Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 13– The Blunders of War

I was still staring down the hill as my squad arrived. There was definitely something wrong with the monsters, I could almost feel it.

The hellhounds were all hiding inside shadows, the skeleton army was standing in an orderly manner, the Minotaur and the Manticore stood on the opposite site, still staring, while the three furies flew around. It wasn't just some herd of monsters gathered due to my aura, it was an actual army waiting for a sign or opportunity to annihilate the whole camp.

"Hey Mikael." Markus greeted me.

"Markus." I gave him a nod before focusing on the Minotaur again. The being was waiting...but what if I disturb it?

I took a step closer to the boundry and I felt my squad shifting nervously behind me.

"Mikael, what are you doing?" Castor's voice reached me.

The 10 year old was one of two kids of Dionysus that I'd taken under my wing.

I didn't reply to him, forming a bolt of electrical discharge in my hands. I didn't use my spear to direct it, instead I took a quick step forward, standing just outside the boundry, and launched the bolt towards the sitting Minotaur. It tried to scramble away but the arc of electric current was too fast, striking it on its shoulder. The other monsters didn't move. The manticore didn't move. Surely they knew I was outside the boundry?

Thankfully, atleast the Minotaur behaved normally and with a furious roar it charged towards me. I could hear my squad-mates panicking but I ignored their alarm.

When the huge bull was barely half a dozen meters away, I slowly stepped back inside the boundry. The huge bull crashed into the boundry, a part of its horns almost getting through from sheer force but ultimately, the magical boundry threw the Minotaur away, making it land on its butt. The monster quickly got back up with a growl, but instead of charging again like the dumb monster it was, it actually...winced? And looked towards the manticore before slowly retreating back to its position. I glanced at the Manticore but I couldn't find anything.

"Did you do that just to show how badass and fearless you are, my dear leader?" Anna said teasingly but I recognised the edge that it carried. Was she angry? Concerned?..for me? "If so, you don't need to worry, we know all about that."

I ignored her.

"... Something's definitely wrong." I muttered absently, my mind racing.

The monsters were clearly being controlled. By who? Who wanted the camp destroyed? And how the hell could the gods not recognise this?

"What's wrong, Mikael?" Markus asked.

"It's weird isn't it?" Castor suddenly spoke though his eyes were on the retreating Minotaur. "The Pasiphae's son looked backwards towards the forest before leaving. There has to be something there. something that told it to... stand down, maybe?"

I hmmed quietly. Could a single manticore be behind this? I didn't think so. Sighing, I decided to not dwell on that and shook my head to banish the thoughts.

Ultimately, did it truly matter who controlled these monsters? We were going to clear them out a couple of days later anyway.

I turned back towards my squad. I had the whole Aphrodite, apollo, and Dionysus cabin under me. Each cabin had 11, 12, and 2 members respectively. 25 in total, and each one personally trained to my liking for a whole year.

The useless Aphrodites had started around measly Lvl 60s and 70s, and each were now above Lvl 100. While Apollo demigods who started around early Lvl 150s were now approaching the 200 mark.

To be honest, I was actually quite proud of my squad.

"Alright everyone, you know the drill." I started with a clap of my hands. "Divide in five teams of five and take your positions. Scout for any movement and be extra careful. I have a very bad feeling about the monsters tonight so keep your eyes open at all times."

Thankfully, the fates were on our side that night, and it passed peacefully. Almost too peaceful one might say, considering no monster around the half-blood hill even tried to attack.

I couldn't wait to wipe out all these fuckers. They were geting creepier and creepier each day.

The next day passed in unnerving silence from the monsters. The camp was in full motion, practicing the whole day and preparing for the imminent attack while the rest of the cabin counselors and Chiron spent the day discussing any situation that might occur.

Our job was simple. Ride the bronze dragon and rain greekfire upon the hellhounds (who can't shadow travel in day efficiently) and the skeletons, before engaging the manticore, the furies and the Minotaur in battle while the rest of the demigods clear the remaining straggling monsters. There were around 4-5 dozens of hellhounds and even more skeletons but hopefully the greekfire will reduced that number enough for the demigod squads to engage and destroy them in battle.

In the dawn of the attack day, we all gathered outside the big house, waiting for the sun to rise completely.

The ones that would be flying on 'potens the dragon' were Me, Markus and couple of his best marksmen. The Hephaestus counselor, John bridge, would be flying us into the battlefield.

