The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 75

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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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The Strongest in Our Neighborhood (75)
“Cough… cough… cough….”
Jang Gain, who had been hurled over two hundred meters into the air by the fist of the Demon from Nasin, lost consciousness briefly, but regained his senses just as he began to fall.
Once conscious, he tried to recall what had happened to him, but his memory was a blur. In his dazed state, he realized he was plummeting toward the ground and desperately called for Sillon, but for some reason, Sillon did not materialize.
As the earth rushed toward him at terrifying speed, he hastily unleashed the Wind Character Technique to lift his body, but the acceleration from his fall sent him tearing through the air.
‘If I keep falling like this, I’m dead.’
When he conjured the wind to its maximum, his speed slowed just enough, but he couldn’t lift himself back up—and he plunged into a pool of blood.
In that instant, blood sprayed in all directions, and Jang Gain felt a sickening agony as though his organs would burst from his mouth. He managed to brace himself on his hands and lift his head.
‘Ugh… every bone in my body feels shattered, and all my organs feel ruptured.’
Even breathing was torture—the worst pain he had ever felt in his life.
Rumble… rumble… rumble…
Then the ground suddenly trembled as though an earthquake had struck, cracking wide open. Through the fissures surged heat so intense it seemed ready to sear flesh.
“What… what is this? This overwhelming presence….”
The moment Jang Gain felt the aura radiating from the Demon of Nasin, his body went rigid and numb.
He had always believed the cult leader was the strongest being he knew, but this was even more formidable.
‘Is this… the true power of a Duke-rank Demon?’
With such power, even in perfect health, he doubted he could have withstood a single exchange.
Then he heard the voice of the Nasin Demon roaring out.
“Lizard or human, the game is over now! I’ll slay you both and bind you forever to the eternal darkness!”
“Now I don’t even have the strength to lift a finger… Am I really going to die here?”
“You, who severed my finger first—I’ll make you the finest Death Knight. But wait… no, this can’t be right… the Causality Cost should still have reserves left… Ah! Because I burned through my true form’s power instead of my human guise, the Cost is completely spent. Blast it! What a cursed turn of events….”
The aura the Nasin Demon had been radiating suddenly extinguished like water doused on a campfire. In its wake, the blood pooling across the ground drained away into the rifts below, and the noxious Demonic Qi that had hung so thick dissipated rapidly.
‘What’s happening? Why is he doing this?’
Shimmer… shimmer…
The body of the Nasin Demon became translucent, then vanished entirely.
“What… what just happened?”
Crack… crack… crack…
Then came the sound of rubble collapsing.
Turning his head, Jang Gain saw the dragon that had been buried under the crumbling wall struggling to its feet, trembling hands bracing against the ground.
The dragon looked toward the spot where the Demon from Nasin had been moments before, then suddenly vomited a torrent of blood.
Jang Gain watched the dragon for a moment, then looked up at the sky.
The backlash of the battle had shattered the magic circle maintaining the gate—the pitch-black clouds had split open, and brilliant light streamed through, illuminating everything around them.
“Phew! I barely made it out alive!”
* * *
“You… you really cut this off yourself?”
Noxcasarsis, now in human form, stared at the Demon’s finger—as tall as a grown man—and looked at Jang Gain with eyes full of disbelief.
“Yeah. I staked my life and wrung out every ounce of strength for a counter-attack, and all I managed was this one finger.”
“You can’t call severing a Duke-rank Demon’s finger a trifle. You’ve just accomplished something extraordinary.”
“Extraordinary? It’s just a finger.”
“It’s a Duke-rank Demon’s finger. The rank of Duke is a seat held only by those who failed to become the Demon King yet possess power rivaling the Demon King himself.”
“Either way, it’s still just one finger.”
“It’s the true form’s finger. All the heads of every Demon you’ve beheaded and stuffed into your Subspace combined don’t equal the value of this single finger. That’s how immense it is.”
Hearing Noxcasarsis’s words, Jang Gain’s eyes widened in astonishment.
The Demon’s finger still twitched slightly.
“Is it really worth that much?”
“Its value is staggering, and your swordsmanship in cutting it—even I’m impressed beyond my expectations.”
“If the value is that high, how much do you think a Mage would pay for it? A Count-rank Demon corpse goes for about ten thousand Gold.”
“I’m not sure of the exact price. You’d have to ask a Mage about that. But one thing’s certain—it’ll be worth several times more than the corpse of a Count-rank Demon.”
“All right then, I’ll stash it in my Subspace for now and ask a Mage about it later.”
Jang Gain picked up the finger and placed it into his Subspace, then walked toward where the female Demon’s headless body lay.
When her head was severed, her body had belonged to a woman, but now—headless—it had transformed into the massive shape of a great bear covered in spines like a porcupine on all sides, complete with a long tail resembling a crocodile’s.
“This is way too big to fit in my Subspace… It’d be a shame to abandon it, but what do I do?”
“My Subspace has plenty of room. I’ll keep it there and take it out for you later.”
“Oh, you’d really do that?”
When Noxcasarsis opened his Subspace and placed the female Demon’s body inside, Jang Gain’s eyes grew round.
“Does that bracelet have Subspace Magic embedded in it?”
“Yeah. That Subspace Bag you carry—the old Mage made that for you, right?”
“Yeah. He said my Subspace was roughly this volume. But how large is yours?”
“About five hundred times the size of yours, I’d estimate.”
In that instant, Jang Gain’s eyes bulged wide.
“Five hundred times? You’re telling me this bracelet holds a space five hundred times larger than this bag?”
