The Arrow of the Goddess of Moon

[T/N: Double-sized chapter.]

'Is the goddess who has nothing, is snubbed.'

'Therefore is the most difficult but also the easiest goddess to deal with?'

After clarifying Hephaestus's identity, Jason again thought of the oracle Athena has sent through Hermes, the Messenger of Gods, and could not help but fall into silence.

But after recalling just a little bit about the legends and myths of Hephaestus, Jason quickly understood the rough meaning of the hint given by Athena.

Jason knows that Hephaestus is one of the twelve main gods of Olympus and is also the 'legitimate' daughter of Zeus because she is the child born from the marriage of God-King Zeus and Queen of Gods Hera.

Therefore, Jason also thinks that logically speaking, with such a distinguished status Hephaestus's life should be a very happy one, but he knows that on the contrary, her life has always been very bumpy and rough.

Jason has heard the rumors that as soon as Hephaestus was born, she was abandoned by Hera, the Queen of Gods because Hephaestus has an ugly contour.

Jason even knows that it is said that because Hephaestus was thrown straight out from Mount Olympus, her legs got crippled.

Moreover, Jason has also learned from the legends that if Hephaestus had not been fortunately picked up by Tethys, the previous Queen of Sea as well as the foster mother of Hera, possibly, Hephaestus had not even lived till now and no mortal on the land would have known this name.

'I have even heard that when almost all male Gods were eying the beauty of the Goddess of Love Aphrodite, which obviously included Zeus, but because Hera was staring at him, he failed to do anything, and other male gods failed because Zeus was staring at them...'

'Finally, Zeus, under the insistence of Hera, helplessly promised to marry the Goddess of Love to someone, and ultimately Zeus gave this marriage to Hephaestus, who had accepted it...'

'But now looking at this again, most likely, Zeus decided to give this marriage to Hephaestus because she is a goddess.'

'Even later on, in the Myth, when Dionysus, the God of Wine and the only god with mortal origins among the gods of Olympus, came to Mount Olympus, the God-King Zeus had originally wanted to make Hephaestus give up the seat of being one of the twelve Olympian to Dionysus.'

'However, Zeus was stopped by his sister Hestia, who gave up her own seat as one of the twelve Olympians to Dionysus, due to which Hephaestus managed to preserve the position of being one of the twelve Olympians.'

'Therefore, truly, if Artemis is the most favored daughter of the god-king Zeus, then Hephaestus is indeed the child who is least favored by him and possibly even hated.'

'It is just... Athena's evaluation towards Hephaestus is the hardest but also the easiest goddess to deal with?'

Jason couldn't help feeling some doubts about this, but Jason knows that it is useless for him to think too much for now, before even meeting Hephaestus once, because he currently has another task at hand, the task of hunting the Calydonian boar.

On the other side, Hermes disappeared quickly after passing the oracle.

Because Hermes also has a task on him, a task related to Io.

Hermes knows that at this moment, Io, who is being guarded by Argos, the giant with one hundred eyes, after getting turned into a cow, is being led around the whole of Greece by Argos.

Therefore, although Hermes will be leaving this matter to Jason, he still needed to know where exactly Io is at that moment without getting noticed in Hera's eyes.

But by the time Hermes had left, leaving only Jason, Atalanta, and Pegasus, the atmosphere had already calmed down.

Jason began thinking and planning about what he is going to do next, while Atalanta closely locked her gaze on Jason.

And at the same time, Atalanta thought in her heart: 'It is only by now I have understood a little... I have understood why Goddess Artemis had said to me that I do not understand Jason at all and I had a wrong perception of Jason.'

'And the repulsion he had shown at the beginning was just because he feels I am too beautiful...'

When her thoughts at this point, Atalanta couldn't help taking out the lily flower that will never wither and given to her by Jason.

Then, Atalanta began appreciatively looking at lily in her hand with her thoughts drifting apart.

In such a silent atmosphere, time gradually passed, and the middle of the night finally arrived.

A lively noise from outside reached their ears, and at the same time, a servant walked here to pass the news that the heroes have gathered and are ready to set off.

"Got it... Atalanta, you are not going over to join them?"

