When night fell and the stars shone brightly.
The glow of the bright moon bathed the earth, and also illuminated the golden-haired, green-eyed youth being carried as he ran by the beautiful golden-horned deer.
At that moment, the terrifying monster, the nine-headed Hydra, had already arrived before Jason with a hissing sound.
It raised its body, lifting its nine heads high, flicking its forked tongues at Jason.
The glow of the bright moon shone upon its multicolored, mottled body.
Making the Hydra at this instant exude a strange, demonic beauty.
Its nine pairs of eerie crimson serpent eyes fixed simultaneously on Jason and the golden-horned deer beneath him.
"Hydra, you have been chasing me for half a day now. Do you not feel tired?"
Jason, showing no trace of fear on his face, gazed at this terrifying monster.
He even revealed a faint smile toward Hydra.
"Where is that damned human? Hand him over, child of the gods!"
A sharp, piercing voice entered Jason's ears.
Jason, who possessed the ability to listen to the words of all things, could naturally understand its speech.
"Are you referring to my senior brother? I am sorry, but my senior brother has already left."
"Do you think I dare not kill you? Even if you are a child of the gods, so what!" Hydra's nine heads rose high simultaneously, carrying a somewhat aggressive momentum.
Jason gazed at such a Hydra, pondered for a moment, and revealed a look of realization. He said, "I was wondering why you were chasing me so relentlessly. Now, seeing how furious you appear... It must be that you suffered quite a bit at my senior brother's hands, right?
I heard that your heads regrow after being severed. I wonder how many heads my senior brother cut off from you?"
Jason showed an interested expression.
And this undoubtedly struck at Hydra's sore spot.
The reason it was pursuing Jason was naturally because it had caught Heracles's scent on him.
And if Heracles had not lacked a way to restrain its heads from regrowing, he would have already killed it.
The fear of nearly being slain naturally made the current Hydra immensely angry.
"Child of the gods, you seek death!"
Hydra let out a shrill cry, its nine heads baring sharp fangs simultaneously, preparing to strike and kill the human before it when...
"I say, Hydra, have you not noticed anything amiss around us?"
Jason's calm voice fell.
As Hydra was momentarily stunned.
Accompanied by rustling sounds from all around, fireflies emerged from various trees, shrubs, and insects in the silent forest, dotting the ancient woods under the night sky.
At the same time, beneath this beautiful scene, animals slowly emerged from the shadows one by one.
Among them were no lack of extremely ferocious beasts, such as wolves, leopards, and even lions.
They all bared their fangs, their eyes fixed deadly on the nine-headed serpent Hydra.
"... Child of the gods, is this your reliance?"
The nine-headed serpent Hydra surveyed these 'prey' that had surrounded it, its tone filled with utter disdain.
"Do you think they can be my opponents?!"
The nine-headed serpent had naturally long noticed the changes in this swamp, after all, its eyes were not blind; it had a full eighteen of them!
It simply did not care, for no matter how many of these fierce beasts appeared, in its eyes, they were no different from delivering themselves on a platter.
And in fact, that was indeed the case.
The nine-headed serpent needed only to release its poisonous gas to wipe out these animals directly.
Not to mention, even if these animals got close, their fangs could not pierce Hydra's body at all.
"I naturally have no intention of letting them strike to kill you, but... Hydra, they will deliver the most fatal blow to you!"
The instant Jason's words fell lightly, the earth suddenly split open!
Massive vines covered in thorns burst forth from the ground, wrapping toward the unprepared Hydra.
At the same time, a small bird slowly descended from the sky and landed in Jason's outstretched hand, returning the golden ear of wheat to him.
The golden-horned deer tilted its head and let out a soft cry toward the distant bright moon.
The glow of the bright moon bathed the golden-horned deer's head, emitting a dazzling light.
Immediately after, more thorned vines grew from the ground. They emitted the same glow as the golden-horned deer's antlers and, under the golden-horned deer's control, whipped fiercely at Hydra.
Soon, wounds appeared on the screaming Hydra.
Green blood splashed onto the thorns, producing a burst of thick smoke.
