The crowed roared in approval as Antaeus stared down at them.
He obviously couldn't deny their challenge without looking weak in front of his audience.
After a moments pause he held up his hand the the crowd went quiet. "I don't think you know what your doing boy".
"I'll give you one more chance to fight each other, so one of you makes it out of here alive. Or", He grinned down at them showing his crooked yellow teeth, "You fight me, and none of you make it out. Including your friends". He pointed a massive finger over to the girls.
Zoe had the biggest cyclops on her, it looked like she was putting up the most fight. Annabeth had her eyes closed as she looked like she was concentrating on breathing. The amount of blood on her shirt was alarming. Finally Rachel looked down at them with fear in her eyes, it seemed like she finally realized how dangerous this quest was actually gonna be.
Percy looked over at Scott, who had been staring at Annabeth. He must've felt his gaze cause he looked back. He gave Percy a nod and looked up at the giant.
To answer his question Percy brought his hand out, closed it into a fist and brought it toward him. A torrent of water suddenly came out of the ceiling behind Antaeus striking his back. And just like Percy had done he flipped over the railing flipping twice and crashing into the clay floor with a audible thud.
The two immediately sprang on him, as he was getting to his feet Scott sliced upwards with his sword cutting off the giants hand and then spun and stabbed him in the back hilt deep.
In two blows Percy cut off his ankle and then the rest of his leg at the thigh and just like Scott had done plunged the sword into Antaeus' s back.
It was enough to kill any monster, but instead of immediately turning to dust like they had expected dirt like sand falling out a sandbag poured out his severed limbs.
Suddenly, like a video playing in reverse, all the dirt that had poured out of him pilled back onto his arm and leg until they were reformed.
Percy could only stare at the giant as he got to his feet.
"Well", his lips tightened as he gave a depressed nod "Fuck".
Antaeus didn't seem to appreciate their little surprise attack and swatted Scott who had been standing to close. He flew back and hit the wall sideways and crumpled to the ground in a groan.
The monsters at the top of him started throwing anything they could find at him, rocks, scraps of wood. He even got hit by a half eaten hot dog.
Antaeus pulled the two swords out of his back and tossed them aside, "We are in my mothers domain boy! You can not kill me," he said as he approached Percy.
Percy ducked his hand as he went to grab his throat. The thought of Antaeus' s nasty hand anywhere near his face grossed him out.
He back peddled gaining a few yards as he grabbed the brooch on his necklace. It quickly transformed into Zoe's sword Anaklusmos.
Scott was on his feet again and had grabbed his sword that Antaeus had practically thrown his way.
"Lets cut his head off, see if he comes back from that", Scott said twirling his sword in his hand.
"You can't kill him on the ground", a voice yelled. Percy looked up, Annabeth was screaming at them over the crowd, although she looked exhausted. "Hercules defeated him bMPHHH", she was cut off by the cyclopes shoving a filthy rag in her mouth.
Percy really wished he could've heard what she was gonna say as he sidestepped another swipe at his head and slice upwards with riptide. Cutting off his hand again.
As dirt poured out Antaeus swung his stump in Percy's direction. Splattering him with dirt and blinding him.
If Percy could see he would be grossed out by how morbid that was.
He held his sword defensively blinking rapidly hoping that it would some how help. But it was no use, Antaeus kicked him square in the chest, sending him sprawling to the ground gasping for air.
Antaeus then turned and, with the same fist the Percy had cut off, Punched Scott across the face as he charged him.
Antaeus stood in the middle of the arena laughing. Percy was just now getting air back into his lungs and Scott looked like he could barely remember his name as he sat on his knee's swaying looking at his hands that probably shown 11 fingers each.
The giant was toying with them, he could have easily killed either of them by now.
Percy thought about what Annabeth said, 'couldn't kill him on the ground'. They were under ground.
He didn't think Antaeus would take his request to fight on a plane.
Something flashed at the top of his vision, he looked up seeing several crude metal butcher hooks hanging from the ceiling. A few had skulls or rib cages hanging on them. Percy tried his best to ignore that as he thought of a plan.
Percy looked at the giant who stood in the middle of the arena riling up the crowd. "Scott!", Percy yelled.
He didn't hear him.
"SCOTT!" he tried again this time he friends eyes snapped to him. Percy pointed a thumb as the ceiling.
Scott looked up and noticed the hook, Confusion on his face until he looked at Antaeus and the then hooks again. Scott grinned at him, the teeth on the right side of his face was covered in blood. It was one hell of a punch.
"Hey!" Scott yelled at Antaeus. The giant turned his way and Scott spread his arms open, gripping the sword in his right hand. "I didn't hear no bell".
Antaeus looked away from the crowd and turned to Scott, "Did I not hit you hard enough boy?" the giant said walking towards him. He clearly wasn't threatened.
