Chapter 66: Leveling Up Summon Partners (2)
Oh. Volcanic blast?
Lloyd’s eyes trembled. Literally speaking, this meant that the volcano would erupt. No, it meant that Bangul could make the volcano explode.
This can’t be true, can it?
If a volcano erupted as the skill’s name suggested, that would only spell disaster. He feared that it would only become a monumental nuisance to people if that was the case, so it couldn’t be used. Lloyd’s gaze traveled to Bangul.
“Bangul?” called Lloyd.
“Bangul?” Bangul lifted up his head.
Despite the upgrade, she still looked as cute as always. Her beady eyes glimmered, ready to answer any question. Beaming at her, Lloyd asked, “It’s about the new skill that you just got.”
“Bangul!”
“What does it do? Like, can you really make a volcano explode or something?”
“Bangul! Bba-bangul? Bangul!”
“Uhm, it’s similar but different?”
“Bangul!”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Bba-bangul! Bangul!”
“Hmm… Boom, and it explodes?”
“Bangul!” Bangul nodded her round head up and down.
Similar but different? It goes boom and explodes?
Her answers weren’t detailed enough for Lloyd to figure out what it specifically did.
I think the surest way for me to know what it does is to see it myself.
Lloyd tucked the three summon creatures back into his inner pocket. He put on his coat again and went out of the forge.
I need to go a bit further.
Lloyd decided to go somewhere with zero people, somewhere without any houses around.
He needed to get to a place where no damage would be done, even when the explosion went off.
I don’t know what the skill does yet.
It was best to exert utmost caution. He stopped by the inn and woke Javier up.
“Hey, wake up.”
“Uhm…”
“I said, wake up,” said Lloyd again.
“Hmm…” Javier didn’t budge.
“Open your eyes and get up, Lady Asrahan.”
“What in the world did you just say?”
“Gosh, look at you, snapping your eyes open at that.”
“I couldn’t help it when you mocked me like that,” Javier said, his voice husky.
“That means you were already awake before I mocked you,” pointed out Lloyd.
“Yes.”
“You were just pretending to be asleep because you didn’t want to wake up, weren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. You don’t even deny it now.”
“I wanted to sleep in as much as possible.”
Javier stretched his neck and sat up from his bed.
He rubbed his heavy eyelids, and it looked like he was forced to wake up from his deep sleep. The sight made Lloyd realize that he had just committed a mischievous act of waking an insomniac in the middle of the night. A regretful smile was formed on Lloyd’s face.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do. The situation calls for it.”
“Situation?”
“I need you to protect me for a second,” said Lloyd.
“Protect you? What do you mean?”
Javier, who was struggling to fight the assaulting grogginess, instantly woke up. Lloyd’s smile deepened.
“From a volcanic explosion.”
“Excuse me?”
“I need you to protect me from the volcanic explosion.”
“Hey?” Lloyd called.
“Why are you so quiet?”
“May I be honest with you?” asked Javier.
“Yeah.”
“I was silent because I was just figuring out a way to defend you against mental illness.”
“I need you to protect me from a volcano eruption, not mental illness.”
“I’m becoming even more desperately worried.”
“Excuse me? I’m telling you the truth right now,” insisted Lloyd.
Lloyd brought Bangul out. She flashed a big smile at Javier when she saw him.
“She’s going to create a volcanic explosion,” explained Lloyd.
“Excuse me…?”
“It’s true, isn’t it, Bangul?”
“Bangul!” Bangul excitedly nodded up and down.
Javier’s gaze sharpened.
“I knew it was true,” affirmed Javier.
“Hey, do you trust Bangul more than you trust me?” asked Lloyd in disbelief.
“That is because Bangul, Ppodong, and Hamang never lie. They are not like someone here who wickedly smiles after duping someone.”
“Tsk.”
It had been a while since Javier dropped a truth bomb. Lloyd thought that the knight truly had a wonderful talent for knocking someone out with his words. Yet, because of his serious and solemn attitude, it made things more difficult for Lloyd to parry that blow.
He’s a prodigy, indeed.
Suppressing a smile, Lloyd said, “Well, anyway, it looks like Bangul here has learned a new skill. She can erupt a volcano or do something of the kind.”
“And you are testing the new skill?”
“Yeah. I can’t gauge the power of her skill just yet.”
“I understand.”
Javier took the coat and sword, following Lloyd who walked out of the inn.
They walked through the dark alley, cutting across the city district. They headed towards the opposite way of the coast and entered the inland. Here, they passed the gate without being noticed by the guards and entered the unpopulated woods in the middle of the night.
Later, a large plain lot came into view.
This seems appropriate.
Lloyd put Bangul down at the center of the lot. He handed her the red sunflower seed.
