MOONLIT [Discontinued]

The Attack on The Hunt: "An Oath"

A/N: I guess you have to wait for a Percy POV. This arc is mostly Artemis and 3rd person POV.

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Artemis POV

It has been 6 hours since we left Perseus in the infirmary. The hunters were getting restless because of the presence of a male who they didn't know about.  Most of them were unhappy, it was visible on their faces. I had given them chores to take their attention off this topic. The truth was I too was curious. He had only told a basic summary about him, but I knew he was hiding some major things about himself. That was the reason I planned that he would be telling my hunters about himself and not me. Meanwhile, I had checked on him once. He seemed to be fine, he was sleeping; his wounds other than the puncture mark had closed and faded and seemed he would be better after his sleep. So I had left him be.

It was around 4.30 in the evening. I was in the planning tent with my lieutenant and the second and the third in command; the four of us planning on the next hunt and trying to find the next place suitable to set up camp. That was the last peaceful moment of the day as chaos ensued. 

The ground started shaking but it shook rhythmically. Thump-thump-thump. I realized in horror, using my sense of the forest domain, that it was, or rather were, hordes of monsters. There had to be at least 200 of them. 

"Zoe!! Girls!! An army of monsters is approaching from the south of the camp. Gather your sisters and form a defensive formation. Do NOT attack. There are too many. FAST!" I said in an alarmed voice. They understood and were off in a flash. 

I exited the tent and started incanting, trying to put a defensive shield on the camp borders. This would not hold for long but would give time for the hunters to gather. I knew this was going to be a bloody fight. My Hunters were very skilled and were also a havoc-wreaking war machine when working together. But this time we were outnumbered, severely. We may win but it wouldn't be without casualties. Even thinking about it made by heart sink.

Meanwhile, the Hunters, all 48 of them, had gathered, dressed in silver light armor and holding shields and spears while their bows were slung over their shoulders. This was a rare scene since they scarcely ever used shields and armor. They had arranged themselves in a modified phalanx, such that they were attacking and defending themselves at the same time. They said in unison, "ORDERS MILADY!".

"Monsters. South of the camp. Atleast 200. Defense formation. Do not attack. Hold your ground." I commanded and I myself joined their ranks. As soon as I gave my command, the first of the monsters came into view. They were all over. The line of monsters was spread a quarter-mile horizontally. Among the monsters were 5 Lydian Drakons, The Chimera, and leading them was The Minotaur. My Hunters' squad shuddered; monsters generally attack individually but they were arranged in a phalanx formation, they were here as a unit. The hunters were staring at imminent bloodshed. My heart sank even further. There was no way we were getting out of this.

As soon as the unit of monsters all gathered, they charged head-on. The enemy phalanx rammed into my shield spell and it cracked. One more hit and it will be down, I thought. 

"Hunters hold ground" I shouted. "FOR OLYMPUS" they shouted back and fell into a fighting stance.

The enemy phalanx charged again and this time the shield spell broke, shattering into a million pieces of light. At once the unit backed up and the drakons came forward. My hunters went forward and, bless their brave souls, took on 3 drakons at once while I was left with 2 of them. 

Knowing that arrows were useless against those armored scales, I dematerialized my bow and took out my twin hunting knives, and charged the nearest one. Both drakons spat acid, dodging both I crashed into one, planting a foot on its jaw. It skidded back a few meters. I rolled away just as the second one charged at me and parried its claw with my knives. The first one was back on its feet and started circling me and the other drakon. As I parried another claw, I sensed the other one charging from behind. I jumped out of the way at the last moment as both drakons collided, but I was not unscathed, the last moment jump caused me to graze my left shoulder with the drakon resulting in a deep cut which was bleeding Ichor. The drakons had collided head-on and both were knocked out. Wasting no time, I summoned my bow and sent an arrow each to the drakons' weak points and watched them turn to gold dust.