1 Murder Boner

Across the courtyard a statue of a young girl watched him. Tear tracks fell gorging lines in her cheeks. Nero turned his eyes away he couldn't stand to see her. A torn piece of his shirt lay on the ground in front of the statue he waited behind. His statue was the only one thick enough to hide him. When he was certain his quarry's attention was on his shirt, he pushed the statue over. Midfall the statue welcomed his boots and added weight. From the light impact of his knees, he knew he'd gotten the timing right.

A mess of struggling green snakes covered a head below him. Face down in the dirt she wasn't much of a threat anymore. HIs feelings agitated his normal calm. They poked and prodded demanding his attention. There was no time to savor his victory.

"I thought your death by Perseus was a reward for your sincerity." Nero said. "Why didn't you stay dead instead of going back to your cursed ways?

"How dare you bring up my past. You aren't even a demigod. How did you find me?" Medusa demanded.

"How indeed, you weren't very conspicuous. What's with all the statues? I couldn't imagine they were all accidents. They said you were once as beautiful as Aphrodite." Nero kept her head pinned down. Even without seeing her he could feel a stinging sensation. He had to keep himself professional there wasn't any room for failures.

"I'm not a demigod. I don't hunt monsters for the gods. I hunt for my own sake." He placed his foot against the statue and tossed it off of her.

In one swift motion he placed his foot over her head and stomped down. Her body spasmed before turning into gold dust.

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Nero lvl5

HP 36k

MP 160.7k

ATK 41.4k

DEF 40.6k

SATK 107.707

SDEF 75.92

SPD 48.3k

ACC 57.2

Fortune 42.21

Power welled up inside of him in all its bitter glory. In an instant his flesh became harder than steel. His muscle fibers took on the strength of a thousand cranes. And he was likely supersonic in speed now. None of that mattered to him. The tear tracks finally began to stem.

When the nightmare finally neared its end, he turned to his head. A girl his age stood upon a wooden arch glaring down at him.

She was the cutest red headed girl with the most silver eyes he'd ever seen. This girl was also armed to the teeth with knives and two quivers of arrows.

"No need to worry little lady the bad woman won't trouble you. Did she keep you trapped here? My name's Nero nice to meet ya." He said with the biggest smile he could muster.

"What are you?" Her tongue lashed the words at him. He looked up at the moon.

"That depends, what are my chances of out running you?" He leaned back to dodge an arrow before the sonic boom hit. Nero calculated its trajectory before tapping it off course into another pile of statues. The statues around them shattered. Stone organs fell over the floor before slowly turning into flesh again.

A grim expression marred her elfin face. "I could give you a head start." Nero let out a sigh.

"That bites, well I'm mortal. According to Medusa that's surprising. By the silver bow, eyes, and boots I'd say your Artemis." She knocked another arrow. Nero raised his hands in protest.

"You wouldn't shoot a guy that's unarmed would ya?" Nero asked.

He monitored the trajectory of the arrow before it fired. With a sigh he caught it. Using his cling skill, he gained maximum torque which put all the pressure on his wrists and shoulder. It was worse than the first time he shot a 12gauge. The arrow vanished in silver light when he tossed it aside.

"Arty you've been around the block. Do you know a way to turn stone back into flesh?" Nero asked.

A look of fury marred her features. "When a mortal is turned to stone, they remain that way unto death. You're fortunate not to have shared their fate." Nero turned his back on her and let out a sigh. A volley of arrows slammed into his back, tore his clothes apart, and couldn't pierce his skin. He tapped the others knocking them off course of the only one that mattered. Nero approached the only statue that remained unharmed.

A little girl in her sun dress stood still with a look of surprise on her face. She couldn't have been older than 12. The age he was now. She'd survived on the run for four years. He'd almost found her.

"What about demigods? Can they be saved?" Nero demanded.

Some of the anger left her voice. "No matter their parents a demigod is still mortal. I'm sorry. All you can do is let her rest. May I know her name?" Artemis asked.

