"I will," Hepheastus said.
Personally, she'd rather not even touch the damn thing.
That damn book was more than it let on. No one else could see it, but that book was giving off crazy energy and was almost certainly a divine artifact. Not even Ouranos, a Greater God, could see through its concealment.
The only reason she could was because of her Domain, and even then, if she herself wasn't a High Goddess, then she doubted she would have noticed anything.
So, if someone asked if she would like to read, to touch that book, much less be in the same room as it then the answer would be Hell No! But she didn't have a choice.
She couldn't leave it to someone else to do. Last chapter, Ottar had been too rough on the reading. Going faster when he should have slowed down, and plowing through some parts when he should have stopped and let them catch their breath.
Like that part with the vision.
That vision….It messed with them. Hepheastus still remembered what it felt like, like she was watching a black hole devouring the light in front of her. She felt as if she had taken a single step that she'd be lost in the darkness forever.
Even now, she could feel her hand shaking.
She didn't see how the other Gods had faired, but she knew by the way Ouranos acted afterwards that even he had been affected.
But Hestia had it the worst of all. She had been screaming and crying during the entire visit, and by the time she finally pulled herself together to go help calm her down, she was almost catatonic.
When she held her in her arms, Hestia had clutched onto her so tightly that her nails had left bloody gashes on her arms. Luckily, she had healed quickly and wiped off the golden blood before anyone noticed, but still.
Somehow, that book and its story were not only affecting their children, but, on a deeper level, it was affecting the Gods as well. Whatever that book was doing to them, it wasn't natural.
Ottar was a top adventure. He was the top adventurer, he should have seen how they were being affected, heard Hestia's cries over his reading.
There were times when he could have stopped and given them time to process what they were seeing, or at the very least slowed down when he saw how messed up they were. And yet he never stopped reading that damn book.
But do you want to know when he finally stopped reading?
When his precious Goddess was affected.
She was the only thing on his mind. The only thing that he cared about. If everyone here but his Goddess went insane by the reading, then he'd gladly keep on reading without a care in the world.
Hepheastus knew that this chapter was going to be hard on everyone, especially Hestia. There was just no way that it was going to end well after the last one. So, at the very least, Hepheastus wanted to be the one who read it.
If she couldn't stop the blows from coming, then at the very least she could soften them for everyone else.
At her Goddess's command, Tsubaki got up from her chair and got the book from Ottar, who handed it over without complaint so that he may continue his silent watch over his Goddess.
Walking back, she looked at Hephastus with an understanding look in her eyes.
She knew what Hepheastus was doing, but she also knew that this book wasn't just affecting Hestia, it was affecting her too.
Every God had been affected by it. Maybe… maybe it'd be better if she took a turn instead.
Tsubaki felt Hepheastus try to pull the book from her hands. For a second, they stared at each other, Tsubaki silently telling her that she didn't have to do this. But just like her, her Goddess was a stubborn woman.
Hepheastus smiled as she removed her captain's hands from the book. Silently telling her that it was ok. It took a little reassurance, but reluctantly they gave way. She thanked her captain for her concern, but this was something she had to do.
Hestia was her friend, and if she was gonna help her friend, then she was gonna to be the one to do it. She wasn't about to pass it on to someone else to make it easier on her. This was her burden to carry.
Hepheastus found the page that Ottar ended on. And got ready to read.
Staring down at the chapter Hepheastus sighed.
She didn't want to do this. She wanted to just throw this book across the room, tell them about the divine energy coming off of it that no one else could see.
But it wouldn't matter, she knew.
Cause she had already tried.
"Chapter 4 My mother teaches my Bull Fighting." She read.
The mood immediately turned heavy. Some of them had held on to the chance that they would make it out of there without a fight. But that title killed their hope in the most crulest way.
They knew that this chapter, a mother was going to be fighting for her child's safety, and his friend too.
Clutching Hestia's hand, Bell felt his chest. For some reason, his heart was racing. He felt angry, scared, but strangely determined. He didn't know why or how, but hearing the words "Bull Fighting" just reminded him of his close encounters with his very own bulls.
But he didn't have long to think about it as Hepheastus kept reading.
We sped through the night on dark country roads. Wind hit the Camaro; rain lashed the windshield. Sally kept her foot on the gas, despite the storm. Percy looked at Grover in the backseat, looking as if he was wearing shag-carpet pants. He smelled like wool, or a petting zoo."So, you and my mom…know each other?"
The image of Sally and the boys flashed onto the black wall, racing down the street through the storm. Moving faster than any cart in existence, it tore through the night as the sound of thunder echoed through the theater.
"Man, that thing is moving." Garet praised.
When they had first seen the car, it had already been moving faster than most horses, with only the highest breed were able to outpace it.
But now the car was reaching upwards to the speed of a Level Two adventure.
Hepheastus cursed. She really wanted to see what was happening. A cart that was moving at speeds that even surprised their children? She had to see such a marvel of crafting, but whenever she tried to look and watch the wall, the image would stop right there.
Even if she kept reading, as long as her eyes were off the pages, the image would freeze. She wanted to study the car, but if it wasn't moving, then what was the point?
Hepheastus gritted her teeth, she was starting to really hate this book. But now that she had started reading, she wasn't about to stop.
She sighed, there was only one thing to do.
"Tsubaki makes notes for me, please." Hepheastus whispered, quietly asking for help
"Sure thing, Hepheasus-sama." Nodding her head, Tsubaki pulled out a notebook, jotting down anything that she could note about the car.
"She's really scared." May said, watching Sally's face. Working in a restaurant, even in the kitchen, helped her learn how to read people's emotions just by looking at their faces.
And Sally, she wasn't just scared, she was terrified.
"It's gonna be ok, they'll be fine." Lunoire tried to comfort Syr, but her heart knew that she was lying. Oh, why did Syr have to be here? She was just a normal civie, she didn't deserve to see this kind of heartbreak.
Maybe she could convince her to wait out in the halls next time. Spare her from all this terribleness.
"What I want ot know is what kind of species is that boy." Riveria said. As one of the oldest people here, not counting the Gods, she felt as if she knew every species in the world, but Grover's eluded her. "Have any of the Gods seen anything like him before?"
"No," Loki waved off the question. It's not like she ever learned what mortal species existed in the first place.
Riviera ignored her. She never expected her to know the answer anyway. Just like how she never expected her to stop wasting their hard-earned money from the dungeon on expensive wine.
She was a Goddess. A Goddess like all the others, with a body that couldn't get drunk unless they were drinking something made by a God of wine, and yet she insisted on buying herself that fake Soma wine that couldn't even compare to one of Dionysus. A complete and utter waste of money.
"Hermes." She asked. He was the only God well traveld enough to at least know the answer.
"Sorry, can't say I have, and I'm pretty well traveled. There isn't a species on Genkai that I don't know."
"Not one you haven't slept with either." His captain muttered under her breath.
Riveria scowled. Behind her, she could hear Bete laughing as Lefiya ducked her head down, her face bright red as steam escaped from her ears.
Asfi probrally did not know that elves had very good hearing, as comparable to a werewolf's in fact, considering that not only did she hear her, but so did Bete and every other elf in the room.
"Hm? You say something Asfi?" Hermes asked, not hearing her.
"Nothing, Hermes-sama." She said, going back to her dutiful captain mask.
"Well then, we can assume that this is a race native to this world, except Pery here doesn't recognize him either," Finn said.
"Seems like we get more questions than answers every chapter huh?" Welf grumbled.
