Versus manticore pt2
Percy was the first to move. He ran straight toward the manticore, while it swung its tail like a catapult, only far more mobile.
And the spike at its tip shot out at a speed even greater than the one that had struck Clarisse before.
But Percy didn't even flinch , he simply swung his sword again and deflected the attack with complete ease.
At the same time, Mr. Thorn began whipping his tail faster, launching several projectiles that were even faster than a bullet.
Percy held both swords in front of him and slowed slightly, though he didn't stop moving completely, cutting down every projectile that came near, while they flew around him, spinning before dropping at his feet.
At one point, Percy struck one of the projectiles and, instead of sending it upward like the others, he sent it straight back toward Mr. Thorn's face, even with the same force it had been fired with.
Mr. Thorn's eyes widened and he moved his head instantly to dodge it, but it still left a mark on his face, as a drop of blood fell.
"How dare you—?"
He didn't get to finish, because Percy used that moment of distraction to move at high speed and, for Mr. Thorn, appear right in front of him, striking with both swords straight toward his neck, like they had turned into a massive pair of scissors, but far more dangerous.
Mr. Thorn reacted quickly, raising his hands, his black, sharp claws aiming to pierce Percy's chest at the same time.
Percy had to step back, not before leaving a cut along Mr. Thorn's chin, who immediately swung his tail forward, launching several poisoned spikes that Percy deflected instantly with his swords.
But it hadn't been used as an attack, but to buy time and retreat, feeling the danger of having Percy that close with those blades.
After deflecting the last black spike, Percy glanced down for a moment at his clothes, and seeing that there wasn't a single scratch on them, he lifted his gaze again toward Mr. Thorn, who looked somewhere between annoyed and genuinely pleased, something strange.
At that moment, Percy could hear the sound of helicopters above them becoming present again. Even though he had heard them before, they seemed unable to see through all the fog. Still, Percy picked up a sound that wasn't familiar to him… but he could understand what it was.
"They don't understand it's useless. Surrender, bargain-bin heroes," Mr. Thorn shouted.
Percy's eyes opened slightly, his gaze swept across the battlefield and, without hesitation, he turned and ran toward Nico, who was still stunned by the fight in front of him, now closer to his sister, who was slowly starting to regain consciousness.
Nico noticed Percy running toward him, which made his expression turn into complete confusion, but Percy arrived instantly, grabbed his sister with one arm and caught him with the other, before jumping forcefully to the side.
At that moment, a strange buzzing sound was heard, but it wasn't bees. Rather, suddenly, like a laser cutting through the fog, something started moving toward them, leaving a mark on the ground.
No… it wasn't a laser. It was bullets.
At an absurd speed, to the point it seemed like they could cut through anything with their power. It was one of the helicopter turrets. And then another appeared, as if both helicopters had started firing freely.
Right at the moment Percy saved the Di Angelo siblings, Mr. Thorn took the chance to launch multiple spikes straight at them, with a smug smile.
Percy, midair, seemed to see everything in slow motion. Bianca opened her eyes for a moment, feeling the warmth of an embrace, and looked up to see Percy's serious face. Nico had a look of complete shock.
But that didn't last long.
Suddenly, both of them felt the weightlessness of being let go and thrown to the sides, like they were nothing more than sacks of potatoes, their eyes fixed on Percy at that exact moment.
When they hit the ground, everything snapped back to normal speed.
Percy landed on the ground, holding in his hands two black spikes that seemed aimed at his face, but he lowered his gaze in annoyance toward his leg, where a third one was embedded.
"Tsk."
He clicked his tongue, pulled it out without hesitation and tossed it aside.
"Clarisse, are you okay?" Percy shouted, since he hadn't been able to reach her, but luckily she wasn't within the attack range.
"I'm fine… just hurry before I bleed out," Clarisse replied in a pained tone, leaning against a nearby wall so she wouldn't be a burden.
At that moment, the helicopter machine guns seemed to stop, maybe to cool down. But then the buzzing sound returned, and once again the shots cut through the fog like a laser.
"You two, take cover, now," Percy shouted toward the siblings, who this time reacted without hesitation and moved.
Percy looked for a moment at the machine gun fire and, right then, Mr. Thorn launched another attack. Percy dodged it while also moving away from the suppressive fire.
Even with his injured leg, having lost quite a bit of speed, it didn't stop him.
He ran toward Mr. Thorn again, while the bullets seemed to chase him, tearing through the ground behind him.
"Hahaha! You think you can defeat me, brat, but you lack—"
He didn't finish.
Percy was already drawing in air, feeling the cooldown of his shouts had passed, but he didn't aim at Mr. Thorn.
He aimed at the sky.
Straight toward where the sound of the helicopters was coming from.
"VEN GAAR NOS."
The shout came out and, instantly, a cyclone formed from his lips, growing in magnitude in a brutal way until it became a massive tornado, pulling in the fog around it as it rose into the sky.
And catching both helicopters.
They tried to evade it, but they didn't have a chance.
