Chapter 2: Adventure to the Magic Village
"Lord of Lightning, heed by prayers! I call forth your mighty bolts to strike down the unworthy! Vinculum Fulmen!" Atlas called out as a lightning magic circle appeared in front of his hand and fired at a Large Fenrir charging at him. The magic circle fired off several bolts of lightning at the Fenrir, each going as fast as lightning, and each one hitting the Fenrir, before it exploded into Pixels.
Atlas held his staff in his left hand as he let it rest on his shoulder, staring at the pixels slowly falling to the ground.
"That was the new Lightning spell I managed to learn, but I didn't get a chance to try out the other one I wanted to practice..."
It had been 4 Days since Atlas had come to Planeptune and joined the Guild. Each Quest he did raised Planeptune's shares little by little, and his reputation slowly grew. Of course, Atlas only completed 5 or 6 quests a day, and all of them were Monster elimination quests. It had never before be seen by anyone, to see a child of only 11 years complete Monster quests, and with such impressive Magic as well!
"Hmm...Well, that's the last one here...so I guess I'll head home. Ah, Maybe that clerk knows where I can find more spells! She seems smart!"
"I don't really know that much about Magic, so..."
"You're so useless."
Atlas bluntly told the clerk, whose chest was figuratively stabbed by that comment. She slammed her hand son the table and looked at him with a angry face.
"I'm sorry I don't know something like that, you Magic Crazed Brat!" She retorted angrily. "And I already told you this multiple times already! Why do you keep asking me?!"
"Well, you seem smart." Atlas merely responded, as the clerk lightly blushed at that comment.
"W-Well, I don't! Try finding another Mage or something!"
"I'm a Wizard! Not a Mage!" Atlas retorted loudly. The clerk grabbed both of his cheeks and pulled them in anger. With comical angry veins on her head and plate eyes and spiky teeth, she began to unleash hell on Atlas.
"You're learning Magic, you dolt! You're obviously a Mage!"
"Don't be stupid! I'm a Wizard in Training, you witch!" Even though Atlas' voice was sorta muffled, the clerk heard it perfectly. Growing more angered, she applied pressure on his cheeks.
"Who're you calling a witch, you ungrateful brat?!"
Unbeknownst to the two, they were causing quite a uproar. Some people glanced at them and sweat dropped, while others just ignored it altogether. However, as they continued to insult and argue, one of the other clerks noticed the two fighting. Noticing Atlas, whom she knew due to some of his previous outburst of arguing with her friend currently attending to him, she printed out a piece of paper and headed their way.
"Hey, Atsuka?" The clerk said to the clerk, now identified as Atsuka, who suddenly looked at her with a normal expression while still pinching Atlas' cheeks from over the counter, holding him up as he struggled to be freed.
"What is it?"
"Actually, I overheard your...conversation...and remembered that a village a little south from here knows a bit about old Magic. There's even a quest from the Oracle set up for it." She said, as Atlas was then freed and dropped to the ground.
"Really?" Atsuka asked as she held the quest paper.
Rank: D
Info: In the village south from Planeptune, several guild Agents were sent to investigate a unidentified occurrence happening. However, none returned, and they departed a few days ago. The village is about 2 hours from Planeptune. If possible, please find the agents who disappeared and bring them home safely, and investigate the strange occurrence happening there as well. Both actions will be greatly rewarded. -Histoire, Oracle of Planeptune.
Reward: 50,000 Credits
Atsuka's heart nearly stopped when she saw the reward price the Basilicom set up. The money on a D Rank quest was jaw dropping to the point of absurdity! Two guild agents go missing and investigate a strange occurrence is happening, both actions of completion will be rewarded with 50,000 Credits?! This couldn't be right, why would the Oracle herself put this much money on a D Rank Quest?
"Well...I'm not sure th-" Before Atsuka could even finish, Atlas grabbed the paper from her and read it. Smirking after a few seconds, Atsuka instantly tried to take it back.
"Hey! That's a D Rank! That's no quest for a E Rank!"
"Heheheh! I just so happen to have completed enough quests to advance! So I'll consider this my advancement test!"
"I won't count it as that!"
"I will."
"DON'T ENCOURAGE HIM!" Atsuka yelled.
"Well, he already left..." Her friend said as she pointed out the door, to where Atsuka looked and saw no Atlas in sight. Twitching her let eye with a irritated look, she dropped her head in defeat, and had a gloomy aura around her.
"That kid is gonna get himself killed one day...I'm sure of it...he's too...too...too..." Atsuka began mumbling...
