Chapter 163 - 162: Strengthening the Graveyard Demon

Chapter 163: Chapter 162: Strengthening the Graveyard Demon

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After about half an hour, Gu Su’s Graveyard Demon slowly neared the edge of Sector 71 of the Southeast Defense Line.

At that moment, the two heavy-duty trucks, towing the small Mobile Castle and the spaceship wreckage, were struggling to move in this direction.

They were about to meet.

Gu Su didn’t follow them any further. He headed directly for the Graveyard Demon, carrying the Spine Spear in his hand as he went.

He muttered to himself as he walked.

’Is my luck with opening Treasure Chests really that bad?’

’All I get from Treasure Chests are melee weapons.’

’But I’m an Undead Mage! Summoning Undead and mastering the Corpse Explosion Technique is the proper path. What’s the deal with charging into a melee with a Long Spear?’

’I can’t just give this to one of my Bosses. It would be a complete waste on them.’

Lost in thought, Gu Su arrived at the Yin Fire Heap.

The items Bone Ash had brought back earlier were all piled up here.

Aside from some corpses that had already been sent to fill the graves and replenish his forces, the remaining few white-rarity items were scattered beside the Yin Fire Heap, waiting for him to deal with them.

Gu Su casually stabbed the Spine Spear into the ground. Just as he was about to bend down and pick up the white items, he caught a strange movement on the ground out of the corner of his eye.

A few strands of snow-white mycelium drilled out of the soil. They writhed like living things, spreading rapidly toward the spear.

Before he could react, the mycelium had already climbed the spear’s shaft, wrapping around it layer by layer until the entire spear was tightly cocooned.

"Hey—"

Gu Su had just started to speak when the mycelium completely covered the spear.

The white ball of mycelium squirmed in place for a few moments, making a faint sucking sound. Then, it slowly deflated, retracted into the ground, and vanished completely.

Nothing was left on the ground.

’Where was his spear?’

’That huge spear of his?’

Gu Su stood frozen, staring at the empty patch of ground for several seconds before he realized what had happened.

That damned Corroding Mycelium ate everything. It had swallowed shopping carts, trees, and spaceship wreckage before, and now it had even devoured the spear he had just gotten.

The problem was, that was his loot, and he hadn’t even had it for five minutes.

Gu Su took a deep breath and turned toward his tent.

He had to get to the bottom of this with the Graveyard Demon. The Corroding Mycelium was part of the Graveyard Demon, so he needed to know what had just happened.

He lifted the tent flap, sat on the edge of his bed, and raised his hand to call up the Graveyard Demon’s panel, then began scrolling through it line by line.

’Main structures, no... Mobile structures, no... Defensive structures...’

’There! In the wall’s Annex Buildings... the Sentry Towers. There’s a new change here.’

Gu Su’s finger paused, then he tapped to open the detailed information.

The Sentry Tower was a branch Annex Building of the wall, which could be activated by investing 5 units of Stone, 5 units of Metal, and 100 units of Yin Qi.

After activation, for every ten meters of wall built, a small, two-square-meter room would automatically be created. It was located on the second floor by the wall, sometimes without even a door—just a small, semi-open cubicle.

Two Skeletons could be assigned to each sentry tower, responsible for watching for any movement outside.

If an enemy approached, they would stab down with their Long Spears; if there were too many enemies, they could also throw firebombs or bombs from the windows. It served as a supplement to the main batteries, meant to handle small-scale harassment.

To put it bluntly, its combat effectiveness was on par with a security guard booth at a gated community—it could deter thieves, but not a proper attack.

But now, the Sentry Tower entry on the panel had an extra line of small text:

[Affected by the Spine Spear, the Sentry Tower Garrison’s weapons have been replaced with replica Spine Spears. The replicas have slightly lower Attack Power than the original but fully retain the Piercing and Throw/Retrieve Traits.]

Gu Su paused for a moment, then continued scrolling down and found the Sentry Tower Garrison’s equipment list.

[Replica Spine Spear (White)]

[Attack: 2 (Original: 6)]

[Piercing: +10% Armor penetration against Carapaced and Scaled enemies (Original: 20%)]

[Throw/Retrieve: Can be thrown to deal 110% damage, automatically returns to hand after 3 seconds. Cooldown: 35 seconds (Original: 150% damage, 30-second cooldown)]

[Explanation: A replica created by the Corroding Mycelium after devouring the original. Although its power is weakened, its strength lies in its sheer numbers, allowing it to be equipped by the entire Sentry Tower Garrison.]

Gu Su stared at the panel for a long time before slowly exhaling.

’The spear is gone, but not for nothing.’

’Originally, the Sentry Tower Garrison used the most basic, unenchanted Long Spears. Stabbing people depended entirely on brute force, and they basically just tickled armored enemies.’

’Now that they’re equipped with these replicas, even though the Attack Power is lower, the Piercing and Throw/Retrieve Traits remain. The Throw/Retrieve is especially good—it’s like giving every member of the Sentry Tower Garrison a Ranged Attack. They can throw them, and they fly right back, so there’s no need to worry about ammunition.’

