The moment the boar moved, I moved as well. In a flash, I released a small burst of divine energy through the soles of my feet and dashed precisely to the left. The timing was so close that I only just narrowly avoided the attack. In the midst of that movement I also managed to conjure a purposefully overcharged spear of light and hurled it in the path of the boar.
To my surprise, my experiment worked. Not only did the spear explode upon impact, but my aim struck true as well.
In a rather impressive showing of my own personal power, the boar was knocked off its feet and it rolled over twice while the explosion also managed to leave behind a nice patch of scorched earth for my troubles.
Sadly, this was only a temporary fix since I knew it's only a matter of time before it gets back up, and I really don't know how everyone else is gonna get out of this. And yes, I say everyone else because if I wanted to I could speed out of here before I got touched by anything, but I'd rather not leave these people behind. Thalia and Zoe are too hot for me to let them die, and Percy is too cool.
Instead of engaging in any more fighting, I made the decision to fall back to the location of everyone else. Hoping to find a way to deal with our situation, I did my best to try and brainstorm a plan with them.
Turning towards Percy, who was in the middle of dealing with two skeleton warriors, I asked him, "What do you think your chances are against the boar? I'm running low on light."
Percy, in an interesting show of prowess and strength, pierced the neck of one of the warriors he was fighting before spinning in a 360 degree arc and slicing the neck of the other one, effectively decapitating the both of them and giving him just enough time to respond to me before they regenerated.
"I don't know man. From where I'm standing, not even Thalia's largest lightning bolt can keep it down for more than a minute," Percy responded, huffing in exhaustion as he did.
As soon as Percy finished speaking the skeletons were up and at it again, and so was the boar. I could hear it thundering right back towards me, acting like there was no one else it had the ability to charge at. If I could report him to admins for tunneling me then I would, but, unfortunately for me, this isn't a game. My life's on the line and I'm being forced to take it seriously.
[Divine Energy: 36%]
Before I could react any further I was hit with a wave of serious deja vu.
I've seen this scenario before. The move Percy executed, the words he said, all of it. I witnessed every single one of these actions during visions I had in my fight with Arges.
I have an idea. A terrible, horrible, and utterly reckless idea. But if I pull this off I'll be able to save everyone. Dodging the boar's charge once again, I raised my voice and shouted across the small battlefield.
"Everyone fall back-I have an idea!"
Haphazardly, the group huddled up near the still-incapacitated Grover while batting back their own respective monsters. In order to give us all the ability to conduct this conversation properly, I raised a shield around all of us.
[Divine Energy: 32%]
"So what's the plan, Twinkle Toes?" Thalia asked with a quirk of her eyebrows, her exhaustion evident in just the way she damn near panted the statement out.
"You're all going to leave me behind and continue without me," I said with finality. "That's the plan."
"There's no way in he-," Percy started but I cut in, "if you don't, we'll all die, and I refuse to let that happen."
This time Bianca spoke up.
"Isn't there some other way?"
Instead of responding, I looked at Zoe, knowing that her hatred for men and love for Artemis will push her to sacrifice me. Phoebe hasn't said anything yet, but then again she hasn't really said much throughout the entire quest.
"The boy's idea has merit, but I still have my doubts." Zoe finally said.
"Please hurry up-my shield is kind of getting bombarded as we speak, and if it breaks then I can promise you that I'm throwing someone out there. You guys need to get out of here now," I urged.
[Divine Energy: 19%]
Speaking up for the first time in a while, Phoebe put her two cents in and officially cemented herself as worth something in my eyes.
"We don't have the time to deliberate, and the boy's offering himself up. We should leave."
Her words were harsh and curt, but they were the nail in the coffin. Based on everyone's reactions I could tell that they didn't want this. It fills me with pride to see that, but as odd as it may sound, I'm glad that they're sad. I really didn't know that I'd wormed my way that deeply into their hearts, but it's a nice thought to have.
Thalia looked the most distraught by the decision, but if it was because she cared about me or due to the fact that she was in this same situation once before, I couldn't tell.
Apparently they were all too sad to talk to me, because the only one to give me some "reassuring" last words was Zoe.
"If you were a woman you would've made for a great hunter," was all that she had said. I'm still not sure how to really feel about that though.
Percy patted my shoulder as he walked past me, and Thalia gave me a back breaking hug before threatening everyone who saw her do it.
Taking one last glance at the retreating bodies of my quest-mates, I strengthened my resolve and looked ahead of myself, focusing my gaze towards my shield and the enemies I now have to deal with.
If someone were to ask me how I feel right now, I'd tell them I'm determined. I'd say that this is the most important decision of my life so far. In fact, I might even go on a rant so long that I end up saying that I "Always come back" like I'm quoting William Afton, but the truth is very different.
I'm annoyed.
This plan of mine has an extremely high margin for error, and it's only worsened by the fact that I don't really have anything to base this off of besides a vision I had in the midst of the prophetic dream I had before the quest. Best case scenario? Everything works out and I come out of this alive-better than ever. The worst case? I'll be stuck in eternal damnation.
[System Warning: Host's Divine Energy is at 3%]
No more stalling for me, I guess. I really hope I'm doing the right thing here.
Before I let my shield down, I did something that I haven't done since the quest started-I absorbed energy from the sun.
Usually when I do this it's just the light of the sun, but this time I dug deeper. Calling upon my connection to my father, I assimilated his divine energy with my own and started pulling.
[Divine Energy: 45%]
[Divine Energy: 67%]
[Divine Energy: 94%]
[Divine Energy: 126%]
The sudden influx of divine energy caused my body to feel as though it was being seared in scorching magma. My blood vessels felt like they were boiling and my mind shifted through visions-most of them too fast for me to comprehend.
With great struggle, I dropped my shield and used the excess divine energy to do something I've wanted to do ever since I got these powers.
Manifesting bright golden wings of light, I took flight and positioned myself a few feet above the monsters before balling my fists and charging even more divine energy into them.
[Host, your body cannot handle this amount of divine energy in its current state!]
[Your death is imminent.]
"Then let's go out with a bang," I responded aloud, and with a mighty flap of my new wings, I descended upon the monsters below in a brilliant flash of golden light.
[Divine Energy: 269%]
Instead of fighting any one of them individually I pushed them all forward with a wave of divine light, disorienting them long enough for what I plan on doing next.
Ever since I've realized that I had powers I've been tapping into my own personal divine energy reserves more than I've been using my ability to absorb sunlight, but now I have to use the basis of that ability and the same move I used on the Nemean Lion if I want to get this right.
In a show of unmatched precision, I kept a hold of the divine energy I had assimilated from my father and focused it into two things-a curse and a blessing. The curse being for the monsters and the blessing for myself, and with one last steadying breath, I pushed.
The explosion that followed can only be classified as something utterly divine.
[Host Condition: Dead]
[Divine Achievement Unlocked!]
[System Revamp Initiated…]