"I'll go after him." Another voice suddenly spoke up, as the two looked to their left and saw a girl walking up. She was a fair skinned girl with emerald eyes and light brown hair that is about waist length. Most of her bangs are long and reach down to her eyes, curling outwards or inwards to her face, with a split on the upper corner side. A few parts of hair frame her face while more of it reaches her chest, about the length of the hair she wears in a ponytail, held with a leafy green hair piece. She wears a black, tank top and short-short style one piece with silver detailing and a belt around her waist. This is worn underneath a dark blue, oversized jacket with black, silver, and white detailing. It is worn open and has a big loose belt that she keeps all of her cell phones on. She wears matching boots. The colors of her cellphone carriers are blue, light blue, green, black, magenta, white, lime green, orange, and light pink.
"Ah, you're..."
"Man, I wonder what kind of Magic there is at that Village! Lightning Magic, Fire Magic, Ice Magic, Wind Magic, Earth Magic! Ooooohhhh!" Atlas said to himself, unable to hold back his excitement for new magic back.
Walking along the dirt path towards the village in the quest info, he ventured forth, without any doubt or hesitation in his mind. Holding his staff in his right hand, he kept imagining what he would come across in the village he was told about.
"I really hope there are types of ancient magic, or maybe some types of potions? No no, maybe some Magic Items? Cursed weapons? Maybe some herbs?!" Atlas kept naming off things he was hoping to see there, and, with that very thought, he started to see a village.
"Ah?! That must be the village!" Atlas yelled. He then got a better look at it as the village seemed somewhat...run down. It looked in poor condition. Sure, it was a large village, probably the size of a town, but it seemed gloomy and sad. Some houses had planks of wood on them, covering up damaged roofs or holes on the sides of their houses.
"...Hah?" Atlas merely let out, looking at the village where Magic is supposedly famous. This was not, at all, what he was expecting. He was expecting the village to be awesome and great, instead it's gloomy, boring, and it just sucks!
"Is there seriously Magic in this dump...?" Atlas mumbled as he walked down the hill, into the village.
When he walked into it, barely anyone was outside. Any who were were women covered in dirt and wore dirty villager clothing. Some peeked out their doors or windows to see Atlas, either in fear or curiosity. Atlas glanced around the village, getting a closer looked at everything, and everyone in it.
"Man, it's pretty bad here...the last one was nowhere near this bad...what happened?" Atlas mumbled while he kept walking. He kept walking until he saw a building. It was small and run down, not really the greatest attraction in the world, but what got his attention was the sign that said "Magic Shop."
Keeping his hopes up, he entered the shop.
Inside, it was pretty dark. There were almost empty sleeves of books, most probably about the topic of Magic, and on the check out counter was very few magic items or scrolls. Even on the walls, there were little to no books, or even items. It looked as those everything was ran sacked from a thief, since there was even a mess less behind.
Behind the counter, was a old, wrinkly man wearing worker clothes. He seemed to be quite large and strong, even if he was old. He wore a white top with brown leather boots on his feet. He wore blue, worn out jeans and had a watch on his wrist. He had gray slid back hair and blue eyes, nearly closed.
"Haaah...? This is the Magic shop...?" Atlas thought as he looked around. "Where the hell is everything? Did it get thefted?" Atlas asked, looking around. The old man gave him the stare as he did look around, but twitched when he roamed further into his store.
"This is...history...boring. This is also history...history...ah! Magic!" Atlas said, getting yet another twitch from the old man. He watched him flop through it none stop, looking at every spell in the book. That particular book only held 2 Spells each page, and there were over 300 spells inside it. However, most of them required mastery level performance to perfect. Nevertheless, Atlas kept looking through it.
"...If you're gonna take it, just take it and get out."
"Ah?"
"You heard me...this shop is done for anyway, so just take what you want and get the hell out." The old man said, as Atlas merely grew angered by this. He slammed the book closed and stomped over to him. He slammed both his hand on the ground, along with the book in his right hand, shocking the shop keeper.
"Why the hell would you close down a Magic shop?! Sure, nothing might be left, but you can't just shut it down!"
"What the hell is it to you, you runt? Look around, everything was taken away and it probably long gone by now." The old man replied with a growl.
"Taken? By who?" Atlas asked.
"Bandits or what ever you call them...raided the whole damn town and won't even leave us be. They keep terrorizing the villagers and the Guild won't even send help our way...hell, I doubt they even noticed, no matter how many times we asked for help." He replied.
