Two days had passed.
Outside the labyrinth of Minos on Crete Island.
"It seems this is the place."
The hero dressed in white, riding upon the holy heavenly horse, put away the guide bestowed upon him by Athena in his hand. He gazed down at the labyrinth below, which was guarded by people.
"Cerberus, do you want to come in with me?"
Jason lowered his head and looked at the black-haired, red-eyed little loli he was holding in his arms.
Moreover, this little loli was even wearing black stockings and a maid outfit... Thinking that her true form was still the hellhound Cerberus, one could only say that the contrast was truly immense.
"If you do not want to go in, I can have the heavenly horse take you around to sightsee. After all, you have adapted to the human world now."
Upon hearing Jason's words, Cerberus shook her head and said, "No. Goddess Hecate and Lord Hades all instructed me that I can come out with you, but I cannot leave your side. Otherwise, I will not be allowed to come out again."
Hearing her words, Jason did not feel particularly surprised. After all, Cerberus was the hellhound of the underworld. It would be strange if there were no restrictions placed on her.
One could say that for her, the gatekeeper of the underworld, to be able to come to the human world to play with Jason was already the result of pulling every string to the limit...
"In that case, let us go."
As Jason spoke, he took out his caduceus and used invisibility magic with utmost familiarity. He held Cerberus's hand and quietly slipped into the labyrinth with her.
In the legendary story, Theseus was able to conquer this labyrinth because he left one end of a rope outside before entering, thereby finding the way back.
Jason did not do this, but that was naturally not because he had become arrogant lately due to growing stronger. It was simply that he felt doing so would be too inefficient.
Soon after entering the labyrinth, accompanied by Jason lightly tapping at the labyrinth entrance illuminated by torches, a fluttering underworld butterfly flew out.
The underworld butterfly was Hecate's familiar. It had always protected Jason, and thanks to it, Jason could move freely in the underworld.
Because it was Hecate's familiar, without Hecate granting Jason the authority, Jason originally could not control or use it.
But recently, Jason had received a wonderful gift from Goddess Demeter, the Goddess of Agriculture, called the ability to listen to the voices of all things...
Thus, everything fell into place naturally.
The underworld butterflies naturally would not refuse Jason either. Over these past few years, they had long grown familiar with Jason's scent and knew that Jason was an absolutely important person to their mistress Hecate.
And not long after entering the labyrinth, it gradually became pitch black inside. Thus, Jason had no choice but to take out a luminous glass lamp for light.
The light illuminated the dark labyrinth, but at the same time, it exposed Jason and Cerberus's positions.
"Cerberus, can you walk in the darkness?"
"Yes... But why do you have a lamp and not use it?" Seeing Jason extinguish the lamp upon hearing her words, Cerberus looked very puzzled.
"That is of course to avoid being discovered by that monster inside." Jason replied as if it were the most natural thing.
"Discovered? ... And so what if we are discovered? I can just eat it. Do you think I cannot beat it?"
"That is not it. It is just that we have no need to fight it... And sometimes, even if you can beat an enemy, you cannot go and fight them. Do you understand?"
Jason said earnestly to Cerberus.
"Why not?"
"Because the opponent's backing might be very powerful. Take me as an example. Do you dare to hit me?"
"Yes!" Cerberus replied instantly.
"...Are you not afraid that Teacher Hecate will come after you later?" Several black lines appeared on Jason's forehead.
"Not afraid, because Goddess Hecate definitely would not mind... As long as I do not eat you, Goddess Hecate would probably encourage me to hit you more!"
...If you put it that way, this conversation cannot continue.
"Cough, in any case, that is the reasoning." Jason stiffly rounded back the topic. After all, he could not retort, which was the most infuriating part.
"I naturally believe that you, Cerberus, can defeat the opponent. But think about it: if the opponent is the child of Sea Emperor Poseidon or something, and you eat it, what will you do when Sea Emperor Poseidon comes to hold you accountable?"
Jason hinted strongly... Actually, he had almost pointed it out directly.
Before coming, in line with his usual personality, he had naturally asked Theseus in advance about a series of matters regarding the labyrinth and the monster inside.
Theseus had spoken very vaguely, after all, it was hearsay, but he still provided some useful information.
After Jason deduced from that information that this matter was related to Sea Emperor Poseidon, he naturally had no intention of killing Asterion.
Theseus killing him was fine, mostly because Theseus was also the son of Poseidon.
Therefore, as long as Asterion did not court death, Jason naturally had no intention of eliminating him.
