half-blood

eighteen

Namjoon sliced an Empousa's leg off. His companion left him after chasing a Clazmonian sow. Jungkook has been dying to kill it all by himself, the boy specifically told him not to interfere and so Namjoon didn't.

Casually walking towards where Jungkook was fighting, he finally found the son of Zeus finishing off the monster with Lightbane's final slice across its throat. When the sow turned into ashes, Jungkook let out a triumphant laugh.

"Ha! That's 5 out of 4 kills for you, son of Athena!" Jungkook said, wiping off the sow's blood from Lightbane before placing his sword back in his scabbard.

Namjoon just chuckled at how Jungkook's been so competitive since he agreed to him. The younger boy challenged him that if he has the highest kill count after the rescue mission, he'll be exempted from Greek lessons for a week. Namjoon believed in his own capabilities, he knew he could beat Jungkook easily - he's a son of the goddess of wisdom and strategies after all. Yet he also knew Jungkook isn't someone he can just belittle with even when he's too lazy to learn his greek monsters.

"You're really taking the bet seriously, huh?"

"Of course" Jungkook smiled, scrunching his nose, he was too happy to finally be a point higher than his friend. "Though I really want to end this mission already. You think the others rescued them all by now?"

"I sure hope so." Namjoon frowned. "But we agreed that when we find someone, we'll send an Iris message to each group."

"But we're split into another set of groups."

"Yeah. The best we can do is still try to find someone to save."

Namjoon and Jungkook continued their search, with no monsters to be seen. It was odd, making Namjoon giddy. They've been fighting monsters even since they got inside then now, no one's appeared for about half an hour already.

Namjoon was trying to feel his surroundings when Jungkook placed a hand on his chest, stopping him from his tracks.

"It's a room." Jungkook informed the older one, it was their first time to find a room inside the maze so he felt jumpy. "Should we go in?"

"Yes." Namjoon answered almost immediately. "We should check if there's someone in need in there."

They walked towards the door, Jungkook opening it slowly. The bright light coming from inside momentarily blinded them. Once their eyes adjusted, Jungkook's eyes shot in horror just seeing the scene before him - a scene vaguely familiar to him.

"A classroom? What the hell?!"

Jungkook groaned in frustration. The last he wanted to be in is a classroom, it reminded him of childhood days before camp; when his classmates made fun of him because of inability to read like the others. He blamed his dyslexia for that, a condition all demigods have. He's lucky he has the same view of schools with Jimin and Taehyung - another thing they have in common, besides the love of pranking other campers.

Inside the classroom-like room, a group of skeletons greeted the duo. There were a lot at the back of the room; some looked really old already, but some looked and smelled not that old, it almost made Jungkook puke in front of Namjoon.

Then they saw a monster awaiting their arrival; a monster with the head of a woman, with her hair tied in a bun and a face with too much make-up, and the body of a lion.

"Sphinx.." Namjoon said, looking at the monster in recognition. It was one of the monsters he learned that he liked a lot.

The Sphinx was standing at the far left corner of the room, just in front of the only other exit. She just stood there, hands clasped like what teachers look like when they see delinquent kids doing their antics inside the classroom.

"You're late." The Sphinx noticed the newly entered boys. "Take a seat, you two."

Jungkook furrowed his eyebrows, confused. What the hell is this she-lion talking about? Does she really think we're her students?

"Hyung!" a familiar voice called him

Jungkook scanned the room quickly and found the boy who called him standing in front at the corner of the room, his shirt tattered with what seemed like scratches. Seeing the young boy harmed angered Jungkook.

"You piece of s-" He started walking his way to the front when a strong grip around his wrist stopped him. He whipped his head back and growled. "Let go, Namjoon."

"The Sphinx is right beside the boy. She might kill him before you even get to the front. Keep calm, JK!"

"How can I keep calm when he injured that boy who couldn't even defend himself?"

"Didn't you two hear me?" The Sphinx spoke again, this time, her voice was raised. "I said, sit down. I will explain how both of you can pass through this room, unlike this boy here who couldn't even answer the second question right. He's lucky I'm not hungry yet.."

In front, Soobin has his head down, disappointed at himself for failing the Sphinx's game. The Sphinx went berserk when he got the wrong answer, the reason why he has been scratched on his chest. It made him weaker as he winced in pain, he barely made it out alive if the two boys didn't come inside on time.

Namjoon made Jungkook follow what the Sphinx said after a few seconds of him calming his friend down to be able to save Soobin.

Once the two already sat down, the Sphinx smiled at them, satisfied that they complied.

"Welcome to my classroom, students. As you've heard a while ago, you must answer my riddles correctly in order to get out of my classroom.

My kind of quiz is called Answer the Riddle! It involves answering fifteen random questions that are supposed to be riddles. You are required to correctly answer all fifteen, otherwise I will devour you. But I'll give you a chance. Since only one will answer my riddles, the other one can help the player when he states a wrong answer."

"Fifteen?" Jungkook complained, "That's worse than quizzes in camp! Jihyo only gives 10 maximum questions every quizzes I take."

"That's because she knows how lazy you are at studying. She can give you 20 questions if only you don't start sleeping after question number 10." Namjoon deadpanned.

"So," The Sphinx said, "Who will play?"

"Me." Namjoon raised his hand, Jungkook didn't even try to volunteer - it was already a given, anyway. "But I have one condition, if you could please consider it, ma'am."

Jungkook tried hard not to roll his eyes at Namjoon's politeness.

"Ma'am?" The Sphinx exclaimed, a big smile plastered on her face. "That's the first time someone called me that."

Namjoon gave her a tight lipped smile, while Jungkook and Soobin looked at her in disgust.

"Alright, what is it that you want, dear?"

"If we win, let all three of us go." Namjoon said, his voice not even cracking, leaving Soobin in awe.

The Sphinx turned her head sideways to look at the wincing boy. "This boy over here?"

"Yes!" Jungkook and Namjoon answered in unison.

Soobin looked at the Sphinx expectantly while the monster narrowed her eyes at him, thinking if she should consider the deal.

"Ma'am?" Namjoon asked, trying to get on her good side again.

Finally, the Sphinx smiled at Soobin then at them. "Alright."

The boys almost cheered but not until the Sphinx spoke again.

"But if you get even just one question wrong, then it'll be dinner time for me." 

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A/N: This question isn't related to the story but... did you guys watch BBC Live? hehe