The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 103

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Our Neighborhood’s Strongest (103)
“What? That beautiful place has turned into hell!”
Jang Gain, who had traveled through space to the Quardo Coast with Duke Frau Noid, stared at the black storm clouds filling the sky, the driving rain and wind, and the lightning striking intermittently between them, his expression one of disbelief.
Once a place where sea mist had spread in phantasmagoric beauty, it now resounded with the distant shrieks of demonic beasts and the screams of soldiers, while the stench of blood filled the air.
“It’s completely different from when Sapphire’s gate opened.”
Noxscasarsis clicked his tongue, and Jang Gain nodded in agreement.
“It’s as if the world has transformed entirely. And strangely enough, the concentration of demonic energy I felt in the Demon Realm is similar to what I’m sensing here now.”
“If you head toward the gate, the demonic energy becomes several times thicker than here. Because of that, demons and demonic beasts can exert their full power, but our dragons and humans can’t perform at their best.”
“Looking at you now, it seems you’re not being restricted by the power constraints?”
“This place is far from the epicenter, and I’m in my true form right now. Besides, I’ve erected barriers in front of the human forces to minimize the influence of demonic energy and prevent the magical creatures from scattering indiscriminately.”
“You’ve set up barriers, yet the demonic energy concentration is still this high?”
“Once you get closer to the gate, you’ll be shocked too. It’s at least ten times worse than the gate connected to Sapphire’s Demon Realm.”
“Ten times! I’m getting chills already. But where are the other dragons?”
“They’re probably clashing with high-level demons near the gate.”
“That dark column of clouds with lightning striking through it—that’s where the gate is, right?”
“Yes. Since I had to leave my post for a moment, Virus and Tapaknaru will be having a hard time. Let’s go. Get on my back.”
“No, I have a Chimera Wyvern, so I’ll ride that instead.”
“I also have a flying Chimera Gargoyle.”
“Fine. Then follow me on those. I’ll lead the way.”
Noxscasarsis took off, and Jang Gain and Duke Frau Noid each summoned their flying chimeras from their subspaces and followed after him.
“Still, if things are this serious, shouldn’t an Ancient Dragon be arriving soon?”
“I hope so, but I don’t know when it’ll get here.”
As Jang Gain rode the Chimera Wyvern and flew forward, he saw the Kram Empire’s military forces and Bermuda’s military forces arranged in two large groups ahead of the barrier, fighting demonic beasts.
“Hey! Those demonic beasts look quite powerful… Noxscasarsis, aren’t those high-level demonic beasts?”
“They are.”
“If things stay this way, it looks like both the Kram and Bermuda forces will be pushed back?”
“They’ve held their own surprisingly well despite appearing to be losing. Let’s hurry toward the gate.”
“I’m going to kill some of those high-level demonic beasts first, so you go ahead.”
“If we waste time here, Virus and Tapaknaru might not be able to hold on.”
“That’s why I said you go first. Give me five minutes—no, three minutes—I’ll kill just the high-level demonic beasts and catch up.”
“Fine! Then I’ll go ahead. Duke, you help Jang Gain.”
“Understood.”
As Noxscasarsis disappeared at high speed, Jang Gain called upon Silon, the wind spirit.
―Jang Gain, why are you summoning me after so long?
“I’ve been busy with the wedding for a while. Things are urgent now—can you lend the Chimera Wyvern I’m riding the power of wind so it can fly better?”
―Of course. Moreover, since your mind is connected to the Chimera Wyvern’s mind, I can establish a link to the Chimera Wyvern’s consciousness as well.
“You can link to the Chimera Wyvern?”
As Jang Gain marveled, the wind spirit overlaid itself upon the Chimera Wyvern.
Jang Gain witnessed a powerful wind rippling around the Chimera Wyvern in an instant, and he understood how he and they had become connected.
“If it feels like this, I can manipulate the Chimera Wyvern through you, Silon—even you—as though you were my own limbs.”
