Hero, these word seemed far too heavy in Jason's view.
Even now, the deeds of the white-robed hero Heracles had spread far and wide across the seas.
On the Greek continent, one could hear bards singing praises of his great achievements everywhere.
After all, as a mortal, he had hosted a wedding for the great king of the underworld Hades and the queen of the underworld Persephone that shocked the world and the gods!
But Jason was not only unhappy about this; on the contrary, he felt exceptionally troubled.
If he had the time, Jason truly wanted to ask Hermes to help suppress his fame.
Because Jason wanted to live a bit more leisurely.
The word "hero" represented danger and trouble.
Every person who became a hero, tracing back their past, had without exception survived various situations that could be called desperate straits.
Thus, even to this day, Jason still resisted the title of hero immensely.
But what was truly regrettable was that he had the heart of an utterly ordinary person.
Yet he did not have the fate of an ordinary person!
...
In the ancient forest of the ancient Greek divine era, the familiar of the moon goddess Artemis, the beautiful golden-horned deer, carried Jason shuttling through it.
At this time, several days had passed since Hermes came and gave Jason the new oracle.
And today, Jason finally arrived at the Gulf of Agos, the dwelling place of the nine-headed serpent monster Hydra.
This place was originally a very beautiful area, but because the nine-headed serpent monster Hydra had occupied it,
It had become utterly terrifying: desolate swamp lands filled with plague marshes emitting poisonous gas everywhere.
Even the golden-horned deer did not dare to approach the poison of the nine-headed serpent Hydra recklessly, so Jason had it stop at the periphery.
After stroking its head and assuring it that he would be fine, he turned, raised his head, drank a bottle of antidote potion, and then stepped into this desolate swamp.
This antidote potion was made for Jason by the goddess of crossroads, Hecate, to neutralize the poison of the three-headed hellhound Cerberus.
Back then, Jason drank this antidote and then let Cerberus bite him to vent its anger, earning its recognition.
In the end, he fully tamed it with all sorts of sweets and honey cakes.
Both the three-headed hellhound and the nine-headed serpent had inherited Typhon's blood, so although their poisons were not entirely the same, they shared certain similarities.
Therefore, this antidote was indeed effective.
Not long after entering this desolate swamp, Jason's vision was soon obscured by thick fog.
And in the marshes bubbling with poison everywhere, all sorts of bones could be seen scattered about.
Both human and beast.
Yet for such an environment before him, Jason remained quite calm.
Shuttling through the eerie swamp, Jason showed no sign of discomfort.
After all, no matter how unwilling Jason was in his heart,
Up to now, everything he had experienced as the white-robed Heracles, those heroic deeds, were not fabricated.
Then Jason skillfully cast an invisibility spell on himself first, while also summoning the stored undying fire of the underworld to envelop his entire body.
Jason actually had better items: the sacred robe given by Athena and the helm of invisibility from Hades. But he did not plan to use them.
Mainly because he could not use them.
Because Queen Hera was impossible not to be watching the situation here.
Now, he was Jason, the child of Hecate, no longer the white-robed Heracles.
Of course, it was mostly because he feared trouble.
After all, the gods had not restricted Jason from using these things.
Therefore, if he found Hydra too difficult to handle later, Jason would absolutely pull out the bow of the god of light Apollo or the arrows of the moon goddess Artemis without hesitation to deal with it.
With the invisibility magic in use, the underworld fire enveloping him, and having drunk the antidote potion prepared by his teacher Hecate, Jason
Carefully made his way through the swamp.
Holding the compass in his hand, he searched for Heracles.
"Why is it so quiet... Strange. If Senior Brother Heracles has already arrived here, then his battle with Hydra should have created a tremendous commotion."
Jason muttered softly, his brows furrowing slightly.
After walking a little further, Jason suddenly stopped in his tracks.
His saintly cyan eyes narrowed slightly.
Because at this moment, before Jason's eyes appeared the monster he sought: the nine-headed serpent beast Hydra!
At present, Hydra had its back to Jason.
Its body was enormously large, with nine elongated serpent heads extending from it, and its body covered in bizarre, multicolored patterns that made one's scalp tingle.
This was an extremely terrifying monster, the oppressive presence it exuded no less than any monster Jason had faced up to now.
Moreover, it was indeed quite troublesome.
Because its heads could regrow after being severed, and its poison was nearly impossible to cure in the world.
