30 Years After Reincarnating, It Turns Out This World Was A Rofan?! novel Chapter 123

Shing.

The object Derrick had handed him was a masterwork sword, shaped like a gladius.

Where it had come from, Ihan couldn’t say, but it was undoubtedly forged by a legendary smith. The instant he gripped it in his hand—

Hum.

“What did he just give me?”

The sword resonated.

This phenomenon, known as “sword resonance,” could only occur with weapons imbued with spiritual energy by a true master. Such masterwork blades were treasures, rarely found outside the royal vaults of kingdoms.

And now, one of those treasures rested in his hand.

“....”

Unmoved by excitement, Ihan instead took a moment to familiarize himself with the blade. He swung it lightly in the air, testing its balance.

Whoosh. Whoosh!

Each swing grew faster, accelerating until—

Swoosh!

The blade’s motion left only afterimages behind, its edge blurring into faint streaks of light.

Whooosh...!!

Dust scattered from around him as Ihan achieved a seamless connection with the sword.

Watching this display, Maximus commented:

“Impressive. Did you suppress the sword’s resonance?”

“Letting a weapon wail on its own is a disgrace. It’s not my will if it cries out like that.”

“Exactly! No one should ever be controlled by their weapon, no matter how great it may be! There are so many fools in the North and Central regions who fail to grasp that, but you understand, Lee Hyan!”

“It’s Ihan. Whatever. I’m using this blade now, so if you’ve got a problem, speak up. I can fight barehanded if you prefer.”

“Haha, of course not! If anything, this makes it more interesting. And besides—”

Thud.

“It’s only fair I use a blade as well.”

Maximus raised his right arm and stretched his hand outward, as if awaiting something.

“....”

“...?”

“Ah, hold on a moment. It seems to be wandering off somewhere.”

“...Whatever it is, hurry up. This tunnel’s collapsing.”

“Just a minute—no, two minutes. Ah, here it comes!”

After this absurd comedy, Ihan finally understood what Maximus had been waiting for.

Whoosh!

A crescent-shaped polearm, known both as a halberd and a battleaxe, flew through the air and landed in Maximus’s grasp.

Thud.

It was no ordinary battleaxe.

It was significantly larger and longer, with a spear-like tip that made it versatile for thrusting as well.

Its radiant material glimmered under the light, revealing it to be just as much a masterpiece as Ihan’s sword.

Hum!

The resonance of the weapon was unlike anything Ihan had ever seen.

“What’s this? Do Northern weapons fly through the air now?”

“It’s a form of sorcery. They say it links the weapon to its owner’s body.”

“That’s a tempting feature.”

Automatic retrieval?

Ihan thought to himself how convenient that must be.

However—

“What a shame. That convenient weapon is about to get smashed today.”

“Let’s see about that.”

The two titans now wielded weapons.

It was akin to arming wild beasts with firearms—except these beasts were also sharpshooting experts.

And as anyone would agree, the moment an animal smarter than a human gets hold of a gun—

Crack! Crackle!

It stops being a mere creature and becomes a force of destruction.

++++

The sword and the halberd clashed.

By logic, the sword should have broken under the weight of the halberd. Yet, defying all expectations, the sword withstood the immense force effortlessly.

Similarly, the halberd, far too heavy to swing swiftly, moved faster and lighter than even a bamboo staff.

A spectacle of impossible strength and skill.

Boom! BOOM!

The sound of their weapons colliding resonated like something far beyond steel.

The sword sought to cut through the halberd, while the halberd aimed to shatter the sword.

Each strike cleverly targeted vital points—neck, chest, shoulders—seeking to pierce or sever.

Slashing, striking, breaking, stabbing.

The exchange was deceptively simple yet unimaginably intense.

Who could hope to intervene in such a duel?

[keee!!]

[kiee!!!]

[kaaa-!]

But of course, there are always creatures too ignorant to value their lives.

Sensing the death of their Mother Worm, swarms of Mini Worms emerged, flooding toward the perceived enemy who had slain her.

Dozens, hundreds, thousands...!

Where had they all been hiding?

Their sheer numbers, nearing ten thousand, were terrifying. Drawn by the scent of their mother’s blood, they surged forward, seeking vengeance.

But—

Slash!

They picked the wrong moment to intervene.

They should have waited until the fight was over.

Splatter!

[!!!!?]

The worms began to die—not just die, but be utterly annihilated.

It wasn’t that the two warriors deliberately targeted them.

