25 wolves stood in front of us, teeth bared out in a display of dominance. I looked behind us to see if we could run out the way we came, Hydra be damned, but there were already 10 wolves already blocking the exit. Smart.
"Crap. We're gonna have to fight our way out of this." Luke Castellan mutters, looking at his soon-to-be opponents, "Kid, do you have a weapon?" That asshole. He saw me as a hindrance, didn't he? Well, I'll show him.
In an instant, I take Needle out of my inventory, and expand the Guardian Shield. I'm pretty sure Thalia looked at me a little jealous, despite her spear which looked pretty cool. The spear was bronze, obviously, but its long staff had designs seemingly woven into it, making the weapon look like something you'd see in a museum or an art gallery.
Luke, on the other hand, had a pretty simple Celestial Bronze sword. Pretty sad for him, but meh, he'll get a sword with a name in a couple of years anyway.
However, whilst the two were ogling my shield and sword, one of the wolves had seen the opportunity and lunged at Luke. In almost an instant, as if my meagre 22 Agility points had decided to put in overtime, I had Needle piercing through the roof of the wolf's mouth.
Sword-Fighting Skill levelled up (1 - 2)!
And just like that, chaos ensued. Thalia was first to act, as she began to attack several wolves to her right, and Luke followed up by beheading one of them. Whilst their movement was far more fluid than my own, I still had the Guardian Shield to protect me, and the boosts I got from its Last-Second Block ability made me actually useful in the fight, though it was clear that Thalia and Luke were mowing down the canines.
But the biggest wolf, the leader if I had to guess, was still alive, and with Thalia and Luke preoccupied with the other wolves, I suppose I have to do it. I lock eyes with the leader, and almost instinctively, we charge at one another. It seemed that it was far bigger than it had looked earlier. Frankly, it reminded me of a dire wolf, the gigantic wolves you'd see in fiction. The thought was enough of a reason to use Observe on it.
Name: Wolf
HP: 500/500
MP: 0/0
Stats
Strength:49
Agility: 54
Endurance: 37
Charisma: 26
Intelligence: 10
Willpower: 19
Description: This wolf, despite being born a normal wolf, was given a minor blessing by the King of Wolves, Lycaon. With this blessing, it became the leader of its own pack, terrorising any mortal that comes near its territory, and ravaging the delicate ecosystem that had been in place for centuries.
Damn, so many words for one little wolf. It wasn't even that strong! Its stats were only a little higher than mine. I mean, it was an equal match with Matthew! But it was a little worrying to see that the first werewolf had blessed this animal. Although, I don't think Thalia or Luke mentioned him in the books, so I assume he must have left a long time ago.
Regardless, I had a fight to win. I attempted to slash it with Needle, but Needle was a piercing weapon, and the wolf's fur was as tough as a boar's hide. Noticing the opportunity, it lunged at me, teeth ready to take a deep bite, but I quickly blocked it with my shield. With the Endurance buff I got from the last second block kicking in, I had to make the most of it despite the short duration.
So, instead of trying to attack with Needle again, I did something incredibly reckless and foolish, which could only be achieved due to my small frame. I jumped onto it.
Immediately it bucked like a horse, and I could see Thalia looking at me in shock before she returned to fighting the wolves. The wolf let loose a monstrous growl, a furious aura emitting from him. I reach my fingers out to his face, and stick them into its eyeballs. The feeling sickened me, and the only thing that seemed to stop me from throwing up was the adrenaline rushing to my head. I took out my fingers, which were covered in blood, as the wolf let loose a howl of pain.
It seemed the other wolves had decided that defending their leader was more important than whoever they were fighting, and immediately began to rush towards me. However, Thalia and Luke managed to stop them, swiftly and efficiently. How they were this good without proper training was a mystery.
"Anytime now kid!" Luke shouted, his breathing became heavy as signs of fatigue began to show. I had to end this quick and fast.
