LAST TIME

"That is not the point… Perseus. It is just that I feel too indebted to you…" I said, wringing my hands.

Percy walked forward towards me. "If you wish for me to acknowledge the debt, I ask for your friendship in return if that is acceptable. And I will consider this debt paid."

"Percy…"

He just raised his eyebrows in response.

I sighed and muttered, "I thought we were already friends."

"Oh, we are. Just making it official." Percy said with his signature roguish lopsided-grin.

I narrowed my eyes in response.

"You know… how many men could say that they are friends with not only several huntresses, but the goddess of the hunt, Artemis herself? I ought to go down in history for that." He said, his damnable grin widening. "Percy Jackson, the male befriender of man-hating girls does have a solid ring to it."

Despite myself, a chuckle escaped from my mouth before turning into full-blown laughter. Trust Percy Jackson to come up with the weirdest of things. Go down in History for befriending me. To be fair, a man befriending the world's biggest man-hater and her man-hating huntresses as far as mythology was concerned, it was a feat. A feat that still paled in comparison to what all he had done.

"You have it then. You have my friendship."

He grinned and came forward. For a moment I thought he was going to hug me but he just extended his hand. I returned a smile and shook it.

"The beginning of a beautiful friendship," Percy said.

"Good. Now, in the spirit of it, let us kick some monster ass!"

27. Missions with the Hunt Pt. 1

PERCY POV

At Artemis's proclamation, we proceeded to exit my tent before shrinking and placing it back in my bag. In the main tent, Zoe was present with the other huntresses whom Artemis had asked her to call. All of them were dressed in battle gear, wearing light armor of leather plated with silver. While not very good, those would give protection against lighter attacks like normal arrows while giving maximum mobility possible.

The only one wearing something different was Thalia, who was wearing heavier, celestial bronze armor as compared to the other huntresses. Not as heavy-duty as mine, considering mine was heavily enchanted and a gift from the Queen of Olympus for saving her from Herakles, but still pretty good for someone like Thalia who relied more on strength and power rather than flexibility.

Speaking of Thalia, she was standing in a corner, sulking as she fiddled with her mace of canister and her bracelet. Those were her weapons. The mace converted into a celestial bronze-adamantine spear while her bracelet was the hidden form of a replica of Athena's fearsome Aegis shield.

"Are you all ready?" Artemis asked and they nodded.

"Alright. Now, we seven are going to eliminate a small group of monsters near our camp. Percy and I will lead the attack while you five will provide us cover fire from afar. If needed, we will signal and Thalia and Zoe would come ahead and engage in melee along with us. Take no unnecessary risks. Zoe, have you told the others to prepare the camp's defenses?"

"Yes, Annabeth and Phoebe are already on it, my lady."

"Excellent. Let us get going. Keep your eyes and ears open at all times. We don't know the exact location of the enemy and if I try to detect them, it will alert them. So, be on guard." Artemis said before walking out of the tent and we followed.

"Artemis!" I called, making her stop and turn towards me.

"Yes, Percy?"

"I will go ahead in my chariot. It is fully weaponized and it will be easy to open the attack with the destruction of the enemy."

"But a chariot will easily be seen, Percy."

"Oh, it won't. It has an invisibility mode. So, we're good. I just need something to communicate with you all. Like a walkie-talkie or something."

"I do not have any such tech at hand right now. But I can concentrate on you so if you just say my name aloud and pray the message, I will be able to hear it. And, I am a goddess so I can just communicate with you telepathically." She replied.

"Like you did in Othrys?"

"Yes," Artemis nodded. "Now, let's get going. All the best, Percy."

"You too," I said, placing the chariot box on the floor and it expanded into the chariot. As Artemis and her hunters disappeared into the treelines, I boarded the chariot.

"Phoenix, activate the battle mode and stealth mode. I must not be detected."

"Yes, sir. Battle mode activated. All weapons are armed. Activating stealth. We are completely invisible now, sir. What is our destination and target?"

"Northwest. A monster group of some hundred plus monsters. Start flight."

"Sure sir," the AI said before the chariot ascended into the sky and we shot in the northwest direction.

"Keep an eye on the hunters in the forest. There are six in total, being led by Artemis herself." I added to the AI.

"Sure, Sir. I have detected them. Their location is on the map marked in silver."

I glanced at the map which showed that the hunters were just a few meters behind us on the ground.

"Than—" I was cut short as a red dot appeared on the map and it beeped

"Sir, I have spotted the monster group. Scanning. Scanning. Sir, I can detect a hundred and eighteen total monsters. Seven demigods. A hundred and twenty-five total enemies. I have displayed the complete list of monsters with their numbers on the screen. As per my classification system, the most dangerous enemy is a Drakon, followed by the group consisting of twenty-nine Hyperborean Giants."

"Yes, I can see that," I muttered, scrolling through the list. There were no big bad monsters, except the Drakon to be honest, but their numbers were heavy. Especially cyclops and Giants which were heavy hitters. There were a good number of Dracaena and hellhounds as well with a handful of harpies but that was not a huge problem.

A couple of seconds later, I spotted the clearing where they were gathered and almost stumbled back in shock, seeing how armed and coordinated they were even though they had stopped. In the front, the Giants were present bearing big, heavy shields and clubs. Behind them were the mix of monsters and the seven demigods, all armed heavily. And of course, the main attraction, a humongous Drakon with thick-red scales which glittered in the sunlight. And not a single monster was out of formation.

The harpies stood together on one side, likely for an aerial attack along with the Pegasi, who would likely be ridden by demigods as there were exactly seven of them.

"Phoenix, lower anti-teleportation shield on the chariot. Artemis, tell your huntresses to halt where they are and it is best if you flash up to my chariot," I said aloud.

A moment later, the moon goddess flashed in the chariot, with narrowed eyes before they widened seeing the monsters.

"A frontal attack will be useless because of the giants," She breathed, scanning the enemy force. "No arrow attack will work except for my divine arrows. Look at those shields."