"Well, one thing we know is that Sally definitely knows," Tione said.
"Yea, and instead of preparing her brat, she's gonna throw him off the deep end, He's not gonna know anything when she's gone." Mama Mia growled out. She hated how people did that. Waited until the last moment to say something and then they're surprised when their whole party gets killed off.
"Gone?" Syr tearfully asked.
Mama Mia cursed under her breath. She hadn't meant to say that out loud. But it's something all the veterans knew was coming. It was just a feeling, but they knew.
It's the same feeling that you get when you just know that you're about to walk onto a floor where your best friends are about to die. That sense of dread that tells you to turn back. And unlike rookies who always say, one more floor, they knew when to listen to it.
Everyone of them knew that someone wasn't gonna make it this chapter. They knew it wasn't gonna be Percy, that damn fleck of light already told them that they were gonna be watching his story. And with the rest of the book to go through, they already knew it wasn't gonna be him.
But Grover, his mom. They were fair game.
"Nothin. Sweaty, just in my own head." She couldn't break the news to her. Syr was too sweet. She couldn't be the one to make her cry. Better to let her see for herself.
Looking over at the rest of her staff, they all nodded their head. They could feel what was coming too. Already, they were preparing to comfort Syr when the time came.
Grover looked back but there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."
"Oh yeah, like that isn't creepy." Lili rolled her eyes. As the foremost expert of watching people even she knew that watching over someone without their permission or knowledge was creepy.
Though just because she knew that doesn't mean she was about to stop. Bell-sama was a special case and needed constant watch otherwise he was going to seduce more girls and make things harder for her.
Besides, it's only hypocritical when it's not her.
"Come on, Sally, you can't keep doing this to your son." Ryuu face-palmed. How many more secrets did Sally have?
"I'm more worried about why he needed someone watching him." Welf muttered.
"Watching me?"Percy asked. "Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend."
"Well, that's good right?" Haruhime tried to stay positive. If he was really his friend, then it was okay right?
"I'd say it's worse, I'd rather have a fake friend than a real one that was watching me. At least if they were fake, the betrayal doesn't hit so hard." Ryuu said, not realising that she was breaking Haruhime's little heart.
A little bits away, a certain someone's ears twitched, but they made sure to keep a cool face so no one noticed.
"Um…what are you, exactly?" Percy asked."That doesn't matter right now." Grove tried to throw it off but Percy wouldn't let him"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"
" HAHAHAHA! Did you hear that, little donkey boy couldn't keep that in, could he?" Bete clutched his sides as he roared with laughter.
"BETE!"Riveria screamed.
"What!?" He shouted back
"That was incredibly racist! How could you say that!?" Scandalised, she held her hand over her heart, shocked to hear something out of her own guildmate's mouth.
"How the hell can I be racist to a race that doesn't even exist, you crazy old bat!?"Bete scoffed.
"OLD!!??"Riveria's face went red with anger as she shot to her feet.
"HA, Funny how you're more mad about the old comet. And Bete, you have no room to talk, I've seen how you bark," Loki was chuckling off to the side.
"LOKI-SAMA!! YOU CAN'T SAY THAT!!" Riveria shouted again.
"Mama, I'm a Goddess. I don't see race. I'm above all you peons. Plus I didn't even bring up the dog's humping. Sometimes I feel like we should get him fixed."
"THE HELL YOU SAY YOU CRAZY HALF PINT GODDESS!!" Bete stood over the couch, screaming at Loki
"WHO YOU CALLING HALF PINT YOU FLEA RIDDEN MUTT!" And now Loki was on her feet, standing on the couch as she pulled Bete down to scream in his face.
Not wanting to listen to any more of this Hepheastus loudly started reading over them as the images started moving again.
I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat."Goat!" he cried."What?""I'm a goat from the waist down."
"Oh, that's good to know." Hermes made a note of it. Maybe there were mortals like him back on their world. He'd be sure to be on the lookout. "Hm?" Ideally, stroking his chi,n he wondered what any female of their specie would be like.
Right next to him, Asfi started glaring at him. She felt as if he was thinking something stupid again.
"I thought he said it didn't matter," Tiona said.
"You just said it didn't matter."
"Hey, that's what I said!"
"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"
"Well, now we at least have a name." Finn grinned.
"Satyrs…Does anyone know anything that goes by that name?" Distracted by this new information, Riveria jotted it down as she asked the gods.
"Hmm, now that you mention it, I think Dionosyss had a following a few millennia back that went by that name. Though I think that it was just a group of regular mortals that prayed to him. Not a race a donkey man." Hermes said as he remembered talking to the God of wine about it over a few drinks.
"Oh yeah, didn't he run it with the help of another God?" Hestia asked, glad for the distraction. She had been chewing on her ribbon the entire time, stressed out of her mind during the showing.
"Pam?" Freya tried to guess.
No….Pan! That's it." Hermes slammed his fist into his hand as he remembered.
"Pan! Man, I haven't heard that of that old wildflower in centuries. Has anyone seen him?" Loki asked.
"I think he's still up above, last I've heard." Hepheastus said.
"Pan returned to heaven after his old familia died some seven hundred years ago." Ouranos clarified. As the one keeping check on them, Ouranos knew all the names of all the Gods that descended and subsequently ascended.
Uh who's Pan?" Bell asked Hestia. Not knowing of any God by that name.
"Uh? Oh, Pans, the God of the wild." Hestia said.
"Nice guy. Too bad that he is always so busy." Loki added.
"Well, yeah, over three-fourths of the world is wild, him and the other nature gods must be going nuts with how much they have to watch over." Hepheastus said.
"I've heard they even asked a few Gods to encourage the mortals to expand a little so that they're workload would lessen." Hermes gossiped.
Percy could feel his world start to shift. He couldn't believe what he was hearing."Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like…Mr. Brunner's myths?" Grover rolled his eyes"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?" Turning around fully so that he was facing the back, Peryc jammed a finger at Grover's face. "So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!" "Of course."
"Ah-ha, finally. Now we're getting some answers." Finn exclaimed, excited to start piecing together this puzzle.
"Seems like there's no point putting up with the cirade anymore." Garet grumbled.
"Yeah, now that they're being chased." Mama Mia said.
"Then why—""The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."
"Hold on, Hepheastus. This seems to be important." Loki held out her hand as she leaned foward.
Hephasuts closed the book, putting her finger between the pages to keep her place. Hepheastus sighed. She was right about this chapter. She already knew that this wasn't gonna be a short conversation, and they were only a few pages in.
But no matter how much she gripped, she knew that this was important. The only way that they were getting out of here was by learning whatever lesson the Watcher was trying to teach them.
Loki started them off.
"Ok, two things there. One is that apparently monsters can be drawn to you the more you know about them."
"But that's just stupid. Why would a beast care if you know about it or not?" Hermes asked.
"Maybe Grover was trying to be metaphorical. He could have just meant that if the boy knew about them that he might go out and try to fight them." Fels suggested.
But Loki waved her hand dismissively
"What kind of idiot runs towards danger?"
On the couch, Hestia slowly turned to look at Bell. "I don't know, I think I know a few in this room." Under her intense gaze Bell felt himself shrink into himself.
It's not like he didn't get what Hestia was getting at. But being an adventure is all about leaping into danger. There just wasn't away of getting around it.
"Huh." Raising up her hand to get everyone's attention, Haruhime interrupted the discussion. She just didn't expect for everyone to look at her so intensely.
"E-Eh, um t-that is."
"What is it child?" Hepheastus asked.
