[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 25: Isolated Pattern Part 2

Growling to myself, I jerked the remaining horn from my right hand, glancing down at it to check the damage. Predictably, there was a hole straight through it. I could see the bones in the center of my hand, which made it easy to see where they were broken and sticking up out of my skin, but I just pushed them more or less back into place with my free hand and trusted that my healing would take care of the rest. And hopefully soon, because that was kind of my sword hand and I kind of needed it.

If I was being honest with myself, this might be bad. Had I still had the Curse of Achilles, dealing with something like this would have been easy. If I was near a Pantry, maybe it would have been fine then, too. But right now the only water I had was what I was able to produce and it, along with everything else I was doing, was taking its toll on me. The pain in my gut was steadily building, growing sharper and more pronounced by the second, but I couldn't afford to let up now; if it had just been one or two Minotaurs, I might have been fine handling them without my powers, but over two dozen? That was pushing it. Better to err on the side of not dying and all that.

Shaking my head, I reached for one of the Magic Potions I'd brought with me, uncorking the vial and raising it to my lips. I downed the sweet liquid as quickly as I could, draining the vial and tossing it aside. I couldn't help but shiver as it went down and spread an odd feeling through me, but it seemed to dull the metaphorical knife in my stomach a little bit, so called it a win.

Feeling somewhat refreshed, I looked back at the horde. Whatever they'd been expecting, it obviously hadn't been me and seeing me stab one of their comrades in the throat with his own horn had probably given them some momentary second thoughts, stopping their stampede. It was just as clear, however, that said moment was quickly passing and none seemed willing to even consider turning back, instead snarling, snorting, and kicking up dust with their feet. One seemed particularly quick to recover, though, and he quickly shouldered his way to the head of the group, apparently eager to have a go at me. He leaned over as if bracing for a charge, slamming his meaty fists on the floor with crushing force even as he focused the force of his stare on me.

I just spat at him, rolling my shoulders and flexing my hands, and he seemed to take that for the challenge it was, because he released a baying cry and charged towards me. Snarling myself, I ran straight at him in turn, cutting down the distance between us with a few quick strides—and then leaping into the air. As I rose, I caught one of his horns, using it to turn in midair and land on the creature's shoulders and ignoring the flash of protest that came from my shoulders in the process.

The Minotaur hardly seemed to notice, or else failed to realize what happened, because he simply continued his charge headfirst into the wall that had been behind me. I jerked as he slammed horns first into the wall, bracing myself against his head and neck to the protest of my everything and holding on tightly with my legs.

That seemed to get his attention, because he immediately drew back, pushing himself out of the wall with both hands before releasing an enraged cry, probably insulting my parentage in bull-talk. Releasing another half-battle cry of my own through gritted teeth, I held on even as the Minotaur tried to shake me free, jerking his head this way and that even as I worked to get a better hold.

"Look me in the eye and say that!" I shouted at him, gripping my legs even more tightly around his neck. Then, I crossed my arms around his horns, gripping the left around the front with my right hand and the right around the back with my left. Bracing myself against him and tensing my shoulders even as I was banged against my own arm, I pulled as hard as I could with both hands—and with a sudden snap, rotated it's head a hundred and eighty degrees so I could look it straight in the eye.

Pushing away from him even as his body began to convulse, I landed on my feet behind him and heard a dozen more cries. I ducked without turning to look, rolling in the water on the floor, and came up with a wave of salt water that I threw right into one's eyes. Stepping out of his way quickly as he shut his eyes, I ducked a blind swing, went low, and then drove both of my fists into the side of its knee.

It went down with an even louder cry, but I didn't have time to do more, instead turning and raising my shield to catch another's charge head on. The Minotaur's horns stabbed straight through the metal, punching through it on either side of my upraised arm, and even the impact of hits skull was enough to dent my shield painfully inwards even as its charge sent me sliding back across the floor again.

I went with it, letting it push me out of the crowd of its fellows before bracing myself against it. My shoulder screamed at me, but I put my feet down and did my best to ignore the sound of the Dungeon floor shattering beneath my feet—it was a good thing I'd bought new shoes today. As I ground the Minotaur to a halt, however, it was very quick to protest, shaking its head and warping the metal around its horns in the process.

