Chapter 24

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

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

"Hey Mikael." Markus greeted me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I ignored her.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or so I kept telling myself.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Alright everyone, hop on."

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

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

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

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

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

"Now!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I was ready to slay me a Manticore.