After Jason received the potion Ephialtes handed him, the Heroes continued on their way, following the winding, snake-like tracks on the ground, heading deeper into the mountains ahead. By midnight, a magnificent yet primitive stockade finally appeared in their sight.
It was clear that the stockade was simply built from randomly piled stones, with two enormous braziers placed at the entrance. Fierce flames burned in the braziers, illuminating the night.
Through the stockade's gate, the Heroes could see the interior: tall, crude stone houses. In some places where the stones couldn't fit together, the Giants were too lazy to fix it, simply stuffing the gaps with branches, tree trunks, or mud.
The buildings in this stockade were truly at the level of primitive human architecture, but because they were so massive, Jason and the Heroes couldn't help but feel a sense of grandeur from the bottom of their hearts.
"This is too tall."
Looking up at the stone wall, which was almost as high as a mountain, Jason felt his neck was about to break.
"How tall are the Giants living inside?"
"They won't be taller than Atlas, who holds up the sky."
Ephialtes said,
"Let's go. We need to find a way to sneak in."
The Argo Heroes came from all walks of life, and among them were naturally masters of stealth. Under their guidance, the Heroes concealed themselves with branches and quietly passed through the towering gate, making their way into the stockade.
As a fortress inhabited by Giants, this stockade naturally covered an extremely vast area. Jason and the Heroes explored for half the night under the cover of darkness but still couldn't find the center of the fort. Along the way, they had already encountered at least dozens of tall Snake-Footed Giants. The shortest among them was at least as tall as a small hill, far larger than all the Giant species the Argo Heroes had seen along their journey.
From them, the Heroes even felt a sense of pressure similar to that of the Olympus gods, which made them completely afraid to make a sound, fearing they might provoke these terrifying demons.
As dawn approached, the Heroes found a nearby Snake-Foot Giant's house and hid inside a cabinet in his room. The cabinets used by these Giants were so large that humans could even establish a city-state kingdom within them, which was quite frightening. The Argo Heroes hid inside and were naturally not discovered by the Giants.
Thus, the Argo Heroes would disguise themselves and go out to gather information at night, and during the day, they would hide in nearby Giant houses, resting in containers that were not easily discovered. After three days of this, the Argo Heroes finally managed to fully scout the entire stockade, and Ephialtes also drew a complete map of the Snake-Footed Giants' base.
Their reconnaissance revealed that there were several hundred Snake-Footed Giants living in this stockade, which was no small number. These Snake-Footed Giants possessed at least the combat ability of lesser deities. Their daily staple food was various fantasy creatures living on the Pallene Peninsula. These Giants killed fantasy creatures as easily as chickens, and with their immortal buff, Ares estimated that a secondary god would likely not be able to defeat them in a one-on-one fight.
Moreover, the thirteen strongest Giants all possessed Main God-level combat power. They simply lacked the enhancements of various divine weapons and divine authorities. If a method to counter them could not be found, then these Snake-Footed Giants truly had the potential to overturn the rule of Olympus.
Since the enemy's situation had been thoroughly investigated, the group prepared to retreat. However, after spending another day moving from the center of the stockade to near the gate and hiding, preparing to wait for nightfall to exit, the movements of the Snake-Footed Giants became somewhat peculiar.
These Snake-Footed Giants, who normally went out hunting fantasy creatures for food during the day, today uncharacteristically stayed inside the stockade. Not only that, but they also used thick chains to tether some enormous monstrous dogs and walked around the stockade, seemingly searching for something.
Noticing this scene through a crack, Jason returned to their hiding place and said to the Heroes with a grave expression, "We might have been discovered."
"How is that possible?" someone said. "All these days, we've been very careful. Even when hiding in these Giants' cabinets, we never touched any of their things. How could they have discovered us?"
"Who knows? These are Giants comparable to gods; we don't know what abilities they possess," Jason said. "The current problem is that we can't stay here any longer. Otherwise, if the Giants discover us, we'll be caught like turtles in a jar. Even Heracles wouldn't be able to escape. At the very least, we need to move to the grasslands outside."
"It's only thirty stadia (a stadia was an ancient Greek unit of distance, with one stadia in Athens being approximately 185 meters) from here to the fort gate. We can grit our teeth and sprint out in a short time."
Heracles suggested,
"Once we leave the stockade, there's a vast wilderness outside, which will be more conducive to hiding. We might as well just charge out."
Thirty stadia is roughly equivalent to 5.5 kilometers in modern terms. This distance was indeed nothing for the Heroes, who all had some divine blood in them; they could run out of the city in a few minutes. However, this distance was even less of an issue for the Snake-Footed Giants. If discovered by the Giants over this distance, perhaps only Heracles would be able to escape.
Someone brought this up and said,
"Moreover, these Snake-Footed Giants aren't stupid. While they're searching the city with their monstrous dogs, they've already dispatched a group of Snake-Footed Giants to block the stockade's entrance. If we want to get out, we'll have to find a way to lure this group of Snake-Footed Giants away first."
The Heroes looked at each other, none having a good solution. At this moment, Ephialtes stepped forward.
"Let me lure them away."
He volunteered,
"While I distract them, you all should quickly escape."
"But—"
Jason wanted to say something more, but Ephialtes had already cut him off decisively, saying,
"That's settled. Other gods stand behind you. Your lives are far more important than mine. Remember the password and the exit point. I'm going ahead!"
With that, he had already run out, moving so fast that the group of Heroes didn't even react.
In the blink of an eye, Ephialtes had already run out of the Giant's cabinet. As he ran, he pulled out a torch from his Pregnant and lit it, then rushed out of the house, shouting loudly, and headed into the distance.
The Snake-Footed Giants outside the door were clearly attracted by him. Before long, Jason heard rustling sounds from outside the door; it was a group of Snake-Footed Giants chasing Ephialtes.
Once Jason reacted, he quickly shouted, "Heracles, try to stop him!"
"No need." Heracles refused Jason's request, shaking his head. "Ephialtes most likely has other things to do here. This must be something our teacher assigned him."
"Are we just going to leave him and run?" Peleus said, somewhat reluctantly.
Heracles did not speak, but instead looked at Jason along with the others, waiting for their captain to make a decision.
"Go!"
Jason gritted his teeth and said,
"Ephialtes has already gone; regretting it now is useless. If we don't seize this opportunity to escape, even his sacrifice will be wasted! Once we get out, we must proclaim his deeds to the entire Greek World!"