Hello there, my dear readers! It is me, Czechus, with long-awaited, chapter 4 of "Out Of Reach"! I know you wanted to see chapter 4. So here I am!

Like always, before the chapter starts, I shall answer your comments.

Jason Vander Vlugt – Thank you.

acherus01 – Yes, it was empusa. And I believe I just switched from third-person narrative to the first-person narrative. Nevertheless, it was a mistake on my part and I am sorry for it.

Janny092 – Love your enthusiasm. Don't worry, I will.

Sm0keyPanda – Thank you very much and I hope that you will also like future chapters.

kobistar123 – Thank you very much.

Nliochristou – I don't plan on upgrading his armor, but the invisible unit is something he will definitely have in the future. I don't know when exactly he will use it, but he will.

StellarEngine – Thank you very much!

ParadoxTheory374 – Thank you! And no, I planning for B312 to be as independent of Olympians as possible. His priority is protecting humanity. As for Artemis and her hunters… If they attack him, the UNSC protocols are clear about what to do in that kind of situation…

Adriaus Nighthunter – Thank you for your kind words… Wow, I didn't know I can make so many people cry, to be honest…

Guest – It's all because of our lives man. Many writers are quiet busy people in real life. And even with the help of beta-readers, it also takes a long time to get a chapter edited.

DOOT76 – eee, No, lol.

Guest – That is something I would want to see. Since Athena is super nerdy inside. So, who knows, maybe in the future chapters, when Six will meet Athena… Maybe, maybe…

Guest – A) – No, why would he want anyone's attention? He is a Spartan, and on top of that – one of ONI's hunters/assassins, why would he want any form of attention? B) – No. B312 wants to stay on low-profile because he knows he cannot mess with the time. That, and encountering anyone's military force would only end up in bloodshed. C) – What kind of signals? The only signals he will find will the one from the twenty-first century. No UNSC or ONI at all. So, what would be the point?

Crazzytony – It will definitely be very devastating for Artemis, not gonna lie. But I must warn all readers, that it's gonna take a little time before B312 and Artemis will meet face-to-face.

And that is it. It is time to start! I really hope you're gonna like this one too!

Out of Reach

Chapter 4

First encounter

Dark corridors, stone walls, everything around Noble Six was claustrophobic. It almost looked as if whoever created this labyrinth, made sure that it would be as nightmare-ish as possible—a never-ending maze.

And he wasn't there alone. Every now and then, he would find another one of those mutants. Every single one of them, at least as of now, was purely hostile to Six. None of them tried to communicate, none of them attempted a diplomatic approach. They just blindly rushed at him, wanting nothing more than to shed Six's blood.

Six could not understand precisely what was happening. He understood why they were hostile – after all. The UNSC wasn't the most welcomed within the colonies, and worlds, under the Insurectioninsts rule. However, he couldn't understand why someone would create an endless labyrinth. What was the purpose of it? Why would any Insurectioninst faction want to create such an abomination?

Obviously, Six assumed that he landed on one of the world controlled by the Insurrectionist cell. And judging on how they looked and how they reacted to him, it was evident that they were some kind of leftovers from most likely a failed experiment, left here to rot and die.

Many people from Insurectioninsts' faction participated in morally questionable science projects. Some – if not all – all of them were created as an answer to the UNSC Orion project, a.k.a. – to Spartans. Most of them would often end up as a massive failure. And Noble Six believed that now he was a witness of a failed project created to counter the Spartan Project.

And yet Six could tell that something was off. Why would any member of the Insurrection want to create monsters resembling anything from greek mythology? What is some kind of sick and twisted joke aimed at the UNSC or ONI?

And most importantly, why would anyone build such a useless maze? Was someone here obsessed with old fairy tales?

The maze itself was, of course, useful. At least for Noble Six. It was effortless to hide an ONI space-ship within this maze – only those who knew the way could have any hope of finding it. Others – that is, mutants and other natives of this weird place – would most likely never find it.

