Percy Jackson and the Adventures of A Sister

23. The Last Frontier

Andromeda was annoyed. She had expected this to happen, but that did not make it any less frustrating. She had been able to handle the onslaught of monsters very well, but she had to sleep unless she wanted to fall unconscious due to sheer exhaustion. Her already low sleeping time went down lower thanks to the extra training she got from her brother after she became praetor. She never fulfilled the three hour per day requirement of sleep at once. She was always rudely awakened by the annoying monsters. 

Percy had trained her to sense monsters before they could reach her. When she was awake, even the stealthiest monster could not sneak up on her. But while she was asleep, some monsters could get close to the ship undetected. The technique worked by finding the residual energy released by the monsters. This meant that the only monsters who could get past her were small monsters.

Currently she was busy making repairs. Andromeda had designed the boat to suit her needs. The boat did not incorporate designs form other boats. Unlike other cold molded boats, this one was built onto a frame. The middle area of the hull was made of identical planks, which meant that Andromeda would not have to craft a new plank every time a monster attacked. She had enough spares to make another identical ship. Most of the top deck was full of them. 

A random sea monster had hit the lower part of the hull. Andromeda was in the top deck, and no monster weak enough to evade her senses would be large enough to reach the area, so she was safe. All the spares were in the middle deck, which also was hard to reach. The top deck had food and a few weapons, but it was mostly empty. The middle deck had the fuel tanks and the spare parts, and her personal living area. The lower deck had the bathroom, a couple of boxes full of canned and packed food. The remaining area was divided into five watertight cargo holds. These also served the purpose of preventing water from flooding the whole ship in the event of a breach.

30 seconds later Andromeda closed the hatch above her. She then opened the hatch in front of her. Water immediately gushed into the small airlock. Andromeda shot down toward the breach. She had been near the railing when the monster had attacked. She had jumped overboard and dealt with it. Now she was back on board the ship. Had the breach been big, she would have used it as an entrance. She took a waterproof canvas patch and stuck the thing onto the hole. The patch was made to make sure water did not gush in too fast. As much as she wanted to use her powers, she did not want to risk getting her father's attention. She turned on a pump which drained the water. She quickly grabbed the spares and then removed the damaged planks and replaced them. She finished in half an hour, just in time to reach the northern coast of Alaska. She dragged her boat onto the beach. Autumn neighed, delighted to be in the domain of her creator.

Andromeda cast a simple repelling spell in around the area. The spell would repel mortals without attracting the attention of any monsters. She began packing. If there was one thing she learnt during her time on the streets, it was to always be prepared. She had got more than a little imperial gold last time she came here. She may not be as skilled as the children of the forge god but she could make weapons just fine. Mortals may take two to four years to learn, but an average demigod learnt this stuff in a year while spending only an hour a day in the forge. She managed to learn in six months. While the weapons she made were not as strong as the blades that the warriors used, they were more than strong enough to deal with monsters. 

She grabbed her rucksack and began packing. She packed a few extra clothes, a whetstone, two pairs of 1 feet long hunting knives, one pair being steel and the other imperial gold, three pairs of throwing knives, a bottle of water, a flask of nectar, a box of ambrosia, the extra comms, her tent which she did not plan on using, some mortal money, a few drachmas some food, and a bow which was currently in the form of a bracelet on her wrist. She had a dagger sheathed in each boot, a few throwing knives were on her belt, and two pairs of hunting knives hidden in her jacket. The number of weapons she had was astounding. The ones she packed, the ones she had hidden in her jackets and boots. This made sure she would not be defeated if she got disarmed. 

She was near a forest. Perfect. She planned on living in the forest and constantly moving. She trudged towards the treeline. The ground she walked on was solid enough. She did not have to worry about invisible death traps for now. Muskeg was really dangerous for unwary travelers, so she still had to be careful. She slowly broke out into a jog. Soon she reached the forest. Looking at the scenery around her she understood what Percy had told her. Alaska may be the land beyond the gods, but it was beautiful, wild and untamed. For someone who could handle the dangers of the place just fine, it was paradise. 

She ran south weaving her way through the trees until she reached her first challenge. A group of Hyperborean giants decided to try and eat her for lunch. She heard a loud roar and a group of ten monsters showed up on her radar. She stared at the giants. Fifteen foot tall giants stared back at her. With a roar one of the giant's charged. Andromeda waited until it was close to her and then leapt sideways and slashed the giant's knee with her sword telos, which she had just summoned causing him to fall over. She jumped onto the giants back and stabbed him. The giant crumbled to ice. 

The rest of the giants attacked her, rage blinding the foolish brutes. Apparently the giants were even stupider than the Laestrygonians. They surrounded her and attacked. While that was effective against a enemy their size it was useless against Andromeda who happened to be far smaller than them. Just as they got close enough to hit her Andromeda slid between the legs of the giants. They ended up tripping each other and impaling themselves on a few ice spikes she had conjured. Only three remained alive. They got up furious, only to crumble as a hail arrow hit them. Andromeda whirled around and found herself face to face with three people. The color instantly drained from her face.