Lord: Starting with Biological Modification

Chapter 303: Chapter 298: New Land

The man raised his hand and made a downward pressing gesture.

The head of the giant beast beneath his feet silently split open, revealing a deep, dark opening.

Velin didn’t look back. His figure vanished crisply into the darkness.

The opening slowly closed behind him, sealing perfectly.

Then, the colossal beast began to sink.

Its enormous body displaced the seawater, and the towering waves it created violently rocked the nobles’ speedboats, making them bob like battered wooden tubs in a storm.

The boatmen struggled with all their might to stabilize the vessels, but the decks had already descended into chaos.

"He went down!"

"Where’d he go? Is that it?"

Several nobles, their faces pale, clung tightly to the gunwales, their stomachs churning violently.

"My Lord Count, where is this ’demonstration’ he spoke of?" The Knight with the short mustache, the same one who had complained on the beach, held onto a mast, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"Is he just going to show us how this monster dives? Or has he run away again?"

Diana ignored him.

Her attention was entirely focused underwater.

This was the deepest part of the coastal waters of the Dawn Territory, but it was no more than twenty meters deep.

The early morning light pierced through the turquoise sea, making it just possible to discern the outlines of sand and stone on the seabed.

The giant shadow of the colossal beast moved slowly beneath the water, like a mountain range on the move.

The nobles held their breath, watching the shadow.

It didn’t swim out to the deep sea. Instead, it began to patrol slowly along the edge of the crescent-shaped bay, moving from one end to the other.

"What’s it doing? Surveying the land?" someone muttered, drawing a few stifled snickers.

Just then, an experienced boatman let out a soft "Huh?" and pointed at the water’s surface.

"Look, in the water..."

Beneath the shadow, something glinted amidst the sand and stone on the seabed.

The light was faint, like a firefly, and gone in a flash.

But then, hundreds, thousands of points of light lit up one after another, forming a glowing path on the seabed that followed the beast’s trajectory.

The surface of the sea began to bubble.

At first, they were just fine bubbles, like a freshly poured glass of ale.

But soon, the bubbles grew dense. The gurgling sounds merged together, and a wave of hot, briny air washed over them.

"The water... it’s like the water’s boiling!" another boatman stammered.

The short-moustached Knight’s laughter froze on his face. He leaned over the side of the boat, his head close to the water, staring in disbelief at the churning seabed.

Everyone’s gaze was captivated by the underwater scene.

Along the path formed by the points of light, something was breaking through the seabed.

Countless fleshy-red sprouts forcibly pushed aside sand and stone, growing upward at a speed that defied logic.

They were stalks as thick as a baby’s arm.

A trunk as thick as a bowl suddenly burst from the water, tearing through the waves and sending up a huge spray of foam.

It didn’t stop. The main trunk shot upward wildly, its twisted branches extending like living snakes.

It was followed by a second, a third, and then hundreds, thousands more!

They erupted from the seabed like a freshly born army of the undead rising from a graveyard.

The bay’s surface was thrown into turmoil. The nobles’ speedboats were like fallen leaves in the violent surge, tossed up and slammed down again and again.

"AHH!"

A noble was thrown by a huge wave, his head smashing against the mast, sending blood streaming down.

"Hold on! Everyone, hold on tight!" the boatmen roared themselves hoarse.

The short-moustached Knight could no longer keep his feet, collapsing onto the deck and getting drenched to the bone by seawater.

He scrambled backward on all fours, his face as white as a sheet.

Roland stood at the prow, completely still.

His entire attention was focused on the frantically growing plants.

’This method of growth...’

’I’ve seen it before.’

’In Sword Tooth Province, in that place called Shiyan Town.’

’That man... he used a similar method to spawn tough vines that trapped the Master of the Gray Swamp.’

’A coincidence? Or...’

The branches of the trees that had broken through the water began to weave together and intertwine.

The branches, like living tentacles, sought each other out, twisting together as one.

Where they connected, the sound of wood being forcibly compressed groaned out, a creaking, cracking noise that made one’s scalp tingle.

Immediately after, the originally tender green bark began to rapidly dehydrate.

Its color changed from green to gray as rock-like textures and fissures appeared on its surface.

In the span of just a few dozen breaths, the once-supple plants had hardened into a solid, grayish-white stone.

Fear, astonishment, curiosity, contemplation—a mix of emotions swirled in their minds.

The process lasted for over ten minutes.

When the last tree stopped growing and the final branch had locked with its neighbors, the bay had been completely transformed.

A grayish-white "wall," several meters high and stretching for miles, had risen from the sea.

It perfectly followed the curve of the bay, separating this body of water from the open sea.

The sunlight was cut off by this abrupt structure, casting a massive shadow over the nobles’ fleet.

The world fell silent.

All that remained was the sound of the wind and the water lapping against the brand-new seawall.

Old Baron Ansel’s mind was reeling.

’Is this Magic? This would have to be an effect of the Sixth Ring or higher!’

’Or is it some kind of ancient magical wonder?’

’If it is, an item like this would be valuable enough to buy the entire Dawn Territory!’

’Where in the world did the Baron of Grey Marsh Territory get something like this?’

The short-moustached Knight was slumped on the deck, staring up at the structure that was even more magnificent than the walls of Light City. His mouth hung open, oblivious to the drool trickling from the corner.

As for the other vassals, some stood frozen like wooden posts, some fell to their knees as their legs gave way, and others frantically drew various symbols on their chests, praying for protection from any god they believed in.

’A conman? A deserter?’ The jokes that circulated in the taverns now seemed utterly absurd and laughable.

Diana wasn’t looking at the wall.

Her heart was racing. What she noticed was the calm body of water now enclosed by the wall.

A flash of insight struck her.

’This isn’t a wall.’

’It’s a seawall! A seawall to separate the ocean from the land!’

’If... if we just drain the water inside, then the vast area between the original coastline and this new seawall...’

Her breathing grew ragged.

’That would be new land for the Dawn Territory... land where we could build a port, reclaim fields, and construct a fortress!’

Just then, something was moving atop the seawall.

A tendril, like an agile crane arm, lifted a figure up from the outer side of the seawall, rising slowly to hover in mid-air.

Velin stood at the tip of the tendril, his clothes neat, not a single strand of his short black hair showing any sign of being wet from the sea.

He looked down from his high perch, surveying the people on the small boats below, their faces a mixture of expressions.

The sea breeze rustled the hem of his clothes. His expression was frighteningly calm. His wine-red eyes held no trace of triumph or ostentation, only the detached indifference of a researcher examining data after an experiment.

He looked at the stupefied nobles and spoke.

"Everyone, how long has it been since you last acquired new land?"

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