"This place… This place is very similar to that ancient labyrinth created by Daedalus, isn't it? An endless maze where seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls would be sacrificed to a minotaur..." Auntie Dot's voice suddenly appeared in Six's head.

Six could recall from his early days' stories about the endless maze from the Greek fairy tales—a myth about Theseus, Ariadne, and Minotaur.

The truth, on the other hand, was much more straightforward than greeks has imagined it. And to many – less epic than the version told in myths.

The people from the Minoan civilization were more advanced than the Greeks at that time. People from the continental greek barely started any form of culture, while Minoans were already masters of the Mediterranian sea, alongside their cousins, Phenicians.

They were so much more advanced to the Greeks that it is most likely possible that the myth about Atlantis was nothing more than a tale about old Minoan civilization.

In that way, a few more myths could be debunked.

The Endless Maze?

Minoans had an exciting way of building their own cities. They didn't feel the need to create any walls around their cities, so the citizens didn't have to be restricted by the city limits. And so, most of the Minoan cities had a very interesting labyrinth-like pattern of streets. And for many outsiders, it would most likely look like an endless maze.

Minotaur?

The bull was one of the sacred animals of the Minoan civilization. It was always bonded to the king's rule over his kingdom and considered an emissary from the gods. That is why on the streets of Knossos, there were so many depictions of bull.

How the hell greek created the version with Pasiphae will be a mystery to people of the future forever.

Contribute of seven boys and girls to the maze?

Minoan spread their power and influence over primitive Greeks. It's most likely that they would demand some form of payment in the form of slaves. After all, many ancient civilizations were built around slavery.

See? You don't need mythology at all to explain the past. The ancient times were just… ancient. And that's all.

Those were lessons Noble Six could still recall from his past. The past that was long gone and nearly forgotten.

During his Spartan training, he didn't receive that much knowledge about ancient times, especially in the old religions. They taught him only what was necessary. The only reason why, during his time as a Spartan recruit, anyone would mention myths, was when it was impossible to avoid it.

But Noble Six still could recall old lessons, when he was still just a child. From the pre-school or from his parents. Teachings about gods and how they treated humanity. And Six never liked those stories. They were too scary for any child.

Sadly, he never had that much time to stay a child. He was forced to grow up very fast.

And so, Noble Six continued walking through what seemed to be an endless labyrinth. All around him, nothing more but stone walls with the black, void-like sky above him. From time to time, a few mutants would come out and try to attack him. But he was too fast and too good for them. Compared to the Covenant, they were like small children, trying to surprise their parents.

Of course, Noble Six didn't treat them like kids simply because their tactics were similar to a small kid. They were his enemies. They tried to kill him. And so, Noble Six would always hit back, with ferocity and precision of a demon.

And so, he walked through, trying to create a map inside his mind of this weird place.

"I must say I don't understand. Why would anyone try to re-create a mythological version of the Labirynth of Knossos? Why wasting time and resources to create something so… Weird?"

Meanwhile, Auntie Dot, now Noble Six's personal Smart AI, was still wandering inside his head.

And so, A Spartan-AI duo was exploring what seemed to be nothing more but a creation of a mad man.

Knossos… Noble Six knew this place. He never was there personally, but he knew it was the birthplace of one of the most important civilizations of Earth. Placed near Heraklion, a capital city of Crete state in Greece.

He has seen the ruins. He instantly recognized that someone used more fantasy than actual facts to recreate the maze on many pictures and holo-vids. This maze was different from the historical one.

And as Noble Six was gathering his thoughts about why this place existed in the first place, a weird light appeared near them. Soon, the light took over the Spartan and covered him entirely, only to disappear a second later.

When the light died out, Noble Six noticed that the entire scenery around has changed drastically. He was no longer surrounded by grey-dark walls. Instead, he was standing in the middle of a long destroyed street that resembled a labyrinth. The walls also had a different color – now they were red, blue, and white, with visible traces of time on them.

And the sky – it was no longer pitch black. It was replaced with a night sky with clouds and all too well known for Noble Six stars.