"Emily was my sister. I don't know who her father was. He left after she was born and never came back. Mom was pissed that she couldn't get child support. She took that anger out on poor Emily. I wasn't this powerful back then. She wouldn't let her younger brother protect her." He raised a hand but froze. If he touched her then she could die.

"All she wanted to do was help. Mom would get on to her for taking home hurt animals. With her helping hand they always managed to pull through." Nero sucked in a breath as the tears he'd held in for four years rained down. A firm hand took his.

"Is she in pain?" Nero asked.

"I can free her, but you will have to do something for me. To interfere the challenge must be equal to the reward." Artemis said.

"If it will save her then I'll do it. But be warned, I will never be your slave." Nero said.

"I don't need a slave especially a boy. No, I want a golden apple from Hera's garden. I don't care how you get one that is my price." Nero nodded his head slowly.

"If you keep her safe until I return with the golden apple then you have a deal." Nero shook the goddess's hand. A small smile tugged at her lips. He didn't know if she had already betrayed him or not. Golden appeared on her cheeks. It was a weird sign of a deal, but she was Greek.

"Have you heard the tale of how that idiot Heracles took the apples?" Artemis asked. He held up a hand to stop her.

"I'm not holding up the sky. I'll just kill the hundred headed dragon." She blinked at him.

"Don't be arrogant. It's a solid plan. You can't just wing it with a quest." Artemis argued. Nero smiled gently.

"This isn't my full power, I have plenty of growing to do. I'm going to jog over to the garden is there anything I should know?" Nero asked.

"You can only enter at sunset. Its in California." Artemis said. Nero nodded. He approached his sister's statue and kissed her forehead.

"I'll save you just hold on a little longer." He was careful to get some distance from her fragile form.

"I'll be back soon with that apple." Nero said and took off. At first, he jogged at a human pace before picking up speed. A mist gathered around Nero hiding him from onlookers.

"Please spare me." The voice bleated. A lamia, a danger to his sister and every demigod was crying. Three Empusa laid in a pile their bodies slowly transformed into golden dust. Tears streamed down the lamia's face. Strait golden hair brushed her shoulders, her arms were folded inward, and her long tail was coiled protectively. Her only blemish was a mole on her stomach.

"Fine, I've killed enough for now." Nero whispered.

Nero lvl10

HP 55.7k

MP 211k

ATK 54.4

DEF 53.3

SATK 212.787

SDEF 148.92

SPD 63.4k

ACC 112.2

Fortune 82.41

"You certainly aren't a lady's man." Nero turned to see the most conventionally beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Really, she was something but being twelve gave him immunity to her charms.

"Your reputation proceeds you." Nero said. He wasn't sure if he had enough strength.

"I'm sure. Why go through all the trouble of killing a few Empusa? Those girls wouldn't have bothered you if you'd declined their invitation." The goddess demanded an answer.

"I wanted to test my strength on a few demigoddess turned monsters. Unfortunately, they weren't much of a challenge. What brings you here? It couldn't be to try your luck." Nero said.

"Watch it mortal. I can snap my fingers and turn you into lip gloss." A smile stretched across Nero's face. He'd fought the Empusa but they fell after only a single blow. The donkey legged demigoddesses were frail.

The goddess took a step back upon seeing his face. He felt his mana rising. She snapped her fingers and he felt a force come over him. Nero's mana flexed and the spell fell apart.

"Well isn't that interesting. Are you losing your touch?" Nero focused completely on the goddess in front of him.

"I came to make a deal. I'll use my allure to distract the Ladon if you do something for me." Nero rolled his shoulders and frowned.

"Ok, sure what can I do for you." He heard the words but couldn't believe them. "What was that?"

"Mortals and their hearing problems. I said, I want you to deliver a deluxe horse dildo to Hera's temple." Nero opened his mouth then closed it.

"How will I even get into Mount Olympus it's in Greece?" Nero asked.

"Your information is centuries old." The goddess said with smirk.