Indeed. The shields were simply Giant sized and looked like they weighed a ton each.

"That is what I thought. I am taking them out on my own. Phoenix, arm six of the Greek fire missiles."

"Missiles armed. Select impact regions." the AI replied as a screen popped up, showing the same sight that I was seeing in front of me.

I quickly chose where I wanted to fire, and as soon as I clicked, the impact radius was highlighted before I clicked the launch option.

Immediately, six missiles shot at them, right in the middle of their camp, causing massive, loud explosions, killing a good amount of monsters and throwing the others around.

The Drakon, and the giants who were unaffected, roared, searching for the source of the attack, as the chaos started amongst the others, who started running in fright.

I jumped off my chariot, as the dory-spear that I had won from Asopus appeared in my hands in mid-air as I fell towards the Drakon, which was roaring and looking around wildly for the source of the attacks. My jump nonetheless was perfectly aimed with the Drakon being none the wiser, as I landed on the top of the Drakon's head, plunging the spear straight through its skull with all force I could muster, piercing its brain.

As the humongous Drakon roared in agony and slumped to the ground, I jumped down, leaving my spear lodged in its skull as my sword along with my shield appeared in my hands. I rolled in midair, just before I touched the ground, making my shield take the impact of the jump.

I rolled to a kneeling position before slashing my sword, decapacitating two cyclopes in a single motion before smashing my shield on the head of a dracaena, who was getting up, having survived the missiles.

I surged ahead, killing two hellhounds and another cyclops just as a group of giants noticed me and roared loudly.

As I prepared to charge, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Artemis becoming visible as she leaped out of the chariot. In an insane show of skill, she shot three arrows rapidly in mid-air, each of which lodged in the skull of the remaining three harpies, killing them instantly. She switched from her bow to her daggers just before landing on the skull of the lead Giant who was charging at me and plunged the daggers into his skull before using her remaining momentum to jump right onto the head of the next Giant.

Plunging one dagger in the Giant's jugular, she steadied herself on his shoulder before redrawing her bow and shooting five arrows so rapidly that her hand and bow became a blur.

Each arrow, precisely pierced through the eye of a Giant, making the burst into dust, just as Artemis leaped onto the ground.

All of this had happened in perhaps four or five seconds.

She looked at me while blowing a strand of her auburn hair out of her face. I gave her a smile from underneath my helm, and continued my assault, killing more monsters on the way.

That was when, two of the demigods, a male, and a female whom I didn't recognize, engaged me.

The girl swung her sword at me, trying to cleave me in half, but I just side-stepped before ramming my shield into her, sending her flying across the clearing before deflecting the other one's spear with my sword.

"Son of Poseidon," He growled just before I decked him in the face, knocking him out.

I shielded as two cyclopes swung their heavy war hammers at me. Thanks to the magic of the shield, I barely even felt the blow hit it before pushing them back and swung my sword, which turned into a trident in mid-swing for a longer reach, at them, turning them to monster dust as well.

I saw that Artemis was slashing through the monsters with her hunting knives, as long as her forearms with unbelievable grace.

With a jab of my trident, I shot a short burst of greek fire, disintegrating the group of monsters charging at me. Even the smallest touch of Greek fire was highly lethal to lower-level monsters like Hellhounds and dracaenas. Only cyclopes and the more powerful monsters had some level of immunity to it that they didn't disintegrate with a mere touch of the lethal fire.

I looked around and saw a Giant running towards Artemis, as she fought two of the demigods who had engaged her along with four cyclopes. I immediately launched my trident across the battlefield towards the Hyperborean giant.

The trident struck true and the giant disintegrated into monster dust.

I felt my senses tingle and brought my shield up just as three arrows impacted it. A group of dracaenas were firing arrows at me, and nearing with a bunch of cyclops and hellhounds following behind them.

I punched my own shield with a little earth-shaker power, and it started to glow with a bluish hue, signifying it had accumulated enough kinetic energy. I shifted it to my right hand and threw it like a frisbee at the approaching group, where it struck and detonated with a shockwave, disintegrating them immediately and blowing some away.

I followed up by removing my pistol from my belt and shot the strays, killing them rapidly, ensuring no monster survived. With each bullet, a monster disintegrated into dust. As I pulled the safety again, reloading the gun magically, silver arrows struck my targets.

With a sideways glance, I saw Artemis shooting the arrows. At her feet, the two demigods who had engaged her were bound tightly in silver wires, unconscious while the ground around her and her armor was covered with monster dust.

I shot a few more bullets, disintegrating the last of the monsters before surveying the battlefield which was now littered with weapons of the fallen monsters, some monster remains, seven demigods and of course, a hell lot of monster dust.

I walked to a demigod who was lying on the ground and checked her pulse. She was knocked unconscious by the missile explosion, it seemed, but still alive. Her armor was charred and she had burns but it didn't matter since they weren't fatal wounds.

I gestured to Artemis, who immediately shot a silver arrow at the unconscious girl, which bound her tightly in silver wires.

The two whom I had knocked unconscious during the fight were also bound.

I walked to the next fallen body and recoiled at the sight. The demigod was undoubtedly dead, having faced the brunt of one of the missiles. A chunk of the left part of his body was missing.

I saw Artemis move on to the last one and check his pulse before shaking her head.

Two of the seven demigods were dead. The rest had been captured.

"What should we do with the remaining?" I asked Artemis, taking a steadying breath.

"We will take them to Olympus. It will be a decision of the council." Artemis replied.

'What do you think, Alexander?'

#They will become prisoners of war and once they have exhausted their usefulness, they will likely end up on the wrong side of Zeus's master bolt and be sentenced to the fields of punishment for eternity. That is what Olympus does with Traitors.#

"It will be more merciful to kill them right here," I said aloud, making Artemis shake her head.

"They will die eventually for their crimes against Olympus, Percy. But they will be interrogated first for all the useful information they can give. It might give us an insight on the plans of the Titan Lord."

