The Adventurer Spirit

Sounds can be heard from the Serpent again as it appears from the sky in the distance, as it has been teleported. What’s even worse is that it has been teleported right next to Absol by an unknown force. Since Absol is about a 20 minute walk from The Great Mystical Forest, everyone that’s inside of it can see the Serpent in the distance. Leo looks back at Natalie, seeing that she made some kind of realization.

“The Holy Trinity Cult, it all makes sense now. They were planning something big, we caught a glimpse of their plan while we were there. Why didn’t I think of that?!?”- She said.

“Those lunatics planned to teleport a god to destroy the city?!?”- Leo said.

“What can we do now? It’s so far away!”- Leo tries to find a solution.

“It’s not over! Come to me, I can teleport you guys over there!”- Rudy suddenly said.

“Rudy! You finally snapped out of it!”- Leo celebrates.

“Yeah Velh helped me, he’s fighting Malum now.”- Rudy explains.

“Amber, you probably have the strongest offensive magic out of anyone here. Use your chaos magic to hopefully knock the Serpent out.”- Rudy said.

Leo looks over out of concern, afraid that Amber might be feeling too much pressure similar to the past.

“We can find a different way to take it down, it doesn’t have to be Amber.”- Leo interrupts.

“Oh no! You seem to be misunderstood, don’t worry about me. I have come to accept who I am and how I do things. I’ll be fine, but we should get a back up plan in case I fail.”- Amber said confidently.

“No time to waste, I need to send you guys out there right now!”- Rudy said.

Writing a magic circle on the ground, Rudy casts her spell, activating it. The circle lights up, similar to those circles Leo saw back in the academy days. Except that instead of fighting golems, they are fighting a Serpent God, a slight difference.

“Good luck, I’ll head over there myself once I’m done teleporting here.”- Rudy said.

“Also, Leo! Take this stone! It helps you inscribe spells onto the empty scrolls you have.”- She quickly tosses the item to him.

With a quick flash, Leo, Natalie, Amber and Sophia, along with some of the elves were teleported to an area near the Serpent. It’s indeed making its way towards the city, it’s too angry now to have rational thoughts. The ground below is shaking with every movement the Serpent makes. It’s a good thing that Claudius’s Abyssal magic slowed it down, buying some extra time for the city. Inside the city, the scenery of chaos erupts, with people trying to flee away from the Serpent. Multiple cultists are scattered all around the area, some spotted Leo’s group that just teleported in.

“I need a better angle. I’m going for the head!”- Amber said.

“Ok, listen to me, you see that small mountain nearby? I’ll take you guys up there.”- Natalie grabs her staff.

“Wait whaaaaAAAATTTTT?!?”- Leo said as he was yanked by Natalie.

She casted her ancient wind magic, allowing her to fly at incredible speed. Within half a minute, she was able to bring Sophia, Amber and Leo all to the peak of the mountain. Just like she predicted, the Serpent’s head comes into view. They have a clear shot at it.

“Hey guys….”- Leo said.

“Is it just me or is that a dragon?”- He asks.

“What are you talking about, stop distracting…”- Amber looks back in horror.

The dragon that fled from the battle earlier is laying down right near the peak of the mountain. It seems to have noticed them too, a terrible scenario. Inside the city, cultists are engaged in combat with multiple foot soldiers. Their intentions are to delay the evacuation, causing as much causality as possible. Outside of the city, the newly teleported elves are now also engaged with combat against the cultists, spells flying across the sky in absolute chaos.

Back at the mountain peak, Sophia and Natalie are now engaged in combat with the dragon, both throwing spells in an attempt to scare it. The dragon seems to know that they aren’t threats, getting closer and closer to them. Sophia casts Earth Armor, surrounding herself with hardened rock, a property of her ancient magic. She charges at the dragon, trying to attack it. It swipes and claws at her, but the protective layer allows her to remain unfazed. Natalie decides to provide support by using Wind Fury, a spell that turns wind into blades, cutting into the dragon’s hard skin. Despite their effort, the dragon hasn’t taken any real damage, it has only been mildly inconvenienced by their attack. Out of frustration, it decides to unleash its major attack, charging up its dragon breath.

