PJO: Wait... This Ain't Kansas (Patreon)

CHAPTER 3

Two months later...

" — target their underbelly, it's not made out of armor for some reason."

"But why though?"

"Ermm... No idea at all! Luke, take over."

That caused the whole group to chuckle as Luke answered Annabeth's question.

"Well, the scales are strong, but they don't conduct heat very well. So if it did have scales on its belly, then it would cook itself to death since its flame breath in its stomach is internally on 24/7."

"Ohh..."

"Huh, food for thought."

Claud said as they walked through a city that was decently populated, buying as much camping gear and food with the money that Claud stole from tourists. They already had a nice filling burger lunch just now using about $50, and they still had about $100 more.

It's been a surprising two months since his isekai, and it was actually quite fun... The killing part at least. The adventure part was quite annoying, no showers, no nice food or pizza unless they come across it, even the constant fighting of monsters was dull since he couldn't fight using his normal fighting style.

He has however been training his demonic powers akin to his ten-year-old self... It was progress. At least now he had more reserves in his soul, meaning more crazy shit.

As the girls were shopping for clothes (Luke followed along to make sure that they were not buying overpriced clothes), his nose started to tingle as he frowned.

"This smell..."

It was divine, well, it was the smell of a divine being trying his/her darn hardest to not exert his/her divine powers, but there was a little leak in the control that maybe only those with great senses could smell and feel.

The direction that the smell was coming from was at his 7 o'clock, in a... library?

"Interesting..."

Seeing as the girls were taking a while to choose their clothes (Bless Luke for sacrificing himself), he starts to head into the library to meet this divine being.

Opening the doors to the library, he sees that no one was inside it, making him a little suspicious. The moment he steps into the library however was when he felt a translucent barrier touch his body and whisper into his mind to "Move Away From the Library".

'Most likely a repellent for mortals.'

By circulating his demonic energy around his body, he flushes out all the foreign substances from his body, making his mind clearer before walking around nonchalantly.

Once he reached the deepest part of the library, he starts to realize what kind of divine being it was.

The leaking divine presence was HUGE, with all capital letters. It was maybe around the level of Mundus' demonic presence, making him sweat from just the mere presence of the goddess in front of him.

The goddess in front of him was a silver haired woman in a ponytail with striking gray eyes just like Annabeth's. Her face was fucking flawless, thick eyelashes, perfect jawline, thin face, the whole package.

She had a slender yet curvy body with hints of muscle at the vital and important spots. And from her stance, he could see that she was relaxed, though would react immediately when needed.

She wore a white turtleneck sweater with slim fit blue jeans, along with accessories on her body. A silver bracelet with a serpent and an owl-pendant on her neck.

She was reading a book in peace, not even bothering to look up at him. So, he grabbed a random book from a shelf before sitting opposite of her, with his legs prompted up on the table as he sighs in relaxation.

The silence was both awkward and tense, as he glanced over at the woman that had not even acknowledged his presence at all. Ugh, gods, was he right?

"Ahem!"

He coughs into his fist as the woman finally looked at his direction, making him shiver voluntarily at the gaze that the woman was holding into his soul.

"So... Annabeth's mom, what brings you here?"

The signs were clear as day, her gray eyes that were very similar to Annabeth, the way she carried around herself, similar to Annabeth when they've gotten her a new book to read (Particularly about architecture), and the fact that Annabeth had been guided by owls and serpents before they met her.

"... Knowledge. And questions about YOU."

She emphasized the "YOU", making him sigh and placed his legs back to the ground in case anything happens.

"Hmm? Alright, ask away, Madam."

He said with a smirk as he leans his head forward onto his hand that was resting on the table.

With a shut of the book that she was reading, she places both palms on the book that was on the table before shooting out her first question.

"You are not a demigod."

"... Well, that was more of a fact than a question, but yeah, I'm not one of your nephews, unfortunately. From your looks, you'd look like someone who'd make a mean pie."

He said with a grin as Athena continued.

"What are you? You're clearly half mortal, but I've never seen such dark energy before."

"Nope, not answering that one. It'll open up A LOT of canned worms."

"What are your intentions with the group?"

"Watching your daughter, ay? Where's the privacy? Naughty naughty."

He clicked his tongue while shaking his finger once his sentence finished, prompting Athena to repeat once more with more force in her tone.

