Another chapter delayed due to a pileup of school work. I should probably get onto that, shouldn't I? Hard choice: school or fanfiction. Oh well. Thank you to those who reviewed, followed, and/or favorated.
Anon: glad you liked the pun. And no, I'm not even mad.
Oracle: I hope the almost two week wait didn't kill you.
Leftback02: I sure gave him what for, didn't I?
Chapter 25:
A Pillaged Village
Everyone's first thought of the ninth floor of Demigod Heroes Online was along the lines of 'this floor is small'. They would by correct, in a sense. The doors from the previous Boss Room opened out from a large rock formation on a beautiful, white beach. The sum was setting in the west, its rays turning the surrounding sky into a mixture of vivid reds, bright yellows, and what seemed like every shade of orange in between. The players took a few minutes to admire the virtual sunset, having a moment of peace after the fight. Tearing their eyes away from the colorful view, they analyzed the other areas in their range of vision. The sun fading in the distance cast a soft red glow across the loamy sand and the ocean waves simmered in the dying daylight as they crashed against the pristine powder of the island's edge.
To the east, a group of ships could be seen bobbing on the rolling water. If one were to listen carefully (or have a high enough listening skill), they would be able to make out the distant booming of canons as the novel crafts battled for supremacy. To the west sat the outline of the floor's city. The demigods quickly began their trek toward the new settlement.
The raid group was halfway to the city when they realized something was amiss. The sun had gone over the horizon a few minutes ago and, while the cities had been lit by candlelight after dark on the lower floors, this one was much too bright. The overabundance of light spilling from the confines of the city illuminated the adjacent hills and the large ship sitting proudly in the dock. Upon closer inspection, the flag flying from the ship's mast bore a golden sword and trident crossed over a black background.
"Well that doesn't look ominous at all," Percy huffed. "I didn't think ancient Greece even had pirates."
"There is one myth about a pirate," Annabeth informed him. "He was the first pirate if memory serves, but I don't remember his name."
"Great," Nico drawled, his health full one more from a combination of items and Pina's Healing Breath. "You guys should let Kirito and I scout the area."
"I agree with Nico," said the aforementioned Beater, popping out of Travis' shadow. The son of Hermes jumped into his identical twin's arms with a girly scream. Connor looked at his brother for a second before dumping him on the ground unceremoniously. The two children of Hades rolled their eyes at the soft 'oof' that came from the ground and fell into their shadows together, some of the other solo players with the same skull cursor joining them in their quest via the dark silhouettes made by the flickering light. Half a minute passed before Nico returned.
"You guys are going to want to see this." The full group followed the youngest of Percy's cousins into the burning city, being cautious of the flames licking at the buildings on either side of the street. They filed into the central plaza to a sight the group at large had never thought they would see.
Standing on the Teleport Platform was a person wearing golden armor. The person seemed to be about 6'4" and a shiny golden helmet covered their facial features. They wore a golden chest plate as well and their chlothes appeared to be made for long ocean travels, if a lot nicer than the average for a sailor. A one-handed sword of the same precious metal was held at the throat of a beautiful woman on her knees beside him.
The woman had long blond hair that cascaded down to the ground from her position, a few locks of said hair littering the platform around her, singed, cut, and forgotten. Her pretty face was streaked with fresh tear tracks due to the salty liquid cutting through the ash that had covered her cheeks from the burning houses. The woman's dress would have been a higher quality, - maybe the leader's daughter? - but burn holes and rips had ruined the woman's clothes and the ash from the air had given the cloth a dull gray tone. She looked to be a little shorter than the armed man, but it was hard to tell from her position on the ground.
"Help me," the woman choked, the sword at her jugular pressing a little harder. Her blue eyes glistened with unshed tears as she tried to stifle her sobs.
"What is the meaning of this?" Asuna demanded, drawing her rapier. The masked person slowly turned in her direction as the girl's sword was drawn from its resting place by her hip. The metal cover hid any emotion the person's face may have showed.
Meddling demigods," said a distinctly masculine voice. "How troublesome. Men, we're leaving." As the masked man began dragging his hostage away, ruffians flooded from the alleyways, following their leader. The captive struggled, screaming for help, until the man knocked her unconscious with a swift hit to the head. Asuna and Kirito sprung into action, the former flashing forward in an impressive display of speed and the latter jumping through the shadows to attack.
Two different obstacles stopped them. A wall of pirates halted Asuna's forward progress; forcing her to defend herself lest a dozen cutlasses impale her moving form. The son of Hades popped out of the man's dark silhouette, but the kidnapper both blocked Kirito's downward slash and draped the girl's limp form over one shoulder quickly.
The mysterious pirate held the Beater back until some of his lackies intervened, cutting the teen's back, dropping his health by a small amount, and stealing his attention while the captor and his captive vanished toward the docks. The pirates trickled away in the same direction. The players quickly followed, every now and then felling a sea dog with an arrow to the back. The chase wound through the ransacked city, coming to a stop at the edge of the docks. All of the remaining pirates were on- or nearly on- the ship docked there. Upon closer inspection, the ship was revealed to be a large trireme.
Some players pulled ahead, trailing behind the pirates on the planks connecting the ship to the dock, but the last of the sea thieves off each board picked up their end and threw it over the side. With no support on one edge, the wooden beams tumbled into the bay below, taking the demigods above into the water as well.