Although Hydra had been caught off guard and struck, it was naturally impossible to fully subdue it relying solely on the seeds given by Persephone.
Even though these thorned vines had once been able to bind the monster Chimera that laid waste to the earth.
Hydra lowered its heads, several serpent heads opening their mouths wide together to bite toward the thorns.
As soon as its venomous fangs touched the thorns, the vines binding the nine-headed serpent Hydra began to wither at a visible speed.
And after breaking free from these thorned vines, before Hydra could even catch its breath, even more vines erupted madly from the surrounding earth.
And wrapped toward it.
Seeing this, Hydra's crimson eyes could not help but grow even redder.
It raised its heads, and after a chilling cry, a large amount of poisonous gas formed into a thin mist that diffused outward from its body.
This poisonous gas assimilated the land around it at an extreme speed.
Just as all the creatures instinctively retreated from this poisonous gas...
"Great moon goddess Artemis, the child of Hecate, Jason, sincerely prays to you here. Please use the light of the bright moon to purify the filth before us!"
Jason's prayer voice rang out.
The scene inexplicably fell quiet for a moment.
Then, a certain god who had been secretly peeking seemed to finally react and used moonlight to purify the filth before them.
As the poisonous gas was purified by the descending moonlight, while Hydra was somewhat dazed,
Jason secretly clicked his tongue.
These guys were indeed peeking...
And at this moment, the messenger of the gods, Hermes, wore a very strange expression.
Clearly, even he had not anticipated that, knowing full well that Queen Hera was certainly watching now, and that he was no longer the white-robed hero Heracles but had removed his bracelet and donned attire representing his status as Hecate's student,
As Jason now, he still dared to pray for divine aid at this time...
He truly made use of resources without any reservation.
But Hermes then thought it over and felt that Jason seeking Artemis's help seemed nothing unusual.
After all, even if he was not the white-robed Heracles, Jason's relationship with the moon goddess Artemis was quite good in itself.
The evidence was that after Artemis belatedly purified the poisonous gas with moonlight, a cold snort like thunder resounded from the sky, but there was no further action.
And probably due to the power of the moon goddess Artemis, which intimidated Hydra, after the poisonous gas dissipated, Hydra, allowing the golden-horned deer to control the thorned vines wrapping around it, actually forgot to struggle for a time.
How could Jason possibly let such a good opportunity slip?
The next moment, a faint underworld glow emanated from Jason's body, enveloping his entire form.
Full-body reinforcement!
After reinforcing, he decisively cast a flash spell.
The dazzling flash blinded Hydra's eyes.
Then, as Hydra gradually adapted to the light and barely managed to open its eyes, a heart-wrenching pain transmitted over, causing Hydra to emit a miserable scream... Taking advantage of its blinded state, Jason, who had arrived using invisibility, used the reinforced caduceus in his hand.
And smashed its head to pieces!
Not only that, as Jason approached, the undying fire from the underworld had surrounded him, protecting him.
And Jason did not strike lightly; once he did, it was like a thunderbolt.
Having succeeded with one strike, he did not stop but took advantage of the nine-headed serpent Hydra's lack of reaction to directly smash four of its heads in succession!
The shattering of four heads directly caused the nine-headed serpent Hydra to emit a scream of pain that shook the earth of this area.
Then, as Jason ignored its cries and prepared to press the advantage, the finally reacting Hydra swept Jason away with its tail.
With full reinforcement, plus the protection of the undying fire, and most importantly, his body itself having been strengthened by the waters of the Styx.
Therefore, even though it was Hydra's strike laced with fury, after Jason was sent flying and crashed to the ground, he simply patted the dust off himself and stood up as if nothing had happened.
"Is that it?... Is that it? And he dares to call himself a hero!"
In a place Jason did not know, the noble beauty Hera, watching Jason's disheveled appearance and that utterly despicable tactic,
Sneered coldly and said to Hestia beside her, "I truly did not expect that Hecate fellow to have trained such an utterly worthless disciple.
He cannot even compare to a single hair of that white-robed Heracles child!"
