Chapter 66
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Phantasmal Species Enhancement (2)
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‘Volcano eruption?’
Lloyd’s pupils shook.
Taken literally, it meant a volcano was going to erupt.
No, it meant erupting a volcano.
‘No way it’s really that, right?’
If a volcano actually erupted, it would be a massive disaster.
It couldn’t be a nuisance skill that was too impractical to use, could it?
Lloyd’s gaze turned to Bangul.
“Bangul?”
“Bangul?”
Bangul lifted its head.
Even after the enhancement, its cute face hadn’t changed a bit.
Its big, sparkling black eyes twinkled as if inviting questions.
Lloyd smiled warmly and asked,
“Hey, you got a new skill just now, right?”
“Bangul!”
“Is that skill really something like making a volcano erupt or what?”
“Bangul? Bbangul? Bangul!”
“Hmm, something like it but not quite?”
“Bangul!”
“Can you explain a bit more?”
“Bbangul! Bangul!”
“Umm, something that goes boom?”
“Bangul!”
Bangul nodded its round head.
“…….”
Similar but different.
Something that goes boom.
From that answer alone, there was no way to guess exactly what it meant.
‘Best to check it out directly.’
Lloyd tucked the three phantasmal species into his inner pocket.
He draped his overcoat again and stepped out of the smithy.
‘Gotta go somewhere far.’
Ideally, somewhere without people.
Somewhere no houses were in sight.
Somewhere even a massive explosion wouldn’t harm anyone around.
‘Since I still don’t know the exact nature of this skill.’
Better to be as cautious as possible.
He even stopped by the inn and woke Haviel.
“Hey, get up.”
“Ugh, uuum.”
“Come on, wake up already?”
“Groooan.”
“How about opening those eyes, Sir Asrahan?”
“What kind of curse is that?”
“Whoa, look at those eyes snap open.”
“I had no choice but to open them when Lord Lloyd is teasing me like this.”
“So you were already awake?”
“Yes.”
“You were just pretending to sleep because you didn’t want to get up?”
“Yes.”
“Whoa. Not even denying it.”
“If I could, I’d have kept sleeping.”
Haviel stretched his neck and sat up.
Rubbing his heavy eyelids.
He must have been in deep sleep and woken reluctantly.
Seeing that, Lloyd realized he’d ruthlessly woken an insomniac in the middle of the night(?).
A wry smile formed naturally.
“Well, what can you do? Situation’s like this.”
“What situation?”
“You need to watch over me for a bit.”
“Watch over you? What do you mean?”
Haviel’s eyes, shaking off sleep, cleared instantly.
Lloyd’s wry smile deepened.
“Volcano eruption.”
“Pardon?”
“Protect me from the volcano eruption.”
“…….”
“Hey?”
“…….”
“Why the silence?”
“May I speak honestly?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m pondering how to protect Lord Lloyd from insanity.”
“Not insanity—volcano eruption is the priority.”
“My deliberations are intensifying.”
“Hey, I’m serious?”
Lloyd pulled out Bangul.
Bangul smiled brightly at Haviel.
“This one’s gonna cause a volcano eruption.”
“……Pardon?”
“Right, Bangul?”
“Bangul!”
Bangul nodded innocently.
Only then did Haviel’s eyes sharpen.
“So it really is true.”
“You trust Bangul more than me?”
“Bangul, Podong, and Hamang never lie, at the very least. Unlike someone who hides their dark heart, deceives others, toys with them, and laughs wickedly.”
“Tch.”
It had been ages since he’d felt it so viscerally, but Haviel had a remarkable talent for slamming a 160 km/h fastball straight into the solar plexus.
And his attitude was so earnest and solemn.
That made the fastball even harder to counter subtly.
‘Born with it, born with it.’
Lloyd smiled wryly and said,
“Anyway, Bangul seems to have learned a new technique. Something like a volcano eruption.”
“You’re going to test this new technique?”
“Yeah. Can’t gauge its power.”
“Understood.”
Haviel grabbed his overcoat and sword.
They stepped out of the inn together.
They walked the night streets, passing straight through the city.
They headed inland, opposite the coast.
They slipped past the guards’ eyes through the gate and exited behind the city.
They entered a deserted midnight forest.
A fairly wide clearing appeared.
‘This should do.’
Lloyd set Bangul down in the center of the clearing.
He held out red sunflower seeds to Bangul.
“Bangul?”
“Bangul?”
