Chapter 22: Escaping Back
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After taking a wide detour to ensure he had completely shaken off the bizarre Oil Monster, Gu Su led his Skeletons, carrying the collected Harpy corpses, and slowly returned to the Graveyard Demon.
Gu Su remained vigilant the entire way, constantly looking over his shoulder, terrified the Oil Monster might be in pursuit. He would even take detours when necessary to guarantee the Graveyard Demon’s safety.
The moment he drew near the Graveyard Demon, Gu Su was visibly stunned. The scene before him was completely different from when he had left.
The Graveyard Demon, which hadn’t been very large to begin with, seemed to have expanded out of nowhere. Within its dilapidated walls, several trees had unexpectedly sprouted, only to then rapidly wither and die before his very eyes.
Watching the trees die so quickly, Gu Su instantly understood. The Graveyard Demon was using its own unique and bizarre method to secretly expand its footprint, corrupting the surrounding land bit by bit.
Those trees were on the land the Graveyard Demon had just assimilated.
’Even though I don’t know how this is happening, it’s obviously a good thing.’
Gu Su’s mood improved considerably. The sting of defeat from the Oil Monster encounter and the dejection over the Skeleton Squad’s heavy losses no longer weighed so heavily on his mind.
Wasting no more time, he immediately commanded his Skeletons to drag all the Harpy corpses, one by one, within the bounds of the Graveyard Demon.
Once that was done, Gu Su carefully counted the corpses:
The twelve Harpy corpses from the initial hunt, plus the five killed alongside their leader—in total, they had brought back seventeen Harpy corpses.
He had set out with one Magic Skeleton and ten Elite Skeletons, later supplementing his forces by summoning five more Skeletons on the battlefield.
In the end, he returned with only the Magic Skeleton, three Elite Skeletons, and two Ordinary Skeletons, having lost ten units in battle.
’Even with the reinforcements, this was a definite loss.’
Sighing to himself, Gu Su hesitated no longer. He first tossed seven corpses toward the Tombstone to fill the empty slots for Elite Skeletons.
The remaining ten corpses were all thrown into the Gravepile to join the ranks of the ordinary Skeletons.
As soon as the corpses were in place, a system notification chimed right on cue.
[The Empty Tomb has automatically used your Soul Summoning Technique (Level 1). You have acquired Skeletons (Level 0) x17. Soul Summoning Technique proficiency +17.]
In the next instant, seventeen Skeletons pushed aside the earth on the Tombstone and the Gravepile and crawled up from below.
Looking at the seventeen new Skeletons, Gu Su felt a little better. The Skeleton Squad’s combat strength was somewhat replenished.
The heavy feeling from his devastating losses eased slightly, but a difficult problem soon rose to the forefront of his mind.
The problem was the bizarre Oil Monster. How exactly was he supposed to fight it and avenge the Skeleton Squad’s crushing defeat?
After losing so many of his forces, just letting it go and not striking back was simply not Gu Su’s style.
But he was also keenly aware of how exceptionally bizarre the Oil Monster was.
Its body was made of viscous black oil, and conventional weapons couldn’t harm it in the slightest. Any attack was like trying to scratch an itch through a boot—utterly useless.
As for attacks like Magic, Gu Su didn’t currently know any, leaving him with no way to use it to break the deadlock.
He had no other options, and as for seeking help, he had no idea who he could possibly ask.
Just as Gu Su found himself at a complete loss, with no solution in sight, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind:
’What if... I use fire?’
The moment the thought occurred to him, Gu Su’s gaze involuntarily shifted to the perpetually burning Yin Fire Heap within the Graveyard Demon.
A thoughtful glint appeared in his eyes as he considered the feasibility of using fire.
’Fire could be effective against something oily, but there’s no way to know if the Oil Monster’s body is truly made of oil. If it’s just ordinary black mud, it won’t burn at all.’
’Bringing Wood to use as kindling isn’t practical, either. I can’t just toss a pile of wood at it before trying to set it on fire.’
Gu Su had previously considered the fact that the Oil Monster itself was bound to that abandoned gas station.
’But using the gas station’s fuel as an accelerant is a non-starter, because I don’t even know where the fuel is.’
’I’m not even sure if there’s any fuel left in the tanks after all these years, even if I could find them.’
’As for luring the Oil Monster into the woods to start a forest fire...’
’...and using the blaze to corner it—the fog and humidity outside are just too high.’
’In this environment, a fire would never catch properly, let alone grow into an inferno big enough to threaten the Oil Monster.’
One idea after another for defeating the enemy flashed through Gu Su’s mind, but no matter how he turned them over, each one had a fatal flaw.
Nothing seemed viable.
Just as he was again at an impasse, unsure of what to do, he suddenly heard a muffled WHOOSH from outside the Graveyard Demon.
Hearing the noise, Gu Su quickly ran to the perimeter wall in the direction of the sound to see what was happening.
He was just in time to see the Graveyard Demon launching shopping carts filled with white Corroding Mycelium. The carts shot rapidly into the distance, trailing faint traces of the mycelium behind them.
Gu Su stared, stunned for a moment. ’So that’s where my shopping carts went,’ he realized.
He also understood the mystery of the extra trees. The Corroding Mycelium was consuming the nearby land to expand the Graveyard Demon’s territory.
At that very moment, a brand-new plan to defeat the monster crystallized in his mind.
Perhaps he could try a two-pronged attack, combining fire and the Corroding Mycelium to defeat the bizarre Oil Monster.
He decided to try bringing both torches and Corroding Mycelium. If the fire caught, he would use it to attack the Oil Monster, letting the flames scorch its body.
If it wouldn’t burn, he’d use the Corroding Mycelium instead, sending it right into the gas station.
Gu Su had thought it through carefully: if the fire attack was truly ineffective, he would use his Skeletons to entangle the Oil Monster and lead it into the nearby woods. This would create an opportunity for him to seize the abandoned gas station attached to its back.
He suspected the Oil Monster’s core was most likely inside that abandoned gas station—its very lifeblood.
As long as he could destroy that core, then no matter how formidable the Oil Monster seemed, it would surely perish without its source of power.
Of course, even if the plan failed, he would only lose a couple of Skeletons, which wasn’t a major blow to him.
At worst, he would just have to avoid that area in the future.
At this thought, the anxiety on Gu Su’s face visibly lessened.
He turned to the Elite Skeletons and said, "Go prepare your weapons. See if there are any new materials. Be ready for a fight to the death."
Then, Gu Su turned to the Ordinary Skeletons. "Get the torches ready. I’ll need one... no, make that three.
Also, Graveyard Demon, I need a cartful of Corroding Mycelium.
Hurry it up. I’m... hungry?"