Nothing Like Going on a Raid With Friends – Part 3
"Percy, Harry, you don't have to do this! The sword! Your sword is his weakness!" Annabeth shouted quickly in slight panic, because throwing Hades' and Zeus' items into Tartarus was the worst idea either of them could've come up with.
But both Percy and Harry seemed to ignore her while Harry kept running toward Tartarus.
Arthur moved at an absurd speed, but Percy appeared directly in front of him, slashing toward him with Excalibur.
This time Arthur seemed determined to finish Percy off quickly, and he swung with the wooden sword now broken in half.
But this time, without all the enchantments it once had, Excalibur cut through it easily.
But Arthur seemed prepared for that.
And the moment the sword was cut apart once again, he shoved upward, knocking Percy's blade aside, before spinning and delivering a sideways strike directly toward Percy's chest.
That slash, even with a wooden sword that only had half its body left, delivered by this monster, was obviously lethal.
But Percy didn't seem afraid.
Instead, he gave a grin and muttered:
"Protego."
A magical shield formed around Percy, who had hidden his wand inside Excalibur's hilt, something that hadn't been visible because he was holding the sword with both hands.
This time the attack carried so much force that, even though it couldn't cut Percy, it shattered the defense and at the same time sent him flying several meters away, making him roll through the sand.
Arthur shot him an almost furious look, but his steps never stopped moving toward Harry.
"Grover, now!" Percy shouted.
Without hesitation, Grover blew into his flute and immediately the Venomous Tentacula began spitting nonstop, like a weapon that had completely lost control, firing in every direction toward Arthur and his path.
Arthur dodged every projectile exploding with acid and leaped whenever it splashed onto the ground ahead of him.
Meanwhile Harry glanced back toward Arthur, seeing how he kept getting closer, and without hesitation he pulled out his wand while tightly hugging the magical tome under his arm as he ran.
It seemed he had been muttering the entire time until he finished the spell and shouted:
"Ice Wall!"
A wall of ice rose directly in Arthur's path.
Of course, he couldn't see it.
But it seemed that the instant it rose, Arthur's senses picked it up, because he never slowed down and instead placed the sword into a thrusting stance.
And right in front of the wall, he unleashed what looked like dozens of thrusts, making his arm appear like a blur.
Shattering the wall blocking his path.
"He's a damn monster…" Harry muttered without slowing his feet.
Then he briefly looked toward the backpack and opened the zipper.
"Guys, if you do that the quest…! There's no need to go this far! We can do this! We can beat him!" Annabeth shouted, completely nervous.
"Annabeth!... trust us," Percy said with a smile toward her without stopping his chase after Arthur.
Grover shoved his hand into his bag of seeds and plants.
But from one moment to the next, he opened the bag's mouth as wide as possible and flipped it upside down while hundreds of seeds of all kinds spilled onto the ground.
Literally hundreds.
But also dozens of Chinese cabbages and another Venomous Tentacula, which, without knowing ally from enemy, immediately started spitting acid everywhere.
The Chinese cabbages too.
Each of them seemed to lock onto every person present and started rolling across the ground to attack them.
Meanwhile Grover had to run while protecting his head as one cabbage chased after him.
And right now he seemed to have completely lost control over the plants.
At that moment Arthur arrived directly in front of Harry, who was now only four or five meters away from the massive abyss.
And without hesitating, he slashed toward Harry.
Harry turned around and raised the backpack above himself, blocking Arthur's attack, which stopped the moment he saw it.
Long enough for Harry to open his magical tome with his other hand, pointing it directly at Arthur's face.
"Shock!" Harry shouted while the spell on the page matched the exact word he pronounced, the page itself showing the image of electric sparks.
Then electrical bursts shot out from the magical tome directly toward Arthur's face.
Arthur quickly raised his hands on reflex.
The electric sparks struck his hands, causing a slight numbness.
But he opened his fingers and moved his arm through the sparks, ignoring them while trying to grab the backpack.
But right at that moment Grover's completely crazed Chinese cabbages and Venomous Tentaculas attacked Arthur, jumping at him from different directions while seeds flew toward him.
They slammed into Arthur's back while the Chinese cabbages bit his foot and another one leaped up and bit his arm.
Which finally stopped his advance for one second.
At the same time Harry felt a Chinese cabbage bite his leg.
"Ouch," he said while instinctively crouching down.
Which caused Arthur's hand to barely miss the backpack, even though Harry hadn't done it on purpose.
Arthur's hand brushed against the strap, but ignoring the annoying plants and the acid burning him alive, he quickly let go of the wooden sword and tried grabbing the backpack with his other hand.
But Harry reacted in time and threw the backpack to the side, aiming toward the enormous black pit.
But because of his bad positioning, the backpack barely seemed to gain enough momentum.
And it was about to fall only near the edge.
Arthur followed the backpack with his eyes and, without hesitation, launched himself after it, trying to grab it before it touched the ground.
Percy appeared again, falling toward Arthur with his sword above his head in a vertical slash.
Arthur hardened his expression and raised his hand, trying to grab the sword.
But this time, unlike before when he had managed to do it, maybe he clearly wasn't in peak condition anymore.
Worried about the backpack, he barely failed.
Then the sword sliced through his palm.
But Arthur reacted in time to avoid losing his hand and shoved against Percy's arm, knocking the sword aside.
At the same time he punched Percy directly in the ribs with his other hand to get him out of the way.
And he didn't even look at Excalibur as he immediately turned back toward the backpack and ran after it in case it fell into the void.
But right at that moment a flash of Celestial Bronze shot forward at incredible speed.
It was Riptide.
But Percy hadn't thrown it.
Annabeth had.
Even though she still looked clearly nervous, she still trusted Percy and Harry.
She joined in too.
Riptide stabbed into the backpack.
And gave it that final push it needed to be sent directly toward the enormous pit leading to Tartarus.
Arthur stared at it in complete shock, with an expression of absolute confusion, yet he didn't stop running toward the giant black abyss.
And jumped into it without hesitation.
While his hand reached out to grab Riptide, which was piercing through the backpack and therefore keeping the backpack within reach.
But before touching the sword, it suddenly turned into light and flew directly back toward Percy's necklace.
Even then Arthur didn't give up and moved his hand toward the backpack's strap, which was right there, barely brushing against his fingertips.
He only needed to close his fingers.
But before he could, the backpack suddenly moved on its own and flashed past his side.
While Arthur watched it fly directly toward Harry, who was already standing there waiting to catch it.
And he did.
Right through one of the holes Riptide had made, a wand fell out from inside directly into Harry's hand, pulled by magic.
Or rather, by the ring attached to its handle.
A gift from Percy.
Its ability: when the wand leaves its owner's hand, it will seek any possible way to return to him again.
Percy stood up at that moment while both brothers watched the wise King Arthur with smug smiles.
"You fell for it," both of them told him, both figuratively and literally.
As they watched the legendary king fall directly into the abyss.