AN: House hunting sucks. A month trying to get a house and it falls through at the last hurdle. It's been what my wife and I have been focusing on for the last month or and change and it went nowhere.
Son of the Moon
Chapter 60
-Percy-
Sitting at his desk in the Big House, Percy went through the various reports on the various operations he had going throughout the camp. For the last year he'd been preparing for war in earnest, and it was showing. The camp had an actual wall now rather than just the magical barrier, given the demigods in the enemies ranks that could pass through easily or give permission for monsters to enter.
The beach was monitored and reinforced given Poseidon's defection, all structures and cabins anywhere close to the shore rebuilt further inland in case of a sudden wave from the traitorous sea god.
They'd recently discovered a den of Myrmeks in the forest when Beckendorf had found a couple of the giant ants pulling the head of the lost Bronze Dragon. Given that, he had Nico and Bianca aiding the Ares and Beckendorf cabins on culling the nest, sending in wave after wave of undead into the giant anthill alongside Automatons to kill every Myrmek inside while the Ares cabin cut down any that tried to escape.
"Any word on the Myrmek incursion?" he looked up at Amanda when he didn't see any report on the situation.
"They're getting close to the lower levels." Amanda flipped through the new stack of reports she was bringing him, "Nico says that the skeletal scouts he sent ahead reported sightings of the queen so they're going to need your help soon to make sure it's put down completely. They've also discovered enough stolen celestial bronze armaments in the Anthill to outfit the Camp three times over."
"And the Bronze Dragon?" he nodded, readying his weapons as he got up, prepared to go join the siege and put down the giant acid spitting ants.
"No sign of it in the Anthill, it looks like the Myrmeks had just found it and gotten the head when Beckendorf found them." Amanda shook her head, "The Ares and Hephaestus Cabin have sent out a patrol team to try and find it in the forest."
"Good, I want that thing found and operational." Percy gave a nod as he strung his bow. With the upcoming war he wanted every possible weapon they could get their hands on. An automaton of that caliber would be worth a cabin's worth of fighter's if they could get it up and running. Moving outside the Big House, Percy mounted up, riding alongside Amanda as they went deeper into the woods to where the Myrmek Incursion force was gathered.
"Status report, how close are we to confronting the Queen?" Percy called out as he dismounted, noting the scrapped Automatons that were damaged and broken by the Myrmeks being hauled out by Nico and Bianca's undead to be repaired by the Hephaestus cabin before being sent back not the fray.
"There's only a few holdouts left." Bianca nodded, both she and Nico looking exhausted from how long this siege had taken "We can head to confront the queen now if you're ready." Nodding, Percy drew Riptide. The ancient blade would serve him better in the tight passages and tunnels of the Myrmek nest better than his bow would.
"Right. Amanda, keep an eye on Nico and Bianca. Clarisse, you and yours are coming with me." Percy gave his orders, wanting to let his best friend and girlfriend recover their energy "Beckendorf, any sign of the Dragon?"
"We have the head and have been repairing it." the leader of the smith cabin nodded toward the massive piece of metal "We've been following the deepest trench we found leading to the Hill, thinking that might be from them dragging it."
Nodding, Percy fell into step beside the Ares Cabin as they entered the depths of the Myrmek lair, the glow of their celestial bronze weapons and armor provide the light they needed to navigate. The smell was horrendous, rot and compost and damp mildew permeating the air as Percy's nose wrinkled in disgust. As they walked, their footsteps kicked up small clouds of golden dust and sand, the tunnel floor shining as if it was touched by Midas himself.
"This way," Clarrise pointed right when they reached the first split "I remember the routes from the Automaton's cameras "There shouldn't be any more Ants for another few levels but stay on guard anyway." The last part was directed to her siblings more than him, the various Ares demigods stiffening at the stern tone of their cabin leader.
They continued on in silence, the only sounds being the clank of their armor or the sound of footsteps on the hard compacted ground beneath their feet. The air grew tense, the oppressive smell growing stronger.
Then the chittering started.
