32 Chapter 31: Perceiving Perseverance

A/N

A bit late but Happy New Year everyone. Hope this year brings lots of happiness and fulfils your wishes.

Shoutout to Yoshi and Fox for helping and e-luckarcher, Murph, Meister and Maruf for the beta and proof reading.

x.x

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or any of its characters.

x.x

Chapter 31: Perceiving Perseverance

The moment the four crossed the border in Washington DC and entered Virginia, there was a noticeable change in the air. Any mortal would be hard-pressed to feel the difference but for a member of the mythical community, it was as clear as day.

Artemis too, tensed up a bit since this sort of change was not something that any average demigod would be able to bring out and over such a large area at that. Perhaps a child of the big three or the elder Olympians would be able to achieve such a feat if they released their entire aura, so for a son of Hermes to be able to do this was highly suspicious. Therefore, the only conclusion was that an immortal was involved. But the question was who?

She quickly turned around and whispered, "You all can feel it, can't you? Be on your guard. We have entered enemy territory and the dangers will only grow the further we travel."

All three nodded their heads, it was a life-death situation and they had to trust each other. Anything less than that would only end with their own demise. Being alive and making it through the quest was far more important than holding any grudges.

They kept on walking until they entered the woods again. Before they moved any further, Artemis contemplated the next plan of action since the prophecy only gave them a general idea of where they had to go, not a specific location. The next part, 'flower planted in a grove' would also seem to be something else entirely other than a location.

So now, she had two choices – either go towards a random direction and hope for the best or follow the source of this disturbance in the air, the more concentrated it'd be, the closer they'd be to their destination. She didn't have to think twice, the answer was clear. Thus, she turned and started walking towards the source of it.

As the goddess walked, Zoë was unsure of the direction in which they were headed, therefore she decided to ask, "Where are we headed, mine lady?"

Percy was about to answer since he had caught up to what Artemis was doing but decided to stay quiet. It wasn't good to interrupt people especially when a goddess was speaking. Moreover, after their 'conversation' last time, he wasn't exactly jumping to speak to her unless needed.

"I am following the air to where it's more concentrated. That's the only lead we have right now, even the Prophecy hasn't stated where we need to go beyond entering Virginia," Artemis said.

"Yet shouldn't we look for tracks of monsters and see if they would form a pattern?" the huntress questioned.

"Normally we would but from what I can sense, this air is not normal. It's very thin here which means that whoever did this is powerful enough to affect the surroundings to such a degree that the air has visibly changed all the way over here. So the closer we get to the source, the more likely it is that the traitor would be there. I doubt he'd go to a place alone where he could be easily tracked especially after what he did. He must've found some allies, it's not like it's difficult after all the things most of us have done. There are many who would do anything to see our downfall."

Zoë nodded her head, satisfied with the reasoning. She then fell into line, just a step behind the goddess, her weapons ready to be drawn at a moment's notice.

The four had been following the route for a few hours and had just entered a clearing in the late evening when they stopped suddenly. They had realised what was about to happen and were about to take a turn but it was too late.

As Percy looked around, there were at least twenty monsters that had surrounded them in this ambush. The group mainly consisted of Empousai and Laistrygonian Giants while four harpies took to the skies. His battle trained mind immediately kicked into mode as he started coming up with possible options of taking down the horde of monsters. The fact that they all had banded together was a shock in itself, something to think about later.

Nevertheless, their formation and composition were quite good. The giants could be the meat shields as they led the charge while the Empousai would act as melee fighters. While the four would be distracted, the harpies would swoop in to attack and opportune moments. A well thought out plan.

However, there was one thing that was missing in this plan of theirs. They weren't trained by Athena and made to learn strategies from the greatest battles fought throughout time.

Just before Artemis was about to issue her orders, Percy beat her to the punch, "Lady Artemis, I have an idea that may work well, can we try it out?"

The goddess narrowed her eyes, taking orders from a thirteen year old demigod with next to no battle experience was something that she'd never done. However, as soon as she remembered the fact that said demigod was trained by the goddess of battle strategy, she decided to let it slip and see how well he could do. She could always finish the monsters with her speed and strength if they were in any danger, the monsters were hardly any match for her.

Plus, she'd get to see how well owl-eyes trained her 'strongest demigod to ever live.' If he failed, she'd hold this over the wisdom goddess' head for the next few centuries and if he succeeded, she'd look forward to how well he'd do.

Before her huntress could say anything, Artemis quickly replied, "Very well, Perseus. I give you this one chance. Fail and you shall never lead again."

Percy nodded his head affirmatively and said, "Grover, as soon as the giants start moving, slow them down with your flute. The Empousai will either stay behind, giving us an opening to shoot them with arrows or charge forward without any shield. Keep slowing the giants, it is important. Lady Artemis and Lady Zoë, bring down the giants first if you can because that would leave the harpies undefended, letting us kill them easily. If not, try to pick off as many Empousai as possible. Meanwhile, I will try to distract them and if they come close, I will block off their paths. We must cut down their numbers before engaging in close combat."

