Athos blasted forward, Leviathan in hand, directly toward the three giants. He was pretty pissed off after the Janus incident and smashing a few Giant faces would probably make him feel better.

The laistrygonian giants in question were taken by surprise, not expecting the half-blood to actually choose to close the distance between him and them. After all, in all their amortal lives, they'd been the ones chasing the demigods, not the other way around.

The second biggest giant managed to come to his senses and tightened his grip around the cannonball, before pulling back his arm to aim and throwing the metal ball with incredible speed. But Athos was ready. He had been able to somewhat perceive the spike attacks of Dr Thorn that even Percy couldn't spot, so the cannonball that was currently hurtling toward his face was way too easy to track.

His eyes turned focused, and he quickly lifted Leviathan with both his arms the moment the metal ball came close enough, and slammed the axe into the projectile, applying just enough force to redirect it away from his body. He could've smashed it, yes, but he then would've gotten pierced by all the shrapnel. He didn't prefer coming out of this fight looking like a porcupine.

*BOOM*

The tunnel wall behind him rumbled due to the collision, but he didn't bother to look back. With a large leap, he jumped on the tunnel wall, pushing it off it, streaking toward the leader, his body a blur.

He landed heavily in front of the giant while bringing Leviathan down in a deadly arc which bisected it into two, much to the horror of its brethren. The giant closest to him reacted quickly, trying to grab him but the last thing it saw was the hammer side of Athos' axe that obliterated its ugly face.

'Two down, one to go', he thought, turning around to face the last Laistrygionan giant that slowly started to back away, staring at Leviathan with fear in its eyes.

The giants he'd killed hadn't turned to dust but were instead greedily absorbed by Leviathan. And looking at the trepidation in the giant's eyes, he knew it recognized the pitch-black material and what it signified. It signified a fate worse than the torturous reformation in the depths of Tartarus.

"Now...", he said, slowly walking forward, flipping his axe so that the blade faced the monster. "Lead me to your master, Lord Anteas, lest you wish to be annihilated. Permanently."

***

It took a good half-hour to reach his destination. The journey could've been longer but he managed to get the Giant to walk faster by dragging Leviathan along the ground. Frankly, watching an eight-foot-tall, man-eating giant act like a frightened puppy was hilarious.

Athos slowly walked up to large bronze doors that were about ten feet high. Tall enough for the Laistrygionan giant that was whimpering to the side to comfortably fit through. It looked quite majestic and was embellished with a pair of swords, placed across each other in an X-shape.

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"This is the entrance, hmmm.", Athos muttered, looking the doors up and down. He recognized the bronze doors from the books, and he had to say that looking at it in person was way different than just reading about it. He could even hear periodic muffled cheers from behind the doors. The cheers were probably every time the gladiators in the arena almost killed each other. Quite the macabre sport.

The arena's host was Anteas, a fifteen-foot-tall giant whose father was Poseidon, with his mother being, Gaea. How exactly that peculiar combination came to be....? Well, that question is best left unanswered.

"Y-yes. Behind door is arena! Lord Anteas arena! Entertainment!", the giant stuttered, still looking at Leviathan with a terrified gaze.

Athos sighed and swung his axe, beheading the Laistryogionan, freeing it from its misery. He had no use for it now.

He then turned Leviathan back to its ring form and slowly walked up to the bronze doors, pushing them open and laying his eyes upon a sight that truly amazed him. He found himself in a fairly large arena whose ceiling was made of the skulls and bones of many a creature, while the banner of Posiedon ordained the centre of the spectator's wall. The arena was one that could fit about five cars horizontally placed in a straight line quite easily, and all kinds of monsters lined the seats that were 12 feet up, growling and cheering with reckless abandon as the gladiators at the centre of the arena fought to their deaths.

Suddenly, Alarm bells went off in his head and his hand instinctively shot out, grabbing a trident that was about to skewer him right through the head. He looked at the monsters fighting in the arena and found another Laistrygionan giant duelling a dracaenae holding a net. The trident was originally thrown by the dracaenae at the giant, but it had somehow found its way barreling toward Athos' face. His luck was truly horseshit.

He hefted the trident and gripped it so that it would lie flat on his palm. And with a grunt, he threw the weapon that went sailing at an astounding speed owing to his superhuman strength. The trident quickly cut through the air and found its mark, flying right through the giant and impaling the dracaena on the arena wall, and with a mournful wail both monsters dissolved to dust, much to the dismay and anger of the crowd who turned their wrathful eyes on him.

He could feel numerous gazes trained on his figure while mutters of 'Half-Blood!' and 'Where's the buttered bread!' rang out from the crowd. He didn't care whether he got their attention, all he cared about was whether Anteas spotted him, which he probably did. It was hard not to after he so elegantly disposed of the current 'entertainment'.

"What do we have here! A half-blood! You pesky mortal dare interrupt my fight!", a voice boomed from the spectator wall. It was Anteas, the self-proclaimed favourite son of Poseidon, and gladiator fight addict. He was extremely large, looking akin to a sumo wrestler, and had red skin with blue wave designs tattooed all over it. He merely wore a loincloth and had a look of clear annoyance plastered on his face.

"No one dishonours the games! Only I get to decide when somebody dies!", Anteas growled, slamming his hand on the edge of his seat, slightly cracking the stone armrest.

Seeing that, Athos grinned. Janus had told him that he'd find items that would help him on his journey, and the only possibility so far was Anteas. He was a giant who had lived a long, long time. Surely, he'd have something valuable...right?

The only way to know whether that speculation was true was to fight him. Thus, he walked to the centre of the arena and pointed at Anteas.

"I've heard of you, Anteas, Son of the Earthshaker, Master of Pankration! I've come here for a challenge. A real challenge! I'd wondered whether you'd live up to the name of the greatest wrestler to have ever lived but I doubt you would! Why don't you come down here and prove me wrong?"