"System, quickly add any free stat points into Strength" I think to myself, raising Needle to the air. I knew I didn't have nearly enough unspent stat points to make a difference, but it could still help. "DON'T CALL ME KID!" I shout as Needle plunges down to the top of the wolf's head, piercing the skull, and finally hitting the brain. With only a whimper, the wolf leader was dead.
The other wolves had a look of defeat on their faces, as Thalia and Luke quickly killed them all. I let loose a sigh of relief as Thalia and Luke also sat down to rest a bit. Luke looked at me strangely, before asking, "How old did you say you were, ki- Gill''. Don't think you pulled one over me Luke. We both heard your slip up.
"Well, I didn't say" I replied, before actually answering, "But I'm 8" I could make out the Greek swear Luke muttered beneath his breath. My my, what a dirty mouth. My attention was then drawn to the screen that had popped up.
You and 2 allies killed 25 Wolves and 1 Blessed Wolf.
Since your allies are not Gamers, you receive the EXP and rewards they would've gotten.
Oh shit. I can get EXP even if I didn't kill a creature. What if I were leading an army? Would I get the untold amounts of EXP from that? Fucking hell, that is so exploitable. A thought for another time of course, since I had to also look at the other notifications I got.
You have levelled up (5 - 6)!
You have levelled up (6 - 7)!
You have gained the title Wolfslayer
You have been rewarded with the Fireball skill
You have been rewarded with 10 Stat Points
You have been rewarded with 10 Drachma
Level's are always good to see, but what interested me most was the title and the new skill. As always, I used Observe on them.
Title: Wolfslayer
Description: Grants the wielder of title +50% damage against canine opponents, and +10% Endurance.
Do you wish to equip this title?
Well, since I don't have a title already, of course I'll equip it. Now, about that skill?
Skill: Fireball
Type: Spell
Cost: 10 MP
Description: Creates a ball of fire, around the size of watermelon, above the user's palm, which the user can throw to do damage, which is based upon the user's Intelligence and Willpower
FUCK YES!
I'm a wizard! This was easily my biggest hope when I received the power of the Gamer. The ability to cast spells. Now, how exact do I cast it?
I open my palm, and stare at it, flexing my fingers as if the fire would appear. Nothing. Thank gods that Thalia and Luke were too tired to see my constipated face.
Gill, stop. You're embarrassing yourself. All you have to do is say the name of the spell in your head.
Oh yeah. That makes more sense. Thanks System.
Happy to help
"Fireball" Almost immediately, a hot ball of flames conjured above my hands. Strangely enough, it didn't feel like it could hurt me or burn me. I felt like I had perfect control.
"What the fuck is that!" Thalia exclaims, staring at the fireball above my hands, "Since when can you do that!" Did she look… Jealous?
"Just now" I meekly answered. I wasn't quite used to people showing me so much attention, or being impressed with me.
"Oh by the gods!" Luke shouts, seemingly annoyed, "Why can you do that! Thalia gets her lightning, and now you get fire! All I can do is steal." Did he pout? Did Luke Castellan, General of Kronos, just pout. I forget these guys are still children in the end.
"Hey, I'd rather have fire than lightning! At least Gill can control the fire" She said, attempting to defend herself. Huh, she called me by my name. That was… nice. "Anyway, does this mean you're the son of Hephaestus? Since he's the God of Fire and all?"
That… was a good point, but something told me otherwise. "I… don't know? I don't really have any inclination towards making stuff, but there's a small chance that I only inherited the fire aspect" Although, since the 'fire aspect' only came from the System.
"Well, we'll find out when we arrive at Camp Halfblood" Luke advised, with a slightly bitter tone. However, before I could think of addressing this, the familiar stomps of the Hydra could be heard… Above us.
"Shi-" Luke nearly swore before I covered his mouth.
