The Unusual Half-Blood

Chapter 2: Tantalus

After my conversation with Chiron concluded, I spent the next few hours performing another sweep of the camp borders and nearby areas.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, to the point that made me think that Connor was right about my growing influence. And while it was a good thing for now, I had a feeling that this peace was transient and superficial.

That's because these assaults on the camp were more than just a childish tantrum from Luke, contrary to what most might believe.

They were vital for his future plans, intended to create psychological pressure by instilling fear and insecurity among the campers—making them apprehensive about being on the losing side.

Living every day under the fear of being overrun by hoards of monsters would eventually break most of them, considering they were mere teenage kids.

Luke must've anticipated that the gods, given how they are, wouldn't actively do anything about the failing borders until the situation reached catastrophic levels.

In this case, there was a high probability that most campers would switch sides in a heartbeat, considering how some of them are excessively loyal to Luke even now and share his vision and prejudices.

This would weaken the camp's position and will eventually lead to its collapse.

That must've been his original plan.

However, due to my presence this year, things weren't working out as intended.

Even after almost a month of constant attacks, we've had 0 defections. The campers and their morale were still strong.

Which meant it was only a matter of time before Luke changed his strategy............

I sighed, pushing a string of possibilities to the back of my brain as I joined the hoard of campers returning from their routine patrol.

It was around 8:00 p.m.

Passing by Thalia's tree, my eyes landed on a lone blonde girl sitting beneath it, her face stuck to the laptop on her knees.

Breaking away from the group, I made my way over to her location.

She was surrounded by notes and travel guides, as she scrolled through a webpage, analyzing what looked like a map of North America, with multiple scribbles.

Even though her injuries weren't fully healed, her eyes looked too focused to care as they darted across the screen, as if calculating something.

"Mind if I join too?" I asked, approaching from behind which almost made her jump.

"oh, uhm, sure. Although, I was just about to pack up and head back." She muttered, closing her PC, and started gathering the notes- stuffing them into her bag in a hurry.

"I spoke with the campers," She said, changing the subject, "Looks like you've been helping out a lot. Even Ares cabin had good things to say, which was surprising. I didn't think they would cooperate with you."

I shrugged, leaning against the tree. "Well, Clarisse did refuse to follow my strategies unlike everyone else, and insisted that Ares would establish its autonomous outposts."