"It seems unfair… They chose a side because they were likely—"

"Persuaded, brainwashed, they are mere pawns, blah, blah, blah. I know. It is an old argument. I have heard them all before." Artemis said dismissively. "And while I agree with several of them, killing them right now won't really be any mercy especially as they are demigods. If we take them to Olympus, their minds will just be read, likely by Athena, and asked a few questions under Apollo's watch before their execution. So, it is just delaying their deaths if we take them to the council. They will end up in the fields of punishment in the end regardless. So, isn't it better if we take them to Olympus as we get information at least and their deaths don't go in vain?"

"That is not the point… even if you don't torture them, you will still kill them! They are children of my age whose only mistake was falling to the lure of the crooked one, and might I add, the negligence of gods had no small part in it!"

Thunder rumbled loudly in the sky at my words.

"Be careful with your words, Perseus," Artemis said stiffly. "I do not disagree with your point but the council exists for a reason. It is the council's decision. You can present their case though."

She snapped her fingers and the five prisoners and two bodies disappeared in silver light.

"Where did you send them?"

"To Athena. She will hold them until the council convenes and decides their fate." Artemis said just before she closed her eyes. She reopened them a moment later. "Athena has secured the prisoners. And, we should get going. I told the other five to go back. Come on now. Let us not dally. We have more worrying matters than a few prisoners, Percy."

I sighed in defeat. "Fair enough… let's—"

"Percy," Artemis said softly. "I understand your point. You can present your point to the council for them… and if you give a good defense not to kill them… a real good defense, believe me, everyone will support you. But, take your mind off it for now, please. It is vital for us to eliminate the other groups for now. Let us get going."

I nodded in response before calling my chariot back.

ARTEMIS POV

When we landed back in the camp, my huntresses were in a flurry of activity, running around, preparing the camp, and setting traps.

I blew my hunting horn, calling them to attention just as the five huntresses who were with me before Percy called me, appeared out of the treeline.

They immediately scrambled and formed a group around us.

I noted that they were already dressed in their armors as the situation demanded. Seeing them dressed like this was a rare occurrence as most preferred not to wear it unless it was something dire, namely code red, like it was right now. Even despite it being a code-red, most were wearing light armor and some had not even bothered to wear the full set. Only a few like Phoebe, Thalia, and Zoe were wearing relatively heavier armors.

Percy really stood out amongst us, just by attire. His rather heavy-looking, powerful armor was intimidating and so was his overall appearance in it. To be honest, I was rather envious of that armor that he wore, even if I knew that it wouldn't suit me, and despite the fact that I had several sets of godly, enchanted silver armors including the one I was wearing right now. His was really one of a kind. It was designed by Athena and commissioned by Poseidon, after all. Despite their rivalry, they had made some amazing things together.

"My Huntresses," I called. "As of a few minutes ago, Percy and I have eliminated a monster group that had been situated a little distance away from our camp. Now, as you would undoubtedly know by now that there are three more groups left. Two whom we are going to attack and the last one where we would let them attack and defend against them."

There was a chorus of agreement from my girls at the proclamation.

"That being said, I urge you all to be very careful. We might be the most elite group of fighters Olympus has. But today's activities are concerning. When Percy and I faced the monsters, they were in proper formations and attacked as a group rather than mindlessly charging, something seldom seen in lower-level monsters. The last time I saw such a thing was in the Giant war. These groups, on the other hand, are undoubtedly being commanded by the titans."

I took a deep breath before continuing my speech. "We are not sure of what adversities we will face. So, I urge you all to be extremely careful. If in danger, retreat. Your lives are more important than killing a few monsters. Today, I want all of you, every single one, to return to the camp alive, and if possible, uninjured. Am I understood?"

"YES, LADY ARTEMIS!" They chorused as one, making Percy raise an impressed eyebrow beside me.

"You want to say something, Percy?" I asked.

"Yes, if I am not wrong, your moon chariot can turn into a bus, right?"

"Yes, it can. And, I was asking you to give some speech, you know?"

"Oh, of course. Girls, kick some monster ass and don't die." Percy said.

"That is your inspirational speech?" I said as my hunters chuckled or snorted.

"Well, it covered everything and we are running short on time. Your chariot?" Percy asked imploringly.

"Why do you want my chariot?"

"So the hunt can follow us. We two will take the lead in my chariot and scan the place where the monsters are, their formation, and stuff. Then we send the information to the hunt, which will be trailing behind in your chariot and Zoe will lead them accordingly. As we start the attack, on signaling, they all will rain fire as well or do as the situation demands."

"That is a good idea," Annabeth said.

I nodded and removed my chariot keys from my pocket and clicked on the call button. A moment later, my chariot descended from the sky in a flash of silver light, pulled by my reindeer. As they landed, I pressed another button on the key and the chariot turned into a minibus.

"Zoe, you are driving and leading as usual," I said, tossing the key to her which she caught deftly.

"And under no circumstances, let Thalia take the wheel," Percy added with complete seriousness. The girl in question blushed furiously as my other hunters nodded in agreement with Percy, making me laugh. Even I had heard of Thalia's disastrous ride in the sun chariot from my brother. In his words, they might've died had Percy not somehow managed to calm Thalia down.

"Shut up, fish face. Get going." Thalia growled.

"Of course. Come, Artemis. And… Do you have devices for communication in the moon chariot? So we and Zoe can be in touch."

"Yep. It has everything." I nodded. "Do you?"

"Yes, it does. One of the most sophisticated communication systems of recent times with an AI. I can hack and communicate into almost every system on Earth if I want to." Percy replied.

"Excellent. Let us get going."

ARTEMIS POV

Less than ten minutes later, we found ourselves nearing the general location of the place the monster camp had been reported in.

"Sir, my sensors have located a large group of monsters, and they are moving East," The chariot's AI informed me, making me clench my fist.

East. Towards my camp.

