Within the Underworld, Ares silently received Athena's command through Perseus's vision, then rose and departed, heading towards Thessaly, where Jason was located.
After seeing Athena leave, a "plan successful" smile finally appeared on Ares's face.
Regarding the Argo, all the Gods wanted to get involved. Even Poseidon, who had previously fallen out with them, held his nose and sent an envoy, expressing his cooperation in the matter.
No other reason than that this ship had gathered almost all of Greece's Argo Heroes, and most Greek Argo Heroes were the offspring of the Gods. In other words, this ship assembled demigod children born from the romantic escapades of almost all male Gods, from Zeus to Hermes, in the mortal world.
The great achievements established by these second-generation Gods on Earth were tantamount to proclaiming the prestige of their fathers, the Gods. This was an excellent opportunity to spread the glory of the Olympus Gods to every corner of the world. Therefore, from top to bottom, from Zeus to the lowest minor God, every God on Olympus attached great importance to this matter.
Ares and Athena were, of course, no exception. However, unlike the other Gods, who were gaining fame through this event, he and Athena were using this event as a chessboard to scheme against each other, vying for dominance over the Greek World in the coming centuries.
In this matter, Athena had previously naturally entered the game by helping Jason build the Argo, allowing her to legitimately provide various protections and assistance to these Argo Heroes during their journey.
Ares, however, had always been isolated and had no reason to intervene. He was a notoriously chaste God on Olympus, with no offspring, and naturally no reason to join the fray.
But through the double act of Perseus and Ares, Ares successfully intervened in this matter with an avatar. As long as Perseus existed, Ares could cause trouble on this ship as a demigod Hero.
Sometimes, his identity would even be more convenient than Athena's.
Of course, although Ares had used an open scheme against Athena this time, he still could not relax his vigilance. Athena seemed to fully trust Perseus, but for her, who harbored the dream of reaching the pinnacle, no one in the Greek World could be fully trusted by her.
Next, various trials for Perseus would likely come one after another from all directions. He had to be prepared and not reveal any flaws in front of Athena. Perseus, one could say, was his trump card against Athena.
After arranging some matters concerning Perseus, Ares's consciousness connected to Heracles. When his consciousness descended upon the small bird following Heracles, he happened to see the great Hero standing silently, head bowed, among a group of terrifying fiery horses.
Although the mares following him all had glowing red eyes and blood on their mouths, looking terrifying, they only dared to surround Heracles and did not dare to move forward. Between them, on the ground in front of Heracles, a bearded king was sitting, looking at Heracles with terrified eyes and shouting:
"Get back! You rude slave, I am Diomedes, son of Ares! If you dare to lay a hand on me, my father will surely not spare you!"
"As far as I know, Ares is a God who maintains his virginal chastity."
Upon hearing Diomedes' words, Heracles slowly spoke:
"That means you cannot be the son of that great one. The blood in you comes from heretical means; you are not his flesh and blood at all, but a blasphemy against him."
With that, Heracles stretched out his hands and directly grabbed Diomedes. For some reason, Diomedes actually possessed Ares's bloodline and power, but this demigod, who had inherited a portion of Ares's power, was utterly powerless in front of Heracles.
He tried to resist, but Heracles crushed his limbs as if crushing a biscuit. Then Heracles lifted him up, letting the man who was once king kick and struggle above his head, while saying to him:
"You used to feed humans to your horses. Now, I will feed you to them."
After speaking, he threw Diomedes forward, directly into the ferocious man-eating horse herd. When these savage mares saw fresh blood and food appear before them, they immediately became excited. They neighed, trampled with their hooves, and bit with their mouths, directly tearing the cruel king Diomedes into pieces and swallowing him into their bellies.
Strangely, after devouring their master, these savage mares became quiet. The fierce red glow in their eyes also receded significantly. When Heracles raised his whip and tried to drive them, these mares obediently gathered together and quietly followed by Heracles's side.
Seeing Heracles successfully complete this trial, Ares, standing on the branch, spoke and called out to him:
"Heracles."
"Hmm? Teacher."
Heracles saw the small bird on the branch and immediately understood who was calling him, so he quickly stopped and bowed to Ares.
"Well, where is Apoteros?"
Ares looked around, not seeing the handsome son of Hermes, and asked.
"I sent him to fetch water."
Heracles replied.
"That's fine, just be careful not to let the horses around you eat him. Hermes's son has no combat power."
Ares admonished him twice, then continued:
"If I'm not mistaken, next, Athena should instruct Eurystheus to send you to retrieve the belt of Hippolyta, the current Amazon Queen."
"Hmm, but I remember the Amazon are..." Heracles asked in a low voice.
"That's right, the Amazon are my children. You can be a bit more polite to them, but they will probably still oppose you and quarrel with you," Ares said. "But don't worry, I will help you stop them then."
"I understand."
Heracles paused, then asked again:
"So the start of this task also means that Jason..."
"That's right, your good friend, Jason, has started summoning the Argo Heroes."
Ares said, "With Athena's help, he has built a large ship called the Argo at the port of Thessaly. Do you want to go?"
If it truly followed the myths, Heracles would lose his adopted son Hylas during this expedition. However, at the same time, Heracles would also gain Jason, the friend he valued most in his life. Ares always respected the destinies of others. He had already told Heracles everything that would happen in the future, and it was entirely up to Heracles himself whether or not to participate in this expedition.
As expected, after pondering for a moment, Heracles nodded and said, "I want to go. Hylas has already been settled in Thebes and won't run out. And I, I want to personally meet this... friend who sees me as a human, with my own eyes."