’He did a quick calculation. The Graveyard Demon’s current wall length could support a dozen or so sentry towers. With two Skeletons per tower, that meant twenty to thirty replica Spine Spears.’

’Although their individual power couldn’t compare to the original, once you stacked up the numbers... if they were ever truly besieged, the sight of twenty or thirty spears being thrown at once... ’

Gu Su closed the panel, stood up, and walked outside.

’Whatever. I’ll just consider it an investment. It stung a little, but the result isn’t a loss.’

He returned to the side of the Yin Fire Heap. The few white-rarity items were still lying obediently on the ground.

’The Corroding Mycelium didn’t move this time. Maybe it’s because the other items aren’t green, so it doesn’t need to personally come over and deal with them.’

Gu Su crouched down, picked up a piece of Molting Remnants, and tested it by holding it near the Yin Fire Heap.

The Yin Fire’s flames flickered but didn’t react. He tried a few other items and found that the Yin Fire Heap didn’t want any of them.

’It seems that after reaching Level 1, I can’t just randomly stuff things into the Yin Fire Heap anymore.’

He turned, walked a few steps to the side, and placed these items at the base of the Deceitful Tree.

The instant he placed them down, the branches of the Deceitful Tree trembled slightly, as if stirred by a breeze. Its roots slowly converged on the Molting Remnants.

The remnants shriveled at a visible rate. The mucus was absorbed by the roots, and the edges began to curl and turn brittle.

Gu Su stood up and glanced at the Deceitful Tree’s Attribute Panel. He then noticed several new patches that looked like Beast Skins had appeared near the tree’s roots.

[Deceitful Tree: Level 1, Upgrade Progress 12%→21%]

"Not bad," he muttered. He gathered the remaining items, thought for a moment, and turned toward the Dark Erosion Cave.

’I should see if the Corpse Witches want the rest of this stuff. Especially those seeds. I wonder if they can be planted in the Mushroom Cave.’

Arriving at the entrance to the basement, Gu Su descended the stairs. The Yin Qi grew thicker, and the air was filled with the damp smell of humus.

He had just reached the middle of the stairs when he abruptly stopped.

’Something on the wall was moving.’

The Fluorescent Vines on the ceiling, which had been creeping quietly along the walls, now seemed to have come alive. Slender tendrils reached out from all directions, writhing in front of him as if... searching for something?

Gu Su glanced down at the items in his hand.

’Paralyzing Tongue Flesh, Nightlight Scales, a Cold Blood Clot, a Broken Tail, and Blood Waterflea Seeds. Maybe there was something in here that it wanted.’

He held out his hand.

A few vines immediately drew closer, hovered over his palm for a moment, and then lunged in unison for the five Nightlight Scales.

The scales were still emitting a faint purple glow. The instant the vines wrapped around them, tiny rootlets pierced into them.

The purple light flickered a few times, grew dimmer, and then went out completely. The vines dragged the now-dull scales into a crack in the wall and disappeared.

Gu Su leaned in for a closer look at that patch of vines. Within their original eerie green glow, a faint hint of purple could now be seen, very light, tracing the edges of the leaves like a network of fine veins.

At the same time, a DING sounded in Gu Su’s ear, but there was no corresponding notification. It seemed the vines had become some sort of structure. Gu Su would have to go back to the tent later to check.

After leaving the stairwell, Gu Su saw several Corpse Witches busily working around the Toxicity Research Room.

Seeing Gu Su enter, the lead Corpse Witch looked up, the spectral flames in its empty eye sockets flickering.

"My Lord."

Gu Su walked over and placed the remaining items in his hand before them.

"See if any of this is useful."

The Corpse Witch lowered its head and extended its bony fingers, carefully prodding the piece of tongue flesh. The severed end of the flesh was still oozing a turbid fluid. The moment its fingertip touched it, it recoiled, and the spectral flames in its eye sockets flared.

"My Lord, this thing has a paralyzing effect." Its voice was hoarse and low. "It can be used to make poison directly, or it can be purified. It will take some time."

Another Corpse Witch approached and poked the clot with a thin bone rod. The clot was semi-coagulated, purplish in color, and felt much colder than room temperature.

"A blood clot from a cold-blooded creature," that Corpse Witch said. "It’s an alchemy material. It can also be used to concoct certain potions that require low-temperature storage. We’ll keep it; it will be useful later."

A third Corpse Witch had already picked up the Broken Tail. The tail was still twitching slightly, its end attached to a small piece of spinal bone. The scales on its skin had lost their luster.

"My Lord, this..." Its voice trailed off for a moment. "It can be fed to venomous insects. It can also be used in medicine, but it needs to be processed first. If you need it for something urgently, feeding it to the insects is faster."

The last Corpse Witch picked up the Blood Waterflea Seeds, turned them over a few times, and then set them back down.

"My Lord, this thing... we have no use for it at the moment. It’s a swamp plant; it won’t survive here."

Gu Su grunted in acknowledgment, took back the seeds, and turned to leave.