The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 104

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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 (104)
With Jang Gain engaging the four-eyed giant, Noxscasarsis found himself free to face the nine-headed serpentine demonic beast with considerably more ease.
‘When we fought demonic beasts back in Sapphire, he didn’t seem nearly this powerful…… How can a human grow this strong so quickly? Even if demonic qi does help strengthen one’s aura, this is far beyond common sense against a supreme-rank demonic beast.’
Less than a minute after he’d begun engaging the nine-headed serpent fully, all four eyes of the giant had turned to blood, and soon it was shrieking and flailing blindly in every direction.
When Jang Gain abandoned the now-incapacitated four-eyed giant and flew toward the nine-headed serpentine demonic beast, five of its nine snake heads turned and unleashed poison breath in his direction.
Whoooosh…….
‘Hmph! As if I’d let Gain suffer that.’
Seeing this, Noxscasarsis unleashed fire magic, striking directly at the center of the poison breath.
The moment the two forces collided, a tremendous explosion erupted, and the poison breath dissipated into smoke that scattered in all directions.
Jang Gain seized the opening, piercing through the smoke and severing the throat of the nearest snake head.
Noxscasarsis watched as the thin force that had once severed a duke-rank demon’s finger stretched from Jang Gain’s blade and cut through the serpent’s neck, and he let out a silent cheer.
A supreme-rank demonic beast could not withstand the cutting power that severed a duke-rank demon’s body.
Thud.
As expected, the snake head fell to the ground, and the remaining eight snake heads of the demonic beast elongated and lunged at Jang Gain, trying to swallow him whole.
Noxscasarsis seized the perfect opening created by Jang Gain’s divided attention and unleashed a torrent of lightning bolts against the severed surface of the snake neck.
Crack-crack-crack, bang, bang-bang…….
The demonic qi at the severed surface repelled the lightning, causing explosions, and the snake heads began to convulse as if electrocuted.
Noxscasarsis pressed his advantage relentlessly, pouring lightning bolts without pause.
“Screeeeeeeee…….”
At that moment, the four-eyed giant—now blind—suddenly perked up its ears and charged forward, swinging its weapons at the snake heads.
Thwack, thwack-thwack…….
Crunch-crunch-crunch…….
The snake heads, still convulsing, began savaging the giant’s body in return, and Noxscasarsis quickly withdrew to avoid being caught in their clash.
The serpent tore at the giant’s flesh and spewed poison breath into its wounds, while the giant wielded its eight-handed weapons indiscriminately, slashing the snake’s heads and body to ribbons.
Both supreme-rank demonic beasts rapidly fell apart, bones and flesh separated, organs rupturing, their movements slowing.
Watching this, Noxscasarsis tore the four-eyed giant’s head clean off and swallowed it, then shredded what remained of the serpentine demonic beast’s body.
Roooooaaargh…….
Then, like a victorious general returning from war, he let out a great howl.
Jang Gain paid no mind to Noxscasarsis’s cry, instead collecting the weapons the giant had been carrying and depositing them into his subspace.
Once all the weapons were stored and the subspace sealed, Noxscasarsis spoke.
“Gain, I couldn’t have killed these monsters without you. Thank you.”
“We’re comrades who’ve weathered life and death together. Besides, even I would’ve struggled facing them alone.”
“Still, you’ve grown remarkably strong, haven’t you?”
“The demonic qi concentration here is so intense that my inner energy keeps rising with it.”
“It’s a principle my mind can’t quite grasp, but the fact is you’re growing stronger. In any case, I was right to bring you along.”
“There are demonic beasts and demons even stronger than these near the Gate, then?”
“The demonic beasts are around this level, but there’s a marquis-rank demon commanding high-rank demons—that’s the real problem.”
“Even with two worm-rank dragons, that won’t be enough?”
“It won’t. Honestly, even with me joining in, it won’t be enough.”
“Then how are they holding out?”
“You’ll understand once we get there. Let’s go.”
“Right.”
Shortly after, as Jang Gain arrived within visual range of the Gate, he tilted his head in confusion at the sight of the demons and demonic beasts facing off against the two dragons without engaging.