To be precise, even if Jason did not know Asterion's background, under normal circumstances, Jason, who was unwilling to stir up trouble, would not think of killing him.
After all, he never considered himself a hero.
And just as Cerberus heard Jason's words and felt that it made some sense, thus nodding.
Jason suddenly lit the extinguished lamp once more and also dispelled the invisibility magic on himself.
"Jason?" Cerberus tilted her head and looked at Jason in puzzlement.
"It was a miscalculation... One could say it is worthy of being the legendary labyrinth?" Jason looked at the guide in his hand that had lost its effect. He immediately summoned an underworld butterfly and confirmed that it could sense the position of the one guarding the entrance, then breathed a sigh of relief.
"It seems the legend of solving the labyrinth with just a rope is false... That rope must have been a divine artifact."
Jason muttered, and his guess was not wrong. In the legend, Theseus was able to exit the labyrinth and kill the half-man, half-bull monster precisely because he received guidance from the gods, obtaining the rope and a divine sword.
"It seems I can only proceed with the light on..."
"But did you not say that doing so would easily attract that monster?"
"It does easily attract it, but by the same logic, it also easily draws out that little girl lost in the labyrinth." Jason spread his hands and said, "But now that the guide from Goddess Athena has lost its effect in the labyrinth, I can only use this clumsy method to see if I can lure out the fool."
"What if that half-man, half-bull monster comes first?"
"Talk reason first. If reasoning fails, then fight." Jason said very calmly, "After all, I am not afraid of it."
You are not afraid of it, so why say all this... Cerberus, unable to understand Jason's behavior, felt extremely baffled by it.
But if the heavenly horse were here, it would probably remain very calm and advise Cerberus, after all, Jason was just such a person.
The idle chat ended there. Next, Jason and Cerberus walked through this intricate labyrinth.
At first, Cerberus was quite interested, but soon after, Cerberus quickly grew impatient.
"Jason, can I just smash these walls?!" Reaching yet another dead end and looking at the wall before her, Cerberus said with a dark expression.
Upon hearing Cerberus's words, Jason originally wanted to refuse.
"This pitch-black feeling that seems to have no end... It reminds me of some unpleasant things."
As Cerberus spoke, she glanced toward Jason.
And she even looked at Jason's arm, her small mouth slightly opening, making a gesture as if eager to bite, which startled Jason.
But it was also quite cute, after all, with her current outfit, she truly showed no deterrent force at all...
Then, Jason quickly realized what was going on. Clearly, this intricate, seemingly endless labyrinth made Cerberus associate it with the time she had been imprisoned in the abyss.
One must know that because of this matter, Cerberus had even fought with Jason. Jason let her bite for half a day before the matter ended.
Thus, after realizing this and giving a wry smile, Jason said nothing more. He made a "please" gesture to Cerberus.
The next second...
Boom—!
A loud explosion rang out in the silent labyrinth, sounding so piercing.
Such a sound would be hard to miss for anyone inside the labyrinth.
Moreover, soon after, another and another explosion followed.
The simplest way to exit the labyrinth was undoubtedly to demolish it directly!
As the saying goes, the straight line is the shortest distance between two points. This was absolutely the fastest method, bar none. It was even more extreme than knowing the labyrinth's routes!
Regarding this, the heroes who had come to the labyrinth in the past were not without those who had thought of it, but this labyrinth was reinforced with magic. Under normal circumstances, few people could achieve it. The only one who could was probably Heracles alone.
But all of this was naturally no issue for the hellhound Cerberus.
She could easily smash the walls blocking her path with a single punch, and as she demolished more, Cerberus not only did not feel impatient but instead gradually entered a state of excitement!
If Jason were not stopping her nearby and saying that if she damaged the clothes she was wearing, there would be no honey cakes, Cerberus would probably have transformed back into the hellhound by now and directly demolished the entire labyrinth!
And such behavior had to be said to be truly effective for attracting people.
Just as Jason watched Cerberus's destructive antics and somewhat worried whether Teacher Hecate's temple could withstand it in the future...
"Ja... son?"
With a tone of disbelief, as Jason instinctively turned his head upon hearing the voice, he saw Atalanta, dressed in beautiful emerald green attire, appearing in his line of sight from around a corner, having hurried over upon hearing the sound.
Looking at Atalanta, who stared at him in surprise.
Jason sized her up and found that she was at most a bit dusty and dirty, with no major injuries on her body. He breathed a sigh of relief in his heart and smiled at her, saying, "Atalanta, long time no see."