“Not again! My magic can’t be used offensively. I need a way to stop this thing. Oh wait, I can do the same thing.”- Sophia made a realization, closing her eyes.

Within seconds, Dark Elf Sophia opens her eyes, looking at the dragon in front of her.

“Can’t believe we’re just taking turns on this thing apparently.”- Dark Elf Sophia thought to herself.

She immediately forms a wall that shoots up right at the dragon’s mouth, knocking its head up. She then charges up her dark energy beam, shooting it directly at the dragon. It staggers a few steps back as she continues her barrages of spells.

“How about we have you inscribe your spell onto this empty scroll so that I can cast it?”- Leo suggests.

“It can be done, but do you have enough mana to do that?”- Amber asks.

“You’re right, I don’t have enough mana to properly take this thing down.”- Leo said.

The two look down at the Serpent as it suddenly gets hit by a giant bear spirit. After closer inspection, they see Rosenna below, along with the newly arrived reinforcements.

“It seems like Rudy did her part. Time for me to do mine.”- Amber said.

It seems like the newly arrived force are hitting the Serpent with spells, attempting to stop it from moving into the city. Even despite the pain, the Serpent presses on, crushing the defending wall of the city.

Amber closes her eyes as energy gathers around as she raises her staff.

“THIS IS IT!”- She shouts.

The dragon is struggling in the background as Dark Elf Sophia is trading blows while Natalie provides support. Leo still searches through his scrolls, trying to find something usable that can provide aid in this fight. Out of his peripherals, he spots magic attacks coming towards their way. Leo quickly casts a barrier, blocking the attack from hitting Amber.

“Don’t worry about it, just keep concentrating.”- Leo said.

Amber still has her eyes closed, getting ready to send her attack.

“So annoying! I’ll go down there to stop them.”- Natalie said, jumping on her staff and flying down towards the direction of the attacks.

Surprisingly, within minutes of Natalie disappearing, the attacks actually came to a sudden end.

“THIS IS OUR CHANCE!”- Leo shouts.

Amber opens her eyes, small particles of energy leaking out of her body as she waves her staff.

“IGNITE THE FLAME THAT DESTROYS ORDER, BRING ON THE FORCE IN WHICH THE WORLD EXISTS ON, CHAOS MAGIC MISSILES!!!”- She casts.

Fours small sparks of energy leave her staff, it twirls and gains forms as it flies up into the air. The missiles burst into a dark flame, spinning in a pattern in the sky. After gaining enough momentum, it crashes back down towards the Serpent as the night sky turns bright red. The Serpent looks up, spitting some kind of attack from its mouth. Four missiles rain down from the sky, one explodes spectacularly midair when they come into contact with the Serpent’s attack. Two other attacks miss, landing away from the Serpent and causing a massive explosion that shakes the ground. One manages to weave its way through, missing the head and hitting the body. Silence surrounds the area, followed by a massive shockwave that blasts a deep wound into the Serpent’s body. Leo grabs Amber’s hand and holds it tight so that she doesn’t fall off. The shaking finally stops as the Serpent is injured, but still isn’t defeated.

“Shit! Only...one of them… landed…”- Amber pants in exhaustion.

“I KNEW IT! I WAS RIGHT ABOUT HER MAGIC BEING SO STRONG!”- Rudy yells in awe, witnessing the crazy attack right as she gets to the battlefield.

Near the city gate, a soldier leans up against the wall out of exhaustion.

“Bishop Natalie has ordered the retreat order, we have achieved our goal. All units, make your retreat as soon as possible.”- A cultist can be heard shouting in the distance.