After acknowledging to the servant that he has received the news, Jason looked at Atalanta who doesn't seem like she is going to leave and join the other heroes.

"What about you?" Atalanta looked back at Jason.

"I won't leave with them." Jason shook his head, after all, he naturally doesn't want to participate in such a large gathering of heroes.

"I will ride Pegasus and hunt later on while hiding in the dark."

"I'll go with you." Atalanta said lightly, then noticing Jason's slightly surprised gaze, Atalanta hurriedly added: "I don't like that kind of noisy environment."

"But this is a heroic event and if you hide with me, how will bards be able to become aware of and praise your deeds?"

"I'm not interested in those." Atalanta lightly continued: "If it wasn't for the fact that this monster belongs to Goddess Artemis, I wouldn't have arrived here."

The second statement is not exactly a lie, but Atalanta has not said the whole reason to Jason.

Atalanta has arrived here because, along with the reason she had given Jason, she was actually curious to see the existence called heroes and also wanted to experience bards singing her praises all over the land.

It was just that, this thought stopped abruptly after learning about Jason's unsung deeds.

Along with knowing the truth of the oracle three years ago, participating in the last night's tribute, as well as after hearing a few things about what Jason is about to do next...

Now when Atalanta thinks back to whatever she has heard about the heroic deeds accomplished by the heroes joining this hunt, and due to having experienced just how much most of them like to brag about it, she couldn't help but think of them as: 'Prideful barbarians whose deeds just aren't able to catch up to the arrogance they show.'

*****

Late at night, at the scheduled time of the hunt.

Outside the kingdom, Meleager, leading the heroes who have gathered at his call, is waiting for Jason and Atalanta to appear.

But he didn't see them even after waiting for a long while, so just when Meleager was feeling confused, Hercules walked over and patted his shoulder.

"Don't wait, don't you already know the character of our youngest brother Jason."

After saying this, Hercules secretly pointed at the sky.

So when Meleager subconsciously looked up, he soon noticed the Pegasus flying under the full moon with his wings fully spread in the sky.

Simultaneously, he also noticed a beautiful woman illuminated by the moonlight and sitting behind Jason on the Pegasus.

"...Sure enough, they are a good match."

After whispering in a low voice, Meleager sighed, then set off with everyone in a mighty manner.

And soon, they reached the ancient forest, but even after searching the forest for a long time, they failed to track the monstrous Calydonian boar.

After all, in this era, the ancient forests of Greece are dense, covered with swamps, and many ferocious beasts, as well as monsters, are residing in it.

Therefore, although Meleager had deliberately chosen to set off late at night for making full use of Artemis's blessing, once the group of heroes actually entered the forest, after a few dangerous encounters, many people in the team still decided to give up and return, and some even died.

Jason, who is riding Pegasus in the sky, noticed that the situation on the ground is progressing very slowly.

So, Jason took out the compass given to him by Athena, and after determining the direction in which the Calydonian boar is currently present, he passed the direction to Atalanta.

So after Pegasus landed on the ground, Atalanta, who finally appeared in front of everyone, led everyone to a relatively beautiful valley, where they finally found the monstrous boar.

And the heroes noticed that this monster is not only outrageously large with a height of several meters, but on its broad back, it has the stiff and pointy looking erected mane, and its thick and strong looking tusks are shining sharply under the light of the full moon.

The monstrous boar was immediately startled by the wild barking of the hounds that heroes have brought along, so it quickly rushed out while breaking the countless trees that appeared in its path.

Therefore, looking at the monstrous boar that is several meters high and can actually spew out flames from its mouth, although the heroes gathered were already prepared, many of them were still intimidated by this boar.

But still, immediately after the wild boar began running away after killing the hounds, while feeling the ground shaking, some of the courageous heroes stepped forward to throw spears at it.

However, not only those spears not only did not hurt or stop the boar, rather, but its previously scared feelings were also replaced by anger.

So the angry monstrous boar rushed towards the heroes and instantly knocked down the three heroes, who failed to dodge it, then while the weapons of the heroes were at the most creating a few sparks on the stiff and crusty skin of the boar, it trampled the three heroes to death on the spot.