“Space Magic’s capacity depends on the mage’s ability. To be honest, those Subspace Bags made by human mages look like garbage to me.”
“Garbage? Do you know how much this costs?”
“It’s probably expensive. But I’m a Dragon—the one called the master of magic.”
“Tch, that just sours my mood.”
“Want me to turn that bag into something truly precious?”
“Turn it precious? How?”
“I’ll upgrade the Sixth-tier Space Magic on that bag to Construction-tier, same as what’s woven into my bracelet.”
“That’s… possible?”
“Of course it is. The Magic Circle’s foundation is already complete, so it won’t be difficult. Hand it over.”
Jang Gain passed the bag to Noxcasarsis, who retrieved several tools from his Subspace, then activated the Magic Circle embedded in the bag to visibility before making adjustments at various points.
“Done. This bag now contains a space similar to my Lair.”
“Fixed in just ten minutes? Isn’t that too simple?”
“The time it takes isn’t what matters—it’s the ability of the one doing the fixing.”
“True enough. Anyway, thank you. I’ll put it to good use.”
“You and I are comrades who’ve crossed the line between life and death together. I can do this much without hesitation.”
“Right, comrades. That naked Demon was terrifyingly strong, I’ll give it that. If it hadn’t been dragged back to the Demon Realm, neither of us would’ve walked away alive.”
“Duke-rank Demons can only be fought by an Ancient Dragon. That you both survived an encounter with one means you acquitted yourselves well. By my standards, it’s something I could boast about to other Dragons.”
“That much?”
“Yes.”
“But I’m curious—are there Duke-rank Demons living in the Demon Gate as well?”
“No. Duke-rank Demons and higher must pay a Causality Cost to cross beyond the Demon Realm. So the strongest Demons in the Demon Gate would be Marquis-rank at best.”
“Marquis-rank? How strong are they?”
“There’s a saying that even Marquis-rank Demons require an Ancient Dragon to oppose. They’d be far stronger than I am.”
“Isn’t that basically no different from Duke-rank, then?”
“No. Marquis-rank Demons lack the Spatial Transfer Ability, so they can be faced without an Ancient Dragon if they leave the Demon Gate. But Duke-rank Demons have Spatial Transfer Ability—they can descend anywhere, and only an Ancient Dragon can stand against them.”
“So the difference between Marquis-rank and Duke-rank comes down to the Spatial Transfer Ability.”
“Exactly.”
“Anyway, that female Demon’s body I put away earlier—transfer it back to my Subspace.”
“Understood.”
Noxcasarsis withdrew the corpse of the female Demon, three times larger than an ogre, when a group of roughly a dozen people came into view in the distance.
* * *
After Meiruji revealed her identity and offered to surrender the Sapphire Domain, Noxcasarsis opened his mouth with an indifferent expression.
“I am Noxcasarsis, master of the Crerarion Mountain Range. What use would I have for this speck of land?”
Meiruji stood at a loss, unable to respond, while Jang Gain beside her let out a slight exasperation.
“There he goes again with ‘master of the Crerarion Mountain Range.’ I told you before—you don’t own it. You just built your Lair there and live in it.”
“Right, ah—sorry. I’ve been saying it for over a thousand years; it just came out of habit.”
The Dragon apologized to Jang Gain, and Meiruji and the knights with her exchanged bewildered glances at him.
‘I thought he said his name was Marquis Gain… What’s going on? Is he another Dragon amusing himself?’
As Meiruji studied Jang Gain, Noxcasarsis continued.
“So you’re Meiruji, then?”
“Yes, great one.”
“I don’t need this land. Say, Gain—you want it?”
“I’m a Marquis of the Smed Kingdom. How could I take lands from the Cram Empire?”
“This woman, the Domain lord’s daughter, offered it to me, so it’s mine now. I can give it to you.”
“If I accept this Domain, the Emperor won’t sit idle. He’ll demand it back immediately. And if I refuse, he’ll send his armies and declare war.”
“The land I give you is mine to give. If he wants war, I won’t stand by.”
“My point is, there’s no need for us to fight the Emperor of this realm just to claim this land.”
“Ah, I see—you’re right. Woman, did you hear? Neither I nor Gain need this land, so you, the Domain lord’s daughter, rule it yourself.”
The Dragon refused, and Meiruji’s mind raced before she suddenly dropped to her knees.
“If Your Grace does not accept this Domain, it will be torn to pieces by the neighboring lords and vanish. I beg your mercy.”
“It’s common everywhere for a weak lord to have his lands seized by his neighbors. Tell me—are you coming to us like this because you don’t want to become the wife or concubine of whichever lord takes your lands?”
“No, sir. It matters little what becomes of me. But I kneel before you both because I wish the people who survived these two months of calamity to live with dignity as human beings.”
“Hmm, I find that hard to understand. When neighboring lords seize a Domain, don’t nobles like you typically become concubines while the domain’s inhabitants are left to live as before?”
“No, sir. This realm differs from others. Our Domains are so vast that it’s common for lords to seize other Domains through warfare. Those who lose such conflicts usually become slaves, with only nobles and the wealthy becoming commoners or merchants.”
“So if I take this Domain, the people would be safe?”
“Yes.”
“But this Domain is nearly ruined. How would the inhabitants survive? Wouldn’t it be better for them to become slaves elsewhere? At least then they wouldn’t starve.”
“Well, that is… actually, if Your Grace becomes the Domain’s lord, you could make somewhat… forceful requests for aid from neighboring Domains.”
“What? So you want me to use my name to intimidate the neighboring Domains into sending supplies?”

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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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