Prytaneum
Daybreak
"Hah," I sighed, already feeling tired. "Finally something I recognize and it brings back bad memories…"
This…could be a bit of a problem.
The sixth floor had been a colossal pain in the ass to explore in its entirety, with emphasis on 'colossal.' The sixth floor had been a lot bigger than the fifth—or maybe it had just felt that may because I'd been under siege the entire time. Though the Dungeon had primarily sent War Shadows to try and kill me, they'd soon been accompanies by Frog Shooters; large, one-eyed frog monsters that attacked by shooting their long tongues. In and of themselves, they were more annoying than anything, but they'd worked to support the more dangerous War Shadows by harassing me at range. I'd spent the entire time I was on the sixth floor under attack by something or other and they weren't enemies I could simply brush past as I had the Goblins and Kobolds and Dungeon Lizards above. Where I'd managed to fully map out the top five floors in about fifteen hours, the sixth alone had taken me…
I don't even know. Eight hours? It had to be after midnight by this point…probably? I'd told Hestia I'd be out late again tonight but I hadn't intended to be out quite this long.
But I'd done it. The sixth floor was done and now every day of my life would take me further and further away from when I had to deal with it. All I had to do now was get to an out of the way place on the seventh floor, call Mrs. O'Leary, and I'd be able to bypass it entirely if I didn't feel like just hurrying through it again. Either way, I wouldn't have to deal with it anymore.
Or that's how it should have been, but when I reached the staircase that connected the sixth floor to the seventh, I found something wait for me. Or, well, lots and lots and lots of somethings. Unlike before, when monsters had spawned all around me as I progressed, the inhabitants of the seventh floor seemed to have been awaiting my arrival. When I'd first entered, everything had been quite, without even the slightest sound of walls breaking, but once I'd gone far enough, they'd all crawled out from around the corners and gathered in front of me.
And behind me, I thought as I glanced back. Dark shapes gathered in the entrance above, another group of War Shadows barring the way, no doubt meant to stall me if I attempted to run back up the way I came and buy time for everything else to rush me.
This wasn't the same as the spawns I'd dealt with before. This was a trap.
And I'd walked right into it.
Damn.
But more than that…the monsters in question…
"Myrmekes again," I said to myself, sighing again and shaking my head. "Yay."
I'd sort of expected as much, but the creatures Eina had called 'Killer Ants' looked a whole lot like the monsters that had given me and Beckendorf a hard time before. Beckendorf had nearly died trying to save the pieces of a giant dragon robot, I'd nearly died trying to save Beckendorf, there had been giant ants everywhere, and it had become apparent that neither of us understood women—the whole thing had been a fiasco.
Not all bad, granted. After it was over, we'd all watched fireworks together.
But Beckendorf was dead. As were Annabeth and Silena and the last remains of my good mood. It had been a long, long day for a bunch of reasons, but I'd be lying if I said that was the only reason I suddenly wanted to call it quits. Taking a look around, I silently ticked of all the physical escape routes, but saying they blocked all the ways out might have been wrong—rather, I could probably have walked from here to the next floor entirely on the backs of giant ants. Of course, if I called Mrs. O'Leary, I might still be able to get out without a fight…but that wouldn't make all these monsters disappear; they'd just be waiting here for some poor sap to deal with in the morning.
And these weren't just normal monsters, either. What was it Eina had said?
"Because of its high defensive power and dangerous attacks, the Killer Ant is often called the 'Newbie Killer,'" She'd told me. "It's shell is hard enough that the attacks of a rookie adventurer won't do a thing—and if it finds itself it danger, the Killer Ant can release pheromones to attract allies. Even assuming you can take down one, what about a hundred. It's very dangerous, Percy! So don't go past the fourth floor!"
…Right.
