One Against an Army
Something tore through several tree branches before crashing into the mountainside.
The impact threw up an enormous cloud of dirt and rocks, leaving behind a small crater where it had landed.
For several seconds, the nearby monsters stood frozen, unable to understand what in the world had just fallen in front of them. Even a few Laestrygonians looked at each other before shoving one of their own forward to go take a look.
A moment later, the sound of shifting earth came again as a head slowly emerged from the crater. It was covered in dirt, along with a few broken branches from the trees it had crashed through.
"Couldn't he be just a little gentler? If it had been anyone else, they'd probably be seriously hurt by now," Percy complained as he looked back toward the top of the mountain, where his master had thrown him from, while his Oakflesh spell wore off and his skin returned to its normal color.
"..." The monsters around him looked even more confused, especially those who recognized who he was.
Many of them immediately raised their guard.
But Percy ignored them for the moment. Instead, he calmly climbed out of the crater, brushing dirt off his hair and clothes.
"Don't come back until you've finished dealing with them."
He repeated his master's words with a grimace before looking around.
Only then did he notice he was completely surrounded by every monster in Luke's army.
Though, to be honest...
This army wasn't nearly as big as he remembered.
"Weren't there a lot more of you before?" he couldn't help asking.
"Perseus Jackson! You... because of you, we lost so many of our brothers!" one of the Laestrygonians roared in fury. As he spoke, several other monsters—including harpies, empousai, and many more—showed the very same expression of rage, assuming such expressions could even be distinguished on some of their hideous faces.
Then Percy remembered Luke's yacht, Thor's battle against one of the gods who had sided with Luke to protect it, and also remembered the little intervention from his so-called paternal brother that had destroyed the ship.
"Well... technically, I didn't really do much," Percy said.
But it wasn't as though he expected those monsters to actually believe him.
No.
Especially when every Laestrygonian was carrying a gigantic minigun, with several ammunition boxes hanging from thick metal harnesses strapped across their backs, and all of them were already aiming the weapons straight at him.
Percy sighed.
"...Right. You upgraded your weapons."
"Attack!" one of the demigods mixed in among the army shouted as he raised his sword.
Without another moment's hesitation, the Laestrygonians pointed those cold steel barrels directly at Percy and pulled the triggers.
The metallic roar of the rotating barrels echoed across the mountainside.
The crater where Percy had been standing was instantly swallowed by dust as countless bullets slammed into it.
But at the same time, every one of them clearly heard what sounded like a shout in a strange language.
"WULD... NAH... KEST!"
Then a sonic boom tore straight through the middle of the army.
"AAAH!!"
One of the Laestrygonians wielding a minigun screamed before dropping the weapon, its barrel still smoking, while the giant himself dissolved into dust and mist before disappearing.
Standing right beside where he'd been...
...was Percy.
Both swords were already in his hands, his expression far more serious now.
He held the finishing stance of a slash with his black blade, while, for a brief moment, the enchantment along its edge seemed to shine even brighter. A layer of ice began spreading across the blade, causing the surrounding temperature to drop by several degrees in an instant.
Then Percy completed the swing.
He poured his magicka into the sword's Chaos enchantment, focusing solely on its frost aspect.
He slashed through empty air, and it was as though a blizzard shaped like a blade crashed into the nearby monsters. Everywhere the attack passed, their bodies began freezing at astonishing speed.
They could feel the ice piercing through their skin...
...and into their flesh.
The front ranks of monsters were hurled down the mountainside, many of them already completely frozen.
Even some of the Laestrygonians carrying miniguns had half their bodies encased in ice, causing their bullets to lose all accuracy, spraying wildly in every direction as they shattered rocks and tore through several monsters standing behind them.
One of those who hadn't been hit by either the friendly fire or Percy's attack let out a furious roar.
"EVERYONE, ATTACK!!"
At that shout, the monsters who hadn't launched their attacks yet raised their weapons and charged straight at Percy. Others drew their bows, while some bared claws and fangs. The harpies, meanwhile, grabbed enormous boulders with their talons before taking to the air, ready to drop them onto Percy.
But Percy didn't wait for them.
He charged straight into the army as well.
The nearest monsters barely had time to react.
It was as though Percy had suddenly appeared right in front of another Laestrygonian.
The miniguns would be troublesome, so he was already prepared to cut him down.
But at that exact moment, three hellhounds burst simultaneously from three different shadows, trying to cut off every possible angle of attack.
Percy didn't even flinch.
He simply twisted his wrist, and Riptide traced a brilliant arc through the air.
The first hound was split cleanly in two before it had even fully emerged from the shadows.
The second barely managed to open its jaws.
The black sword came down.
Its head rolled several meters away before crumbling into dust.
The third tried to bite his arm.
Percy released the black sword.
An invisible force grabbed the monster by the neck, as though it had been seized by an unseen hand.
