“So, how do we do this?”

“Turn around and keep quiet,” Viara heaved.

“Got it,” Abe nodded and turned.

Viara’s arms slid beneath him a second later, and she lifted him into the air from behind.

He could hear her labored breaths, but it didn’t seem to matter much as they rapidly gained altitude, reaching the height of the whales within several seconds.

“How close do you want to get?”

“As close as possible. Only got five shots.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to run away?”

“Positive,” Abe nodded. There was no way he was going back without evolving first, and even from here, the scent of power drifting from the whales assured him that they could help him.

Balls of energy sparked and flickered across the closest whale as their power peaked. Viara steered toward it, and Abe could hear the energy crackle through the air as it prepared to fire on the barrier protecting the acolytes below.

Abe had seen the shields lining the whale’s sides from the ground and spotted the odd figure atop them, but as they drew nearer, details came into view. Dozens of dwarven skeletons manned the backs of the whales, armed with rifles, crossbows, and spears. There was even a platform strapped to the back of the giant beasts that they used. And when they neared, a line of skeleton dwarves pressed up against their wall of shields and aimed their guns and crossbows.

“Ready?”

“Let’s do it,” Abe said.

As they closed in, missiles began to fly toward them, and Viara took an erratic path, zigzagging through the air as she dove toward the target.

Ballistic blurs whizzed past, and Abe could have sworn some of them came within inches of his head, but it was too late to turn back now.

“Can you get closer?”

“You really want to die, huh?” Viara hissed as she shot toward the puffs of gunpowder.

“Almost,” Abe said, bringing the magnum up to aim. Her movements shook, and the barrel swayed as he tried to narrow his vision down its metallic edge. “Can you steady us?”

“Ask them to stop shooting first.”

“Fine, get us a little bit closer then,” Abe shouted. He could hit the massive whale from here; that wasn’t a problem. But he had limited blessed ammunition, and he wanted to make a shot that counted.

“You’re insane,” Viara groaned as she turned on a curving trajectory like a dive bomber, aiming straight down at the whale below.

Closing an eye and narrowing down the barrel, Abe held the oversized revolver with both hands and aimed at the back of the whale’s neck, where neither platform nor armor protected it.

A blur of missiles whizzed past his face, but Abe just gritted his teeth and focused.

One, two, fire!

A deafening bang rang out as the pistol powerfully jolted back, but Abe’s attention was firmly fastened on the whale.

An unsatisfyingly small puff of bone fragments burst into the air as the bullet hit.

Fuck, really?

A second later, an explosion ripped through the flying beast’s neck, sending chunks of debris flying scattering through the air.

The whale shook violently and plunged dozens of meters before regaining some stability and wavily jolting through the sky. In the process, the forming beams of energy sparked out of existence.

I guess you want another; Abe brought the pistol up to aim again as they swooped up and away.

“Bring us back around; one more should do it.”

“One more should be enough.”

“No,” Viara grunted. “Save it.”

“What do you mean, save it? We don’t really have that luxury.”

“Look,” she turned them toward the next whale—the growing spheres of energy crackling across its body were almost ready to fire. “We can’t let them hit the shield again.”

“So, what’s the plan?”

“I’m dropping you,” Viara said as they flew away from the whale Abe had just shot toward the second whale.

“Dropping me?” Abe raised a brow.

“Good luck!” She added as she flew over its back.

Viara’s arms slid out, and Abe felt weightlessness take over.

“Oh shit,” he mouthed as he turned in the air—the whale’s back rushing toward him.

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The dwarves didn’t have time to redirect their aim at Abe’s falling form, but they did see him, and they looked angry.

Abe’s pupils widened as his trajectory shifted away from the still-moving whale, and he extended his hands as the wind blew by, catching a rope hanging from the dwarven platform. The rope burned his hand as he slid down and jolted to a halt as he tightened his grip.

“Okay, you fuckers are going to die now,” he grunted, muscles tightening as he pulled himself up the rope with inhuman speed, reaching the platform above in seconds.

A dwarf turned its rifle over the platform’s edge as Abe reached it, and he took hold of the pint-sized figure and ripped it over, sending the dwarf plummeting toward the ground.

“Who’s next?” Abe grunted as he swung himself over and onto the deck, drawing his sword as two dwarves charged.

A grin creased his lips as he noted none of the dwarves up here carried shields, probably because they didn’t expect to be attacked up here.

He had no intention of drawing this fight out, so Abe pumped all of his and the worm's energy into his limbs. The result was that the dwarves looked like they were fighting underwater compared to Abe. He ran through his attackers like a whirlwind, leaving behind unmoving piles of bones.

As he cut them down, he turned toward the whale's neck and dashed for it. He mightn’t have had much issue taking them down, but there were still a decent number of dwarves left, and they were readying their rifles at the other end of the platform.

Bullets and bolts flew past him, but he paid them little heed as he reached the back of the whale’s neck.

He aimed down, but before he could fire, a buckshot slammed against his shoulder, sending him staggering forward.

You’re going to pay for that; Abe shook his head as he steadied himself and pressed the end of the barrel against the whale’s skin.