The night sky was full of constellations, that could be seen only on Earth. There was no other place in the universe with Ursa Major and Major, with Pegasus or Cygnus on the sky. Such a thing could only be seen on a clear Earth's night sky.

Noble Six couldn't believe or understand what was going on. Just a minute ago, he was in a weird, prison-like world, where the sky was nothing more than an endless black void. Now he was back on Earth.

It was something impossible in Six's mind. There was no way that Six could magically transport himself back to Earth. Such a statement was against anything logical.

But there was another thing. If by some miracle, Six was back on Earth, he could go back to the nearest ONI or UNSC headquarters and return to action. To get revenge against the Covenant. To make sure that Earth had one protector more.

And so, he reached his TACPAD, trying to open all UNSC channels, to report his return to Earth.

"No! Don't do it!"

Before Six could activate his com-channels, a sudden outburst coming from his AI stopped him. He could not understand why she didn't want him to report back to the UNSC. It was illogical.

"I have been listening to all radio signals from the moment we have appeared on Earth. Something is very wrong, and it doesn't make sense to me. Every signal is too primitive for the UNSC standard. That, and according to those transmissions… We are on Earth… But this isn't Earth from our time…"

For Six, it was the weirdest thing he has ever heard. How could they be back on Earth and, at the same time, be somewhere else? What did she mean by Earth, not from their time? Was she trying to suggest that they have traveled back in time?

"Yes, Noble Six…" After a second, she admitted with a voice that could not contain her shock. "According to those radio-signals… It is 2006…"

The year 2006. Back in the early days of the twenty-first century. Way before humans returned to the moon, way before creating the Internation Society of Civil Engineers… Way before anything known to Noble Six.

For him, it was surreal. Even in his times, time-travels were still in the domain of Science Fiction. There were many theories about time travel. Hell, there were also a few rumors that the ancient civilization – the very one that Covenant was treating like gods – could have the ability to manipulate time.

But a full time travel into the past? It wasn't something anyone in his time thought was possible.

Then, a revolutionary idea came into Six's head. If they were back in the past, they could send a warning to all humans. They could warn them about the evil empire hiding somewhere in the stars. They could prepare humanity for incoming genocidal war. Humans could travel to the stars more prepared for anything than ever before.

"That is assuming that this is our Earth… Or that we can predict what will happen if we try to change the history…"

Once again, Dot's voice rang in his head. He knew she was right. There was no way of saying if this Earth is indeed his Earth from his past.

Within a second, Six's mind was flooded with information about possible bad consequents of time travels and also even theories about multi-verse and different versions of realities. This knowledge would tear apart his idea of preparing humanity.

The only way to check out if they have just moved back to the past or if they have landed on a completely different reality was to wait until 2021. Only then would they know if this was indeed their Earth.

In other words, they would have to wait fifteen years to prove anything—fifteen years of waiting, while back in their times, humanity was fighting most-likely their last fight.

Never before Noble Six felt so useless. So out of place and so… Alien. He might as well land on a completely different world, with an entirely alien civilization. Even if all around him, there was Earth and human culture, but it wasn't anything he knew.

Meanwhile, Auntie Dot was silently observing her Spartan. She watched as he was trying to think about what to do, what action to take.

And she understood his struggle. Both of them were utterly out of their time: that or maybe even worse – entirely out of their universe. And nothing Auntie Dot would try could bring them back home.

That is if their home still existed.

Auntie Dot knew – just like everyone else in the UNSC – that if the Covenant would ever manage to destroy Reach, they would have an open path to Earth. And now, Reach was under the glass, and the gate to Earth was wide open.

And so, our duo seemed to be lost in their thoughts until a young woman's scream brought them back to reality.

Noble Six didn't waste even a second. Before the scream could fade away from his ears, he immediately jumped into action. Judging from the volume of the cry, the victim could not be that far away from him.

And so, Noble Six ran, as fast as he could faster than any human ever alive. It only took him a few seconds to finally reach the place where a mysterious woman begged for help.

And what he's seen was once again mysterious to him in every way.