“Hey, Bangul,” called Lloyd.
“Bangul?”
“Dear Bangul, would you like some midnight snacks?”
“Bba-bangul?!”
“Here you go. Sunflower seeds,” said Lloyd.
“Bangul!”
Bangul, who sniffed the smell of the sunflower seeds, wagged her short and fat tail. He put the sunflower seed in her mouth and quickly jumped back a few steps.
The transformation occurred in a flash.
Boom! Bangul, who was previously less than half a foot, turned into a 16-foot giant snake.
Lloyd called, “Bangul?”
“Bangul?”
“If you don’t mind, can you use the Volcanic Eruption skill later?”
“Bangul!”
“Yes, thank you. When I give you the signal, use it.”
“Bangul!”
“By the way, your skill,” said Lloyd.
“Bangul?”
“It’s not going to wipe out this forest or anything, is it?”
“Bangul! Bba-bangul! Bangul!”
“What? It depends on which direction you use it?”
“Bangul!”
“So does that mean you can set it in a particular direction?”
“Bangul!” Bangul’s gigantic head nodded in excitement.
She feigned to cover her ears with her fat tail.
“Bba-bangul. Bangul!”
“Oh, are you telling me to cover my ears so they don’t get hurt?”
“Bangul!”
“Does that mean I don’t have to stay far away?”
“Bangul!”
She nodded once again, and that was when it occurred to Lloyd that this blast skill seemed to be a bit different from a literal volcanic eruption.
Feeling a little relieved, Lloyd said, “Okay, so use the volcanic eruption skill when I send the signal. Got it?”
“Bangul!”
Bangul lifted her tail up as if she were raising a thumb. Lloyd distanced himself away from Bangul about thirty feet. He hid behind Javier, who drew his sword.
“I am ready,” said Javier.
Lloyd guessed that Javier planned on making a shield out of the sword aura by wielding the weapon at lightning speed. That was why he didn’t need any shields. Feeling confident and reassured, Lloyd shouted aloud at Bangul, “Okay, Bangul! Let’s begin!”
“Bangul!” responded Bangul, who was far away.
She then got to work, devouring the dirt on the ground. Her chubby body then trembled, seemingly digesting it, and she wagged her tail forcefully.
The bell attached to her tail rang aloud a clear warning.
She lifted her tail all the way up, and this process was nothing different from her usual skill of excreting metals. What came after was drastically different.
The area thundered as if a real volcano was erupting. At the same time, a fierce, violent phenomenon took place from her stomach and bottom.
Magma made from the earth she had just eaten, discharged out, and underwent a dramatic change as it touched the air.
Unlike the high pressure and temperature of her body, the world outside operated in a different setting.
The pressure was extremely low, and there was a difference in temperature by hundreds of degrees at least.
So, the magma that erupted out of her body saw a dramatic decrease in pressure and temperature, plummeting the body pressure of the magma.
The inflammable material melted inside, as the magma swirled. The water boiled and the carbon dioxide went berserk. The same thing happened with chlorine, fluorine, sulfuric substances, and carbon monoxide. All of the gasses vaporized at the same time, bursting out of the magma like an explosion.
A great implosion. The magma shredded to pieces at once to micrometers, spraying out in the air into millions and billions of volcanic ashes.
Even though it was a long process for the magma to turn into volcanic ash, the reaction actually took less than a second. The explosion was followed by a series of others.
A fart held for long didn’t stop after one time. The volcanic explosion occurred three consecutive times until it finally stopped.
“Wow.”
Lloyd unconsciously let out a sound of admiration.
Wow. This is nuts. It’s nuts!
Lloyd tapped both of his ears with his palm as they had become numb even with the cover on. When Lloyd looked straight ahead, he realized that his deafening ears weren’t the real problem.
The trees have fallen.
The trees that stood right in the course of the volcanic explosion were pummeled to the ground like a domino.
He roughly counted it to be over fifty. He didn’t run toward it right away. He had something else to check first before seeing the result of the volcanic eruption.
“Hey, you okay?”
“Hey?”
Javier didn’t answer. So Lloyd tapped his shoulders. That was when Javier flinched his body and turned his body to Lloyd’s side.
Javier then said, “Did you call me?”
“Yeah. Hey, can’t you hear anything?”
“I cannot hear what you are saying well.”
“Oh… I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you that you should cover up your ears.”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing. It’s going to be all right soon.”
“Excuse me?”
“Should I get you some hearing aids?”
“Excuse me?”
“Never mind… Just wait here.”
The dude has super sensitive hearing senses because of the sword master symptoms. The blaring must have hit him hard when he took that in without any protection.
Lloyd motioned to wait here and walked over to Bangul.
“Bangul. Are you alright?”
“Bangul!”
“What? You feel completely refreshed?”