Anyway, I can't just leave them here. With this many of them in one place, there was a good chance someone might die and I couldn't let that happen because of me. Even if I was tired and annoyed and actually starting to maybe want to go to sleep and risk the dreams. Newbie Killer or not, if it was just that, I could probably still manage, but…
In the air above me, there were several dozen creatures that looked like moths. The ceiling on this floor was only about thirteen or fourteen feet high, so they were still within reach, but given that we were on the seventh floor…yeah. These had to be those 'Purple Moths' Eina mentioned. From what she'd told me, they weren't too dangerous alone, but they could prove poisonous given prolonged exposure to the powder they spread or if found in large groups. From what I understood, if I got covered in their powder multiple times or spent too long inhaling it, I'd regret it. A lot.
And right now, there was so much powder coming down, it looked like it was snowing.
Shit. That was probably why the monsters hadn't started attacking me yet. The longer I waited, the harder it was going to be to fight.
So I guess I better start fighting.
Swallowing another sigh, I took a step forward, saw everything around me tense, and broke into a run at the same time the Ants did. I flicked me gaze around before focusing on a target and jumping, foot connecting with the wall of the Dungeon for just a moment before I was pushing off, turning in midair to swat a Purple Moth with Riptide's blade. It split in two in a sudden cloud of powder that made me close my eyes and hold my breath, but I could feel it stick to my face as I passed through it. I had only a moment to spare before I had to open my eyes again, focusing on a landing point and angling my blade.
Riptide sank deep into the gap between a Killer Ant's head and abdomen and I landing with my feet on its back. I had scarcely a moment to sheath Annabeth's dagger, knowing it'd just get in the way here, and then I had to move. The thing is, there literally wasn't any clear ground for me to stand on, just the squirming bodies of so many Ants that I couldn't tell where one began and another ended. The only way to even really tell them apart was by their heads, because they managed to hunch oddly, standing on their back for legs in such a way that they could use their mandibles and front claws to attack. I glanced around, keeping a look out for anything trying to sneak close, but I had no time to do anything but fight. I swung Riptide in a wide arc, trying to guide it through the softer parts of the Ants bodies to keep them from slowing down my attack, but even as heads flew, it hardly seemed to make a difference. Bodies fell to the ground, more bodies crawled over them.
The Ants pressed close without any seeming concern for themselves, crowding around me as much as possible. Standing as they were, each of them was over five feet tall and they clawed at me from every direction. Where there was space, others went low, snapping at my legs with their mandibles and releasing odd sounds. Given the sheer number of them, it was all but impossible to hear anything over the multitude of chittering sounds and more than a bit difficult to differentiate anything when they all looked exactly the same.
But I knew what they were doing. Pushing close, clawing at me with their talons, snapping at my feet to make me constantly move and adjust my balance on the unsteady footing of their fallen comrades—it was all I could do to focus on the battle in front of me. I didn't have any time to deal with the more insidious threat above me while giant ants were trying to eat my face, but it was the threat above me that I had to worry about. That was their plan, after all; they were sacrificing themselves to buy time for the Purple Moths to do their job. If the Dungeon couldn't overwhelm me with numbers, then it'd just have to poison me to death. Objectively speaking, it was a pretty good plan, but it was hard to appreciate it over the thought that it might actually work.
I changed tracks, pushing against the wall of ants in front of me. Instead of trying to evade every strike, I caught a set of claws on my breastplate and used the resulting opening to attack, bisecting an Ant's head. With my free hand, I caught another by the gap in their armor, heaving it up and throwing it into the ranks approaching me, making a group of Ants collapse into a mess. I used the opportunity to make a pair of wide, sweeping attacks, cutting off heads and limbs with equal ease, giving myself some breathing room. I looked around, searching for an opportunity to leap away and leave the fray, hopefully refocusing on the Moths—
And abruptly staggered, made dizzy by my own movements. My vision blurred and I saw double or triple or hover many it took to fill the room with Ants. All of a sudden, I wasn't sure if my previous confusion was because of the number of Ants or my sudden inability to focus on anything in particular, but when another of the monsters came close enough for me to swing at, I felt my blade cut through only air.
