"Emergency broadcast! Emergency broadcast! Attention all adventurers, please prepare your combat equipment and report to the main gate of the city ready for combat!"
When we get there , we saw a sight to behold.
It is a knight in black armor standing at the front gate held its head on the left side of its body. Before the eyes of the gathered adventurers, it presented its head that was covered fully in its helmet before everyone.
Dullahan, a monster that brought despair and premonition of death to men. And it's not just any Dullahan, it is Verdia, one Demon King's General.
"… I am a boss of the demon king army, and had moved into a castle nearby recently…" the head trembles with anger with each words. "Every day every day every day! The crazy idiot who comes to my castle to cast explosion magic, where are you!?"
Anyway, the reason for the emergency summon was probably the dullahan before us who was going mad from fury.
"… Explosion spell?"
"The one who knows explosion magic is…"
"If you talk about explosion spell, it would be…"
The gaze of the people around us naturally fell on Megumin besides me. I can even hear Megumin shivering in fear. She turned towards some random mage, but I put a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.
Megumin looked at me and she steeled her resolve. We then took a step forward, followed by Darkness and Aqua who just stared fearlessly at the Dullahan. We walked through the crowds with heads held high and everyone else made way without another words.
All eyes were on us, as we, Fantastic Dreamer, challenged the Demon King General Dullahan face to face without fear. The whispers slowly turn into praises, before slowly turning into chanting and cheering for us.
"FD! FD! FD!"
"Get them crazy girl with Screw Loose!"
"Show him, perverted crusader!"
"Aqua sama! I love you!"
"Kick his ass Kazuma!"
The cheering brought us face to face with the Dullahan. Then, Megumin took another step forward, as if presenting herself.
"So it's you…! You are the moron who cast explosion on my castle every day? If you knew I was the boss of the demon army and want to challenge me to a fight, then enter the castle! If not, then just hide in town and tremble! Why are you bothering me with such evil means? I knew there were only low level adventurers in town! I wanted to leave such minor characters alone, but you can't catch a clue and come boom boom boom with your spells every day…! Is there something wrong with your head?"
The Dullahan ranted in anger and annoyance. Probably because the explosion magic.
"I am Megumin!" her cape flutters in the wind and her staff glows with a dangerous light. "An Arch Wizard who has mastered the explosion spell! I hailed from the Crimson Demon Clan and I am the strongest among them!"
"I am Aqua," the goddess stepped forward, her voice was softer and much more divine, but no less confident. "An Arch Priest who has mastered all healing spells and exorcism spells! To face me directly, this will be the end of you, undead!"
"I am Darkness," Darkness stepped forward, standing tall and proud like a shield protecting her teammates. "A Crusader who has mastered most, if not, all the defensive skill of a crusader. I am the mighty wall the stood between danger and my loved ones! Don't think you can get through me, Verdia!"
"And I am Kazuma," I stepped forward and grinned a little. "an adventurer, jack of all trades and the master of none. I am proficient in sword fighting, ranged fighting, spells, and even," I snapped my finger and fire appeared on my hand. "chant less magic. So don't think lightly of me, Dullahan!"
"Because together!" we made our most badass pose together. "We are Fantastic Dreamer!!! The strongest adventurers in Axel who will be the one to slay the Demon King himself!!!" a gust of wind followed our proclamation.
At first, the Dullahan seems incredibly speechless. But then, he tilted his head down before raising it up to the sky, clacking all the while. "Interesting, interesting!! To think that a band of powerful people, dares to challenge me, much less from the beginner town!!!"
The Dullahan looked at us in a mixture of excitement and respect. "Then I cordially invite you to my castle! No need to use explosion spell! Actually, don't do that again, ever! And I will face you all head on! Fantastic Dreamer!"
Then, the Dullahan raised his hand. "Oh, and to make sure none of you gets any cold feet! I shall predict your death, in one week," he pointed his finger at Megumin and a black mist started surrounding his fingers.
Darkness was quicker to react, taking the curse of death head on. The black miasma seemingly burst into her body, but she smirked unflinchingly. "Tch, Kazuma hits harder than this… "
"If you want your friend to survive, then come to my castle, defeat me, and I shall break her from this curse!" he exclaimed.
With that, the Dullahan disappeared in a flash of black light.
When we're sure he's gone, I quickly turn to Aqua. "Aqua, can you revive a person who's been killed by a curse?" I asked her.
"Of course, but why bother, I can break the curse right here, right now," she said confidently.
Ah, this girl is a blessing… "I'm counting on you, Aqua!"
A staff materialized in her grip. She pointed it at Darkness and she started to glow. "SACRED BREAK SPELL!!!" she exclaimed.
Darkness spasm a little and something slowly seeped out of her very being. It floats up into the sky, cleaned and purified by the goddess's magic.
"They did it!!!"
"I knew they're the real thing!!!"
"FD! FD! FD!"
We returned back to the town, showered with praises and cheers from all adventurers in the city. Darkness, Megumin, and Aqua, became an instant favorite and somewhat a personal hero to most female adventurer.
I on the other hand became best buds with the male adventurer. We all head straight to the guild and grab a cold one to celebrate our victory over the Dullahan. I was tempted to treat everyone on a drink, but I decided to leave it for after I defeated the Dullahan.
"So, Kazuma! When are you planning to storm the castle?" one of the rowdier adventurer asked.
"I was planning to do it tomorrow, but then I thought," I chuckled a little. "I'm not passing the chance to see the Look On His Face when Darkness show up unharmed by his curse!"
Laughter followed my proclamation but I wasn't done yet.
"And think about it! Right now he must be preparing his minion of evil to 'Welcome Us' and waited for an entire week for us!"
"Oh he'll be so pissed!"
"As expected of Kazuma the Devious!"
"Not even the demon king general can match his deviousness!"
I chugged some beer and laughed some more. "Oh, oh, and here's the kicker! We gonna keep blowing up his turf! Let him suffer alone for a week with that false hope of us going after him!"
"Gyahaha!!! You should be the demon king for thinking up stuff like that!"
"Yeah! Kazuma for Demon Lord!"
"Kazuma the Devious!"
"Kazuma! Kazuma! Kazuma!"
Ahh… Now how do I level up during this one week…?