The Blood of Olympus - String Slice

At his side he held a black composite bow almost as fancy as his eyes. Multiple strings ran through a series of pulleys that looked like miniature steam train wheels. The grip was polished bronze, studded with dials and buttons.

[...]

“You will die together!” he promised. Two arrows appeared nocked in his bow, the string fully drawn back.

Then the rooftops exploded with noise.

“DIE!” Gleeson Hedge dropped directly behind Orion, smacking his baseball bat over the giant’s head so hard the Louisville Slugger cracked in half.

At the same time, Nico di Angelo dropped in front. He slashed his Stygian sword across the giant’s bowstring, causing pulleys and gears to zip and creak, the string recoiling with hundreds of pounds of force until it whacked Orion in the nose like a hydraulic bullwhip.

“OOOOOOOOW!!” Orion staggered backward, dropping his bow.

Hunters of Artemis appeared along the rooftops, shooting Orion full of silver arrows until he resembled a glowing hedgehog. He staggered blindly, holding his nose, his face streaming with golden ichor.


[...]


“I WOULDN’T MOVE, PRAETOR!”

Orion stood on the surface of the water, fifty feet to starboard, an arrow nocked in his bow.

Through Reyna’s haze of rage and grief, she noticed the giant’s new scars. His fight with the Hunters had left him with mottled gray and pink scar tissue on his arms and face, so he looked like a bruised peach in the process of rotting. The mechanical eye on his left side was dark. His hair had burned away, leaving only ragged patches. His nose was swollen and red from the bowstring that Nico had snapped in his face. All of this gave Reyna a twinge of dark satisfaction.

Regrettably, the giant still had his smug smile.

At Reyna’s feet, the timer on the arrow read: 4:42.

“Explosive arrows are very touchy,” said Orion. “Once they’re embedded, even the slightest motion can set them off. I wouldn’t want you to miss the last four minutes of your life.”


- The Blood of Olympus, Chapters 24 and 39