The Greatest Estate Developer - Chapter 66: Strengthening the Mythical Beasts (2)

‘Volcanic Explosion?’

Lloyd’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Taken literally, it sounded like it could trigger an actual volcanic eruption—or even cause a volcano to explode.

‘Surely, it’s not that extreme.’

If it really caused a volcano to erupt, it would be a catastrophic disaster, not just a skill. Something so destructive would be nearly impossible to use responsibly.

Lloyd glanced at Bangul.

“Bangul?”

“Bangul!”

Bangul tilted its head up at him, its adorable face as unchanged as ever despite the enhancement.

Its sparkling black eyes seemed to say, “Ask me anything.”

Lloyd smiled wryly and asked, “Hey, Bangul. You’ve got that new skill now, right?”

“Bangul!”

“Does it really… you know, blow up a volcano or something?”

“Bangul? Ba-Bangul? Bangul!”

“Huh, similar but not quite the same?”

“Bangul!”

“Can you explain a bit more?”

“Ba-Bangul! Bangul!”

“Hmm… so it just goes ‘boom’?”

“Bangul!”

Bangul nodded its round head enthusiastically.

‘Similar but not the same? It goes boom?’

Those vague responses left Lloyd with no choice but to test it for himself.

He carefully tucked the three mythical beasts into his coat pocket and stepped out of the forge.

‘I need to find an open, isolated area.’

Somewhere far from people, with no homes in sight—a place where even a massive explosion wouldn’t cause harm.

‘I still don’t know the full extent of this skill, so it’s best to be cautious.’

On the way, he stopped by the inn and woke Javier.

“Hey, wake up.”

“Mmm, ugh…”

“Come on, get up.”

“Ughhh…”

“Open your eyes, Sir Asrahan.”

“Why are you cursing me now?”

“Whoa, look at how quickly you opened your eyes.”

“It’s only because Lloyd keeps mocking me that I have no choice but to wake up.”

“So you were awake all along, huh?”

“Yes.”

“You were pretending to sleep because you didn’t want to get up?”

“Yes.”

“Wow. You don’t even try to deny it.”

“I would’ve preferred to keep sleeping if possible.”

Javier stretched his neck and shoulders before sitting up, rubbing his tired eyes.

Clearly, he had been sleeping deeply and only reluctantly woke up.

Seeing this, Lloyd realized he had committed a terrible crime—waking up a sleep-deprived man in the middle of the night.

He let out a dry chuckle.

“Well, what can you do? The situation demands it.”

“Situation? What situation?”

“I need you to watch my back for a bit.”

“Watch your back? What do you mean?”

Javier’s drowsy eyes sharpened immediately.

Lloyd’s grin widened.

“Volcanic Explosion.”

“…What?”

“You need to protect me from a volcanic explosion.”

“… …”

“Hey?”

“… …”

“Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“Can I be honest with you?”

“Go ahead.”

“I’m trying to figure out how to protect you… from a mental breakdown.”

“I’m not crazy, Javier. This is about the volcanic explosion.”

“Your words are intensifying my concerns.”

“Come on, I’m serious!”

Lloyd pulled Bangul out of his pocket.

Bangul looked at Javier and greeted him with a bright smile.

“This little guy is going to trigger the volcanic explosion.”

“…Excuse me?”

“It’s true, right, Bangul?”

“Bangul!”

Bangul nodded cheerfully.

At last, Javier’s gaze turned serious.

“So it’s real?”

“Wait, are you trusting Bangul more than me?”

“Bangul, Ppodong, and Hamang never lie. Unlike someone else I know, who takes twisted pleasure in deceiving and manipulating others.”

“…Tch.”

Lloyd couldn’t argue with that jab. Javier’s knack for delivering blunt, undeniable truths with pinpoint precision was both impressive and infuriating.

“Anyway,” Lloyd continued, “Bangul seems to have learned a new skill. Something resembling a volcanic explosion.”

“And you’re planning to test it?”

“Yeah. I need to gauge its power.”

“Understood.”

Javier grabbed his coat and sword and followed Lloyd outside.

They walked through the quiet streets, heading inland, away from the coast.

After passing the city gates and avoiding the watchmen, they entered the forest behind the city.

Eventually, they found a wide, open clearing.

‘This spot should do.’

Lloyd placed Bangul in the center of the clearing and took out a red sunflower seed.

“Bangul?”

“Bangul?”

“Want a little late-night snack?”

“Ba-Bangul?”

“It’s a sunflower seed. Your favorite.”

“Bangul!”