Beside her, Tatsumi placed a calming hand on her shoulder. Shyly smiling at her, Haruhime took a deep breath and turned back towards the group.
"Well… In the East, we have a parable that my family's Samurai are taught. U-um I sort of listened in one time when I wasn't suppose to but I t-think it might e-explain everything. O-or at least I-I hope so. I-Its silly bu-"
"Oh my! SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!!" Bete yelled from across the room.
Haruhime flinched back.
"Well not ot be mean like the pup but please, tell us. Were all ears." Loki rubbed the back of her head.
"U-Um o-ok, w-well I believe it went. O-Once a Man was in his room writing when a bird flew into his room. W-Wanting to catch the bird he got up to get it, but as soon as the man moved the ird moved back. Hoping to get t-the bird to get closer to him the man pretend to look away, but the bird stayed still. After awhile the man got tired and went back to writing, forgetting about the bird he got engrossed in his writing. When he finished the sun had set and the bird was atop his head."
"....The hell does that mean?" Tiona asked from the floor.
" U-Um w-well the i-instructor said t-that the man's intent was felt by the bird and warned it of danger. B-But when the man no longer cared for his intent to capture the bird disappeared, and to the bird so did the man."
"..So what you're trying to say is that you think these monsters can feel Percy's intent and so long as his intent wasn't aimed at them then he was essentially invisible," Freya said.
"Y-Yes.."
"But how can someone ignore a monster that's right in front of them. If they have monsters walking around, in plain view, then how are people not putting their "Intent"on them and drawing their attention." Garet asked.
From the back, Ouranos whispered.
"Mist."
Everyone turned to Ouranos in confusion. They hadn't expected him to chime in so suddenly, but if there was an answer he was the one to have it.
"Ouranos-sama?" Fels asked
"Mist, it's something that blocks your view, right? Hides things from your perception, you'd say."
Loki stood up. "Hold on old timer, are you trying to sugg-"
But Ouranos interrupted her."That this Mist hides the monsters. Yes, I am"
Standing up, Ouranos walked to the front of the room."When young Perceus was younger, no one saw the monsters that he saw. And then everyone seemed to forget that Dodds existed, even though she had been around them not ten minutes before. I bet you it's because of this Mist. It must be some magic that hides monsters from people's perception, making them, in turn, invisible to the monsters!"
"But Dodds could seem the kids just fine, so how does that work?" Finn asked. If the Mist was supposed to hide Monsters from humans so that they wouldn't notice them, then how could Mrs. Dodds teach a whole class of humans no problem?
This time Hermes cut in."Stronger monsters probably are able to resist this effect."
"Let's say that you're right, how the hell could such a thing even be constructed, you'd need-"
"A God." Freya cut in." Though not even a God could wrap the world in this Mist, they'd need the full might of heaven to perform such a feat."
"Is that even possible?" Lefiya asked.
"If all of Tenkai worked together, we could probably do something similar. Whether or not it would work in the dungeon, I have no idea, but on the surface, many mortals would be protected by such a thing." Hermes said.
"But even then, in that world where the Mist is already set down, there are ways to break the Mist's hold. Just look at Percy and Sally. Any sign of something not being right could break the Mists' hold on people, revealing the monsters, and making the whole thing moot." Loki tried to argue
"Yes, you're right. For such an idea to be realized, mortals would have to live lives without knowing or questioning this mist. Anything that could break this hold would have to be hidden from them lest the whole thing come crumbling down." Ouranos said.
"Is that why we haven't seen any Gods yet? They're hiding." Syr asked.
"If what we believe to be real is, then yes. Even the Gods would have to fade from the minds of mortals…To protect them." Ouranos said.
"Behind them they were still being followed. Sally tried to get Percy to calm down. She said that they had to get him to safety.""Safety from what? Who's after me?"He asked."Oh, nobody much," Grover said, still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."
"Oh us dammit! Which bone bastard is it this time."Loki threw up her hands in exasperation.
"Come now Loki, they're not all like that. Hela's certainly pleasant enough."Laughing behind her hand, Freya tried to calm Loki down.
"Yeah, I know, but every time something is going wrong, its seems to be because of those dreary sons of bitches. I mean, who is it this time? Thanatos?"
"Loki! Be a little more understanding. They have just as much control choosing their Domains as you have yours." Hestia scolded Loki.
"H-huh, Hestia-sama, who are you talking about?"Bell asked.
But Ryuu seemed to have guessed the answer already. "You're talking about the Gods of Death, right?"
" Not just Death, but also Poison, Madness, darkness. The ones that we call Dark Gods up in Tenkai." Hermes said.
"Auh! Hermes! Don't spread that kind of talk with my children! None of them are Dark Gods, some of them are just-" Hestia was starting to get mad.
She hated it when people called them that. There was nothing wrong with them. Just because they were a little creepy doesn't mean they didn't have feelings.
But Loki didn't agree."Some of them are just fucking weird. Look at Isazamai, or better yet, that crazy bastard Jashin."
"Ok, so a few of them could use a timeout, but they're Gods just like the rest of us."
"Are..are they really that bad?" Welf nervously asked.
Ouranos, wanting to clear some things up, answered for Hestia.
"It's unfortunate, but due to their Domains and the subsequent influence it has over them, many Dark Gods, as Hermes has so graciously put it, are more likely to cause upheaval on Genkai. Sometimes they try to do the same on Tenkai, but most of the time they cause chaos down here."
"They're not bad Gods, you guys, they just need some way to "vent" their Domains sometimes." Hestia tried to defend them, but it didn't seem like anyone was listening.
"Well, they can vent far away from me."Loki crossed her arms in a huff.
"Grover!" "Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"Percy felt like he was in a dream, except he didn't have this kind of imagination. Sally swerved left as they passed the farmhouse and a sign that said PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES "Where are we going?" I asked. "The summer camp I told you about,"Sally said, banking right. "The place your father wanted to send you."
"So we were right, this summer camp is more than Sally is letting on. If she's racing to get there, then there must be some kind of protection that can help them." Finn theorized as he made notes.
"We then they better get their fast, I can hear that thing behind them, and its getting closer." Bete said.
"I can hear it too, it sounds big."Ais said as Lefiya grabbed her hand.
Bell's heart started beating faster. Even though his senses weren't as good as some of the top adventurers here he could still make out a faint thudding over the pouring rain. It sounded familiar.
"The place you didn't want me to go.""Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger.""Because some old ladies cut yarn."
"Those weren't just some old ladies." Freya shook a little in her seat just from the memory. Her ever faithful Ottar placed his hand on her shoulder to steady her, but she waved him off.
"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact that they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to…when someone's about to die."
"Whoa. You said 'you.'"
"No, I didn't. I said 'someone.'"
"You meant 'you.' As in me."
"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."
"Boys!" Sally screamed.
"SHUT UP! You goddam stupdi brats, it's not the time! Read the Room!" Mama Mia, pissed off that they were doing this now, screamed as well.
"Scary Meow," Anya whispered.
"Meow, I know, no wonder she's still single," Chloe muttered back.
"WHAT WAS THAT!!"
"EEEE!!"
Sally took another fast turn and Percy got a glimpse of a figure in the dark—a shape now lost behind them in the storm.
"Dammit, it's right there." Ryuu hissed.
"The damn thing is getting closer." Garet noticed.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Yeah, what was that?" Tiona asked
"Monster!" Ais grit out her hand on her hilt.
"But which one!" Tione asked.
"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."
"Please. Please. Please. Please. Please. Please." Pleading with her Haruhime kept her hands clasped as she stared transfixed at the wall.
