In life many things will surprise you, when you're a demigod those surprises are often hungry monsters or gods who just can't be bothered and needs you to run an errand for them. Yongsun has always liked challenges even as a kid she liked puzzles, riddles and those silly games at the back of cereal boxes. Little introvert Yongsun would sit at school playing with puzzles with printed Disney characters pieces all day. But now? She’s just really tired and she hates puzzles.

Yongsun wonders briefly if they're cops that found the stolen Ford pickup truck that went cross country, but that was too good to be true.

The exit of the sewer led to a part of the river that was shallow. It reached just above her ankle but the chill the water brought was enough to unnerve her. The sky was dark and stars twinkled lifelessly, as if even the big balls of super hot gasses are getting tired of watching Yongsun's miserable life and just wants to blink out of existence. Yongsun would shout her agreement if only the glare of the floodlight stopped shining on her face. Great, now lasers are aimed at her, ready to blow her face off.

"You’re surrounded! Put your hands in the air and surrender!" Someone, riding the helicopter with a megaphone on his hand, demanded. The loud sound of the rotor blades tearing through the air. Yongsun could faintly see his silhouette standing at the edge of the door.

Monstrous growls ensued. Yongsun looked to her sides and saw monsters of different kinds on either side of the bank, some even stood on the shallow waters, pacing on the bank like predators waiting for their prey. Again, mercenaries on tactical vests and firearms are within the monster's ranks, aiming their guns towards the girls.

Yongsun tightens her grip on her scimitars. The action caused the monsters to growl louder.

"Put down your weapons, half-blood!" The man atop the helicopter warned, half of the words was carried away with the beating of the helicopter blades.

Yongsun grits her teeth. They could go back through the tunnel but the enemies will surely follow them inside. Even if they managed to find Irene and Hower inside there’s a high chance that they are still dealing with the giant Komodo, if they run back then all five of them would be trapped and captured immediately.

"Call off your army and come down here yourself!" Yongsun challenges. For now, all she could do is divert their attention towards her and hope that Irene and Hower would somehow come up a brilliant plan for rescuing them. She brandishes her scimitars, grits her teeth as a way to summon her courage. She sees the monsters starting to advance, basically cutting off their route towards land to the only open area in front - further down the river - which looked deeper than where they're currently in. They need a plan, even if the attention of most of the enemies are now on her, she is not sure she's bulletproof.

"What do we do?" Seulgi inched closer, Byul on the other hand was glaring at the helicopter.

Yongsun answers with great resolve. "For now? We fight." She side eyes the brunette. “Can you swim even with an injury? We’ll try to cover for you as much as we can.”

She receives a determined nod and with agile movements, she snapped her scimitars together, the familiar whir of the string and quickly snipping the floodlight on helicopter. The lights crack and the light flickers off, the helicopter veered sideways.

Yongsun dragged Seulgi to a run towards the river. Floundering across the water as they fought off the current that now rose above their knees.

“Do not shoot! I repeat, do not shoot! We can't have another casualty!” Someone among the monster ranks, a mercenary commanded. But this command only applied to the hired mercenaries and not the monsters.

Cyclopes and Laistrygonians Giants lumbered towards them, screeching Harpies and wild Gryphons circled the air above, their squawks sounding more and more like mocking laughter as they struggled against the flow of the river. Even from the banks, monsters whooped and jeered like crazed maniacs looking for slaughter. Yongsun's heart pounded erratically inside her chest, the feeling of something lurking on the river nagged her senses.

She stopped.

Yongsun took aim and released volleys of arrows upon the attackers. Shooting the remaining of her explosive arrows towards 12-foot Cyclopes. Soon, her quiver felt lighter and her muscles heavier.

Byul was agile enough to evade the attacks. The girl had kicked a Cyclops on the groin and used his own club to bash him into golden powder. Now wielding the club, she swung the weapon into a Laistrygonian’s knee, making him kneel as she delivers the final blow. Seulgi, even with a wounded shoulder, did her best - kicked a monster solidly in the face and took down a swooping Harpy. Yongsun, covered their backs. Shooting down monster or slicing them up when they get too close.