Bangul’s tail wagged excitedly as it sniffed the seed. Lloyd placed it in Bangul’s tiny mouth before quickly retreating.

The transformation was instant.

‘BOOM!’

Bangul, who had been no larger than 10 centimeters, swelled up to a massive 5-meter form in the blink of an eye.

“Bangul?”

“Bangul!”

“Can you use your Volcanic Explosion skill in a bit?”

“Bangul!”

“Great. Just wait for my signal, okay?”

“Bangul!”

“Oh, one more thing about the Volcanic Explosion skill…”

“Bangul?”

“It won’t, you know, destroy this entire forest or anything, right?”

“Bangul! Ba-Bangul! Bangul!”

“What? It depends on the direction you use it in?”

“Bangul!”

“So, you can control where it goes?”

“Bangul!”

Bangul nodded its giant head and mimed covering its ears with its stubby tail.

“Ba-Bangul! Bangul!”

“And I should cover my ears to protect my eardrums?”

“Bangul!”

“So I don’t need to be far away?”

“Bangul!”

Bangul nodded again, and Lloyd felt slightly reassured.

It seemed the Volcanic Explosion skill wasn’t a literal volcanic eruption but something more controlled.

“Alright then. When I give the signal, use the Volcanic Explosion in that direction.”

“Bangul!”

Bangul raised its tail high, as if giving a thumbs-up.

Lloyd backed away about 10 meters, positioning himself behind Javier.

Javier drew his sword, readying himself.

“I’m prepared.”

He likely intended to swing his sword at high speed to create a protective barrier of sword energy. No need for a shield with a technique like that.

Lloyd felt reassured and called out to Bangul.

“Alright, Bangul! Let’s begin!”

“Bangul!”

From a distance, Bangul responded. It began shoveling dirt into its mouth with gusto.

After a brief moment, it quivered as if digesting the soil.

Then, its tail wagged vigorously.

‘Jingle, jingle, jingle!’

The bell on its tail rang clearly, a familiar warning signal.

Bangul raised its tail even higher, following the usual pattern for its [Iron Excretion] skill.

But this time, things took a dramatic turn.

‘Rumble… RUMBLE!’

“…!”

A deafening roar reverberated, as if an actual volcano were erupting.

Simultaneously, Bangul’s stomach and rear released an intense physical reaction.

Magma spewed forth—magma created from the dirt Bangul had eaten.

As the magma shot out, it underwent extreme changes upon contact with the outside world.

‘BOOM!’

Inside Bangul’s body, the environment was a high-pressure, high-temperature system capable of generating magma.

In contrast, the outside world was vastly different.

The sudden drop in pressure and temperature caused the magma’s volatile gases to destabilize.

Water boiled. Carbon dioxide surged.

Chlorine, fluorine, sulfur compounds, and carbon monoxide erupted chaotically.

The rapid gas expansion violently fractured the magma, triggering a massive explosion.

‘KA-BOOOOOOM!’

The eruption ripped the magma into countless microscopic fragments, turning it into volcanic ash.

The process, though intricate, occurred in less than 0.1 seconds.

But it didn’t stop there.

‘BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!’

Like an overdue series of farts, the Volcanic Explosion skill triggered three more successive blasts before finally ceasing.

“Ugh…”

Lloyd let out an involuntary gasp.

‘What the hell… That was insane.’

Pressing his palms against his ears, he tried to block out the ringing, but the explosions had left his ears muffled.

Yet, the scene before him was far more shocking than the ringing in his ears.

‘The trees… they’re all down.’

The force of the explosion had knocked down a line of trees like dominos—easily over 50 of them.

But instead of rushing toward the blast zone, Lloyd first checked on something more important.

“Hey, you okay?”

“…”

“Hello?”

Javier didn’t respond.

Lloyd tapped his shoulder. Only then did Javier flinch and turn around, dazed.

“Did you call for me?”

“Yeah. Are you deaf?”

“I can’t quite hear what you’re saying.”

“…Oh, right. I forgot to tell you to cover your ears. My bad.”

“What?”

“Never mind. Your hearing will come back soon.”

“What?”

“Wow, you’re completely out of it.”

“What?”

“…Forget it. Just wait here.”

Javier, with his heightened Swordmaster hearing, had likely been overwhelmed by the sound.

Lloyd gestured for him to stay put, then approached Bangul.

“Bangul, you alright?”

“Bangul!”

“What? You feel amazing?”

“Bangul! Ba-Bangul!”

“Uh, doing it again would be a problem. Can you save it for later?”

“Bangul…”

Bangul pouted, but Lloyd left it behind to inspect the blast zone.

The area was an ash-covered wasteland.

