Chapter 43 - Who could it be now?

Before anyone else had the chance to speak up Hermann decided that is was time to reveal his strategy.

H: "I have an idea. I could try to contact a snake from the outside and help her break free from the villains control. If I succeed then I might be able to convince the snake to pinpoint the villains as well as the other snakes locations and stop this whole thing. And if I fail we have lost nothing as long as you manage to distract him for a certain period of time. If you aren't convinced then simply allow me close to the building to try and communicate with one snake. If I attract his attention it might even be possible for you with the help of an Ice-type emitter quirk kill or at the very least incapacitate the snakes."

Mr.Kobayashi: "It's to risky. What if the snake alarms the villain?"

H: "Do you want to let this guy get away with everything? Sometimes you have to take chances! What if that villain doesn't let the other hostages free but kills them just for his own entertainment?"

A period of uncomfortable silence followed. Although everyone had seen Hermann simply as a young teenager he had brought up a valid point. But could such a risk be taken? The lives of many depended on it.

H: "I'm sure the villain won't kill them now as they are still of value to him but if he gets out they are worthless. If we act now everyone has a bigger chance to make it out alive! Stop wasting time!"

After this short discussions the policemen made another call in private and after a few minutes they brought confirmation to Hermann's plan. The higher ups had approved the operation and Hermann was good to go.

H: [Finally. Perhaps that will allow me to get a good reputation among the people and the government. That might become useful in the future.]

While the policemen made a big show out of moving many goods and equipment just in front of the bank Hermann moved closer towards the side of a building.

H: [Hey System! How close do I have to be to initiate a Soulbond?]

H: [Fine]

After receiving this answer Hermann snuck even closer to the wall of the building and moved to where he assumed the victims to be located. Before activating his plan he asked his companions:

H: [Hey guys? If this goes wrong would you mind fighting the snakes for me? As we are being watched I can't simply disintegrate the snakes with my abilities.]

Shocked Orion and Gaia replied:

Orion: [I'm neither a crazy honeybadger nor am I a mongoose! I'm just a dog! I might cosider eating a dead snake but not a live one!]

Gaia: [They don't have nuts, they aren't nuts but if you want me to fight them then you are nuts!]

Disappointed Hermann gave up on the idea, wishing for the best. If it didn't work out as planned he would simply have to try to kill them without alarming the villain. Having arrived at the location he had deemed perfect he activated his Skill. Almost immediately he felt the stretching feeling once more and he mentally grabbed it and tried to push it through the wall. On the other side he could somehow feel similar "Soul blobs".

Contrary to the first time he had done this with the intention to bond with specific creatures he now took the time to take a good look at all of them. All blobs were unique but it could still be seen to which organism it belonged. All blobs vaguely resembled their species, with the snakes having a long and stretchy blob appearance and the humans having five protrusions out of a big central blob where the upper protrusion was shorter, rounder and thicker than the four other ones.

As he was not interested in the humans he focused more closely on the snake blobs. They varied largely in length and brightness. Additionally the were colored unbelievably beautiful, shimmering in many different colors.

H: [Why are they colored differently? Why does their brightness vary from each other?]

H: [What difference does their soul strength make?]

H: [Is that why the human souls are brighter? Because they have more brain power?]

H: [So the brighter the snake the more intelligent and stronger it is?]

H: [Then let's do this!]

Without hesitation Hermann began to stretch the small piece of his soul towards the brightest glowing snake soul. In the beginning it was easy but the more he stretched the more difficult it got. Like a strong rubber band it expanded until it finally reached the snakes position.

H: [Fine, I'll be more careful next time. Don't w…]

Suddenly the connection was fully established and Hermann felt the snakes emotions. Compared to his other companions this one felt far more primal. There was no clear thought process but emotions and needs coming together to form a big mess. Hoping to sort out this whole messy thing he separated the snakes thought from his own thought process and tried to convince her to come towards him while sending the happy emotions of his companions through their link.

Cautious at first but more and more curious he felt her move towards him, interested in the foreign mind and emotions it somehow felt. Having slithered around the bank before hand she quickly found a hole in the wall where she traveled between the pipes and cables before exiting through another hole that lead to the outside. Enjoying the suns warmth for a while she stood still until finally moving towards a large heat signature that she discovered after a while. Strangely she didn't feel fear when she approached, rather it was as if she had found a part of herself she didn't know of until now. Suddenly she felt something weird in her head. In pain she rolled herself together and hissed loudly.