Barely restraining my instincts that screamed at me to back up and find a defensive position, I laid immobile on the ground, my face mere inches away from the monster of labyrinth. Reducing my increased rate of breathing, I let out an imaginary sigh in relief. Slowly getting up on my two legs so as not to wake up the Minotaur, I took note of various objects of interest in the room, the chief of which was sleeping on the ground.

I wasn't sure what I expected, but I certainly didn't expect it to sleep like an actual bull. The Minotaur was on all fours, with its hind legs bent beneath its torso and both of its arms resting underneath its head. All in all it was a little disturbing to see.

The room itself was pretty large and empty, there was nothing other than the two of us. My heart fell as realized I had stumbled upon another dead end. And despite my resolve to find a way out of here, I couldn't help but feel disappointed and frustrated with how things always ended up against my favor. Not to mention I wasn't too fond of taking joyrides in the labyrinth.

I looked down at the sleeping form of the Minotaur and frowned. This room was a dead end, there was no way out other than the false wall I stumbled through. I would've to go back the same way and find a way to get out of the labyrinth. With the floor destroyed, I would need to traverse the wall, which while not impossible was going to be slow and difficult. The Minotaur could easily wake up during that time and make me fall into the abyss. He needed to go. Besides, I was pretty sure the asshole would reform and be back soon enough. Monsters were persistent that way.

Taking out riptide, I held it downward with the handle in my palm. With a quick motion, I brought the tip of riptide down on Minotaur's head… and missed. My eyes widened as a rough hand grabbed my arm and flung me over, riptide falling out of my hand. With a crash, my back made contact against the wall and the air was knocked out of my lungs as I fell on the floor. My mouth opened on its own, as I gasped for breath and looked up. The Minotaur was standing up, riptide laid at its feet as it turned its head and gave me its patented glare with a loud howl that nearly shook the place.

I was barely up on my legs and before I knew it, the Minotaur was in front of me, its head bent to ram me. I opened my shield just in time to block the strike, however the blunt force behind it was enough to throw me against the wall once more. I could feel the shield protruding against my arm where it blocked the horns. If I had been one second late, that would've been my chest.

We were both stuck in a deadlock. My backside against the wall, as the bull continued pushing its horns against the shield. The shield was slowly giving way, I knew it wouldn't be able to hold off a direct assault for much longer. Tilting my head to the side, I saw that riptide had vanished. However, I had both my hands full with keeping the Minotaur in check.

The bull took a breath as if preparing for a final push. I smirked, it was the opening I needed. The Minotaur leaned back almost indistinctly and then roared forward. Tilting my shield just slightly, I smoothly rolled to the right as the horns of the bull slithered against the shield and its head crashed into the wall. As I leapt out of the way, my right hand went for riptide and with practiced easy swung it onto the left shoulder of the monster, the sword cutting flesh and bone with unparalleled smoothness, severing the whole left arm almost instantly.

With a thud, the arm fell on the ground and vanished into dust. The Minotaur roared in the wall. It turned back and looked at its missing limb, its chronic glare worsening into an even more horrible one. By now, I was at a good distance away from the monster and fell into my usual stance. Knees bent, one leg in front of other, body sideways, and sword pointed straight ahead above the shield.

With a yell, the bull charged again and I surged forward to meet him. It swung its arm in an arc but I avoided it with a spiral while pushing my sword arm wide to deliver a wide cut on its arm. The Minotaur's blow landed on the ground where it crushed the floor beneath its fist, the monster barely giving a reaction to the huge cut I delivered. Pushing my feet on the ground to stop my prior movement, I raised riptide, intending to sever its right arm.

The Minotaur flexed its arm and caught riptide in the palm of its hand just as it was about to hit it shoulder. It turned its head to look at me, its eyes filled with anger and hate, our faces mere inches.