"Bandits...?" Atlas asked, suddenly remembering the quest details. "Maybe that's what's happening with a strange occurence or whatever...or related to I think." Atlas thought. "Hey, old man? Where are those bandits?"
"...What? If you think you can go and do something about them you're insane, kid. What do you think you can do? Ask 'em to go away?"
"I can kick their asses." Atlas said bluntly, with the result of the old man staring at Atlas, and suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hahahahaha! Y-You're joking, right...?! Hahaha!"
"..."
"Haha...ha...huh?" The old man suddenly stopped and lost his humorous mood, seeing Atlas' expression. It was blank, but his eyes spoke the truth. There was no wavering in them, hardened like steel. The old man knew from that alone that he was serious about fighting them.
"...This kid...he's...serious..." The old man thought.
"I'll get those books and stuff back for you, old man. I'll keep this entire shop from closing. But first...!" Atlas held up the book he slammed on the counter with his hands. "Im'ma read this, and take any of the spells I like out of it!" Atlas declared.
"...Uh...sure..." The old man replied. "You're not allowed to rip them out, and if you-"
"Ah, nah. Im'ma write some of 'em down." Atlas merely replied, cutting him off.
"Write them down...?" The old man questioned. "You're planning on writing them down so you can use them?"
"Yeah, I have crappy memory with long incantations." Atlas said as he sat down on a table and started.
"...He's...seriously gonna write down some spells in that book? No, never mind that, how the hell can a kid like that even know Magic? That book has some pretty high class forgotten Magic, mostly conjugation and illusion magic though, a few fire magic spells and enchantments. Does he intend to take the ones he thinks he can do? There is no way a brat like him can use such high rank Magic. It's just impossible."
"Bring me the flames that aide the followers of the Flame King himself...Infera Arburno...And some illusion magic maybe...hmm..." Atlas mumbled.
"...That brat is..."
"T-They're back! The bandits are back!" A man yelled as he ran through the village, whereas people began to return to their homes and lock themselves in. True to his words, bandits began to come into the village. Armed with swords and daggers, they began to raid the remaining shops.
Though not much, they got every last bit of goods they could.
"Lady Purple Heart...Milady, please save us...!" Some of the townspeople pleaded, unable to do anything, knowing full well they couldn't defeat the bandits. For that attempt had already been made, and were defeated by their ringleader.
"Haha! Last shop! And it's that Magic shop to! This is gonna be good!" One of the bandits yelled as only one went inside it.
"Boss! Entire village is dried up now! What's the plan!" One of the bandits asked their leader, who seemed much more stronger than the rest.
He wore leather armor and had Fenrir pelts on his shoulders. He was bulky and tall, as well as muscular. Standing at about 7'2, he was bald with his left eye white and a scar over it. On his back was a large double edge two handed axe. He had metal boots and gauntlets, and the rest of his body was clad in leather armor.
"Good...this time, burn the village to the ground and kill everyone..." He answered in a deep and intimidating voice.
"Haha! You heard him men! B-!" Before the bandit could finish, however, a small explosion suddenly caught the attention of everyone in the village, including the bandits. Staring at it with comical eyes, except the boss, everyone wondered what had happened. Whether the shop owner finally decided to fight back, or...
To their surprise, the bandit that went in was suddenly thrown out at the boss, but hit the ground only a few feet near him. The bandit was covered in block smoke, and his eyes were wide with no pupils, entirely white with a few streams of blood coming from the top of his head.
"H-Hey! What the hell happened?!" One of the bandits yelled out, as someone slowly came out from the shop.
"You little RUNT! Why the hell did you use that spell while still in my store!"
"Shut up! It worked, didn't it?!"
"It's not a issue of whether it worked or not! It's a matter of you blew up part of my shop!"
As the two voices argued, the culprit slowly appeared out from the shop. Holding his wooden staff in his right hand, a boy with red spiky hair came out, wearing all black clothing.
That boy is Atlas.
At first, the bandits seemed relatively confused at what they saw, and were no doubt positive the store keeper was the one who did it, but it truth they could never be so wrong.
"Ha! Hahahaha! What the hell?! Some brat tryin' to act all tough?! Classic!" One of the bandits burst out laughing. Atlas then pointed his staff at the laughing Bandit, as the Bandit acted scared.
"Ooooh~?! Are you gonna attack me~?! Hahaha!" As the bandit co tinted to joke, some of the other bandits began to laugh. Their boss, however, slowly narrowed his eye at the young wizard.
"Lady of the bright moon! Lord of Sight! Release the arrows the blind the night!" Atlas yelled, as a magic circled appeared at the tip of his staff. The Bandits' expression changed on the spot, as Atlas fired the attack.
