"Hmm?"
Ares's divine power avatar, who was watching over Heracles, suddenly sensed that the spell he had left on Amphitryon had been triggered.
Did something happen to Amphitryon?
Ares's heart was first startled, followed by a strong surge of anger. Amphitryon, having lost his fighting ability and his throne, should have no use for the gods. He could no longer complete any tasks for them, and killing him would bring no benefit to the gods.
Ares sympathized with the honest man's plight and admired his character, which was why he intervened to save Amphitryon's life during his fated battle and sent him to the rear, allowing him to live as a rich man in Thebes and peacefully retire with Alcmene.
But Ares never expected that his opponent, Athena, had no bottom line, even going so far as to eliminate a seemingly useless pawn like Amphitryon.
He roughly guessed Athena's intention behind this action, but just like Ares's own scheme, Athena this time also used an overt plot. If Heracles were to know afterwards that Ares had abandoned his father, Amphitryon, he would surely bear a grudge against him.
Moreover, from Ares's own moral standpoint, he could not stand by and watch Amphitryon die.
So Ares could only grit his teeth. Seeing Heracles leave for a hunt with his bow and arrows, he quickly transformed into a streak of fire and rushed towards Amphitryon's room within Thebes.
Just as Ares was rushing towards Thebes, Heracles, carrying the golden bow Apollo had given him and the quiver Hephaestus had gifted him, entered the nearby forest.
These divine artifacts were wedding gifts from the gods to him and Mégara when he accomplished the great feat of defeating the Mycenae Kingdom. However, after marrying the princess, Heracles did not choose to remain in the royal city and inherit the throne. Fearing that he might go mad again and harm others, he still chose the reclusive life Amphitryon had arranged for him. And Mégara, after marrying him, did not continue to live a pampered life like a princess in Thebes, but instead came with Heracles to the countryside of Thebes, living an idyllic pastoral life.
Although in this era, humans in the Greek World could not yet be called the "lords of all creation," in the Age of Gods in Greece, there were dangerous jungle swamps and barren mountains and treacherous waters everywhere, and these areas were filled with wild beasts and monsters that threatened human lives.
The countryside of Thebes was, of course, no exception, but it also depended on who lived in that area.
For ordinary people, losing the protection of sturdy city walls indeed made it easy to fall into danger, but for a humanoid powerhouse like Heracles, there were very few things in the entire Greek World that could threaten him.
For him, the wild beasts and monsters scattered throughout the Theban countryside were, on the contrary, a very important food source. A typical meal in Heracles's home usually contained the meat of some fierce beast or monster, all hunted by Heracles from the forest.
Initially, the fierce beasts living in this region did not know the strength of this robust man and mostly regarded him as prey. At that time, Heracles did not even need to track his prey; he would enter the forest, and wild beasts would essentially offer themselves up.
But as such incidents happened more often, these animals gradually began to understand the difference in their positions on the food chain compared to Heracles. Therefore, now, Heracles cannot even enter the forest to hunt with his most convenient bronze club, but instead has to use a bow and arrow, and usually has to track for half a day using hunting skills learned from Chiron.
However, this did not extinguish Heracles's passion for hunting in the slightest. He was a born warrior and hero. While he could do herding or farming as a job, when it came to what he truly loved, Heracles preferred passionate combat and hunting.
Moreover, today he had also promised his children to hunt a bear or a wild boar for them to taste fresh meat.
Heracles moved through the forest with great speed, startling birds and beasts. Soon, he locked onto his target by the footprints left on the ground: an abnormally large wild boar.
Among the heroes of the Greek World, two figures were widely recognized for their superior hunting skills: one was Orion, Artemis's good companion and beloved, the demigod son of Poseidon; the other was also connected to Artemis, a devout follower of Artemis, the fastest legend on the ground in Greece, Atalanta.
Of course, this exclusion also implicitly included Heracles, because Heracles was not only stronger than Orion but also faster than Atalanta.
If Atalanta was the silver chariot of the Greek World, then Heracles was the Platinum Star among Greek heroes.
Hunting a wild boar was naturally not difficult for him. After some tracking, Heracles successfully found the demonic boar lowering its head to drink by a small stream and easily and happily dispatched it with Apollo's golden bow.
After shooting down this enormous wild boar, which was clearly a monster, Heracles walked over, intending to pull out the arrow that had deeply pierced the monster's vital spot, clean it, and put it back in his quiver. But at that moment, the seemingly dead monster suddenly leaped up and attacked Heracles violently.
The demonic boar charged at Heracles!
It was utterly useless.
Heracles used Exploding Fist on the demonic boar.
It was super effective! The demonic boar was defeated.
Looking at the demonic boar, which he had exploded in the head with one punch and was slowly falling, Heracles shook his hand and continued to walk over. He had just taken a direct charge from the demonic boar, but he wasn't a weakling, so he only felt a slight bump and was unharmed.
However, just as Heracles reached the demonic boar, he touched his chest and suddenly realized that the crystal pendant his teacher had given him, which was said to protect him, was suddenly gone.
He searched the nearby forest area, turning it upside down, even dragging out two black bears hiding in a cave and forcibly inspecting them, but Heracles still could not find his crystal pendant.
Finding nothing, Heracles could only carry his catch, feeling a bit lost, and walked towards home.
Just as he left the woods, a beautiful blonde goddess suddenly emerged from a nearby bush. She gazed at Heracles's retreating back from afar, then lowered her head to look at her palm. In her palm, the crystal pendant Heracles had lost lay quietly.
"Using such methods again and again." The goddess smiled slightly, then murmured to herself, "Ares, you truly look down on me."
With that, her hand tightened, a golden light flashed, and then the crystal pendant in her palm shattered into dust.
...
Aside from losing his pendant, this hunt was very successful. Even with the time spent searching, Heracles did not spend much time at all. When he emerged from the forest, Helios's sun chariot had not even traveled halfway. But just as Heracles reached the open field where he could see his home, he suddenly smelled a pungent odor of smoke.
He looked up and was dismayed to see that his home was already ablaze. The smoke from the flames formed a distinct white line, rising straight into the sky.
"Mégara!! Children!"
Heracles quickly dropped his prey, then quickened his pace, rushing towards his burning home.