I wanted Thalia with me but I'd underestimated her fear of heights by a wide margin. We had done extensive practice from atop the dragon's back, and in the first few practice laps Thalia had proved to be absolutely useless.

So unfortunately, she was a no go, which meant she will be fighting monsters on foot, away from my eyes. And that concerned me a little, but I was sure she could handle anything other than the Manticore. But that was my target so there was no need to fear.

Or so I kept telling myself.

"Heroes! Warriors!" Chiron bellowed, his voice echoing across the fields. The centaur "Gather around now. You all know why you are here. The last one year, we have suffered under these monsters, have lost our friends and families. Some of us may have been plagued with doubts, but we still never gave up. On this day, you fight for those who fell while defending us, you fight for those who stand besides you, and you fight for this camp, the home of all demigods. Go, and come victorious with the blessings of the fallen and the gods."

The centaur looked at Mr. D as he said the last.

"...What?" The bored god asked as he saw all of us staring at him. He glanced at Chiron and suddenly seemed to realise what we were doing. "Oh yeah, you have my blessings and all that. Fight, run, do whatever...not like you little brats could do anything else..."

The god muttered before perking up slightly as he glanced at the sky, and held his empty enchanted cup to the air. "And as this is such an auspicious day, it is necessary that we all take part in a...ahh, a good luck ritual! Yes, indeed. By drinking a glass of wine in the name of gods."

The god started to bring his cup to his lips just as a the sky roared in an ear-splitting thunder, startling everyone present.

"I believe that is a no." Chiron stated gently.

"Darn it, I almost thought it worked." Dionysus grumbled sourly.

I loudly cleared my throat to shift everyone's attention from the depressing sight of this god.

"We should start now." I announced to everyone.

I approached the huge dragon automaton, Potens. It was a simple latin name, meaning strong or mighty.

The dragon's golden and bronze scales shone against the morning sunlight, looking like a mythical golden dragon. It's wings were long and thick, and the whole thing weighed around 50 tons, and yet the Hephaestus cabin had assured me it could fly even with the extra weight of our armors and weapon without any problem.

It also had two torches on its shoulder plates with small metallic containers that held live Greek fire. The container had an arrow shaped hole in it for the apollo archers to light their arrows with, without the fire coming in contact with any catalyst. It was said to be highly volatile, and even my tiniest spark of electricity could make the whole thing explode so I was to take the further seat away from it.

The automaton also had canons of greekfire bombs attached under its belly that will continuosly fire downwards.

It was a weapon of war, and in the war we were about to go.

"Alright everyone, hop on."

John Bridge quickly boarded the dragon, followed by Markus and his two siblings, Arielle and Bert. Then I boarded at last with a parting nod towards Thalia and luke. We've already said what needed to be said last night. They will also be leading their own squads into the battle, alongside Anastasia and Mark (Ares counselor).

With all our advantages and preparation, this mission shouldn't be too hard. The only one who could create problems was the manticore. We've fought and defeated the furies and Minotaur before so I wasn't too concerned about them.

Of course, I also expected everything to go down to shit too. Things rarely go according to plan in big battles like these.

The sound of the battle horn resounded across the camp and I turned to see Chiron holding a greyish war horn to his lips. Without any further ado, the dragon automaton flapped it's wings and off into the air we went. Higher and higher until we finally rose above the half-blood hill and were able to see the monster army standing. We flew even above the trees, keeping out of range from any shadow travelling hellhound.

A few seconds later we were atop them, and then we attacked.

"Now!"

At my voice the three Apollo's started dousing their arrows with greekfire and shooting the monsters who were further away.

Then John pushed something on the automaton and it started releasing greekfire bombs from underneath it. The booming noise of exploding greekfire almost stunned me for a second as the attacks laid waste to everything it touched.

I myself had a bow of my own that I used, but instead of using celestial bronze arrows, I used arrows made out of my holy light which I dubbed: Holy Arrows. Duh.

The attack was...a huge success. The hellhounds couldn't keep running away into the shadows forever, especially in the morning. They were being taken out in droves, the 3 Apollo's took out a couple of monsters every second, so fast was their attack speed, while the greekfire bombs desecrated the skeletons and hounds in massive amounts. It was a slaughter, pure and simple.

