Since he had promised Athena to protect the Argonauts during the remainder of their journey, Alaric kept his word.
Speaking of which, fate was truly unpredictable.
On the way there, Alaric had maintained a stance of hostility toward the Argonauts, constantly looking for opportunities to sabotage them.
Many times, the heroes had suffered heavy losses due to Alaric's covert interference, especially the loss of Heracles and the battle with the Amazon warriors, both of which had cost them a significant portion of their strength.
But now, on the return journey, Alaric instead stood on the side of protecting them.
One journey there and back, yet two completely different attitudes, it was indeed intriguing.
Because his daughter had been taken away, although the Golden Fleece had not been lost, King Aeëtes of Colchis was still furious.
He dispatched warships to pursue the heroes, chasing them from behind in an attempt to reclaim Medea.
The Olympian gods also had no intention of letting them off. Zeus stirred up terrifying storms; lightning filled the sky, thunder roared, and violent winds howled, nearly capsizing the Argo.
Poseidon, the god of the sea, was no less formidable.
He whipped up towering waves upon the ocean, giant walls of water dozens of meters high that looked as though they could swallow the ship at any moment.
At that time, the Argo was like a toy of the sea, forced to endure the ravaging waves.
The power of the gods was truly terrifying. Zeus's dominion over the sky made it impossible for Alaric to alter the weather with magic.
And reverse the situation, while Poseidon's control over the ocean completely cut off any thought of calming the waves through sorcery.
However, that didn't mean Alaric was without options.
Under his command, the heroes lowered the sails and even cut down the mast.
After that, all the heroes retreated into the cabin, while Alaric used magic to seal every crack on the ship's surface and continuously cast Reinforcement spells upon the hull.
Before long, the Argo became an incomparably solid, sealed container.
Although the storm summoned by Zeus and the monstrous waves raised by Poseidon were terrifying, neither the rain nor the seawater could penetrate the magically reinforced Argo in the slightest.
They were completely thwarted.
Under these circumstances, neither Zeus nor Poseidon could do anything to the Argo.
Like an inflated ball that could never sink into the water, the Argo was now in the same state.
No matter how the wind and waves battered it, flung it about, or rolled it onto its side, all they could do was toy with the ship on the surface of the sea, they couldn't drag it down into the depths.
And if they couldn't sink it, then any influence they exerted was essentially meaningless, at most making the Argonauts inside the cabin feel miserable.
Of course, that misery was very real.
For them, the experience was like being stuffed into a rolling washing machine and put through a full cycle. Even with their exceptional physiques, many of them ended up vomiting.
But that was all.
As long as Zeus and Poseidon didn't personally intervene, such petty measures couldn't truly harm them.
As for personally intervening… please. Gods had pride, more so than mortals.
If the Argonauts died due to abnormal weather or sea conditions, that would be fine. Even without divine intervention, such conditions could plausibly occur.
But if the gods acted directly…
Sorry, beings who were practically coeternal with heaven and earth had no desire to leave behind black history like "venting their anger on mortals."
After three full days and nights, the futile efforts of Zeus and Poseidon finally ceased.
The raging storms and towering waves gradually subsided.
The Argonauts were finally able to raise the mast and set sail once more.
At this time, Alaric also took the opportunity to expose the Olympian gods… well, to speak the truth, at least.
He told the Argonauts the source of the storms.
Because it was thanks to Alaric's magic that they had survived the ordeal, the Argonauts trusted his words completely.
Only then did the heroes realize that the gods had not only deceived them into undertaking a near-suicidal mission, but after the mission failed, had even tried to kill them to vent their anger.
Having seen the true face of the gods, their resentment toward the divine grew even stronger.
The most heartbroken were naturally the demigods among them.
During the previous calamities, their divine fathers had not only failed to save them, but hadn't even offered the slightest help or hint, allowing them to be tormented by Zeus and Poseidon.
Clearly, they had been betrayed, abandoned.
If even one's own flesh and blood could be forsaken, it was plain to see just how cold and ruthless the gods were toward mortals.
The gods never imagined that someone like Alaric, a walking spoiler, would be among the Argonauts.
They truly believed their actions had been flawless.
They even had the audacity, when the heroes passed by the island of Aeaea, to demand sacrifices from them, claiming that only then would they offer protection during future abnormal weather and sea conditions.
Faced with such shameless gods who cried "thief" while stealing themselves, the heroes were practically cursing in their hearts, yet on the surface they had no choice but to agree.
They knew all too well how weak they were and that they couldn't afford to offend the gods.
If the gods discovered that they already knew the truth, who knew what the enraged deities might do to silence them?
However, even though they offered sacrifices and received the gods' superficial protection, that didn't mean they wouldn't encounter trouble on the rest of the journey.
On the next island, they encountered the Sirens, creatures with the wings of birds, the lower bodies of fish, and the upper bodies of beautiful women.
They were the ancestors of mermaids.
They often used their sweet songs to bewitch passing ships, then destroy them.
When the Argo passed by, the Sirens began to sing, their voices as pure as lilies, drifting from the sea up to the deck.
The heroes were all captivated and bewitched by the song. Unknowingly, they began preparing to steer toward shore, everyone except Alaric, Medea, and Circe.
Alaric summoned musical instruments and used magic to have them play on their own, while Circe and Medea sang aloud.
The enchanted orchestra harmonized with their voices, forming a beautiful melody.
It turned out that even in song, Medea and Circe were no weaker than the Sirens.
Their magic-laced singing suppressed the Sirens' voices, and the Argonauts finally snapped back to their senses.
They immediately steered the Argo away, fleeing the area as if their lives depended on it.
For them, they would rather face some terrifying monster than provoke enemies like the Sirens.
To warriors skilled in martial prowess, such opponents, who seemed harmless on the surface yet possessed incomparably bizarre abilities, were the most frightening of all.
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