Inwardly, I thanked higher powers that we had gotten the information on time, along with Percy and this chariot, which seemed to be a WMD in itself. The chariot was fitted with more weapons and ammunition than ten of the mortal world's most sophisticated fighter aircraft could carry. Not to mention, the technology in it which was still labeled as futuristic by the mortals. And nothing of this came as a surprise to me considering that the chariot had been created by Hephaestus himself, who labeled it as one of his best chariot works. (Of course, the best that he had made was his own chariot.)

"Sir, a total of Three-hundred and Twelve enemies were detected. Two hundred and eighty monsters, twenty mortals, and Twelve demigods. The list of the species of monster is being displayed on the screen, sir."

"Thank you, Phoenix," Percy said, scrolling through the list. I, too, glanced at it and what first caught my eye was 'Laistrygonian Giants' and the number forty-two beside it. Below it was 'Cyclops' with thirty-seven written beside it. Percy kept scrolling down as the names, Dracena, Hyperborean Giants, Harpies, and hellhounds passed by until he stopped at the end of the list.

Colchis Bull — 3

Dragon-serpent — Amphisbaena (1).

I sucked in a breath at the last name. Amphisbaena. She hadn't been seen in centuries since she was killed by some demigod, whose name I didn't remember, back in the fifteenth century.

Amphisbaena was a two-headed serpent spawned from the blood that dripped from Medusa's head as Perseus, the original one, flew over the Libyan Desert with her head in his hand. That stupid boy. Percy was tons better than that idiot.

As for Amphisbaena, she was a pain in the ass according to what I had heard. Her poison was lethal and the scales were thick enough not to be penetrated by simple arrows. Not that my arrows would have a problem with that, but the problem was that both her heads needed to be cut at the same time to kill her. At the exact same time. Or, the chopped head would simply regrow.

What made the task even more difficult was that her second head was at her tail instead of right beside the first one like a Hydra did. A head at both ends made the chopping more difficult. Also, her poison was lethal to mortals and demigods and she could spit the poison like a Hydra.

"Amphisbaena?" Percy asked. "Isn't she a venomous, dual-headed snakelike creature with a head at both ends?"

"Yes. She is classified as a dragonic-serpent to be precise as the computer says. The only way to kill her is to chop both her heads off at the same time."

Percy got a contemplative look on his face before he clicked the name and a holographic image of Amphisbaena appeared along with a short description.

"Have you faced her?"

"Not yet. This is her first appearance after she was killed more than five hundred years ago." I replied as the marching army of monsters came into view. The most surprising thing was that not a single monster was out of line or loitering behind. And they were marching in proper formations like the Roman army.

Taking the lead and the rear were the giants and the bigger cyclopes, along with Laistrygonian Giants, who were pulling carts of cannon balls with them. In the sky were eight of the demigods, mounted on pegasi along with harpies and a bunch of Symphilian birds.

In the middle was Amphisbaena with the Colchis bulls and the bow-wielding dracaenas.

Suddenly, Percy panicked and pressed the communication button. "Zoe! STOP. DO NOT MAKE THE TURN!" He shouted, making my head whip to the map, where my moon chariot's live location was being shown. My eyes widened, realizing if they had turned right, they would've been in direct line of sight of the monsters and the monsters would see them despite the distance because the monsters were on higher terrain.

Thankfully, Zoe stopped just in time.

"Reverse, reverse. Go a few meters back." Percy instructed and the dot began moving backward.

They had taken the road as my chariot while having the ability to bend space around it and squeeze through even the harshest of traffic without losing speed, and couldn't travel in the daylight without being visible. At night, it wasn't a problem though but it was morning right now and Apollo was directly overhead.

"Percy, what is happening?" Annabeth's voice sounded from the speaker.

"The monster army is marching down the road you were about to take a turn on."

"How far are they?" Annabeth asked.

Percy consulted a screen before saying, "Seven-hundred and eighty-nine meters… which is a little less than half a mile."

"Yes, I can convert, thank you very much. How fast are they moving?"

"The first monsters will arrive at the turn in five to six minutes. We cannot do a frontal attack. They have giants carrying huge ass shields in the front and at the back."

"How about the sides?"

"Not really protected, but there are mortals with guns and stuff. Oh, there are four artillery cannons… modern ones. Two at the side, two in the middle, all manned by mortals. If they fire at you, you all won't stand a chance."

"I will have you know that I have intercepted incoming shells in the mid-air before during World War two once," Zoe argued hotly, making me chuckle at the memory.

Some mortal Nazi pigs had spotted my hunt and spewed filth from their mouths. My huntresses had not liked it and had told them to fuck off due to my rules to not engage mortals unless necessary. Those men did not like that response and deemed them as a threat before firing on them with their tanks to annihilate them. Zoe, Phoebe, and Atlanta had simply intercepted the incoming shells with arrows, making them explode in mid-air, while the others had rained fire on the mortals with explosive and sonic arrows. It had taken them all but ten minutes to lay waste to the ten tanks and thirty men who had attacked them and not even needed my help.

Percy gave me an incredulous look.

"It is a long story but true," I replied simply.

"Alright, that aside, what is the plan of attack?" Percy asked. "I do not want to rush in. In my opinion, your hunt should attack from the sides after we rain fire from above. But then there are those demigods circling from above and the fact that the hunt can't reach on the other side, so there will be fire only from one side of the field."

"Leave that to us. We will get on both sides and the monsters won't even know." Zoe assured.

"And the demigods to me," I added, a plan forming in my mind.

"You can't attack demigods without them challenging you first," Percy reminded, making me smirk.

"But what if I attack the Pegasi?" I asked, making Percy give me a scandalized look.

"You can't kill the Pegasi! They are harmless creatures born of the sea! And the demigods will die too, due to the fall!"

"They won't, I assure you," I said, a grin forming on my face. "But I need some time to make the arrows and another few to regain my energy."

"What… are you going to do? And keep in mind that we only have five minutes tops."

Five minutes… Shit.

