Chapter 124
Chapter 124
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: EP.30 – What They Needed Wasn't Honor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Shring.
The weapon Derek had handed over was a famous sword in the form of a gladius.
He had no idea where it came from, but it was clearly forged by a master craftsman.
Otherwise, the moment he gripped it in his hand...
Hummm.
"What did he leave behind?"
...there was no way Sword Resonance would activate right away.
A sword that reads its master's fighting spirit and heart.
They call it a famous sword when a renowned master smith infuses it with spirit through their hammering, and such famous swords are so rare they're only found in the kingdom's treasure vaults, right?
And now, a sword that could belong in that vault was in his hand.
"......"
However, Lee Han didn't get excited. He calmly swung the sword through the air, as if taking time to familiarize himself with it.
Whoosh, whoosh!
With each swing, the sword moved faster, its speed accelerating dramatically.
Screeech!
At some point, only afterimages remained, and instead of the blade, only a faint trail of light was visible.
Fwaaaah...!!
The dust around him cleared away thickly, and Lee Han succeeded in bonding with the sword.
Watching this, Maximus remarked,
"Impressive. Did you suppress the Sword Resonance?"
"It's not my will—calling it Sword Resonance when it rings on its own is pathetic."
"Exactly! You can't let a good weapon lead you!! There are plenty of idiots in the North and Center who don't get that, but you do, Ri Han...!"
"It's Lee Han... Whatever. I'm using a bladed weapon from now on, so speak up if you have a problem. I can do without it."
"Haha, as if. It's more interesting now that you're using a blade. And besides."
Clap.
"To keep it fair, I can use one too."
Maximus raised his right arm, extending his hand.
As if waiting for something to come to him.
"......"
"...?"
"Ah, give me a moment. This guy's a bit lost, it seems."
"...No idea what it is, but hurry up. The tunnel's collapsing."
"One minute—no, two... Ah, here it comes!"
Only after the silly comedy ended did Lee Han realize what Maximus had been waiting for.
Whoooosh!
A halberd. Or battle axe, as it's commonly known. It swam through the air and settled into Maximus's hand.
Thud.
It wasn't an ordinary battle axe.
Much larger and longer, with a spear tip, so it could double as a spear.
Made of some unknown material, it gleamed iridescently, clearly a magnificent weapon on par with his famous sword.
Hummm!
He'd never seen such an intense resonance before.
"What is that? Do Northern weapons fly through the sky too?"
"A type of sorcery. They say it's bonded to its owner."
"Handy feature."
Auto-recall function...
That must be incredibly convenient.
But.
"Too bad—that convenient weapon's getting smashed today."
"We'll see about that."
The superhuman monsters had picked up their weapons.
It was like handing guns to wild beasts—and these beasts were master marksmen, no less.
And as everyone knows, the moment a beast sharper than any human takes up a gun...
Crack!
...it's no longer a creature made to lose.
Sword and halberd clashed.
Common sense says the sword should shatter under the halberd's weight, but that common sense crumbled as the sword effortlessly withstood it.
The halberd should have been slow and heavy, yet it seemed faster and lighter than swinging a sword—or even a bamboo staff.
A feast of impossible strength and skill.
Boom!
Kabooom!
The impacts were unimaginable for blades colliding.
The sword sought to cleave the halberd, the halberd to smash the sword.
All the while, they cunningly thrust or hacked at each other's necks, chests, and shoulders.
Strike, slash, shatter, stab.
A truly simple exchange.
But who could possibly intervene in that exchange?
[Keee!!]
[Kiee!!!]
[Kaaa-]!
Were there always things that didn't know the value of their own lives?
The mini-worms, sensing the Mother Worm's death,
rushed toward the enemy who killed their parent.
Dozens, hundreds, thousands...!
Where had they been hiding?
They numbered around 10,000, a terrifying horde.
All the worms caught the scent of their mother's blood and swarmed in for revenge, but...
Slash!
They had picked the worst timing to interfere.
They should have waited until the fight was over.
Spluuurt!!
[!!!!?]
The worms began to die—no, get massacred.
It wasn't intentional on the knights' part.
They hadn't even spared a thought for the worms in the first place, merely crossing blades with each other—where was the spare attention for mere monsters?
The moment their focus wavered even slightly, their own bodies would be carved up.
So they deliberately ignored the worms.
Simply.
Slash!
[...k...ee...?...!]
Those trying to overwhelm the knights got caught in the fight's shockwaves, bisected or exploded.
Spluuurt!
The fiercer their clashes grew, the faster the worms died.
Sword waves from the collisions swept them away, sword pressure crushed and burst them.
[KEEEE!!!]
One particularly large worm roared in fury.
It vented intense rage at the lowly prey daring to kill its siblings and mother, and the large one.
Crunch, crunch!
devoured its siblings and the dead mother's corpse.
Cannibalism.
Survival of the fittest.
Monsters were monsters.
Eat parents and siblings to grow stronger, then avenge them—that was their kind.
That made them humanity's natural predators.