Thinking that this was a bit too much like a scene from Shounen anime, I decided to break the standoff by doing the first thing that came to my mind at the moment. So I promptly returned its glare with a smirk and proceeded to head-butt the Minotaur with all my might. In hindsight it was not such a bright idea, my forehead hurt like hell after that, but that was all ignored in the heat of the moment. Also, I figured it must've looked pretty dang cool, even if there was no one to see.

The head-butt managed to do its job though, as the Minotaur stumbled back, whether it was because he was actually hurt or stunned senseless by the move, I couldn't tell. Personally, I preferred the first.

As soon as the Minotaur backed off a little, I smashed my shield in its face making a couple of teeth fly. I had hoped that it would be enough to make it relinquish riptide, however it stubbornly refused to let it go. As I lowered my shield, I was once again met with its furious face, now missing several teeth. It growled and I could swear I saw steam escape its nose.

With an innocent face, I got diplomatic, "Umm…. Sorry.?"

The Minotaur didn't like the question. It yelled and swung its arm in an arc over its shoulder, lifting me along with riptide. I was pretty sure he would've tried to break my face if he had its other arm. I twisted in midair while maintaining my hold on the sword and landed safely on both my feet. However, I was up as soon as I was down once again.

I tried again, "You know, I personally know some very great dentists. They'll fix up your teeth's in no time. You don't have to be this mad." It was a blatant lie.

Again I landed on my feet and was lifted up instantly again. This time I decided to do things differently. As soon as I reached the midway point in my trajectory and was vertically above the Minotaur, I let go of riptide, retracted my shield, and used both hands to grab each of its horn. Bringing down it head, I lifted my knee and smashed it into its already broken face. It tried to break free and flailed its arm holding riptide, however it was useless, I was standing too close to its body.

I continued my assault on its face with my knees until it finally changed its approach and decided to drop riptide. Its arm grabbed my torso and clutched it painfully to make me let go, while also trying to push me away. Stubbornly, I refused to surrender my grip while also getting in a couple of hits in. I was just waiting for riptide to disappear again.

The Minotaur stretched back its arm and closed its fist in preparation of a punch. Being the stubborn ass that I was, I didn't let go of the horns and instead decided to take the punch. I was curious. I knew that this fight was a good as finished in my favor. This punch was most likely the Minotaur's last move. Still, I wanted to measure myself against my younger self and see how far I had come. The Minotaur was certainly not the most dangerous or the strongest monster. It was nothing compared to the Manticore, Echidna or Kampe. However, it was the only monster that continued to give me nightmares for a long time after our first meeting. Or at least it did in the beginning. And that was saying something, because I had encountered the Furies just a few days earlier.

With that in mind, I only grinned in anticipation and hardened my abdominal muscles. The fist landed and I cursed myself for letting myself go through with it. I wasn't seriously hurt or incapacitated, but I would be lying if I said it didn't hurt like hell. A trickle of saliva dripped down from my mouth to my chin. Riptide disappeared.

I removed my hold on its left horn and raised my arm. With a shout, I brought my elbow down on its head while simultaneously hitting it with my knee. Grunting, the Minotaur fell on its knees. Grabbing its right horn with both my hands, I pulled. With a crack the horn was broken. The Minotaur bellowed.

Using my left hand, I smashed the horn on its shoulder and uncapped riptide. Before it could even comprehend what had happened, I pushed riptide through its throat. The Minotaur looked at me with shock before it disappeared in a burst of golden powder. The horn fell down on the floor. The spoils of war.

I looked at the broken horn lying on the floor. It was ironic that I would break its horn both the times we met. The same broken piece of horn held a lot of meaning for me once. I was young, had lost my mom and that broken piece of bone was like my only connection to my mother. Now, it was nothing more than junk to me.

Silently kicking away the horn, I capped riptide, mentally reprimanding myself for losing hold of my sword twice during battle. I was taking its rematerializing capabilities for granted too much. If I had any other sword, I would've been dead. Well, not dead maybe but I would've definitely been seriously injured. From now on, I'd have to make sure to keep hold of riptide more often.

