The Greatest Estate Developer - Chapter 25: Beasts of the Underground (3)
“Baron! Something terrible—t-t-terrible has happened!”
It was a bright midday.
A soldier from the estate burst into the baron’s office, gasping for breath.
He’d completely disregarded decorum, rushing inside without permission.
A moment later, the baron’s teacup fell from his hand and shattered against the floor.
*Clang!*
“…What did you say?”
The baron’s face turned pale.
“Say it again. What happened? Beast ants?”
“Yes, Baron! Beast ants have appeared inside the tunnel where young master Lloyd was digging.”
“And Lloyd?”
“The workers said he stayed behind, shouting for everyone else to evacuate…”
“Alone?”
“No, sir. Sir Javier stayed with him.”
“…”
The soldier reporting the news looked miserable.
The beast ants from beyond the eastern mountains were no ordinary threat.
Each one was stronger than a wolf.
Their numbers were overwhelming.
They knew no fear.
They were coordinated.
Once marked by them, survival was next to impossible—especially underground.
“Sir Bayern has already gathered the soldiers and stationed them at the entrance of the tunnel. Preparations to seal it off are also underway.”
It was the only logical course of action.
If the ants emerged from the tunnel, they would raze everything in their path.
The people of the estate would be slaughtered.
Not only the residents but even the livestock would be hunted, their remains turned into meatballs.
Those lucky enough to survive would be paralyzed and stored as food, or worse—fed to the ants’ larvae.
To prevent such a disaster, the tunnel had to be sealed immediately.
And yet, for some reason, the baron remained silent.
“…”
“Baron?”
“…”
“Sir, Sir Bayern insisted that we need your orders…”
The soldier hesitated, sensing the baron’s unusual behavior.
Then, without a word, the baron abruptly stood.
He opened a cabinet and began pulling out armor.
“Sir…?”
Ignoring the soldier’s confusion, the baron started gearing up.
Only the sounds of armor clinking and snapping into place echoed through the room.
*Clink, clank! Snap!*
He donned a brigandine reinforced with steel plates.
His knees were protected by gleaming pauldrons.
He slipped into his demigrieves, secured his bascinet helmet, and slung a shield over his back. Finally, he fastened his well-worn longsword to his belt.
It was clear to anyone watching—he was preparing for battle.
And yet, the soldier couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The baron hadn’t wielded a sword in over a decade.
“Sir… Are you…?”
“Let’s go,” the baron said briskly.
“W-what?”
“If you can’t keep up, I’ll leave you behind.”
*Bang!*
The baron kicked the office door open and stormed out.
He sprinted down the hallway, rushed to the stables, and mounted a horse.
“Hya!”
With a sharp kick to the horse’s side, the baron galloped off toward the mine, his thoughts racing faster than the wind.
‘Lloyd, hold on. Just hold on a little longer. I’m coming.’
♣
*Thud-thud-thud! Swish!*
Heavy footsteps pounded against the ground.
A sword sliced through the air with fierce precision.
It fell in a vertical arc.
*Crunch!*
“Kieeek!”
The beast ant’s head split cleanly under the impact of Javier’s longsword, spraying transparent fluid as it collapsed.
But by the time its head hit the ground, Javier’s sword was already out, seeking the next target with cold, calculated focus.
*Shhk! Slice! Thunk!*
He slashed sideways, spun his body, and deflected a blow from below.
Then he thrust, withdrew, and swung upward in one fluid motion.
And just as seamlessly, he charged forward again like a gust of wind.
‘Left slash, right cut, upper diagonal strike, side thrust, followed by a downward slash?’
Running behind him, Lloyd couldn’t help but be amazed.
‘Damn, that’s the real deal. So this is what it means to be a true knight.’
Javier’s swordsmanship was in a different league from Sir Neumann’s.
Every movement flowed naturally, as smooth as water.
At the same time, his strikes were ferocious and unrelenting.
Between each motion, Javier executed countless subtle feints and deceptive moves—split-second flickers of intent, mixing deadly strikes with misleading attacks.
In a word, his swordsmanship was art itself—fluid, destructive, and mesmerizing.
Ants fell like grass before a scythe, sliced to pieces by his flawless blade.
“Hey! Aren’t you tired yet?” Lloyd shouted from behind, struggling to keep pace.
Javier cast a quick glance over his shoulder, still swinging his sword with perfect control.
“I am.”
His voice was calm, steady—betraying no hint of exhaustion.
But Lloyd knew better.
‘We don’t have much time.’
No matter how skilled Javier was, he was only human.
Humans had limits.