It seems like the cultists have made a sudden retreat, leaving the Serpent as the only looming force behind. As he leaned there, he looked up at the giant Serpent not too far in the distance. Unexpectedly, he can see a stranger getting closer and closer to him, walking from down the street.

“What is he doing here? No civilians should be here, it's dangerous!”- The soldier’s exhausted thoughts fill his mind.

“Hey, would you mind if I borrow your sword?”- The smiling stranger asks.

“Uh, no...This is my sword, get your own dude.”- The exhausted soldier replies.

“Come on! Don’t be such a mean person. Sharing is caring.”- The guy smiles, walking up to him.

“This sword costs a fortune, I’m never going to give it to you!!!”- The soldier insists.

To his surprise, the stranger has already ‘borrowed’ his sword, running off into the distance.

“COME BACK HERE YOU FOOL! THAT’S MY SWORD!!!”- The soldier yells in a futile attempt to get it back.

Back at the top of the mountain, Amber struggles as she gets up from her position. She looks down, seeing the Serpent below. Its gaze is now locked onto her as it charges up its attack.

“We need to get out of here.”- Leo coughs.

“One, no, maybe two more hits and that thing should be out. This is our golden chance! It’s distracted right now!”- Amber insists.

Leo looks back behind himself, seeing that Dark Elf Sophia is on the ground. The dragon has once more fled like a coward after witnessing the attack. He made up his mind, removing any doubts as he agreed with Amber’s plans. Amber once more channels all the remaining mana that she has, betting her life on the line as she prepares herself again.

“I need to find something that can help her.”- Leo searches through his scrolls once more.

The Serpent’s attempt at eliminating everyone kept getting interrupted by the elves' barrages. Rudy also went all out, forming hundreds of magic circles in the air.

“I won’t be outdone by you!”- She said.

Within seconds, all of the magic circles launch its attack. Spells of all kinds of elements slam into the Serpent’s wound. Some hit it right on the head, forcing it to fall right into the buildings in the city. Her attack has temporarily disabled the Serpent.

“Hehe.”- Rudy chuckles and sits down from exhaustion.

“Hey, remember when you asked me to join you on an adventure?”- Amber asks.

“We can talk about that later, let’s both make sure we win this battle!”- Leo said.

“I never expected to have so much fun, to experience so much, to accept myself. Thank you Leo, this party is my family.”- Amber continues.

“Why are you talking like you’re going to die? No one is going to die, ok?”- Leo reassures Amber.

As Amber finishes charging her attack up, the Serpent can be seen slowly rising its head again. It uses its tail, swiping away the elven force that is attacking from below. It’s seriously planning to get rid of Amber now. She takes a deep breath, taking steps forward.

“What are you doing?!?”- Leo asks.

Amber doesn’t reply, leaping off the peak towards the Serpent’s head. Her intention is simple. She is planning to sacrifice herself to get as close as possible, guaranteeing an attack on the Serpent. She closes her eyes, feeling the air brushing against her body, as she braces herself. She suddenly couldn’t feel the air anymore and opened her eyes in confusion. Leo has also jumped off the peak after her, holding onto her shirt with one hand and the edge with the other.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? LET ME GO! THIS IS OUR CHANCE!”- Amber shouts.

“It’s one way to win, but it’s unacceptable without you.”- Leo said.

“The chances to land the attack from up here are too low. There’s no other way!”- Amber said.

“I have a plan! Trust me!”- Leo insisted.

“Fine, I’ll trust you.”- Amber looks back below, seeing the Serpent slowly rising its head.

With the strength of a wild ape, Leo pulls himself and Amber back over the edge. He immediately ran over to the place that he left his scrolls.

“Don’t cast your spell until I throw you this scroll ok? Just be ready!”- Leo said.