Artemis smirked when she heard the strategy. She could kill the giants with a single arrow each but decided to hold back and only kill less than half of them. She wanted to test him further. This was going to be interesting.

Zoë too nodded her head. There was no point in arguing if her lady had accepted. However, she was going to have a few words with the goddess later regarding this.

Grover just gulped. It had been a while since he went into any proper battles, he was visibly nervous, but he had to steel himself for his friend and this quest. He took a deep breath, brought his flute to his lips and started to play as soon as the monsters started moving.

As the melodious tone flew through the air, the area around them became livelier as roots started growing around the giants, hampering their movements greatly.

However, instead of waiting for the giants to free themselves, some of the Empousai were too impatient and went into a head long charge, intent on killing them. Predictably, they died almost immediately as each arrow fired by the two huntresses found their marks with deadly precision. And just like that, nearly five or six of the monsters turned into dust, halting the movement of the other Empousai who were ready to charge next.

By the time their little barrage ended, the giants had freed themselves and were walking towards them once again. Percy watched as Artemis nocked an arrow, immediately he had an idea.

Due to the late evening time, some dew had settled in on the grass around them, he focused on the area and gathered all the water he could, forming them into spears.

Just as Artemis let her arrow fly, he launched his spears.

True to the goddess' reputation, the arrow punctured the giant's eye, digging into its brain, killing it immediately. The moment it turned into dust, the Empousai behind it were left in the open. Before they could do anything to defend themselves, the spears rained upon them, ending their threat from one side.

He then switched his focus to the other giants that were closing in, Zoë had managed to bring down another giant and a couple of Empousai behind it while Grover was frantically playing his flute. There was just enough water left for one more barrage of spears before they would have to engage in close combat.

Wanting to make the most of it, Percy spotted two of the harpies rising out from the corner of his eye. The formation was completely intact, something that didn't last long. Percy thrust his hand forward, sending the remaining spears towards their way, successfully killing off his intended targets.

Just as he was about to draw Riptide, he heard a 'whoosh' and an arrow launch past his head, embedding itself into another harpy that had capitalised on Percy's momentary 'distraction'.

Percy turned to Zoë, nodded his head in thanks, summoned Riptide and leapt forward. The goddess and huntress too drew their long hunting knives and leapt into the fray, running through monsters in quick blurs, striking the monsters' vital points.

Between the three of them and Grover – who was tripping the Empousai by growing roots – they were able to make quick work of the remaining force and clear out the area.

"Satyr, are you able to detect any other monsters?" Artemis asked as she tried to sense any monsters nearby. Since she had rescinded the divine energy flowing throughout her body, her senses were limited and comparable to that of a stronger than average demigod.

Grover sniffed the air a couple of times in various directions, trying to find any monsters. After a few moments, he shook his head, indicating that there were none.

Artemis nodded her head and then said, "We will talk about this later. We need to find a safe place for the night, all of you need to conserve as much energy as possible."

She then turned around and started walking, taking note of the footprints of the monsters, trying to gauge from which direction all of them had turned up. The attack was extremely coordinated for a group of monsters and no mere coincidence. Moreover, from the looks of it, the monsters had come from the direction in which the four of them were heading. Whoever was there with the traitor was apparently strong enough to make monsters listen to them. This was most concerning.

The group moved silently through the evening, with the moonlight being their only source of illumination. The goddess of the hunt had carefully selected a resting spot that provided ample protection in case of any surprise attacks. She was not going to take any chances, not when Fate already had it out for her.

Soon, everyone had set their tents and were now sitting in the centre, eating warm food thanks to Hestia's enchanted bag or what Percy had told them. Since the food was suspended in time in his inventory, it never went bad or cold so cooking up an excuse was easy for him.

He was about to summon the stats screen when Zoë, of all people, called out to him.

"Son of Poseidon, thou should'st be more aware of thy surroundings. If not, thou'd be dead right now."

The demigod turned to look at the huntress and simply said, "I trusted you to look after my back."

This caught the huntress by surprise as she didn't expect him to say this of all things. Boys were supposed to be vile and prideful, most of the ones she had met during her long life considered it cowardly or lowered their pride as men if they ever took help from a woman. So for one to openly admit something like this was unexpected. However, she quickly recovered from it and decided to probe him a bit more.

"How didst thou know that I was watching thy back and that I would save thou?"

"We're in this together, aren't we?" Percy asked rhetorically. "I of course trust Lady Artemis and she clearly trusts you. This means, I, in turn, trust you. Why would I not?"

For the demigod, it was quite a simple thing really. Furthermore, his Gamer's System helped him determine how people were to an extent while Hestia's blessings of Bond Manipulation helped him sense the nature of bonds between people. Even though he wasn't adept at it, he could vaguely sense that Artemis and Zoë shared a very strong bond with each other. Hence, it would be downright stupid of him to not trust either of them.

On the other hand, Zoë was pleasantly surprised to hear Perseus' reasoning. Even though it was rather simple and straightforward, the meaning behind it was deep. Unbeknownst to her, little by little, the demigod had started chipping away the deep hatred she harboured for boys or making a special place for himself as the only good male. Only time would tell.