After this, the situation immediately began turning chaotic.

However, fortunately for this group of heroes, not all among these people are this weak, relatively.

While dexterously moving through the trees, Atalanta pulled her bow and shot an arrow through the trees that accurately hit its eye, making the monstrous boar bleed for the first time.

Then, Heracles and Meleager also acted at the same time, and the two of them stopped the wild boar from running away by directly and forcefully resisting the terrifying strength of this monstrous boar, especially Heracles, who after abruptly roaring like a lion, directly raised the pitifully screaming monstrous boar in his hands.

Then, Heracles strongly threw it at the densely grown trees.

"Chirp—!"

Under the effect of the stealth spell, Pegasus, who is hiding in the dark, watched the fierce battle going on below, so he couldn't help but neigh at Jason, to ask the obvious question.

'Aren't you going to help them?'

"Do they really need my help? Although this monster is indeed strong, in fact, just Heracles alone is more than enough to deal with it."

Jason shook his head while explaining frankly.

After all, after roughly estimating the strength of this boar, Jason concluded that he can defeat this boar in a head-on fight, even without using the artifacts given to him by Gods.

And, at this moment, without those artifacts, Jason believes that he is not the opponent of Heracles and Theseus, the two of the most powerful heroes of Greece.

After all, one is the son of Zeus and the other is the son of Poseidon, also both of them are outstanding apprentices of the centaur sage Chiron.

So, Jason obviously doesn't think that these heroes can't defeat this monstrous boar.

But when Pegasus heard Jason's words, he looked at the battlefield not far away and as the warhorse of Poseidon, the King of Sea, it immediately sensed the divine power of Zeus in Heracles.

So Pegasus couldn't help neighing again at Jason, who again guess his meaning: 'If this is the case, why not just leave now?'

"Because I want to make sure it's dead, and... Teacher Hecate had said that it's a good test piece and now that I have already estimated its strength..."

But before Jason finished speaking, with a loud roar, the wild boar, already stained with a lot of blood and feeling scared, broke free from the continuous attacks of Hercules.

And after a few collisions, it rushed out of the encirclement of the heroes while spitting out flames to stop the heroes from blocking it and chose to escape.

"Atalanta, can I borrow your bow?"

Just when Atalanta was frowning and about to chase after the boar, Jason suddenly appeared in front of Atalanta by removing his stealth spell.

And at the same time, under the moonlight, he reached out to the moon and took out the silver arrow of the Moon Goddess from the moonlight.

Seeing this, Atalanta naturally understood what Jason is going to do, so she handed over her bow, Tauropolos to Jason.

Actually, this bow, Tauropolos, is a weapon given to Atalanta by Artemis, it is just that this bow is only a strong artifact, and eventually not really a divine artifact, let alone a natal artifact of God.

'Shoot out this arrow...and after you shoot it, you will understand what you have received and what you are going to face next.'

Recalling what Hecate said to him when Jason had asked her again about this silver arrow, Jason took Tauropolos and rode Pegasus to fly up to a high place.

Then, under the light of the full moon, Jason put the silver arrow on Tauropolos and slowly pulled the bowstring.

And shot the silver arrow at the monstrous Calydonian boar who has already run quite far away and running up a mountain.

Therefore, even under the light of the full moon, immediately after leaving the bowstring, the silver arrow turned into tonight's most dazzling ray of light.

'Boom-'

Immediately, the whole mountain in front of Jason was smashed into pieces.

As for the Calydonian wild boar that was at the center of dazzling light, it is naturally dead without leaving even a trace of it, let alone leaving behind the head and fur that in myth had indirectly led to Meleager's death and Jason was already prepared to deal with it so that the situation doesn't turn in that direction.

So, after a few moments, when Jason came back to his senses, he straight away rode Pegasus to hurridly run from here.

And because he was too flustered and shocked, Jason even forgot to return the bow Tauropolos to Atalanta.

At this moment, Jason, who had just experienced the least strength of the silver arrow of Moon Goddess, couldn't help but have a momentarily thought in his heart.

'This arrow must be returned to Artemis!'

Although, Jason knows that it is very unlikely for him to follow through with this thought...