Volcanic ash fell from the sky like snow, coating everything—grass, flowers, rocks, and trees—in a blanket of gray.

‘It’s like a volcano erupted.’

Lloyd’s eyes stung from the ash. Covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve, he squinted to examine the ground.

He activated his [Surveying] skill.

‘Whirrr…’

Details about the terrain emerged in his vision—slope angles, bedrock composition, soil quality, and finally…

‘This… this is real volcanic ash?’

Lloyd’s eyes widened as he crouched and brushed his hand over the thin gray layer on the ground.

The ash felt finer than flour against his fingertips.

‘It’s real.’

The volcanic ash he had desperately needed—the key to solving the cement issue—was now piled up before him in abundance.

And Bangul could produce it on command.

Lloyd’s heart pounded with excitement.

‘This is huge. This changes everything.’

With volcanic ash to complement the rebar, his cement production issues were resolved.

Turning to look at Bangul, Lloyd’s gaze was filled with admiration, as if gazing upon a precious treasure.

—

From that point on, everything progressed smoothly.

All thanks to Bangul’s newly acquired skill, ‘Volcanic Explosion’.

The following day, Lloyd went to the shipyard by the docks.

He purchased five large sails used for sailing ships.

With help, he stitched the sails together meticulously, forming a long, cylindrical sack.

One end of the sack had a fine mesh filter to release air while trapping particles.

The other end was fitted with a 1-meter-wide opening.

Bangul slid its rear into the opening, effectively donning the 30-meter-long balloon sack.

Then, Bangul began eating dirt from the central plaza of Cremo City.

Bangul quivered its round body, digesting the dirt it had eaten.

It wagged its tail, the bell attached to it jingling clearly.

‘Jingle, jingle!’

This was the signal that the Volcanic Explosion skill was ready to activate.

As soon as Lloyd saw the signal, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted to the crowd gathered around the plaza.

“Cover your ears, everyone! Fire in the hole!”

‘BOOOOOOM!’

Inside the massive makeshift diaper, Bangul unleashed its Volcanic Explosion skill.

Blazing hot volcanic ash and gas spewed out, inflating the diaper like a giant balloon.

The five-layered mesh filter on the opposite end trapped the ash while allowing the gases to escape slowly into the air.

Only the volcanic ash remained inside.

Lloyd yelled again, his voice ringing through the plaza.

“Fire in the hole again!”

‘BOOOOM!’

Bangul fired off consecutive explosions, each one met with cheers and amazement from the crowd.

Merchants and sailors passing through the trading city stopped in their tracks, their eyes wide with astonishment at the spectacle.

Soon, even the city guards and Count Cremo himself appeared to witness the scene.

“So this is what you meant when you asked for permission to blow something up in the plaza?” the count asked, his tone curious.

“Yes, my lord,” Lloyd replied.

“Hmmm, I didn’t know you had the ability to control a summoning beast like that.”

“It’s just a skill I happened to acquire by chance.”

“By chance? No, summoning isn’t something that comes easily.”

The count’s words held truth.

Summoning required magical talent and a deep connection with the summoned beast.

‘And the rarer the beast, the harder it is to control,’ he thought.

Even for the well-traveled Count Cremo, Bangul was a creature he had never seen before—a giant snake-like creature that ate dirt and emitted volcanic ash.

Such a beast was unheard of.

‘He’s no ordinary man, and neither is that young swordsman accompanying him.’

The count recalled rumors he had heard recently.

The rumors spoke of two talented young men gaining fame in the eastern mountains, at the Frontera estate.

‘The lord’s eldest son, uniting the estate’s people with his extraordinary construction skills. And his escort knight, who reached the upper ranks of Sword Expert at just twenty years old.’

Lloyd and Javier.

The count’s eyes gleamed with interest as he looked at the two.

It wasn’t envy or greed that filled his gaze but rather admiration.

‘I must see how they handle this project.’

He decided to closely monitor their progress.

If the rumors proved true, and these two demonstrated exceptional abilities?

‘I’ll report this to His Majesty in detail.’

Such talent buried in a rural corner of the kingdom was a clear national loss.

Talented individuals should have the opportunity to thrive on a larger stage, where their abilities could benefit the kingdom.

The thought alone filled the count with excitement.

Perhaps today, he had discovered two such exceptional talents.

The count smiled faintly, watching the scene unfold.

Every time Lloyd’s spirited shouts echoed through the plaza, volcanic ash continued to pile up.

It was the foundation for the marine artificial ground project that Lloyd envisioned.

The stage was now set for his abilities to be showcased far and wide.