I sighed, with the Minotaur taken care of, I had nothing to do but go back where I came from and hope to find a path to the outside world. With the collapsed floor, getting back to the starting point was going to be a pain. Just as I was about the move back to the faux door, my eyes landed on a crack in the wall. It was the spot where the Minotaur had first flipped me. My eyes lit up in excitement at the prospect of another route. Getting close to inspect the cracks, I knocked my knuckles against it. A hollow sound emanated.

Grinning, I brought out riptide and jammed its tip into the wall. It easily cracked through. Pulling its handle, the wall buckled more easily than what I expected. It was barely two inches thick. Peeking a look inside, I saw that it was yet another small passage, the smallest that I had been through yet. It was just about three feet wide, barely wider than a door. As if being in the labyrinth itself wasn't bad enough, all this time inside small enclosed tunnels was going turn me into a claustrophobe. Picking up some pieces of the broken wall, I threw them inside to check for any traps. Nothing.

Shrugging, I entered. My only other choice was to turn back and try to find another way and with no ground to step foot on, this definitely seemed like the better option. At least I won't have to hang off the walls.

I treaded the ground slowly, cautiously poking the ground before setting down the foot. I didn't want to set off any other pressure point, not to mention I was in an extremely enclosed space. If I accidently activated some wide ranged mechanism, I could be in some serious trouble.

The passageway was turning dark, the only source of light being the room I came from. For good measure I trailed my left hand on the wall. The room behind was slowly turning into a small blotch of light.

Abruptly, my legs stopped. There was a small dais up ahead, it was a little difficult to see, but I could make out the rectangular outline. I inched forward ever more cautiously as this was usually the point where the traps were sprung on unsuspecting victims. The raised platform came just a little above my thighs. And on the small platform was a golden colored rod. It was a small one just about less than one and a half feet, rounded on both ends and terribly plain. There were no intricate designs or pattern, no secret or overt symbols that gave away its allegiance, no aura of power rolling off in waves as some would expect out of a powerful artifact.

And yet despite all that, my breath hitched in my throat when I saw it. How could it not? Even if it didn't look like much, it gave me hope beyond anything. I couldn't lose that. No matter what.

It was what I was looking for, there was no way it wasn't a piece of the staff. Why else would it be here of all the places? Behind the Minotaur's dungeon, which was arguably the most protected place in the labyrinth? Well, other than Kampe's prison if that thing was even here to begin with.

Slowly, almost reverently, my fingers edged towards the rod. Just as I was about to touch it, my hands stopped. What if there was another trap that activated when the artifact was lifted up from its place? It sounded clichéd. But there was a reason why situations like these turned into cliché's. More often than not it was because they were true.

Considering my situation though, I had no other choice but to take the piece of staff. I would just have to be prepared for any ploys that were set up to dissuade those who were able to reach this far. Grabbing the golden bar, I hesitantly removed it from its position on the pedestal.

I tensed immediately. Gently I stood up, nothing happened. The corridor was as silent as it had been, the only sound was that of my breathing. I turned. And the ground collapsed. There was no way I was going to fall for that once again, within a split second I jumped against the falling floor and jutted out my legs and arms against the walls. The small size of the corridor turning out to be in my favor.

I looked down, unlike before the floor hadn't collapsed into a chasm. It had fallen down by just about twenty five meter. There was even light filtering in from somewhere down below. Maybe there was another way down there. Not like I had much of a choice, just like before. I put the piece of the staff in my mouth and proceeded to descend down. Reaching down to a safe distance, I let go of the wall and hit the floor smoothly. Getting up, I removed the golden bar from my mouth and secured it tightly against my waist.

Taking out the last of my rations, I quickly devoured the food and eagerly gulped down the water. It was only after I had my fill and a fulfilling sensation spread across my stomach that I realized how famished I was. Mutely, I wondered how long it had been in the outside world and where would I end up when I came out of the Labyrinth.