Grunting as I tried to hold it steady, I raised my free hand and brought it down even as I forced my shield up, effectively trapping the Minotaur's horns between my arms. They gave way with a sudden crack—though some of that might have been my arms—and the Minotaur through his head back as they broke free.

But I didn't stop there. Taking a step forward, I punched the Minotaur as hard as I could in the gut, putting my entire body into the blow with my free hand. It bowed over at the blow and I pushed it back, forcing it onto his haunches—and then smacking him across the face with my broken shield, repeatedly. I used the shield as I would any weapon, forcing his head aside once, twice, three times—

And then the shield broke, shattering along with the Minotaur's neck and leaving nothing but hanging straps and broken pieces of metal around my arm. I shook them off tiredly, pushing the Minotaur's corpse away, and looked up to meet the charge of one of his buddies. This time, however, instead of being bowed in a horn-charge, its giant fist was upraised, ready to pound me into the ground like a nail. Rather than try and jump and risk taking the blow in midair, I braced myself, crossed my arms, and took it head on again.

In hindsight, probably a bad idea. It took me a moment to really grasp that, though, because all of a sudden I was halfway through the Dungeon wall and feeling kind of dazed. By the time I managed to make my thoughts line up again, I was trying not to be distracted by my broken left arm—the limb that had taken the hit directly. And when I pushed that aside and looked up, a massive fist was already filling my vision. I called to the water all around me—

I gasped as I felt something cool wash over me, eyes abruptly focusing. Did I blackout? If I had, it couldn't have been for more than a couple of seconds, because everything was still in roughly the same place—the only difference was that there was a shield of water around me that I didn't remember being there before, protecting me from another strike. I'd called it, hadn't I? Yeah, that's right.

Taking a deep breath, I snorted as my apparently broken nose straightened itself roughly and realized my head was up to my temples in the wall. Pushing my arms against the way, I forced myself out and tried to ignore the stiffness of my neck—I had bigger problems right now, what with another massive punch heading my way.

Using the sphere of water around me to my advantage, I lifted my hands to the wall behind my head and pushed myself downwards, slipping out of the wall and underneath the monster's fist as I went. Reaching out with my right arm as I slipped in between his legs, I dragged it out from underneath him, pulling him off his feet. Then, pushing against the ground with the same hand, I threw myself into an entirely planned for and controlled spin in midair, high above the Minotaur. Regardless, I managed to do what I'd actually been planning for and slip my hand into my pocket, drawing forth Riptide and flicking off its cap. As the blade extended, I came down point first on the Minotaur's neck, driving the blade straight through its throat with my fall.

Just like I planned. More or less.

"Trade you one," I said, which was the best I could think of while I was still seeing stars. The hole in my right hand was closed, but my left arm was broken and my chest was killing me. I wasn't sure if that was because of the geysers, if I'd broken a few ribs, or both, but it hurt. A lot.

But enough about me. What are those Minotaurs doing, shuffling around there? Something bad for me, probably. I should put a stop to that.

Calling to the nearest geyser, I slipped into it as easily as I had before, taking almost literal flight through the stream. Was it flying if you were swimming in water in midair? I honestly wasn't sure, but I should probably shelve that question for later and focus. Anyway, I either swam or flew or both at the Minotaurs, swinging Riptide in an arc that took the head off of one. I guided the stream up and over the headless corpse and then down towards another monster, bending it out of the way of another punch and curving low. Riptide lopped off a leg and then swept across another monster's middle as I rose again, opening him up to his ribcage. I twisted out of the way of a set of grasping hands, trading blows with several more Minotaurs as I went, but all of their hands were aiming at me and one got lucky. After about two dozen dodges, an attack got through and slammed me into the ground hard enough that I bounced.

After I actually hit the ground and stayed there, I had to take a moment to cough up salt water and replace it with oxygen. After I did, I managed to push myself off the ground and look up, only to find a Minotaur standing above me with raised hands. I managed to jerk away enough that they didn't come down on my head, but instead they collided with both of my shoulders and the snapping of bone seemed to echo in the room.