Outside, nothing but rain and darkness. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and her pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me.
"What?! You're just barely getting that? How stupid can you be?" Bete asked shocked that he was still on that.
"Bete! He's a child. One, I might remind you, that has never had to deal with this kind of thing." Riviera said
"Not to mention, parts of him must have started to believe the lies that Brunner and Grover fed him. Even if he knew it wasn't true, months of hearing it might have messed with his head, he might have started to believe them." Loki, the foremost expert on trickery, added.
"IF they had just told him..." Mama Mia grumbled.
"Then he might have been better prepared." Luniore finished.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. We just gotta believe that they can make it." May said.
Percy thought about Mr. Brunner and the sword. But before he could ask the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded.
"WHAT!" Everyone screamed. Not expecting to see an attack come out of nowhere.
Though the Gods were the most shocked as for a second they thought they recognized something. But it was gone before they could remember.
"What the hell was that!"Tiona screamed.
"Did they get hit by the monster?" Tatsumi asked, holding the frozen Renard in her arms.
"Was it magic?" Riveria muttered
I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. "Ow."
"Oh, thank the Gods…He's still alive." Hestia patted her chest as she tried to catch her breath.
"But what about Sally or Grover?" Welf asked.
"Even if they're alive, they need to get moving," Ryuu said.
"Yeah, flip that car over and get out of there," Tiona said.
"Percy!" my mom shouted."I'm okay.…"
"YES!" They screamed when Sally appeared, ruffed up but fine.
"Ok, now where's Grover?" Bell asked.
Percy tried to center himself. He was ok, his mom was alright, and the car hadn't really exploded. But they were in a ditch. The doors were wedged shut, and the roof had cracked open like an eggshell, and rain was pouring in.
"What the hell did that?" Asfi whispered.
"That looks bad, can the car even run?" Riveria asked Finn.
" Well, if it's like a cart them the roof is nonessential, then the only thing the need to do, like Tiona said, is to flip it over and get moving." Finn said as he gripped his thumb. It'd been twitching ever since they got a glimpse of the thing chasing them, but when the car was stuck, it actually shook so hard that it hurt.
He didn't know what happened, but he knew that it was way above anything that he ever faced. And yet, strangely, everyone was ok. From an attack that scared even him, the only thing that happened was a hole in their car.
"But we don't know how the car moves, it might be dead now." Garet said.
Lightning. Lightning had struck their car.
"Wait. So it wasn't the monster that did that it was just lightning." Syr asked.
The entire time, she thought that the monster had caught up to them. But it was just an accident? Bad cosmic luck that did that?
" Meow man, talk about bad luck, right in the middle of their escape." Anay shook her head. She'd seen some bad luck in her day, but this took the cake.
"Yeah, bad luck." Mama Mia narrowed her eyes at the screen.
Hermes turned to Ouranos. "What do you think the chances are that lightning would randomly strike them right now?"
"Too high." He said. "This was the working of a God."
"But what kind of God would do that?" Hestia asked.
"Why are you acting so shocked, Itsy Bitys. You already know who." Loki grumbled as she crossed her arms.
Hestia thought about it for a second. But she just couldn't imagine any God doing this. Not even Thanatos would personally attack a mortal, it's just not done.
But, that was in their world. Here things were different."....Wait, wait. You're saying that the God that's been throwing a tantrum over their lightning bolt getting stolen is the same one that did that?"
"It makes sense, it'd be too odd if this was just a chance of bad luck. But if a God did that-" Loki shook her head.
"Then a God has personally moved to make sure that that child dies. They are trying to tilt the Balance in their favor." Ouranos muttered darkly. From his chair, they could hear a deep creaking, then a sharp crack. His hands gripped his chair so hard that he shattered the armrest.
No one said anything. For the Gods, this was the first time that they had ever seen their Head God so angry. He had always portrayed such a calm exterior that they had wondered if he ever felt anything.
There was even a betting pool at the Denatus about whether anyone could actually get him to smile.
But this, this was a whole new thing.
Wanting to move on Hepheastus went back to reading.
Next to me was a motionless lump. "Grover!" He was slumped, blood from his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you're half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die! Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.
"Well…At least he's alive." Haruhime said, embarrassed that that was the only thing on his mind.
"Oh Gods, this kid." Even Garet rolled his eyes at that.
"Fucking weakling, wake up and fight. Or better yet, they should just drop the goat and keep going ."
"Stop being so harsh on Grover, he's doing his best."Lefiya tried to defend him. She knew what it was like to be the weak one in the group and even though she's grown stronger, she still felt like that weak little girl sometimes.
But if she could grow then so could Grover, he…he just needed a push, is all.
Unfortunately the one she was trying to convince was Bete."No he's dead weight and they're better off leaving him."
"Percy," my mother said, "we have to…" Her voice faltered. Behind them, a flash of lightning lit the sky. There, a figure on the shoulder of the road through the mud-spattered rear windshield. It was a large, dark silhouette of a man, like a football player, holding a blanket over his head. His upper body was bulky and fuzzy, and his raised hands resembled horns.
The image sent a jolt through Bell. Bell felt his heart stop. " No …it can't be."
Bell looked around. No one else seemed to see what he'd seen. Maybe.. maybe that was for the best. Because it can't be that monster. It just can't be. Bell was just seeing things again.
Just because it was big and had horns didn't mean it was that monster.
Bell wiped his sweaty forehead. Just the memory of that monster sent shivers down his spine. He hadn't told anyone, especially his Goddess, but there was a certain monster in the Dungeon that still scared him.
He just couldn't get it out of his head. He saw it every time he passed by cows, every time he passed the butcher, he even saw it in his dreams.
Once, he thought he saw it at Welf's forge, only for it to be a shadow in the wall.
This was just the same thing. There was no way that someone would be that cruel to send that kind of monster after a boy and his mother. There just wasn't.
I swallowed hard. "Who is—""Percy," my mother said, serious. "Get out of the car." They tried the doors but they were wedged in the mud. The roof, while open, was sizzling hot. "Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother said. "Percy—you have to run. See that big tree?" "What?" There on a hill was a giant Christmas-like tree. "That's the property line," my mom said. "Cross it to see a farmhouse in the valley. Run, don't look back. Yell for help. Keep going until you reach the door."
"Come on, they're right there. They can make it." Luniore whispered.
"Where are the border guards? Or watchers?" Riveria asked. As the vice-captain of her Familia, she found it strange that they were so close and yet there weren't any patrols out to help them.
This was meant to be a gathering for adventures right? Where were the guards? Even in Oraio, the Loki Familia kept a constant patrol over their base in case of an attack.
"Yeah, this is the place for Familias, right? Where is everyone?" Tione asked.
"Hold on… why is she telling him to run?" Hestia went wide-eyed, too scared to consider the implications.
"Mom, you're coming too."Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.
"NO!" Haruhime screamed, already suspecting that this was what she was saying.
"Oh Sallly." Mama Mia whispered.
"Hey, dont give up. Your son needs you." Tiona stood and yelled at the wall. To her, there was no giving up. They could still make it.
"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover.""Food!" Grover moaned a little louder.
"Yeah, to tell her Percy." Tiona cheered.
"Ok, I'm not agreeing with Bete, but they need to shut Grover up." Tione scrunched up her nose, annoyed at the constant mumble of food from Grover.
The man with a blanket on his head kept approaching, making grunting noises. As he neared, I saw hewasn'tholding a blanket, since his large hands swung at his sides. The bulky mass was his head, with horn-like points.
