Strongest Kingdom: My Op Kingdom Got Transported Along With Me-Chapter 361 - 360: Zevran Vs. Stegan (part 1)

Zevran moves first.

There is no warning shout, no grand spell chant.

One moment he is hovering, wings spread wide, aura crushing the battlefield into silence.

The next, the air detonates.

Wind collapses inward around Zevran's body as his wings snap back. The pressure compresses until the sky itself seems to fold, and then he vanishes, driven forward by pure wind dominion.

The ground below him caves in.

A sonic boom rips outward, flattening banners, hurling soldiers—human and monster alike—off their feet.

Stegran's eyes widen a fraction.

"So fast—!"

Zevran is already there.

A massive claw wrapped in spiraling wind and condensed earth crashes down like a falling continent.

"—!"

Stegran reacts on instinct.

Poison sigils erupt around him, emerald light flaring as he snaps both hands forward.

"Tier 6 Spell—Venomous Abyss Guard!"

A wall of writhing toxic mist solidifies in front of him, layers upon layers of corrosive poison spinning like a vortex. The spell screams as it meets Zevran's claw.

The impact is catastrophic.

For a split second, Stegran thinks—

I blocked it.

Then the world explodes.

The poison barrier shatters instantly, compressed wind punching straight through it as if it were paper. The force slams into Stegran's body, folding space around him.

His eyes flash.

Too late.

BOOOOM—

Stegran is hurled away like a meteor.

He streaks across the sky, tearing through clouds, then slams into a distant mountain range with earth-shattering force. Stone vaporizes on impact. Peaks crumble. Entire cliff faces collapse as his body burrows deep into the rock.

The mountain breaks.

Avalanches roar down its sides, dust and debris shooting miles into the air.

On the battlefield, every living being freezes.

Human generals stare, mouths open.

Monsters forget to breathe.

Ruk mutters hoarsely, "Damn… His lord's pet is so strong."

Varesh swallows. "He was thrown into the abyss."

Erel'na's blades pause mid-strike, poison dripping from their edges as her compound eyes fix on the distant ruin.

The dust hasn't even settled yet.

Space ripples.

A distortion forms in midair.

Then—

Stegran reappears.

He steps out of warped space as if walking through a curtain, boots touching the air itself. His cloak is torn at the edges, armor cracked in several places, poison energy leaking like smoke from fissures along his arms.

He exhales slowly.

No blood drips.

No bones protrude.

But his expression has changed.

His relaxed confidence is gone.

His eyes burn now—sharp, calculating, wary.

"Tch," Stegran mutters, rolling his shoulder once. The motion sends a faint jolt through his body. He clicks his tongue. "That… actually hurt."

Inside, his heart pounds. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

'I misjudged it.'

He felt it clearly—the moment of impact.

If he had taken that strike head-on without the barrier—

I would have been severely injured.

Stegran's gaze locks onto Zevran again.

Zevran hovers unmoving, wings slowly beating, eyes cold and steady.

"You blocked it," Zevran rumbles, voice echoing like thunder rolling through stone. "Good."

His claws curl.

"But do not misunderstand."

The wind around him deepens, spiraling tighter, sharper. The ground below fractures as earth answers his will.

"That was not a killing blow."

Stegran exhales slowly, poison mist coiling from his lips like breath on a winter morning.

"Oh, I know," he says, voice calm but edged now. "And that's precisely why I'm still standing."

Green sigils ignite across his arms, spreading to his chest, then his neck. The poison around him thickens, no longer a cloud but something structured, threads, veins, patterns that pulse with malignant intent.

Below them, the battlefield remains frozen.

No one dares move.

Because the air itself feels… anchored.

Zevran's eyes narrow

Stegran lifts his one hand.

The poison twists, compresses.

"Tier 6 Spell—Abyssal Venom Domain."

The world shudders

A circular field blooms outward from Stegran, invisible at first—then reality discolors. The air turns sickly green, space warping as if submerged in liquid toxin. Sound dulls. Wind slows. Even gravity feels wrong.

Within the domain, poison is no longer an element.

It is a rule.

Zevran feels it immediately.

The wind around his wings stutters.

The earth beneath him resists his call.

Tiny cracks appear along his scales where corrosive law presses inward.

"Hmph," Zevran growls. "So that's your trick."