Neither Ihan nor Maximus paid any mind to the worms. They had no attention to spare for anything other than their duel, where even a moment’s lapse in focus could mean their own demise.

Thus, they ignored the worms entirely.

And yet—

Slash!

[...k...ee...?......!]

Those foolish enough to lunge at the knights were caught in the aftershocks of the battle, their bodies cleaved in two or pulverized outright.

Splatter!

The more ferocious the clash became, the faster the worms perished.

The shockwaves from the swords swept through them, while the pressure from the strikes crushed them into nothingness.

[KEEEE!!!]

A particularly massive worm let out a furious roar, seething with rage.

It was enraged that such lowly prey had killed its siblings and mother. In its wrath, the giant worm began devouring its own kind—both its dead siblings and the remains of its mother.

Crunch, crunch!

Cannibalism.

The survival of the strongest.

For monsters, nothing mattered beyond growing stronger—even if it meant consuming their kin and parent. They lived only to grow and to take revenge.

That’s why they were humanity’s greatest adversaries.

CRUNCH!

The worm grew rapidly.

Its growth defied reason. The creature, which had been merely three meters long, swelled like a balloon, becoming larger, more ferocious, and far more grotesque.

A Sand Worm, the terror and scourge of the desert.

Except now, it had far surpassed even its desert kin, growing to over 100 meters in length—far beyond anything seen before.

In its sudden growth, it had surpassed the strength of its mother.

At this moment—

Slash!!

[[!!!?]]

“What the hell is this?”

Whoosh!

Ihan launched himself into the air, landing atop the massive Sand Worm with remarkable ease.

Arrow Step.

Like a fired arrow, he accelerated midair, shifting his footing with incredible speed and precision.

This was an application of his movement technique, Phantom Octagonal Step, a skill he had previously used against the Ghost King. It allowed him to accelerate unpredictably, moving so swiftly that even the Sand Worm’s eight eyes couldn’t follow his movements.

More than just disorienting his enemy, it was the perfect method for toying with such a massive creature.

Slice! Slash! SLASH!!

In mere moments, Ihan traversed the Sand Worm’s massive body, slashing it repeatedly.

Despite the creature’s newly hardened, resilient shell, it couldn’t withstand his strikes.

Of course, it couldn’t.

After all, Ihan was the same man who had mercilessly carved through the Millennium Troll, a monster once considered the king of beasts.

The Sand Worm, unable to comprehend its opponent’s overwhelming superiority, could do nothing but succumb to its fate.

“How dare you interfere in a knight’s duel? Know your place.”

Crash!

Maximus leaped into the air, bringing his halberd down with a devastating blow upon the Sand Worm’s head.

CRACK!

Lightning sparked and exploded upon impact.

The blow replicated the one that had once felled the Frost Giant in a single strike—

The Thunder Strike.

An attack imbued with the wrath of the heavens, it struck the Sand Worm like divine punishment.

[[----.]]

In its final moments, the newly evolved Sand Worm seemed to regret its actions.

It should have fled instead of meddling.

But by then, it was too late.

CRASH!!!

++++

Crunch.

“...Did we kill them all?”

“Hmm, it seems so.”

Unintentionally, the two knights had completely eradicated all the Sand Worms in the tunnels.

In just ten minutes, an army of ten thousand monsters had been wiped off the face of the earth—a feat, no, an achievement.

Among the casualties was even a fully grown colossal Sand Worm, but neither knight seemed particularly moved by this.

Their minds were focused elsewhere, far from the matter of mere monsters.

“Hmph, 189 exchanges... Not even the giants I’ve fought have gone past a hundred.”

“You counted all that while fighting?”

“It just comes naturally.”

“...This is why geniuses are so insufferable.”

“Haha! Don’t flatter me; it’s embarrassing to hear that at my age.”

189 exchanges.

That was the number of times their blades had collided.

And despite such an intense back-and-forth, there was still no conclusion.

Considering most knightly duels resolved within fifty exchanges, their battle had lasted an exceptionally long time.

But had they been holding back?

Not at all.

Every strike they exchanged was delivered with the intent to kill. There was no room for half-measures. freewёbnoνel.com

Each blow was a collision of pure power, skill, and will.

They could swear that every clash of their weapons carried everything they had.

Yet—

‘So this is what it’s like to fight someone with similar stamina and recovery.’

Unfortunately, neither of them grew tired.

Even in this fight to the death, their stamina didn’t wane, and their injuries healed almost instantly.