“Wanna have a midnight snack, Bangul?”
“Bbangul?”
“Here, sunflower seed snack.”
“Bangul!”
Bangul wagged its short, chubby tail as it sniffed the seeds.
He fed a seed into its tiny mouth.
Then quickly backed away.
The transformation happened instantly.
Boom-!
Bangul, who had been 10 cm, ballooned to 5 meters in one go.
Lloyd asked,
“Bangul?”
“Bangul?”
“Can you use that volcano eruption skill in a bit?”
“Bangul!”
“Yeah, thanks. Do it when I signal.”
“Bangul!”
“Oh, about that volcano eruption skill.”
“Bangul?”
“It won’t make this forest disappear or anything, right?”
“Bangul! Bbangul! Bangul!”
“What? It depends on the direction?”
“Bangul!”
“So you can aim it in a specific direction?”
“Bangul!”
Bangul nodded its enlarged head vigorously.
Then it covered its ear holes with its chubby tail in a pantomime.
“Bbangul. Bangul!”
“But it hurts your eardrums, so cover your ears?”
“Bangul!”
“So I don’t have to stay far away?”
“Bangul!”
Bangul nodded again.
The volcano eruption seemed a bit different from a literal volcanic explosion.
Lloyd felt somewhat relieved and said,
“Got it. When I signal, use volcano eruption that way?”
“Bangul!”
Bangul raised its tail like a thumbs-up.
Lloyd stepped about 10 meters from Bangul.
He hid behind Haviel.
Haviel drew his sword.
“I’m ready.”
Probably planning to swing at high speed to create a sword aura barrier.
No need for a shield then.
Lloyd felt reassured.
He shouted at Bangul.
“Alright, Bangul? Go!”
“Bangul!”
Bangul, at that distance, responded.
It started scooping and eating dirt right there.
Then it shivered its chubby body, as if digesting.
Soon, it shook its tail vigorously.
Jingle-jingle-jingle!
The bell on its tail rang a clear warning.
At the same time, it raised its tail high.
Up to here, it was identical to the usual Steel Poop Discharge skill.
But what followed was entirely different.
Groooar-!
“……!”
A roar like a real volcano shaking.
Simultaneously, a fierce physical phenomenon erupted from Bangul’s belly and anus.
Magma spewed out.
Magma made from the dirt it had eaten.
The spewed magma underwent extreme changes as it burst outward.
Splurt!
Bangul’s belly was a high-temperature, high-pressure environment hot enough to create magma.
The outside world(?) from its anus was different.
Far lower pressure than inside.
Temperature differed by hundreds of degrees.
The ejected magma faced drastic pressure and temperature drops.
That change rapidly decreased the magma’s saturated gas pressure.
Volatile substances dissolved in the magma went wild.
Water boiled.
Carbon dioxide rampaged.
Chlorine, fluorine, sulfur compounds, carbon monoxide exploded.
All those gases vaporized at once, tearing through and bursting from the magma explosively.
KABOOOOOM-!
The massive explosion finally erupted.
The magma shattered in an instant.
Torn into micrometer-sized shreds.
Tens of millions, billions of fragments turned to volcanic ash and sprayed out.
The process was long, but it happened in less than 0.1 seconds.
The explosion didn’t end with one blast.
KABOOM-! Fwoooosh-! Boom-!
A well-held fart never ends with one.
The volcano eruption roared three more times before stopping.
“Cough.”
Lloyd instinctively gasped.
‘Whoa. Insane, insane.’
Lloyd clapped his palms over both ears.
Even tightly plugged, his ears rang.
But the sight before him made ringing ears irrelevant.
‘All the trees fell.’
The volcano eruption fired(?) that way.
The blast was so strong the trees toppled like dominoes.
At least 50, easily.
But Lloyd didn’t rush over immediately.
More important than the eruption’s result.
“Hey, you okay?”
“…….”
“Hey?”
No response from Haviel.
He tapped his shoulder.
Haviel flinched and turned.
“You called?”
“Yeah. Your ears okay?”
“What did you say? I can’t hear well.”
“……Oh, sorry. Forgot to tell you to cover your ears.”
“Pardon?”
“Nah. It’ll be fine soon.”
“Pardon?”
“Are you turning into a real Sha Wujing or what?”
“Pardon?”
“……Never mind. Wait here.”
With his swordmaster syndrome, his hearing was already hypersensitive.
Exposed unprotected to that roar.
