Chapter 206 - Ladon (2)

As Drako was with Ladon, the rest of the group ran up the mountain as the Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows behind them.

At the top of mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses.

Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Thalia whispered in awe.

"Yes," Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."

"What's Mount Othrys?" Percy asked. Bianca wanted to know it as well.

"The mountain fortress of the Titans," Zoe said. "In the first war, Olympus and Othrys were the two rival capitals of the world. Othrys was blasted to pieces in the first war."

"But… how is it here?" Bianca asked.

Thalia looked around cautiously as they picked their way through the rubble, past blocks of marble and broken archways. "It moves in the same way that Olympus moves. It always exists on the edges of civilization. But the fact that it is here, on this mountain, is not good."

"Why?"

"This is Atlas's mountain," Zoe said. "Where he holds—" She froze. Her voice was ragged with despair. "Where he used to hold up the sky."

They had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of them, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a twelve year old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Artemis, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. Artemis was forced to hold the roof of the world.

"My lady!" Zoe rushed forward, but Artemis said, "Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now."

Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. The weight of the sky was clearly too much for Artemis.

Zoe was crying. She ran forward despite Artemis's protests, and tugged at the chains.

A booming voice spoke behind them: "Ah, how touching."

They turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Luke and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos. Annabeth stood at Luke's side. She had her hands cuffed behind her back, a gag in her mouth, and Luke was holding the point of his sword to her throat.

"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."

Luke's smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than he had three days ago in D.C. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again."

Thalia spat at him.

The General chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"Wait a second," Percy said. "You're Atlas?"

The General glanced at him. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt Zoe" Percy said. "I won't let you."

The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."

Percy frowned. "A family matter?"

"Yes," Zoe said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."

At that moment, a dragon roar was heard all over the mountain.

"It seems that the two dragons are playing a little bit," Atlas commented with a half-smile.

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The truth is, it is not pleasant to fight a dragon with more than a hundred heads.

Ladon's body was constituted in such a way that it is similar to that of an Eastern dragon, with the shape of a snake with a width of a propulsion rocket, but with infinite heads coming out of it.

The first to strike was Ladon. More than twenty heads bit at once, making it impossible for Drako to avoid them all. The dragon's teeth had poison in them, making the attacks even more effective.

[Level of resistance skill [Poison Resistance] was increased from 5 to 6]

Drako also realized something else in that same attack. Ladon had a very high attack, almost at the same level as Drako's after using all his stats boosters. However, he had difficulty using 100% of this power with just one head. Not only that, but Drako's defensive skills negated much of this damage.

Aigis: Divine Scales of the Nephalem Dragon

This skill was Drako's main help at this time. Thanks to it, 80% of the damage Ladon was trying to apply was neutralized.

Drako was not going to stand still either. Black flames began to burn around his huge dragon arms. He struck directly at one of the heads that was trying to bite him.

[Level of normal skill [Infernal Dragon Punch] was increased from 5 to 6]

"ROOoaaArR!" Ladon screamed in anger and pain.

Although he had very high defence, one must be careful of Drako's punches. Although there was a 2500 point difference between Drako's attack and Ladon's defence, the use of the [Infernal Dragon Punch] skills had an effect that no one could ignore. Drako's entire dragon aura merged with Surtr's flame to create a devastating punch. Ladon did not have the defence skills that Drako had, thus suffering great damage from that single blow.

"You've got a good punch, young man," Ladon's heads smiled. It didn't look like he was going to fall for a single punch. "But you can't beat me with just that."

Eighty of the heads opened their mouths, and Drako's senses were alarmed. A second later, eighty acid flashes descended upon the young Dragon King.

Luckily, Drako had covered himself as best he could: enclosing his body in his wings.

Feeling a new attack coming on, Drako flapped his wings and took to the air. He was faster than Ladon, so he couldn't catch up. From the air, Drako channelled his [Breath of Darkness].

The dark flame descended upon Ladon, consuming him in black flames. There was no way he could have dodged that attack, he must have suffered quite a bit of damage.

No!

Drako noticed that there was something that stood between his flames and Ladon. It was a barrier! It's true, Ladon specializes in barrier magic! Not even Azi Dahaka, the dragon of a thousand forbidden magics, was up to Ladon's barrier magic!

"Your attacks are useless, young man," Drako heard Ladon's laughter. "Very few things can overcome my magical barriers."

"I don't think your barriers are invincible," Drako said as he threw himself at Ladon with his burning arms.

Using [Infernal Dragon Punch] on both fists, Drako plummeted from the sky. Knowing the power of that attack, Ladon was quick to create a powerful barrier to protect himself from the coming attack.

Boom! The attack hit Ladon's barrier, creating a shockwave that travelled all the way inside the barrier that Insomniac Dragon had created around the mountain. If Drako had not had the skill [The One Who Is Loved By Nature], the skill that does not allow him to harm nature, a good portion of the mountain would have disappeared. If Ladon had not put up the barrier, the shock wave would have reached the city of San Francisco and destroyed the Golden Gate.

At the top of the mountain, everyone felt the mini earthquake caused by the dragons' crash. Atlas even felt a little uncomfortable, recognizing the power of those two supernatural forces. Even Ladon, the weakest of all the Evil Dragons, had powers that the gods could not easily defeat.

Along with his innate defence, Ladon's magical barriers made his defence almost impenetrable for nothing in the world. Drako realized why this dragon was among the select group of dragons feared by all mythologies.

Drako's attack... had succeeded in destroying Ladon's hurried barrier. But he had lost a lot of power, and the blow had been completely cushioned by the hard scales of the Evil Dragon. Instantly, Ladon counterattacked with his heads.

His arms, torso, legs, wings, neck... all possible places were being bitten by Ladon. This counterattack had been very hard, causing great damage to Drako. Blood was pouring out of more than hundreds of deep wounds.

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I feel bad leaving the fight in the middle, so here is a question. I can the update the next chapters of the fight (there are two left) right now, and I'm not going to post them next week. That means that next week you are only going to have one chapter or maybe 0. I will be reading your thoughts!