I cursed under my breath before turning to Percy. "Then you will have to take the melee fighting by yourself or bring someone else into the fray. I won't be able to regain enough energy within such a short time to fight in close quarters and pull insane moves. I will be here and shoot arrows."

Percy contemplated for a moment before nodding. "I will handle them then… Do what you must."

"Zoe?"

"Already on the way, setting up an ambush," She said.

"Superb. Is Thalia there?"

"Yep. Wazzup?" Thalia's voice sounded from the speaker.

"If I shout your name, you come in raining thunder. Okay?"

"Alright," She agreed.

"Okay, get going. Only start your assault after I drop from the sky. Before that, keep yourself braced and away from the immediate vicinity cause I am going to cause a bang. Oh, and try to keep those artillery cannons intact. I want those." Percy said, watching the marching monsters intently as I removed eight arrows from my quiver.

"Percy, please do not disturb me now…" I said, before closing my eyes.

'Athena? Are you there?' I thought intently, sending a telepathic probe to the goddess of wisdom.

'Of course. Sending over another bunch of traitors?'

'Sort of. But they won't arrive normally. They'll be on pegasi and armed. Not bound or anything. I am taking them out of the sky and sending them to you.'

'It won't be a problem if you give me a couple of minutes. And the same room you send the first five to.'

'Understood. I will take… four minutes or so before they start arriving. Good luck.'

'You too.'

I broke the connection before concentrating on the silver arrow in my hand. Being the goddess of archery gave me the divine authority on any and every arrow. I could manipulate its function and trajectory to my will if I want to. I pushed the power into the arrow, converting it from a normal one to a divine arrow. An arrow, meant to teleport a target and anything attached to it when in close range to the target, without actually touching the target.

The arrow thrummed in my hands as I felt it bending to my command. I pushed more power into it, imposing my intent with an iron grip. A second later I opened my eyes and saw that the arrow was glowing faintly with silvery-blue energy. A triumphant smile made its way onto my face.

Success.

"Geez, you could've warned me, woman," Percy complained, rubbing his eyes.

Oops. Should've told him to look away when I was enchanting.

"Ah, next time, when someone, especially Apollo or I, are enchanting arrows, do not look at us directly. It becomes bright."

"An understatement," He muttered, blinking the spots out of his eyes. "I almost became blind."

I rolled my eyes. Drama queen.

"The light wasn't that bright. Now shut up and let me do my work. We are running out of time." I said, before getting back to my work. With each arrow, I began to feel the drain in my powers. By the sixth arrow, my forehead dripped with sweat.

Even if I was a goddess, I still had my limits, especially in my mortal form. The power I was using was too much because of the nature of the arrow. The power I was going to put into making a single teleportation arrow that would transport a single demigod right now, could've teleported a dozen demigods manually without the enchanted arrow.

With a ragged breath, I picked up the last arrow and enchanted it before slumping down against the side of the chariot.

Percy was instantly by my side. "Artemis, are you alright?"

"How- how much time?"

"A minute tops till they arrive at the crossroad. Your huntresses have settled themselves on each corner. Zoe told me to wait till a considerable chunk of the army passes the crossing before I attack, so more time… like two minutes. And she has hidden your chariot."

I nodded wordlessly, before slumping back and taking deep breaths.

A moment later, something like a bottle rim touched my lip and I felt a liquid trying to enter.

"Drink this," Percy instructed and I opened my mouth, letting the liquid in without question.

Instantly, the taste of my mother, Leto's handmade venison hit my tastebuds, but its taste was far more diluted than I was used to. But, I found energy flooding into my body.

I cast a look at what it was and saw goldenish water in a 250ml plastic bottle, as I greedily gulped more down. Within a moment, the water was empty and I was feeling loads better.

"What… was that? It was nectar but…"

"It was nectar and crushed ambrosia mixed in water with a small amount of a special sea-herb."

"Sea herb?" I asked with confusion.

Why would he mix that with nectar and ambrosia, that too in water? Nectar was liquidy enough.

"Well, in that 250 ml bottle, there was a cube of ambrosia, 100 ml of water, a single leaf of the herb with the rest being water. We demigods can't have a lot of ambrosia and nectar without burning up. Chiron recommends no more than 200 ml or two cubes be consumed in 48 hours and that too, only under special circumstances. This is half the dose, but the herb that I have mixed makes it more potent without the burning-out part. And water dilutes it, making it work faster and longer while providing a slight energy boost to me in itself without any ill effects."

"Thoughtful," I muttered. "But you should be able to consume more than what Chiron told, considering you are a child of the big three and very powerful. Likely, twice the amount with ease. Perhaps even thrice that."

"I know. But I don't wish to risk it." Percy replied just before the AI interrupted.

"Sir, the monsters have started crossing the cross-road. You better get ready."

"Thanks, Phoenix," Percy said, rising. "Arm six missiles and mark the places where the demigods are so that I do not end up killing them with the missiles."

"Yes sir. Positions are marked in black. Select where to impact, relative to their movement."

I saw Percy quickly select the spots and looked below. A few lines of the army had crossed the turn but a considerable was still behind. I glanced at the map and saw the silver dots on all four sides, marking my huntresses, who were hiding behind rocks or trees.

And, despite being surrounded, the monsters couldn't smell them or sense them, making me smile. Their uniforms made it impossible for their scents to escape. Of course, it had a few rather unfortunate side effects sometimes as it allowed no scent to escape, but they had learned to cope with it.

Percy suddenly shifted the position of his position as the Pegasi began nearing.

"You ready?"

"Yes."

"Then do your things with the demigods in… 5…4…3…2…1… NOW!" Percy shouted, pressing the button to launch the missiles.

I too, launched into action, knocking an arrow and shooting it towards the nearest Pegasus-mounted demigod, immediately knocking another and shooting it at the next one just as six missiles were launched from the chariot toward the monster army. My arrow tore through the air in the blink of an eye and exploded in a bright silver flash centimeters before it touched the Pegasi.

