Chapter 174 - The manticore

One of the girls, who had been named Phoebe by Artemis herself, took out a hunting horn from God knows where and prepared to blow it. This girl was, without a doubt, the biggest and most robust of them all and had ginger hair.

Just as Drako had seen the huntresses, they too had become aware of his presence. He was not surprised when, leaving aside Thalia and a few other girls, the vast majority of the girls were suspicious of him.

This was very evident, and Drako understood perfectly why this was so.

Most hunters have hunted alongside Artemis for tens and hundreds of years. During that time, they had virtually no contact with men. This had led to their distrust of men.

This big girl, Phoebe, was one of the girls who hadn't bothered to hide a little hostility towards Drako. He decided it was a good idea to be careful with that girl, as she only looks slightly weaker than Zoë.

At that point, there was a change in the battle of the cliff. The manticore, who seemed to be firing something poisonous from her tail, had lost her balance while fighting the boy holding a silver sword.

As he fell, the monster fired a poisonous dart again. If it struck the boy, there was no doubt he would die. The boy had good reflexes, though. He touched his bracelet, and a shield appeared to protect him from the attack.

That shield was extremely similar to Thalia's, but it was surely of inferior quality. Thalia's shield was still a replica of the Aegis, a gift from her father Zeus, so very few shields in this world could match or surpass it.

The shield was instantly destroyed when it was attacked, but it managed to stop the dart.

That the shield could only stop one attack had surprised Drako. Even if it was not at the level of Thalia's shield, it was still a shield of Celestial Bronze. It seemed that Drako had underestimated this monster.

But that wasn't the only thing that surprised Drako.

Just as the boy was about to pierce the monster with his blade, and making the journey of the hunters futile, there was a rumble, and something began to glow from the cliff.

It was a glossy black military device, with lateral devices that looked like laser-guided rockets. No doubt, it had to be deadly to operate.

What was a war helicopter doing here?

The arrival of the helicopter disconcerted the boys fighting the manticore, and the manticore took the opportunity to attack them again. You didn't have to be very smart to know that the helicopter was supporting the manticore.

Why were the humans allied with the monsters?

Drako didn't have an answer for that, and he didn't have the time to think about it either.

Just as the manticore was about to attack again, Phoebe blew the horn.

A sharp, penetrating sound came from the hunting horn.

Instantly, the manticore was paralysed. For a moment, no one raised an eyebrow. All you could hear was the rumour of the blizzard and the rumour of the helicopter.

"No! You can't..."

In this sepulchral silence, the words of the manticore reached everyone's ears.

The first to attack was Artemis.

She drew her silver bow and stretched the rope to the limit. A silver light appeared, taking the form of an arrow. Drako could feel the divine aura emanating from the arrow.

In the serious face of the goddess was the confidence that she would not miss the shot, that it would hit the target without a doubt.

The arrow flew out at divine speed. Almost instantaneously, the arrow was stuck in the manticore's shoulder.

The manticore was not dead because it had managed to react at the last moment!

With a silver arrow in its shoulder, the manticore screamed in pain.

"Damn you!"

He wagged his tail and unleashed a shower of thorns into the forest from which the arrow had departed.

But the hunters were not going to stand still. They took their bows and shot their arrows.

Because of the high speed at which the hunters were shooting, it seemed that the silver arrows were infinite.

Although these arrows did not have the divine aura of Artemis' arrows, they were powerful enough to split the thorns in two.

The accuracy of the hunters was also excellent, as they did not miss any shots. Each and every arrow they shot had a specific target, and they never missed.

The manticore tore the arrow from its shoulder with a howl, and it seemed that the monster had taken quite a bit of damage and was now weakened.

The boy who had been fighting the monster saw that there was a chance for victory, so he got up and tried to give him a blow. However, the monster wasn't as hurt as he seemed. He dodged the sword and slammed it into the shield, which rolled it into the snow.

"Come on!" Artemis screamed and ran to the battlefield.

Everyone, including Drako, followed Artemis from behind. Those who were fighting were surprised to see them arrive.

"The hunters!" Shouted a blonde girl.

Zoë went ahead of the group with a tight bow.

"Permission to kill, my lady?"

Asking permission to end the monster, she wouldn't take her eyes off the manticore.

The monster let out a m.o.a.n.

"It's not fair! It's direct interference! It's against the Old Laws."

Artemis stepped forward.

"It's not true. The hunt for all wild beasts is within my purview. And you, disgusting creature, are a wild beast."

After making it clear to the manticore, she looked at Zoë.

"Zoë, permission granted."

However, the manticore did not intend to die so easily.

"If I can't take them alive, I'll take them dead!"