Now with food in my belly, I could feel a nap coming on, but I shrugged it off. I could nap all I want once I was outside the labyrinth, in-fact I intended to take a long good one as soon as I found a bed. Hopefully that would be soon.

This corridor was about the same in size and width as the one above. The only difference was that it was illuminated. It made it appear slightly less creepy. Keeping a hand on the piece of staff, I moved onward cautiously, just like before. It was slow going, slow and boring. But I didn't want to take any risks now that I was in possession of one of the pieces, there was no way I was going to die while carrying the instrument of my hope in my hands.

It was only a couple of minutes or what seemed like a couple of minutes before I came to a dead end. Picking up my pace, I strode towards the wall in front of me. As I came closer, I released a huge breath. A fairly large delta sign was engraved in the center of the wall. Running my finger over the sign, it glowed and the door glided horizontally.

A soft cold breeze hit me in the face and my lips broke into a smile at the feeling of natural flowing air. The air inside the labyrinth always felt a bit unnatural. Eager to step outside the labyrinth, I swiftly strode outside the opened door. As soon as I was out, the door behind me closed. It was night, and I was standing at the edge of a glade. Turning around, I saw that I was at the periphery of a hill, there was neither any sign of the door from which I just came out nor that of a delta. Shrugging, I figured it must've been a one way door. Not that I was eager to go back there anytime soon.

Sighing in happiness, I leaned back against the hill and slid down to the ground. I was so glad. Finally at least I had a start. I got one of the pieces, only four more to go and I could go back. I snickered imagining the pissed off reaction Kronos would have on his face when I'd show up again. Or at least what was left of his face.

My head dropped down sluggishly, as the exhaustion finally crept over me and my eyes closed in sleep.

I woke up with a blast. Literally. I felt it before I saw it. The temperature suddenly spiked and before I knew it, I was flying through the air. My eyes opened in the air with my legs up in the sky and my head towards the ground. Going by this trajectory, I was certain that almost anyone else would've landed on their neck and quickly died. Thankfully, I was not just anyone else. Extending my arms and legs, I balanced myself, quickly slamming my hands into the ground and flipped myself to land on both my legs, sliding a little from my point of impact due to the sheer force of the explosion.

Quickly kicking myself into survival mode, I first took stock of myself and then of my surroundings. I was mostly unharmed, although a lot of skin in my palms was shred up due to making contact with the rough ground. It would be difficult to maneuver a weapon. The right side of my face was also burning, most likely from the explosion that threw me off ground. All things considered, I was fortunate to only get mild burns and minor scratches in my undefended state.

Looking around, my eyes nearly dropped out. A fierce battle was going on. There was a horde of monsters including Dracaenas, Cyclops, Hellhounds and… was that a Drakon? This didn't look good. Even though the monsters were fighting against the strongest fighting force of the Greek side, their greater numbers were still able to trouble the retreating Hunter of Artemis.

Been some time.

Anyway, I'll just answer a few questions and be off. I don't have much to speak of these days, better not fill the whole chapter with ANs.

Yep, I realize the fiasco with Torch, but I don't have a better alternative right now, so you'll have to bear with it for a while before I go back and make some minor edits.

Yes, I do realize I haven't put much emotional weight beside that in the first half of the first chapter regarding the death of Percy's mother, Annabeth and other comrades. I'll definitely include it into future chapters, rest assured. I'll also speak on this topic in the AN of next chapter. I kind of wanna go on a little rant regarding this but I don't want to take up space here.

No I don't believe Percy will be getting any form of immortality. Also I think I made it clear that he don't have the curse of Achilles. Maybe I didn't gave an explanation in the story? I'll check it out.

Yeah, the stuff with the relic description is over. Hopefully, it'll be the last time too.

If there were others questions, I kinda forgot them. Sorry. I'll see to them in the next chapter.

This chapter is pretty short, but I think the next one will be bigger and quicker than this one, so there's that. Thanks for all the support. All my chapters are unbeta'ed as of yet for excuse any mistakes.

SB