Crunch!!
The worm grew rapidly like that.
Unnatural growth. The worm, just over 3 meters, ballooned like a inflating sphere, becoming even more ferocious and repulsive.
The desert's calamity and terror: Sand Worm.
Matching that majesty—or rather, exceeding even desert sand worms at over 100 meters—it gained power surpassing its mother in an instant.
Now...!
—Stab!!
[[!!!?]]
"What is this?"
Flash!
Lee Han kicked off the ground and scaled the massive sand worm's body in a flash.
Divine Arrow Flight.
Shot like an arrow, he accelerated further, altering his footwork.
An application of Divine Arrow Flight.
Phantom Eight Trigrams Step. The movement technique he'd used in the Ghost King battle accelerated his body, displaying changes too swift for the sand worm's eight eyes to track.
Not just dizzying the eyes, but perfect for toying with a massive monster.
Stab, stab, staaab!!
Traversing 100 meters in one breath with relentless slashes, he carved up the sand worm's enormous body, and it rapidly lost vitality.
Even with the tough, hardened hide of an adult, it served no purpose.
Of course.
How could it know?
That its foe was a human who had fearlessly butchered even a millennium-old troll, called the king of monsters.
Thus, the sand worm, failing to recognize the superior beast...
"—How dare you interfere in a knight's duel. Know your place."
Maximus launched into the air and slammed down hard on the sand worm's head.
Crackle!
What he unleashed was crackling lightning.
The strike that once felled a frost giant in one blow was recreated here.
—Lightning Drop.
Truly like heavenly punishment falling from the sky, the thunder-infused blow scorched down.
[[----.]]
...It should have just fled.
The adult sand worm, now with some intelligence, felt that regret as pitch-black darkness engulfed it.
Kaboooom!!
Crunch.
"...All dead?"
"Mm, seems so."
Unintentionally, the two knights had exterminated every sand worm in the tunnel.
10,000 monsters—small and weak, sure—but wiped from the world in just 10 minutes. An incident, no, an achievement!
Including a super-giant adult sand worm, yet they showed little emotion.
Monsters weren't their current concern.
"Hm, 189 exchanges... Even giants didn't exceed a hundred."
"You count them all while fighting?"
"It just came naturally."
"...This is why geniuses are..."
"Ahaha! Stop it—being called a genius at my age is embarrassing."
189 exchanges.
The number of times their blades had clashed.
Yet no victor after so many. Considering knight duels usually end around 50 exchanges, theirs had lasted exceptionally long.
Were they holding back?
No.
On the contrary, they swung with killing intent, no half-measures in any strike.
Pure full power.
They could swear every clash infused strength, technique, and will.
...Just.
'This is what fighting someone with similar stamina and recovery feels like.'
Unfortunately, neither tired.
Even in a deathmatch, stamina held, wounds healed instantly.
Ironically, they were too similar—indistinguishable in power, endurance, durability.
Perfect stalemate.
If their styles differed, maybe, but they were too alike, making victory hard to seize.
Thus...
"—End it in one strike?"
A strike to claim the opponent's life.
A proposal to conclude the duel. Maximus groaned,
"Mm, I could keep going?"
Not fearing death, but reluctant for the match to end.
But Lee Han pointed upward.
Rumble...
The underground world collapsing even faster now.
"Don't want to end up buried alive."
"Ugh...!!"
Maximus vented his regret with all his might.
He didn't want this duel to end.
Wanted to continue, eternally if possible—a maddeningly tempting battle.
Even as this precious, thrilling time neared its end, he felt only sorrow.
Thus—!
"What a gloomy day—forcing me to take the life of a knight I admire."
"Not even considering you'll be the one dying?"
"Of course—who fights thinking they'll die?"
"...True."
Whoosh.
Thud!
Lee Han raised his sword tip; Maximus aimed his halberd's spearhead.
Rumble rumble rumble!
From the moment killing intent filled them, there was no turning back.
One would face their final day, inevitably.
Yet though their weapons brimmed with murder, their faces were serene.
No hatred or loathing between them—so blades held killing intent, but eyes remained calm.
And so.
"Stealing it without paying."
"Haha, sorry about that."
They didn't spare the teasing.
Lee Han saw it.
What Maximus had "stolen" from him.
'This guy's learning it just by feel.'
The Realm Muscle Arts, Lee Han's signature technique—Maximus had been using it since some point.
Through clashes, what started clumsy sharpened rapidly, growing in moments.
Not even his genius trio or the black-haired regressor could do that...
This guy just endured hits... experienced it and comprehended.
A bit more practice, and it'd be natural.
From mimicking—no, claiming—Hundred-Step Divine Fist, he'd suspected as much.
'Is this the villain's perspective in a wuxia tale? ...Feels pretty shitty.'
There are protagonists like that in wuxia.
Ones who learn techniques at a glance.
Enemies rage in shock, die in cliche scenes—and now he got why.
'They died of qi deviation from anger.'
If someone instantly grasps and masters what you honed over a lifetime, anyone would lose it.