First, he noticed the victim. A twenty-year-old female with auburn hair wrapped like a ponytail around her neck. She also had weird, rusty-red eyes – a color that Noble Six never seen in anyone's eyes. Her attire was also not something similar to anything from the twenty-first century – her clothes had many elements very identical to nets. They looked more like belonging to someone from a past millennium.

On the other hand, her aggressor looked like someone who just appeared straight from a dark fantasy world. A weird and disgusting creature that looked like a combination of a wolf and a human.

Noble Six waited, patiently analyzing the entire situation before him. This weird man looked like one of those mutants from the labyrinth-world. Meanwhile, the woman looked like an average human, with just unusual attire.

"Noble Six, before you do anything… Those two individuals are not entirely humans."

Once again, Noble Six was on a moral crossroads. Military protocols dictated him to not react at all. Cole Protocol dictated him to kill both individuals. And Mortal Dictata, on the other hand, that in this situation, he should view them both as humans.

Meanwhile, the werewolf-like creature came closer to the female. She had a terrified look on her face and was desperately fighting for her life.

Noble Six made his decision. The observation was precise – the werewolf-like creature behaves the same way as those mutants from the maze world, so he will be treated in the same way.

Spartan time activated. Now it was time for the greek pantheon to learn the power of a true Spartan…

Every once in a while, Britomartis would wander back to her home isle, the biggest greek isle – Crete. After all, even a goddess can feel nostalgic. And so was Britomartis. She loved to come back to her home island to recall the moments when she was just a demigod, walking between the mortals of the ancient Crete.

She would recall how this island looked, and how different life here was. Back in those ancient times. When there were no roads, no cars, no tourist spots. When life was more straightforward, and perhaps even brighter.

She still remembers from her youth all the views, the smells, and the talks between the streets—about the weather and the new sailors coming from other, weird lands.

And now, after all those millennia, it was nothing more than a monument of the ancient past.

She was just a girl, barely in her twenties, when she was turned into a goddess. When she was still a mortal, she was the daughter of Zeus and Karma, a Cretan demigoddess of Eubouleus. She was a very beautiful demigoddess in whom a king of Crete has fallen in love.

She wasn't interested in some old geezer. She wanted to be free. And so she declined his proposal.

Of course, most of the kings from ancient times didn't exactly like when someone says no to them, and so the king ordered his man to catch her. And so she ran. As far and as fast as she could. But no matter how she tried, she was soon surrounded. And so, she jumped into the fishing net in the harbor, when soon she was saved by Artemis.

From then, she lived with Artemis as one of her hunters, following her wherever she went. Soon she became one of Artemis' best friends. And like any good friend, Britomartis helped Artemis whenever she could, for example, when Artemis needed to hunt golden deers for her chariot.

Later, Artemis turned Britomartis into a minor Goddesses of hunting and fishing nets.

That is how the people of Greece always were telling her story. That is how she mostly remembered her past.

But there was something else within those memories. As if something was telling her that this is not exactly how her story went. That what she remembers is not precisely the truth.

From time to time she would have those weird flashbacks, when she once again is just a mortal girl, wandering around the streets of Knossos. But everything around her is different. No one speaks the same language as people from Greece, the culture, the language, and the style of writing – everything is different.

In those weird flashbacks, nothing looks like from the tales. The Crete is entirely different. The Greeks are altogether different.

And so, she tried to find out on her own, what exactly she was experiencing. And the only place where she could find the answer was her home.

As a goddess, she knew about the five different ages of the world. That is something everyone on Olympus knew was true. But humans… Mortals had a different version. According to them, history looked utterly different. There was no age of primordials, titans, any of that. According to them, before the Greek civilization, there were countless others.

At first, she laughed – thinking how stupid mortals were, utterly unaware of their own history.

And yet, curiosity got better of her. Once, she decided to visit Knossos. And it was the first time she couldn't believe what she saw.