"7 Arrows of Light!" He yelled, as 7 blasts of light energy the shape of arrow tips were fired at the bandit. The bandit had no time to react as all 7 hit him and sent him crashing through a building wall.
"WHAAAAAAT?! HE ACTUALLY USED MAGIC?!" Everyone yelled, shocked at what Atlas did. Atlas huffed as he shortly smirked.
"W-What the hell?! He's just a brat! How can he use magic?! And a powerful one to defeat one of us?!" One of the bandits yelled in question.
"That kid ain't normal!"
"Shut up, all of you! This kid ain't nothing special! If we don't allow him to finish his incantation, he can't use Magic!"
As the bandits began to surround Atlas, said wizard glanced around him and smirked. And, without hesitation, he charged at one of them. The bandits all charged in return, however, Atlas jumped up and landed on one of the bandits faces, giving him a boost into the air.
"Gah?!"
"Huh?!"
"Maiden of Embers, grant me the blessings of the fires that burn through the scales of night!" Atlas chanted as he pointed his staff at the ground, as a large green energy ball appeared at the tip of it.
"A ball...?"
"Firefly Zone!" Atlas yelled as the orb suddenly burst into dozens upon dozens of orbs taht scattered around the bandits. Confused, they looked at them...and a moment later, they glowed orange and burst into flames, engulfing all of them in fire.
"Gaaaaah?!" The bandits screamed in pain, trying to put the fires out. Atlas landed on the ground and looked back at the bandits covered in flames. However, this was short lived when he noticed a shadow looming over him. And when he looked up, the boss held his battle axe over his head and slammed his axe down.
Atlas, who dodged in the nick of time, slid back away from the ringleader.
"Ahh, that was close...!" Atlas exclaimed. He looked back up at the bandit, and saw even more behind him.
"Uh..." And like that, Atlas began running away.
"After him!"
"I'll gut the little bastard!"
"He's mine, damnit!"
As the Bandits began charging after him Atlas held up his staff whilst running. With several bandits running after him, trying to catch him and do unknowable things to him, Atlas began his incantation.
"Bring me the flames that aide the followers of the Flame King Himself! Infera Arburno!" Atlas exclaimed, suddenly spinning around and pointing his staff at the bandits, and release a large stream of flames at them. Unable to dodge in time, the bandits turned shocked as the flames hit them dead on, making them all fly through the air.
"Aaaaaah?!"
"W-What the hell is this kid?!"
As most of the bandits were defeated group by group, the remaining began to have second thoughts about fighting Atlas. How could a kid like him defeat a whole bunch of trained bandits?! It was total nonsense! And yet, he was using Magic a wizard should be using, and by wizard, a adult! As some began to flee, the ringleader watched with glaring eyes, seeing his bandits defeated by some runt.
"T-This kid isn't normal...! He's a monster...!" One of the bandits who got hit by Atlas' flame spell from eariler yelled out, who several burns on his body.
"B-Boss...! We can't beat this kid...!"
"...You worthless lot of whimps..." The ringleader growled. He gripped his battle axe harder as he slowly walked towards Atlas.
Atlas took notice of him and faced him completely.
"B-Boss...!" One of the wounded bandits called out.
"You sure are causing me a hell of a lot of trouble, runt..." He growled in anger.
"Ah, you're the guys who took all the Magic stuff from this town, right?!" Atlas asked, prepairing himself for a expected fight.
"So what if I did?" The ringleader asked. "What's it to you?"
"I'm gonna take those back from you!" Atlas declared with anger.
"And how are you gonna do that...?"
Atlas smirked as he pointed his staff at the bandit leader. "By kicking your ass."
The bandit leader twitched in anger when he heard those lines. He began shaking from his shoulders, gripping the handle on his weapon so hard it could be heard. A shadow covered his eyes, but it was certain that they were that of rage.
"You cocky little brat...that smart mouth is gonna get you killed...allow me to demonstrate!" The ringleader roared in anger as he ran at Atlas. AS the bandit leader was about to slam his axe down on Atlas, said Wizard jumped into the air impressively high. He landed a little distance behind him, and pointed his staff at him.
"Bring me the flames that aide the followers of the Flame King Himself!" Atlas exclaimed, as the bandit turned to him just in time to see his finish changing the spell. "Infera Arburno!" Atlas yelled as a large stream of flames at the bandit.
As the flames engulfed him, wounded bandits from all over watched in shock as their leader was engulfed in fire.
"Boss!"
"These...!"