The only thing I couldn't understand was why the Minotaur and the Manticore were so far away from the battle. They were standing down towards the base of the hill, not even trying to stop us from destroying their army. Not even looking a little concerned. Something was wrong here and I was afraid we were about to find it the hard way.

There really wasn't anything I could do about it, even if I had some suspicions. The others would look to me as a coward if I stopped the attack at this point.

I couldn't let them plan whatever it was they were planning though. Frankly, the whole thing made me uneasy.

"Take us to the base!" I yelled over the sound of wind and destruction, while still rapidly shooting the monsters with my holy arrows, slaying hellhounds and skeletons alike.

As we left the top part of the hill, I heard the sound of war horn again and the squads of demigods slowly started to trickle out, dodging the still burning trees and engaging the panicked monsters directly.

"Keep high in the air and pin down the Minotaur until Thalia and Luke engages! Remember the beast can freaking jump thirty feets in the air for some abhorrent reason! Oh, and keep an eye out for the furies! I'll handle the Manticore!"

I screamed the orders at the top of my lungs before jumping down from the dragon.

I was ready to slay me a Manticore.

With a tug in my belly I controlled the wind and instantly took to the air, flying towards the thing while taking a glance at its status.

Manticore

Race: Monster

Tier: 5

Level: 300 (Max)

Mana: 200,000/200,000

Stamina: 310,000/310,000

Health: 320,000/320,000

Stats

Strength: 280

Speed: 285

Dexterity: 305

Endurance: 310

Constitution: 320

Mental: 25

Spirit: 200

The monster was stronger than anything I've ever faced before. It reminded me of my mother facing down that high-class adult dragon. They weren't on the same level sure, but this thing could probably give that dragon a run for its money.

That didn't make a lick of difference to me though. My spirit was way higher than his, which meant my magical attacks will still take out huge chunks of health from it. And at the end of the day, I was here to kill it, one way or the other.

I put back my bow into the inventory and equipped my trusty spear, the great piercer. I didn't wear any armour because they were too restrictive to my wings. Even with lvl 5 object creation, I couldn't quite make something like a strong armour that will allow my wings full freedom while still protecting the rest of my body. I just wasn't that good of a designer. And thus, I'd decided to forgo armour in favour of my wings. The 30 to strength, speed, and dexterity was too much to give up.

The manticore was still sitting on its butt leisurely, not looking even a little concerned. It was a horrendous looking being, having a face of a shaggy man with golden fur and the body of a lion. But it's tail was replaced by a scorpion's sting with jet black spikes gutting out. It looked like something made just for the sake of killing.

Every part of its body had some kind of weapon attached; its mouth was full of sharp teeth even though it had a human's face, it's lion body was strongly muscled with sharp claws that could probably tear through steel like butter, it's tail had 15 inch long and very sharp spikes that also seemed to be dripping venom. It wasn't a thing I wanted to get close to, and my main strategy was to fight it like I fought the Minotaur an year ago.

Anything that can't fly was a target for me.

"Welcome, foolish half-blood." The monster growled out as I flew closer. "The lord knew you would be dumb enough to take the bait."

...What. The thing could talk...and just admitted someone was controlling it? ...Why? And who the hell was it's lord? Hades?

"Well, if your...'lord' thinks that a simple Manticore would be enough to destroy our camp then he is obviously the dumb one between us." I replied with a confidence I didn't feel.

Something else was at work here and I was entirely ignorant about it.

The monster barked out an ugly laugh, it's big sharp teeths glinting in the sun's rays. "Fool, yes that is what you are. A fool. We were never here to destroy the camp, no. We are simply here...for you. Well, one of you atleast. The lord only needs one alive afterall."

My heart grew cold at that. Me or thalia, the monster meant, I was sure. I had to go back to Thalia.

But then the beast continued.

"And why would you think I came alone, fool boy?"

It happened then. I felt a slight shifting in the air as if something was moving... invisibly.

[Skill Created: Mist sense] Lvl 1

–Allows you to sense the presence of mist.

"... Oh, fuck." I whispered in horror at the new sight in front of me as the air slowly opened up to reveal a sight of nightmare.

Hellhounds, skeletons, Scythian Dracaenae...Cyclops!...a huge freaking crab more than 10 feets long! And what looked like...Empousas!? The fuck did they come from!? The entire farm road was covered with a huge monster army with monsters I've never faced before... right in front of our eyes!