"It's getting closer, they need to hurry." Finn noted
"H-hey doesn't that look like a-" Lefiya started to say.
"I think s-" Riveria squinted at the wall. The shape was vaguely familiar but it was hard to see through the storm. But they were interrupted by Bell.
"NO!" Bell yelled out. Shocking everyone with his sudden outburst. "It not, it can't be." At this point though, he didn't know who he was trying to convince, him or everyone else.
"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line.""But…""We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."
"What does she mean, "can't cross"?" Haruhime asked worriedly.
"Is she trying to say that they won't let her cross?" Mama Mia's eyes were wide in shock. What kind of people would stop someone in trouble at their door?
She knew that she came off as hard and rough woman. And she wasn't particularly shy about saying her thoughts on children. But if a mother and her child showed up on her doorsteps, running and terrified, then you'd better believe that she'd grab her old Hammer from the wall and start cracking heads.
"I don't know, but if she's right, then it may be safer for Peryc to go alone" Garet said.
"Garet how could you say tha-."
" No Riveria, he's right. If Percy can distract the monster and make it chase him, then it might leave Sally and Gover alone." Finn said.
"...And when it can't reach Percy?"
"...We just have to hope that they can hide before then."
I got mad at my mother, Grover the goat, and the horned thing lumbering toward us like a bull. "We're going together. Come on, Mom." "I told you—" "Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."
"Good. Don't leave them." Hestai said. Tears were running down her face. She knew the odds weren't in their favor. She knew that no matter what, someone was going to die, whether it be now or later, they'd die.
That was her curse as a Goddess. Doomed to watch as the people that should have lived, that had every right to live, die while she continued on.
But heavens above, she wanted them to make it. She didn't want to watch a family be broken apart. Not again.
"..That thing is really starting to look like-" Welf whispered to Ryuu.
"I know, but it can't be. I've never seen one on the surface before." Ryuu whispered back.
Bell felt his heart drop. By now, there wasn't any doubt. The monster chasing them was a minotaur. The monster that nearly killed him twice, and in a way started him on his journey.
"Uh guys, is it just Lili, or is that thing like really big, like bigger than what it should be?" Lili asked. When it was further away it wa hard to tell. But as it got closer and continued to get even taller Lili started to worry.
Normally, a minotaur was around 7' to 7'5 feet tall. An enhanced one might be pushing towards 8' feet, but this one, this one was easily over 8' feet and growing.
We draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and stumbled uphill through wet grass. Glancing back, I saw the monster, tall, muscular and wearing only bright white underwear. With a long snout, a nose with a brass ring, black eyes, and massive black-and-white horns. I recognized him from Mr. Brunner's stories—though I thought he couldn't be real.
"So they have minatours as well," Finn said, now that they finally got their first good look at the monster chasing them
"Yes, but for some reason Percy here thinks they're myths." Garet said.
"It's probably cause of the mist. If humans have forgotten that monsters can walk among them, then any story about them could be seem fanciful and can turn into myths after a while." Hermes suggested.
"Yeah, it's funny what you mortals turn into myths after just a few hundred years." Loki chuckled. Mortals were so funny. Turn your back on them for a second and they'd already believe that you never existed.
Everyone turned to look at their Gods in shock. Hepheauts snotted. Somehow, it always seemed to go over their children's heads just how old they were. It was honestly a surprise that they weren't stopped at all points of the day with questions about history.
But that just goes to show how much they were drawn to the dungeon.
Not that most of them knew anything. Most of the time on Tenkai, they were too busy working on their own things to be bothered to look down.
She herself spent all of her time either in the forge or with Hestia. And until she personally descended, she hadn't seen much use in watching their lives, so she wouldn't even know where to begin if someone asked her what old kingdom existed here or if this person really did the thing they were famous for.
I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—""Pasiphae's son," my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."
"....Who?" Tiona tilted her head in confusion. Who the hell was Pasify?
"Yeah, what's she saying? That's clearly a Minatour." Bete said.
"Don't ask me, I've never heard of someone named Pasiphae." Loki held up her hands. She wasn't that great at names to begin with anyway.
"Could be a Goddess," Finn suggested.
"Are you thinking that the Minatour is part of a Familia?"Riveria asked.
"Well, if Sally is calling it her son, then it makes sense."
It seemed fanciful, but if they were to believe Sall,y then it might fit. Though no one has even tried to put Falna on top of a monster, if someone did, he didn't know what kind of abomination it'd be.
Thankfully, Ournaos shut down that idea quickly.
"No, there is no such God or Goddess named Pasiphae."
"Well, whoever it is, it's someone who can command a monster," Hermes said.
"Like a tamer?" Asfi asked.
"Yes."
"Gods dammit woman, if you knew people were trying to kill your son then you should have gotten him prepared not hid him away." Mama Mia growled out. If she knew that people wanted them dead then she should have done more.
She shouldn't have tried to put her head in the sads, hoping that they wouldn't be found. She should have made him into a fighter, taken him to this camp. Done anything so they wouldn't be where they are right now.
"But he's the Min—""Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.I glanced behind me again.
"Meow, is that true." Chloe asked. She'd never heard of something like that.
"What? No, names don't have power, they're names." Luniore scoffed at the idea. How could saying a name give you power?
"Oh yeah meow! Well, how do you know? And if even you're right, they're in a different world. It might be right for the,m meow." Chloe bit back.
"Maybe." Finn said "If so that's another thing that's different in their world. If Sally is telling the truth and isn't wrong, then names carry power."
"What does that mean though?" Lefiya asked.
"I don't know, but at the very least it seems that saying someone's name can be a beacon that draws them to you. If going by how Sally desperately doesn't want Percy to say it." Finn added that bit of information to his notebook.
"But there are thousands of Minatours, are you saying that if they said its name that all of them would know it." Garet didn't look convinced. More then likely, that was something made up through their myths over the years.
"Probably just the closet one, but yes." Finn said.
The bull-man hunched over our car, sniffing or nuzzling, despite being about fifty feet away. "Food?" Grover moaned. "Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?""His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."
"That's actually true, and not something most adventurers realize."Riveria informed the younger crowd.
"Really?" Bell perked up. He hadn't known that. Thinking back, it's seemed kind of obvious.
The way they walked with their heads high, sniffing the air. And now that he thought about it the minotaurs that he fought never seemed to really look at him, just in his general direction.
"Yes, in fact, many monsters on the, excluding the ones on the floors with artificial suns, actually can't see that well." Riveria pushed up her glasses, going into teacher mode. Some of her family members moved back, but she didn't mind, she just kindly added more lesson plans for them.
" Kolobs, Minatours, Killer ants, even the butterflies go by sound or smell to find us."
"It's not something that's that important for most adventures, but if you're trying to hunt particular monsters, or running away I guess, it helps to set up traps for them using sound or smell." Finn added. He had never seen that information as that important.
In the narrow walls of the dungeon, it didn't matter if they couldn't see you, cause there really wasn't anywhere else for you to go. It was far better to face them head-on than to try and hide from them.
"Now that I think about it that would have been really helpful when we faced that Minatour stampede a few months back, coming up from the floors. We could have made a bomb of some kind and confused their sense." Garet said.
"Yeah, but it also would have affected us, more so the cat people and chienthropes." Finn shook his head. Smell wasn't a strategy that he liked to use for that particular reason.
It was worse when he had to move an entire platoon of those species through the unique areas of the dungeon that required them to be carried through lest they get left behind.
As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.