The huntress then nodded her head in acknowledgement before she resumed her meal.

Percy breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that it all worked out. He then summoned the screen to look at the stats once again. It had been a while since he had last seen them, he was sure that they had grown thanks to the numerous encounters they had experienced in the past few days.

…

STR: 50 + 1 = 51

VIT: 35 + 1 = 36

DEX: 37 + 1 = 38

INT: 50 + 2 = 52

WIS: 37 + 2 = 39

Skills

Combat:

Sword Fighting: Level 40 + 2 = 42

General:

Mage Armor: Level 21 + 1 = 22

Battle Strategy: Level 19 + 2 = 21

…

Even though the stats increase wasn't much, it was some progress so he couldn't really complain. He could just hope that he was strong enough when the time called for it. He didn't want to be powerless, ever again.

Percy then closed the screen, content with his progress and resumed eating.

Once they were done with dinner, Percy and Grover headed back to their respective tents since Zoë had declared that she would be taking the first shift.

The huntress watched as the two went inside their tents and then turned to look at Artemis who was staring at the moon.

The goddess' expression was indescribable to an outsider but for Zoë, who had stayed with her mistress for thousands of years, it was as easy as breathing.

It had been a while since she had seen Artemis look so out of place.

"Mine lady, why doth thou feel so lost?" Zoë asked, deciding to break the goddess out of her reverie.

If it were someone else or any other god, no one would dare to disturb a deity, fearing their wrath. However, Zoë and Artemis were quite close and shared a sisterly relationship. There had been ample times when each supported the other through something in their journey so far hence, the huntress didn't hold any reservations whilst speaking to the goddess.

"It has, hasn't it?" Artemis started, "There's so much at stake right now and so many things happening together that it's starting to get difficult to keep track of everything."

"What doth thou mean?"

"I don't know where to start, I guess the Prophecy? That's the biggest concern of all. For so many years, we lived in peace, even after the Prophecy was declared. Everything would've been fine but those two had to go and fuck things up. I genuinely don't understand their priorities in life. Do they really don't give a shit about themselves and this world or do they just think with their lower half?" Artemis ranted in a somewhat rare display of irritation.

"Ever since this boy has emerged, things have started running afoul. First, there was this whole debacle with Zeus' lightning bolt stolen by a demigod, which almost led to a war between Poseidon and Zeus. Then this prophecy was issued which somehow ended up with me being involved in it. Then, to top things off, there's the son of Poseidon himself that's the biggest mystery.

"He has gained the approval of three of the unlikeliest goddesses in the whole pantheon, not to mention, the weight and power they carry around is nothing to scoff at. Perseus is unarguably one of the strongest demigods born till date and if any of these goddesses decided to bless him, he would become the strongest ever. Moreover, he is still a kid and prone to manipulation. With all that power, you never know when he might defect to the other side and considering how things are right now, even if the chances are slim, there is still a chance.

"We Olympians have never been the benevolent gods that we always fancied ourselves to be. Maybe in the start, the elder gods had been good after toppling the Titans but after that, everyone has fallen to their greed. Considering this alone, he has more than enough reason to leave us. All he needs to do is stand by and watch as the world falls.

"Yet, he still perseveres. I don't know what binds him or helps him move forward but whatever it is, it's the only thing that's keeping him here. That much, I am sure about," Artemis said as a brief image of Hestia flashed in her mind.

"His very being is more of an enigma than anyone I have met in my life. There are so many sides to him that sometimes contradict each other while they go hand-in-hand in another. Nothing makes sense. Not him, not the prophecy, not what is going on, not what will happen. Ugh," the moon goddess groaned in irritation.

To a deity, they considered their lives their own and lived as they wanted while the whole world adjusted according to their whims. Artemis wasn't an exception to this. This was a habit that almost all of them developed either on their own or during childhood, while they watched the gods and goddesses around them. Going with that trend, if anything happened out of the ordinary in their lives, they didn't like it, not in the least. So, for her to be reminded of her place in the universe by the Fates was something that annoyed and scared her to no end.

Zoë, on the other hand, couldn't quite grasp this feeling but she did understand what her lady meant. It wasn't that difficult considering how well she knew Artemis.

"Mine lady, 'I times thus when nought makes sense, I prefer to keep things simple. Start tackling whatever thou and whatever thou't, be prepared for't yet do not let it get thee. I am sure that I doth need naught to remind thou of the countless times we've been through such situations."

"I know, Zoë. But this, this is something way beyond us you know? And the stakes are high. One wrong move and everything can come crumbling down."

"Thou are wise, mine lady. I trust thee to compose the right choices and naturally, I shall be with thou throughout the way."

"Thanks, Zoë," Artemins said with a small smile as she gazed at the moon, high up in the sky.

She decided that she needed a change for once and thus, opted to stay in the camp.

Despite all this, one question still plagued her mind at each and every moment of her day.

What does the future hold?