A moment later, something leapt onto my back hard enough to make me stumble, claws raking at my shirt and shoulders. My heart leapt in my chest as I saw a pair of mandibles—one on either side of my neck and poised to take a little of the top. I felt wicked points touch my neck and—
"—Get off me!" I snarled, hands snapping up with speed that surprised even me. I let go of Riptide at some point in the process and grasped the mandibles hard enough that I felt blood slick my fingers, but then I pulled them away from my flesh, forcing them as wide as they could go and then further still until I tore them off entirely. I threw the broken mandibles aside angrily and then reached back to grasp the bizarrely squealing insect, heaved it up over my head, and slammed it into the ground hard enough that sickening pops resounded over the rest of the noise.
I barely had a moment to breath—and I was breathing entirely too hard for the amount of air I seemed to be getting—before more took its place. Despite just setting it down, I couldn't see Riptide under the squirming bodies that surrounded me and claws raked at me arms, chest, and face. I drew my dagger with one hand and drove it down into head after head while I used my other hand to punch the creatures as hard as I could.
But it wasn't enough. I could feel myself slowing, my vision darkening, and I could barely breathe and there was no end in sight. I blinked several times, trying to make my eyes focus, and for a moment it seemed to work—but the only thing I could see was the dagger in my hand. Annabeth's dagger. And for a moment, with my vision so blurred, it didn't even seem like I was fighting Ants anymore. Instead, I remembered a different fight and grit my teeth.
I kept fighting, lashing out with my dagger and fists, crumbling shells and piercing through eyes. The attacks on my seemed to abate and it took me a moment to realize why—that in my anger, I'd wiped up my own personal hurricane once more and it was wreaking havoc all around me. The Purple Moths were trying to fly in the middle of a storm and fading really, really badly, crashing hard into walls and each other. The Ants couldn't seem to keep their feet on the ground against the wind and it sent them sliding back and forth, making a mess of their advance despite their own efforts.
For a moment, I was at the eye of the storm and nothing could touch me.
But I still couldn't breathe.
Moving quickly, I slide my backpack off and dropped it to the ground, opening it with hurried motions. The moment I did, something flew out of it and bumped me on the nose—on of the things I'd bought before entering the Dungeon. I had enough food to last me a night in the Dungeon, several cheap potions—but more than that, I'd brought something special. Or rather, something normal that happened to become special in my hands. A number of cheap, simple flasks, filled, of course, with water. I focused on one for a moment and it popped like a balloon, the water inside of it splashing all over my face and chest, soaking my clothes—
My head cleared at once, my senses clearing as energy rushing back into me along with precious air. The pain I'd felt before faded as if it had never been, along with the edges of exhaustion that had been weighing me down, and strength filled my limbs. I drew Riptide from my pocket again, uncapping it with a flick of my thumb, and began to move. All of a sudden, I was thinking straight and knew what I needed to do.
The Ants, in and of themselves, weren't too big of a threat—far, far stronger than the things I'd faced on the first five floors to be sure, but not too bad. The thing is, there were so many of them already and more were appearing every second; already there had to be two or three hundred total, with more being born from more distant corners of the Dungeon. And the moths, the real threat…what had been several dozen had grown to more than fifty if I counted the ones waiting outside the reach of my storm. The water I'd brought with me had evened the playing field for the time being, but maintaining this hurricane was going to exhaust me fast and then I'd be right back where I started.
I couldn't win if I didn't deal with the Moths. I couldn't deal with the Moths unless I dealt with the Ants. I couldn't deal with the Ants if I was dying of poison. And I couldn't just leave these monsters to hurt someone else.
So I ran. Using my hurricane to blow everything out of my way, I moved as fast as I could and crossed my fingers. As I ran past rooms, I took a glance inside to see if there were any ways out or through and did my best to guess which would be dead-ends from prior experience. I'd only get one chance at this, because every wall I ran past started to crack and break, unleashing more monsters at every turn; I didn't really have the option of turning around if I made a mistake, so I had to think fast. This room looked like there was a door way on the other side, but there was a path that looked like it curved around it, so it was probably a trap. More cracks started forming when I went this was; it was probably a dead-end and I should turn around right now. This path had less cracks, so it would probably take me deeper into the dungeon. This path meandered and narrowed and seemed rocky and mean as it trailed of to who knows where.
