Chapter 176 - 175: The Battlefield-Devouring Graveyard Demon

Chapter 176: Chapter 175: The Battlefield-Devouring Graveyard Demon

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The Graveyard Demon slowly began to turn. Beneath its foundation, countless stone spheres coated in a viscous fluid started rolling frantically. The densely packed spheres ground against one another, and a rumbling sound rose from underground, causing the entire Graveyard Demon to tremble slightly.

The sound was like the earth splitting apart, or a mighty army thundering underground.

Inside the cockpit, Gu Su peered through the patchwork glass window. The Flashing Lamp Tube hanging on the outer wall had already lit up. Its stinging beams of light pierced the thick darkness, illuminating an area roughly thirty meters in front of the Graveyard Demon.

At the same time, a communication from Alice came through the Communication Puppet right on schedule. "My lord, turn left 32 degrees to adjust your heading. Slow down."

Gu Su gripped the rough control stick tightly with both hands, carefully adjusting the angle according to the instructions coming from Alice via the Communication Puppet.

The stick was heavier than he’d imagined, and difficult to maneuver. Though he was only making a minute adjustment, it felt like trying to shift an entire mountain—clumsy and exhausting.

To make matters worse, the angle was difficult to control. He kept overshooting or undershooting it. Gu Su found it impossible to execute a perfect turn with any ease.

"Looks like I’ll have to find a proper pilot, and soon!" he muttered, turning the thought over in his mind while continuing to listen to the navigational reports.

Just then, the vines tightly wound around the lower half of the wall seemed to awaken, lashing out violently in all directions as if roused by some mysterious force.

Vines as thick as a child’s arm snapped taut, their surfaces covered in cracked textures and dark brown patches of mold.

Thinner, wire-like vines shot out like arrows. The dense mass of tendrils spread out at once, resembling a giant, black flower slowly blooming in the thick of night.

These vines were not growing chaotically; they spread outward from the lower half of the wall. They unfurled leaves as large as washbasins, each with sharply serrated edges and a surface coated in frost-like white Corroding Mycelium. In the dim light, the leaves emitted a faint, cold glow as they swept toward the corpse fragments scattered across the ground.

These fragments were all that remained after Gu Su had previously performed his large-scale Soul Summoning Technique.

There were chunks of flesh from failed Soul Summoning attempts, trampled bone fragments, scattered Wooden Spears, broken Bone Swords, and many Lizardman limbs that had not yet fully decomposed.

Regardless of whether the Soul Summoning Technique was a success, this flesh and blood remained on the battlefield. Though it seemed useless, it now served as nourishment for the Graveyard Demon.

Like greedy suction cups, the leaves on the vines wrapped tightly around all the debris on the ground. The SIZZLE of corrosion, the CRACK of crushed bones, and the GURGLE of flowing fluids mingled together, composing a grotesque symphony.

The shattered white bones from failed Soul Summoning attempts and the fragments of crude Long Spears broken in battle were also deftly coiled up by the leaves and slowly transported upward along the length of the vines.

With precise control, the leaves methodically delivered the flesh, bone, and spear fragments to the wall at the base of the Graveyard Demon.

The Lizardmen had previously charged to the very base of the wall, coming just shy of the two-story building above and nearly breaching its line of Defense.

The Graveyard Demon’s own defensive instincts had been triggered. Sensing the potential danger, it began proactively collecting this debris to reinforce its walls.

The crevices in the lower half of the wall were already embedded with sharp concrete fragments and remnants of mottled white plaster. Where the vines crisscrossed, there were also large amounts of Metal, scales, and even the exit of a Deployment Pod.

Now, this was all mixed with the newly devoured remains and ground into a grayish-red, viscous slurry by the vines.

This grayish-red slurry was smeared evenly across the lower half of the wall, plastering over the exposed brickwork and vines. It slowly solidified, forming a coarse yet solid protective layer.