The beast was hurled several metres away, crashing into one of the Laestrygonians and causing his own minigun to riddle the hellhound with a rain of bullets, turning it into a sieve before sending it back to Tartarus.
Percy moved his hand again, and the black sword, still hanging in the air, flew straight back toward it as though drawn by a magnet through telekinesis, without him stopping for even a single instant.
"RATATATATA!"
The hail of bullets closed in on him, forcing Percy to duck and slide as though he were gliding across the ground. Using the momentum, he moved his other hand, the one holding Riptide, and sent the sword flying toward the Laestrygonian, piercing straight through his neck.
Once again, another minigun fell to the ground as its owner turned to dust.
The dracaenae arrived immediately. They had no intention of allowing Percy to continue attacking the Laestrygonians, since they were the ones capable of causing the most damage thanks to those weapons made especially for them.
Two spears tried to pierce his chest.
Percy crossed both swords.
The blades clashed only once.
Both spears snapped in half.
Before the dracaenae could understand what had happened, Percy had already passed between them.
The two monsters remained motionless for several seconds.
Then a thin line appeared across their necks.
Both began crumbling into dust.
For a second, the army seemed to hesitate. But the next moment, another wave immediately took the place of those who had fallen.
A harpy descended while attacking with an enormous boulder, but Percy pulled the pen from his pocket. Before it even touched the air, it had already become Riptide again.
Percy threw it without even looking.
The sword pierced the creature's chest, causing it to drop the enormous boulder onto one of its monstrous allies, crushing it beneath the weight.
Then two demigods appeared in front of him.
They were barely more than boys. One looked around his own age, while the other was only a few years older.
Both hesitated when they saw Percy walking toward them without the slightest trace of fear, even while completely surrounded by monsters. And even more because of the serious look on Percy's face, they could feel some primitive instinct warning them that they needed to run.
But one of them gathered his courage for a moment, feeling that it should be impossible for even Jackson to face all of them alone.
"Don't stop!" he shouted as he raised his sword.
Percy deflected the attack with his own and pointed his free hand toward the boy's face.
"Fear," Percy murmured.
The illusion enchantment activated as a magical flash entered the boy's mind.
Instantly, the young man's face filled with complete panic. He turned deathly pale and dropped his weapon while trembling.
"AAAAAH!!" he screamed before turning around and running for his life.
Percy did the same to the other boy, who didn't even manage to launch an attack before wetting himself and sprinting after his companion.
Even several monsters stared in confusion as the two demigods fled in terror.
In that brief moment, one of the giants, who didn't have a minigun but instead carried an enormous spiked metal mace, attacked Percy's back.
But Percy turned around and, before the giant could react, jumped and kicked him in the chest.
The giant, who had to weigh hundreds of kilos, was sent flying as though he'd been hit by a truck.
Percy didn't even turn his head to see how far he'd been thrown.
After all, he couldn't afford to stop.
The miniguns roared again, this time from three different directions. It seemed the Laestrygonians had spread out, knowing Percy could easily finish them off if they stayed together.
And not only that.
By attacking from different positions, they managed to cause him a little more trouble.
The bullets began crossing paths, forming a net of gunfire, while at the same time the archers and spearmen aimed toward the centre, launching a rain of arrows and spears.
"Ha," was the only sound Percy let out as his body kept moving, dodging the bullets trying to tear him apart.
Percy immediately changed direction, and a tree behind him exploded only a few centimetres from his face.
The bullets passed barely above his head.
"It's not very honourable to fight with modern weapons while I'm using swords," he muttered with some sarcasm.
Though it wasn't exactly honourable for him to fight them using enchanted weapons either.
Especially his black sword, which once again seemed to be gathering the magical power of its enchantment.
"I also need a little water," he murmured to himself.
Percy smiled faintly.
He already had an idea.
Then Percy slashed through the air again, this time lowering his body a little more.
At once, the ground around him became covered in a thin layer of ice, while a shallow film of water spread across its surface.
At the same time, the hand that still hadn't recovered Riptide began filling with electrical sparks.
Percy discharged the spell into the ground, and the electricity travelled across the layer of water covering the ice, spreading in every direction.
Causing the monsters still standing on that wet surface to let out cries of pain as lightning tore through their bodies.
Smoke even began rising from them.
"Well... I think I'm starting to get the hang of it," Percy said as he straightened up again.
Riptide flew back into his hand, and he looked around, finding all the monsters now staring at him with a hint of fear.
"Then..."
Just as Percy was about to say something, a powerful tremor suddenly shook the entire mountain.
That made Percy's smile disappear as he looked toward the summit.
His eyes widened when he saw it appearing to split in half, as though the mountain itself were being torn apart.
Dozens of tonnes of rock began breaking loose while entire trees tumbled down the slope.
"Oh, damn. Master has started," Percy said.
Then an immense thirst for battle swept across the entire battlefield, coming directly from that direction.