What a pain.
In the eyes of the warriors who had come to encircle Chimera, Jason had descended from the starry heavens like a savior of the mortal world.
Yet as he stared at the monster he had just kicked to the ground, still struggling to rise, Jason genuinely felt nothing but annoyance.
Compared to facing the enemy head-on, wouldn't it be far better to turn invisible first, sneak behind Chimera, pour bottle after bottle of poison over it, and then quietly take its head while it was still unaware?
Jason thought that sounded absolutely perfect.
He believed he was not some muscle-headed brute like his senior brother Heracles. He was a scholar who had read ten thousand books, who could summon a keyboard with a wave of his hand and debate tens of millions of people with elegant trash talk!
With these thoughts, Jason glanced around at the warriors staring at him in shock and excitement. He could not help but sigh once more.
He tossed away the treasure sword that had been corroded by Chimera's flames and patted the dust off his clothes. Chimera's fire was indeed extraordinary; even Pegasus had been forced to evade it.
But no matter how extraordinary those flames were, how could they possibly harm Jason's body that had been tempered by underworld fire?
The flames could not even scorch the holy raiment Athena had personally woven for him from materials gathered from undying underworld flames.
Then Jason's lips moved slightly as he chanted a spell. Ordinary incantations were long, but with the near-instantaneous High-Speed Divine Words cheat, Jason naturally would not bite his tongue like a certain someone.
Under the spell, the staff Hecate had bestowed upon Jason materialized in his hand out of thin air. He gently tapped the ground with it.
Clang.
A soft chime rang out. The magic engraved on the staff activated under Jason's command. A dark magic circle appeared on the ground and rapidly expanded.
In dazzling light, the circle enveloped Jason, Pegasus, and Chimera. Everyone else caught in its range was wrapped in magical power and gently transported outside, isolating a vast area.
Then, under the stunned gazes of the surrounding warriors, pure white spider lilies bloomed across the barren earth within the circle.
As the spider lilies and grasses bloomed, faint blue underworld butterflies emerged and danced. After circling Jason twice, they flew toward Chimera.
"This domain can only be used once a month even by me… I was planning to save it for the Calydonian Boar."
Jason muttered as Chimera rose to its feet.
It stared nervously at the suddenly transformed dark domain. It opened its mouth to roar at Jason, only to discover it could make no sound!
"Shh…" Jason placed a finger to his lips and smiled at Chimera. "In the Underworld… loud noises are not allowed."
As he spoke, Jason raised the staff and solemnly prayed, "Great King of the Underworld Hades, here your student Jason, disciple of Hecate, beseeches you. Please let darkness envelop this monster Chimera that commits evil upon the mortal world!"
At his words, Chimera was shrouded in darkness by Hades' divine power.
"Great Queen of the Underworld Persephone, here Jason beseeches you. Please bind the savage strength of Chimera!"
At his words, the earth cracked open. Black vines burst from the spider lilies, wrapping around the struggling Chimera and binding it motionless!
"Great Ferryman of the Styx, Charon, here Jason beseeches you. Please draw the waters of the Styx to wash away Chimera's sins and cleanse the foul power from its body!"
At his words, the ground beneath Chimera collapsed into a pit. Waters of the Styx were summoned and surged over Chimera's body.
Soon, both the Styx waters and the black vines vanished.
Chimera, now battered and on the verge of death, collapsed pitifully to the ground.
Having invoked the three gods, Jason decided that was enough.
Invisibility, full enhancement, barrier, Underworld Domain… Five spells were engraved on the staff in total.
So far, Jason had used four.
The fifth was an overbearing offensive spell, but after a moment of hesitation, Jason chose not to use it.
That spell would inevitably attract the attention of the most exalted god on Olympus, Zeus.
Even if Zeus might not blame him right now, it was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.
As the name suggested, the Underworld Domain was a spell that belonged to the Underworld. It was one of the life-saving trump cards Hecate had given Jason.
Within this domain, the gods of the Underworld, who normally could not interfere in the mortal world, could act directly. They could even open the gates and release the hounds!
Jason had refrained from releasing Cerberus only because Chimera and the three-headed hellhound were apparently siblings.
Then Jason cast the full enhancement spell on himself, raising all his attributes.
Although he knew Chimera was already trapped in darkness by Hades' power, unable to hear or see, its five senses stripped away as if falling endlessly into an abyss, Jason still habitually tossed a flashbang at it.
His lips moved again. Under High-Speed Divine Words, with a soft pop, Jason transformed into an underworld butterfly.
He swapped positions with one of the butterflies dancing in the domain, instantly appearing before Chimera as if by teleportation.
The full enhancement spell, at Jason's strong insistence when Hecate engraved it, primarily strengthened not Jason's own attributes but the staff itself!
Thus,
BANG!
A tremendous impact rang out.
The staff smashed down on Chimera's head like a thousand-pound blow, driving its skull deep into the earth. Blood sprayed everywhere. It was deader than dead.
Proof of its demise came when the goat body that had been thrashing silently and the serpent tail both widened their eyes in unison, then collapsed together with expressions of eternal grievance.
Pegasus sensed Chimera's death and descended from the sky.
It glanced at the utterly mangled corpse on the ground, then at Jason who had cautiously stepped back, holding a ball of unquenchable underworld fire, clearly eager to whip the corpse some more.
"Hiiin—!"
Seeing this, Pegasus hurriedly pawed the ground several times and neighed, insisting it was dead, truly dead, no need!
"Neigh neigh—!"
It was just a Chimera! Was all this really necessary?!
"You don't understand."
Jason, who still trusted Pegasus somewhat, extinguished the underworld fire and replied seriously, "If you cannot avoid the fight, then you must battle with your full strength from the very beginning. Never try to play the pig to devour the tiger, because you might actually become the pig!"
Pegasus rolled its eyes at Jason in a very human-like manner, turned its head away, and clearly could not be bothered with such declarations.