The manticore screamed as he lunged at the boy with the sword and another very young boy.

"No!"

The blonde girl screamed in desperation, and she charged toward the monster.

Drako did not understand the girl's actions.

She was obviously weaker than the boy with the blade, and he was not even capable of defeating the manticore. What made her think she could save him from this situation?

Probably... love?

Drako thought about what he would do if one of his girls was in danger.

No doubt, he would use all his power to rescue them. Isn't that what he trained so hard for?

No doubt, he had always wanted the power to survive in this world inhabited by supernatural beings. But, since he rescued Kuroka, Shirone, Akeno, etc... he had another goal, to protect those girls.

But... these children were very weak.

What were they doing fighting a monster so much more powerful than them?

"Idiots."

Drako couldn't help but say what he really thought of them.

"Back off, half-breed! Get out of the line of fire."

The blonde girl got in the way of Zoë's vision, preventing her from shooting. Not only was she weak, but she was upsetting those who really had the power to kill the monster.

She did not heed Zoë's words. She jumped on the back of the beast and plunged the knife into its lion's mane. The manticore howled and stirred in circles, wagging her tail, while the blonde girl held on as if life was in them, as it probably was.

Zoë seemed not to want to shoot for fear of hurting the girl, but she also knew that they had to kill the monster.

"Fire!"

"No!"

Now it was the boy with the sword's turn to scream. But, just as the blonde girl had done before, the hunters ignored the scream and launched their arrows.

The first one pierced the monster's neck, another one hit him in the chest. The manticore took a step back and staggered, howling.

"This is not the end, slayers! You will pay dearly!"

Before anyone could react, the monster (with the girl on his back) jumped off the cliff and sank into darkness.

"Annabeth!"

Apparently, the blonde girl's name was Annabeth. That's a nice name, but it's a shame the girl's probably dead.

The boy with the sword, who had shouted the girl's name, ran after the manticore. However, the machine guns in the helicopter stopped him.

Most of the jackets dispersed quickly as small holes created by the bullets appeared in the snow.

Drako remained calm. If the bullets could penetrate his skin, he might as well kill himself directly.

"Humans aren't part of your hunt, are they, Artemis?"

A cruel smile appeared on the dragon's face as he pulled Gandiva out.

Artemis frowned when she saw this, but relaxed and smiled slightly when she saw the twinkle in Drako's eyes.

Those were the eyes of a hunter looking at his prey.

"Go ahead, do whatever you want."

Drako, having received permission, did not hesitate to create a magic arrow. A D-range Noble Phantasm, fired by another A-range Noble Phantasm. The human who was flying that helicopter could take pride in dying at the hands of such a lethal and unique weapon.

Drako hesitated to use his new skill, the flames of the giant Sutr, but that was too much for a mere human. So he simply shot his arrow into the helicopter.

Almost instantly, the helicopter exploded into dust.

[0 experience points have been obtained.]

[Because of the effects of Title Skill [Walking Egg]. Another 0 experience points were obtained.]

Drako was surprised.

So, if an enemy was too weak, Drako wasn't going to get any experience. Looks like the plan to massacre a third-world country was going to have to be called off.

Meanwhile, Zoë was examining the others. Artemis walked beside her.

"Three half-breeds and a satyr, my lady."

"Yes, I can see that. A few campers from Chiron."

The boy with the blade, which Drako noticed was not normal at all, shouted at the group of hunters.

"Annabeth! We have to go save her!"

Artemis turned to him.

"I'm sorry, Percy Jackson. There's nothing we can do for her..."

He tried to get up, but a couple of hunters kept him on the floor.

"...and you're in no condition to throw yourself off the cliff."

However, this was not enough to stop him.

"Let me go! Who do you think you are?"

Oh, he seemed to have enough courage to answer Artemis herself.

Zoë's face was lovely. She was so angry she wanted to slap him right there.

However, Artemis stopped her and looked at this Percy with cold eyes.

"No. No disrespect, Zoë. He's just agitated. He doesn't understand. I am Artemis, goddess of the hunt."

It seemed that the fourteen-year-old had short-circuited when he heard the goddess' response. In the end, he could only mutter an "Ah... well."

Which was nothing compared to the satyr. He drowned out a scream, knelt in the snow and began to whimper.

"Thank you, Lady Artemis! You are so... so... Wow!"

Thalia didn't seem to be able to handle this behaviour, so she yelled at the satyr.

"Get up, goat boy!"

At which point, the other girl interrupted.

"Stop, time out!"

She was young, about Shirone and Valina's age. She started pointing out each and every one of them.

"What's going on here? Who are you?"