Perfect.
I wasn't just running for the hell of it—I had an plan, of course. I mean, probably. It should definitely work, maybe, if I did it right. Unfortunately, there was going to be a bit of guess work involved in just getting there, but at least I had the benefit of experience.
In my exploration of the previous floors, I'd come across something weird on the third, fourth, fifth, and now sixth floors—massive, treelike crystals in rooms full of monsters. Reaching them was always difficult, because they were out of the way and on the outer rims—it usually took me at least an hour to reach one, along a circuitous, rocky path. Of the eight-ish hours I'd spent on the sixth floor, at least four or five had been getting to them and back, including the time taken for the massive fights that inevitable ensued. I'd wondered what the point of them was, so I'd asked about them earlier today.
From what Eina had told me, they were called 'Pantries.' They were crystals that secreted a sap-like liquid that monsters seemed to enjoy and it was what they feed upon when there weren't any handy adventurers or demigods around to munch on. As a result, they saw a pretty steady stream of monster traffic and I always had a huge fight on my hands when I reached on. But given that killing monsters for money was literally what adventurers did for a living, I'd had to ask Eina why people didn't just set up shop at the Pantries to hunt monsters to get lots of crystals and she'd told me there were two reasons. The first, of course, was the sheer number of monsters present and the dangers therein, but more than that was the fact that they were so out of the way that even if you were strong enough to defeat every monster present, you were probably better off fight things on lower levels than trying to deal with them.
Given how much of a pain it was for me, it was kind of hard to argue, but in this case and for me, the place might have its uses. And while it usually took me an hour to get there…well, I usually wasn't running for my life. This time, I got there a little bit faster and burst into a room that's sheer size and beauty put the rest of the floor to shame. The lighting that filled the rest of the Dungeon died down near the Pantries, leaving them dark but for the light from the Pantries themselves. The one on the seventh floor was green in color and set into the back wall of the room, covering it from top to bottom in patterns reminiscent of roots and branches; the first time I's seen one, I'd honestly thought it was a crystal tree of some kind. In the surface of the crystals were bark-like, with gaps that released large dollops of 'sap' to feed the monsters that filled the room. Killer Ants and Purple Moths dotted the surfaces of the tree while Needle Rabbits drank from the massive pool beneath it.
This was where the Dungeon fed its children—and said children focused on me the moment I entered, but I had no time to pay them heed. Instead, I continued my charge without so much as pausing, leaping towards the pool as I focused.
So here's the part where my plan either works or doesn't. Given the Pantry's treelike nature, it was easy to think of the liquid as sap. Given that it was feeding its children, it was pretty easy to think of it as milk, too—though I'd jokingly referred to it as…something else I just didn't want to think about now that I was jumping into it. Still, it was probably sap or milk.
An interesting factoid I'd picked up after spending way too much time with the Demeter kids? The sap of a sugar maple, the stuff you make delicious maple syrup out of? About ninety-eight percent water. Milk is something like eighty-five to ninety-five percent water. The question I sort of had to wonder about now was at what point did something stop counting as 'water with stuff in it' and start being 'not water.' And what did this stuff count as?
Dad, if you're still up there and you still remember me…well, this might be a good time to help me out.
The moment I touched the pool growing at the base of the Pantry, several things happened all at once.
First of all, strength filled me again, dwarfing what I'd received from the flask of water from before. The hurricane I'd let die picked back up in an instant, renewing in strength and then rising to even greater heights.
Secondly, every monster in the room let out their high-pitched sound of choice, apparently outraged by my faux pas of touching their dinner.
Thirdly, the ground beneath me seemed to shake as if the Dungeon itself was pissed off—and every wall in sight abruptly shattered, quickly birthing more monsters to help pile onto the army already after me.
And lastly…I started getting really pissed off.
"Screw it," I snarled. "I'll take you all on! Mrs. O'Leary!"
I whistled loudly and the shadows in the room began to write even as what was probably every monster on the goddamn seventh floor crawled out of the woodwork.
Seriously, screw the seventh floor.