Celestial Sniper of the Hunt (open)

Chapter - 23 | Scouting Team

[Hey Lads and Lasses! Crediting this chapter to @UndyneJackson for showing their support.]

[- Pringles out!]

"So, what are we looking at here?" Asked Thalia.

I gazed down at the camp below us with my binoculars. There were a few tents, some makeshift shelters, and a lot of campfires. Either way, it was teeming with monsters.

"I'm seeing two rival packs of hellhounds, a few squads of cyclopses, and enough heavily armed snake-ladies to reenact the movie '300'." I replied.

Thalia looked at me quizzically. "Snake-la... you mean the Dracaena?"

"Hm? Oh... yeah."

She rolled her eyes. "How is it that you know so much, and yet so little?"

"Well it took me a while to realise that the monsters I was facing were Greek. During that time, I researched a lot of mythologies. Besides," I said, taking another look through my binocs. "It's not like you can ask a monster what they are when they're trying to kill you."

She didn't say anything, but I heard a small sigh from her, indicating that I had won. I gave a little chuckle.

"Silence boy!" Hissed Helen, as joyful to be around as ever. "And by what do you mean by 'rival packs'?"

I copied Thalia and sighed. Luckily, Helen didn't seem to notice.

"It's just a guess. They're on opposite sides of the camp, and get aggressive when close to each other."

Helen glared daggers at me, almost literally as she reached for the one strapped to her belt. Thankfully, Thalia changed the conversation.

"So how did you find this anyways?" She asked. "It's so close to our camp and we didn't even detect it."

I shrugged. "Saw some monsters spying on the Hunt, took care of them, and interrogated the only one smart enough to surrender."

Thalia nodded. "Well at least you got rid of them."

I didn't reply. To be honest, I let the last Dracaena go. She was cooperative and helpful, so I let her grab her things and sent her on her way. She also said something about her friends killing her if she were to reform back in Tartarus. After that I ran back to camp, dodged an arrow or two, pulled Thalia and Helen to the side and told them the situation. Currently the three of us are gathering intel.

It was then that I spotted something interesting.

"Okay ladies, I believe if found the leader."

"Really? Who?"

"I'll give you some clues. He has big horns, a big axe, and a very complicated parental background."

"The Minotaur? Again?" Thalia half-shouted.

"Is there an- wait, what do you mean again?"

"He comes back every couple of months or so and has a personal vendetta against Percy. Percy even jokes that the guy has dam a fast-pass in Tartarus." She said with a smile.

"Really? And here I thought he hated me the most."

"You have ran into him before?" Asked Helen.

"Yeah, apparently my campsite is en route to New York from wherever he keeps popping up. He usually keeps his distance but sometimes he like to try again to kill me." I replied.

"Interesting."

I continued. "He was one of the first monsters I ever ran into. Gave me quite a scare when we met. Killed him, of course. But still..."

"Enough! Let us focus in the situation at hand." Interrupted Helen. Bitch. (Ow! I'm sorry but you were! Ow! Ok ok, I'm sorry! Ow, fuck! That's gonna leave a mark). "We will head back to camp, get some food and rest, and plan our attack."

"Ok."

We crawled back from the ledge we were using and headed back.

"The hunting party managed to get a bear to cook up, should be enough for us all." Said Thalia.

"Yeah, no thanks, I'm good." I replied while summoning a slice of pepperoni pizza.

The two huntresses stopped.

"What?" I asked, mouth half-full.

"Did you just make food appear out of thin air?!" Demanded Thalia.

"Yeah, it's one of Hestia's bles- wait did none of you's notice? I thought that I was a disgusting male that was to have an eye on him at all times?"

"No." Answered Helen. "We mostly ignored your presence. We assumed you were scavenging for scraps while we were asleep. You rarely move from your 'post' so we never see you actively get food or drink."

"Really? I thought Lady Artemis would have told you lot. Or at least shown her lieutenant' the apparent 'investigation board' she has about me."

Both of them looked even more confused somehow.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Thalia skeptically.

"You better not be mocking Milady." Threatened Helen.

"Hey, these are Hestia's words, not mine. Apparently your goddess is somewhat obsessed with trying to find out my true identity."

Helen looked as if she was ready to rip me to shreds in the name of her patron.

I kept eating pizza.

"Yeah, that does sound like Lady Artemis." Said Thalia.

Helen forgot about me and looked at her, shocked.

"Lieutenant! You should not talk about Milady like this!"

"Oh, calm down. You haven't seen the study in her temple. Back during the second Titan war, she had enough plans and details to make Athena jealous."

Helen looked as if she was about to punch something, likely me. However, she chose to storm off, muttering some words in another language.

I turned to Thalia. "What's with her?" I asked.

"She's the oldest surviving huntress. She's been travelling with Artemis since she left Troy. So of course she's gonna be attached."

"Yeah, well... wait. Troy? As in the ancient city? Are you saying that she is the Helen of-"

"No no no!" Thalia interrupted. "Helen is a Naiad and was born a few hundred years before that war. The name is just a coincidence."

I nodded slowly. "Ah, ok. It would be pretty weird hanging around one of the people to cause one of the worst wars in history."

Thalia smiled. "It's weird enough with you around flame-brain."

"Thanks for the compliment, thunder-thighs." I teased.

Sparks darted across her body. "Oh you are so gonna get it!"

An exchange of flames and lightning repeated itself as we quickly walked back. By the time we returned, we were both smoking slightly with some scorch-marks on us.

[Hey Lads and Lasses! Sorry that took so long, just attended a week of work-experience so I didn't have much time to write. Hope you've enjoyed!]

[- Pringles out!]