―That’s right. Thanks to the chimera serving as a medium, the bond between you and me has grown much stronger.
“Then let’s go kill those demonic beasts.”
As Jang Gain manipulated the Chimera Wyvern with his thoughts, Silon felt those thoughts simultaneously, moving the wind in time with its wingbeats.
Craaaaaaash……
In that moment, a gale erupted from the Chimera Wyvern’s wingbeats, comparable to the scale of a dragon’s wings, and the Chimera Wyvern shot forward faster than a fired arrow.
* * *
Emperor Sok Tramus of the Kram Empire gazed upon the world, now dark as night, his face etched with despair.
‘When the dragon said that continuing the war would open a gate connected to the Demon Realm, I should have stopped the fighting then… Is the world—no, the Kram Empire—truly falling now?’
The demonic beasts currently being held back by the combined forces of Kram and Bermuda were far weaker than the supreme-tier demons and beasts pouring from the gate. Yet even stopping these lesser creatures had claimed half his army’s strength in merely ten days.
If another week passed like this, he would have no choice but to order a retreat, even as the Kram Empire’s lands faced demonization.
‘For the empire to survive, the Ancient Dragon must come… But when? When will it arrive? Will it even come at all?’
Each time he saw the corpses of dying soldiers, despair only grew, along with his sighs.
Had he known how terrifying a gate connected to the Demon Realm could be, he would never have waged this war.
“A dragon! A dragon has appeared! The dragon will save us! Everyone, hold on!”
Then he heard the soldiers’ cries.
Looking up at the sky, he saw a green dragon cutting across the western heavens, flying toward the darkness.
It would have been welcome had it breathed even a single blast at the bottleneck between the barriers where the demonic beasts clustered as it passed, but it simply flew on without concern.
The hope that had flared briefly in the soldiers’ faces was snuffed out once more by despair, and groans escaped through gritted teeth.
“Where does it keep going?”
The emperor, knowing that the dragon had crossed the sky and left beyond the barrier thirty minutes ago before returning, could only manage a bitter smile.
Turning back to the battlefield, I spotted Ilmaserk Alberto and Breoli Cante locked in combat with a high-tier demonic beast before the chokepoint between the barriers.
With aid from mages and spirit masters, they were bringing down the high-tier beast, but the aura shimmering at their sword tips flickered like a dying candle—fragile and failing.
Once that light extinguished completely, the knights and soldiers waiting in reserve would surge forward through the chokepoint to buy time, while those two would drink potions like water to recover their strength before returning to fight again.
For the past ten days or so, this cycle had repeated without end.
Shrieeeeeek…….
Then something massive tore past the high-tier demonic beasts.
Boom, boom-boom…….
In the next instant, the heads of the high-tier beasts fell from their necks to the ground.
“What? What—what did I just see? Am I so exhausted I’m hallucinating?”
I rubbed my eyes and looked again, watching mages unleash Fire Magic at the severed necks of the fallen beasts.
By cauterizing the clean cut with fire, the demonic beasts’ heads couldn’t reattach to their necks—ensuring death.
So I hadn’t been seeing things.
Grrrrrrrowwwl…….
Moments later, a gargoyle appeared, and a knight mounted on its back leaped down onto a high-tier beast’s head, bringing his sword down like an axe to cleave the creature’s skull.
After splitting the beast’s head, the knight kicked off its shoulder, soared back onto the gargoyle, and repeated the same brutal dance with the next monster—cutting necks, splitting skulls.
I knew that Sword Masters like Ilmaserk and Breoli had displayed such overwhelming strength when first confronting high-tier demonic beasts.
“But he’s neither a Sword Master from the homeland nor one from Bermuda. Who is he?”
While I pondered, the soldiers’ cheers suddenly erupted.
“It’s Duke Jang Gain! Duke Jang Gain is sweeping through the high-tier beasts!”
“What? Duke Jang Gain?”
Though I strained my eyes searching, I could see no sign of him.
