I Formed a Party with a Girl via an Adventurer Matching App - Chapter 57

 To the Land of the Decisive Battle

This world is vast and stretches out endlessly.

No, realistically, the "end" itself probably exists somewhere. Whether it's a literal wall you can't advance past, or a waterfall where the vast ocean plunges into nothingness. Various imaginations and speculations about the end of the world constantly fly around among the common folk. However, even the most seasoned explorers have yet to reach the world's edge, and the full picture of this world remains unrevealed.

But on the world map, there is an area that can safely be called the frontier—the outermost region among those currently mapped. That very place was the Demon Realms, where monsters nest.

The distance from our town, "Alterawalda," to the Demon Realms is immense. It goes without saying that the closer you get to the Demon Realms, the closer you get to the territory overrun by monsters. Because of this, there isn't a single breath of human civilization or settlement anywhere around the perimeter of the Demon Realms.

This town, which prides itself as a city of adventurers, also serves as the absolute frontline for those heading into the battlefield. That's exactly why the guild judged that it possessed enough military strength to successfully slay the Demon King. But the troublesome reality was that you couldn't just casually tell a party, "Alright, go ahead and hop on over there."

Fortunately, however, adventurers' methods of transportation have seen massive improvements lately.

To put it bluntly, what I'm trying to say is... well.

The legs—or rather, the wings—that carried our Demon King subjugation squad from the adventurer town of "Alterawalda" to the Demon Realms belonged to dragons.

"...I guess we live in an era where people can tame even dragons now."

I muttered to myself while clinging onto the rugged back of a massive dragon.

The dragons acting as our carriages were apparently monsters tamed by high-level Tamers. Divided into small groups, we rode on the backs of these dragons as they flapped their massive wings, aiming to cross the distance to the Demon Realms in a single flight. By the way, these Tamers weren't actually part of the subjugation squad itself; they were purely participating as transport units to drop us off at the Demon King's castle.

...Responding to the guild's summon, the number of adventurers challenging the Demon King amounted to 36 individuals split across 8 parties. Among them, our party of two consisted of Cordelia and me.

Incidentally, Cordelia was riding on a completely different dragon than mine. Given the current awkwardness between us, it was a relief not to have to look her in the face.

Completely indifferent to the heavy, helpless feelings clogging our hearts, the dragons—graceful despite their titanic builds—flapped their wings pleasantly through the air.

Crossing oceans and soaring over mountains at speeds that made walking on the ground look utterly foolish, we flew toward the enemy's headquarters. Of course, because it was a long distance even in a straight line, it still took a fair amount of time... but even so, considering we had taken off early in the morning and paused to let the dragons rest at key checkpoints, we reached the Demon King's castle surprisingly fast.

The sun hadn't fully set yet; it was late afternoon. The sky stretching over the land we landed on was a gloomy, ominous purple, and it certainly wasn't due to any idyllic reason like a sunset.

Standing right before our eyes was a blatantly sinister, pitch-black castle. Multiple towering spires lined the structure like an intimidating wall, and the front gates stood wide open as if daring us to step inside.

"Alright! Is everyone's gear completely ready?!" 

""""OHHHHHHH!""""

The heavily built man who had been appointed leader of this large-scale combined party let out a booming shout to psych up the members. In response, the party members thrust their arms into the air.

The leader looked like he might have dwarf blood in him, sporting a thick, bushy beard that covered the lower half of his face, and he casually swung a heavy one-handed axe (which would easily be the weight and size of a two-handed axe for a normal human).

"It's finally time for the final showdown with the Demon King! We're all coming back alive, no matter what!" 

""""UOHHHHHHH!"""" 

"Victory is in our grasp! There's no need to fear the likes of the Demon King!" 

""""UOHHHHHHH!""""

...I felt like the entire atmosphere of the party was becoming overwhelmingly macho, completely dragged along by the leader. To be fair, there were a few female adventurers in the ranks, like the recovery mages and archers... but perhaps swept up in the mood, they too were letting out fierce, manly roars.

Glancing over, I saw Cordelia standing with her arms crossed, looking entirely unamused. Free from the infectious hype, she quietly stared up at the Demon King's castle, the line of her jaw looking beautifully sharp and coquettish.

"LET'S MOOOOOVE!!!! FOLLOW MEEEEE!!!"

While I was observing, the leader finished pumping up the crowd and charged headfirst into the Demon King's castle. Maintaining our pre-arranged formation, we followed right behind him in lockstep like a single, giant organism.

The all-out war between humanity and the Demon King was about to begin.

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