“Hm? Why aren’t they fighting?”
“Curious why there’s no combat? Don’t you think if the marquis-rank demon and those high-rank demons below it all attacked at once, they could definitely kill both of them?”
“Yeah, they could definitely kill them…… but it looks like they’re deliberately just holding their ground, dragging out the time.”
“Exactly. They’re deliberately doing nothing but facing off.”
“But why not fight?”
“A marquis-rank demon would know how previous battles unfolded when gates connecting to the demon realm opened.”
“I suppose so.”
“So the marquis-rank demon knows we have a spatial teleportation scroll to move to our parents’ location if we’re in danger. That’s why they’re not risking their lives in actual combat.”
“But dragging things out won’t change anything, will it?”
“It will. If they keep buying time, demons similar to that marquis-rank one might appear, or even higher-ranking ones could emerge.”
“Then shouldn’t you call for an ancient dragon immediately?”
“I did call, but they’re telling us to hold out for now.”
“I don’t understand what they’re thinking.”
Noxscasarsis introduced the red dragon to Jang Gain.
“This here is the red dragon, Tapaknaru. Tapaknaru, meet Gain—he’s a marquis rank.”
“Pleased to meet you, Marquis Gain. Virus has told me how strong you are.”
“Likewise.”
“When I have time later, let’s test ourselves against each other.”
“Anytime.”
Rumble, crash, rumble…….
Suddenly, from the black clouds billowing up from the Gate and stretching into the sky, countless bolts of lightning began flickering ceaselessly.
“W-why is it suddenly doing that?”
“I don’t know. Virus, why is that Gate suddenly acting like this?”
“I have no idea either. Tapaknaru, do you have any thoughts?”
“If the Gate is writhing like it’s tearing apart, it could be because a being of Marquis-rank or higher is trying to emerge.”
“For a being of Marquis-rank or above to enter this world, certain conditions would have to be met.”
“It seems those conditions have already been satisfied by the amount of human blood spilled.”
Whoooosh…….
Suddenly the earth’s form changed, and blood surged up from all directions. From the Gate too, blood poured down like a waterfall, and among it floated an enormous Crimson Flower Bud.
Noxscasarsis and Jang Gain’s eyes widened almost simultaneously.
“I-is that…… the Duke-rank Demon we fought back then?”
“It looks like it!”
Boom, boom, boom, boom…….
The earth trembled, the sky cried out, the air grew thick and heavy, and the entire world seemed filled with blood.
“If we don’t attack now, we’ll lose our chance!”
Noxscasarsis, Virus, and Tapaknaru gathered mana in their mouths almost in unison.
Roooooar…….
And before the Flower Bud could fully bloom, they unleashed their breath at it.
Jang Gain naturally expected that the Marquis-rank Demons or other high-rank Demonic Beings would block the dragons’ breath to protect the Flower Bud.
Thud.
But all the Demons and Demonic Beasts paid no heed to the dragons’ breath crashing down—instead, they knelt before the Crimson Flower Bud.
“We bow in reverence to Naadra, blood kin of the noble Dark King Adrammelech!”
“We bow in reverence.”
“We bow in reverence.”
…….
While all the Demons and Demonic Beasts paid their respects, the dragons’ breath struck the Flower Bud directly.
Boom, boom, boom, crash, crash, crash…….
Even with his internal energy protecting his ears, Jang Gain heard a sound so thunderous his eardrums felt like they were tearing, and his eyes went wide.
He thought that even for a Duke-rank Demon, taking a direct hit from three dragons’ breath couldn’t leave it unscathed.
‘This is the only chance I have!’
Jang Gain saw that now, with the Duke-rank Demon badly wounded, was his opportunity. He mounted the Wind Wyvern and flew toward the exploding Flower Bud.
As he flew, he saw a man made of blood walking out from between the torn petals.
‘What?! That’s…… impossible! He took three dragons’ breath head-on and all that happened was a few petals burst?!’
Grin.
For a moment, Jang Gain saw the man made of blood look at him with a smile in his eyes.