Yet something was undeniably connected to him—that massive creature moving at terrifying speed, cutting down the beasts’ necks one after another.
“Mureine.”
I called to Mureine, who stood beside me commanding spirits for my protection.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“The soldiers say Duke Jang Gain has appeared and is decimating the high-tier beasts. Is that dark shape connected to him?”
“Yes. It is Duke Jang Gain, riding a vast grey wyvern as he cuts through the demonic beasts.”
“He moves too fast for my eyes to follow. You seem to see him clearly, Mureine.”
“I share my spirit’s sight, so I’m fortunate enough to see clearly. It is indeed Duke Jang Gain. Where Ilmaserk and Breoli barely manage to dispatch high-tier beasts with the aid of mages and spirit masters, he slaughters them alone.”
“I wish I could see what you see. Is there no way?”
“For a brief time, I can share my spirit’s vision with you, Your Majesty. But it cannot last long.”
“Even a glimpse would suffice.”
“Then I shall share my spirit’s sight with you.”
As Mureine clasped my hand and shared the spirit’s vision, I glimpsed Jang Gain faintly, sword raised high atop the grey wyvern.
Each time he swung, light blazed forth, and invariably—without exception—a high-tier beast’s head severed cleanly from its neck.
“I knew Duke Jang Gain was formidable, but this……?”
“With such strength, surely he rivals a dragon?”
“Indeed. I’ve always wondered why Ilmaserk and Breoli seemed so thoroughly outmatched by Duke Jang Gain, but now I see—he was holding back all along.”
The grey wyvern scoured the battlefield for mere minutes, yet I saw no high-tier beast still standing.
In that brief span, over a hundred high-tier demonic beasts lay dead.
With the Chimera Wyvern beneath him, Jang Gain killed only the high-tier beasts, then soared toward the gate where dark clouds towered like pillars.
“Phew! Thanks to Duke Jang Gain, the soldiers can finally catch their breath!”
“Had Ilmaserk and Breoli needed to withdraw to drink potions during that window, hundreds of soldiers would have perished. We were truly fortunate.”
* * *
As Jang Gain flew toward the gate after culling only the high-tier beasts from the chokepoint where the human army held the barriers, his eyes widened at the sight of two supreme-tier demonic beasts locked in combat with Noxscasarsis.
One beast bore nine enormous serpent heads, its body mass rivaling a dragon’s, with nine legs to match. The other was a giant fifty meters tall, with four eyes—one set on each face of its head—and eight arms, each wielding a blade, spear, axe, or shield. It moved on two massive legs.
Noxscasarsis’s relentless Poison Breath clashed with the venom spewed by the multi-headed serpent, scattering in all directions, while lightning and Fire Magic bounced off the giant’s shields as it held its ground.
As Jang Gain shot forward atop the Chimera Wyvern at tremendous speed, the four-eyed giant spotted him first and swung a colossal iron club.
Shreeeek.
The instant the Chimera Wyvern twisted its body and beat its wings, despite moving faster than the eye could follow, it banked hard to evade the club and swept past the giant’s head.
Slash.
One of the giant’s four eyes split open, spraying crimson blood.
“Uuuaaaahhhhh…….”
The giant clamped shut its ruined eye, though blood continued to pour, and from its gaping mouth came a howl that shook the very mountains.
“Oh! Jang Gain!”
Noxscasarsis finally spotted him and exhaled in relief.
“Against a high-tier beast, that blow would have split its skull clean through. But this is supreme-tier—I could only take an eye.”
As Jang Gain spoke, the four-eyed giant shrieked and lashed out with all eight arms toward the direction Jang Gain had flown and the space around it.
Realizing the massive Chimera Wyvern couldn’t evade the onslaught, Jang Gain opened a Subspace and hurled the wyvern inside. Then, mounted on Silon—now transformed into a Wind Wyvern—he wove through the torrent of attacks like a fish gliding through water.
Slash.
And immediately after, another eye of the four-eyed giant split open, spraying blood.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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