As Ares passed through the spatial channel, he was greeted by a dazzling light and an ocean of spiritual particles.
This was the core of the supercomputer and observation device, Tartarus, and only here could Ares escape the monitoring and blockade of the suppressive force.
He wasn't sure if it was just an illusion, but ever since he returned to this world, he felt as if a set of shackles had been placed on his body, making him far less free and uninhibited than he had been in the God Slayer World.
"Sooner or later, I'll have to get rid of these shackles," Ares muttered.
Here, he couldn't be as uninhibited and unrestrained as he was in the God Slayer World. Before going out, Ares first arranged the several clones he had created in the God Slayer World during this trip, and then made thorough defensive measures to ensure that he would not be discovered by troublesome entities like Athena, The Fates, or the planetary suppressive force. Only then did he step out of the core of Tartarus, come outside, restore the connection with his countless clones in this world, and then connect to a clone that had already been prepared and was staying in Hecate's Garden.
After connecting his consciousness, Ares found himself lying in darkness, with his hands clasped over his abdomen, and on his palms, there seemed to be a small bouquet of white flowers.
Ares: "…"
After a dull thud, Ares burst out of a coffin on the Hecate's Garden lawn, startling a group of small Nymphs playing in the garden. He looked around and then angrily said,
"Who put my clone in a coffin?"
In the distance, Hydra, dressed as a maid, walked out of the Tree Palace carrying a tray, glanced over, then placed the wooden tray on the ground, and turned to run.
Ares quickly chased after her, cornering the audacious Hydra by the Shorea Flower Sea outside Hecate's Garden. He fiercely whipped the maid's backside with his spear before returning to the Tree Palace.
He entered the Tree Palace and, with familiar ease, arrived outside Hecate's room. He then reached out and knocked on the door, asking, "Teacher, are you there? I'm back."
After he knocked, there was no response from inside the room, but the tightly closed door automatically opened with a creak.
Ares gently pushed the door open and stepped into the room, where he saw a gaunt Hecate sitting on the bed, hugging her knees in the center of the bed.
The beautiful Moon Goddess had deep dark circles under her eyes, and her hair was disheveled. Although, as a Goddess, her physical changes wouldn't be too drastic, Hecate's haggard appearance at this moment still startled Ares.
"Teacher, what's wrong?" he asked quickly.
"Are you sick?"
"You're finally back, Ares."
The moment she saw Ares, crystal tears suddenly welled up in Hecate's beautiful large eyes. She looked at Ares and said tremblingly,
"These clones of yours are too difficult to control."
"It's okay, it's okay, I'm back," Ares said.
Ares, while comforting his mentor, slowly took over control from her with his mental power, then took some time to understand the current situation.
It had been a year since he left this world for the God Slayer World, but he had actually only stayed in the God Slayer World for less than ten days. There was indeed a difference in the flow of time between these two worlds.
During this time, Hecate helped him manage the operations of all his clones. Some unnecessary clones could actually operate on their own using the "action programs" Ares had left behind, such as Iolaus, who followed Heracles to help carry luggage; for the past year, he had been acting as a silent tool.
However, some clones, such as the High Priest of Sparta, the War God clone on Olympus, the High Priest of the temple in Thebes, and Perseus under Athena, could not stop; they had to continue their roles, otherwise it might arouse suspicion from others.
Therefore, after Ares left this world, the role-playing of these clones was entrusted to Hecate, the all-capable Goddess of Magic.
However, Hecate's personality was relatively straightforward, and she was indeed very bad at such things. At first, she even almost made a mistake. Ares's method of multitasking almost caused Hecate to have a mental breakdown.
It was also fortunate that she trusted Ares and never thought that Ares might have directly run off to another world and never returned. It could be said that she truly loved Ares as a disciple.
During this year, there were no major events on Olympus; it was mainly about the Argo Heroes, Perseus and Heracles. In this year, Heracles embarked on the path of pursuing Artemis's hind. He is currently close to his goal, having been relentlessly pursued for a year by this fastest great hero of Greece; even a divine beast, this hind is tired.
Ares estimated that Heracles would likely capture this hind within the next day or two and encounter the twin Gods, Artemis and Apollo, when bringing the hind back to the Kingdom of Mycenae.
And while Heracles was pursuing the hind, Perseus, who had been shelved by Athena for a long time, was finally taken out of storage by her, and this powerful hero began to be used.
She first bestowed upon Perseus the champion honor he had previously won at the Athens Mixed Martial Arts Tournament, granting him the title of "Goddess Warrior." Then, she gave Perseus a series of rather dirty and sordid tasks.
These tasks included, but were not limited to, removing citizens in Athens who opposed Athena, attacking small countries and tribes that were unfriendly to Athena or did not accept her worship, assassinating enemy political figures, and creating chaos in the territories of other Gods—things that could not see the light of day.
In short, Perseus was used by Athena as her black hand. Of course, Athena, skilled at winning people over, would not simply assert her divine status and majesty and demand from humans like other Gods. She promised that after Perseus completed twenty secret missions for her, she would make him a great hero famous throughout Greece, with a reputation no less than Heracles.
And this role-playing process was also the most difficult for Moon GoddessHecate to control and endure. She not only had to exert all her energy, guarding against Athena discovering that there was something wrong with Perseus, but also doing some unsavory things for Athena, and constantly maintaining the persona Ares had set for Perseus—that of a loyal sycophant who was always in love with Athena.
If Ares hadn't returned at this time, Hecate might have even suspected that she was developing some mental issues.
"You've worked hard, Teacher." Ares held Hecate's shoulders and sighed to her, "I've brought back the necessary Godheads. Let me handle these things from now on."