Escape Back (Seeking Collection)

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After taking a wide detour and confirming that the bizarre Oily Sludge Monster was completely shaken off, Gu Su, along with his subordinate skeletons and carrying the harvested Harpy corpses, slowly returned to the Graveyard Demon.

All the way back, Gu Su remained vigilant, constantly checking behind him, afraid of being pursued by the Oily Sludge Monster. Sometimes, he would even choose to take a longer route to ensure the Graveyard Demon's safety.

As soon as he neared the Graveyard Demon, Gu Su visibly paused. The scene before him was vastly different from when he left.

The previously small Graveyard Demon seemed to have expanded significantly, as if out of nowhere. Within the dilapidated walls, several new trees had sprouted. However, these trees were rapidly withering before his very eyes.

Observing the quickly dying trees, Gu Su instantly understood the reason. The Graveyard Demon was using its unique, eerie method to stealthily expand its territory, gradually encroaching upon the surrounding land.

Those trees were the land that the Graveyard Demon had absorbed.

Although he didn't fully grasp how it worked, this was clearly a good thing.

Gu Su's mood improved considerably. The recent setback from encountering the Oily Sludge Monster and the dejection from the heavy losses of his skeleton squad didn't weigh on his mind as much anymore.

Without further delay, he immediately directed his subordinate skeletons to drag all the Harpy corpses into the Graveyard Demon's domain, one by one.

After completing this, Gu Su carefully counted the number of corpses:

The initial twelve Harpy corpses they hunted, plus the five killed alongside their leader, meant they had brought back a total of seventeen Harpy corpses this time.

He had brought one magic-user skeleton, ten elite skeletons, and had temporarily summoned five more skeletons on the battlefield.

The result was that only the magic-user skeleton, three elite skeletons, and two regular skeletons returned, a total loss of ten units.

Even with the replenishment, this was a significant loss.

Sighing inwardly, Gu Su no longer hesitated. He first threw seven of the corpses towards the burial mounds, filling the vacancies left by the elite skeletons.

The remaining ten corpses were all thrown into the general burial mounds, joining the ranks of the ordinary skeleton undead.

As soon as the corpses were arranged, the system notification chimed precisely on time.

[Empty Grave automatically uses your Raise Undead (Level 1), obtaining Skeleton (Level 0) * 17, Raise Undead proficiency +17 points.]

The next moment, seventeen skeletons pushed aside the soil from the burial mounds and crawled out from underground.

Looking at these seventeen new skeletons, Gu Su's mood lightened. The combat strength of his skeleton squad had been somewhat replenished.

The heavy feeling brought on by the previous heavy losses was slightly alleviated, but a new problem soon surfaced in his mind.

That problem was the bizarre Oily Sludge Monster—how exactly could he defeat it and avenge the heavy losses of his skeleton squad?

After all, losing so many troops and simply letting it go, without seeking retribution, was not Gu Su's style.

However, he also knew very well that the Oily Sludge Monster was exceptionally strange.

Composed entirely of viscous black oil, ordinary bladed weapons could not harm it in the slightest. Attacking it was like scratching an itch through a boot, completely ineffective.

As for magical attacks, Gu Su currently had no knowledge of them, making it impossible to break through its defenses with magic.

He had no other means, and he didn't know who to ask for help.

Just as Gu Su was falling into a state of despair and helplessness, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind:

What if... he used fire?

As this idea emerged, Gu Su's gaze involuntarily shifted towards the pile of eternally burning netherflames within the Graveyard Demon.

A hint of contemplation flickered in his eyes as he considered the feasibility of a fire attack.

Fire might be effective against oily substances, but a mere torch would be far too weak to damage the Oily Sludge Monster's core, let alone defeat it.

As for setting the surrounding mountains ablaze to encircle and destroy the Oily Sludge Monster with the power of a large fire, the fog and humidity outside were too high.

In such an environment, the fire would not ignite, let alone form a blaze capable of threatening the Oily Sludge Monster.

Bringing wood himself to start a fire was also impractical; he couldn't exactly throw wood into the monster before setting the fire.

Gu Su had previously considered the fact that the Oily Sludge Monster was born attached to that abandoned gas station.

However, the idea of using the oil from the gas station to fuel the fire was completely unfeasible. Who knew if the Oily Sludge Monster's core was still oil? If it was just ordinary black mud, it wouldn't burn at all.

Various ideas for defeating the enemy flashed through Gu Su's mind, but no matter how he thought about it, every idea had a flaw.

Neither left nor right seemed to work.

Just as he was once again caught in a dilemma, unsure of what to do, he suddenly heard a muffled "whoosh" sound from outside the Graveyard Demon.

Hearing the sound, Gu Su quickly hurried to the wall where the noise came from.

He saw the Graveyard Demon ejecting shopping carts filled with white corrupted mycelium outwards. The shopping carts, trailing strands of mycelium, shot rapidly into the distance, leaving faint traces behind.

Seeing this, Gu Su visibly froze. He finally understood where the Graveyard Demon had taken his shopping carts.

He also understood how the extra trees in the graveyard had appeared: the corrupted mycelium was devouring the nearby land, expanding its territory.

At this moment, a brand new idea for defeating the enemy suddenly crystallized in Gu Su's mind.

Perhaps he could use a two-pronged approach, combining torches and corrupted mycelium to try and defeat the bizarre Oily Sludge Monster.

He planned to bring both torches and corrupted mycelium to try. If the fire could ignite successfully, he would use fire to attack the Oily Sludge Monster, using the flames to burn its core.

If the fire couldn't ignite, he would use the corrupted mycelium, sending it into the gas station.

Gu Su had seriously considered that if the fire attack proved ineffective, he would use the corrupted mycelium to entangle the Oily Sludge Monster and seize the abandoned gas station attached to its back.

He guessed that the Oily Sludge Monster's core was most likely inside that abandoned gas station, its lifeline.

As long as this core lifeline could be destroyed, no matter how powerful the Oily Sludge Monster appeared on the surface, it would surely perish without its core's support.

Of course, even if that didn't work, Gu Su would only lose two skeletons, which wouldn't be a significant impact for him.

At most, Gu Su wouldn't go back there again.

Thinking of this, Gu Su's eyes brightened considerably.

He turned to the Elite Skeletons and said, "Go prepare your weapons, see if you have any new materials, and be ready to fight for your lives later."

Afterward, Gu Su spoke to the Normal Skeletons, "Go prepare torches, one... no, three.

Also, Graveyard Demon, give me a cart of corrupted mycelium.

Hurry up, I... am hungry?"