Bandit Hunt

"So this is Acalypha Town? Let me check again..." Damon opened a map and looked through it. It was evening.

He nodded to himself as he walked in the streets of the Town, 'Yep, this is it.' He concluded as he read an address and asked around to find it. The people gave good direction and he found himself in front of the client in no time.

Inside a rather luxurious building, Damon sat in front of an old man, "A group of bandits has stolen the payment cargo's arriving at this town. They even raided one of the warehouses before."

The old man sighed, "We can't take losses like this so we sent a request to Fairy Tail."

Damon nodded, "I see... I have accepted this job so don't worry. You just have to answer some of my questions."

The old man gestured for him to continue, "1st question, Do you know where their base is?"

The old man shook his head. Damon was a bit disappointed but he continued, "Tell me where the Cargo was stolen. The more details the better."

The old man took out a map and began explaining it to him. He continued asking about other attacks and the usual timings. It didn't take long for the old man to point to three locations in the map of the Town and its surroundings.

Damon carefully inspected them, "One road goes through an open field toward Magnolia, so they must have been in disguise otherwise it would have been impossible to rob people. The others are in Forests and seem quite close..."

He pointed at a location, "Based on their attacks, their base should be in this area. It has good access to the road and they can easily coordinate from there... I have to check it."

The old man was impressed but before he could say anything, Damon asked again, "How many bandits were seen in the attacks, what kind of weapons were they carrying?"

The old man thought really hard, "No more than 5 in each attack, we have no information on the weapons."

Damon stood up and took the map, "Okay, This info will do. I will deal with this now."

The old man was surprised, "It is almost night! Don't you wish to rest till morning?"

Damon shook his head as he began walking toward the door, "The night will provide me with advantages. Also, if word gets out that a wizard is in Town, They will hear and thus prepare for a fight."

He quickly left the building and began walking in the direction of the area he had marked.

He quickly began planning, 'I have to take down at least 3 in the surprise attack and plan traps for the other 2...' He couldn't help but feel a bit giddy, he loved doing these kinds of things.

He entered the Forest and walked deep, the leaves rustled and due to the setting sun, the forest grew darker by the second. His little fear of dark forests had vanished when he had trained by cutting trees that day. He also saw it as an opportunity since the bandits would camp and the fire would give away their position and make it easier for him to find them.

He began searching the area cautiously and after half an hour, found some footsteps. He followed them slowly and found a newly lit campfire far away. He could barely make out the smoke.

He didn't immediately go in though, instead, he took out his enchanted knife and silently approached the camp. When he was as close as he could get without getting found, he carved things on a few trees.

"Alter Enchant, Explosion Trap, Level 1." He used his magic on them and walked further in. These ones were traps and if anyone got close to them beside him, they would explode.

He found a stick on the ground and took it, then carved some things on it as well.

"Alter Enchant, Stun Explosion, Level 1." This one would explode the moment he wished it to.

He took out a piece of bread and ate it, getting a small buff of strength and speed.

'Everything is ready...'

He slowly got closer, it was nighttime already and all the bandits were in their base. Since it was dark, they couldn't see his figure approaching, it helped that his outfit was all black.

Their base was simple, 3 tents and a campfire in the middle. Around the tents, one could see some wooden structures meant to keep animals out. All the bandits had gathered around the fire, drinking and laughing.

He crouched and counted the bandits, '1,2,3,4,5,6...7? 2 more than expected, it's okay. They are drinking... Change of plans, I will wait till they are drunk and then attack...'

He waited patiently for an hour, the bandits seemed to have become quite drunk as they did crazy shit such as sticking their head in the ground or waving their butts around... One even got naked!

'Are they goblins?' Damon wondered for a moment and sighed, he aimed the stick and threw it.

It fell quite close to the group, one of the bandits noticed it and stood up. He walked toward it and picked it up, he said with a smile to his friends, "Hey look at this, some stupid punk carved crap on a stick... HAHAHA! What a waste of time."

"Let me see!"

"Get out of the way retard!"