The children of Poseidon moved to capsize the ship, each one being strengthened by the close proximity to the salty ocean water, but an overwhelming force pushed against their control of the liquid. Percy and the others fell away, some clutching their heads and others dazed. Up on the deck of the trireme, the man with the golden mask walked to the railing with his unconscious prisoner in a bridal carry.
"Little demigods," sneered the man. "Remember the name you are about to hear, for I am the ruler of the high seas. I am the Golden Sword, Chrysaor, the son of Poseidon the god of the ocean."
Having suffered no casualties from the retreating buccaneers, the players reconvened in the in the central plaza and assisted in the dousing of the blazing structures. One would think that, with the cities being safe zones, the internal fires would cause no damage to them or the buildings and only be an inconvenience until dealt with. This thinking was dashed when a building gave out with a player and several NPCs inside, killing the non-playable characters and nearly taking the demigod's life. As it was, the most valuable players were the children of the sea god and the sons and daughters of Hephestus- especially those who had full fire immunity like Lisbeth.
It took a full hour and a half for the fires to be dealt with. Even then, just under half of the buildings had fallen by the end of the 90-minute period. Once all of the blazes were extinguished, the town's Safe Zone status was resorted, much to the relief of the city's new, living occupants. The players gathered back to the plaza where the village elder was waiting for them.
"Welcome travelers," began the old NPC. He was around five and a half feet, with thinning white hair and wrinkled skin. His blue eyes were squinting to see the players and his hands, gnarled from a lifetime of work, shook from either suppressed rage or extreme despair. "I apologize for our poor greeting, but, as you can see, we have a pirate problem of sorts. But where are my manners? I am Tacitus, the elder of this humble town. I wish to ask for your help. You see, our town is small and located on the sea, and the Ionian Islands are small. After all, most of us are fishermen. Recently, our town of Galos on the Island of Pax has become a target for the man who calls himself Chrysaor. This Chrysaor is a demigod, a son of Poseidon. His lineage protects him and his crew from the storms that frequently blow in from the south. I must ask you to defeat Chrysaor and save our town."
Percy frowned. That guy was a son of Poseidon like he was. That would explain the overwhelming power surge that pushed him and the others away. He had heard of evil demigods in the myths before, was Chrysaor one of them? Next to the demigod lost in thought, Annabeth voiced a question many minds in the crowd.
"Who was the woman Chrysaor took and why now?"
"That would be my granddaughter," the elder man replied sadly. "Her name is Calista, my son's only child. Her father died in a shipwreck shortly after she was born and I never knew her mother. As to why now, now was the only time she was out when the pirates attacked. I'd kept her hidden away every other time, but this one I was too late. That leads be to my other request: please save my granddaughter. She is the only family I have left."
"Don't worry old man," announced Kirito. "We'll get your granddaughter back and defeat Chrysaor. Just you wait."
"We're lucky this restaurant didn't burn down," said Connor through a mouthful of some seafood dish he had ordered. "I was starting to get hungry."
"You don't say," muttered Pollux, his own dish barely touched. Next to the Kansas-raised boy, his girlfriend quietly giggled at his sarcastic remark.
"At least I'm taking my time," the Stoll twin shot back. All eyes turned to their leader who was inhaling his food at an ungodly pace. After a few seconds, the dark-haired teen seemed to sense the stares directed his way and glanced up.
"What?"
"Nothing Seaweed Brain," Annabeth waved off. "Anyway, we need a plan for this Chrysaor."
"But we just got to this floor and Christmas is only a couple days away," Travis argued.
"And it's only the 20th," the daughter of Athena argued back. "We still have four days before Christmas. Most players will take the time off, giving us valuable training time to get ahead of the curve."
"And who will not be taking the time off?" Percy asked. "Other than us?"
"Kirito for one."
"But Kirito never stops training," Katie pointed out.
"What's your point?"
"Your a sadist," Nico grumbled under his breath.
"And you're an emo," Thalia quipped.
"And you're a punk/goth girl with anger management issues."
"Careful with the name-calling Conor," the twin's twin warned, "We just might start calling you an otaku."
"Hey!" Connor sputtered. "Just because I watch anime and read manga does not make me an otaku."
"Can we please get back on track and think about what we know about this enemy?" Pollux asked, trying to spare Connor the loss of this meaningless argument.
"Yeah," mumbled Katie. "What do we know about this guy who claims to be the King of the High Seas?"
"If he's the first pirate," Percy began, his ADHD taking over, "does that also make him King of the Pirates?"
"Straw-hat Luffy is not going to like that," Silica giggled with Pina resting on top of her head.
"What?" Percy asked for the second time that meal as Connor fell out of his chair laughing. "Who is this Luffy guy?"
"Never mind Percy-kun," Silica laughed. The others joined in. Whether they understood the joke or not, Percy's face whenever he was confused was always a laughing matter.
"I hate you all," Percy pouted, going back to his food as his Guild laughed harder before returning to their planning.
End of Chapter 25
Sad to say, but I'm out of prewritten chapters and, with school getting onto the main swing of things, homework is piling up. I'll update when I can (usually on Fridays), but you guys know how it goes. Wish me luck... I'll need it to survive Physics. Review!
-SwordOfTheGods