I released a scream that started pained and edged quickly towards pissed off—and a column of water fell upon me like the hammer of Hephaestus, sweeping all the Minotaur's around me away in a massive wave of water. A moment later, massive hands of water rose up from either side of the Minotaur that had hit me, each grabbing one of the Minotaur's arms and holding them in place. Then, a foot the size of a steamroller emerged from right in front of me and kicked him right in the everything, sending him flying to splat somewhere on the ceiling.

"And you," I shouted as another hand emerged, punching another Minotaur into the air. "And you and you and you and you and you and you especially! Gah!"

Snapping out the last word, I gathered all the water on the floor to me and rose into the air on a massive column of it before coming down on all of them with all the force I could muster. Tons and tons and tons of water came down faster than a speeding car and everyone unlucky enough to get in the way was flattened.

For a moment, I just sat there, bowed over and panting on my knees in the middle of a massive pool of salt water. I was trying to catch my breath but I couldn't, probably because I felt like I was being disemboweled. The geysers were growing even more powerful now, showering water on me even from the other side of the room, and at this point I wasn't sure if I'd be able to hold them much longer. Then again, I wasn't sure I could stop them, either. Should I use another Magic Potion? Or maybe the High Magic Potion?

I looked up, taking stock. I was surrounded by corpses in the water—some of them Minotaurs, most of them other monsters that had just gotten in the way. Still, with this many corpses...that's what, half of them? That had to be at least half of them.

Unfortunately, whatever it was, it wasn't all of them, and the others were getting to their feet right now. Most of them looked injured, but also ready to fight, whereas for me...my shoulders were still broken. That was a work in progress at the moment, thankfully, but still. And even with some Magic Potions, I wasn't sure how long I'd be able to keep this up.

Damn...what should I do? Should I just give it a shot? During the battle of Manhattan, I'd destroyed the Williamsburg Bridge, so I was pretty sure I could shatter the floor beneath us—the only problem was, I'd only ever used that trick once. I wasn't sure of the limits and testing them underground seemed like a...questionable idea, even by my standards. How much would break? The room? Those around it? Or more?

I didn't know how far we'd fall, either—or if there was anyone beneath us. I was pretty sure I could keep myself safe with a shield of water while either the rubble or the fall would probably help deal with the monsters, but where would I stop? Would the twelfth floor hold our weight? Architecture had always been Annabeth's thing, not mine, but...somehow, I doubted that most floors with the intention of bearing the wait of other floors collapsing upon them. Should I risk it? Or should I just try to tough it out with my Magic Potions?

Screw it.

"Okay, boys," I said, slowly getting to me feet—which wasn't as easy as it sounds with two mostly broken arms. Riptide lay on the ground before me before shaking and turning to stand upright, courtesy of the surrounding water. "Who wants to go for a ride?"

The remaining Minotaurs snorted and kicked at the water, stamping at the floor challengingly as they bowed their heads to charge.

"There won't be any refunds, by the way," I continued, bracing myself for a very hard fall. "Not that I suspect that'll be a problem, mind you. Just don't complain on the way down."

I sucked in a breath as they began to move, forcing my right hand to grasp Riptide, and—

Suddenly, there was a storm of motion—something so fast that even I could only see a blur of gold. Blood and Minotaur parts flew, scattering like leaves in the wind and mixing with the water. Some of it even struck me across the face, covering my left eye with a mixture of salt water and blood, blurring my vision—

But I could see her. It was only a little bit, but I could see her blonde hair and the gleam of her armor and weapon. She was facing away from me, but all of a sudden I couldn't focus on anything else. It was impossible. That she would be here, that she would come save me, that she would be alive. It was impossible, but...

"Annabeth?" I whispered, rasping slightly even as my heart began to pound in my chest.

Her hair shifted as she turned towards me—but golden eyes looked down at me instead of storm-grey, looking out at me from a face I didn't recognize.

That's right. It was impossible.

And it wasn't her.