With the aid of magic, Medea's consciousness quickly linked with Talos.
From that moment on, every movement of the mechanical giant was completely under her control.
What followed became simple.
Talos had originally been lifting a massive boulder from the ground, preparing to hurl it at the Argo.
Although it was itself a product of high technology, in an era where no other enemies possessed comparable technology, and with the regression of mechanical civilization, it had never been equipped with any powerful long-range weapons.
Its only means of attacking distant enemies was by throwing stones. However, under Medea's control, it was not even given the chance to make another move.
In an instant, Talos's eyes turned dull and lifeless, its movements stiff and sluggish.
First, like a newborn infant, it clumsily familiarized itself with its own body.
Then it set down the boulder in its hands and swung its massive bronze fists toward its own ankles.
During this process, Medea even went so far as to activate an overload state. In just an instant, the surge of tremendous energy forced Talos into a red-hot condition.
Its overheated fists slammed into its ankles, precisely where its vital weakness lay, the fragile section of its power-transmission channels.
Those channels were filled with the blood of the gods.
With the loss of the method for manufacturing magical furnaces, it had become exceedingly difficult for the Olympian gods to use ancient techniques to create high-tech constructs, as they struggled to find suitable energy sources.
This was also the reason why the gods of Olympus could no longer use past technologies to strengthen their power, weapon technology being the sole exception, since weapons could draw energy directly from their users.
Divine blood, capable of automatically gathering magical energy, thus became the substitute they could offer.
Unfortunately, even for the gods, divine blood was an extremely precious material.
This was why, although they were capable of creating powerful mechanical constructs like Talos, they could not mass-produce them.
Talos itself had been built only because Zeus favored Europa excessively and spared no expense.
And now, Talos had grievously injured its own ankle.
The design of the divine-blood transmission channels at the ankle had always been flawed, resulting in armor there that was far thinner than elsewhere, making it far more vulnerable to damage.
The mages had keenly deduced this weakness.
Thus, under Medea's control, Talos tore open its own transmission channels, and the precious divine blood gushed forth like molten lead, spilling uselessly across the ground.
Wherever the divine blood flowed, vegetation went mad with growth under its power, instantly rising to engulf Talos's ankle.
One had to remember that Talos itself stood dozens of meters tall, nearly like a Gundam; even its ankle was about a meter in height.
The power of divine blood was unmistakable.
Sadly, such a material was of no importance to Alaric.
The gods might never have imagined that the magical engine technology they lacked was no problem at all for Alaric, ever heard of soul materialization?
That was effectively a perpetual-motion technology capable of generating infinite energy.
Compared to divine blood, a materialized soul could not be killed by attacks that were incapable of harming the soul itself.
If Talos's energy source had been a soul-materialization perpetual engine, its power core would never have been so easily destroyed.
Unfortunately, Talos did not possess such technology, and thus it could not remain standing any longer on the seaside cliff.
Now it was like a towering pine tree in the mountains: a lumberjack had chopped halfway through its trunk and then left the forest.
At first, the pine merely trembled in the night wind, but in the end, it snapped at the roots and collapsed to the ground.
Talos was much the same. It swayed, standing for a while on its tireless legs, until at last, accompanied by a thunderous crash, it collapsed weakly.
Having lost its energy source, it shut down its systems forever.
"How… how was that done?"
Gazing at the fallen giant on the island, the Argonauts were both shocked and overjoyed.
Their joy came from the problem finally being solved; their shock lay in Medea's eerie methods.
In truth, Medea had not found the defeat of Talos nearly as effortless as it appeared.
While the heroes fought Talos, she had spent time observing its movement patterns, studying its structure, and analyzing its weaknesses.
During the process of controlling Talos, she had also devoted considerable effort to infiltrating its intelligent system, only then did such a result become possible.
However, in the eyes of heroes who knew nothing of magic, things looked very different.
To them, the witch had merely walked forward and glanced at Talos.
The terrifying giant that had previously beaten them to utter defeat suddenly behaved like a fool, unleashing its ultimate attack on its own leg, and after just a couple of blows, collapsed to the ground, unable to rise again.
How Medea had made Talos act this way, and how Talos had managed to defeat itself in just a few strikes, none of them could understand it at all.
Thus, in their eyes, Medea became the third terrifying existence, following Alaric and Circe.
Who wouldn't be afraid of someone who could make others commit suicide with a single glance?
In truth, compared to the Argonauts, Talos was clearly easier to control. Though its body was immensely powerful, its soul was far weaker than one might imagine.
But the Argonauts did not know this. In their simple worldview, Talos was stronger than all of them combined.
If Medea could control Talos into killing itself, then naturally she could control them to do the same.
After the Argo set sail once more, every hero's attitude toward the young girl, still in the bloom of youth, changed completely, shifting from friendliness to awe.
Even Jason somewhat dispelled his former covetous thoughts toward Medea. There was no helping it, such a powerful witch was not someone he could afford to provoke.
With Talos dealt with, Zeus and the other gods gradually ran out of tricks.
Even Talos had been defeated, and abnormal weather could no longer do anything to the Argo. For the time being, they could find no other way to deal with the Argonauts.
And so, the Argo enjoyed smooth sailing, successfully completing the final leg of its journey, returning to Greece, returning to Iolcus, and arriving at the shores of the port of Pagasae.
As they returned to their homeland, everyone felt a strange mix of anticipation and apprehension.
They knew that the return of the Argo would surely cause a tremendous stir in Iolcus and throughout Greece.
People across Greece had held boundless expectations for the expedition, fifty heroes from all corners of Greece, aboard an unprecedented great ship, setting out on an unparalleled journey. Everyone had awaited the outcome with eager anticipation.
And now they had finally returned, yet in such a sorry state. What would the people of Greece think?