With Antaeus' s attention off Percy, he looked at the ceiling, the lowest hanging hook was at least 10 feet up. Percy was 6 foot on a good day, if he reached his hand up there was a little over a 3 feet distance between him and the lowest hook.
Percy looked back over at Scott, he saw him rolled under Antaeus's leg cutting his thigh.
He looked back at the swaying hooks, "hopefully this works" he muttered to himself.
Running at the wall, he jumped. One foot planted against it pushing off with all his might, reaching his arms towards the ceiling. The dirt wall slightly crumbled under his weight but it worked nonetheless.
His hands felt the coldness of the chains as it slid from his grasp till he clasped the hooks in one of his hands, the rest of his body swaying underneath them.
Lifting his legs up, he hooked them over more chains till he was suspended in the air freely.
Percy grasped the leather cord around his neck spinning it around until he felt Zoe's flower brooch that had thankfully returned to him.
He felt it transform in his hand and started on sawing off a few of the chains.
"Hey! What are you doing up there"?
Percy looked down, Antaeus had Scott by the neck holding him up in the air as Scott struggled to free himself. His sword stuck out of Antaeus back like a needle in a push pin.
Antaeus was glaring up at him, clearly not caring about the struggling demigod in his massive hand.
"Oh you know", Percy shrugged cutting off his fourth chain, "It looked so comfortable up here I figured I'd try it out".
Scott was starting to turn blue, his struggles getting slower. Percy cut off one more chain, he prayed it was enough.
"I know what your trying to do boy, and it won't work. So get down here so I can finish this"
"As you wish", Percy told him.
He locked eyes with Scott and tossed him Riptide, the blade spun once in mid air until he caught it, immediately swinging it in a downward arc cutting off the hand that was strangling him.
Scott fell to the ground on his knees, retching loudly as oxygen flooded into his lungs.
Percy meanwhile looped two of the chains over the hooks in the ceiling and jumped onto Antaeus back wrapping one of them around his neck and shoving the sharp point into the back of his neck.
He drove the other into his shoulder blade just in time to see a passive hand reach over the giants shoulder, grab Percy by the head and throw him him forward. Percy rolled across the dirt floor like a rag doll feeling a piecing stab of pain in his calf.
One of the three extra hooks he had cut down for himself, had found its way into his through his leg. Dark red liquid had already began to stain his pant leg and drip onto the floor.
Antaeus started to try and rip out the hooks he had in him, but Scott, the color back in his face, grabbed the end of the metal chains Percy had looped over the ceiling.
Digging his heels into the ground he tugged hard on both chains.
Antaeus had almost got the one around his neck out of his skin when it suddenly pulled tight and dug itself even further. He staggered backwards, and for a second he actually looked scared.
Percy rushed to his feet, putting most of his weight on his good leg, he grabbed fourth chain from the ground tossing it over the hooks in the ceiling before whipping it at the struggling giant.
It wrapped once around his body before impaling into his side. Percy just like Scott dug his heels into the ground. The adrenalin helping him ignore the feeling of lava in his calf as he pulled.
Slowly but surely, the giant was lifted off the ground, suspended a few inches, then a few feet.
"Percy I'll hold him, do it!", yelled a struggling Scott.
Percy rushed forward, bringing riptide over his head as he jumped and brought down the blade in a blur of bronze.
Antaeus head fell to the ground next to him, a terrified looks still etched onto his face.
The dirt on the ground stirred feebly, trying to come up and heal the beheaded giant. But the body began to harden into clay and then finally crumple into the dust that he was all so familiar with.
The arena was silent, Percy could only hear the blood in his ears as he looked up at the girls. The cyclopes that had been holding them had loosened its grip from shock of their boss losing the fight.
He made eye contact with Zoe, she had a cut over her eye that trailed blood over the right side of her face. Her cheek was partially black and blue from where she was struck from her struggles earlier.
He gave a small nod at the doorway behind Antaeus empty skeletal throne. That was the way they needed to go.
Annabeth and Scott seemed to be thinking the same thing, as Annabeth, not as weak as she looked, elbowed the cyclopes in the stomach. making him drop his knife that she snatched out of mid air slicing his throat.
She tossed the knife to Zoe who stomped on the foot of her captor, grabbing the knife and shoving it into the chest of the monster.
Annabeth grabbed Rachel and took off with Zoe towards the exit.
The rest of the monsters' had recovered from the shock, but instead of going after the girls most threw rocks, spears or anything they could get there hands on at Percy and Scott while the rest jumped into the pit to kill them.
Percy sidestepped a javelin and winced in pain from the sudden movement.
Gods they were so screwed.
"What's the plan Perce", Scott said deflecting a arrow that was aiming for his face before cutting a dracaena in half.