Lloyd gestured for Haviel to wait and approached Bangul.
“Bangul? You okay?”
“Bangul!”
“What? Feels great?”
“Bangul! Bbangul!”
“Yeah, doing it again would be tricky. Later?”
“Bangul!”
Leaving the disappointed(?) Bangul, he headed to the eruption site.
It was already a world of ash.
Ash still fell from the sky like snow.
The falling ash piled gray on the ground.
Grass, flowers, rocks, trees all blanketed in gray ash, like……
‘Totally covered in volcanic ash.’
His eyes stung fiercely.
Lloyd covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve.
He squinted and observed the ground.
With the surveying skill active.
Shhhh……!
The skill activated, displaying info on the ground in his sight.
Terrain slope clearly visible.
Bedrock and soil composition grasped.
Finally, the surface layer……
‘This is real volcanic ash?’
Lloyd’s squinted eyes widened.
Unconsciously, he knelt and reached out.
He touched the gray ash lightly covering the ground.
Finer than flour, texture on his fingertips.
‘For real.’
The volcanic ash he’d so desperately wanted.
Volcanic ash that could solve the cement issue in one go.
Piles of it right before his eyes now.
And he could produce it anytime!
Thump-thump, his heart raced.
‘Jackpot. Absolute jackpot.’
Rebar, and now volcanic ash for cement.
Lloyd looked back at Bangul like a treasure trove, honey dripping from his eyes.
♣
Things progressed smoothly.
Thanks to the new skill, Volcano Eruption, gained from enhancing Bangul.
The next day, Lloyd went to the dockside shipyard.
He bought five large sails for sailing ships.
Had them sewn together meticulously.
Five panels joined into a long, massive cylindrical diaper.
One end got five layers of fine mesh filters to let only air out.
The other end had a roughly 1-meter hole.
Bangul fit its waist in the hole.
Naturally donning a 30-meter-long balloon diaper.
In that state, Bangul ate dirt from Creemo City’s central square.
Shivered its chubby body to digest.
Shook the bell on its tail.
Jingle-jingle!
Signal that explosion prep was ready.
At that signal, Lloyd cupped his hands over his mouth.
Shouted at max volume to the gathered onlookers around the square.
“Everyone, cover your ears! Boom!”
KABOOOOOM-!
Volcano Eruption detonated inside the giant diaper.
Scorching volcanic ash and gas blasted out, inflating the diaper.
Filtered through the five-layer mesh on the other end.
Gas slowly escaped the diaper.
Only the ash trapped inside.
Lloyd’s shout continued.
“Boom again!”
KABOOOOOOM-!
Volcano Eruption blasting in succession.
Each time, the trading city’s residents cheered at the spectacle.
Passing merchants and sailors gawked at the bizarre sight.
Eventually, even the city guard and Creemo Count himself came to watch.
“You requested permission to ‘explode something’ in the square—this it?”
“Yes, Count.”
“Hmm. Didn’t know you could command such a summon like that.”
“Just a lucky skill I stumbled upon.”
“Stumbled? No. Summoning isn’t that simple.”
The Count was right.
Required magical talent and rapport with the summon.
‘And rarer summons are harder to handle.’
Bangul was a summon even the knowledgeable Count had never seen.
A giant bell snake eating dirt and spewing ash nonstop.
Never heard of, never imagined.
‘Not an ordinary fellow. Nor that young knight escorting him.’
The Count recalled recent rumors.
Frontera Territory at the eastern mountains’ base.
Two talented youths making names there.
‘The lord’s eldest son uniting the people with bizarre construction skills, and a guard knight reaching Sword Expert upper level at just twenty.’
Lloyd and Haviel.
The Count’s gaze on them gleamed meaningfully.
Not jealousy or greed.
More like pleased satisfaction.
‘Gotta watch how they handle this.’
He’d observe their moves closely.
Verify if the rumors held.
If he glimpsed the rumored extraordinary traits?
‘I’ll report it in detail to Her Majesty.’
Burying such talent in the boonies was a national loss. They deserved a bigger stage matching their ability.
That would strengthen the kingdom.
Just thinking it swelled his chest.
And perhaps today, he’d discovered two such talents, thought Creemo Count.
A pleased feeling welled naturally.
As the Count smiled faintly, Lloyd’s vigorous shouts echoed in the square each time.
Volcanic ash piled up abundantly.
The maritime artificial land project Lloyd envisioned.
The stage for his abilities to shine publicly was now set.