
"Have you gone mad? A human cannot do such a thing!" Seleria exclaimed.
"Exactly, so we'll use him for other purposes. Aileen, do you have any of your explosive powder left?" I inquired.
"Well, with what I can find on the island and what I have with me, I can fill about a dozen barrels," Aileen responded.
"Will it explode underwater?" I asked.
"Yes, with a strong impact, it will create a quite powerful explosion," she confirmed.
"That's good then. Fill as much as you can. We'll need to place the charges at the right spots, and I think the detonation should be left to someone who can stay underwater the longest," I suggested.
"Alright, fine," Alira crossed her arms in discontent, "but first, tell me, what's the purpose of all this?"
"If there is still tension in the volcano, then exploding the rim of the crater can release the accumulated energy, causing an eruption," I explained.
"I think Dagon will notice that," she remarked.
"Yes, that's why we need to set the charges when we're directly above the crater," I replied.
"But haven't you forgotten that we'll have to swim several kilometers through his sea?" Aileen doubted my words. "No matter what you say, this ship won't survive against such a monster."
"But you said it can sail not only by the wind," I reminded her.
"Yes, I installed a steam engine, but I haven't found a powerful enough heat source yet," she replied.
"For this, we can use Seleria," I suggested.
"Hey! I'm not some kind of fuel!" Seleria protested.
"Don't worry, you just need to stoke the fire in the boiler a little stronger, so we can break free from Dagon," I assured her.
"Hey, I don't know how the boiler will handle magic; the ship might not withstand it!" Seleria worriedly exclaimed.
"So, let's try to get to the necessary location as quickly as possible. We won't be able to pre-place the barrels, so we'll have to position them on the spot. Miss Alira, you'll have to go there in advance and wait in ambush for a day."
"Ugh, I don't like waiting for too long," Alira sighed.
"Don't worry, that won't be all of your tasks," I assured her.
"By the way, I understand you want to awaken the volcano, but how do you plan to protect us from the molten lava?" Grain frowned. "I can control the earth and slow down the approaching lava, but it will melt our ship as soon as it touches."
"Seleria and Alira will take care of that. Alira, use your water magic to accelerate the cooling of the lava, and Seleria, absorb the heat from any lava that manages to reach the surface. If everything goes well, we'll raise the seabed over the entire area, and he'll have nowhere to escape," I explained.
"There's one more, ahem... minor thing," Aileen drew our attention. "During a volcanic eruption, a lot of gas is released, and our ship will sink before the lava reaches us."
"Hmm, then we'll have to ask Ragni to keep our ship afloat during that time," I suggested.
"And even if we manage to push him out of the water, what will prevent him from escaping?" Seleria asked.
"If the lower part of his body is indeed crab-like, he'll be extremely clumsy on land, and we'll have time to stop him. In that regard, I'll rely on our ice mages."
"Hilda, Asura, freeze him so he can't escape!" I commanded.
"With pleasure," Hilda swung her axe, and an icy slope descended from the side of the ship. "Charge!"
The girls jumped down, and the water beneath their feet quickly froze.
The monster attempted to turn around, but the three little dragons flew around him and started encasing him in an icy ring. Realizing that it wouldn't be easy to break free, Dagon decided to focus on us.
"Pitiful humans, you only bring your own death closer," the monster swung his fist, but it was halted by the black dragon's flames.
"First, you'll have to deal with me," Ragni skillfully circled around the monster and swiped her claws at his shoulder. However, the wound healed within seconds.
"If you insist, I'll crush you first. It's been a while since I've had a dragon for a meal," the monster swung his fist and struck at the dragoness.
Ragni fell not far from the ship, but the little dragons distracted the monster, trying to protect their mother.
"That hurts," Ragni examined her bruised side, where a few thorns from Dagon's fist remained. "It burns, well, I'll pull them out now."
"Don't you dare!" Rizel stopped the dragoness, who was about to touch the wound, and quickly rushed to help her. "As I thought."
Swinging her scythe, the necromancer pulled the thorns out of the wound, trying not to harm Ragni. As soon as the thorns were out, the scales around the wound started melting and falling onto the ice.
"It seems all his thorns are coated with poison as potent as a royal hydra's. I don't even know what would happen if you had taken them into your mouth," Rizel remarked.
"Is it that bad?" Ragni looked at the monster's skin. It was covered in small spikes and thorns. "Does that mean we can't even touch him?"
"Most likely," Rizel said, touching the wound and removing the remnants of the poison. "Even your scales probably won't protect you from his venom. Try not to get caught like that again."
"You certainly don't make my job easier," the dragoness snarled as she flew back into battle.
At that moment, the monster took a deep breath and released a hail of needles in front of him. Ragni managed to dodge, but some of them flew towards the ship.
"This is bad," Rizel put up her barrier, and the needles didn't touch us. However, the ship's hull was less fortunate. The needles embedded themselves into the steel plating, leaving holes no smaller than ten centimeters.
"If this continues, the ship won't survive until we finish preparations. Hilda, Asura, can you do something about this?" I asked.
The sorceresses circled around Dagon, and the ice began to bind the monster's paws.
"We'll create a wall. It won't withstand a strong hit, but it will protect against such trifles," Hilda said, glancing at the swordswoman, and they circled in front of the ship.
In a few seconds, they managed to erect a wall slightly higher than the ship's sides, but raising it any higher proved much more challenging.
"Focus on the main task. We can repair the masts later. The main thing is to preserve the hull," I said.
"I'll try to protect the deck. Gather in one place," Rizel jumped back onto the ship and stood between us and the monster.
While everyone tried to buy time, Katrina and Leira prepared the weapon. The charges were accumulating slowly in the shaft, much heavier than usual.
"Hmm, it looks like the processes would happen faster on raw metal. It'll take about ten more minutes!" Aileen monitored the charge accumulation, trying not to disturb the sorceresses.
"Any way to make it faster?" Ragni continued to dodge attacks, but without the help of the little dragons, she would have been defeated long ago.
"How should I know? I tested it on a simple pebble; if the charge is too weak, the arrow will just get stuck in his armor," Aileen replied.
"It was easier for you to dodge his attacks when you had the same small body as before," I murmured quietly, sending a sarcastic remark towards the dragoness, and an ember of fire landed a couple of steps away from me.
"It's impolite to remind a lady of her size!"
"But you really have grown bigger since you matured; it's all natural processes," Ragni chuckled, pleased with her jab. "Don't get distracted by your opponent; I'll take care of protecting the ship."
The gray dragoness approached Rizel and helped her maintain the shield.
"I'm a necromancer too, so it'll be easier for me."
"From me, it's useless to hide behind your barriers," Dagon slammed his fist into the ground, and waves spread across the sea around our small island. "I'll allow my servants to have some fun with you."
"Servants?"
"Umm, Krito. I think he's talking about them," Algo nervously swallowed, pointing to the edge of the island on the right side.
Fishfolk began to emerge from the water, the servants of the dark god. The opponents weren't strong, but their increasing numbers started to worry us.
"How many drowned has he unleashed on his army?!" On the small patch of land from the right side to the cliff, there were already several hundred monsters, and they continued to arrive. "Algo, Werner, Vivien, now we've got some work to do."