The Strongest in Our Neighborhood - Chapter 8

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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 (8)
“How is that even possible… ah, that’s not the important part right now. I’m currently somewhere between Hoarn Peak and Neison Peak.”
―Understood. I’ll head in that direction.
“Good.”
Elder Malata finished the communication and wore a slightly dumbfounded expression.
“Commanding a Saber Tiger like a hunting dog? Was it ever a monster that could be tamed?”
Elder Malata tilted his head in puzzlement, then turned back toward the place where the trail had gone cold.
Upon arriving there, he used a Wind Spirit and a Torch to survey the surroundings, but the darkness made it difficult to find any tracks.
Tap. Tap-tap-tap…….
After searching for roughly an hour, Elder Elena’s party arrived.
“Elder Malata.”
“Oh! Elder Elena. You made good time.”
“Yes.”
“So there really is someone who can command a Saber Tiger. I’ve seen skilled Taming Ability users control wolves or eagles, but I’ve never seen one handle a Saber Tiger before.”
“Exactly. And the strength of that Taming Ability—they handle the Saber Tiger like it’s a house cat. But we still haven’t caught the traffickers’ trail?”
“No, they seem to be very skilled. They’re craftily creating and erasing multiple false trails, so we’re having a difficult time keeping up the pursuit.”
“If they’re heading that direction, they’re making for the Smed Kingdom. Wouldn’t it be better to wait at the kingdom’s entrance?”
“I’ve considered it, but they seem so methodical that there’s a high chance they won’t move as I anticipate. So I haven’t had much choice but to keep following the trail like this.”
“I see. But Hasth, Marita, and Rubina…….”
“Ah, they’re searching the other fork in the path.”
Shortly after, Jang Gain joined Elder Malata’s group in surveying the area, and inside he let out a short, quiet sigh.
‘I should have learned Tracking when I had the chance.’
Though he had been among the top ranks of the Demon Cult’s later generation and was skilled in martial arts, he had paid little attention to ancillary skills like Tracking or Stealth.
‘My Ki Sensing picks up nothing, and I can’t think of any good alternatives.’
Snap.
At that moment, the Saber Tiger suddenly bit and tugged at his pants.
“What?”
Growl, grrrrowl…….
Thinking the Saber Tiger must have a reason for pulling like that, he went along with where it was dragging him.
“What? Is there something?”
Once Jang Gain began following, the Saber Tiger released his pants and gradually began to pick up speed.
“Can’t ask a mute beast for answers. Did you find something?”
Thinking about it, the creature could sense a far wider range than his Ki Sensing, so there was likely something there.
Since Jang Gain had nothing to report to the others yet, he continued following the Saber Tiger.
Then suddenly the Saber Tiger crouched flat and its shoulders trembled.
“What? You want me to ride?”
Growl.
“Got it. I’m mounting up.”
As Jang Gain climbed onto its back, the Saber Tiger burst into a rapid run.
“Where are we going? Did you pick up the scent of the traffickers?”
Based on what he’d experienced so far, he knew the Saber Tiger was quick-witted and intelligent, so he quietly extended his Ki Sensing in the direction the creature was running.
He could feel the presence of monsters with considerable power scattered throughout, but he detected no human presence in the vicinity yet.
After running for roughly an hour, several human presences registered in his Ki Sensing. From that point on, the Saber Tiger’s speed dropped sharply, and soon it began moving quietly and deliberately.
‘This creature is incredibly intelligent. Are all Spirit Beasts from the Celestial Realm like this?’
Though it couldn’t speak, the fact that it understood what humans needed and acted accordingly made him think it was far superior to the Spirit Beasts he’d seen in the Demon Cult.
As the distance closed, he could tell people were nearby without even deploying his Ki Sensing.
Tap-tap.
Jang Gain lightly tapped the Saber Tiger’s head twice—a signal he’d trained it with recently to stop.
Once the Saber Tiger halted, Jang Gain stroked its head and leaned close to its ear, speaking in a low voice.
“If you get too close, you might startle the horses and they’ll bolt. Stay still here.”
The Saber Tiger seemed to understand, its eyes blinking silently.
Jang Gain dampened his presence and approached where the people were gathered.
They had pitched a tent by a stream, with a campfire in the center, and the tent was keeping the firelight from spreading to the surrounding area.
Around the tent, about a dozen horses were tethered, and beyond them he could see eight people bound together like dried fish.
Jang Gain inferred that those bound were the kidnapped victims, and those eating around the campfire were the traffickers.
‘I thought these child traffickers wouldn’t be particularly strong, but there are three here as powerful as Elder Elena.’
Jang Gain paused to consider.
Though he had no weapon, he could beat opponents of that caliber with his bare hands. But if someone took a child hostage during the fight, things would become complicated.
‘I’ll have to approach stealthily and strike first. If I take down six or seven at the start, I can handle the rest without too much trouble.’
He picked up several stones suitable for throwing from the ground and began moving stealthily through the shadows, approaching carefully.
Ding, ding, ding!
Though she had touched nothing, the bells suddenly erupted in a deafening clamor.
‘What is it?’
“The Alarm Magic has triggered. Scan the perimeter!”
The men sitting around the campfire sprang to their feet and shouted. Jang Gain, left with no other choice, hurled the three stones he’d been holding at the three strongest of the traffickers. Without hesitation, he drove off the ground in a leap.
At that same instant, he launched himself skyward.
* * *
“What? Where did Jang Gain go?”
Kairin, who had been searching the forest through her spirits, tilted her head in puzzlement when she could not spot Jang Gain or Saber Tiger.