"Whoa! What the hell was in that?!" Tsubaki shouted, startled.
"Must be a type of fuel that's flammable. I know Athena and her Familiar are working on a type of engine using steam, but this must be a whole new thing." Hepheastus theorized. She wasn't able to see the initial explosion, but the aftermath looked very similar to one of Athena's blown steam engines.
Its something that she and her Familia had been working on for some time now. She said that it would revolutionize water travel. Of course, she would have finished a lot sooner if she used any Forging God in her work, or even used her divine gift.
But she said that it was something that needed to be developed by mortal brains and not Godly hands.
Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying.Oops.
The Theater erupited in laughter.
"HAHAHA!"
"That's what you get to disgusting sack of flesh!" Hestia cheered.
"Hestia-sama!?" Lili gasped.
"What?"
"You can't say that." Lili shook her finger at Hestia
"R-Really?" Hestia wrung her fingers together. She wasnt' used to getting so worked up, but that man just made her so angry. Oh no. What does Bell think of her, acting like this? Maybe she shoul-
" You've got to call him at least ten differnt curse words eveyrtime you mention him." Lili nodded her head. That was the least they should do infact.
"E-Eh, are you sure?" Hestia looked at Lili, shocked. SO she was supposed to do more?
"Yes."Lili nodded her head.
"B-But, I don't know any bad words."She had always thought that it was bad for a Goddess of Family to say such bad words…But if it was towards a man like that…then maybe.
"Really? Ok let Lili teach you some. Ther-"
Bell sweated right next to them as he heard Hestia and Lili whispering. He knew that he should stop Lili, but Hestia looked so happy.
I-If they just kept it to the bad people, then it should be alright, right?... Right?
"Man, I wish I could see the guy's face when he finds out." Tione chuckled.
"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way—directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"
"Damn."Luniore stared wide-eyed at the screen. "There's another one."
"That woman knows more than some of the captains in Orario," Asfi exclaimed.
Finn nodded his head in approval. This woman was a treasure trove of information. That little tidbit of information might not have seemed groundbreaking, especially when you brought up the fact that they see minatours at least once a month.
Big bull-man charging at you, get out of the way. It sounds so simple. But it was something that a lot of adventurers would never learn, much less do.
Most adventurers are illiterate murder hobos that dive into the dungeon looking for stones. They'll never learn strategy or tricks to survive. They'll charge headfirst into danger and be arrogant enough to believe that they'll make it out alive.
And the ones that do survive were either too illiterate to make note of anything to leave to future adventures or too arrogant to believe that these little tricks could be useful and so they never passed it down.
So, if you thought about it, these little tidbits of knowledge were actually life-saving strategies that, usually, only top-level adventurers knew about.
Finn paused. Now that he thought about it, wasn't he also guilty of doing the same thing. Surely not right. While it's true that he never taught anyone his personal strategies, the Loki Familai almost always traveled together down into the dungeon, where Finn could lead everyone as the Captain.
But…Looking at the interested faces of the younger members, Finn felt as if he should have shared some of what he knew. Maybe after they left, he could hold a class for adventures, it didn't even have to be just his Familia either, anyone could attend if they wanted to.
It'd be a great way to leave his legacy behind while also improving the chances of people surviving in the dungeon.
Finn made a note to talk about it with Loki when he had the chance.
"She's never even been in a fight before, how'd she learn all this?" Riveria asked.
"Yeah, it's not like she has anyone helping her either." Garet added.
"It's more impressive when you learn that their Mist blocks monsters from their sight or else they be attached," Loki said.
"For that matter, how did she even know that they'd be facing a minotaur?" Tione wondered. It seemed very lucky that they did, or else Sally's knowledge would have been useless.
"No, that's leaving too much to chance for a mother that's only thinking of protecting her son. She must have built dozens of plans for all kinds of monsters that could have been coming to attack them. And she would have had to build them off of just stories." Finn said impressed.
Even he can't make plans based off of only hearsay. He needs concrete evidence otherwise, he'd be better off going in blind. For a (practically) singular mother to do that all on her own, well, it just goes to show why she was the one who got a Blessing from a God.
"D-does that actually work though?" Bell asked nervously. He had never even thought about the way that minatours attacked. He always just attacked and let his instincts and speed handle the rest.
"Oh, Bell, well yes. Most of the time. It's because minotaurs are such wide monsters that it's very hard for them to make sharp turns, so rolling to the side usually helps to dodge them." Ryuu answered, surprised to hear Bell ask such a question.
She had assumed that Bell had already knew this, considering how much he fought them. Maybe she should check and see how much he actually knew about the dungeon and its monsters.
In fact, as the senior adventurer of this Familia, she should check on all of them, make sure that they were all up to snuff with everything.
"But of course, in the Dungeon where the walls can narrow in some places, it's not a sure-fire strategy to use. It works better in open areas like where they are right now." She clarified, just in case they forgot.
"Another thing that they need to watch out for is its arms. It might not be able to turn, but a minatour's reflexes are still sharp enough to catch unsuspecting level 2s." Finn added.
"How do you know all this?" Peryc asked. "I've feared an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you close." Tears welled in Sally's eyes. Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started uphill. He'd smelled us.
"They're out of time now." May crossed her arms as she glared at the screen. This was it. The confrontation.
"Come on Meow, you guys, you can do it." Anya whispered.
They were close, but it was getting harder to climb up the hill. The bull-man closed in; soon, he'd be on us. My mother, exhausted but strong, shouldered Grover and shouted, "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said." I didn't want to split but felt it was our only chance. Sprinting he turned and realized that it was coming for him. Head lowered razor-sharp horns aimed at my chest.
"They almost made it. They were right there."Haruhime sobbed. She didn't want to watch this.
"Come on kid, you can do it." Mama Mia clenched her fist. This was do or die time.
I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side. The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned,
"YES!"Everyone cheered. He did it.
They knew that this wasn't the end but he survived the first pass. And against a much faster opponent too.
It supposed them but that Minatour was faster than the ones in the dungeon. Not by a lot, but enough to were it was noticeable.
"If only he had a weapon, though he could have landed an attack." Finn bites his nail.
That was the worst part. They were going into this battle weaponless. They couldn't attack back even if they wanted to. Which meant sooner or later, it was going to wise up to their strategy and catch them by surprise.
They were at the top of the hill now. Down below, Percy could see a farmhouse with a few lights shining through the window. They were almost past the giant tree.
"Where are the guards!?" Riveria demanded. No one was out? There should be dozens of people out ready to help them, but the field was empty. They were on their own, it seemed like.
"They must have heard the explosion, right?" Yamato asked
"I don't think anyone is coming, guys." Welf sighed.
"That damn God is probably preventing them from getting help." Hesti grit out. Never had she thought a God could be so petty as to attack a child. They were Gods if they couldn't find their dumb Bolt on their own, then they didn't deserve it.
The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover."Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"
"NO!" People shouted.
"Don't say that you can do it." Tiona tried to cheer on from their side. Hoping that her voice could travel through, hell, she wanted to jump in herself. If she were there she'd make short work of that stupid bull.
"Its that damn walking again, they should have left him."Bete roared. No one bothered to admonish him though, they were too locked onto the wall.
Percy watched frozen as his mom tried to dodge to the side, but this time it wasn't gonna let that happen. Faster than he thought possible, the beast whipped his hands out and grabbed onto his mom. It's first taking up nearly her entire torso in its palm."Mom!"
No one said anything, their breaths were caught in their thought. They had seen death a thousand times. But watching a mother protecting her child and his friend. It was never easy to watch.