They all observed the stick and just then, it exploded with a very loud and disorienting sound, it was extremely bright as well. It stunned the Bandits, the one who held it even fainted!

Damon didn't wait, he jumped in without hesitation, wooden Zangetsu in his right hand. His magic came to life at maximum power making his body get a faint orange aura.

He charged at them with maximum speed and slashed with his sword, the bandit he had attacked was too stunned to respond and the blunt edge hit his head. With a cracking sound, he fell down, unconscious. It was obvious his skull had cracked.

Damon quickly thrust the blade at another bandit, it hit him in the chest making his ribs crack. The guy coughed blood and simply laid there as if he was dead.

The bandits had begun to recover, He realized that as well; He quickly swung at the closest bandit, the bandit saw the attack coming at the last moment and only managed to bring his arms up to block it.

With a loud crack, both his arms broke as he was shot backward and fell down a few meters away. The other 3 had come to their senses. They saw their fallen comrades and raged, "KILL HIM!"

Damon didn't wait, he quickly began running away, the bandits were too angry to suspect anything and chased him thinking he was running away. "Don't let him run away!"

Damon passed the two trees he had planted Enchants on...

The Bandits followed and the moment they reached the trees, two loud and bright explosions rocked the forest causing birds to fly in fright. Flames raged on the trees, the two bandits who ran in front had been blown away, some of their bones broken, their eardrums ruptured and they had a lot of burns.

The last one was only a bit disoriented as he stood back up, he grabbed his iron sword and looked around. The remaining bandit felt a little fear as all his friends had been taken care of.

He let out a loud battle cry and looked around vigilantly, he began shouting loudly, "I will fucking kill you! Just like all the others! And I am gonna make it hurt! You hear me?!!"

"Yeah, I hear you..." A voice reached his ears and the bandit felt his heart stop, 'That voice came from...' He looked up with despair...

Damon was already on him, he had easily climbed a tree with his enhanced strength and had jumped on top of the bandit as he had slashed mid-air with all his power.

"And now I won't." The bandit heard as wooden Zangetsu hit his shoulder and instantly broke it and dislocated it. He was blown away and his side hit a tree breaking a few ribs and his left arm. The bandit fell down with a heavy thud, unconscious.

Damon didn't look at him, he quickly ran back to their base and found the 1 bandit that had fainted from the stun and broke the guy's legs.

He finally sighed, 'finally over...' He quickly ran back to the fire that was slowly spreading and picked another stick. He carved some runes on it.

"Alter Enchant, Heat Area Dispersion, level 1."

He threw it between the trees and a small explosion of air echoed and all the fires died instantly. 'Disaster averted, now I just have to loot the base and give these guys to the Town.'

He looted all they had which included 60000 Jewels, their swords, and armor. The other things he didn't touch since they might have belonged to the Town's people.

He tied them all together, took one of the tents and made a massive bag, put them all in it. Rested a bit. Then activated his strength Enchant and took them back to the Town.

He casually tossed the massive bag on his back in front of the old man, "Here are the bandits, their base is here on the map, you will find your cargo there."

The old man was shocked, he opened the bag with wide eyes and saw the state the bandits were in and gasped as he looked at Damon with a little fear.

He shrugged, "They would have done much worse, at least they are fine and will recover. Send them to jail or whatever. If it had not stated you wanted them alive to pay me..."

The old man gulped as he hurriedly took out a small bag and gave it to Damon, he opened it and smiled a while later, "200,000 Jewels as stated. Have a good day."

He left instantly, leaving the old man with the half-dead bandits. He quickly shouted to the people who were nearby and gawking at the sight, "What are you staring at? Call the soldiers to arrest these scum."

The old man looked at Damon's back with a little sweat on his face, "Another monster has been born in Fairy Tail..." The old man was not a wizard so it was natural that he thought like that, he had no idea what kind of monsters existed in this world.

Damon stayed the night in an Inn with his newly made money and returned to his house the next day. His success at the job filled him with confidence and a desire to get even stronger.

He prepared everything and set out with a single goal in mind, 'Time to upgrade to steel...'