"Be quiet," I whispered. I could hear a low rumbling sound from above. It sounded a lot like snoring, "We need a plan"
Thalia nodded, looking up at the ceiling, "Think we could outrun it?"
"I doubt it." I answered, "If it found us in the first place, it'll find us again. We could outrun it, but what if it finds us when we're asleep, we're dead"
"Then we have only one option" Luke deduced, as Thalia and I nodded. "Damn it".
"It's not too bad. We could've gotten the actual Hydra" I placated, though it didn't really have any effect. "Anyway, I think I have a plan, but it's utter trash."
Thalia sighs, rubbing her temples. Today wasn't really going her way, it seems, "Well it's not like we got any other ideas, so let's hear it out" Both Luke and Thalia looked at me, and surprisingly they were taking me seriously. That felt pretty cool.
"Alright, so basically…"
10 Minutes Later…
The forest was calm, with a cool wind breezing through the trees. There was only one noise that sounded throughout the forest. The snore of the hydra.
And soon, the forest would be the site of a battle.
Hiding from afar, I watched Thalia, who was arguably the fastest of us, approach the Hydra. I had thought that Luke would be faster than Thalia considering Hermes is the God of Speed, but those Big-Three stats are too OP.
She took a deep breath, before cupping her mouth with her hands and shouting, "HEY! FUCK FACE! WAKE UP!" Upon the first word, the Hydra began to shift and shake the earth, and each of its heads began to rise. "YEAH! COME GET ME, ASSHOLE!" And as soon as she finished shouting, she began to run away. The Hydra was finally at its full height and began to quickly follow Thalia.
Thalia jumped past Luke and I, who were hiding in bushes, and thankfully the monster was too focused on Thalia to notice us… and our trap.
The Hydra saw the large gap between the trees that Thalia passed through, and began to walk towards it, seeing it was big enough for Hydra to fit through unscratched. Big mistake.
As soon as it entered past the trees, the trap sprung as its leg pulled the rope we tied upon two trees, and as we had hoped, the rope managed to pull down the large oaks that were standing on opposite sides of the Hydra. The trees crashed down onto the Hydra as all eight heads also fell with a echoed cry of pain. The necks of all the heads were trapped beneath the twin oaks, but we knew that they would break out soon. I quickly used Observe, and saw that it had lost around 400 HP, which is good but nowhere near enough.
"Luke! Now!" I shout, calling for the next stage of my plan. Immediately, the son of Hermes rushes out of the bush, his blade in hand. He jumps up into the air and onto the scaly body of the Hydra. And with a slash of his sword, he cuts off two heads of the Hydra. A little annoying since I said it was only one at a time, but it was still manageable.
I could already see the severed heads beginning to split and regrow, but our plan had taken that into account. A burning ball of fire appeared above each of my hands as I stood in front of the writhing monster. I threw each of the fireballs, and hit both of the necks, as they were engulfed in flames. The necks began to burn into a greater flame until they were burned to a stump. I'm pretty sure the only reason my spell did that was due to the nature of the Hydra itself. Regardless, Observe showed that the Hydra had take massive damage from that.
Luke and I managed to do the same for the next four heads, ash and smoke filling the air, but when it was time for the seventh head, the Hydra began to rise. Was it a last second burst of energy? I don't care, because we still had to beat it.
"LUKE! Watch out!" Thalia shouted. I was confused for a second as to what she was worried about, but then I noticed it. The Hydra's tail. Like a viper, it was aimed at Luke. It seemed the blonde hadn't realised yet, still focused on getting to the other heads. Shit.
"Thalia! Throw your spear!" I command, "I'll cover you". She nodded and charged, spear out. Hopefully I could manage to protect both Thalia and Luke from getting hit. One of the Hydra heads was aiming towards Thalia who was about to jump onto the Hydra, and it fired what seemed to be a blob of acid at Thalia. Instinctively I throw both fireballs at the blob of acid, causing the blob to splatter. I think only a few drops got onto Thalia, as I heard a painful hiss. I'll have to apologise to her later.
