Of Greeks And Romans (Leo Valdez x Reader)

IX

You

I charged the earth creature head on. My feet carried me over multiple jagged boulders before I was climbing up the things arm.

The monster seemed to find me closer to annoying than anything and just started shaking its arm like crazy. I held on tight to whatever I could, gritting my teeth as my hands slid against the rough stone. Still I managed to stay on, albeit with a little bit of whiplash.

"Stupid mortal," the earth giant said. "Where is Hazel and Frank."

It stopped shaking me around for a moment to look around, but there was no way I was letting him see anything.

"Oh no you don't," I mumbled, straining to pull myself up to its neck with all the movement. It was harder climbing with a sword in your hand than I thought.

There was a deep groove in the creature's neck, and if anything, it had to be its weakness. I reared back my sword and struck down as hard as possible.

The thing shuddered for a moment, loose rock falling to the ground like a rock slide. Still, it didn't seem to do much. Apart from the fact that my sword was in its neck, the fact that there were multiple roman troops below that were attacking in near formation didn't do much to help the creature's mood.

It whipped around so fast, my hands slipped from my sword and I was flying. I smashed into one of the barracks, dust falling around me as I slipped to the ground. I groaned as i heard a collective sound of the rest of the legionnaires filing into attack. But was it really any use?

I looked up to my silver sword still sticking out of the thing's neck. It didn't even slow the thing down.

A shiver seemed to shudder down the creature as earth flipped and moved in a ripple. The ground around the creature seemed to turn to quicksand and many of the legionnaires seemed to slip and fall beneath the earth.

Reyna filed out on her unicorn, shouting instructions at different cohorts. Most cohorts seemed to be organized into their groups, but I was just confused. And in serious pain.

I got up from the ground, looking back at the wall I had smashed into. There was a large crack down the entire length, but miraculously, it seemed like no bones were broken. Of course, I was gonna be major bruised.

"Cohorts! Stand your ground!" Reyna yelled. Her unicorn pranced slightly with all the noise as a fist smashed into the ground, raining rock everywhere.

The Earthborn themselves just kept rising from the earth. It was like an unending wave of creatures, and it seemed like the Romans were getting tired.

I got up, wincing as me hands stung. They were rubbed raw, and bleeding slightly, but nothing permanent. I would have felt fine were it not for my raging head ache. I touched my forehead, a little blood coming away.

Reyna seemed to notice me. She cantered over and stopped. "Do you know how to defeat this creature?"

I shook my head, wincing as my head started to pound harder. "I don't know. This wasn't supposed to happen."

Reyna's eyes went dark. "That can't be good. From what it looks like, swords do nothing to this thing."

I groaned. "I figured." I then gestured to the creature's neck where my sword was still embedded. First things would be to get my sword back.

"Frank and Hazel... why does the creature want them?"

I felt a little guilty just talking as the monster raged the camp. "I think that conversation would be better when this conflict is resolved."

I dodged a piece of flying rock, flying back as a boulder seemed to land directly between me and Reyna. Though something about what Reyna said made me extremely guilty. This was all my fault after all. I'm the one who revealed the big seven.

I looked back to Reyna to make sure she was okay and saw that she was already engaged with a few Earthborn. Thankfully, they seemed to be avoiding me like the plague, and I didn't know what to think about that.

Still, this whole situation was starting to fill me with dread. How on earth was this a test? More like a suicide mission. But maybe freaky earth lady was right. With what I could do, I could end this. I just didn't know if I could.

First, I probably needed to get my sword back. I felt for the tug in my gut, easily stopping the shifting earth as I ran past. I leaped over an unsuspecting Earthborn before rolling to a stop in front of the creature.

With not much time to climb, I used the earth underneath me to catapult myself upwards. The air blew in my face before I was reaching for the creature's shoulders. I scrambled up the last few steps before I froze. It looked so obvious from up here. The fifth cohort was in trouble, and with that included both Frank and Hazel.

I would have thought that with the earth monster wanting their heads, they would be far from the fighting lines. Apparently not.

"No!" I yelled out, already too late to stop anything.

An earthen wave scattered over the fifth cohort, causing many to sink into the earth, and the rest to fly far off. I wasn't even sure if Frank and Hazel were ok or not.

I did the only thing I could and launched myself upwards. I grabbed onto my sword, ripping it out of the earth and onto the monster's massive head.

"Oh no you don't," I whispered before the monster could do anything and slammed my sword straight down. I let out a yell and used all the strength I could muster as I controlled the earth around me.

The ground started to shake, and before I knew it, the monster was pushing against my barrier. I locked it's arms into place, pushing it down and down. I could feel flickers of life pulsing beneath the earth and sprung them out as fast as I could. My head felt like it was going to burst as I struggled to control the situation.

I pushed my sword deeper down, seeming to spur in motion the sinking I was creating. Rock burst from the ground around the sink hole I was creating. Great pillars seemed to rise and smash down, but it was the only way.

I could almost hear myself screaming as I plunged further and further, feeling my strength dissipate. I wouldn't stop until this thing was gone. Down and down.

With a final last surge if strength, I pulled all of the Earthborn back into the ground and sealed it with all the strength I could muster.

Soon enough, I was kneeling back in flat ground. There was barely any evidence that there was an earthen monster were it not for the destruction around the buildings. My sword was still plunged deep in the ground as I clutched shaky hands. I'm pretty sure the entire camp was staring at me, but I barely had the strength to move a muscle.

It was as if all of the strength was just zapped out of me in an instant. I collapsed to the ground. I could tell my vision was starting to dim. There were hands. Faces. I couldn't even tell them apart as they crowded over me. It was mostly just a blur of shapes and colours before a recognizable voice seemed to rise up above the others and by then I was sure I was hallucinating.

"Hold on, Y/n. Hold on." It was almost as if I could see a certain latino boy, begging me to hold on. But I was tired, and I didn't know if I could.

Then, I let my body take me deep into darkness. Falling into the oblivion of unconsciousness.

⚜⚜⚜

Hello everyone! Sorry this is a bit of a shorter chapter, but this week was really busy and I kinda wrote this last minute. But good news is is that we are half way through the semester, and then I get a break. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thank you to everyone who has been writing the most enjoyable comments to read.