hydra | svt

CHAPTER THIRTY SIX.

wonwoo

i stagger against the hurricane-force winds, bracing my arms in front of my face to protect me. the wicked laughter of the god hermes reverberates in my chest and i can feel myself already losing my breath with the sheer effort of just trying to stand up straight.

"come out and fight me like men!"

i'm very well trying, i think as i collapse against the leg of the stall still miraculously sheltering me. i make no effort to respond - my voice would get lost in the wind.

hermes is about to taunt us again when a flash of beige magic disrupts him. he laughs in excitement, eager to have a plaything to pulverise. a baritone low of a bull shatters the illusion of hopelessness i'd caged myself in as taurus, the golden bull spirit, charges straight towards the giant foot.

being at least two metres tall, taurus is already a monster among men (his abs have abs, for goodness sake) and if there's anything scary about a giant bull with more muscle mass than braincells, it's the lumbering golden axe he swings like it's a mere stick.

the golden axe sinks into the tender skin of hermes' ankle like a flash of lightning and a small cry of pain is torn from our enemy. yet, no ichor appears and before taurus has a chance to deepen the wound, he's cowering - no pun intended - in the air between the god's honey fingertips. the brilliant azure eyes study the spirit, who's desperately trying to close his own gate.

"huh? last time i checked, there were no cows amongst seventeen!" he sneers, swinging taurus about. for something not mortal, taurus looks beyond terrified to be so close to an actual god; from the dust and debris swirling around us, i glimpse jun rushing forward with no weapon, desperate to save his spirit.

"jun! get back!" i scream at the top of my lungs, to no avail.

hermes quickly grows bored of taurus and discards him cruelly by launching him into the air somewhere behind us; clearly, he's more interested in jun, who's screeching at taurus to close the gate. tears wet his cheeks as he runs blindly towards our enemy with his fists raised; anyone can see that he has no plan in mind and it takes me an embarrassingly long time to switch to survival mode, thinking nothing of it as i flicker towards my friend.

i make it in the nick of time and we roll over into the dirt the moment the hermes' foot contacts the grass jun had been stumbling through only seconds prior. my head feels light and jun is stunned, our limbs tangled in a flesh prison. i scramble off of him, pulling him up and slinging his arm over my neck; he's still physically weakened from hecate's attack and now that he's summoned a spirit he can barely stand. the adrenaline from before starting to wear off, he guides me back to the others with breathy gasps that barely reach the shell of my ear.

"you escaped! you're more cunning than i thought!" the giant god bellows and another gust of wind rips through the fairground. nonetheless, he seems idle now and with a final sprint i stumble behind the darts stall everyone else had taken shelter behind.

"jun!" minghao is over him at once, scanning for wounds and tending to the ankle he must've twisted when i pushed him out of hermes' way, the skin swollen and purple.

"is everyone here?" i push out, the oxygen in my lungs far too shallow. mingyu shakes his head frantically.

"joshua got lost and hansol's gone out to find him," he quickly catches me up to speed and i splutter at the thought of hansol being out there by himself, possibly unarmed.

"he's got his sword."

okay, that makes me feel slightly better. my bottom lip is pulled between my teeth and i clamp down on it, hard enough to taste metal as i desperately pull together the frayed ends of a plan. mingyu scrutinises me with his ever hopeful gaze and i return it with a look that tells him to hold out for a minute.

first, i assess jun's state. minghao has done a miraculous job of dealing with the swollen ankle, which now rests in his lap. the older boy's knuckles are white with the last of his strength as he grips onto the leg of a table so as not to be swept away and end in the same fate as taurus.

"i'm sorry about earlier, but i had to get you out of there."

his smile is weak but full of thanks.

"don't worry, i should've thought about my actions before jeopardising the group. now hansol's missing and we have no way of fighting this stupid god." he becomes increasingly distressed and it takes minghao's firm hand to push him back into a more relaxed position for the sake of his ankle.

"it's not your fault, and wonwoo has a plan now. right?" mingyu soothes jun too, reminding him that what's done is done and that we cannot change the past. at the mention of my decrepit 'plan' all eyes turn to me. i squirm.

"okay well, it's not the best plan ever but i don't see any other choice. i'm going to use my teleportation to find joshua and put him under mingyu's care," i explain hastily. mingyu's gaze hardens and his jaw clenches. "no doubt he's probably wondering what the hell is happening right now and mingyu is the best at explaining these kinds of things. i'm kinda banking on hansol being with joshua too so i can bring them back in one trip because i'm not sure how much power i can generate at the moment."

the details are shaky and there are plenty of opportunities for failure but it's a plan nonetheless. but before we have the chance to execute it, the ground trembles.

"oh what the tartarus, i'm tired of waiting! i want to go home so let's make this quick!" hermes whines like a child denied ice cream, stomping his foot for added affect. this throws us off-balance and we tumble down, getting a mouthful of dirt and grass.

nothing could've prepared me for the sight i saw when i looked back up.

wiping the dry grass stuck to my hands onto the denim of my jeans, my head spins when a caduceus whistles past my ear like a honing missile, embedding itself in the bullseye of the target above us. wood splinters down us and we duck down out of view.

"aww, i missed!"

a voice not too dissimilar from that of the messenger of the gods becomes ever louder as the owner of said caduceus approaches our makeshift hideout.

"hah! you should've let me go first!" i bite back a noise of surprise as another identical voice splits through the cyclone. exchanging a frantic glance between my friends, who are equally as confused, i wrack my brains for an explanation just as mingyu slowly points to the mirror hanging between the dart boards.

i feel like throwing up.

there are two, and possibly more, clones of hermes; they walk and talk with their own sentience and i quickly realise they're not just any ordinary clones from some tacky sci-fi movie. they act like completely different people, interacting in the same way i would with my friends. the sight makes me shiver, my gaze flickering between them frantically.

the only positive to come out of this situation is that the big hermes is no more - my guess is that he split himself down into these human-sized clones, though each one still towers at around 2 meters tall. however, this means that one clone must be the brains behind the operation and the one with the most 'hermes' inside him: the only 'clone' worth fighting.

the voices fade away slightly and i tune out their conversation, too busy trying to swallow the new scenario we've been thrust into.

a low hissing, almost silent at first, petrifies me: one of the silvery snakes of the caduceus has jolted alive and is now slithering towards me, eyes flashing red with death. i gulp, daring not to move as it slides ever closer - i can practically hear its malicious voice echoing in my mind. it gears up to strike, baring it's fangs ever so slightly. the snake might be made out of metal but it's fangs are as real as ever, a drop of venomous liquid frothing at the end of the enamel.

i would've been dead meat had it not been for the bear paw that clamps down on the snake's malleable body, crushing it between the padded skin and the rough brown fur. it writhes for a minute and the paw tightens until it finally recedes, turning back into a decorative feature. the caduceus wedged in the dart board also drops to the ground, lifeless.

minghao shakes with effort, sweat beading on his forehead. his arm shrinks back to a human one very slowly and i send him a weak thumbs-up, trying to calm my heart rate.

"so, new plan guys."

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it do be my birthday :D