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"Get your equipment ready. We're going over to take a look."
Gu Su fell silent for a moment. His gaze swept over the skeleton squad beside him, and in the end, he gave the order in a low voice.
The skeletons immediately got to work, quickly modifying and sorting their equipment.
The skeleton assigned a ceiling fan blade squatted down and repeatedly sharpened it against a stone, grinding one side until it gleamed with a razor-sharp edge.
It then found a sturdy wooden stick and firmly attached it to the end of the blade as a handle. A simple but highly lethal bone-and-iron cleaver was ready.
The skeleton assigned a shelf bracket, meanwhile, carefully wrapped the middle of the piece of angle iron in strips of worn cloth, making it easier to grip and less likely to slip. It sharpened the other end to a point, and soon had a handy spear.
Compared to how they'd looked before, clutching stones and swinging crude spiked clubs, the skeleton squad had become much more powerful with their upgraded gear.
Gu Su nodded in satisfaction. Without further delay, he raised a hand to signal their departure and led the entire skeleton squad away from the Graveyard Demon.
The moment he turned to leave, the strange tree in the corner of the graveyard suddenly shook its crown of fresh leaves. Countless seeds shaped like paper offerings fluttered out and drifted on the breeze in the direction the group had gone, as if silently seeing them off.
With the skeleton who had scouted ahead leading the way, the squad moved swiftly, without the slightest delay.
As he walked, Gu Su kept an eye on his surroundings.
He had no idea that, just as he left the Graveyard Demon, several shopping carts coated in white, corrupted fungal threads suddenly shot out of the ground on the other side of it, hurtling into the distance on their powerful momentum.
The ground beneath the carts was marked by faint white trails of fungal threads.
In the blink of an eye, the threads quietly disappeared, but the soil they had touched gradually grew more polluted, faintly exuding a strong aura of corruption.
No one paid any attention to what the carts might eventually hit or where they might stop.
At any rate, this strange method had successfully carried the corrupted fungal threads beyond the Graveyard Demon's current territory, spreading them far into the surrounding area.
Since the Graveyard Demon couldn't move on its own, this was the best way for it to expand its territory and infect the surrounding land: silent, yet remarkably far-reaching.
After following the skeleton squad for a little over a thousand meters, Gu Su peered through gaps in the sparse trees and spotted the abandoned gas station in the distance.
Before they had even gotten close, a nameless unease crept into his heart. The atmosphere around them was indescribably eerie and sinister.
The tree trunks on both sides of the road were hung thick with the corpses of small animals, mostly creatures like rabbits, squirrels, and mice.
All the corpses hung upside down. Some had long since dried out and shrunk, becoming hard jerky.
Others had rotted away completely, leaving only incomplete skeletons, a ghastly sight.
Anyone who knew the truth would understand that these were winter stores kept by the Harpies.
Anyone who didn't might think some eerie, horrifying ritual was being held here.
Just then, the skeleton leading the way stopped and pointed toward a spot where the trees' shadows crossed, signaling to Gu Su that the Harpy was over there.
Gu Su followed the skeleton's gesture and, sure enough, spotted a Harpy perched on a thick branch in the distance.
It had a human torso and eagle's wings. Its scarlet eyes warily scanned the surroundings, and its sharp talons clutched the branch tightly.
Farther beyond lay the abandoned gas station. A huge nest had been built on its roof, with weeds and feathers woven through it. Something seemed to stir inside, clearly marking it as a Harpy gathering place.
Gu Su glanced at the branch where the Harpy was perched, then turned to the skeleton beside him. Curiosity stirred in him, and he asked, "How did you manage to kill a Harpy?"
The skeleton said nothing and immediately stepped forward to demonstrate.
It raised its weapon and slammed it into the tree beside it.
The dull thud instantly alerted the Harpy perched on the branch.
The Harpy whipped around. The moment it saw the skeleton, it let out a piercing shriek, beat its broad wings, and swooped down aggressively, its sharp talons aimed straight at the skeleton's head.
Just as the Harpy's talons were about to seize the skeleton's skull, the skeleton suddenly raised a hand and clamped its bony fingers around the Harpy's legs. No matter how much it flapped and shrieked, the skeleton refused to let go.
Seeing this, another skeleton hidden behind a tree hurried forward. It raised its cleaver high and, while the Harpy was unable to break free, struck hard at its neck. A flash of steel, and blood sprayed everywhere.
The two skeletons worked together seamlessly, one holding the Harpy down while the other struck. In just a few seconds, they had easily killed the agile flying creature. Its body hit the ground with a heavy thud, twitched twice, then fell still.
[Your summoned skeleton killed a level 1 harpy. You gained 2 experience points, and your summon gained 4 experience points.]
A glint of excitement flashed in Gu Su's eyes as he watched the demonstration. He immediately gave the order: "Good. Do it just like that!
"Pair up and split into teams. Approach quietly, and kill as many as you can before they notice. Try not to alert the main group in the nest on the roof!"
The skeleton squad immediately split into pairs. Using the trees for cover, they silently crept toward the Harpies perched in the surrounding branches.
Gu Su didn't stand idle, either. He beckoned to the spellcaster skeleton not far away, and the two of them followed behind the squad, joining the hunt.
However, it was always the spellcaster skeleton that drew the Harpies' attention—not Gu Su, who was holding the Plague Cutter.
Before long, the forest echoed with one piercing Harpy shriek after another.
More than ten isolated Harpies fell to Gu Su and his skeletons. Their bodies lay scattered across the area, blood staining the fallen leaves and soil beneath them.
The skeleton squad grew more practiced with every fight. At first, they had been somewhat disorganized, but soon the hunts became orderly. They grew faster, and made far less noise.
But just then, a dense chorus of shrill shrieks suddenly erupted from the enormous nest on the gas station roof.
The Harpies inside had finally realized something was wrong.
Their companions had been disappearing one after another. The screams and smell of blood in the woods could no longer be concealed.
The next moment, the rush of countless beating wings filled the air as the Harpies in the nest took flight all at once.
About thirteen Harpies, burning with fury, swooped straight toward the woods.
Their sharp talons gleamed in the sunlight, and their piercing cries made the branches and leaves rustle.
Gu Su's heart tightened. He immediately stopped what he was doing and fixed his gaze on the approaching flock.
He soon noticed that the Harpy at the very front was larger than the others.
Its feathers had a faint blue-black sheen, and thin arcs of pale blue electricity coiled around its body. The current crackled, occasionally flashing into a spark.
It was clearly no ordinary Harpy, but a spellcaster Harpy skilled in lightning magic, far stronger than the rest of its kind.
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