"Retreat!" I bellowed, releasing my wings and taking into the air. "Everyone retreat!"

"Not so fast, fool boy." And then the Manticore was upon me, crossing over a hundred meters in the blink of an eye, with it's tail coming at me in a deadly arc.

I barely had time to bring my spear up before the tail crashed into me, and its impact was so strong that it sent me flying back deeper into the monster army.

Even dazed, I managed to manipulate the air enough to dodge a hellhound's pounce and a couple of spear thrust from skeleton warriors, before finally getting full control and taking off high into the air, flapping my winds rapidly.

I looked at my weapon and noticed that it had dented badly from that single strike. My mother's gift...rendered useless in a second.

I suppressed the anger inside me, pushing it down with all my might, and reminded myself that I was still in a battlefield. That beast was strong. And fast. Very fast. Even amongst tier 5s, this thing was a different breed.

I needed to act cautiously.

Shaking my head I turned to quickly take a look at the battlefield. The demigods had just cleared the decoy army and noticed the trap, while the automaton just landed beside them. Thankfully Michelle was screaming at everyone to retreat instead of acting like those dumb Ares kids who were running towards the monster army. And Thalia...oh no Thalia. The girl was coming towards me.

"No! Thalia, leave! Go back to the camp!" I created a tunnel using the air to enhance my voice but my stubborn sister ignored me.

...and now Anastasia was following after her, ignoring Michelle's plea...and Luke..and Ares cabin...and Apollo cabin... and Hermes...oh for fuck's sake! Everything was going to shit just as I predicted but it didn't bring me any satisfaction.

I didn't have more time to be frustrated though because the next moment the furies came at me out of nowhere.

"Die Mikael, son of Zeus!" The three ugly tier 4 bitches screeched as they came towards me with their talons out.

I desperately used a huge amount of divine energy to fill my dented spear with electric discharge, and struck them with a wide sweep. All three of them dodged backwards successfully from the spear, but none were able to dodge the multiple bolts of electric discharge.

They were shocked for just a second but that was enough for me. I threw my dented spear at one of them like a boomerang, while launching Holy spears at the other two, before following after them.

My Holy spears cut through the two furies feets like butter while the third one tanked the spear with her wings.

I was upon one of them before she can gain her balance from becoming feet-less and slammed a blade of holy light directly into her head, disintegrating the creature instantly.

Without pause, I launched myself at the second one. She swiped at me with her talons in panic and I took the blow on my steel-like wing in favour of launching a punch covered in holy power in her face. The fury was blasted away while screeching in pain, slowly disappearing in smoke.

The last one still had the celestial bronze spear stuck inside one of her wings.

"Curse you, half-breed!" She spat at my face.

"You should've thought twice before showing your ugly faces to me again."

The being could do nothing as I swatted aside her talons before removing the celestial spear with a jerk and jamming it down her throat, literally. I ripped the fury apart before placing my ruined spear back in the inventory.

I didn't even stop to wave away the level up notifications, simply willing my system to shut the fuck up for now.

I quickly turned back to assess the battle towards the base of the half-blood hill.

The dragon automaton was again thinning the ranks of hellhounds and skeletons while the Ares demigods faced down the giant crab, with some of the Apollo cabin supporting it from behind.

The rest of Apollos and Hermes were with Thalia, Luke, and Anastasia as they made their way towards me while keeping the Minotaur in bay. There was only a single Scythian Dracaena remaining, but the empousa seemed to be giving thr group a lot of trouble.

Unfortunately, they were soon going to be overwhelmed by the two Cyclops and loads of skeletons who slowly made their way towards them.

Then there were the hellhounds who were harassing everyone on the field, with dozens of them spread out into the shadows, ambushing any unsuspecting demigod.

And the manticore?...the Manticore was rapidly running towards the dragon automaton.

'Oh that fucking bastard. It knew just where to hit us, didn't it?'

I flew towards them as quickly as I can, but even as I reached Thalia, the Manticore had already shot enough spikes inside the automaton to bring the whole thing down. With the dragon down, the hellhounds and skeletons were free to target us.

'We need to act. Now.'

"Luke! To the Manticore!" I shouted as I struck the Minotaur from behind with a Holy blade directly upon its head, killing the already injured bull in one fell swoop.

