Chapter 26

Luke was upset with himself as he rubbed his head and sent fire chakra through his system to warm himself up as he started a fire to warm up Leo and Piper since Leo's fire powers were on the fritz due to his hypothermia.

After they had entered the house they had found it was full of gold and statues and that only a man lived there. He had stupidly let his guard down and had been blindsided by the surprisingly fast old man and had been turned to gold, who he now knew to be Midas the revived king who had the ability to turn anything he touched into gold

Thankfully Jason took care of Midas and saved them by dunking them in the river that was nearby before carrying them to a cave where he gathered wood for a fire to warm them all up.

"Are you okay Luke?" Jason asked as he nodded.

"Yes I'm fine, a bit upset that I wasn't alert but glad that no one was hurt too bad besides some minor hypothermia" he said as he placed his blanket around Piper who had the worst case between the three of them.

"You should have gone directly for the kill blondie" Hedge said as Luke rolled his eyes at the overly violent satyr named Hedge who had so far only wanted to fight things.

"I was blindside by Midas' surprising speed and either way Midas died from being turned to gold by himself" Luke said as he sighed. "Right now we just need to focus on moving on and continuing the quest"

"But how can we do that? We have no ride, we have no storm spirits since they were released in the crash of Festus and we are all freezing" Piper said in between shivers as she scooted closer to the fire.

"We can figure something out" Jason said as he rubbed Piper's back as she frowned and stared at the floor.

"No, we can't all of this is my fault" she said as they stared at her in confusion.

"And how exactly is this all your fault Princess?" Leo asked in confusion as he was able to spark a flame on his fingers to warm himself up.

"I-I've been having these dreams of a Giant man named Enceladus that has my dad hostage. He said if I didn't sabotage the quest he would kill my dad, I feel like this is a-" she said before she got cute off by Luke's laughter

"Piper, relax you haven't done anything and I doubt you have it in you to do that" he said as Leo and Jason nodded.

"We know you aren't one to betray your friends Piper" Jason said as he rubbed her back making her smile.

"Yeah and it's your dad Princess we will save him as well" Leo said as Luke nodded and stood up.

"Where are they holding him at?" Luke asked as he kept his eyes on the entrance to the cave.

"He's holding him at Mount Diablo and said if I don't bring Jason there in about three hours he will die" Piper said as tears went down her cheeks.

"We can make time to do both but right now you all need to duck!" he yelled as they barely had any time to react before Jason pushed the two of them down as a larger wolf jumped over them and barreled towards him.

Luke silently thanked all of his intense training sessions with Naruto as due to it he was able to draw Kusanagi as the wolf came towards him and decapitate it before it got too close, turning it to golden dust.

"Well this is a surprise since I know only silver can hurt us and that sword definitely isn't silver" a man's voice spoke as Luke scattered the golden dust and looked towards the entrance of the cave.

The man that entered was very tall and had pitch black hair that was slicked back and had dark red eyes. His teeth were sharper than a normal human, and he had longer nails like claws. He wore armor that looked gaudy but functional.

As he stepped into the cave Luke quickly appeared in front of the others and pointed Kusanagi towards him as he and his wolves entered the cave.

"Kusanagi is a magic blade that cuts through anything so immunities don't matter much to it" he said as he narrowed his eyes. "You mentioned silver only hurting them so you must be Lycaon, the first ever werewolf"

"Smart, you must be a child of that bitch Athena or something" Lycaon said as the wolves growled and snarled besides him before he turned to them and raised his hand to silence them

"I know and you will get some flesh since this boy, even with his skill, cannot kill all of you and he is the only one that can harm you so the others will be small fries" Lycaon said as Luke frowned and coated Kusanagi in wind chakra before a familiar whistle blow out.

"Hunters at your ready! Fire!" a familiar voice yelled out as Luke slammed his foot down and brought up a chuck of earth to shield him and everyone else from any stray arrows as a barrage of silver arrows funneled through the cave entrance and killed several wolves.

"Damn huntress bitch! I am not through with this!" Lycaon yelled as he was sucked into the earth before any more arrows could pierce him.

Luke let out a sigh of relief as he dropped the chunk of earth and saw a sight that relieved his worries of having to fight an army of werewolves as well as an immortal one all on his own while defending the others.

"Lady Artemis, thank you for the help" he said as he bowed his head towards the twelve year old goddess as she stood in front of him.

"Stand Castellan, while I am glad I saved myself from having to tell Naruto the bad news of a champion of his dying this is mere coincidental as I was chasing Lycaon as I believed he might have clues to where Hera is trapped at" Artemis said as she looked behind him.

"Is this where the quest has taken you Castellan?" Artemis asked as he nodded.

"We were following a wind vapor trail but we lost the track and our only way of transportation was destroyed and we lost the bartering chip for when we talked to Aeolus" he said as Artemis frowned.

"That man has been a trouble ever since I got my domain of the sky he has been bothering me to promote him but do not worry as the spirits will be hunted but I believe we can help lead you to Hera as Naruto also sent me to try and find her" Artemis said as she turned to a girl that Luke knew quite well.

"Zoe, take them to the spare tent as I double check the directions and get the other hunters ready" Artemis said as Zoe, her immortal lieutenant nodded to her before turning to him.

"Castellan, help your group up and follow me" Zoe said in a flat tone.

Even if he and Zoe had met many times before she wasn't warmed up to him very much at all. Artemis only spoke to him without spite in her tone because of him being a champion of Naruto and the fact he was on the quest to save her.

"Come on guys, these are friends in a sense" Luke said with a chuckle as he helped Leo to his feet as Jason did the same with Piper as Hedge followed in a haze which he found humorous since even the rough satyr had a thing for Artemis

"Who are all these babes" Leo said with a smirk before every hunter in the area sent Leo powerful glares making him shrink behind Luke.