"What. Are your intentions with the group?"

"Honestly, nothing. I'm kinda bored, so I'm sticking with them for now until someone fetches me back home I guess."

He replied truthfully as he slung both arms in a cross to his chest, making Athena look at him.

"You're not lying."

"Gasp! Of course not! How dare you question my truthfulness!"

He dramatically said in a gasp as he gestured a pain in his heart, with Athena ignoring her as she stood up and starts to walk away from him since she was done questioning him.

"I'm guessing that you've come here to question me because I may be a threat to either Luke or Thalia?"

The goddess froze before looking back at the boy who stood up himself.

"It's quite obvious, there are monsters almost twice a day chasing after us, but they don't really target me and Annabeth, no, they target Thalia. I only added Luke because somehow he's 14 and has somehow survived for so long.

So, Thalia. She's a major god's child, ey? From the looks and attitude of hers, I feel like she's one of the big 3's kid. That's why so many monsters are targeting our group. She sticks out like a sore thumb. Am I wrong?"

"... You're surprisingly observant."

She complimented as Claud just chuckled.

"I have two twin brothers and a nephew who are prone to events, it's their fault honestly."

She was about to ask something again as Claud interrupted her.

"Canned worms, too lazy to explain."

With another look from her, she disappeared with a pop, making him breathe with relief once she was confirmed to be gone, glad that she didn't just smite him down with whatever powers she got.

A Month Later...

"There's so fucking many of these things!"

Claud yelled out loud as he blasted the head of another monster, he did not get the name of it, but it sure does hell annoy him since this was the 24th —

BANG!

— 25th head that he shot, but it just seemed endless. Even the demigods were getting tired, especially Annabeth who was holding on to her knife as she slashed her target in the knee.

Thalia has 4 on her while Luke had 2 on him, so everyone's hands were tied.

STAB!

Suddenly, he felt a surge of pain coming from his leg. Looking down, he sees an arrow stabbed into his thigh. Pulling it out with ease, he blasted the head of the archer monster before healing the wound with his demonic energy.

Once it was healed in an instant, he continues on to fight for his friend's lives as they will survive to see one more day.

The moment that the coast was clear, everyone except him falls to the ground, panting in exertion.

"That — huff — was the most — huff — we've fought!"

Thalia complained as Luke gave out a tired "Yeahhhhh." while Annabeth was breathing like her life depended on it. Putting Black Angel back into his jacket, he was about to let Annabeth use his jacket as a pillow when suddenly he falls to the ground with a "Flop".

THUD

Thalia, Annabeth and Luke sober up immediately seeing as their friend just dropped to the ground all of a sudden, heck, they've never seen him even fall asleep in the woods before, only in safe houses.

"Claud!"

Thalia said his name with a hint of confusion and shock as she quickly ran to him. Luke in the other hand dug into his backpack for something to help the boy while Annabeth followed Thalia.

With heavy breathing, Claud was really confused. He was supposed to be immune to diseases from his demon heritage, so why was he feeling so hot in his stomach?

"He's poisoned!"

Thalia said the moment she saw the wound on his thigh. There was an opening on his pants from the arrow, the area of where the area where he was shot had a dark purple wound mark on it.

"... We don't have any ambrosia left."

He said grimly as he brings out the bottle of ambrosia that they used, it was empty. Thalia especially paled, since she was the one who finished their reserves of ambrosia just a few days ago when she had to drink a sip.

Trying to stay awake, Claud used his demonic energy to try and flush the poison out from his body, but it didn't work as the circulation of demonic energy instantly backfired, causing the energy to go wild inside his body.

"Urghhh!"

He groaned in pain from both the poison and the wild energy inside him, causing him to curl up into a ball to try and ease the pain inside his body.

"What do we do?!"

Bringing out his map, Luke looks at it for a second before paling.

"We've used up all the safe houses nearby..."

Biting on his thumb, he looks at Claud's agonizing body twitching before breathing a heavy sigh. Carrying the boy, he asks Thalia and Annabeth to hold their belongings before walking a certain direction.

"W-Where are we going, Luke?"

"... My home. It's nearby, just a few miles away, and it has stocks of ambrosia and antidotes ready."

"But you — !"

"It's either he dies, or I suck it up and visit my mom, Thalia. Let's go."

He said with a grim face before increasing his pace, letting the two girls look at each other for a second before quickly following him.