The palace of Minos… It was there, but different from the one she knew. Everything was different. The entire remnants of the Cretan civilization were so… Alien to her. At that point, she started to question if anything she knew was real. She wanted to believe that it was nothing but a potent mist, playing with her mind. But she was a goddess – and gods cannot fall for mist's tricks.

After the initial shock and many weird flashbacks… She became interested… She wanted to know more about this mysterious ancient culture. She tried to understand why everything she knew was so different from what she could see in those ruins.

And so, whenever she got time, she would come here, to her old home in Knossos, contemplate, think, and solve the mystery of her own past.

This time was supposed to be no different. She had in plans visiting this place. She was just meeting with her long friend, goddess Artemis when she and the hunt were attacked by Lycaon's pack. The wolf king once again tried to kill as many hunters as possible.

The first werewolf even came very close to wound her. And so, in the act of desperation, she fled to her old home, where she thought she will be safe.

She thought she was safe. The wolf king could not find her here. At least not that fast. Before he would even notice her scent, she will be long gone. And before that happens, she will gaze upon the ruins of the old world, trying to find the answer she was so desperate for.

And so, Britomartis once again walked through the ruined streets of Knossos. It was nighttime in old Greece, so there was no one to interrupt her. No annoying tourists or workers. Just her and the stars above.

"So this is your hiding spot, oh sweet virgin?"

She turned around just in time to notice Lycaon, the first werewolf, standing on a roof of the ancient building, just a few meters above her. He was in his human form… That is if anyone would even call it a human form. Most of his body was covered in old, almost rotting furs of many animals – wolves, rabbits, and many others.

He almost looked as if someone decided to resurrect a dead man, but with most of his skin missing. And so, to compensate for missing fragments, someone just sews old furs into his body, a disgusting combination indeed.

His eyes were red, with all the hunger and hate radiating from them. It was apparent now that she was his prey.

"Let's have fun, little goddess!"

And so, with a mighty roar, he changed into his werewolf form and jumped straight at our lonely goddess. His claws were aimed straight at her throat, obviously in purpose, to rip her head out of the body.

He was so close to Britomartis that it was too late for her to do anything. She could only prepare to fight from a very close distance. She knew that it will be a tough fight and that she will not win this fight without losing ichor.

And then – suddenly – a sound of thunder appeared and with it – Lycaon's exploding head.

It took a while for Britomartis to understand what was going on. She was prepared to fight against all the odds, even die if she had to… Only for her opponent to be shot with a mortal weapon.

Sadly for her, Lycaon wasn't shot with a silver bullet and already started to regenerate. Britomartis knew that she has a few minutes at best before the werewolf king will once again attack her with full might. And so she started to run, as fast as a goddess could.

"Who dares… Who dares to interfere with the king's hunt?!" A former huntress could already hear enraged werewolf. She hoped that she will have more time before Lycaon would regenerate. But it would seem that this just wasn't her day.

And so, she continued to run, that is before she bumped into a solid object.

She didn't know what it was. If not for the fact that she was flying for her life, she would feel a pure rage at whatever stopped her. Perhaps she would even obliterate said thing out of existence. But not now. Not when she was in such a desperate need for survival.

As she gazed upon the solid object that stopped her, she couldn't believe her eyes. It was some sort of weird humanoid, tall and muscular, with just one brown eye covering most of its face. Said thing was covered in a thick black and silver armor, that looked almost like one of those things taken straight from Sci-Fi movies that Athena loved.

Britomartis didn't know what to do or what to think about it. Was it an enemy? Was it her savior? It did kind of look like a super-advanced automaton, straight from Hephaistus forge.

Said automaton only lowered its head, as if it was trying to analyze her. And so, Britomartis couldn't help but look straight at automaton's single brown eye. Now that she looked closer, she noticed that its eye looks more like a glass. Not only that… This automaton looked more like a super-advanced armor than a machine…

"What… are you?" She asked quietly, still being afraid that at any moment, Lycaon will find her.

Meanwhile, the unknown thing didn't answer. Instead, it continued to look at her, as if it was trying to pierce into her very soul.

