Traitors (3)

'I won.'

The vines began crawling back into where they came from. As I traced the veins to their source, a pair of green almond eyes met my gaze.

'Ilex'

She was hiding behind the trees during my battle with the son of Ares. She was glaring at my injured arm.

'At least she kept her words.'

"Don't just stay there. Come and help me, will you?"

She unwillingly approached me and sat on her knees beside me. She examined the condition of my right arm. As she did, her face flashed a disturbed expression.

"If the blade had dug even a little deeper, you might have had to amputee it. It will take a while for it to heal completely. For now, I can only stop the bleeding though."

"Is that so? I guess it's my lucky day..."

"What do you mean lucky? You almost died there."

"What's that? Are you worried about me now?"

"Tsk. As if I would be..."

She was still angry at me after I threatened her and her friend to force her to help me. Well, I couldn't blame her.

She extended her hands towards my right arm. Her hand started glowing in a green shade and a warm sensation was brought back to my arm. Soon the bleeding ceased.

I straightened up and leaned against the tree. I noticed Ilex was acting hesitant to strike up a conversation with me.

*Sigh...*

"What is it, Ilex? If you want to ask me something, go ahead."

She was taken aback since she still wasn't used to a demigod calling out her name so casually. She finally opened her mouth and asked what was stuck in her mind.

"How did you know you were going to get attacked by another demigod?"

"They are traitors working for the enemy. I heard them a couple of days ago talking about an attack on the camp."

"Which enemy?"

"Enemy of the Olympus."

"What? You are lying! Why would a demigod work for them? It doesn't even make any sense!"

"If you don't believe me then why do you think that guy tried to kill me?"

"I don't know... Because you are a scumbag who enjoys hurting people?"

"Sigh... I am starting to regret not sealing you... Anyway, that's because they are trying to eliminate the children of the Big Three."

"Wait, then you are..."

"Yes. My father is Hades."

"Ah..."

Her face darkened as if she had come to understand why I had been so rude. Changing the topic, I started talking about the explosion.

"The raid of monsters following the explosion was to distract everyone while they killed their targets."

"Will the camp be all right?"

She had a worried expression on her face. After all, even though she was a nymph, they still were a part of the camp and some of them even occasionally interacted with other inhabitants of the camp. This place was her home so she was scared the camp was going to be invaded.

"Yeah. I am sure it will. Don't worry about it..."

After that conversation, we waited in silence as she further tended to my wounds. I admit she was very gentle with it.

"Thank you..."

Ilex whispered to me, with both resentment and gratitude mixed in her voice. The fact that I had killed one of the traitors and 'protected' the camp as well as her home must have earned me her respect. Though it was obvious she still didn't like me. Before letting me talk back, she stood up.

"I healed your wounds good enough for you to reach the camp without any problem."

"I appreciate the help."

Hearing my gratitude, she halted in her steps. I guess she wasn't expecting me to show my gratitude. She hesitantly turned around to face me once again.

"I wanted to ask you this but... How did you find my tree as well as my name?"

I slightly smiled at her doubtful eyes. I raised my hand and pointed at my head.

"There is much more stuff in here than even what Oracle of Delphi knows."

"And you want me to believe that? I know I shouldn't have asked that... I am going back... I hope you will keep your promises as I did."

With that, she disappeared into the woods. I also stood up while supporting my body with my left arm. I was quite deep in the forest and had to walk for a while before reaching the camp area. Although my arm ached from time to time, it was much better than before.

'Ilex is really good at curing...'

I slowly dragged myself to the camp. When I arrived, the invasion had already stopped and the barrier was repaired. The place around the infirmary was full of people. They had to tend the wounded ones outside of the infirmary building since it was already fully occupied. It was a total chaos. The groans and cries of demigods filled the entire camp. Almost all the demigods were injured in some way or another.

As I skimmed through the faces of those present here, I noticed there were many missing people who weren't able to make it to safety. Many had died during the invasion. The battle against the monster had drenched the camp in a metallic smell of blood. 

'This is the reality of war.'

Some demigods whose conditions were good enough to run around and help as many as people possible could be seen among the sea of people. They were the light among the darkness of the war.

"Need some bandages here!"

"Grace! We need your healing power here!"

"Bring me some painkillers!"

...

Of course, the main cast was also one of those who helped the more unfortunate ones. Even though Adriel was covered in the blood of monsters he had killed, he didn't undergo any serious injuries. It was the same for Eleanor too. Amelia, on the other hand, couldn't handle the backlash of the war and was resting in her cabin although she wasn't hurt at all.

During the war, Adriel and Eleanor played a key role in fending off the monsters and saving many lives. This made them a war hero and earned their peer's reverence. And now that they were also helping others, it only strengthened this view further.

This also allowed them to display their abilities to others which would make attending to important missions much acceptable.

"Hey! He is over there! THE TRAITOR IS HERE! "

"How dare he come back here after sabotaging his own kin!"

Some injured people tried to stand up and lunge towards me but they failed as their legs gave away.

"CATCH HIM ALIVE!"

"NO! JUST KILL HIM! WE MUST AVENGE OUR FRIENDS!"

When the crowd of wounded demigods saw me, what greeted me was a raging crowd that shouted death threats.

'This is bad...'

Everyone was blinded by the grief, heartbreak, and pain of the war. They desperately needed someone to bear the responsibility of this destruction. It was a simple human instinct that stemmed from a human's inability to face the truth. The truth about their inability to save themselves from the cruel world.

What's a better way to hide this weakness than to shove the responsibility of your own circumstances onto another human?

In this case, I was the most plausible scapegoat as I was the son of Hades whose daughter had caused a similar devastation 20 years ago. I was already hated by many. Their despair made them collectively agree that I was the one who betrayed the camp and broke the barrier by exploding it from the inside.

One of the demigods walked up to me and tried to punch me in the face. But he missed it since his body was injured badly. Another one who seemed in a better condition also approached me and began swinging his swords while the cheering of other demigods could be heard. They were all rooting for me to die.

"KILL HIM!"

"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!"

"LET HIM KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS ACTIONS!"

"I SAID HIS TRUE COLORS WOULD TURN OUT TO BE JUST LIKE HIS DECEITFUL SISTER!"

'These people are pathetic... They don't even deserve a hero to save them...'

Having had enough of this shit, I slipped under the sword and threw a hook right into his chin, causing him to stagger and fall onto the ground. He quickly lost his consciousness since he was already exhausted from the war. Then I dealt a kick to the other one's stomach. His weakened state made him unable to avoid my kick. The impact sent him sprawling with a groan.

More and more people were coming at me with not-so-good intentions.

'I can't take all of them. And I can't run away with the state of my body either.'

*Sigh*

'I underestimated how miserable these demigods are... I should have thought about the possibility of such a scenario...'