After realizing he was far inferior to the young Perseus in the "path of the simp," Hephaestus, the God of Fire, made a graceful retreat.
Bidding farewell to the God of Fire, Perseus also left the volcano. As soon as he descended, Athena's figure appeared before him. She looked up and down at the scythe Perseus carried on his shoulder, then nodded with satisfaction.
"Perseus, Invisible Island has been shrouded by Ares's power. Ares protects those monsters. Only Phorcys's three daughters, the Graeae Sisters, know where they are. Next, you shall seek them out. They reside in the far west. After subduing them, they will show you the way to Invisible Island."
"Your will, great Goddess." Perseus bowed his head to receive the command. After Athena's avatar departed, he put on the winged sandals Athena had given him and flew straight towards the western sky.
The Graeae Sisters are the daughters of Phorcys, the Sea God. Although Phorcys is one of the marginalized sea gods, an ancient Sea God, he is known as the "Father of a Hundred Monsters," similar to Typhon's "Father of All Demons." He, along with his sister, the Sea Goddess Ceto, gave birth to numerous monsters.
Typhon's wife, the serpent monster Echidna, the three Gorgon Sisters, the Sirens, Scylla, the Hesperides, and other famous monsters in the Greek World are all daughters of Phorcys, the Sea God.
Speaking of which, Medusa, by seniority, could even be considered the aunt of that foolish serpent, Hydra. However, it's likely that neither Medusa nor Hydra would be willing to admit this relationship if it were ever mentioned.
And the Graeae Sisters, whom Perseus is now seeking, are also Medusa's sisters. However, Perseus isn't worried that his actions will harm Medusa and them. The familial relationships among these ancient monsters are very strange. Generally, only children born from the same womb possess sibling affection, for example, the strong sisterly bond between Medusa, Euryale, and Stheno, the three Gorgon Sisters. The same goes for the Graeae Sisters. Of course, compared to the Graeae Sisters, the feelings Stheno and Euryale have for Medusa are sometimes indeed a bit twisted.
However, between Hydra and Cerberus, two monster siblings born by the female serpent monster Echidna at different times, there is no familial affection whatsoever. At most, they know each other's names. When Hydra first came to the Underworld to surrender, if Hecate hadn't intervened, she and her brother Cerberus would surely have fought at the Hell Gate.
Therefore, Perseus felt no psychological pressure about what he was about to do to the Graeae Sisters.
With the help of the winged sandals, in the blink of an eye, the mountains and rivers of the Greek World were left behind by Perseus. Before him, on a cape isolated on the sea, Perseus had already seen the legendary gray tower where the Graeae Sisters resided.
The eldest of the Graeae Sisters is named Pemphredo, meaning venomous. The second is Enyo, meaning violent. The third sister is Deino, meaning terror. In legend, these three sisters are extremely skilled in magic, but together they only have one eye and one tooth. The three sisters can only take turns using this one tooth to eat and one eye to see. As long as Perseus can seize these vital organs from them, he won't fear their non-compliance.
Of course, Perseus didn't actually need to trouble the Graeae Sisters, because he already knew where Invisible Island was, and Ares, who protected Invisible Island, was the same person as him. However, to put on this epic hero show in front of Athena, he still had to be dutiful and play the role completely.
In the original myth, the hero Perseus was not skilled in direct combat. When facing the highly magical Graeae Sisters, he used sweet talk to trick them out of their important organs, and then threatened them.
However, now, it is Ares who is controlling Perseus, so there's no need for that. Both Ares and Perseus are disciples of Hecate, the progenitor of demonic arts in the Greek World. If he couldn't even defeat the mere Graeae Sisters in a magical duel, then Hecate would probably kick him out of her garden.
Therefore, Perseus directly used the winged sandals to arrive before the gray tower. He stretched out his hand and gently touched the defensive barrier placed on the surface of the gray tower, then showed a somewhat surprised expression.
"It's that simple?"
Perseus had thought that the Graeae Sisters, being famous "Gray Witches" in the Greek World, even if their magic wasn't as good as Hecate's, shouldn't be too bad. But now, it seemed that the three sisters' magic might not even be as good as his junior sister Medea, who had already graduated. In short, these Graeae Sisters were, at best, three trainees under Hecate.
Sensing the disparity in the opponent's strength, and considering that this was not his original body and he needed to maintain Perseus's capable and fierce personality, Ares directly controlled Perseus, using the scythe "Slaughter of the Undead Blade" in his hand to directly cleave open the barrier the Gray Witches had placed on the outer layer of the gray tower, and entered the gray tower.
"Who's there?"
The moment he broke through the tower's barrier, a terrifying female voice, like that of a night owl, echoed from within the gray tower. Subsequently, black bats swarmed in, forming three slender figures wrapped in black robes directly before Ares, who were none other than the Graeae Sisters.
The Graeae Sisters were also born incredibly strange. If you didn't look at their faces, and only at their figures and backs, from any angle, these three sisters were extremely well-proportioned beauties with ample curves. However, their hair was gray like an old person's, and their pale faces had no eyes, only a nose and a toothless, dark, gaping mouth, looking incredibly terrifying.
However, in the middle of them, the tallest and most voluptuous Gray Witch had a green eye growing in the center of her face. At this moment, she was staring intently at Perseus, just like a Cyclops.
As this Gray Witch observed Perseus, the Graeae Sisters before them, from left to right, began to discuss.
"This man is so handsome, is he a hero?"
"Is he human?"
"No, he's not human. Feel the power on him carefully, there's a hint of lightning. He's Zeus's child, a demigod!"
"A demigod hero, carrying divine weapons. Is he here to punish us?"
"But we haven't done anything evil!"
"Graeae Sisters!" Just as the three Graeae were discussing intensely, Perseus stepped forward. He swung the great scythe in his hand, pointed at the leading Gray Witch, and then declared loudly:
"I am Perseus, a Goddess's warrior under the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena! Today, I come by the Goddess's command to seek your guidance for the path ahead. This is Athena's command, and you must obey!"