... Oh my goodness.
Hera, you really do not need to show off anymore!
Hestia looked at Hera somewhat unable to bear watching.
But at present, what could she do? She could only smile and say nothing.
"Will you still make a move against that child then?"
The goddess of beauty Aphrodite appeared at some point and came to the side, saying faintly to Hera.
Upon hearing this, Hera suspiciously sized up the beauty goddess before her.
She probably did not understand when Jason had gotten involved with her again.
"Hmph, I am the queen of the gods. How could I possibly make a move against a child... Moreover, I have already made an agreement with the white-robed Heracles, so I will not act against him."
As Hera spoke, a somewhat relieved expression appeared on her face.
Gazing down at Jason, who in her eyes was so utterly ugly and unworthy,
At this moment, she seemed to already see the scene of Jason being pierced through the heart by the white-robed Heracles with that golden dagger, forever living in regret thereafter.
Seeing this, Hestia and the goddess of beauty Aphrodite exchanged a subtle glance.
Then both could not help but reveal faint smiles.
And with the same expression in their eyes, they looked toward the beautiful woman Hera before them...
"However, it seems we may not even need that child to act."
At this time, Hera, watching the battle below, said, "Look, Hydra's heads are already beginning to regrow. He has no way to defeat it..."
Before Hera's words here could finish, Jason's lips moved slightly at this moment.
The next moment, the fierce beasts that had been waiting on the side pounced toward the nine-headed serpent Hydra.
They did not charge at Hydra's snarling heads but instead leaped toward the wounds that were bleeding and slowly regenerating.
The pouncing beasts tore with their ferocious teeth,
Even the birds descending from the sky pecked at its injured wounds.
They might find it hard to cause harm to the nine-headed serpent Hydra, but their actions undoubtedly halted the regrowth of Hydra's heads!
Even if Hydra went mad with pain from this and opened its mouths to bite at them.
But under the control of the golden-horned deer with the thorned vines, and the purification of the moonlight from the moon goddess Artemis.
Undoubtedly, it was thoroughly suppressed by this group of beasts that, in its eyes, could only be called mere flesh!
The fatal blow...
The gods, witnessing this, could not help but be stunned.
Hermes reacted the fastest; his eyes lit up as he understood Jason's intent!
"So that is it... So that was his plan!"
As Hermes spoke, the corners of his mouth could not help but curve upward, gazing at that golden-haired, green-eyed youth... Even after shedding that white sacred robe.
He was still that dazzling hero who seemed to have fallen from the stars!
Jason silently watched the truly suppressed Hydra, and at this point, he also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
He knew the tide had turned decisively.
He quietly slipped back the black chess piece that he had placed in his hand at some unknown time... That was the gift from the original god, the god of the abyss Tartarus.
A total of three black chess pieces.
Representing that he would act three times to drag Jason's enemies into the endless abyss for suppression.
This was also Jason's trump card... Before he could temporarily use gifts like the moon goddess's arrows or the god of light's bow, it was his strongest trump card!
Then Jason picked up the caduceus in his hand and walked toward the Hydra pinned beneath the beasts.
Ignoring Hydra's gaze filled with fury and hatred.
He raised the caduceus high in his hand and smashed toward its heads one by one.
And when all nine heads had been smashed to death by the caduceus, undoubtedly, Hydra died just like that.
When the nine-headed serpent Hydra ceased struggling, its body still being gnawed by the frenzied beasts before them,
Jason, breathing a sigh of relief, could not help but feel a trace of fatigue wash over him.
But the next second, a rich aura of life force surged toward Jason's body... This was the gratitude of this land toward Jason.
Not only that, the beasts also stopped their tearing at the nine-headed serpent Hydra. They halted their movements and turned together to look at Jason.
Then they emitted their respective sounds, expressing thanks to Jason.
The gods, watching Jason receive the highest gratitude from all creatures, aside from Queen Hera, could not help but reveal faint smiles on their faces.
After all, this child was one they had all watched grow together.
In the end, Hera, who lightly bit her lip, let out a cold snort before turning and leaving.