She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"
Sobs were starting to escape. They knew what was going to happen. They didn't want to watch it, but they couldn't look away.
Why did this have to happen to them, to her? A kind and wonderful woman that took suffering onto herself and only gave back kindness and love.
She wasn't a fighter or a killer. She didn't steal or lie, or was she cruel or hurtful? She was just a woman. One whose soul was great enough to be chosen to be Blessed by a God, and yet this was how her life was going to end. Protecting her som
Hepeastus even found herself choking up. Her voice wavering as it read on. But she had to finish this. Just a few more pages, then she could rid herself of this blasted thing.
Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. "No!"
"SALLY!"
"Damn that God." Hestia Roared. "Damn them to Hell!!!!! IF I GET MY HANDS-"
"They could have made it."Haruhime sobbed. They were right there.
But while everyone was busing mourning the death of a mother, Finn was off to the side, deep in thought.
"Something's not right." He whispered as he wiped away a stray tear.
"What is Finn?" Riveria asked, silent tears streaming down her face.
"Sally…she disappeared." He said.
"Yeah I kn- wait."
"Monsters can't do that, at least ours can't, so what happened to her body?" Interlacing his fingers together, Finn glared at the frozen image. There was a spark in his mind, one that led to a dangerous hope.
"You think someone saved her?" Riveria gasped.
"That or they stole her." Finn let the darker thought stay unsaid. She might have been taken as a trophy, her lifeless body meant as a warning and display of their power. But there wasn't any point of making the mood worse, better that they had this hope that she was still alive.
Anger replaced my fear, giving me strength like when Mrs. Dodds grew talons. The bull-man charged at Grover, helpless in the grass, snuffling him as if about to lift him to make him dissolve. I couldn't let that happen.
"Yeah! Get that son of a bitch." Tiona choked out.
"No, don't. He needs to get him and Grove out of there." Lefiya tried to say. But she wondered if it even came out right through her sobs.
"What!?" Tiona whipped her head around. How could she say that, he needs to get that thing that killed Sallly.
"Percy doesn't have that sword right now, its too dangerous to fight a Minatour at his level without a weapon. He'd have to be a dwarf to hurt it." Ais said for Lefiya. Placing a hand around her, Ais let Lefiya cry into her shoulder.
She was one of the only ones not crying. Not that she wasn't sad, its just, she was numb to it all already.
"And even then it'd have to be a dwarf that forces solely on its strength." Garet added.
I stripped off my red rain jacket.
"Dammint kid run." Mama Mia roared. He was right there, he could live. And yet he was wasting his mother's sacrifice by throwing his life away.
"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"
"Eh, B for effort."Hermes tried to joke. It was better for him to add levity to the situation than to try to comfort anyone anyway. He sucked at all this mopey stuff.
"Hermes-sama!"Asfi shouted. People were dying, and this was what he was doing?
"Hey, these kinds of things matter. Do you know why Ares is seen as a joke and not a terrifying God of war?"
"'Cause he's an idiot," She didn't really see any other reason to be honest. I mean, what else would you call it when you attack a city with adventurers five levels above your army at the very least?
"Well, yes. That's part of it. But it's because he always says the stupidest things. If he actually put more thought into saying something scary or cool, then he'd have a better image. Instead he just makes people embarrassed to be around him."
"...That's not important right now." Asfi sighed.
"I say it is." Hermes said as he crossed his arms.
"Raaaarrrrr!" the monster turned toward me, shaking his fists. I had a stupid idea, but I had an idea. But the bull-man charged too fast, grabbing me regardless of my moves.
"Damint, it's already learned. The kid's got to get out of there. He's not ready for this kind of fight." Garet ran his hand through his beard.
He knew where the kid was coming from. He was young, hotheaded, and had just watched his mother die. But he couldn't be thinking about himself right now. There was still someone that he could have saved.
And now they both might die.
"Come on, Percy." Bell whispered
"Percy-sama." Haruhime whimpered as she clutched her hands together.
Time slowed down.
"Hold on, what's this?" Loki interrupted, pointing at the screen..
"Eh?" Hepheastus looked up.
"Loki-sama, what are you talking about?" Lefia asked.
"This. Whatever is happening to the screen. Hephy are you doing something?"
"I'm not doing anything, Loki." Hepheastus grumbled. She didn't even know what Loki was talking about. Not like she could watch what was happening with them.
"Do you…Do you not know what this is?" Finn asked, confused.
"No, does this happen to you guys. Is this a skill?" Loki looked around the room. Everyone was looking at her liek she was crazy. Well, not everyone. The other Gods were also confused.
"No, no, its not a skill, its adrenaline." Riveria tried to explain.
"Oooohhhh, yeah, that's the thing when mortals get scared, right?" It sounded familiar, but Loki had never heard it explained before. She had just heard people saying stuff like "It gets my adrenaline pumping" or something.
"Sort of. When people are in danger, their bodies react by giving them more energy. People have called it a fight or flight response." Riveria said.
"It seems like time slows down because we're getting so much energy flowing through us that our senses go into overdrive." Finn finished. "How do you not know this."
Adrenaline was the very basic thing that all people had. It was such common knowledge that even kids in the slums knew about. It was, honestly a little worrying that their Gods didn't know this.
How much of mortals did they actually understand?
"I'm a Goddess, do you think I've ever been in danger before?"
"I thought that you used to get into fights in Tenkai, and isn't Freya a Goddess of War?" Garet asked.
"Yeah, but we're Gods, we can't die. We're never in danger." Loki said.
But now that that was cleared up Hepheatus could go back to reading.
My legs tensed. I leaped straight up, kicking off the creature's head as a springboard, turning midair, and landing on his neck. I didn't have time to think how I did that. A moment later, The bull-man staggered, trying to shake me off. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder, lightning, rain in my eyes, and the smell of rotten meat filled the air. It could have killed him but he realized it only moved forward.
"YEAH!! THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT!"
"COME ON PERCY!"
"PUNCH IT! PUNCH IT!!"
"GO FOR IT'S EYES!!!"
The theater erupted into cheers.
No one had expected Percy to do that. And it looks like he hadn't either. But that didn't matter cause he was still in the fight.
"How long do you think he can hold on?"Riveria asked Finn, still skeptical about his chances despite his lucky landing.
"I don't know, he's in a tough position. He can't attack the Monster but at the same time, it can't attack him. As long as he holds on then maybe he can buy enough time for whatever is keeping the people at camp at bay to runs its course. Then, maybe the two of them can make it out of there." Finn said.
Grover was groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off."Food!" Grover moaned.
"SOMEONE SHUT THAT STUPID KID UP ALREADY!!" Bete slammed his arms onto the back of the sofa. Just barely missing Loki's head because of how small she was.
"Grover pplleeeasseee stttooooppp." Hestia groaned. She wanted to be on his side, but every time they looked at him, he made it harder and harder.
"Who the hell thought this kid could be a protector?" Even Ottar felt like he had to say something.
The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground, and prepared to charge. I remembered how he had killed my mother and made her vanish in a flash, fueling my rage. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!
"What!?" Someone shouted.
"YEAH!! WOHOOO!" Tiona cheered. She didn't care that a 12-year-old boy just ripped the horn off a minotaur she was just happy to see it happen.
"Im-impossible."
"Welf-sama?" Lili asked. She had never heard Welf-sama so shocked before. But Welf didn't answer her, instead he turned to bell
"Bell did you see that? That kid just yanked off a Minatours horn like he was pulling a drumstick out a chicken."