I didn't stop for the light to clear and continued shooting arrows at lightning speed. As my seventh arrow exploded in silver light there was an earth-shaking boom, signifying the missiles had hit. Undeterred by the distraction, I shot the last arrow, teleporting the last airborne demigod away to Athena.

"I am jumping down. Phoenix, take commands from Artemis till I return."

"Yes, sir."

"Percy," I called, making the boy pause as he prepared to jump. He turned to me, tilting his head toward me. I couldn't gauge his expression beneath his helmet but as far as I could guess, it was an enquiring expression.

"Stay safe," I breathed, making Percy's lips, the only part of his face which was visible, quirk into a smile.

"Don't I always? And please clear my landing space, for me, won't you?" He asked, before leaping down without warning.

My eyes widened as I knocked an arrow immediately and shot it after him. The arrow whizzed past Percy in mid-air and impacted the ground, creating a small shockwave, eradicating all monsters in the radius of two meters moments before Percy landed with a dramatic pose while causing a mild earthquake, making Giants stumble and fall.

Boys.

But it was indeed effective as a bunch of monsters and mortals got crushed under their weight.

A moment later, Percy was on his feet, his arms stretched, a machine in each hand and he began firing. At the same time, a hail of silver arrows descended on the monsters from all sides, courtesy of my girls.

My attention was drawn away from them, as I heard screeches of birds. I immediately turned and saw A flock of Symphian birds flying towards the chariot. And, now I was unsure for how long the invisibility will protect it.

"Phoenix, play some loud music!" I shouted and a second later, music blared to life from the chariot, making the birds go crazy and fly around in circles. After that, it was a highly easy task to take them out. Within five arrows, the flock of some thirty birds thinned to zero.

"Phoenix, circle the battlefield at a moderate pace. Don't hover."

"Yes, ma'am," the AI replied and the chariot moved, circling the battlefield. Now, it did make my job a bit tougher considering that shooting a target that was moving, while you yourself were moving was difficult, but then again, I wasn't the goddess of Archery for nothing. Taking a precise aim, I shot another arrow, which intercepted a cannon ball a Laistrygonian giant had thrown in Percy's direction before shooting another arrow, killing it. I knocked three arrows in one go and shot them together, resulting in the death of two more Laistrygonians and a twelve feet tall cyclops.

I turned my attention back to the battlefield and saw that several monsters had already been turned to dust, courtesy of the waves of arrows from my girls. Percy, on the other hand, had not moved from his landing spot as he fired his guns while turning in circles. The celestial bronze bullets mercilessly tore through the monsters as empty shells rained from the guns onto the ground.

A few seconds later, as I took down two giants, with arrows I saw Percy throw away his, now likely empty guns before switching to his trusty swords. Yes, plural.

With one sword in each hand, the boy leaped into the battle, cleaving through a charging Colchis bull with a single swing while blocking a Warhammer from a cyclops with his other sword before beheading him.

I shot another few arrows while keeping an eye on Percy. He was the one in the most danger. My huntresses were at a distance and had powers in numbers. Percy was alone, in the middle of the enemy.

I nearly panicked when a mortal turned his artillery cannon on Percy and shot it. Before I could do anything, Percy's sword twitched and the projectile was deflected onto an incoming cannon ball, courtesy of yet another Laistrygonian giant making both explode with a boom, killing a few nearby Dracena. As the blast happened, four globs of water shot forth from Percy's sword at high speed, freezing into ice in mid-air, before impacting each mortal who manned the artillery cannons, knocking them out.

I scoffed. These men were likely mercs or criminals whom the crooked one had freed to perform his dirty works. Rapists, thieves, murderers, and such. All of whom had been employed by Atlas were criminals and I was willing to bet my bow that these men were the same. It was better to kill them off than keep such scum alive.

This seemed to gain the attention of the other mortals near him and they turned to him before firing their machine guns at his back. Percy dissolved into mist making the bullets hit the monsters that were charging at Percy instead, tearing holes through them.

Percy appeared behind the mortal men, knocking them out with a blow to their heads before whirling to decimate the monsters around him, his swords aflame with greek fire.

I saw some great movement out of the corner of my eye and my attention was drawn to Amphisbaena, who was unfortunately still alive and had regenerated completely. She was slithering forward towards Percy, her eyes glowing like yellow luminescent bulbs as she swatted any monster out of her way, trying to get to Percy.

Percy, too, noticed her as he decapitated two Hellhounds and skewered two dracaenas while deflecting a canon ball away from him onto the monsters behind.

"Demigod!" She hissed threateningly, her hiss sounding like nails scratching on a stone wall, making me wince at the irritating sound. She should've died when the missile impacted her.

"You can speak?" Percy asked with incredulity as he casually swung his sword through the air and a wave of sharp icicles shot from it, piercing a dozen monsters, including three Hyperborean Giants, killing them all.

In the meanwhile, I kept shooting arrows, keeping one eye on Percy and any threats that he might not be able to see. Thankfully, many mortals had already gone down, courtesy of me and my huntresses or the monsters who trampled them.

I shot another arrow, which pierced the brain of a Laistrygonian giant from behind just as an arrow from my huntresses intercepted the giant thrown canon ball and Amphisbaena hissed threateningly at Percy, making me wince.

I hated such sounds as her voice. Really, her voice was irritating as fuck. Who in their right minds would want to hear a voice that sounded like nails being scratched on a rock?.

Percy too, looked like he had enough and thrust both his swords upwards, shooting a jet of water from each. The water took a crescent shape in mid-air before turning to solid ice. A moment later, they plunged down and before Amphisbaena could understand what was happening, her heads lolled off her body at the same time making her explode into monster dust.

Percy didn't wait. Swinging his swords in arcs of destruction, he tore through the army, moving towards the huge crescent blades made of ice. Those were at least three meters in length and a meter wide.

Unfortunately, before he could reach them, two Hyperborean giants picked those up and roared to the heavens, causing all monsters to look at him.

