I Am The Heroine's Father: The Cannon Fodder's Ascent-Chapter 68: Manabeast

A massive black mass of energy clashed with the paper surrounding Johan and others, instantly the paper dome, something that was supposed to be intangible, shattered.

Sebastian instantly jumped in front of Johan and Orihime, "Black hole!" A black hole consuming every molecule in the surroundings, at first about the size of Sebastian's palm, slowly became bigger than the incoming midnight-dark mass of energy.

Thammm!!

Both clashed harshly. The mass of energy was not immediately swallowed by the black hole, and even almost tore through it, but fortunately, Sebastian increased his Aether output on time, making it big enough to consume it whole.

Johan's eyes widened. It was a lion-like creature, about the size of a golden retriever, but its whole body was extremely dark, with bright red eyes and sharp white fangs more than a foot long, standing out.

It had a very thick silver-colored rib cage-like structure acting as armor, covering most parts of its body.

"That's... a Rouge!?" Orihime asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Johan nodded softly, supporting Sebastian, who looked a bit tired after using such a powerful spell due to his sickness. "It's a stage 1 manabeast... we have to work together!"

Even in front of a group of stage 0 fighters, a stage 1 manabeast still posed an immense threat.

Manabeasts were not normal monsters. They were normal creatures, mutilated through raw Aether or mana. It was like an evolution—but due to a corrupted Aether core, their instincts took over, and instincts are the deadliest thing living creatures have.

A manabeast at this level could basically sense attacks and dangers a few seconds before they were even released, and Rogues were even worse due to their small bodies and extreme speed.

The wild Rogue didn't give any time, instantly disappearing and appearing behind Olivia, who he smelled the most fear from.

Johan hastily tried using a defensive spell, but it was too late. The giant, extremely poisonous fangs of the Rouge were only a few centimeters away from Olivia's neck.

Orihime shut her eyes tight, expecting to hear horrific screams from Olivia, but—

Olivia's right arm moved on its own, trying to tear through the Rouge's body and basically make him a donut. Unfortunately, the Rouge sensed it, disappearing and reappearing back at his original position instantly.

The Rouge got into a more defensive position immediately, his entire body shivering violently, marking Olivia as the most dangerous.

He dodged it by pure instinct, as it was so fast and unexpected that he couldn't even sense it coming.

Johan didn't waste any time, moving his right hand in a gesture to Orihime to move behind him, mumbling, "Perfect clone!!" Instantly, two identical bodies of Sebastian and Johan appeared beside them, blending with the real Johan and Sebastian.

He already understood Sebastian and his body, so making clones was simple, and they had exactly the same strength as the original bodies, allowing them to make more risky moves.

Even with Johan's high health stat, he wasn't willing to take the risk of fighting hand-to-hand. His motto always was: Win with overwhelming odds.

Johan signaled to Olivia, and instantly, Olivia also moved, getting beside Orihime in a defensive position to protect her from any of those fast attacks.

Sebastian and Olivia, understanding the plan, acted.

"Gravitational Bomb!"

"Edge of Crane!"

They instantly started shooting projectile spells towards the Rouge—Orihime, paper shaped like small spears, looking extremely sharp, while Sebastian fired small purple-colored, palm-sized masses of energy, each one able to crush through any and all defenses due to its dense gravitational energy.

They both constantly tried predicting Rouge's every movement—Orihime attacking first, then Sebastian trying to guess where he would dodge and attacking there in advance, making the Rouge dodge constantly. Which he could still do with ease, predicting even Sebastian's attacks in advance...

But then, Johan also manipulated both of the Sebastian clones to fire Gravitational Bombs too, while rushing toward the Rouge with all his clones in front.

Suddenly, the pressure increased on the Rouge. He was constantly dodging three Johans punching at him, while also getting hit by Orihime's extremely fast attacks in the process. It was mainly because the Rouge made a decision to not try to dodge Orihime's attack, as they were not as deadly as Sebastian's or Johan's.

Orihime's attack only damaged his armor or some skin, but he was sure that if that purple mass of energy hit him, he was dead.

He wasn't even getting the time to cast spells. His specialty was dark magic, and the Rouge was confident that if he could cast his strongest spell again, it would destroy their annoying formation.

And suddenly, he found an opening in the three Johans attacking him—a small space between both clones and the main body. If he could pass through it, he could get far enough to prepare at least four spells. Then, everything would change.

The Rouge moved, passing through the clone Johan's legs. Sebastian and Orihime also had to pause shooting to not harm Johan—they also didn't know which one was the clone or not.

The real Johan leaped into the air, closing in with a sharp longsword-like projectile, and shooting it towards the Rouge trying to fly up and prepare spells.

The Rouge grinned. That was all he needed to program spells. The creatures who have been corrupted have a deep connection to dark magic, so it becomes like second nature to them—even easier than breathing.

The Rouge's body glowed violent black, sharp black lightning cracking all over his body. His speed increased as well, instantly dodging the projectile Johan threw toward him and crashing down towards Sebastian and his other two clones, trying to destroy them all in one fell swoop.

But—

That projectile Johan threw turned and instantly pierced through the Rouge's thick armor as if it didn't even exist.

It was melted Aether that could enter inside a physical body through the small gaps every atom had, and the Rouge instantly fell to the ground, the black lightning still not vanishing but growing even more violent.

His face turned ferocious, turning toward the Johan descending to the ground with a smirk.

The longsword piercing through the Rouge's chest vibrated, then slowly, it turned into a handsome man with dark purple hair—Johan.

The Rouge's eyes widened to the limit. Johan finally descended on the ground, watching with amusement as the dark violent lightning grew dimmer and dimmer, slowly vanishing completely.

Johan spoke in a soft voice, 'I knew there was no way I could get you with traditional attacks. I am sorry for deceiving you... but now, you can rest well.'

Now, the Johan that was talking vanished, and the Johan that was standing over the dying Rouge's body smiled softly, staring towards it with some pity.

He had used Perfect Clone one more time and transformed his real body into the longsword the clone Johan was carrying using Maskless Sin. It wasn't actually a non-living real longsword—just melted Aether—so Maskless Sin, the technique that basically changed the Aetheric body, could easily be used to transform.

Letting the Rouge pass was just a part of the plan. Johan made sure to miss, then when the Rouge lowered his guard, Johan could control his body to attack it.

Sebastian's eyes widened to the limit, also understanding what had been done. But they didn't get any time to even celebrate.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Sound of someone clapping reverberated through the dark dungeon.

"Good job. I expected nothing less from you. Now... what about a hundred Rouges?" A red-haired man appeared in the fire torch's lighting.

"No, no, he shouldn't be here. There's no way! Why? How? It's impossible!!"

Author's Note: Discord: https://discord.gg/uXjPSCMwBZ

A lot of fun things here in the server like the philosophy channel, team roast nights, gaming weekends, book club, self-improvement club, anime club, music hub — just started yesterday so still building. You'll be the first members and pillars of this epic creative community I have envisioned. Of course, character art will be there as well... NSFW too ahem. There are many things, and we are evolving every day. Come here and join this journey too :)