Seeing that Athena seemed to deliberately ignore Perseus, Ares no longer cared. Anyway, his spirit had already left Perseus's body. That body was now no different from an unmanned machine, and those illnesses, hunger, and cold would not affect him.
So he shifted his attention to the other side and began to focus on Heracles again.
After successfully slaying the Nemean Lion, Heracles returned to Eurystheus's Kingdom, showing him his lion skin armor and lion skin helmet. Seeing that his brother had truly defeated the giant lion that was invulnerable to all things, Eurystheus thought for a moment and then gave him an even more difficult task.
For the second task, Eurystheus directly ordered Heracles to kill the powerful monster, the Hydra, another child of Typhon and Echidna, who was now living in seclusion deep within the swamp.
Monsters of this caliber could almost contend with the chief gods. Apart from warlike chief gods like Athena and Ares, those involved in artistic endeavors or communications, such as Hermes and Aphrodite, might not be its match.
As a child of Typhon, the pinnacle of Greek monsters, the Hydra, besides its potent venom that even the gods could not ignore, also possessed one of the most formidable immortalities in the Greek World. Even the later Achilles would be like a younger brother compared to it.
It normally had only nine heads, but once one of its heads was cut off, its wound would quickly heal, and two more heads would grow in its place. Not only would its injuries be cured, but its attacking ability would also become stronger. Moreover, its main head could absolutely not be killed. Even if its main head was chopped off and the wound was cauterized with fire, it would be useless. Only by forcibly separating its main head from its body for a long time might it be possible to kill it.
This was also why Ares and Athena failed to kill it in front of Typhon's cave. Although this giant serpent was slightly weaker in combat ability for them, its immortality was truly strong; it was definitely not an opponent that could be taken down in one go.
Like the Nemean Lion, the Hydra was also an absolute boss-level existence among the monsters in the Greek World. Even though there was no shortage of heroes and champions throughout the Greek World who wanted to achieve glory by hunting monsters, the Hydra still remained in its swamp, and no one dared to provoke it from beginning to end.
However, even though he knew this was a task meant to send him to his Death, Heracles calmly accepted it. He rested briefly in Eurystheus's country, gathered all the necessary supplies, and then set off on his journey once more.
Just as Heracles had left Eurystheus's Kingdom of Mycenae, Ares appeared by the roadside, blocking his path.
"Teacher."
Seeing Ares, Heracles stopped and asked,
"Is there something you need?"
"Wait a moment. This task is not something you can complete on your own."
Ares waved his hand at him:
"Although the Hydra can't defeat you, its mechanism is very troublesome. You need a helper."
"A helper?"
Heracles thought for a moment and asked,
"Who is it?"
Following the usual pattern of the Greek gods, he had expected Ares to tell him to go to a certain city-state in a certain country, find a certain person running naked in a certain room on a certain street to be his companion, and incidentally turn him into a hero. However, Heracles didn't expect Ares to take an unconventional path. After Heracles finished asking his question, Ares directly pulled out a handsome, somewhat effeminate male body from the illusory space behind him, placed it on the ground, patted its shoulder, and said to Heracles,
"I will go with you personally."
...
Several days later, in front of a treacherous swamp at the southern end of the Greek World, Heracles somewhat awkwardly asked the man beside him, who was carrying his weapons and leading his horse,
"Teacher, is the Hydra in the swamp ahead?"
"That's right. I heard that ever since Typhon was suppressed many years ago, it has been hiding in this swamp and hasn't come out."
Ares, controlling the body beside Heracles, gazed at the swamp in front of them and said with some dissatisfaction,
"Also, I told you, I am now Iolaus, the son of your half-brother Iphicles. Call me Iolaus."
"Oh." Heracles turned his head, couldn't help but scratch his head, and muttered, "How many half-brothers do we have anyway?"
"You ask me, how would I know?" Ares rolled his eyes. "Even Zeus himself doesn't know the answer to that, okay? Perhaps you can only ask the judges of Death in the Underworld to see how many demigods are Zeus's offspring."
After speaking, Ares couldn't help but move a little further away from Heracles, reminding him repeatedly,
"Oh, and I'll remind you again, don't even think about laying a hand on this body of mine."
This body of Ares was created based on Hecate's estimation of Iolaus's original appearance in human history, so it looked somewhat effeminate. Although it didn't affect his combat effectiveness, Ares remembered that in some later legends, the relationship between Heracles and Iolaus was not as simple as uncle and nephew or comrades-in-arms.
Western countries, from ancient times to the present, seem to have a particular fondness for male-male relationships, and in the current Greek World, there's also the King of Gods, Zeus, and the chief god, Apollo, setting an example worldwide. Therefore, Ares was a bit afraid of what would happen if Heracles one day said something like, "Let me see you."
Hearing Ares's words, Heracles replied with a wry smile,
"Teacher, why would I lay a hand on a man?"
"Who knows?" Ares sighed. "You should know that I've seen our old father and his cupbearer exchanging glances and touching each other quite a bit on Olympus. I'm afraid too."
"That's him!" Heracles said, somewhat annoyed upon hearing this. "I would never do such a thing!"
"It better be."
Ares was quite reassured by Heracles's promise. Although this hero sometimes lost his mind for various reasons, he generally kept his word.
However, Ares wasn't afraid. He had already prepared himself. If Heracles truly lost his mind, Ares would directly detonate this body and then send his divine power clone to severely beat Heracles.
This was a loving personality correction from a teacher, not displaced anger.
While contemplating these issues, Ares also continued to advance with Heracles. With Heracles leading the way, the two entered the perilous swamp.