It seemed Luke finally realised the tail, and nodded to Thalia in thanks.
The child of lightning plunged her spear into the tail of the Hydra, pinning it into the ground, and Luke managed to slice off the 7th head. I was able to throw a fireball on time, destroying the seventh neck, but suddenly, the Hydra burst out of the tree, a single head remaining. It roared in utter fury as Luke and Thalia fell off the beast.
It turned towards Luke, knowing he was the biggest reason that its fellow heads had been killed. Well, I'd argue I was the biggest reason, but I suppose the Hydra had an Intelligence of 5 for a reason.
Regardless, I knew that I had to do something. I quickly took a look at my player profile, and saw that I had 25 free stat points. "System! Put 20 into Agility and 5 into Strength" I know that I've been putting a shit ton into Agility already, but speed is such a strong tool.
Done. Godspeed Gilgamesh.
And with that, I rushed forward with Needle in my right hand and a ball of fire at the ready. I jumped onto the body of the Hydra, and saw the last head about to strike Luke, so I threw a fireball at the head. Despite it doing little damage, it did manage to draw attention away from the son of Hermes, and onto me. But I kept running.
I was near the bottom of the neck, and about to enact a crazy idea, before the head fired an acid blob at me. My heart nearly skipped a beat. There was no way I could dodge it in time. There was a good chance that I could die right now. Well, at least I got to meet Thalia and Luke. That was pretty cool.
But it seemed that fate had another idea, as a sword crashed into the blob, splattering it away from me. Covered in the acid, the blade dissolved quickly. Thank fuck, it didn't hit me. I gave Luke a nod of thanks, as he nodded back. With the near death experience out of the way, I jumped onto the neck of the hydra, and began scaling it. It was ridiculous, but the adrenaline in my 8-year-old body threw all sense of logic and reasoning into the bin.
The Hydra began shaking its neck, trying to get me off but I was holding too tight upon it. Eventually I had reached the very top of its neck, right beneath the head, and that's when I shouted at Thalia, "THALIA! SHOOT YOUR LIGHTNING!"
The order shocked the demigod, as she responded with, "I CAN'T CONTROL IT! IT'LL HIT YOU" I'm touched that she cares about my wellbeing, but now's really not the time.
"JUST DO IT!" I scream, "ARE YOU THE CHILD OF ZEUS OR NOT?" That seemed to have gotten her. After all, even if it isn't her fatal flaw, she's still very prideful. I see sparks of lightning generate around her, and as soon as I see them, I pierce Needle into the neck.
Lightning fires from Thalia, and towards me. It seemed that it would hit me, but instead the lightning's trajectory changed, and connected with the tip of Needle's blade which had pierced through the Hydra's neck. My plan had worked. Needle was conducting the lightning.
The Hydra cried in pain, drowning out the crackle of lighting, as its neck was being cooked. And quickly enough the final head burned up into nothing. And as the whole body began to disintegrate into a golden dust signifying it was dead, I fell to the ground, a small smile of relief on my face.
Except there was still one little problem. Thalia's lightning was still conducting into Needle, and I was still holding Needle. Pain began to course through my body as the lightning began to shock my nerves. I screamed in pain, and couldn't let go of Needle. I could smell the scent of human flesh.
And then everything went to black.
Author's Notes: Hey guys! I flipped a coin and decided to release this chapter early. I just want to thank you lot again for the support you've shown this fic and I can't believe we're already close to 200 follows! Let's keep it up! Be sure to review as I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter
These are are Gill's stats just before Thalia shot her lightning:
Name: Gilgamesh Ashford
Age: 8
Level: 7
Title: Wolfslayer
HP: 320/360
MP: 440/610
Stats
Strength: 19
Agility: 42
Endurance: 8
Charisma: 8
Intelligence: 10
Willpower: 5
Luck: 25
Stat Points: 0