"Y-yeah I-I guess, but what's wrong with that? Is't that a good thing?" Bell didn't get what he was getting at. It meant that he was strong, right?
"NO!, well, yes. But that's not the point! You already know this but a minatours horns aren't weak." Welf started to explain.
"H-huh? I do?"
"Bell, come on, man. I told you when I made you that knife out of that minotaur's horn."
"O-Oh yeah. The-"
" The Ushiwakamaru"
"Y-Yeah, that." Bell muttered. Even after all this time, he still didn't get Welf's naming sense. But he couldn't think about that now, Welf was still talking.
"I told you Bell, Mintour horns, as well as other monster parts are basically created inside the dungeon walls so they carry some of the minerals with them when they are born. The horns on a Minatour especially carry trace amounts of Adamantine in them, which is also why they are so strong."
"I-I think I remember now."
"Those horns aren't weak. A mintour can skewer a Level 2 or 3 on those horns, no problem. Punching through their armour and breaking their bones in the process. They're not something that you cna just pull out of their head, or at least your not supposed to."Welf said.
"He right boyo. I could probably do it when I was at Level 3, maybe top Level 2. But I wasn't some green nosed brat at that point, and I definitely wasn't as young as he is, or you for that matter." Mama Mia cut in. As a dwarf herself, even a tall one, she knew just how strong they could get.
"O-Oh, h-heh t-thanks I-I guess." Bell stuttered. He still found it hard to talk to Mama. She was just so intense, he still sweated about that time he dined n' dashed.
"That kid certainly is something huh Fin, I don't even think I could have done that at his age."Garet said.
"No I doubt I could either, but now its become a whole lot more difficult. I don't think he meant to do that, if he had stayed there he might have been able to stab it in the eyes with its horn no problem. But he fell off and I don't think that Minatour is going to give him another chance." Finn said.
The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife. The monster turned tward Percy, rage in its beady black eyes. With only one horn It started charging again.
"Come on kid, finish it." Garet clenched his fingers.
"DODGE PERCY!" Syr screamed. Even if he had a weapon, it was still too dangerous. Even with the horn, he would have to get in close to kill it. He would never get the chance.
"GET HIM!" Tiona cheered. She could barely contain her excitement. This fight was reminding her of when she saw the little rabbit fighting that minotaur at level 1. It's like she was watching the making of another hero.
Time slowed again. His head throbbed where he hit it on the rocks, but he didn't care. HE was still so angry. It felt as if the hurricane had gone into him and was now tearing apart his insides. This …thing..Took his mom. "RRRAAAAAGGGGGHHH!!!!" Like a tsunami leaving his throat, Percy roared back at the monster. Clenching the horn in his hand, Percy ran towards the monster. And when it was nearly on him, he slid between its legs, jamming the horn into its thigh as he went. Roaring in anger, it took a swing at him, only for Percy to jump over its arm. Rolling one side, he came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.
"HUH!" Gasps went out as people saw the impossible.
A young boy without Falna killed a monster with nothing but his fist and a horn. And not just any monster but a rookie killer, a minatour.
This wasn't like with Bell. Because, despite his rapid rise, Bell had still been an adventurer for a while before he had even thought about taking on a minotaur. He had had experience, no matter how little, in battling monsters.
But Percy, Percy was still a child. He had only picked up a sword one time, and yet he was felling monsters.
"No Way." Bell whispered. His eyes shining. This boy was about his age, and yet it felt like Bell was looking at a hero.
"Hehehe, seems like I got to witness another one." Hermes grinned.
"Hermse-sama?"
"Nothing, Asfi, I just think that we got to witness something unique is all." 'To believe that I got to witness the beginning of another hero. And in the same year, too. I wonder what Zeus would think of this one.'
The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, but like crumbling sand. The monster was gone.
'YEEEAAAHHH!" Everyone cheered.
"HE DID IT!"
"THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT! The next time I'm in the dungeon, I'm doing the same thing!" Tiona said, jumping to her feet.
"Oh thank the Gods he's ok." Hestia sighed. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she thought, ' Your son is alive Sally, he's ok.'
"Incredible." Freya praised. She knew there was something special about Percy. She didn't know what yet, but she knew that he would go far.
"Again," Finn whispered, staring at the wall.
"I see it." Riveria whispered to him.
"This is the second time a monster has just turned to dust. No corpse, no stone, just dust."
"Do you think it's important?"
"I don't know, but I'm afraid it might be."
It was still raining when Percy made it down the hill. I smelled like livestock, my knees shook, and my head hurt. I was weak, scared, trembling with grief after seeing my mother vanish. I wanted to cry but helped Grover down the valley toward the farmhouse. I held onto him, crying out for my mother. When he collapsed, a stern bearded man and a pretty girl with curly blond hair opened the door. They looked at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."
"Oh…Percy." Haurhime covered her mouth as tears ran down her face.
He was in pain. He had just lost his mother and yet he couldn't even grieve. There was no telling if other monsters would show up. They watched as Percy forced himself to get up and go to Grover.
"Come on, kid, you can't fall yet." Mama Mia watched as Percy made it down the hill.
"D-Dammit, why Sally?" Hestia cried.
"And where were these guys during all of that?" Ryuu asked. There were people there and they didn't help. It made her wonder if this was going to help him at all, or throw him to the wolves.
"Hey, Isn't that-?" Welf said.
"I think it is." Yamato agreed, noticing how similar one of the people on the wall looked.
Even with the bad lighting, they could all recognize Mr. Brunner Percy's old Latin teacher. Honestly, they should have known he'd be here.
"So Brunner is connected to the Gods of this world, maybe another protector like Grover." Riveria wonders.
"Who the hell is sending these protectors, a cribbled with alimp and another in a wheely chair. No wonder Percy was in such danger." Loki said.
"That bastard is going to have a lot of explaining to do when Percy-sama wakes up." Lili huffed as she crossed her arms
"I wonder who the girl is." Bell asked. She must have been important if she was with Brunner.
"She's kind of cute," Hermes noted even as he felt a sharp pinch from his Captain's side.
"I wonder if we could get her into one of the uniforms," Syr asked.
"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."
"And that's the end of the chapter." Hepheastus sighed. Shutting the book and handing it over to her, Captain. She wanted it out of her hands.
"Annabeth, that's a nice name Meow," Chloe said.
"Yeah, though I feel like she looks familiar." Hestia grabbed a tissue and started wiping her face. She probably could have filled a tub with all of her tears.
"Yeah, in fact, I've been kind of getting the same feeling from Percy as well," Hermes said.
"I can't believe it, it was so peaceful before." Tione looked at the ground sadly. Everything was great with the trip to the beach. They got to watch as they swam and played, and roasted marshmallows over a fire.
Why did it have to end like this?
"Sally didn't even get to spend that long with her son." Haruhime said sadly. Her eyes were a mess from her tears. In a way, she was glad the chapter was over cause she didn't know if she could cry anymore.
"And now she's gone." Tiona muttered, collapsing on the floor.. The earlier joy from watching Percy win was all but gone as she remembered what was lost.
Lowering their heads, everyone gave a moment of silence for Sally. But soon they too had to move on.
"Ok, guys, who wants to read next?" Tsubaki said as she waved the book in the air.
"I'll do it." Loki volunteered. This was starting to seem fun. It was almost like when she watched Genkai down from Heaven, but even closer. She wondered what else this book held.
"Now hold on a minute."
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A/N Hey Guys Happy Holloween. Be safe tonight and have a wonderful time getting candy.