Then something from above dropped down the river, Yongsun for a moment thought it was a gryphon that swooped for a kill but alas, just a few meters away a masculine figure stood up. The fight quickly ceased as he walked up towards them, the monsters, even the wild centaurs from the banks, halt their attacks.

Yongsun could vaguely make out the man's hawkish face and heterochromatic eyes. One was blue and one was brown.

He adjusted his fine tuxedo and set his bi-color eyes towards the three girls.

Chills danced down Yongsun’s spine, it didn't matter that the water was now up to her waist, it had nothing to do with her jitters.

“Stand down half-bloods, there is no use on fighting us.” He says, his voice a strangely high for a man with a slightly weird accent. “All of you shall come with me. Now. While I still ask nicely.”

“Who are you?”

The man grins. “You don’t need to know who I am, Solar,” He smirks then turns to Byul and Seulgi, who were looking at him with pure hatred. “I’m here for them.”

“Stay away.” Byul growled, hefting the large club while moving in front of Seulgi protectively.

The manticore merely smiled, his teeth gleamed with sharpness. “Looks like her wounds got treated.” He looked over at Seulgi. “I was just going to say, how I already disemboweled the stupid mortal that dared pull the trigger on you without my command but,” He hummed as if he was thinking, his nostrils flared. “I guess that won’t be necessary.”

He raised his hand and out of nowhere a something whizzed in the air. Yongsun saw the projectile hit Seulgi’s neck. A metallic cylinder with a red plume as a tail. The next shot whizzed and this time it hit Byul by the arm.

“What?” Seulgi managed to utter before both girls’ eyes rolled back and collapsed.

“No!” Yongsun cried, engaging at the man with her scimitars and aiming for his neck. But just before her blade went close, a black scaly tail intercepted her blow. Shocked, Yongsun looked at the spiked scorpion-like tail in front of her.

A second later, another projectile whizzed by and her vision became black.

Later Yongsun found herself waking up to a small, musty old room. The ceiling was patched, the paint peeling off in strips, there’s cobwebs everywhere and somehow it smells like urine. She tried to wriggle her body and can feel her wrist was bound by a rope. Groaning, Yongsun slowly sat up. The pounding on her head did not cease.

She looked around and saw Byul only a few feet away from her, holding her knees to her chest.

“Hey…” She croaked. Byul looked at her blankly, all hope and determination she’d seen in those eyes the night before, gone. She looked around again, scanning the small room and saw no Seulgi anywhere.

“Where’s Seulgi?” She asked.

The girl’s eyes turned glassy, she quickly ducked her head.

“They… they took her.” Her voice broke.

Yongsun’s heart ached at the sound of Byul’s weak voice. The thought of Seulgi being taken by those monsters…

On instinct, she reached for her sheath, but as expected their captor took her weapon away. Normally, when she loses her scimitar it would magically return back to its sheath in a few minutes, now that her sheath has been taken away, she doubts her weapons will be coming back to her any time soon.

Instead, Yongsun’s hand creeped on her jeans. There she felt the seed that Irene gave her. Bringing it out, Yongsun caressed it gently on her palms.

Are they okay? Did they make it out alive? Yongsun could only hope that her friends made it out. She mulled over what happened and promptly realized that the abandoned coal mine might be connected to the Labyrinth, and with Irene and Hower trying to outsmart a giant lizard, the Labyrinth could lead them somewhere far away.

Yongsun shook her head. There’s no use on dwelling in such thoughts. Even if Irene and Hower end up somewhere far, they’d surely try to their best to look for them.

But if the mine is connected to the Labyrinth then it is twice more dangerous, there’s y traps and monsters lurking and there are many accounts of people going insane inside, the thought of Joohyun and Hower not making it through is horrifying.

Yongsun pockets the seed and pushes herself to stand up.

They’re not going to die.

“Byul, get up.” She says to the girl, adjusting the rope that was cutting her skin. “We need to escape.”

She moves around the room, scanning the area. She sees a window at the corner and quickly moves towards it. Due to her small stature, she couldn't see much. Frustrated, she gathered a discarded crate and used her bound hands to push it to the window. The crate made a loud screeching noise against the hard floo