They were dragged by the winds of the cyclone and slammed into each other, creating a massive explosion that filled the sky with fire and metal for a moment.
And then…
The cyclone vanished.
As if it had never been there.
Mr. Thorn looked up at the sky for a moment in shock, just as he felt something pierce through his shoulder. "Aaah!" he screamed in pain as he looked down and saw Riptide driven through his shoulder, thrown from Percy's hand, and Percy right below him, gripping the black sword with both hands, thrusting toward his chest.
Just as Percy was about to drive his blade through Mr. Thorn's chest and finish him once and for all, he suddenly heard the sound of an ancient hunting horn, and a silver flash flew past Percy's shoulder for an instant, piercing through Mr. Thorn's other shoulder, which caused him to be pushed back at the last moment, and Percy's killing blow only left a cut running from his chest up to his neck, but without finishing him completely.
Percy frowned at that and moved to swing his sword again to take his head off quickly, but in that same instant an endless rain of arrows seemed to fly toward him, forcing Percy to turn and look at them for a moment and jump aside to avoid them, since they didn't seem to be aimed at him but at Mr. Thorn, yet if they went through him as well, it didn't seem to matter much to whoever was firing them.
Even so, Mr. Thorn seemed to take advantage of Percy stopping his attack and swung his tail at high speed, striking the arrows that were trying to pierce him, though some of them lodged into his tail.
At the same time, the archers, or rather, the huntresses, appeared suddenly from different corners of the town, as if they had stepped out of the nearby forest. All of them were young girls, the youngest barely around ten, the oldest maybe fourteen, and each of them carried a bow in their hands and a quiver on their back or at their waist.
Percy, seeing those girls arrive, couldn't help but show a confused and at the same time annoyed expression at being interrupted and almost attacked by them, raising his black sword while Riptide returned to his hand after Mr. Thorn had pulled it out of his shoulder.
And Percy took a guarded stance in front of them, since he didn't know if they were enemies or not, though from that first attack at least he knew they weren't exactly allies either.
But now, with the fog cleared thanks to his cyclone, he could see Grover and the others running toward him, while he realized that around them, in the distance, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of soldiers lying on the ground; some of them clearly taken down by Thalia and the group, others with arrows stuck in them, probably from these huntresses.
"Percy, no. They're the Hunters," Annabeth shouted when she saw Percy ready to attack at the slightest sign of danger.
"The what?" Percy asked with a confused expression, but without lowering his swords.
That question made several of them look directly at Percy with disdain and disgust.
But the oldest of them didn't even spare him a glance, her eyes fixed on the manticore. "My lady, permission to kill," she said.
"That's not fair! It's direct interference, it goes against the ancient laws," the manticore shouted in pain, while its body kept bleeding, whether from Percy's attacks or from the arrows piercing its tail.
"That's not true," said a girl around twelve, calmly, with reddish-brown hair, pale yellow eyes like the moon, and a face that was truly beautiful, but cold and threatening. "The hunting of all wild beasts falls under my domain, and you, hideous creature, are a wild beast. Zoe, permission granted," she said, looking back at the girl who had asked.
Mr. Thorn, seeing that he was obviously about to be killed by the huntresses, seemed to think fast, his gaze darting around, and without hesitating even for a second, he slammed his tail against the ground, launching himself at high speed straight toward Annabeth and the others, who didn't even expect the manticore, in a desperate move, to attack them instead.
Percy saw it and moved at high speed, but right then he heard the girl who seemed to be called Zoe shout, "Attack!" not caring that now the manticore was far too close to his friends and that they could be hurt by that reckless volley.
Percy's eyes widened at that. Even if he reached the manticore, his friends would be pierced by those arrows, without a doubt.
Percy clenched his teeth hard, pure anger filling him. He had just used a shout, so he couldn't use another one yet, leaving him with only one option, to jump straight into the line of fire and let out a truly furious roar.
And he started striking every arrow at high speed, pushing his arms to their limit, deflecting each one that could possibly hurt his friends.
"What are you doing, half-blood? Get out of the line of fire!" the girl who gave the order shouted again, before raising her hand once more and yelling, "Fire!"
"Hahaha!" Percy heard Mr. Thorn's laughter, and the shout that seemed to be Thalia's and Annabeth's.
Percy turned his head for a moment and saw Thalia driving her weapon through Mr. Thorn's chest, but he had caught Annabeth with his tail.
"At least I'll take one with me," he shouted before a black portal suddenly opened behind him suddenly appeared behind him.
While Thalia launched another attack trying to stop him, Mr. Thorn turned, pushing Annabeth into it, while Thalia's strike pierced through his body but failed to finish him, and Mr. Thorn gave a mocking smile both to Thalia and Percy before the portal closed behind him.
"Nooo!" Percy shouted, but he couldn't run toward Annabeth while still deflecting the arrows, and in that moment of distraction one of them pierced through his shoulder.
Making Percy's furious gaze shift toward what stood in front of him.
Straight toward the Hunters.