“So you’re the human who severed my finger! I haven’t slept properly for days because of the humiliation you caused me, but how fortunate that I’ve found you!”
The instant the man made of blood reached out his hand, Jang Gain twisted his course and fled at maximum speed.
‘That arm…… stretched over a hundred meters!’
Whoooosh…….
As he retreated, just as Jang Gain predicted, the man made of blood’s extended arm transformed like a crocodile’s claw and came crashing down at a terrifying speed.
Jang Gain infused his blade with Strong Thread and swung it at the man’s arm.
The Strong Thread now was several times thicker and stronger than when he’d severed the finger last time, so perhaps he could cut off the entire arm.
Shhhhhhk…….
The Strong Thread released from his blade sliced through the massive arm and passed through.
“What?”
Jang Gain’s eyes widened in shock.
He’d naturally expected to sever the arm cleanly, but although it was cut deeply and blood sprayed, it wasn’t as deep a wound as he’d anticipated.
‘My Strong Thread can split steel like tofu—how is this possible?’
Smash.
The arm, which had been reaching at terrifying speed, crushed the Wind Wyvern he was riding and struck Jang Gain hard.
Jang Gain gasped in alarm, placed his palm against the flat of his blade, and blocked with his fist, but the impact dislocated his wrist, elbow, and shoulder, and his mind went blank.
“Ahhhhh!”
Fortunately he didn’t lose consciousness like last time, but he was sent flying backward, his entire body wracked with shattering pain.
Catch.
It was Noxscasarsis who spread his wings and caught the flying Jang Gain.
“Gain, a Duke-rank Demon is beyond our strength. Virus, tear the Spatial Teleportation Scroll now.”
“Got it.”
Crack-crack-crack!
As Virus tore open the Spatial Teleportation Scroll, a burst of geometric light patterns exploded outward in all directions, encircling the space where the three dragons and Jang Gain stood.
“Kekeke! How amusing. Did you truly believe I would allow your dragons’ pathetic tricks to succeed?”
The voice of the blood-formed man reverberated through the entire space.
Jang Gain felt a moment of doubt—was the man trying to interfere with the spatial teleportation?—but Noxscasarsis had made grand promises before, so he waited for the spell to take effect.
After a moment, the geometric light patterns faded, and the demon, the demonic beast, and the Duke-rank demon still filled his vision. Both Jang Gain and the dragons blinked in shock.
“V-Virus, what’s happening? Why didn’t we teleport to Violantri’s lair?”
“Damn it! We’re trapped in a space where spatial teleportation won’t work!”
“What? What do you mean?”
As Jang Gain asked in alarm, Noxscasarsis, catching on belatedly, answered in his stead.
“Impossible! He’s severed this entire vast space from the world itself!”
“What do you mean? So spatial teleportation won’t work?”
“Because the space is severed, teleportation is useless. I never thought even a Duke-rank demon could accomplish such a thing!”
As Jang Gain watched the three dragons’ faces go ashen with confusion, the Duke-rank demon’s voice sounded again.
“This is my space. No being may leave it, nor may any enter. Baragona.”
“At your command, Naadra.”
“I could have slain those dragons at any moment, yet I spent the effort allowing myself time to emerge. For that, you have my gratitude.”
“I am grateful, my lord. Truth be told, it was most difficult to refrain from consuming the dragon even as it stood before me.”
“Now you may satisfy your hunger as you wish. But that human is mine—do not lay a finger on him.”
“Understood.”
The Marquis-rank demon, who had been bowing before the Duke-rank demon, rose to his feet and launched himself toward the dragons, his body propelled by blood.
A whooshing sound cut through the air.
The Red Dragon Tapaknaru unleashed a Fire Breath first, and Noxscasarsis followed with Lightning Magic.
A sharp intake of breath.
Jang Gain’s attention was fixed not on the Marquis-rank demon but on the blood-formed man, who had vanished in an instant despite being in plain sight.
Acting on instinct, he extended his Qi Sense and scanned his surroundings—a chilling Demonic Qi emanated from directly above his head.
‘When did he—? Spatial teleportation?’
The space above him tore open, and the blood-formed man’s enormous hand descended toward him.

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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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