Pure injustice.
Talent was unfair, making people pathetic.
"Sigh, being mortal is a sin..."
"......"
"What? Why look at me like that?"
"No, I'm not saying I'm great, but you seem pretty shameless."
"Me?"
"Yes. Doesn't it feel like I'm the only one stealing?"
"What are you on about?"
"What else—the technique you're preparing now. Isn't that my technique?"
"Ah... This?"
Crackle!
Lightning sparked from Lee Han's sword.
Just like Maximus's Lightning Drop.
Hence Maximus's dumbfounded remark.
He stole too, but so did you.
But Lee Han denied it.
He hadn't stolen the technique.
Just got a new idea from seeing it.
"Your technique's principle is this, right? Apply intense pressure to the hilt for artificial friction, use Sword Resonance to summon lightning. ...Right?"
"......"
"Knew it. The principle's intuitive. Just needs insane grip strength and finesse—tricky, but that's it."
Add more power and ferocity here, and Lightning Drop recreates perfectly.
"It's that common—can't copy it, that's funny."
Lee Han shrugged.
Showing it openly versus stealing blind principles? Not the same.
"......Ha."
At the brazen confidence, Maximus let out a hollow laugh.
First time his hearty demeanor vanished.
That absurd.
'No one copied that "common" principle because they didn't know it?'
Northern knights couldn't mimic even when taught; explaining the principle got "Don't joke!" or "Mocking me!!"—but this guy calls it easy.
But more absurd was...
Whoooosh!!
"Thanks anyway. Makes it possible now."
"......"
His technique...
No, it wasn't his anymore.
Like a garment tailored perfectly for Lee Han.
What Maximus lacked, Lee Han had.
Freedom of thought, flexibility of ideas.
Crackle!
Lightning spread wide.
Blue sword energy illuminated the dark underworld.
Fwaaah!
Plum blossoms awakened battling the Ghost King.
Sliced by Knight Veil's sword threads in Tristan.
Realized Arhat against the marquis.
Now, spreading new energy with the sword—a new idea uniting all enlightenments.
What he unveiled was the swordsmanship of the Nangong family, hegemons of Anhui famed for sword of chivalry.
But he shunned vague "Emperor Sword" or "Heavenly Thunder."
His chosen sword style and name...
"Boundless Sword."
—Sky-Boundless Sword.
The blue-infused sword force resembled the blue sky itself, drawing a chakram that gradually enveloped the entire blade.
The chakram, the sword circle, spun ever faster.
Threateningly, as Lee Han's energy intensified—!!
Accomplishing this impossibility, Lee Han asked,
"How is it? Not bad, right?"
"......Wh-who's calling who a genius..."
Maximus, with his iron heart unshakable by anything, stuttered now.
A first.
Feeling not just shock, but awe toward someone not his brother.
...Did others feel this seeing him?
"Kuh...! Kuhahaha!!"
But soon, booming laughter erupted from Maximus.
He was terrifying.
Fear gripped him—that taking that strike might mean death.
It was that transcendent a sight and power.
Thus, Maximus...!
'Ahh, I'm happy! So damn happy!!'
He felt emotion swallowing even fear.
Grateful for everything.
Blessed to be born with such talent.
Because he could fight this man.
This man before him was bliss.
So he could stake it all!!
Roooar!!
An ominous energy swirled around Maximus's spearhead.
If Lee Han drew inspiration from his technique to invent anew here, Maximus was the opposite.
Stealing Realm, he'd learned to make his body tougher, unleash full-body power completely.
The man who seized the great warrior title through heaven-given body, talent, and endless battle had finally gained the means to squeeze every ounce.
Risk of body collapsing under the strain...
'Who cares about that now?'
Didn't matter.
Groooan!
The spearhead screamed.
The fearsome Maximus's Realm,
—Layered Realm erupted repeatedly, gathering power.
Crackle crackle!!
The Lightning Drop that slew the frost giant.
Transformed more destructively, like a horn.
If naming it,
"Call it Sky Shatterer."
"Not one to talk, but your naming sense sucks."
"Simple and direct—good, right?!"
"How about Heaven Breaker?"
"...That's weirder."
"......You look like a fake cultist."
"?"
They wanted to observe each other's techniques—built on their own—a bit more, but alas...
Rumble rumble boom!
Their rampage had doomed the underworld in ten seconds.
So they ended the talk.
Or even without words.
Hummm!
Roooar!
The blades' clash would be their final exchange.
...Some might ask:
Why risk life in a duel without fame, glory, or praise?
But they'd likely answer the same.
Meaningless.
Such things are illusions, scattered by others' gossip anytime.
What they needed was "now."
This fulfilling, precious now, feeling each other—and themselves—alive.
"───."
Thus, the two men lived the instantaneous present without regret, giving their all.
To leave no lingering attachments this moment.
That might be
Fwaaah───!
why they could smile any time.
In the collapsing avalanche of dirt and rock, blade met spearhead, and where no sky should be in the underworld...
'Blue Sky' illuminated it.