"They are not babes and they are the immortal forever virgin hunters of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, moon and sky" he said as Jason frowned at the sky part.

"Come, we don't have much time and it seems a few of you are suffering from hypothermia" Zoe said as they hurried along.

Luke frowned as they set Piper down and let Zoe get started helping Piper heal. "Jason can we talk for a moment?" he asked as Jason nodded before they went outside the tent.

"What is wrong Luke?" Jason asked as he sighed.

"I think this is where we break off, you three have to go with Artemis to where the lead on Hera is and I have to go to Mount Diablo" he said as Jason looked at him confused.

"The prophecy speaks of the forge and dove opening the cage, which I figure is Hera's prison. It also said I would lead the way and I have helped lead us to here which is only a bit away from Hera but Piper spoke of a Giant in her dreams. But to kill one you need a god and all gods are held back from helping right now due to an ancient law that Naruto can't dissolve but I can get help where you all can't since if we all are together it will still count as the quest" he explained as Jason looked him in the eyes.

"Can you promise her father's safety if you do go?" he asked as Luke nodded.

"Yes I can fully promise it" he said as Jason smiled.

"Then go, but be safe" Jason said as Luke chuckled as he nodded before handing Jason a marker.

"Stab that repeatedly into the ground if you need help from Naruto and he will arrive though only in an emergency" he said as Jason nodded with a smile before walking back into the tent.

"You really plan to go on your own Castellan? I do hope this isn't your male pride acting up" Artemis spoke out from behind him as he jumped back a bit before chuckling.

"No Lady Artemis it is not, I am just doing this to make sure no one gets hurt and to figure something out for myself" he said as the young goddess nodded.

"Well I know you plan to have Naruto fight alongside with you somehow even if we gods are unable to interfere with a quest. But worry not my hunters and I will guide them to where we believe Hera to be thanks to his possible theory" Artemis said as she passed by him.

"Thank you Lady Artemis" he said as he bowed his head before he started to walk through the hunter's camp.

He waited until he was far enough from camp before he ran through the hand seals and slammed his hands down, summoning another ram.

"Luke, what is it that you need?" the calm voice of the ram spoke as he smirked at it.

"How fast can you get me to Mount Diablo?" he asked as the ram smirked back at him before he got onto its back.

-An Hour Later-

Luke rubbed the ram's back as she slowed down at the base of Mount Diablo and even from the base Luke could feel something strong near the top.

"This is close enough, thank you for this" he said as the ram nodded before she dispelled leaving him alone as he snuck up the mountain with a Hiraishin marker in his hand.

As he neared the top of the mountain he could clearly see the Giant Enceladus. He was around 30 or so feet tall with a human-like upper body of bronze colored skin with bronze armor decorated with a flame design as his legs were that of a dragon, scaly and green in color. His hair was long dreadlocks that were decorated with bones as his eyes were marble white.

Luke frowned as he saw the man Tristan McLean hanging from his wrists from an excavator with ropes around his them and his ankles.

He also noticed several monsters he remembered from the tales of the original Jason from their six arms and earthen appearance.

'Earthborn, so I was right. The Earth is waking up' he thought with a frown as he kept his eyes on the massive Giant as its clawed feet slammed into the ground.

"Where are those brats!? They are being very dangerous by keeping me waiting" Enceladus yelled out as he turned to Tristan, pointing his flagpole sized spear at his. "You better hope that your daughter comes or sadly your life is forfeit"

Luke frowned as he knew even if he stayed stealthy he wouldn't be able to save Tristan before the Giant or the Earthborn noticed him.

'Well, like my teacher I might as well make a bang' he thought as he ran through the signs before slamming his hands into the ground.

"Land style: Spike Barrage!" he yelled as massive spikes of earth shot up from the earth, killing numerous Earthborn but bounced harmlessly off Enceladus's armor.

"Wha? Demigod that controls the earth, so you're the one that mother has been annoyed with!" Enceladus yelled as he stepped onto the top of the mountain

"Well with who my father is it would be tarnishing to the good Hermes name if I didn't piss of people more powerful than me" Luke said as he drew Kusanagi and unsealed two more markers before he threw all three at Enceladus

Enceladus laughed as he easily swatted away the markers, making them stab into the ground around him "You are as much of an idiot as your father it seems. You should know it takes a god and a demigod combined to kill me and I don't see any gods here boy!" he yelled before a chuckle sounded out around them.

"Oh really? Well I do" Luke said before Enceladus was sent flying across the clearing by a massive glowing arm.

"Great timing as usual Luke, though I am confused why you are not with the others" Naruto said as the dust settled and revealed him standing with his arms crossed as a Susanoo ribcage and arm surrounded him.

"Well I had to get away from the main questers to not be included with them so you could show up without the Fates getting angry" he said as Naruto smirked as Enceladus got back up.

"Good plan Luke but for now stay close to me inside my Susanoo and wait for the right moment to land your blow" he said as Luke nodded as he walked through the ribs before the full Susanno manifested in its six armed three faced shogun form.

"Who are you? I don't recognize you but I can feel your godly aura" Enceladus said as a clone of Naruto grabbed Tristan and warped away making him growl before he charged at him.

"I don't expect you to know me but I am a god. My name is Naruto Otsutsuki, Greek god and Shinto Primordial" he said as Enceladus widened his eyes before one of the arms of the Susanoo grabbed his spear and stopped his charge.

"Now I may not be as smart as Athena, who you are the bane of but I can definitely take you down" he said with a smirk before another arm formed a Rasengan that bore into his face sending him skidding back again to where he was sent flying to the first time.

"Get back up, we are far from done and I still need to interrogate you on your mother's awakening" he said as Enceladus stared up at him with fear rolling off him in waves.