I dodged a tail swipe from the Scythian Dracaena before instinctively sending a huge wave of wind towards the thing in response. Without my spear to direct it though, it wasn't concentrated enough to harm it much but my wind manipulation Lvl 7 did its job by blowing the serpentine creature away and a couple of demigods ran to finish her off.

Then I turned towards the last opponent who seemed the most tricky of them all. I could already see three male bodies down at her feet and desperately hoped I didn't know them.

"Oh honey, you wouldn't attack me would you?" The empousa winked flirtatiously. I actually wanted to vomit as the grotesque creature made a kissy face towards me, hiding her vampire like fangs.

[Charmspeak negated by Gamer's Mind]

"An ugly donkey legged bitch like you? Of course I would." I replied with a disgusted sneer as my holy blade cleaved the shocked monster in two.

The tier 4 monster disintegrated into dust and I waved off the system levels ups again.

There was silence around me for a second. I turned to look and saw everyone staring at me in awe.

"You just come in and clear all of our enemies in a second? How is that fair?" Luke complained as I landed beside them.

"Not now guys. Retreat back to the camp first! This mission is a bust!" I bellowed the orders before glancing at the manticore. "Do not go after any monsters, just defend yourselves and run! I need to kill the Manticore and rescue the air crew. Thalia, Luke, keep the hellhounds away from me as I fight off that thing, please."

I instantly flew away in urgency, not waiting to see if they followed my orders. When I finally saw the full picture though, I knew it was too late.

The Manticore chewed upon the bloodied head of Markus while his body laid elsewhere. John's dead body was motionless under the destroyed pieces of the dragon automaton, which was torn into pieces, and the other two archers were no where to be seen.

I felt hollow as I saw my friend's headless dead body. Headless body...the words didn't make sense for some reason...headless body.

And Markus...Markus had been at my side for more than a year. We might not be as close as I was with Thalia or Luke, but he was still my friend. A trust-worthy friend who I'd love to fight alongside.

A part of me wondered how it happened so quickly. One moment they were flying on the automaton, the other moment they were falling down. Now they were dead...why? Because I didn't arrive in time? Because I stopped to help my sister? Because I wasn't strong and fast enough to be quicker? Because I was foolish enough to fall for this simple trap?... Was it truly my fault?

"Ah, fool boy. Soo-o-o good of you to join us. Say Hi to your friends." The manticore mocked, dropping my dead friends head down like trash before pawing it towards me.

And for the first time in the battle, I felt true rage. Markus died... not because of me...but because of this monster.

I was going to kill it. And it will be painful.

I closed my eyes for a second, letting the calm of gamer's mind keep me from doing anything stupid. I then accessed that familiar well of power, feeling a tug in my stomach.

"Aww, is the little fool boy crying? You need doccy thorne to call your mommy? I'll be glad to do so..."

The shimmering rage almost broke through the cold calm, but I managed to control myself. I touched the air around me slowly, not controlling, simply caressing, and then I put all of my rage inside it. I don't know why, it just seemed right.

I felt the air shifting, and instead of bringing it under control, I let it rage around me, connecting it to me on an emotional level. I felt free. Free to show my anger and let it out almost physically.

[Skill crea–]

"What's that? A little–"

I didn't let the monster complete his words and simply shot towards it in a burst of speed I've never flown before. It was too startled to defend properly, it's tail missing me by inches as it tried to back away.

But to no avail as my Holy fist met it's jaw with a satisfying crunch and sizzle. It took a few steps backwards and started twitching slightly, bits of electricity dancing around it's body while its mouth hung open in a silent scream.

Only then did I notice the... phenomenon around me. A miniature storm of wind and lightning had formed around me like an aegis, revolving continuously with sparks of electricity enveloping all around it's edges. The ball of wind and lightning spun like a tiny cyclone. A small spherical cyclone that covered me completely.

[Skill Created: Lightning Storm] Lvl 1

[Skill Leveled Up...]

I let a cold smile light upon my face. The monster was going down today...

And I was going to make it painful.

AN: Sorry for the cliffhanger! The battle scene is just too big to fit in a single chapter.

Let me know your thoughts on the new skill. It may seem abrupt but a lot of skills that demigods (and warriors in general) develope, come in the midst of battle.

Follow, favourite, and review! And I'll see you lot in the next chapter.