Page 185 of Blood of Olympus

It was an effort to tear my eyes off her — less so when Lykos scolded me — but the sight of the woman with the red ribbon over her eyes on the back of her glittering violet dragon, defying the laws of gravity and vanquishing our enemies, was one I would take to my grave.

Swoosh!

The sound of a javelin piercing the air above my head snapped my gaze back down to the ground, inciting the realisation that, perhaps, my grave was closer than I realised.

I swiped Ceraunos through the air, simultaneously beheading a lunging serpent while using the blade to direct a dart of lightning through the headlessly writhing body in the direction the spear originated.

I cared not if it met the flesh of the thrower, just that it struck any one of the thousands of bodies before us. I was dismayed to realise that men were scattered through the ranks of monsters — though men could be just as monstrous as any creature.

Kronos has successfully warped the minds of mortals, though thankfully, they were few and far between. It had been jarring when to realise Ceraunos was stained not just black with Tartarian blood, but also crimson. The colours bled together, my stomach churning with the knowledge that at some point, I had slain people too.

Do not dwell on such things now, Godling. Berate yourself later, Lykos snarled — mentally and physically — as his teeth ripped through the neck of some foul bear-arachnid hybrid. You’ll have plenty of time to do that after. Eight hairy legs twitched from the bear’s torso as the creature’s lifeblood poured out of the lethal wound to its jugular.

I shuddered. Why did he have to use spiders?

My wolf snapped at something hideous with scales as black as coal. Why do these questions matter now?

I frowned, blocking a stray arrow with the wooden shield strapped to my left arm. I guess they don’t.

“Sorry!” Haras bellowed from the front line of archers loosing their final shots, and preparing to join the fray with their blades.

Apparently, it was getting to the point of hitting allies by mistake.

“Don’t worry about it!” I yelled back, watching a grin spread across the cyclops’ face as he drew his longsword and leaped over a barricade to tackle two foes to the ground with a mighty roar.

Unless there’s no after in which to ask them.

As if reinforcing that thought, a taloned paw I hadn’t seen coming circumvented the shield still held aloft. The tiger-like creature swiped at my leg, leaving four deep gouges running the length of my thigh.

I cried out and electrocuted the stupid beast, leaving the air reeking of singed fur and overcooked pork.

I groaned. Where were you on that one?!

Preventing this one from tearing your head from your shoulders, he said, indicating the body of a winged reptile twitching at his feet. Though it is often filled with air, I, unfortunately, am rather attached to that thick skull.

Rude. I snorted, reminding myself once again of the guardian angel in the skies above us.

My gaze flicked briefly up and I watched in awe as Velira rounded a mountainous gigante, breathing a wash of flames at the forest along its spine, igniting a wildfire across the creature’s rocky flesh. Meanwhile, Nyssa released a string of darkness at the other, coiling around its behemoth ankles, tripping the stupid prick over.

Mind those feet, Nyssa jeered, her voice muted across the distance between us.

The gigante fell in slow motion.

I even had enough time to warn our warriors to part like the tides and get the hell out of its way. Landing with a colossal crash, the force of which echoed throughout the plains, it sent those unlucky few closest sprawling as winds gusted outwards.

A thunderous laugh flew out of my mouth. Clever, wicked thing.

Her hushed emotions shifted into something entirely inappropriate for the present situation, and I vowed to taste them later — praise her in person for all her hard work.

Athena, however, did not waste a second of the advantage. She scaled the gigante’s craggy hide even as it haltingly attempted to regain its feet, all the way up to its enormous, barely discernible head.

My attention was divided between the battle before me and the one above me. I swiped, smashed, hacked at, and slew innumerable foes, suffering minor injuries along the way, as Athena gripped a spear in her right hand standing atop the gigante’s forehead.

Lykos leaped, bounded, and tore through creatures the likes of which usually only existed in nightmares, as her spear gleamed and grew in her fingers to twice its usual length.

The battlefield seemed to pause and hold its breath as the goddess gripped the deadly lance with both her hands and drove it through the gigante’s left eye. It unleashed one last, shuddering howl — as loud and jagged as a landslide — and then fell silent.

Our warriors took it as the blessing it was, roaring our triumph to the skies and to the goddess who’d instigated it, bolstered by Athena’s massive feat.