Monsters that used poison were all despicable!
Jason stared at the Hydra before him, which was sitting in the swamp with its back to him, not knowing what it was doing.
Standing in place, he pondered for a moment.
Then he glanced at the compass in his hand, which pointed elsewhere.
In the end, Jason gave up on the idea of immediately drawing the bow of the god of light Apollo to shoot it through.
He turned and continued searching for Heracles.
Because the current situation made Jason feel a slight worry.
He was worried about Heracles's situation.
If Heracles could easily handle Hydra, Hermes would not have come to find Jason.
After all, at present, the goddess of wisdom Athena was absent.
Without her guidance, even Heracles might still be in danger.
In the myth, the weight Athena carried was that terrifying!
And just as Jason stared at the Hydra with its back to him, retreating step by step until he slowly vanished into the thick fog,
One of Hydra's heads suddenly turned toward Jason's direction.
Flicking its forked tongue, a flicker of doubt passed through its eerie eyes.
But after scanning around fruitlessly, it paid it no further mind.
After leaving Hydra's territory, Jason followed the compass in his hand. Several hours later, he finally arrived outside a cave.
Jason looked at the compass in his hand, then at the cave.
In the end, he walked inside.
And just as Jason entered the dim cave, not far in...
"Who?!"
A majestic yet extremely familiar voice came from within.
Almost the instant the voice rang out, Jason immediately dispelled the invisibility magic and took out the exquisite glass lamp made by Hephaestus.
The light instantly illuminated the dark cave.
"It is I."
Under the gentle glow of the glass lamp, Jason said to Heracles, who was momentarily stunned and then gradually revealed ecstasy in his eyes, "Long time no see, Senior Brother Heracles... Seeing that you are safe puts my mind at ease."
As Jason spoke, his gaze shifted aside.
Then it paused slightly, and he said, "However, it seems... the situation is not entirely good."
Inside the cave, under the illumination of the glass lamp's light,
There lay a boy with an expression of extreme pain.
That boy was Iolaus, Heracles's nephew.
In the original myth, it was Athena who guided him to meet Hestia, the eldest sister of the Olympian gods, and obtain the sacred flames.
And when slaying Hydra, he used the flames to burn its body, preventing its heads from regrowing, thus allowing him to kill Hydra.
Therefore, the current situation was obvious.
Because without Athena's guidance, they had not obtained the flames that could suppress Hydra's regrowth, so the previous battle had ended in failure.
Moreover, because Iolaus, unlike Heracles, was not wearing the impenetrable lion skin, he had been bitten by Hydra.
Seeing this, without needing Heracles to speak, Jason immediately stepped forward to Iolaus's side and poured the antidote potion into his mouth.
"This is the antidote potion my teacher Hecate gave me. It can neutralize the poison of the three-headed hellhound Cerberus... It is also the best antidote I have."
Jason's words ignited hope in Heracles's eyes.
But...
Ten minutes later,
"I am sorry, Senior Brother Heracles."
Having already explained to Heracles that he had received an oracle and come to help, Jason looked at Iolaus, whose expression remained pained, and said, "It seems Hydra's poison is even stronger than Cerberus's..."
"No, Jason, you do not need to apologize. This is not your fault. It is mine. I failed to protect him..."
Heracles said, his eyes filled with sorrow.
Seeing this, Jason hesitated for a moment, recalled Heracles's care for him, sighed softly in his heart, and said, "Senior Brother Heracles, you do not need to be so saddened. Rest assured, although the antidote potion did not work, I have the resurrection... Huh?"
Jason, who was about to take out the resurrection potion, suddenly froze.
Then he carefully checked the white storage pouch hanging at his waist.
"It is gone... How could it be? It is actually gone!"
Who?
The instant Jason thought this,
The figure of the goddess of wisdom Athena appeared in his mind.
Because among the gods who could open this storage pouch, aside from his teacher Hecate, the only one with the opportunity was the goddess of wisdom Athena.
Moreover, she had a precedent for stealing things...
Furthermore, Jason had the habit of checking his storage pouch to inspect his reserves of undying fire, corpse-disposing potion, healing potions, and other life-saving tools.
Thus, not long ago, Jason could still confirm that the resurrection potion was there.
What did Athena take the resurrection potion for...
Wait, Athena has disappeared recently?
... Resurrection potion?