Even Javier couldn’t fight forever.
If he were a sword master, he could continuously circulate mana and fight without tiring. But he wasn’t there yet.
For now, he could only delay his exhaustion with the Asrahan breathing technique—a temporary solution at best.
“That brilliant plan you mentioned, Lord Lloyd… is it ready yet?” Javier asked, slicing another ant into three pieces.
Lloyd grimaced.
“Not yet!”
“When?”
“I don’t know! I’m still looking!”
Javier sighed.
“Less talking, more cutting! The more we move, the better our chances!” Lloyd barked, pushing forward.
He was telling the truth.
Even now, he had his intermediate surveying skill activated, constantly scanning the ground around them.
He was searching desperately for one thing.
Somewhere beneath the ant tunnel—there had to be a methane gas pocket.
‘It has to be here. This whole area is full of bituminous coal seams. There’s no way there isn’t methane.’
With Javier leading the charge, Lloyd ran deeper into the ant tunnel, his skill working overtime to detect the soil and rock conditions around them.
And then, finally—
‘I found it!’
Just five meters below, a thin vein of methane gas appeared on Lloyd’s scan.
It wasn’t the main pocket, but it was connected.
‘But there’s no way to reach it from here.’
The tunnel and the methane vein were separated by five meters of solid earth and rock—a thickness that would take ages to dig through with a shovel.
The tunnel also wasn’t wide enough to enlarge Bangul for help.
“Javier! This way!” Lloyd pointed down a side path.
“From now on, follow only the directions I give!”
“Understood. But—”
“But what?”
“Are we going to make it out alive?”
“…”
Javier’s calm gaze met Lloyd’s.
In that moment, Lloyd realized—Javier had already prepared himself to die here.
The knight’s expression was serene, resigned to meeting his end.
Seeing that, Lloyd couldn’t help but grin.
“What? Are you scared?”
“I’m not scared.”
“Then what?”
“I just find it… unfair.”
“Unfair? Why?”
“I’d hoped to die for someone more worthy.”
“Huh?”
“As a knight, the most honorable death is to lay down one’s life for someone noble and respectable. Dying alongside someone like you… feels like a waste.”
“Heh! So, you think dying with me would be meaningless, huh?”
“Exactly.”
“Wow, you’re really letting loose, huh?”
“Well, since we’re about to die, I might as well be honest.”
*Slash! Thunk!*
The ants kept coming, and Javier kept cutting them down.
Lloyd followed close behind, using his torch and shovel to fend off the ants chasing them from behind.
As they fought and bantered, they continued pushing deeper into the ant tunnel.
“Alright! If we’re gonna die, let’s at least have some fun! Time for full honesty!”
“What’s honesty got to do with this?”
“It means saying whatever’s on your mind, rank be damned! Ugh!”
“I like it. Let’s do it.”
With that, Javier plunged down the left path, slashing and thrusting as they ran.
Their verbal sparring continued unabated.
“Okay, I’ll start! You’re annoying as hell, you know that?”
“Why?”
“Because you’re *too* good-looking!”
“My face is just how I was born.”
“Exactly! That’s what makes it so infuriating!”
“Have you finished your complaints, my lord?”
“And if I haven’t?”
“Then I’ll take my turn. I’d hate for this to be one-sided.”
“Ha! Trying to save time, are you?”
“Precisely.”
“Smart move. Time is money, my friend. Not that you have any of the three!”
“…”
“What’s wrong? Why so quiet? Got nothing to say now?”
“I just realized something quite pitiful.”
“Pitiful? What’s that?”
“My nipples are better looking than your face.”
“…What the—”
It was a verbal gut-punch Lloyd didn’t expect. Grinding his teeth, he fired back.
“Ha! And yet, with that face, why don’t you have a girlfriend?”
“I’ve been fully dedicated to my swordsmanship training.”
“Oh, so you’re a lifelong bachelor?”
“But aren’t you in the same situation, Lord Lloyd?”
“What?”
“As far as I know, you don’t have a girlfriend either. Furthermore—”
“Furthermore, what?”
“I’ve received quite a few love letters.”
“What? Love letters?”
“Yes.”
Even while swinging his sword, Javier’s eyes gleamed with a quiet confidence that made Lloyd clench his fists in frustration.
Using his steel shovel, Lloyd blocked the lower mandibles of an ant and shouted back.
“How many?!”
“Hmm, I’d say I have about two boxes of them back at my quarters.”
“That’s a lie!”
“It’s the truth.”
“Impossible! How big is our estate’s population? You’d have to get love letters from nearly every woman here to collect that many!”
Javier let out a smug chuckle.