However, before long, the bandit leader slammed his axe horizontally, causing the flames around him to desperate and disappear.
"Aren't hot in the slightest!" He roared. Incredibly fast, the bandit gave Atlas no time to react as he slashed his axe at the young wizard. However, Atlas managed to block the oncoming attack with his staff, but even then was sent flying, and caused him to crash into a house, causing a dust cloud around the rubble.
"Yeeeeeaaaah! Kick his ass, boss!" The bandits cheered for their leader, as the bandit leader huffed slowly as the dust cloud slowly disappeared, revealing Atlas lying in the rubble. However, he was not down for the count just yet.
Coughing and picking himself up, he used his staff to help him with doing so, and looked up at the bandit.
"Oooowwwwww! Damnit, that Hurt!" Atlas yelled. He was ruffled up and covered in a bit of dirt. However, there was a small trail of blood coming from the top of his head which oozed down his forehead, and down his face.
"H-He took one of bosses' attacks, and he survived?!" One of the bandits yelled in shock.
"Tch..."
"Haah...Haah..." Atlas huffed, glaring at the bandit leader. He stopped deeply breathing for a second and rose his staff to the air. "Masters of the sky, o' great lightning lord! I command you to strike down my enemy!" Atlas yelled. However, the bandit leader wasn't going to allow him to finish his incantation. Mustering his strength into one more blow, the bandit quickly rushed at him and slammed his axe down on him. However, Atlas had managed to block the attack with his staff, but he was back on the ground again, trying to push back the axe that his staff blocked.
"Just die, you runt!" He roared, applying more force onto his weapon. Atlas slowly moved his mouth, but the bandit didn't hear him, and just thought he was praying to one of the Goddesses. Knowing he had won, the bandit smirked...
However...to his shock, Atlas smirked.
"FULGUR SAGITTA!" Atlas yelled. In that lightning instant moment, the bandit realized the sky had been covered in black thunder clouds...and figured out, that Atals was actually finishing his incantation, not praying. He had no more time to curse him, for a larger lightning bolt, bigger than the one Atlas managed to conquer back during his Dogoo quest, hit the both of them, blinding the entire village, and chasing a large explosion.
It took a few moments for their sight to return, and saw the destruction the lightning bolt managed to do. Where was once a house, was nothing more than a large, burnt crater with a few flames still active around it. With a tower of smoke rising from it, some villagers or bandits managed to see inside the crater.
There seemed to be a large burnt object inside it, with arms and legs. Then, it suddenly started to shift, as the object was pushed off and tossed to its side. To their horror, the remaining bandits identified the object...
"B-B-BOOOOOOSSSSS!" They yelled in sync, seeing their boss defeated, with his body covered in black, and his eyes white, his mouth open, and a few streams of blood coming off his head, and from his mouth.
Below, was a beat up and greatly damaged Atlas. Half his shirt was torn and showed part of his body. His pants and shoes remained intact, though they were slightly damaged as well. Besides some obvious small burn marks, Atlas had somehow managed to remain conscious. He had his eyes closed and was breathing hard and slowly, with his staff in his right hand, not damaged whatsoever from the attack.
"T...That kid...beat the boss...?!" One of the bandits yelled.
"Hah...Haah...S-See...? I...told ya...I'd...kick...your ass..." Atlas laughed out in breaths, until not a second later, he lost consciousness.
"T-That little...!" One of the bandits growled. "Without the boss, we're done for! I'll kill that runt!" As the angered one pulled out a knife, he began to rush into the crater to kill Atlas.
"Ah-!" Before any of the villagers who at a he'd the fight could react, however, the bandit was suddenly kicked away. Landing on her feet, a girl slowly rose up from bending.
She was a fair skinned girl with emerald eyes and light brown hair that is about waist length. Most of her bangs are long and reach down to her eyes, curling outwards or inwards to her face, with a split on the upper corner side. A few parts of hair frame her face while more of it reaches her chest, about the length of the hair she wears in a ponytail, held with a leafy green hair piece. She wears a black, tank top and short-short style one piece with silver detailing and a belt around her waist. This is worn underneath a dark blue, oversized jacket with black, silver, and white detailing. It is worn open and has a big loose belt that she keeps all of her cell phones on. She wears matching boots. The colors of her cellphone carriers are blue, light blue, green, black, magenta, white, lime green, orange, and light pink.
"AAAH?! W-Who the hell are you?!" He yelled, as the brown haired girl merely stood there, and shortly drew blades from her sleeves.
"Your Enemy, and his ally." She merely answered.