The first Myrmek charged from the darkness, swirling gold thrown into the air as Percy's silver first surged forward, metal knuckled slamming against hard carapace. The Ant screamed, a sound he didn't realize an insect could make, as the armor like chitin cracked apart, greenish 'blood' bursting out as he quickly pulled his fist back, Riptide being shoved into the crack he's made. The Ant's scream was cut off as it burst into golden dust, falling to the ground to mingle with the remains of its kin.
"This shit is hard as armor." Mike, one of Clarisse's brothers, scowled as they picked up a piece of Chitin that had remained as a spoil of war, rapping a knuckle against the hard material "Most demigods wouldn't have the strength to break through it."
"That's why Beckendorf and the others are collecting it, to see what they can do with all that's been dropping." Clarisse took the piece back, tucking it in her satchel along with the others that fell from the ant the size of a large dog.
They continued to delve deeper, the massive sound of breathing growing audible as they continued to cull the few remaining soldier drones that were sent to try and stop them.
Finally, at the very bottom, they came across the egg room. A massive cavern buried in the earth that was filled with large white eggs and the titanic queen who'd birthed them. The queen roared at them angrily, although he wasn't at the mere fact of them intruding or if she could smell the deaths of her legion upon them.
"Volley!" Percy roared, the Ares soldiers hurling spears into the queen's body, the sharp barbs aimed for the softer parts of the much bigger but far less armored Myrmek. The Celestial Bronze spearheads dug into the queen who roared, thrashing in pain even as Percy and Clarisse shot forward to engage the queen.
Clarisse's spear, blessed so many years ago by Zeus, crackled with lightning as she thrust, the smell of burning ant filling the air as it cut through the thicker parts of the hide with ease. His old quest mate was going for the legs, working to hobble the Myrmek Queen's ground mobility while her siblings continually threw and recalled the spears to 'bleed' out the monster. Percy, meanwhile, focused on the wings, not wanting the queen to try and fly away. If she forced her way up through the mound, then it could quite possibly bury them.
"Prissy, give me a boost!" Clarrise shouted to him as he reacted, not questioning and just trusting her to have a plan. Grabbing Clarrise he hurled, his new arms able to fling the demigoddess skyward without any strain as she flew above the queen, her spear readied as she descended with a war cry, using the force of Gravity to force the spear into the queen's head. Lightning surged through the insect monster's body, the massive frame thrashing in its death throes even as the body began to dissolve into gold.
-Hephaestus-
Setting his hammer down with a sigh, Hephaestus wiped the sweat from his brow. As a god he technically didn't have to sweat but he preferred it this way, it made it feel like his creations had more meaning if he was working for it. Gripping his cane, he hobbled his way out of his forge temple on Olympus and made his way to the throne room.
Even the good news of the prayer from his children, that they'd found the Bronze Dragon and aimed to repair it, wasn't enough to balance out the knot forming in his stomach at the other development he'd sensed. Entering the massive hall, he nodded to his father who was going over war plans with Ares and Athena.
"Hephaestus?" Zeus looked up, surprised to see him at first before paling as the king of Olympus realized just what the reason for him coming would be.
"Yes, Typhon is almost out. He'll be awake and heading toward Olympus within the day." Hephaestus nodded "The Final Battle is about to begin."
-Percy-
Shaking his head as he approached the Big House, Percy tried to, again, flick off the Ant 'blood' that was coating him from the Hill incursion. With the queen dead and the soldiers all, supposedly, gone with her they'd gone from 'extermination' to 'collection'. There would be a rotating unit consisting of Hephaestus campers to run Automatons being sent into the hill to collect the treasure and armaments within, Ares campers to guard them, and others to sort through what was brought out for some time. Any Hephaestus camper not working in that group would instead be working on getting the Bronze Dragon up and running again.
"I need a shower." He grimaced, knowing he smelt awful. Sadly, his dreams of a nice hot shower were put on hold as he felt a powerful presence outside the camp boundary moments before the warning conch was blown.
Racing to the sound, Percy crested the hill by what had once been Thalia's tree to see a familiar pair of faces standing there calmly.
"Son of Artemis." Polybotes nodded, the Giant's Empousai companion with him still "I have news, the war begins."