"KILL THE BOY!"

The monsters let out war cries and charged toward Percy at once, ignoring the incoming arrows.

My breath hitched as the monsters charged at Percy as one. Around Two hundred monsters versus one demigod. As I prepared myself to jump, Percy raised his swords and I felt a wave of power radiate from him, making me shiver. Suddenly, the air tested metallic as storm clouds gathered overhead rapidly and wind buffeted. A ring of greek fire burnt around Percy, preventing monsters from getting within a meter's radius of his body.

As the first few monsters turned to dust, the hairs on my neck stood up and my eyes widened, realizing what was coming. "PHOENIX, GET THE CHARIOT AWAY!"

Just as the chariot traveled a little distance away from the top of the field, a humongous bolt of lightning dropped from the sky towards Percy, who fell to one knee, bringing his swords above him in an arc.

The Lightning bolt met his swords just as they clanged above him, causing a lightning-infused humongous shockwave that rocketed in each direction, flinging and annihilating anything in its path. Even I felt the chariot vibrate, but it thankfully held.

The bolts of lightning and the shockwave tore through monsters and even sent the artillery cannons flying back while kicking up a dust storm.

"Phoenix! Enemy Status!"

"None left. Allies were unharmed except for a few who fell on their backs. I will recalculate just in case the shockwave disrupted my systems." The chariot informed.

I couldn't see Percy in the dust that had been kicked up due to the thing he did…

"Phoenix, what about Percy?"

"Sir seems unharmed but is still kneeling on the, albeit destroyed road."

I took a deep calming breath before snapping my fingers and jumping down the chariot onto the ground, landing almost gracefully on the crack-filled road as the dust began to clear with the breeze I had created.

Regaining my balance, I ran towards him, careful not to fall due to the destroyed street. Whatever Percy had done had badly, very badly damaged the street. There were more potholes than the street now and the tarmac was badly cracked.

I knelt to a stop next to his kneeling form, as my nostrils burned with the overwhelming smell of ozone and dust

His breathing was labored, as he clutched his sword tightly for support. His helm had fallen off revealing his sooty face and his jet black hair standing up in all directions. I noticed that he had burns on his hands, especially his left one. Electric burns.

His eyes were closed, and slight blood covered his lips. He had undoubtedly spat blood a few moments ago.

I snapped my fingers and Percy's bag appeared in my hands.

I quickly rummaged through his bag, trying to find the bottle he made me drink.

'Damn, what all does this boy have in his bag? Books, clothes, guns, grenades, swords, shoes, blanket, pillow… ah, here it is!' I smiled in triumph as I found where his medical supplies were. Inside that small-looking pouch, were a score of bottles similar to the ones he fed me from, packs of Ambrosia, two canteens of pure nectar, a mortal first-aid box, relief sprays, and other things.

I removed a bottle of nectar-water… or whatever he called, and opened it before bringing it to Percy's mouth.

"Drink, Percy," I ordered and he started to gulp the liquid slowly.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw my huntresses slowly coming towards us, looking around cautiously for enemies and minding their steps.

Percy started to look better as he gulped down the golden liquid greedily. His electric burns started to heal, already looking days old when only a few seconds had passed. A moment later, his armor turned back into his necklace, leaving him in his green t-shirt which clung to his torso. His vambraces disappeared and so did his weapons.

That was when I noted two things. One, the place where he had worn vambraces was untouched. And two, his arms were still trembling.

"After effects of electric shock," Thalia said from behind me. "He'll be alright in a few minutes. Just dip his hands in water."

I snapped my fingers and two bowls of water materialized. Thalia removed another bottle from Percy's bag. A steel bottle that would hold about a liter of water. She poured it into the bowls and Percy dipped his hands in it, immediately sighing in relief.

"Sea water. Always best for kelpie. Works like a charm."

"Thanks," Percy said. "Pour some over my head as well."

Without question, Thalia flipped the bottle over Percy's head, drenching him from head to toe with much more water than I had anticipated.

The trembling lessened drastically a moment later as the sea water worked its magic.

"My lady, what should we do regarding…" Zoe asked, gesturing wildly around us.

I got to my feet and for the first time took a look around the battlefield. The monster remains, dead bodies, and weapons littered the area we were in. A few nearby trees were uprooted and one was even on fire. The artillery cannons had been displaced, two of them lying on their sides, but not looking unusable. A few repairs and they would be as good as new.

As for the dead bodies, some were horrendously charred, burnt, or crushed. Four demigods and thirty mortals.

I also noticed the dirt on the uniforms of several of my huntresses, likely due to falling on their asses, courtesy of the shockwave. But they were uninjured and most importantly, alive.

Percy shakily got to his feet before he stumbled but I caught him before he could fall to the ground. His muscles were still spasming it seemed. But, then again, the bolt of lightning he had called upon was humongous and he was no son of Zeus.

"You should rest for some time. Wait for the muscle contraction to subside. It will take a few minutes if you just lay down" Atlanta said from behind Thalia.

"I am alright," He grunted.

"No, you aren't. You will be in a few minutes. And we all can do with a ten-minute rest before we continue. Let the nectar and ambrosia work properly. And then, if you are alright, I will take you. I think we can set camp at the side. Girls, get to work!"

They scrambled and within a minute a temporary camp had been set up. The wolves came out as Liekos bounded towards Percy, nuzzling him in concern.

"I am alright, boy. Thanks for the concern." Percy said, patting the wolf's head. I was still standing right beside him even if he was on his own feet and able to stand properly by now.

"Percy, go to the medical tent and lay there," I ordered and Percy thankfully obeyed with only a little grumbling before limping to the nearby medical tent with Liekos at his side.

"It was interesting, wasn't it?" A voice asked from behind, and I whirled around only to find myself face to face with my lieutenant.

"Zoe, don't scare me like that," I breathed. "And what do you mean?"

