Heracles?
Upon hearing that name and looking up at the burly man, Meleager's uncles and the surrounding Hunters immediately cowered.
Heracles, however, remained unfazed. He pushed Meleager's spear back, then looked at both sides and asked Jason:
"What's going on? Why do I come back to find you arguing with others?"
"It's not our fault."
Seeing Heracles return, Jason immediately felt emboldened. He perked up and concisely informed Heracles about Meleager's uncles' attempt to snatch the Calydonian Boar's hide.
After listening, the mighty hero thought for a moment, then turned to Meleager's uncles and asked:
"Gentlemen, isn't this behavior akin to robbery?"
"What do you mean, robbery?" Meleager's uncles feared Heracles's strength, but hearing that he was willing to reason, they immediately twisted logic and shouted, "This is Calydon, and that Boar was killed by the concerted efforts of Calydon's Hunters! Both the Boar's head and hide rightfully belong to our Calydon!"
"Nonsense!" Upon hearing their words, Medea immediately sneered, "Look at yourselves, with such low damage output, and you still dream of getting equipment?"
Although Medea was speaking words that the Heroes of the Greek World didn't quite understand, this time, the Heroes understood her meaning. After Medea finished speaking, Heracles also agreed, saying:
"Even if this Boar hide should belong to Calydon, it should be distributed by Prince Meleager, who presided over this hunt. Since he gave this item to my companion, it should belong to my companion. What you are doing is robbery."
After speaking, Heracles took a step towards Meleager's uncles. His towering figure immediately brought them an extremely terrifying deterrent, causing these petty individuals to involuntarily retreat several steps, their legs trembling.
Meleager's uncles immediately began to whisper to each other:
"This person's strength is simply demonic. We are few in number now, so let's not contend with him. We'll talk when more people arrive."
Heracles was not foolish. Seeing their actions, he understood what they were thinking, and said:
"If you are waiting for people, I advise you to give up. When I came over earlier, I was surrounded by a group of people outside, so I used a little trick to make them disperse."
What he said sounded like bragging, but the person saying it was Heracles, so Meleager's uncles immediately had some belief. However, they still blustered, putting on a brave front:
"Who would believe your nonsense?"
"It doesn't matter if you don't believe me."
Heracles shrugged his shoulders, looking at the Boar hide in Atalanta's hand. A plan suddenly came to him, and he said, "How about this: since none of you are convinced, we won't intervene. We'll let you try hunting the Calydonian Boar one more time. If you can do it, then I'll even let Atalanta give you this Boar hide."
After speaking, Heracles looked towards Atalanta, who trusted him immensely and nodded in agreement.
"That's certainly good." Meleager's foolish uncles immediately laughed happily, but then they became somewhat puzzled: "But how will you summon another Calydonian Boar? Can you still contact Artemis?"
Is Heracles's influence that great?
Seeing the Heroes' puzzled gazes, Heracles immediately revealed a simple, honest smile. He took off his lion-skin armor, handed it to Jason for safekeeping, and then draped the Boar hide from Atalanta over himself, saying in a muffled voice:
"Of course, I will play the Boar. Although I haven't fought it before, I believe I wouldn't lose to it."
Meleager's uncles looked at each other, then were startled, but before they could even utter a sound to stop him, they heard Heracles shout, "Get ready! Here I come!"
With that, the Greek World's most powerful Hero, clad in the Boar hide, randomly picked a Hunter and charged at him. His speed was incredibly astonishing, even Atalanta from moments ago couldn't compare. Coupled with his terrifying strength, he was even more fearsome than a real Calydonian Boar.
When Heracles charged, he vanished from the Heroes' sight in the blink of an eye, leaving only a deep trail that extended all the way to the distant hillside. Along Heracles's path, all the trees, no matter how thick, were smashed in half by him, slowly toppling to the ground and burying large patches of dust.
"Oops." Amidst the dust, the Heroes heard Heracles say, "First run, couldn't quite stop. Won't happen this time. Get ready, I'm coming back!"
The instant the sound faded, a group of Hunters felt a suffocating wind pressure rushing towards them. If this person didn't stop, he would surely crush them all into mincemeat.
Fortunately, just as the wind pressure appeared, one of Meleager's uncles suddenly raised both hands and shouted loudly, "We surrender—!!"
Whoosh!
A hurricane rushed towards them, blowing all the Heroes' hair straight up in one direction. Fortunately, after Meleager's uncle surrendered, Heracles did not strike a fatal blow and stopped in front of the Heroes.
He took off the Boar hide, then put his lion-skin armor back on. He then reached out and patted Meleager's uncles on the cheek, saying to them:
"I'm in a very good mood today and don't want to kill anyone. Be sensible, understand?"
Meleager's uncles trembled like sieves, shaking uncontrollably, and nodded hastily in response.
Heracles then clapped his hands contentedly and came before the Heroes of the Argo, nodding to them with a smile:
"Everything's settled. Let's go."
Seeing Heracles return, Jason's chest puffed out. He looked around at the Calydon Hunters with an arrogant air, then declared loudly:
"Let's go, back to our ship, with our spoils of war. We, the Heroes of the Argo, disdain to associate with these brigands."
With that, the Heroes of the Argo, surrounding Heracles, left the mountain forest, leaving only the Hunters of Calydon behind.
Meleager looked at his uncles and the Warriors under his command with a look of disappointment, chastising them, "All you care about are these petty immediate gains. Happy now? You've offended Heracles. Let's see if he'll cause you trouble in the future!"
With that, he also angrily led his attendants and turned to leave, abandoning his ashamed uncles to remain in the mountains alone.
However, Meleager did not go far. As soon as he left the forest, he saw two figures standing in front of him, blocking his path. These two, a man and a woman, consisted of the man wearing the most classic armor of the Greek World, with a full head of red hair flowing behind him and a very handsome face, his stature no less impressive than Heracles's just now. The woman, meanwhile, also wore a feminine armor, and a pure white owl stood on her shoulder.
Upon seeing these two, Meleager's heart skipped a beat. He had already identified them, as one of them had served as a mascot on their Argo for a long time.
He quickly led his attendants to kneel before the two deities, whispering, "Great Ares, Athena, it is an honor to meet you."
"Rise, Meleager." Ares glanced at Athena beside him, seeming somewhat distracted. He placed a piece of black charcoal into Meleager's hand and said to him, "Take good care of this charcoal. No matter who asks you for it, do not give it away, for it is more reliable to hold your own life in your own hands."