Amber nods her head, putting her staff up and prepares for the attack. Time seems to slow down for Leo as he grabs and activates an inscribed scroll. He quickly pulls out the rock that Rudy gave him and closes his eyes. The inscribed scroll that he activates is the spell Memory Surge. In an instant, a moment less than a quarter of a second, all of his memories rush through him, even those that are sealed away. Leo sees his parents, the Goddess, and his omnipotent mage form. Since he was an omnipotent mage in his past life, he has the knowledge of all spells that existed. Leo swiftly attempts to grab a spell that can somehow help Amber within his abilities. The memory surges through, quickly sealing itself away again as Leo activates the stone. It glows and dissipates into runes that travel onto the empty scroll, Leo has successfully inscribed the scroll with a spell. The consequences of accessing his memory took a toll on Leo’s body. He starts coughing up blood as his vision blurs. Leo wasted no time running to Amber with the scroll, tossing it to her.

“The rest is up to you.”- He said, falling off the edge.

Amber couldn’t waste the precious moment that Leo managed to find for her, casting her spell with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“IGNITE THE FLAME THAT DESTROYS ORDER! BRING ON THE FORCE IN WHICH THE WORLD EXISTS ON…!”- Amber casts.

At the same time she activates the scroll, revealing the spell that Leo inscribed into it.

“HOMING CHAOS MAGIC MISSILES!!!”- She shouts with all of her heart.

Two massive chaos missiles form from her staff, this time heading straight for the Serpent. Before it could even get time to react, the missiles made contact, creating the bright light that spread throughout the whole area. “BOOM!” an explosion and shockwave followed right after, traveling from the top of its head all the way to the ground. The Serpent is burnt to a crisp, collapsing on the ground. Amber herself also broke into tears, believing that Leo had fallen off. To her surprise, Natalie can be seen flying up to the side of the mountain with Leo in her arms. She has managed to catch him before he hits the ground. Amber breathed a sigh of relief, screaming in celebration of the Serpent defeat.

To everyone’s despair, the Serpent’s body is still moving. It’s vibrating rapidly, shedding its skin onto the ground. As if the battle never even happened, the Serpent is back to its original form, without even a single scratch.

“Well done mortals, you all have done well to impress me. As a reward, I will grant you a swift and painless death.”- It speaks into their head once again.

Amber couldn’t believe what she just saw and heard, finally falling back from exhaustion.

“We did our best, I guess it just wasn’t enough again.”- She slowly falls down.

“Thud.” a sound is heard as her body made contact with something, someone caught her. Amber looks back, seeing a guy who’s smiling at her. He wears a very normal adventurer outfit, holding a sword on his right arm.

“Watch out! Don’t want to be falling in a dangerous place like this.”- He jokes.

As he gently puts her down, he walks closer to the edge of the mountain.

“Well done fighting, you guys all did a great job. I’ll deal with the rest from here.”- Amber vaguely heard the person say as she slowly faded out of consciousness.

The stranger steps up, looking down at the roaring Serpent.

“Quite a scary looking God if you are really one. Just go back to sleep you grumpy geezer.”- The guy smiles.

His body suddenly glows yellow, concentrating energy around himself. The stranger raises his sword, holding it like it's a projectile. The ground rumbles as energy gathers, the man smiles, getting ready to launch its attack. The Serpent realizes the threat that it’s in, dashing away from the mountain at incredible speed.

“HEILIGES SCHWERT!!!”- The man shouts.

He launches the sword with insane precision through the air, flying directly at the Serpent. It can only look in horror as the sword makes contact and disintegrates upon impact. Flashes of light appear as a pillar of light from the ground, going all the way up to the sky. Everyone can’t help but just look in awe at the light pillar. Multiple shockwaves are sent from it going to the nearby region. Light engulfed the whole area, soon fading away and revealing the normal night sky again. The only thing remaining is a massive crater and nothing else. The Serpent has been defeated by a single attack.

“Looks like I overdid it a little bit. Well, better than nothing.”- The stranger smiles and shrugs, walking away.