“Don’t underestimate us bachelors.”
“Yeah? Well, at least I brush my teeth *solo!*”
“…”
“Hello, pleasure to meet you. You must be *Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Solo!*”
“…”
“Will you be spending yet another *solo* night alone?”
“Enough, you insufferable, stinking gorilla!”
Lloyd bellowed, cutting their banter short—not because he’d lost the verbal sparring but because they’d finally reached their destination.
Javier, sensing the shift in Lloyd’s tone, became serious.
“This is it?”
“Yeah.”
Lloyd scanned the ground with his surveying skill, confirming what he’d detected earlier.
About 1.5 meters below lay a cavity. But it wasn’t just an empty space.
‘It’s a methane gas pocket. And it’s huge.’
What Lloyd could see with his skill was only a fraction of the massive gas deposit beneath them. He had found the jackpot.
Lloyd turned to Javier.
“From here on, I’m digging. Cover me.”
“Understood.”
At this point, they had no choice but to trust each other completely. There was no time for questions or doubts.
Lloyd gripped his shovel and started frantically digging at the ground beneath him.
Meanwhile, Javier held off the swarming ants, his sword flashing as it cut through their ranks.
Then, suddenly—
*ROAR!*
A terrifying screech echoed from one of the side tunnels.
The walls shook as something massive approached, pounding its way through the narrow passage.
It had a head twice the size of the other soldier ants and a body so large it filled the entire tunnel. Its mandibles were longer and sharper than any longsword.
‘The queen ant?’
It had to be.
But Lloyd didn’t care.
‘The queen isn’t the goal here!’
This wasn’t some strategy game where killing the leader would end the battle.
Even if they took down the queen, the colony would keep fighting. At worst, killing her might even enrage the swarm further.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was the original plan.
“Hold it off! I need time to dig this out!”
“Understood.”
Javier raised his longsword, positioning himself between Lloyd and the charging queen ant.
With a furious roar, the queen ant barreled forward, smashing through the walls and widening the narrow tunnel as she advanced.
Javier didn’t flinch.
*Huff.*
He took a deep breath, centering himself.
With that single breath, the mana in the air trembled and surged toward him, forming into three precise energy circles—Triple Circles.
The concentrated energy amplified his strength, pouring into his sword.
*Swish! Clang!*
The queen ant’s mighty mandibles clashed with Javier’s longsword, the two forces colliding with a deafening sound.
The first strike ended in a deadlock.
*CRUNCH!*
“…!”
“Kurgh?”
Javier and the queen ant glared at each other, locked in a stalemate.
Both were surprised by the other’s strength.
Then, the queen ant made the next move.
“Kurrrgh!”
Her massive antennae swung like giant clubs, each blow heavier than a sledgehammer.
Javier ducked under one, using the momentum to drive his sword upward.
The queen countered, snapping her mandibles at him.
And so began their brutal duel.
They attacked and defended in a relentless exchange—blocking, slashing, thrusting, and striking.
Javier fought fiercely, but the tide was slowly turning against him.
‘He’s wearing down!’
Lloyd dug faster, knowing time was running out.
They were both exhausted, but Javier was fighting with every ounce of strength he had left.
‘Just a little more! Hang in there!’
If Javier fell, it was all over.
If the plan failed, the ants would swarm through the tunnel and reach the estate.
‘Damn it, I shouldn’t have built the tunnel so sturdily!’
It was too late to collapse it now. Even if they tried, the ants could dig through the debris with ease.
The plan had to succeed. There was no other option.
Lloyd’s shovel moved furiously, sending dirt flying in all directions.
Sweat poured down his back and neck, but he kept digging relentlessly.
Finally—
*Pshhhhh!*
‘Got it!’
A faint hiss escaped from the hole. Methane gas began to seep out.
Lloyd grabbed his shovel and shouted toward Javier.
“Javier! Over here, now!”
Without hesitation, Javier landed a powerful strike, forcing the queen ant back, and sprinted toward Lloyd.
Together, they bolted down the opposite tunnel.
Behind them, the enraged queen ant gave chase, her massive body tearing through the tunnel walls.
Lloyd glanced back and locked eyes with the queen.
A mischievous grin spread across his face.
He threw the torch he was holding straight at her.
The torch bounced harmlessly off the queen’s head, spinning through the air before landing behind her.
Right where the invisible cloud of methane gas was gathering.
The torch and gas met.
A violent chemical reaction ignited instantly.
Each mole of methane released 891 kJ of energy.
*BOOM!*
The tunnel was consumed by a massive explosion, swallowing everything in its path.
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