"I… I asked you a question! What are you?!"

But no matter how much Britomartis tried, the tall automaton did not give her any response. Instead, a few seconds later, it took out something that looked very similar to a mortal gun and pointed it at a particular point of ruins.

And then – it opened fire.

With every bullet flying towards the ruins, more and more painful scream mixed with growl could be heard. Now Britomartis have realized that this automaton did not just open fire at a random place. It somehow knew before her that Lycaon came back, trying to once again attack her.

"You pathetic fool! A mortal bullet cannot harm… me…" Lycaon once again came closer to her, with a mighty roar. But he also stopped when he noticed a new person standing before him. It took him a while to regain his posture and confidence. "Is this a new creation of those puny demigods? Did no one teach you that a mortal weapon won't harm a monster? Or that without a silver-made weapon, you have no chance against me?"

Britomartis knew that everything Lycaon just said was true. Whatever this thing was, without a weapon made from silver, it stood no chance against the king of werewolves.

"Hm, pathetic mortal. I will rip you apart, and then I will take off this little go-ugh!"

Before he could end speaking, he was suddenly punched in his stomach by the very automaton that stood right next to our goddess just a second ago. She just lost him out of her sight for a second, and in that short amount of time, he was able to successfully attack Lycaon? It was beyond anything Britomartis could understand.

Meanwhile, the automaton continued his assault. Even if Lycaon lost his consciousness after just one punch, the automaton continued to beat him. First, it twisted his arms and legs, just to rip them apart second later. Then, it twisted Lycaon's neck, so that it was turned into completely other direction that the rest of the body… Just to punch it later, until from Lycaon's face, there was nothing more than a bloody pulp.

If not for the fact that Britomartis was a goddess, she would most likely throw up and lost her consciousness from the pure shock. And so, all she could do was to look at the bloody spectacle before her with her mouth and eyes wide open.

She could not understand how this automaton defeated one of the most powerful monsters from her pantheon, without silver or even fire, just with pure strength. And most importantly – how he was able to do it so fast, without anyone's help.

This automaton standing before her was a true monster. It was a machine created for pure murder and destruction. But why would anyone feel a need to create such a creature?

"Silver."

Once again, Britomartis was caught in surprise, when this new automaton looked at her. Not only that – it has spoken to her.

It had a voice of male, but with one difference. It was devoided of any emotions. There was no personality in it or anything that would say something about its owner's emotions or personality, It almost seemed as if this automaton was created to be a perfect emotionless soldier.

"Wh… What?" Britomartis tried to regain her confidence, but she found problems with that. This entire situation was something she could not explain. And so, the only thing she could say was something that sounded like the dumbest question in history.

"Silver. It will be easier to contain it with silver."

Britomartis stood there for a second, not knowing what to do. She wasn't sure if she should help this weird automaton or not. It… well, since he had a male voice – he might have saved her life, but it automatically makes them friends.

And yet, despite all her worries, she decided to help this weird automaton. She gave him a silver fishing net, one of many she created for the hunt of Artemis. He immediately took her net, and to her great shock, he started to shred it apart with his knife.

"What are you doing?! Why are you destroying it? You idiot, it is not how you have supposed to use it!"

But the automaton wasn't listening to her. Instead, he portioned the net and started doing something Britomartis wasn't prepared for.

The automaton covered in what was left of her silver net all the parts that once were Lycaon's limbs. Then he did the same with his head. Then, with the silver web-like line he created out of the rest of the net, he tied up the rest of the Lycaon's body, starting from the neck and then going through ankles.

Britomartis already knew what this automaton did. The way he tied up Lycaon already made everything obvious. He wanted to make sure that the werewolf king will remain alive but fully contained. This automaton made sure that the slightest movement will make Lycaon scream in pain.

With no way of movement or possibility of regenerating his body, Lycaon was fully contained. And yet, Britomartis wanted to know why someone would try to do that. Why not merely dispose of this beast?

And so, Britomartis asked:

"Why won't you just kill him? He is a wild beast. What you're doing is pointless. You will only make him angry and hungry for revenge."

