Jason unleashed all his strength in a clean slash, aimed straight at Medusa's neck, determined to end the fight once and for all. However, the blow met neither flesh nor bone, but an unexpected resistance: a dry, metallic clash that vibrated along his sword and rattled his arms.
The gorgon's claws, covered almost up to the elbow in gleaming scales like polished bronze, had intercepted the attack just before it reached its target.
For an instant, the two were locked in a tense struggle, Jason's steel pressing against Medusa's hardened claws. The pressure mounted, their forces colliding in a precarious balance until, with a sharp and calculated movement, she twisted her wrist and deflected the blade. Jason lost his center of gravity and was forced to step back a couple of paces to avoid falling.
Medusa did not grant him even a second to recover. She lunged forward with a swift thrust of her claws. Jason reacted on pure instinct, and the fleece answered his will, unfolding into a golden shield that took shape before him at the last instant. The impact rang out with a metallic roar that echoed across the entire deck, and the force of the blow drove him several meters backward, his sandals scraping against the wood.
"Enough!" Medusa snapped, her voice laden with irritation and a hint of weariness. "I'm not interested in continuing to play with you."
Jason lifted his gaze toward her and, against all logic, flashed a crooked, almost carefree smile. The gleam in his eyes, however, betrayed him: there was fear there, barely contained beneath a mask of insolence. Even so, he shrugged slightly, as if the situation were nothing more than a passing amusement.
"What a shame" he replied lightly, tilting his head just a little. "I was just beginning to enjoy the company of such a… charming lady."
Medusa's eyes flashed with irritation at the mockery, and her expression hardened. For a moment, the silence seemed to tighten between them, like the calm before a storm.
Then, the snakes of her hair began to move again.
But this time they did not strike at Jason. Instead, they stretched out in every direction, extending like a living net that claimed every corner of the deck. Medusa's smile slowly widened, filled with an almost playful cruelty.
"Perhaps that toy of yours will save you from turning to stone" she said, with a calm that was more unsettling than any shout. "But it has only condemned you to something… far worse."
The snakes opened their jaws in unison, and from their mouths a thick, unnatural violet gas began to pour out. The poison spilled like a silent tide, spreading rapidly across the deck, crawling over the wood and wrapping the air in a suffocating haze.
Jason did not hesitate. He turned on his heel and broke into a run, dodging the advance of the gas with the urgency of someone who knows that a single mistake means death. However, the poison spread at an unsettling speed, crawling after him like a living shadow snapping at his heels.
He clenched his teeth and extended his left arm. The fleece responded once more to his will, and from his hand a golden rope shot forward, coiling with precision around a railing on an elevated section of the deck. Jason pulled on it, and in an instant his body was propelled upward, away from the gas that was already beginning to cover the ground where he had stood seconds before.
He barely had time to steady himself before turning to observe the advance of the poison. It rose relentlessly, claiming every open space. Without wasting time, he extended his arm again, this time aiming higher. The golden rope shot out once more and latched onto the tip of a mast.
Jason let himself be pulled without resistance. The rope contracted and lifted him swiftly into the heights, carrying him out of the gas's reach as he ascended to the top of the mast, where the air still remained clear.
Jason, now perched at the tip of the mast, clung to the wood with both hands, feeling the wind lash against his face and steal his breath with every gust, forced himself to look down. What he saw chilled his blood: the section of the deck where they had been had vanished beneath a dense violet mist that swirled like a poisoned sea, concealing everything beneath its lethal veil.
"Damn it…" he cursed under his breath, clenching his jaw as he assessed the situation. "No wonder Perseus killed her while she slept…"
He had barely finished speaking when the mast shook violently, as if something gigantic were wrenching it from below. Jason looked back toward the fog, narrowing his eyes to try to make out something within that undulating poison. Then he saw it: a blurred silhouette, barely defined, moving with intent and fury beneath the haze. Medusa was not finished with him.
The gorgon struck at the mast with her claws, tearing into the wood with brutal force. Each blow ripped out splinters and made the structure groan, causing the entire post to tilt dangerously, unable to withstand such punishment. Jason felt the balance beneath his feet grow more and more precarious, the world tilting around him as the destruction advanced relentlessly.
When the mast finally gave way with a sharp crack, Jason did not hesitate for a single instant. He launched himself into the void at the very moment the structure began to fall, summoning the golden rope once again. The cord sprang from his arm like a bolt of light and latched onto a nearby mast, tightening immediately. The hero was yanked toward it with a violent pull, managing to reach it and cling on quickly.
But he had no time to celebrate. No sooner had his hands closed around the wood than the mast he had just abandoned crashed into the new one with a brutal thunder. The impact shook the entire structure, and before Jason could react, both masts began to give way, tilting and breaking in a chain reaction, as if they were giant domino pieces.
"Shit…" he managed to mutter, his tone more tense than mocking, as the world collapsed beneath him.
The ground vanished from his reach and the air wrapped him in a vertiginous fall. Jason twisted midair with effort, forcing his body to respond amid the chaos, and raised his left arm once more. The fleece obeyed instantly, transforming into a golden shield that unfolded before him, angled downward just before impact.
The crash was brutal. The shield slammed against the deck with a dull thunder, absorbing part of the force—but not all of it. The wood gave way under the impact, splintering and breaking as if it were paper, and Jason plunged through the floor amid a rain of fragments.
An instant later, the hero fell to the lower level of the ship, surrounded by dust, broken wood, and the echo of the impact still ringing in his ears, while the danger—above—continued to advance.