“That bastard actually showed up huh? He does live up to his reputation as the number 1 adventurer.”- Velh sighs, sitting on a boulder in the forest and looking at the bright light.

Malum and the Demon Lord’s army can be seen in the distance, leaving. Their plans were unexpectedly foiled. Malum had determined that the new threat was too dangerous for them to continue. Elves can be seen coming out from their village, looking to aid the injured elves left behind from the battle. Sorenna sighs, sitting down in place knowing that they have won. Natalie is the only one standing left in Leo’s party, she shouts in celebration:

“WE DID IT EVERYONE! WE PULLED THE IMPOSSIBLE!”

Natalie then made her way up the mountain, checking up on Amber, Leo and Sophia.

“I gotta do better next time.”- She told herself.

The sun slowly rises in the horizon, signifying the start of the new day. The light beams slowly make their way into the battered forest. Hope is here, they have won the battle.

...

“Wake up Leo, you’re going to be late for school.”- Leo hears his real mom’s voice calling him awake.

“Mom?”- He asks.

“MOM?!?”- He jolts awake, finding himself to be in bed.

His body is still bandaged up from the fight. Leo struggles, forcing himself out of bed. His room lights up from the sunlight, a familiar scenery from the past. For someone adventurous like him, it is a rare occasion to wake up in a bed. A new day begins again for Leo.

“How long have I been asleep for?”- Leo wonders, looking outside the window.

It’s the familiar scenery of the ancient city. Sounds still fill the street despite what happened. People are in an even greater mood, laughing and telling the stories of the event from their perspective. Turning around, Leo makes his way through the hallway, finding other empty rooms. He takes cautious steps down the stairs, as he doesn't want to fall and make his injuries worse. Leo looks to his right, seeing a reception table.

“Look at who finally decided to show up. Lazy bum as usual.”- Sophia said, drawing his attention to her.

He turns over to his right, looking at what seemed like a dinning area. Seeing his fellow party members sitting there and eating breakfast moved him to tears. They all look roughed up, but the most important thing to Leo is that they are all alive.

“GUYS!!!”- Leo cries, running up and hugging them.

Leo has been asleep for 3 days, exhausted from the fight.

Velh and Rudy both took their leave the day after the battle while Leo was still sleeping. They had a destination in mind, leaving behind a letter for Leo to read. It seems like they enjoyed their short stay with the group. The future is uncertain, they all might meet again one day.

Absol is rebuilding after the damage it suffered from the attack. The elves suffered the most, having lost a lot of their numbers to the assault. Amazing, they are undeterred by the tragedy, showing perseverance. Sophia reveals that they have all been pardoned by Sorenna, who offered an apology for her misjudgment. By this point, the news of the battle had spread all over the continent, with many interested in those that had taken part in the battle. Vera can be seen laughing while reading the newspaper. Ingrid, on the other hand, is on some kind of mountain struggling through the snow. Lorcan can be seen inside the new Elqium United building smiling in a creepy manner at the news. Doppel can be seen making jokes to Saura, who doesn’t seem to be saying anything back to him. In the depths of the Great Barren Wasteland, Gawin and his party can be seen hiding from a dragon’s assault, battling without the knowledge of what has occurred. Finally, we are back at the inn, with the Mage Party enjoying their breakfast and getting ready for a new day.

“You’re right! I thought I was going to die being chased by Claudius you know!”- Leo laughs about his time in the Darkened Abyss.

“I can’t believe I used to act like that.”- Amber facepalms, remembering her past self.

“You think that was bad? Working part time as a cultist is even worse!”- Natalie jokes.

“I still want to kill Leo. I’m sure the Dark Elf version of me 100% agrees.”- Sophia said.

“I think I need to go take another crap.”- Claudius said.

The group enjoys their breakfast while talking, all joyfully laughing.

“So…”- Leo interrupts, pulling everyone’s attention to him.

“Where should we go for our next adventure?”

End of Arc 3