[DanMachi/Percy Jackson] Prytaneum

Chapter 69: Kindling

"Finn!" I shouted, pushing my way forcibly through the crowd. With almost all the adventurers in Rivira lined up, the square was a shifting press of sweaty people who hadn't showered recently and I was once again reminded to be thankful that Mrs. O'Leary allowed me to avoid having to bother with places like this any more than I had to. While I still wasn't sure how safe it was for everyone else to have me running around freely in the Dungeon like this, I nonetheless made a mental note to try and take Mrs. O'Leary a few floors deeper before heading back up, or at least to the entrance to the next floor; if nothing else, I knew the adventurer population dropped off pretty damn sharply from here on out, so I'd at least be endangering less people, and—

And damn was my ADHD acting up right now. Unfortunately, it did that when I started to think I was hopelessly screwed and wasn't sure if I could do anything about it.

"Finn!" I said, abandoning all subtlety and restraint and flat-out just shoving people aside, my strength far surpassing that of Level 1s and 2s in the crowd—but suddenly the crowd cleared entirely as Finn himself hoped down from the makeshift stand sent in front and landed before me.

"What happened to trying to pass on the message quietly?" He asked as I threw our whole plan out the window—but fuck it, there just wasn't time.

"We found the killer," I hissed, dropping my voice enough to hopefully not send the entire crowd into a panic and continuing urgently. "We found Lulune first, but Aiz took off after her before I could say anything—and then I spotted someone who smelt like blood and I'd bet you anything that it's Hashana's missing armor she's wearing. But Finn—she's Level 6."

I could see the look in his eyes as my words began to sink in—the widening, the uncertainty, and the doubt. Finn himself had stated that the killer had to be Level 5 or more, but I was pretty sure that the 'or more' had just been for completion's sake, because Level 6s were in short supply. So were Level 5s, of course, but even that was a significantly larger base to work with then what I was talking about now. The only Familias I knew in Orario that had Level 6s at all were the top dogs, the Loki and Freya Familias, and all of the former were gathered in front of me. There were probably others, too, but anyone who had Level 6s at their back had some serious power to go with it. And if what I was saying was true, if Finn believed me and did something...I could only begin to guess at what it might mean back up top, but I was guessing nothing good. I was throwing around a pretty goddamn big accusation without much to back it up beyond my own mysterious senses that Finn had no way of confirming.

It was suspicious. I was suspicious. I got that and hell, if Fels was to be believed, I might well be a monster that just thought he was a man, so sure, fair enough. But goddamn it, if there was a murderous Level 6 running around up here, people were going to die. If she attacked this crowd and we were off guard, she was going to reduce everyone in it to paste before we had time to react—and if it was what I had to do to stop that, I'd go find a bottle of Status Thief and have the demigod conversation and make Finn believe me, because he had to. I knew full damn well what my secrets were worth and it wasn't what this could cost.

And I was damn near about to tell him that, trying to push what I felt at him through my eyes through sheer force of will, when it was all rendered moot by the sound of a whistle. It was sharp, higher-pitched than a New York Taxi call, and the sound of it seemed to resound inside my skull—and it came from the direction I'd seen Aiz and the killer to go off in.

"—Did you hear that?" I asked, once again proving I was easily distracted, and Finn frowned at me before turning to stare off in the distance. A moment later, I heard what he must have as well, the sound of splashing, bubbling water—and the cracking of stone.

I don't remember if it was he or I that moved first or if we'd done so in unison by some unconscious agreement, but in a moment we were both by the edge of the cliff, staring down into the spitting, splashing water as monsters vomited forth from it. I recognized them and I was pretty sure Finn did, too—they were the plant monsters that had attacked me before, each of them a massive, dangerous presence against my senses. I realized then something I hadn't noticed, or else must have dismissed; a deep, uncomfortable sensation coming from the depths of the lake, like a pressure against the back of my spine. I could feel them there, now that I knew to look, the same way I could feel the bed of the lake.

Because they damn never covered it. There were...I wasn't even sure how many, but dozens or hundreds of the plant monsters covered the bottom of the lake, having lain in wake until they were called. And there was a part of me that wanted to say something smart or witty, to make some wise crack about how they were underestimating me if they were trying to pull shit like this near the water—but there was a larger, quiet, worried part that looked at the lake and thought that no, actually, a few hundred Level 3 or 4 monsters that I knew from experience were stupidly tough might just be enough. Or more than enough. Or a stupid amount of overkill, really.

"A whistle," I said without even really thinking. "I heard a whistle, before they—there's a Tamer controlling them. The killer, probably, or someone working with her."

Fels had told him that beforehand, though it suddenly felt like forever ago; that the killer had been controlling the monsters from before, but not that...well, I feel like we might have slightly underestimated the scale of her...everything. The idea of sending me down here had been to distract them and draw their attention away from the package, but I was pretty sure that if I tried to distract this crowd, I'd end up doing so as a chew toy. This was absurd. I couldn't handle a crowd like this, even with the magic swords Welf had given me.

But, I thought, feeling not at all sure of myself. I guess that doesn't really matter right now—they're going to try and kill me anyway.