"The lightning, my lady. The bolt that Percy summoned. It should not have been possible. Percy… he is powerful but he isn't a son of Lord Zeus."

"But he is the son of Poseidon, who is also called the storm bringer, Zoe. And if you didn't notice, the storm came first." I added, pointing at the dark clouds overhead.

Zoe shook her head. "Lord Poseidon cannot direct lightning, my lady. Only Lord Zeus and his children can do that. I have seen the storms he caused during the First Titanomachy. I watched from my garden as the elder Olympians and their allies led the siege of Othrys. Lord Poseidon can rain lightning but not direct it. Only Zeus can. Percy directed it precisely on his swords and caused the shockwave."

Thunder rumbled in the sky in agreement making me contemplate. Zoe was indeed correct. Poseidon couldn't direct lightning and neither could his kids. Heck, there was no son or daughter of Poseidon who had even caused lightning, or a decent-sized storm before like Percy just had. So it was indeed a mystery how he had directed the lightning and then done what he had… which was something I had never seen before.

"And not to forget," Zoe continued. "He tore through some two hundred with that single move. I have never seen something like that, my lady."

"I also remember your father being hit by the lightning bolts two or three times while fighting Percy on Othrys," I said, remembering the epic fight between the two.

"I didn't know that…"

"I chalked it up to the fact that we were directly beneath the sky and Atlas was the tallest one there and so an errant bolt hit him… but that does not seem to be the case now I think about it," I said, remembering how timed the attacks had been.

"So, the question is, how can Percy control lightning?"

"Simple, he just produces lightning and manipulates the water vapor in the air."

I turned and saw Annabeth walking towards us.

"What?" Zoe asked.

"Lightning always follows the path of least resistance for itself. Water is more conductive than dry air, so the bolt will always take the more humid path unless, of course, someone like Thalia or Zeus manipulates the bolt itself. Percy just manipulates the path. It is simple science." She replied, making me raise my eyebrows.

Now, don't get me wrong but we gods didn't really care about science except for perhaps Athena, who was interested in the advancements of mortals and Hermes to some extent, mainly due to his relevance in mortal affairs. The rest of us disregarded it because our perception was much more advanced than the mortal perception of things were. Thousand years down the line from today, what they consider the pinnacle of modern science today, would be primitive for them then… And yet, it would remain flawed.

As long as they tried to justify things by science, especially natural phenomena, they would be flawed. Nature in itself was the will of gods. Mortals may have found a scientific explanation for natural phenomena and yet, the fact remains. They were created by us gods.

The concept was a running joke among most of us. Those mortals had the right idea of it a couple of thousand years ago, mainly because gods were closer to them. Since we retreated, things had changed. What was once rightfully known as the will of gods, was now justified under the name of science.

But, I couldn't deny that Annabeth's explanation made sense. It was true that lightning took the path of least resistance unless manipulated with godly powers.

So, if what Annabeth was saying was indeed the case, the bolt could potentially be manipulated by Zeus or his demigods with ease if they wanted. It could potentially be dangerous for Percy. I would need to warn him to keep it to a minimum and avoid it if facing someone with the power to manipulate lightning.

"Lady Artemis," Annabeth called, drawing my attention back to her.

"Yes?"

"I came here to ask what we should do with the bodies and the weapons?"

"Give a burial to the bodies of the demigods. Leave the mortals. They all are likely criminals or mercenaries. Collect the weapons and the trophies. And see if those canons are in working conditions or can be restored. Percy has called dibs on them already but I am sure he won't mind letting us use it till the situation is resolved or lending us a couple. Keep the guns in our armory for now. We will see if we can produce ammo for them… we likely can, considering Percy has such things." I mused.

"Yes, Lady Artemis," Annabeth said before running off.

"I will assist them and make sure everyone is alright for the next fight," Zoe said before running off as well, leaving me alone in the field as I watched everyone get to work.

I decided to sit down and regain the energy that I had used to enchant those arrows. After all, I needed to be ready for the next fight.

AND... DONE!

Hope you all liked it, especially with a longer length of 10k words as compared to my previous few chapters.

A huge thank you to I_amaSWITCHbot and Ultimate_Gamer for betaing this chapter.

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Xerzo LotCN: I don't think the hunt would be completely fucked up without Percy as they are no slouches. They too have powerhouses and good fighters like Thalia, Annabeth, and Zoe amongst them and not to mention, Artemis herself. But yes, there might've been casualties because more members of the hunt would have needed to engage the monsters. Having Percy with them is similar to having an extra god helping them in the fight and that is what makes a huge difference.

Walter Ha: Yes, Artemis will but that will be after the end of the Titan war.

Ph03nx: At the moment, yes.

Strawberrysortcake: To be honest, I am not finding the need to put him in. And Percy is independent enough by now to fight his own battles. When Alexander will be needed, he will come in, I promise.

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Thank you everyone else for your lovely compliments and all the love for the story.

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Also, do join my Discord server, House of HPfanfictioner66 where you can directly communicate with me, ask questions, etc. Hope to see you all lovely readers there soon Link: discord . gg / 4qfP3fxdQ4 [Remove the spaces please]

I have my own channel on the discord server known as Emerald Library. I recommend that you join the server and there, you won't only have access to me, but several other big authors who have their channels on the Emerald Library. Link: discord . gg / jtAxRnH6Tk [Remove the spaces please]

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At the moment, I have four main stories. They are:

1. The Rise of the Last Potter: My Novel length Harry Potter fic which is already 300k+ words long and it is a work in progress. Updated Regularly.

2. The Legend of the Son of Poseidon: A Novel Length Percy Jackson fic which is already 250k+ words long and it is a work in progress. Updated Regularly.

3. Loved Ones Skipping Stones and Ice-cream: A fluffy Haphne one-shot. It is completed obviously.

4. SECRETS: Another romantic one-shot I published recently. Complete as well.

(PLEASE READ THEM ALL)

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Stay Happy! Stay Safe! Keep Smiling! Keep reading!

HPfanfictioner66