“Sairan, have you seen Jang Gain? I don’t see Saber Tiger either.”
“He seemed to head toward where Eldom was a moment ago. Eldom?”
“Yes, what is it?”
“Have you seen Jang Gain?”
“Jang Gain? Now that you mention it, I don’t see him. Where did he go?”
When the three of them could not find Jang Gain or Saber Tiger, they asked the others. The warrior Gulan pointed in one direction with his finger.
“He went that way with Saber Tiger a while back. What’s wrong?”
“How long ago did he leave in that direction?”
“Hard to say. Perhaps twenty or thirty minutes.”
“He hasn’t come back since then?”
“I haven’t seen him since.”
“Do you think he found something and went after it?”
As the three of them headed toward the undergrowth where Jang Gain had vanished, Gulan followed at their heels.
Though the forest lay cloaked in deep darkness, the trail of Saber Tiger was easy enough to follow by torchlight.
After proceeding for roughly twenty minutes, they spotted several hoofprints—marks they had failed to find until now.
“Found it! We’ve finally found their trail! I’m going at once to inform the elders. You three stay here and wait.”
Gulan rushed off without waiting for their reply, and Kairin, Sairan, and Eldom began to follow the hoofprints and the traces that lay beyond them.
Though false tracks and obscured areas appeared here and there, they were not confused, for Saber Tiger’s prints were unmistakable.
“If Jang Gain had discovered such traces, he would have reported it to us. Why would he go alone?”
“Indeed. No matter how confident he is, these hunters who abducted the teachers and children from within the barrier must be dangerous.”
* * *
Ding, ding, ding!
As the sudden chiming began and the hunters who had abducted them sprang to their feet, Teacher Gaanna opened her eyes wide and surveyed her surroundings.
‘Could the elders have arrived? If they did, they surely would have seen through the hunters’ deception.’
Not only Gaanna but the other teachers and children too opened their eyes wide and looked about.
The hunters rose at the sound of the alarm and drew their weapons, standing guard. Then came a sudden air-rending crack, and two hunters collapsed with their heads split open. A third raised his shield to protect his skull, but the shield shattered and he tumbled to the ground, blood streaming from his arm.
‘Those who cut down my and Hosimulren’s spirits with a single blade… are they dying so easily?’
Teacher Gaanna blinked in disbelief.
Both she and Hosimulren were approaching Intermediate Rank—skilled practitioners of considerable power. Especially in places saturated with Spirit Power like Lake Dekana, Lower-Tier Spirits displayed strength nearly reaching Intermediate level. The spirits they had summoned were comparable to true Intermediate Rank spirits.
These were the ones who had sliced through those spirits with a single stroke.
Two such formidable warriors with their heads bursting open in moments, another wallowing on the ground with arms drenched in blood.
Were the elders truly so skilled?
Absolutely not. And she felt no Spirit Power whatsoever in that attack.
‘If not the elders… then who?’
“An ambush! Aaargh! Aedurn and Yeohunna’s heads—they’ve burst!”
When two of their number fell so swiftly, the hunters raised their shields toward the direction from which the attack had come and huddled inward.
Then, in a flash—
A figure clad in beast-hide garments burst forth from the darkness behind where the hunters had been looking, seized a hunter’s blade, and in one fluid motion slashed the throats of two men standing near.
“Behind! Behind, damn you!”
“Kill him!”
…
The hunters wheeled and rushed at him all at once, weapons raised.
Slash, slash-slash…
In an instant, the beast-hide clad figure swung his blade—light flashing bright—and the heads of three men who had charged at him separated from their bodies and rolled across the ground.
The remaining hunters’ footsteps faltered of their own accord.
Too many comrades had fallen without even putting up a fight.
As the figure in beast-hide kicked aside the body of a headless companion and advanced, the surviving hunters recoiled in terror, backing away slowly.
One of them suddenly turned toward where the teachers and children stood, raising his blade at Teacher Gaanna’s throat.
Roooaaarrr!
A roar that seemed to split the eardrums tore through the night, and a dark, massive shape exploded from the shadows, striking the head of the man who had been about to attack Teacher Gaanna.
Crack.
The opponent’s head burst with blood and he collapsed; moments later, the firelight illumined the dark mass lying there.
Only then did Gaanna recognize it as Saber Tiger.
“Mmph, shaaaagh, ugh ugh…….”
With a gag stuffed in her mouth, she couldn’t form proper words, so she scuttled backward on her haunches, trying to put distance between herself and the beast. But she was already bound together with the other teachers and the children, so she couldn’t budge an inch.
“Gah! It’s, it’s Saber Tiger!”
“Where did Saber Tiger come from all of a sudden!”
“R, run! Damn it, the alarm was going off because of Saber Tiger!”
“Aaaahhh! Help me!”
“…….”
Teacher Gaanna watched the hunters scatter in blind panic at the sight of Saber Tiger, and squeezed her eyes shut.
The beast might find it difficult to chase down the fleeing hunters, but she and the others were bound by rope—sitting ducks on a nicely prepared platter.
‘Is this how I die?’
She couldn’t muster the courage to look at Saber Tiger’s jaws descending toward her, so she kept her eyes clenched tight.
‘…….’
But time passed without anything happening, and she heard no screams from the children or other teachers bound beside her.
Curiosity overcoming her fear, she cracked her eyes open—only to see Saber Tiger chasing down the fleeing hunters, snapping at them with lethal intent.
“Ugh, ugh, how, uuugh, did, uggh, this…….”

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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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