With that thought in mind, the situation didn't become better, exactly, but it became simpler—kill or be killed, however unsure I was of how to do the former. Given they'd been hiding under the water for who knows how long, I was guessing that drowning them would be easier said than done. Given how touch their skin had proven, I was guessing crushing them wouldn't go much better. I could shape the water into blades, perhaps, and try to cut them, but against so many of them and given how much energy I was sure it would take, I was guessing that'd be slow going, too. A magic sword could take out a chunk of them if I lined them up right, but there weren't really any choke point I could see, or not any I could reach in time. If we were further away from the try, I could try breaking the floor again and send a bunch of them down to the nineteenth, but I wasn't convinced that would actually do anything. Then—

Their magic stones, I thought. Where are their magic stones?

"In the back of their throats," Finn said and it was only then that I realized I'd asked the question out loud. Hopefully that was all I'd said. "That's what Tiona and Tione said."

The back of the throat could mean a lot of things with mouths that big and it'd take a while to figure out where to aim—but it was a start, I thought. If I drove a blade into their open mouths, preferably one of water because I got the feeling those teeth wouldn't let me get too close unscathed, I could...maybe make some progress? That didn't exactly sound like a ringing endorsement even inside my own head, but the plants were getting further and further away from the water by the moment, which meant my odds were getting worse and worse.

Just do it, I thought. I can think when I'm dead or ten minutes from now, whichever came first.

"Don't," Finn said, grabbing my arm as I began to extend it, feeling my own power rise and surge as I made my decision. "They're drawn to magic. Even if you could kill everything by the water, you'd summon all of the others right here into the heart of the town."

"They're heading here anyway," I said, a drop of sweat slipping down my face—but I held back nonetheless, watching the monsters from nearer and nearer.

"But slowly," he replied and turned away. "Bors, we're under attack! Get your men together—groups or six to ten should be able to protect themselves for a while! Riveria, Tiona, Tione! We'll go on the offensive! Lefiya—where's Lefiya?"

"She went after Aiz!" One of the Amazons replied. Tione, I was pretty sure, the, uh, older one. "She said she saw she running towards the Crystal Road!"

Finn paused at that and then shook his head.

"It doesn't matter," he replied. "We can handle this ourselves, let's just do it quickly!"

Right, I thought as I began to feel relieved. I was used to...not necessarily working alone, but with working with groups where I was basically the last resort; where a situation I couldn't somehow handle was just...not getting handled, and to having to figure things out myself. But the Loki Familia was one of the biggest in Orario and they were on my side in this—and they had more than a few members that were even stronger than me. The fact that I wasn't sure I'd be able to deal with this wasn't an issue, because they had it under control.

"This is pretty bad," Finn said, because I just wasn't allowed to be happy. When I gave him a heartbroken look, he explained. "We can handle things here, but we'll have to be here, because if we're not, a lot of people will die—but if there's a Level 6 after Aiz, she needs help. With her magic, she's one of the strongest fighters in Orario, but..."

And just like that, I remembered why I was here. The plan had been derailed, but that was every plan I'd ever been a part of in my entire life.

It was time to improvise.

"I'll do it," I said, and when he shot me a look I went on then explain why that wasn't insane. "I'll go after her and Lulune; I can get them both to the surface if I have to. If I do that, whatever these guys are after is meaningless—and even if they don't realize that, looking for something that isn't there should keep them busy. If this bitch stuck around town even after killing someone, I'm betting she won't just leave if we make good on our escape, but it should buy you time."

"...Can you?" He asked. "It'll be dangerous."

"And I'd chosen such a safe career path, too," I said ruefully. "But I'll figure something out, I suppose."

Finn smiled at that and looked down the cliff, where the monsters were drawing nearer and nearer, before nodding.

"Go."

Not wasting another moment, I turned and booked it for the edge of town, giving a Taxi whistle as I approached. When I ran past the last building, I was suddenly running alongside a garbage truck worth of Hellhound, each step of which sent a rumble through the earth in a way that would have been really kind of alarming if she wasn't such a good girl. I spotted Ryuu on her back as I ran and jumped, reaching out a hand and knowing she'd grab it, which she did, hauling me onto Mrs. O'Leary's back mid-motion.

"We're not staying to fight?" Ryuu asked—her tone not accusing, merely inquisitive.

"The Loki Familia's handling it; we're going after Aiz," I said. And then, realizing that didn't really explain anything, looked over my shoulder to explain. "We found Lulune and Aiz went after her, but so did the killer, and they're a Level 6. They sent the monsters after the town to distract us, so we're going to ignore that to save Aiz and Lulune before they die. And I think another member of the Loki Familia might be there? We should also make sure she doesn't die."

"We should, perhaps, also consider how we are to avoid dying," Ryuu pointed out. "The two of us do not have the power to stop such a person."

And yet she didn't suggest backing down. That's what was great about Ryuu; she was calm and composed enough to seem like the reasonable one if I needed to pretend I had adult supervision, but was a million percent ready to do something crazy with me.

