Trapped in the Inferno

The group walked through the night in Colchis. Medea had already succumbed completely to the love potion. She gave them a magical perfume, and once they applied it, none of the soldiers around them could see them.

Medea used the perfume herself as well. She originally had something better, a cloak that could conceal her form completely when worn, but Jason was wearing it now.

Jason wore it without the slightest hesitation, and the group headed straight for the Golden Fleece.

They reached a grove littered with broken halberds and snapped spears, along with many scattered bones. The smells of blood and rust mingled until they were almost indistinguishable. This was Ares's favorite scent.

Soon, they spotted a sheepskin as beautiful as gold hanging from a nearby tree. Jason was delighted at the sight of his prize, but he did not lose his reason. Instead, he began surveying their surroundings. By all rights, they should already have entered the territory of that sleepless venomous dragon.

Jason asked in puzzlement, "Strange. Why can't we find that venomous dragon? We should be well inside its territory by now. Has it gone hunting?"

Bai Mo found it strange too, but a moment later, his heart gave a sudden jolt. A sense of danger surged through his mind, and he immediately drew his blade blank. Fierce winds howled in an instant. The massive blade swept out, raising a wall of wind that rushed into the sky, while everyone's gaze was drawn to the light overhead.

It was fire, raging fire falling from the sky like a waterfall, threatening to reduce the Argo's company to ashes. The wall of wind Bai Mo created blocked the flames just in time, leaving a patch of open ground where they could survive.

Jason said, "Damn it, why is that thing up there? Atalanta, fall back. You can't get involved in this kind of fight. Bai Mo, focus on defense. Heracles, find an opening to shoot it down. Medea, what else can you do?"

Jason swiftly issued his battle orders. Heracles drew his bow into a full moon and loosed an arrow. The venomous dragon beat its wings and spat out a dark green smokescreen. Halfway through its flight, the arrow melted until only its head remained, and its remaining force was insufficient to pierce his scales.

Bai Mo swung his blade blank, sending another wall of wind sweeping past to blow the poisonous mist elsewhere. The venomous dragon surveyed them from the air, then turned and flew away.

"Did we scare it off?" someone asked in surprise.

"Whether it's scared or not, this is our chance. Atalanta, can you go and get the Golden Fleece?"

Jason immediately issued his next order. Atalanta was a follower of the goddess of the hunt and exceptionally agile. Besides, she was the only one free to act right now.

"The fire is too fierce. Even Icarus couldn't fly out now," Atalanta immediately replied. Medea took out a jar of perfume and handed it to her.

"This is an ointment called the Blood of Prometheus. Apply it to your body, and the flames won't hurt you."

Atalanta quickly applied it, then reached out a hand to test it. Sure enough, she felt nothing unusual. She immediately rose and leaped into the flames to retrieve the Golden Fleece.

A gust blew toward them, and everyone hurried behind Bai Mo. After he blocked this wave of the assault, someone asked Medea, "Do you have some means of flight to get us out of here? The fire is too fierce."

Before Medea could answer, Bai Mo rejected the proposal. "We'd be in even greater danger in the air. Flying isn't that easy. If we take to the sky, we'll be nothing more than bigger birds in that thing's eyes."

Everyone was coated in ash, and their invisibility had long since worn off. The venomous dragon was nowhere to be found. Around them, there was only the sound of the flames burning.

"Something's wrong. Why hasn't Atalanta come back after all this time?" Bai Mo asked. Indeed, she had been gone far too long. Such a short distance should not have taken so much time.

Bai Mo immediately sensed trouble, but he was also worried that the venomous dragon would return.

Heracles patted Bai Mo's shoulder and said, "Go. I'm here. Don't underestimate a beast's intelligence, especially a venomous dragon sent by Ares. It must have some other plan. Atalanta may be in greater danger."

Bai Mo nodded. This was no time to dither. He immediately activated Electric Current Push. Currents of fierce wind formed around him, and a chill even began to spread outside his body. He broke through the flames and scorching heat, running in the direction Atalanta had gone.

"Huff, huff, huff." Atalanta ran, gasping for breath. She was extremely fast, but the air was now filled with smoke and burning dust. She knew she should not exert herself under these conditions, but every second counted.

She did not know how long she had been running. The world seemed to spin around her as she clutched the Golden Fleece and kept running toward Jason.

A wave of dizziness and weakness forced her to stop. Long experience told him that if this continued, her body would no longer be able to keep moving. By now, she had also recovered her bearings.

"Strange. I remembered the direction correctly. Why is this happening?"

Atalanta muttered to herself. Before long, she heard shouts coming from the flames nearby.

"Atalanta, where are you?"

"Atalanta, I see you. Is that you? Come here!"

When her eyes were no use, she should trust her ears. Atalanta ran toward the voices, using the last of her strength. They seemed to draw closer and closer, and a smile rose unbidden to her lips.

Almost there, Atalanta thought. But a moment later, a loud shout jolted her hazy mind awake.

"Atalanta, come back!"

Now, there were two beings who could pull Atalanta back from death: one was Artemis, goddess of the moon, and the other was Bai Mo. Atalanta instinctively chose to trust that voice and stopped running.

There were no companions calling to her, only the sound of burning flames-and, less than ten paces from Atalanta, the venomous dragon with its bloody maw wide open.

Back when Bai Mo had set out, he had used ice, snow, and wind to move through these conditions. But when he reached the tree where the Golden Fleece had just been hanging, Atalanta was nowhere to be seen.

Bai Mo immediately mustered his full strength, kicked off the ground, and leaped dozens of meters into the air, taking in the whole scene. A chill instantly traveled from the soles of his feet up his spine.

The venomous dragon had set a vast stretch of forest ablaze, then spat venom onto the flames. The burning venom turned into poisonous smoke. Then the clever creature beat its wings from the other side, raising a wind that blew all the poisonous smoke toward them.

Atalanta had inhaled this poisonous smoke. Not only had it severely impaired her body, but hallucinations kept appearing as well. Worse still, after the poisonous smoke clung to her body, much of her clothing had corroded, and her skin had begun to ulcerate.

Yet she had not felt a thing.

Had Bai Mo not called her awake in time, she would probably already have become the creature's meal.

Bai Mo immediately hurled his blade blank. It spun like a whirlwind, making a terrifying sound as it tore through the air. The venomous dragon's slit pupils contracted, and it immediately abandoned Atalanta before it to evade the dangerous strike.

That was still far from enough. The venomous dragon opened its bloody maw again. Atalanta was exhausted and badly poisoned, having already lost all ability to resist.

For the first time, Atalanta felt death so close to her. Looking back on her life, how empty it had been.

"Am I going to die? Really... I never thought it would end here."

She looked back. At this moment, she did not want to look at the distant, unreachable moon. She wanted to see that person, even if only for one last time.

Teeth pierced flesh, and blood splashed onto Atalanta's face, but it was not hers.

At the last moment, a hand pulled her back from the brink of death. Bai Mo planted one foot inside the venomous dragon's mouth, and its teeth pierced straight through his left arm, leaving a row of hideous holes.

The venomous dragon instinctively bit down, only to discover something unbelievable: it could not close its mouth.

Electric currents coiled around Bai Mo's body. He had exerted every ounce of strength and finally made it at the very last moment. Atalanta gazed at him, his foot planted in the dragon's maw, standing tall between heaven and earth.

The sight imprinted itself deep in Atalanta's eyes and carved itself into her heart.