Most conspicuous were the crude Wooden Spears left behind by the Lizardmen. Instead of being completely crushed, the leaves forcibly jammed them into the slurry layer, spearheads facing out and angled toward the ground.

One, two, ten, then dozens. In the blink of an eye, the lower half of the wall had sprouted a jagged row of barbs, as if the Graveyard Demon had donned a tasset woven from Thorns, further strengthening its Defense.

Gu Su watched this unfold, a sense of anticipation growing within him. ’Even though this is just a crude prototype for now,’ he thought, ’the Graveyard Demon will probably unlock a new branch of wall reinforcement options before long.’

The stone spheres beneath the foundation continued their frantic rolling, pushing the Graveyard Demon through its turn.

The rumbling of the lubricated stone spheres colliding with one another mingled with the subtle sounds of the vines devouring debris, creating a bizarre and somber symphony.

Just then, under Alice’s precise direction, Gu Su finally completed the turn.

Once the front of the Graveyard Demon was aimed steadily toward the battlefield, he released the control stick and let out a long breath, the tension in his chest easing slightly.

All that was left was to let the behemoth advance in a straight line until it reached the edge of the battlefield. It wouldn’t require much more input from him.

Through the cockpit’s glass window, Gu Su could clearly see the battlefield ahead gradually falling quiet.

The white tide of the Undead had all but swallowed the last remnants of the greenish Lizardman forces. What was once a force of five or six hundred had dwindled to just over a hundred, now scattered across the corpse-strewn battlefield in a desperate last stand.

Some were surrounded and being mauled by three or four Bone Dogs, struggling frantically despite being covered in wounds.

Others were encircled by Skeleton Warriors, their bodies impaled by Long Spears, yet they still swiped their claws in futile resistance.

And still others had been run through the chest by the Long Spears of Death Knights, pinned fast to the scorched earth, completely lifeless.

The night remained thick, with no hint of light on the horizon. No new green specks of light emerged from the distant darkness, nor did any new mounds of earth swell from the ground. It seemed this wave of the Lizardman assault had finally exhausted itself.

Gu Su’s Undead were methodically cleaning up the last of the enemy. At the edge of the battlefield, any Lizardmen lucky enough to have escaped the encirclement were hunted down and tackled by swift-moving Bone Dogs. Skeleton Soldiers brandished their Bone Spears, Slaying the fleeing Lizardmen one by one.

The Death Knights patrolled the battlefield on their White Bone Warhorses, ensuring not a single straggler escaped.

Soon, the Graveyard Demon came to a halt a little over ten meters from the battlefield. The stone spheres beneath its foundation gradually ceased their rolling, and the massive structure stood firm upon the scorched earth.

Its immense form cast a vast shadow, which, set against the corpses and Undead on the battlefield, added to the sinister atmosphere.

On the lower half of the wall, the freshly applied grayish-red slurry was still solidifying. The new barbs gleamed with a faint, cold light in the gloom, melding with the original vines, mycelium, and bone. The structure’s defensive aura grew ever stronger.

After bringing the Graveyard Demon to a stop, Gu Su stood up, pushed open the cockpit’s iron door, and quickly climbed the stairs to the top of the wall.

The night wind swept past, carrying the thick stench of blood and burnt flesh across his face.

He stood at a crenellation, looking down upon the corpse-strewn land below. Countless bodies—Lizardmen, Skeletons, and Bone Dogs—lay in heaps, carpeting every inch of ground as far as he could see.

The remaining Undead were finishing off the last of the enemies. Death Knights on their White Bone Warhorses patrolled the edges of the battlefield, ensuring no stragglers escaped.

Gu Su took a deep breath and raised his right hand. A faint gray light glowed in his palm as he aimed it at the nearest pile of corpses below. Without a moment’s hesitation, he began to cast the Soul Summoning Technique once more.

The battle was not yet over, but a new round of converting the dead had already begun.