"Since we don't have a chance in a fair fight and she's a murderess who's working to kill tons of innocent people for what I'm sure are dumb reasons, I'm thinking we say hello by unloading everything we have at her, grab everyone, get the hell out, and introduce ourselves never," I explained my brilliant stratagem to her. "Can you prepare that spell of yours while riding?"

"Yes," she answered simple, and then began to murmur underneath her breath. As she did, I reached behind me in the satchel on her side and palmed the magic sword I'd brought along, as Lili and Hestia had demanded. I'd accepted the wisdom of that pretty easily at the time and felt pretty good about doing so now—but goddamn, how was I gonna explain this when I got back? Because I would get back, one way or another.

Mrs. O'Leary's massive stride ate up the distance quickly, bringing us through the forest to a path lined with glowing crystals, and a scene that thankfully dispelled any doubts I might have had, between the wrecked street and the monsters. Aiz was standing before a red-haired woman wearing little armor who wielded a sword that looked like someone had strapped a giant beast's tooth to a handle, and she was battered and bleeding. There were cuts on her side, blood on her lips, and behind her Lulune and the elf from the Loki Familia—Lefiya—were huddled up, watching what I was sure was an amazing, terrifying fight between two warriors that no one could interfere with.

Except, you know, me. I interfered immediately and as hard as I could.

I kind of didn't give a shit.

"Aiz!" I shouted as Mrs. O'Leary leapt into the clearing, I-don't-know-how-many-but-probably-a-lot of tons of Hellhound coming down with a startling crash. "Hit the deck!"

Both of the fighter's looked at me, but only Aiz seemed to understand what was about to happen, because her eyes went wide as she saw the sword in my hands and she shouted a quick word as the winds came to her, before she darted away, grabbing Lefiya and Lulune as she went—

And then everything in front of me went up in flames.

I didn't use Welf's magic swords much, because I knew how he felt about them and to me that took precedence over how potentially useful they might be—I was happy to have them on my side, of course, but I left their use up to Welf and Lili wherever possible, trusting them to use them wisely. Thinking about it, I'd been on the receiving end of them more than anything, which I figured really just gave me that much more respect for their power, which I also knew the potential dangers of.

But man, credit where it was due—those things packed a punch. I'd seen the one Welf made finish off the Black Goliath and the one I was using now had his new Blacksmith ability backing it up. I didn't believe for a second it would take out a Level 6 opponent on its own but—stone turned to slag. The crystals popped and shattered and melted into liquid puddles. Trees exploded as the gases inside them abruptly superheated, and flames clung to everything as far as the eye could see.

"Luminous Wind," Ryuu said a moment later, reaching a hand out past me, undeterred by the amount of destruction that had already occurred, and green stardust began to fall into the flames, flashing out like a thousand arrows aimed for a target I couldn't see through the flames, but seemingly striking if the sound of impacts was to be believed. I squinted into the burning light, searching for the source—

And then gave up, hopped off Mrs. O'Leary's back, and drove Riptide into what little solid stone remained, just in case. The heat of Welf's sword was already undermining its structure and the battle beforehand had clearly taken its toll, when I sent my power into it, it found purchase easily—and a moment later, the earth began to crack and crumble and falling away, collapsing in upon itself.

Yeah, I wasn't taking any chances with this bitch. If I had anything else I thought would work, I'd have done that, too.

"That should keep her busy for a minute," I all but shouted, my ears ringing almost too loudly for me to hear. A moment later, Aiz landed beside me, sweating slightly as she set down Lefiya and Lulune, and looked into the burning, broken, collapsed heap that used to be a cliff face. She nodded slightly. "Let's getthe hell out of here; get on. Lulune, we're here to—"

I paused, then, as everyone looked away from me, and realized a moment latter that it wasn't just my ears that were ringing. I followed their eyes to the source, to a green gem held in Lulune's hands, and—

It had a face. That is, inside the gem, there was a small, twitched looking creature, with a tail and bulging open eyes and, as if just to make it more bizarre, short, feminine looking hair that didn't fit it at all. Its beady eyes stared at us greedily, even as it...screamed? Was that what it was doing? I wasn't sure, partially because my ears were still ringing, and mostly because it didn't sound even vaguely, remotely human.

Was this what Fels sent Hashana and Lulune to get? Why even the fuck?

"What the hell is that?" I asked, looking from Lulune to Aiz in uncertainty—only to see her begin to fall. "Aiz?"

I stepped towards her in concern, looking away from the gem for a moment—but as I happened to glance back, I saw the gem break. The creature inside flew towards Aiz at startling speed, looking at once disgusting and ridiculous. I didn't see anything else happen, didn't sense anything wrong, but in that moment, letting this thing touch Aiz seemed like a truly, horribly bad idea.

So I didn't. The moment my feet shifted, I felt strength surge within me, power rising as I brought up my sword with lightning speed and swung, ready to cut this damn this in half—

But what happened next seemed to go in slow motion. My blade struck home, exactly the way it should have, but where the monster should have been split in two, instead it seemed to somehow cling to the blade. No, cling was the wrong word; where it touched the blade, it seemed to melt into it, seams fading as its flesh bubbled, until there was no real way to tell where the monster ended and my blade began.

And then Riptide began to shift in my hands.