I Am The Heroine's Father: The Cannon Fodder's Ascent-Chapter 47: Soul Bond

"No, no, don't be too tense, Johan, I don't think he can see into the past—it's impossible." Melodis's hopeful voice rang in panicking Johan's ears.

"Then... this?" Johan asked hesitantly.

"Probably just his instincts, like... you kinda feel it when someone looks toward you. Take that to another level... let's just leave. No need to take risks." Melodis sighed.

'But you said it's impossible.' Johan mumbled a complaint before controlling the camera. "If he can't do anything, then let's just watch what he does..." Johan made a quick decision.

But just before they could leave, they heard mocking laughter.

"Don't be too happy. I will find you!"

The 'camera' flew higher, a few hundred feet. Lucifer looked just like a dot, but they both still felt pressure from his deep stare and angry laughter.

Lucifer took a deep breath and gently clapped his hands. The 'camera' changed—they were near a sea—the Dark Seas, the known deepest water body said to be infested with billions of creatures, most of them dangerous predatory monsters.

There were thousands of quests made every year to the Hunter's Guild to find new things about this sea from different kingdoms, but 95% of them always failed completely. Only the quests led directly by Mantles with support from kingdom high powers had any chance of succeeding at all.

Like the one where Radhaan, Velmire, and the Mantle of Rust went with a 100-strong team of hunters, all Stage 0.

Lucifer, with an unpleasant expression, flew over the visible center of the Dark Seas, scoffing as he threw away the dead body, turning the surrounding water crimson for a moment before it mixed with the currents.

"Oh, fuck. Johan, look at it carefully—look through my eyes!" Melodis yelled loudly, startling Johan.

He complied—and suddenly, his eyes widened.

An entirely golden mass of energy, shaped exactly like Velmire's body, his eyes looking helpless.

"This is... Velmire's soul?" Johan's lips parted.

Lucifer immediately disappeared, moving at blinding speed, appearing beside the black market dealer—Orwell.

The soul of Velmire stared at the vanishing blood in complete horror.

"Soul bond?" Melodis spoke dazedly. This was a high-level soul magic spell, known only to a very small group of people. Even he never got the chance to learn it. freёwebnoѵel.com

If someone wanted to learn this level of spell, they had to spend their entire life studying soul magic. Velmire definitely didn't do that, meaning someone else had used it on him and created a special seal to activate it.

"From the looks of it, this looks preprogrammed... or Lucifer would've definitely sensed it," Johan remarked calmly.

"Exactly. The activation requirement being his death... smart guy, but probably never imagined being defeated so thoroughly. If Lucifer had noticed it, it would've taken at most two swings of Kratos." Melodis laughed, mocking Velmire's helpless situation.

His Aether will slowly deplete, and eventually, the soul will travel to the afterlife. His Aether was already pretty exhausted from the fight with Lucifer.

Johan's eyes brightened, thinking of countless possibilities if his plan worked.

He excitedly exclaimed, "Let's save him!"

Melodis's eyes widened. Velmire was definitely an enemy.

If Velmire knew the identities of Johan, Sebastian, and Kirin, he would definitely attack. But by now, he was used to the weird ways of Johan.

"Right. It would be simple with 'Death Is No More', just gotta reach there before he passes..." Melodis remarked nonchalantly.

Johan fast-forwarded the 'recording' to the limit—only 40 minutes behind real time now. Velmire was still there and seemed to be holding on quite well.

"Ah, he has extra Aether saved in his seals... I didn't know you could use magic in that position..." Johan remarked. He'd seen how Velmire used this technique before, but being able to use it as just a soul was impressive nonetheless—as if he was used to it.

The Dark Seas were very close to the Crimson Empire anyways, and Velmire had flown throughout the time Johan fast-forwarded. Now, he was at the edge of the sandy beach.

Even though Velmire knew no one could really save him since his body was gone, he still didn't want to lose hope.

Melodis nodded passively. "Yeah, just make sure to not get depleted using this ability. Save enough for 'Death Is No More'," he pointed out, referencing how long they'd been using Echoes.

Melodis still didn't know where Johan got an ability like Echoes 77, and even multiple other abilities like Perfect Clone and Spirit Bond—just like higher-dimensional beings like him and Lucifer, who had tens of abilities.

But instead of growing wary, it only made him more curious.

Johan suddenly thought of something—traveling to the location from where Beatrice and he split, just to check if they did anything weird... or should they be trusted or simply used.

That was the main reason for appearing anyway, but he didn't want to waste his Aether rewinding back five hours, so he just decided to check what they did afterward.

He pushed the 'camera' forward and appeared just beside Beatrice.

This was especially risky since Beatrice's Devil was the Devil of Perception, but neither Johan nor Melodis believed she could sense something like this. They were not traveling through the past—they were just watching a recording.

Similar to CCTV footage. The people inside couldn't sense it, no matter how strong their senses were.

"So, you really just wanna see the Elf Queen's birthplace, or was it Astreus who sent you?" Beatrice casually asked Raventa, who was now back to her original appearance, playing with her fluffy breasts—missing them was a disaster for her.

Raventa stared back, startled.

They had randomly met at the Hunter's Guild and were about to fight—until Beatrice delayed the fight and recommended they work together first, obviously after reading every thought in Raventa's mind.

Raventa scoffed, annoyed. "You do realize I'm betraying the Church just by talking to you four Devil worshipers? If Astreus knew of it, he'd literally be the one to kill me." Her face practically said 'Are you stupid?'

She gently adjusted her long witch hat, adding with a smile, "It's only people like you and Johan who do everything for a plan. You have no passion, no desires—just planning this, betraying that, allying with them, etc."

She laughed. "People like you are the ones who regret their lives at death. If you never took risks, did you even live?"

Beatrice's face grew odd at the mention of death. "I mean, even if you fulfilled all your dreams, you'll realistically still regret dying... there's no way to be satisfied at death... unless you never die," she said with a dreamy face.

Raventa's mind went numb. She nodded. "Maybe... but we can always strive for dying without regrets..."

"Then we can also strive for immortality!" Beatrice suddenly cut off Raventa, but then gently shook her head.

Johan's face grew unreadable, as if he were also thinking over everything they just said.

'What the fuck is even happening anymore? Is Beatrice trying to convert Raventa into an Alistar member or something? ...Immortality, huh?' he sighed.

Suddenly Beatrice shook her head and said with a sweet smile that didn't suit her face, "Let's leave it at that. I believe you... Did you also get periods?"

The rest of their conversation was awkward for both Melodis and Johan, so Johan just fast-forwarded—but his mouth opened wide at what he saw—

Beatrice was sitting on a stool, completely naked, holding both her breasts in her hands, playing and comparing the size of them with Raventa's, who was...

...rubbing Beatrice's back with her exposed breasts, gently grinding her soapy body against Beatrice while hugging her tightly from behind, pink nipples brushing her skin.

Johan immediately deactivated Echoes, opening his red eyes in the real world, his face filled with pure terror and shock—but...

The Devil spoke.

"Go back... or forget about my help!" Melodis said seriously—the most serious Johan had ever heard him. And Johan really felt that Melodis meant every single word.

That night, Velmire had to wait forty more minutes on the brink of death in extreme pain... Because of Melodis's immaturity. Of course, Johan had no hand in it. It was all Melodis. Definitely.