"I don't... I don't-" something in his pocket suddenly grew cold.
The dog whistle, Quintus had given him. He suddenly had a dilemma that he had seconds to decide.
Quintus was sketchy as hell, and honestly the thought of seeing that massive hellhound scared him more than being choke slammed by Antaeus. Who knows, maybe the whistle was just ringing a dinner bell for every hell hound in the area for free lunch.
But he had no other choice, he pulled it out and prayed to any gods that were listing and blew into it. He heard nothing for a few seconds as it shattered in his hands.
"Figures" he muttered to himself.
Percy readied his sword, if he was going to die here, he was glad to die fighting side by side with Scott.
Just as the two started forward a ear drum bursting howl echoed around the room. Percy's vision swayed as images of lightning flashed across the window of a room he wasn't in.
A woman's crying voice calling his name.
He felt a hand on his shoulder, and the arena came back into focus. Scotts face in front of him, "We need to go! NOW!"
Following his friend he looked back, watching Mrs. O'Leary bound around the room like shadows in a flickering candle light, turning every monster in front of her to dust with her massive teeth or pouncing on them with her razor sharp claws.
He felt a flicker of guilt as he left her alone to all those monsters, following Scott out of the room. As terrified as he was of that dog. She really did come to help them.
Him and Scott hobbled down the corridor of the maze, Obviously they needed to find the girls. But the two of them didn't even know where to start.
He was so exhausted, it took all of his focus just putting one foot in front of the other.
Percy didn't know how long they were walking. Mrs. O'Leary's howls had long since vanished from behind them.
Scott was leading the way, holding out his sword providing a faint light from the glow of the enchanted bronze.
Scott turned to say something to Percy, but his eyes grew big as the light from his weapon illuminated an arrow tip feet behind Percy. Pointing right at his head.
Percy, sensing the danger, summoned riptide and was about to swing when the arrow dipped and he was tackled with a hug.
Not what he was expecting.
Percy dropped his sword and hugged Zoe fiercely, after a second he pulled back and gingerly cupped her injured face. "Are you ok?"
Zoe looked at him like he was an idiot. A look he got a lot from her actually.
"Are you ok?" she mocked him, "have you seen what you two look like?" Zoe looked between him and Scott.
Scott was carefully poking at the neatly bandaged wound on Annabeth's collar bone. Annabeth was holding his jaw in her hand, checking his face where he was punched.
"I was worrying about finding you guys, but we could hear you dragging that chain behind you a mile away. Rachel lead us straight to you guys"
Rachel was sitting against the wall, hugging her legs, He guessed she finally realized this wasn't as fun as she thought it would be.
"Wait chain?" Percy said and then looked down. The hook was still impaled through his calf, dragging a few yards of metal links behind him.
He had meant to stop and take care of that after him and Scott put some distance between them and the mounters.
His legs suddenly feeling very heavy, he leaned against the wall and slid down, extending his bad leg as he hit the ground. "We don't have enough ambrosia to fully heal it." Zoe told him ripping open his pants. Percy mumbled something about these being his good jeans. "Had to use a lot on Annabeth. But I saved some".
She handed him a small square, he broke it in half and tossed it to Scott who caught it.
"Figured between that and some of our water you should be able to walk kinda normal till we get out of here." Without warned Zoe ripped the hook out of his leg, Percy cried out in pain.
"Eat idiot", she told him shoving the ambrosia in his hand towards him mouth.
He focused on the warmness of the food in his mouth, tasting like fresh baked cookies, as he felt Zoe pour water on his leg and begin wrapping it in a medical bandage.
"I'm sorry", Rachel stood up pushing away some of the red frizz out of her hair. "Is this normal for you guys? All four of you almost died, you two" she pointed a finger at Scott and Percy, "Almost killed each other".
"And then killed the biggest guy I've ever seen that wouldn't shut up about not being able to die".
Scott answered her, he was sitting on the floor with his arm around Annabeth, "That was a pretty bad fight", he offered, "Normally our monster fights go a bit smoother."
"But hey", He shrugged, "Win some you lose some".
Percy took the opportunity of the attention being off him to lean forward and kiss Zoe on the cheek, "I'm glad your ok" he whispered to her. She looked into his eyes for a moment as she squeezed his hand, trying to convey how she felt without risk of being overheard by the others.
Zoe gave him a small smile, helped him to his feet, "Come on lets get out of here, there's no telling what else followed the sound of you".
Scott groaned as he stood up with the help of Annabeth.
Rachel nodded, "We're getting close, I can feel it".
I'm gonna end it right there, there was gonna be more but I figured it would be a bit before I'm in the mood to write again and I've starved you guys way to long for a new chapter.
Enjoy :)