But to Britomartis' surprise, automaton didn't answer. He just silently continued tidying Lycaon up with a silver rope. Then, he picked up the werewolf-like bag and slowly started to go towards the ruins.

Of course, since Britomartis was a goddess, she wasn't used to being ignored, so she tried everything she could to stop this weird automaton and get her answers.

"Hey! I asked you a question! Just kill this damn mutt!"

But the automaton wasn't listening. He just silently continued his march, completely ignoring her.

"I am talking to you, you stupid automaton! How dare you ignore me, your goddess! I am Britomartis, and I order you to kill this beast!" And so on, without a break, Britomartis tried to use any form of authority she had. Still, the automaton wasn't obeying her wishes. And that was infuriating to the lady of the nets.

In her last, almost desperate attempt, she grabbed the automaton's arm… Or at least she tried, since this machine's arm was bigger than her hand – and use her godly strength to force him to stop.

She didn't even need her strength at all, the automaton stopped as soon she touched him. He turned around and looked at her without saying a single word. Not apologizes, not explanations, nothing, just analyzing gaze from this weird monstrosity.

"I ordered you to kill this mutt, and I expect you to obey!"

And then, Britomartis felt that something has changed in this automaton. His gaze was no longer analytic. Now, his entire body was emanating this weird, unnatural pressure. And Britomartis within a second she recognized what it was – a pure killing intent. This was no longer a simple automaton. It was something else: a predator, a killer created for one purpose – to murder.

If she had to compare it to anything, she would compare it to a wolf whom hunt someone dared to interrupt.

Britomartis was afraid like she has never felt in many centuries… But how could this be possible? She was a goddess, a companion to Artemis, and one of her former huntress. She hunted many terrifying beasts and monsters… So why was she afraid of this stupid automaton?

Yet, something within her mind screamed at her, that this thing was a hundred times scarier than what she has ever hunted.

Meanwhile, the automaton continued to look at her. Analyzing her smallest movement, her breathing, anything possible. And now it was evident for Britomartis. This thing before her, it was using both her and Lycaon to learn.

Britomartis felt it when the automaton tried to move his hand away from her grip. And so, she used more strength to hold it.

"Kill this monster, apologize, and maybe I won't send you back to Hephaistus in parts…"

She expected him to bow and apologize. Instead, this automaton forced his hand out of her grip. He used enough strength to release the hold and move her a little bit towards him. In the end, his fist punched the wall.

If said automaton was actually focused on what by accident, he punched. He would have noticed that in the place where his fist connected with the wall, there was an unusual sign, tethered to the wall. It was a greek delta sign. And after the automaton's first touched it, it started to glow.

And then, a second later, there was no sign of automaton. There was just confused Britomartis, standing alone within the ruins of Knossos…

The lone wolf has appeared. And soon, the hunt will begin…

I realize that this chapter might raise many questions within your mind. I am well aware of that fact. And I want you to ask questions because I enjoy answering them.

But don't worry – all answers will appear in the future chapters – be it through my answers to you (without spoilers of course) and through the main story-plot. So please, be patient and wait.

I do hope you like this chapter. It took me a while to think to whom our Spartan should be introduced from the Olympian side first, and Britomartis was first who came into my mind. Just like Lycaon was the first more-known villain for B312. I didn't want anyone from the major leagues when it comes to gods to be B312's first encounter. And Lycaon also seemed to fit just right in.

And so, our Spartan will start to slowly learn about the weird world he found himself in. And the mythical world will soon learn of what humans are truly capable of. Especially when they are really forced to evolve.

I am very pleased with the positive feedback this story has. I was very surprised because compared to other stories I have written, this is the most successful. And I am very happy to see it so well welcomed. Wich only motivates me for further work.

Anyway, I really do hope you also like this chapter. I promise that more chapters are coming in. To be honest I really enjoy writing this story so I want to continue it for as long as possible.

So, I guess that is it for this chapter. I hope that you are ready for the next one.

See ya around!