Stegran smiles thinly. "Welcome to my world, beast."

Zevran does not retreat.

Instead, his wings spread wider.

The sky darkens—not with clouds, but with pressure. Wind begins to rotate around him, not chaotically, but in perfect layers, each one denser than the last. The ground below answers in kind, plates of earth lifting, rotating, aligning like massive gears.

Zevran's aura sharpens.

"Tier 6 Skill," he intones, voice resonating with something deeper than sound.

The air locks.

"—Heaven-Weight Earthwind."

The battlefield trembles as if caught between two grinding mountains.

Stegran's eyes widen despite himself.

The poison domain shrieks.

Wind no longer moves through space—it claims it. Earth does not rise—it asserts presence. The two forces interlock, forming a crushing spiral that drags everything toward Zevran like a collapsing star.

Stegran feels it.

Not raw force.

But inevitability.

"Tch—!"

He snaps both hands together.

"Tier 6 Spell—Thousandfold Venom Severance!"

Poison blades erupt outward, slicing through space itself. They collide with the incoming spiral, and dissolve.

Not shattered.

Denied.

Zevran's skill does not overpower the poison.

It outweighs it.

The spiral tightens.

The air screams.

Stegran's cloak disintegrates. His armor groans, cracks spreading rapidly as the pressure multiplies. The poison domain collapses inward, eaten alive by the crushing earthwind.

Stegran grits his teeth.

The pressure crashes down on him from every direction, crushing air, bending space, dragging his body toward Zevran's core like an unseen gravity well. His boots skid uselessly against nothing. Even warped space struggles to respond.

"How—" Stegran snarls, veins bulging along his neck. "How are you so strong?"

The words tear out of him, half rage, half disbelief.

Zevran's gaze does not waver.

His wings beat once, slow, deliberate, and the pressure doubles.

"I'm not," Zevran answers calmly, voice rolling through the sky like distant thunder, "you are just weak."

For a heartbeat, there is silence.

Then Stegran laughs.

It starts as a low chuckle, strained but genuine, poison mist spilling from his mouth as his body trembles under the crushing force.

"Heh… hahahaha…" He throws his head back despite the pressure. "Weak?"

The poison around him surges violently, flaring brighter, darker, more vicious.

"I have been a quasi–Tier 7 my entire life," Stegran says, laughter sharp and defiant. "Even in the Central Region, I'd be considered acceptable. Respected."

His eyes snap back to Zevran, burning.

"You think I climbed this far by being weak?"

The laughter dies.

The poison explodes outward.

BOOOOM—

A shockwave ripples through the sky as Stegran forces his domain to detonate from within. Green light fractures the spiral, buying him a breath, just one, and he takes it.

"Tier 6 Spell—Corrosion Reversal!"

The poison does not attack Zevran.

It attacks the pressure itself.

The spell seeps into the earthwind spiral, gnawing at its structure, unraveling layers like rot eating through bone. The crushing force falters for a split second.

Stegran vanishes.

He reappears above Zevran, both hands glowing, sigils overlapping wildly.

"Die!"

A massive spear of condensed poison plunges downward, carrying not just toxicity but erosion—matter, energy, even concepts breaking down in its wake.

Zevran looks up.

His eyes narrow.

"So loud," he mutters.

His wings snap downward.

The sky ruptures.

Wind screams as it folds inward, not to block, but to strike. A compressed wall of atmosphere slams upward, meeting the descending spear head-on.

KRAAAASH—

The collision detonates like a falling star.

The shockwave slams into the battlefield below.

Soldiers stagger.

Knees buckle.

Weapons rattle against armor.

Even those miles away feel the ground quake beneath their feet, as if an earthquake rolls through the land.

Ruk slams his fist into the dirt to steady himself. "They're fighting in the sky… so why does it feel like the world's ending down here?"

Varesh's teeth chatter. "That's not just element power anymore."

Above them, the sky fractures with light.

The poison spear cracks, fractures spreading across its surface, and then explodes into green shards.

Stegran is thrown backward again, spinning violently through the air before forcibly stabilizing himself. His breath comes heavier now. Blood finally drips from the corner of his mouth, sizzling as it falls.

Zevran does not pursue immediately.

He hovers, scales faintly cracked where poison law has kissed them, but already healing under the pressure of his aura.