“Bangul! Bba-bangul!”
“Uhm, I don’t think we can do that again now. How about we do it next time?”
“Bangul!”
He then headed to the explosion site, leaving Bangul in her wistfulness. The place had turned into an ashen world. The ashes still rained down from the sky like snow, carpeting the whole ground in gray.
The patches of grass, flowers, and trees all turned gray, looking much like…
It’s like the whole place is covered with volcanic dust.
Lloyd’s eyes stung. So he covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve. He then narrowed his eyes as much as possible and observed the ground, activating the surveying skill.
Once the skill was activated, various information on the surface floated in front of him.
He saw the clear slope of the ground, as well as the bedrock and soil.
At last, he saw the layer of gray ash on top of them.
My, it really is the ash from the volcanoes!
Lloyd’s narrowed eyes widened in surprise. He instinctively bent over, stretched out his hands, and touched the gray ash covering the ground.
It felt soft, much smoother than the flour.
It’s real.
It was the volcanic ash he had wanted to get his hands on for so long. It was the key ingredient that would instantly solve the cement issue. Now, that very material was sitting in front of him by the handful. Plus, he could make more at any time as he wished! His heart began to beat violently.
Jackpot. Wow, this is awesome. First, she gives me metal bars, and now, she’s making volcanic ash that will become the major ingredient of cement.
Lloyd sweetly gazed at Bangul as if he were looking at a gold-laying goose.
After that, their work progressed smoothly. It was all thanks to Bangul’s new skill that was acquired after upgrading her. The following day, Lloyd headed to the shipbuilding yard at the dock. He purchased five huge sheets of masts and had people tightly knead them together.
The final output looked like a large cylindrical diaper. At one end of the diaper, Lloyd attached five dense sheets of sifter that would filter out tiny particles from the air. On the opposite end, he made a hole that was about thirty feet in diameter. Bangul put her waist into the hole. She was now wearing a balloon-shaped diaper that was about ninety-eight feet long. Then, she ate the earth in the center plaza of Cremo city, shaking her body as she digested it.
The bell affixed to her tail rang.
It signaled the implosion. Lloyd instantly cupped his hands over his mouth when he heard the ringing and shouted at the top of his lungs toward the people in the plaza, “Cover up your ears! It’s going to blast!”
Bangul’s volcanic skill happened right inside the diaper. The extreme heat of the ash and gas caused the diaper to inflate, and they were filtered through the five sheets of sifters attached to the other end.
The gas slowly traveled out of the diaper, leaving only the ash in.
And Lloyd shouted once more. “Another one incoming!”
The skill created a series of explosions one after another.
The people in the city exclaimed at the rare sight each time. The passing merchants and ship crew members widened their eyes at such an exotic sight. Later, even the guards of the city and Count Cremo himself came out to observe the scene.
“Is this why you asked for permission to blast something in the middle of the city?” asked Count Cremo.
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Hmm, I didn’t know you could tame summon creatures.”
“I was just lucky,” said Lloyd.
“Lucky? No, summoning is not as easy as you say it is.”
Count Cremo was right. Taming a summoned creature required magical talent and rapport with the creature.
Plus, I heard the rarer the creature gets, the harder it becomes for the owner to control them.
Even though the count was an erudite man, he had never seen anything like Bangul before. He was amazed at how this giant rattlesnake could chomp the dirt and blast volcanic ash. She was something he had never heard or even imagined before.
This friend is not an ordinary fellow. Likewise, for the young knight he takes along with him.
Suddenly, the rumor he had heard recently interrupted his thoughts. The rumor was about how two skillful young men from the eastern mountain range began to make their names.
I vaguely remember that it was about the eldest son of the baron who consolidated the whole barony using his mysterious construction skills and the knight who was already at the level of a high-level sword expert at twenty.
The baron intently gazed at Lloyd and Javier. His gaze wasn’t laden with envy or avarice. It was more filled with satisfaction.
I need to watch over how this project goes.
He would be taking a keen eye on those two and find out if the rumors were true.
Once he saw the boldness and tact in their works as the rumors said they were, he decided that he would report to the king in detail.
It would only be a loss for the nation if two talented individuals were made to rot in a rural province. They had to find a bigger playing field where they could fulfill their wildest dreams. The kingdom would become stronger as a result. The mere thought of it overwhelmed his heart. The count thought to himself that he had just discovered today their very talents.
A sense of satisfaction swept over him. Each time his smile deepened in contentment, the louder Lloyd’s shout rang aloud throughout the plaza. Each time Lloyd’s voice rang louder, the stacks of the volcanic ash grew higher. Lloyd’s construction of artificial ground in the sea was a stage that would introduce his name to the whole world. Now, that stage was starting to take shape in full force.