He squeezed his finger and bone and rotted flesh exploded around him, sending the whale falling through the sky.

The sudden turbulence forced the dwarves to focus on staying aboard and the incoming attacks halted, giving Abe a moment to look across at the other whale—which was a hundred or so meters away and rapidly falling from the sky.

It was Viara, she flew above the whale, firing relentlessly into it with her fiery blasts that scattered explosions across its back. It seemed that the pistol's damage had weakened the whale enough that her attacks could now damage it.

He assumed she would double back now and assist with this kill, but there was still the horde of sharks, and their relentless beams threatened to destroy the shield and the acolytes hiding behind it.

As the whale steadied its flight path, the dwarves at his back regained their footing and released their holds on the railing.

Abe glanced over his shoulder, spotting the rifle barrels and crossbows turning toward him.

His brow rose curiously as he eyed the newly created crater beneath him, and he got an idea.

Holstering the revolver, he dove forward amidst a cacophony of guttural shouts from the dwarves at his back.

Abe’s claws dug through the loosened meat and bone as he buried himself into the whale. The worms wiggled, and he could smell the sweet scent of evolutionary brains seeping through the rot. But he was still some way from reaching it and the dwarves above were closing in on him.

The worms also wanted something, and with a thought, he set them free.

His wiggly allies slithered free from his nails and ears, wrapping around the bone and digging into flesh. He could sense their struggle. There was a battle going on between the worms and whatever infection had caused the whale to turn into what it was.

But he wasn’t about to leave all the work to the worms, and Abe pushed on with renewed vigor.

The scent grew stronger as he forced his way through, snapping or tearing anything that tried to slow him.

As he grew closer, he could feel the pulse of the beast’s brain, and tearing through a final film of the rotting membrane, Abe entered its compartment.

The smell of it threatened to overwhelm his self-control, to send him diving forward in a hungry craze, but Abe restrained himself. The brain within reach wouldn’t just make him stronger, it would heal him and refill his energy, but it was also keeping them in the sky. And they were pretty high up.

He could also feel the worms wiggling from his body, invading the brain and flesh that surrounded him. The battle had been close between them before, but here, with the brain at his fingertips, that had changed.

More worms wiggled from his body, invading the brain directly. He could feel them overwhelming the beast’s defenses now. It wasn’t prepared for this.

His mind pulsed as he felt his consciousness binding with the whale’s. The twirling energies flooded his veins and he felt himself gaining control over it.

Not only that, but the worms had managed to patch up the passage he had dug for himself through the whale. He knew the dwarves had reached the hole and could hear them chopping at the meat as the worms defiantly attempted to slow them.

He was running out of time and really didn’t want to get into a fight within the enclosed space of the whale. Frustration drove him into an angry roar, and Abe channeled his energy into forcing his will upon the whale.

For a moment, it protested, but the worms had dug their tendril bodies into every inch of its brain, and refusal was no longer an option.

Conquering the last of its free will, Abe commanded the whale into a barrel roll, and the beast began to spin through the air.

He could sense and see the energy signals of the dwarves being flung from the deck as they lost their grips, and within seconds he had cleared the whale of them.

Sensing the dwarves were gone, he calmed and leveled the whale. With a grunt, he then commanded it to gain altitude.

He sensed Viara hovering in the air not far from him, her gaze locked on the undead whale he had taken control of.

Deathly energy built within her as if she was about to attack, but then she turned and flew off into battle, engaging a shark as it shot a beam of energy in her direction.

The whale shook as several sharks passed on him, and he could sense the explosions blasting across its powerful hide. But he had seen the other fall to Viara’s attacks after shooting it and wasn’t confident he would last long if he kept taking hits.

Not only that, but half the remaining sharks were swooping the shield and blasting it with their attacks. Xer was firing back at them, and whilst he was able to damage or even take them out with a direct hit, most of his attacks were too slow and missed the fast-moving sharks.

“Let's take those little fuckers out,” Abe sneered as a couple more sharks swooped him, blasting half the deck away as their beams exploded across the whale’s back.

Willing the whale to turn, Abe gave chase to a couple of the sharks. They were far too quick for him and had already disappeared into the distance as new spheres of crackling energy formed across the whale.

I’m never going to hit anything at this rate!

Roaring, Abe channeled his own energy into the whale through the worms as two sharks flew by, and within seconds, the spheres of energy rapidly grew and burst into beams of energy.

Blasting across the sharks, the beams disintegrated the flying beasts in an instant.

Okay, now that was fucking cool; Abe smirked as he turned the whale towards more sharks.

Several sharks flew up from his rear, and their beams crashed against the whale’s back, blowing apart the remains of the deck above and eliciting a sneer from Abe as he struggled to turn the monstrous creature.

You’re pretty fucking sturdy, but we can’t keep taking those hits, can we?

Twirling through the air, Viara dodged as several sharks chased her, firing back when she could, but she was slowing again—not recovered from earlier.

“I think this is going to be up to you and me, big guy,” Abe growled and creased his nose as he turned the whale again.