Heracles's current task was hunting, so Ares couldn't be of much help.
He had previously gone hunting a few times with Artemis and Apollo, chasing after the phantom beasts that roamed the land. How to put it, while Ares also found hunting to be a very interesting recreational activity, he only dabbled in it, much like fishing. Occasionally, if Hephaestus or Apollo invited him to go fishing, he would join, but he couldn't reach the level of an extreme hunting enthusiast like Artemis.
Consequently, Ares's hunting skills were naturally subpar. He couldn't even perform basic tracking behaviors like using footprints, bloodstains, scent, or droppings to pursue prey; Apollo or Artemis always did it.
He would only draw his bow and shoot at the prey when he saw it, ensuring he wouldn't miss. However, these were merely the most basic skills for a true hunting expert. Beyond that, there were other techniques like setting traps, circling, and deducing the prey's location, but Ares hadn't learned any of those.
Therefore, this time, he frankly told Heracles that when it came to hunting skills, this hero, who had relied on hunting for many years to improve his family's meals, was definitely stronger than him, so he basically couldn't help much this time.
Heracles also expressed understanding. After all, Ares was the God of War, not some God of Hunting. And along the way, Ares had already helped him a great deal, giving him favors that Heracles basically couldn't repay. Therefore, Heracles directly stated that he wasn't a three-year-old child and that his teacher should do whatever he wanted.
Thus, Iolaus's account was temporarily attached to Heracles by Ares, both to monitor his surroundings to prevent Athena from causing trouble again, and to continue carrying Heracles's luggage and weapons.
Ares's main focus, however, returned to the Underworld. If he remembered correctly, it would take Heracles over a year to pursue this hind. This period was enough for him to do many other things.
First was the matter of Hydra. Ares had already subdued it, but Olympus probably wouldn't tolerate such a monster staying there. Moreover, that place was considered the enemy's base for Ares. Therefore, he naturally had to keep this useful great serpent in the Underworld.
Of course, he certainly couldn't openly bring Hydra into the Underworld under his own name. The place where Ares, the God of War, should be was the Celestial Realm of Olympus, not the dark and lightless Underworld. Besides, the Gods of the Underworld might not give Ares such face.
However, fortunately, Ares had a good teacher. As a famous great goddess in the three realms, and now Hades's directly appointed Regent of the Underworld, Hecate naturally had the right to raise her own pets in the Underworld to strengthen its defenses. What's more, she originally came to the Underworld with a demonic dog, Cerberus, who was also a child of Typhon and Echidna, and Hydra's brother.
Therefore, after Ares spoke to Hecate about this, the Moon Goddess readily agreed. She had some interest in raising pets, and she was also very interested in the potent venom flowing in Hydra's blood.
So after Hydra left Mycenae, guided by Ares, it arrived at the city of Taenarum on the southern tip of the Peloponnese. Outside the city, there was a natural, enormous chasm leading from the surface to the dark and lightless Underworld. Although Hades used to fill these natural fissures with his divine power to prevent living beings from falling into the Underworld, he intentionally left this particular chasm open for the God of Death or Hermes to enter and exit, bringing deceased souls to the path before Hell Gate.
This chasm was incredibly wide, allowing even a body like Hydra's to easily enter. It walked down the sloping chasm for an unknown duration until it finally arrived before the Hell Gate of the Underworld.
Before this massive city gate, constructed from countless bones and steel, Hydra also met its brother, Cerberus, who had gone their separate ways shortly after birth. Upon noticing Hydra, this multi-headed demonic dog, which had been lazily lying on the ground, suddenly sprang up. It arched its body and let out threatening growls at Hydra.
"Cerberus, don't be like that. We are siblings from the same mother, after all." Hydra stepped back, indicating that it had no intention of fighting with this fierce brother, but Cerberus did not appreciate it. It not only scraped at the dirt on the ground, constantly approaching, but even its tail, which had a dragon head, curved over, and that fierce and menacing dragon head began to menacingly spray sparks at Hydra.
However, just as Hydra helplessly prepared to fight this seemingly unintelligent brother, a clear and cold voice suddenly came from within Hell Gate:
"Cerberus, sit down!"
"Woof!"
Upon hearing this female voice, the originally fierce Cerberus suddenly jolted. It let out a particularly embarrassing dog bark, then instinctively sat down on the ground, its several heads all turning towards the inside of Hell Gate.
Hydra also looked towards Hell Gate. It saw that within Hell Gate, accompanied by light footsteps, a faint purple candlelight slowly appeared, and with the appearance of this candlelight, a beautiful goddess also appeared before Hell Gate.
Holding a candlestick, she came to Cerberus and casually kicked Hydra's fierce cousin, scolding him:
"Behave yourself. Don't make a fuss all day long, howling at everything you see, or I won't want you anymore!"
"Wuwuwu…"
Threatened by this seemingly beautiful and delicate lady, the fierce Cerberus could only cover its head and let out a pitiful whine, completely unwilling to resist.
"Who are you?"
Seeing the goddess's majesty, Hydra couldn't help but lower its posture. It cautiously approached a bit, then lowered its head and asked.
"Regent of the Underworld, Hecate."
Hecate held up her candlestick, and by the light of the candle, she briefly looked at the enormous multi-headed serpent before her, then smiled:
"Are you Hydra, who came at Ares's command?"
"Yes." Upon hearing Hecate's name, Hydra immediately lowered its posture even further. Although Hecate was reclusive and lazy, her prestige was widely spread across the land of the Greek World. After all, when magic was mentioned, people in the Greek World first thought of this goddess, the progenitor of Greek magic.
"Hmm." Hecate came before Hydra, circled around it, occasionally reaching out to touch its skin and scales. Then, she asked, "Since you can speak, do you also have the ability to shapeshift?"
"Yes," Hydra replied. "I can shrink my body and perform some partial transformations, but I cannot completely transform into another species."
"Then try your best to transform into a human," Hecate commanded.
Hydra immediately exerted its transformation abilities. Under its efforts, its massive body gradually shrunk, and then its snake heads merged together, finally transforming into a monster with the upper body of a beautiful and lovely girl and the lower body of a long snake tail.
"Hmm, just looking at the upper body, it's quite cute, not bad." Hecate gazed at Hydra for a moment, then nodded with satisfaction. She wove a fitting garment with magic and threw it to Hydra, telling it, "From today onwards, you will be my handmaiden, the subordinate deity of Hecate, the Great Goddess of the Underworld, Lamia the Snake Girl."