AN: Hey guys! First off I'd like to say I am so sorry it took so long for me to get this chapter up. Things have been crazy for me and I even ended up getting quarantined three times without my laptop. I was completely idle though, I managed to finish an outline of this story all the way to my intended end. If I wanted I could even tell you how many chapters were left. I'm hoping this will help speed up the writing process for me but we'll see. For now though please enjoy the chapter

Chapter 52

Percy POV

The moment the monsters charged a string of curses flew from my mouth. Everything has been going so well that good old demigod luck just had to kick in.

A rain of arrows dropped the first wave and bought us maybe a millisecond of time before the next slammed into our barriers. A lady that looked like a cross between a snake and woman attempted to simply go over our defense but Becondorf stopped her cold, crushing her skull with a spiked mace. On the other side of me Thomas stabbed a cyclops in the chest killing it instantly.

I barely had time to think about all this however because I was fending off a demon harpy and a dog faced sea demon like the ones we met at Mt Saint Helens. The Harpy was felled by an arrow and I was able to decapitate the sea demon but that only allowed another to take its place.

Minutes passed and nothing really seemed to change. Our barriers did their job but for every monster we killed another simply took its place. We were in a stalemate and unless something changed the winner of this battle would be decided by chance. Sadly I wasn't the only one who realized that.

Wings unfurled from Kampe's back and she surged into the air. A moment later she landed between the first and second barriers. Before any of the demigods could react she tore holes through both barriers and then leaped away. In a matter of seconds the monster army had surged through the first gap and began fighting to reach the second while the rest ran between the two barriers picking off the unprepared demigods with frightening ease.

I glanced back to see Annabeth redirecting a few campers to halt the armies advance. Hopefully it would give our side some time to fall back to a more defensible position.

In a matter of moments the army on the left side of the breach had been stalled due to a fair number of fighters being pulled from my position.

The right side however was barely slowing them down. My fellow defenders were simply being pushed back by the army, that is until a familiar figure in black clothes jumped over the second barrier.

The monsters paid Nico little mind as they advanced choosing to focus on the more senior demigods and that was their biggest mistake. While the monster army was otherwise distracted the son of Hades plunged his sword in the ground. A crack appeared in the ground and I swear I could almost see Nico's power, like a living shadow, reaching into the earth. And I could see another shadow reaching up from within the earth. The entire thing was disorienting, like I was seeing it happen from two or three different perspectives. The Shadow reaching up from the earth plateaued and seemed to wait for Nico's.

A monster crude attack with a sword distracted me for a moment before an arrow killed him. When I looked back several dozen skeletons armed with various ancient weapons were pushing back the army. At the breach in the second barrier Dedualas emerged almost single handedly pushing back the monster army.I guess a few thousand years of experience and a custom built body will do wonders for your combat capabilities.

"Percy! We got in coming!" Beckondorf yelled, giving me just enough warning to jump out of the way of Kampe's massive foot as she practically landed on top of the three of us.

Kampe raised her blades to cut Beckondorf in two before he recovered. The son of Hephestus raised his shield in desperation, barely managing to deflect her first strike. The next would have been lethal had Thomas not intercepted it. Growling with exertion I rushed forward and slashed at Kampe's tail cutting off almost a foot of its length.

Kampe roars in anger twisting violently in order to get a better look at her wound. Seizing the opportunity Thomas and I pulled Beckondorf to his feet and tried to gain some breathing room. "What are we supposed to do against that thing!" Thomas said all but panting. "I mean it took Zeus to kill her last time."

"We will take her down." I simply earning myself an incredulous look from the two demigods beside me "We may not be gods but we're also not alone. Two will go in hard to draw her attention while the third hits her while she's distracted. If we keep chipping away at her eventually she'll fall."

"Works for me." Beckondorf said, looking at Thomas "Ready?".

Thomas raised his sword in acknowledgement and together we charged.

Sensing the oncoming threat Kampe turned toward us and roared, slashing at Thomas and I with her blades. Both of us were able to stop her blades with our own but the effort left my arms screaming in pain and from the sound of it Thomas wasn't fairing much better. Yet it was all worth it when Beckondorf's mace slammed into Kampe's front leg with a harsh crunch.

The dragon lady howled in pain and Thomas and I seized the opening presented to us, making our own attacks at her torso. My blade was caught by a lion's head emerging from where her human and dragon part met but Thomas scored a deep cut on her left side.

Kampe spat poison at Thomas and I, forcing us to back off while making a wild slash at Beckondorf. Thomas and I got away unscathed but Beck wasn't so lucky. He blocked her sword with his mace which saved him from getting out right cut in half but the force of her strike sent him flying into the second barrier knocking him unconscious.

"What will you do now little demigods?"

'What can we do?' I thought. We landed two sizable wounds on her yet Kampe barely even seemed to notice. I guess chipping away at her was never going to work in the first place. But then how did Zeus beat her? Probably just blasted her with lighting. I mean he's got the power he could've just hammered her into oblivion.

"Hammer!" I shouted as realization hit me

"What?" Thomas said.

A grin slowly spread across my face "Get ready because I doubt we'll get another chance at this."

"You got a plan?"

"More like a piece of advice from a friend." I said reaching out for the river and ocean. The moment I felt a connection I tugged with all my might "Sometimes you need a scalpel and sometimes you need a hammer."

Kampe, having apparently lost her patience, lunged at us just as a wave of water burst through the trees. All the barriers on the eastern side were abandoned seconds before the water crashed through them and right into Kampe. She didn't even have time to scream as she and her army were swept back by the wave.

Most of the monsters were simply disoriented by what I'd done but a few were killed in the chaos. I didn't have time to focus on them however as I willed the wave to slam Kampe into Zeus' fist and pin her there, it also had the unintended effect of preventing more monsters from exiting the Labyrinth.

Now with something solid to brace herself against, Kampe began to push back against the wave forcing me to focus the water and increase the pressure just to keep her in place. The effort was exhausting at an incredible rate but at the same time it felt amazing like I was stretching for the first time in my life.

"Thomas Now!" I shouted.

With barely any hesitation Thomas dove in the carnage I had created and even killed the few monsters in his path still trying to regain their bearings.

Kampe immediately took notice of the incoming threat but she couldn't do anything, the water kept her pinned and washed away what poison she attempted to produce. All she could do was watch Thomas approach. Mere feet away Thomas lunged forward swinging his sword at her neck. I waited until the last second and released my control over the water allowing the unclaimed demigod to reach Kampe unimpeded and slice off her head before landing easily atop Zeus's fist.