Chapter 216: Scarecrow in the Field

Chapter 216 -215: Scarecrow in the Field

Gu Su’s arrangements quickly proved his caution was not for nothing.

Not even a few minutes had passed since the Bone Dogs and the Corpse Rat Swarm charged into the abandoned plantation when a strange sound arose from deep within the woods.

It wasn’t the rustle of leaves in the wind, nor the crisp snap of a dry twig. It was a duller, muffled sound, like something struggling to claw its way out of the earth.

Then he saw the scarecrows.

They emerged from the abandoned fields and crept out from the shadows of the woods. Some revealed half their bodies from behind the yellowed stubble, others crawled out from under fallen tree trunks, and still others seemed to sprout from the ground itself, pushing their way upward bit by bit.

Their movements were slow—so slow they hardly seemed to be moving at all. Yet they were undeniably advancing, like a host of ancient guardians awakened from a deep slumber by some unknown Power.

These scarecrows were completely different from the crooked, cross-shaped frame that had been lying by the tree roots earlier.

That fallen scarecrow had been nothing but a few rotten straw ropes and a misshapen frame, like a pile of abandoned trash.

But these new scarecrows were clearly wrapped in some kind of skin. The material was unidentifiable, its color a yellowish-brown, and it was covered in fine cracks, like a long-dried riverbed.

In some places, it had peeled away, revealing the straw stuffing and unknown black fibers within.

Although terribly worn, the skin had somehow remained remarkably intact, wrapped piece by piece around the scarecrows’ torsos, limbs, and heads, outlining a vague humanoid shape.

Their faces were the most terrifying part.

No eyes, no nose, just a crooked mouth stitched onto the leathery surface with black thread. The corners were turned down, creating an expression that was at once crying and laughing.

A few strands of withered yellow straw stuck up from the tops of their heads like hair, swaying in the wind as if they might break at any moment.

Just as one steadied itself, a Bone Dog pounced.

The Bone Dog charged from the other side of the ridge, its white skeleton starkly conspicuous against the gloomy field.

It didn’t bark, simply opening its maw to reveal a mouthful of sharp, bony teeth and lunging straight for the scarecrow’s arm.

SNAP. The scarecrow’s left arm broke off at the shoulder. No blood spurted from the break, only a puff of black powder that dispersed into a fine mist.

The powder was acrid, and the Bone Dog shook its head, taking a step back. But the scarecrow didn’t fall. It swung its remaining arm wildly, striking the Bone Dog’s ribs. The blow wasn’t powerful, merely knocking the Bone Dog off balance.

More Bone Dogs swarmed forward.

Dog Curse stood on a nearby ridge and let out a low growl.

Under its command, three hundred Bone Dogs split into several groups, encircling the scarecrows from different directions. Some ran along the ridges, some cut through the yellowed stubble, and others circled around to the edge of the woods, blocking the scarecrows’ path of retreat.

There was a considerable number of scarecrows. When Gu Su had counted from the wall, he thought there were only forty or fifty, but that had been from a distance.

Only when the Bone Dogs charged in did they discover more of them hidden everywhere—beneath the ridges, under tree roots, and behind fallen walls.

One after another, they pushed their way out of the earth, shook off the dirt, and rose unsteadily to their feet. They all looked the same, wrapped in rotting skin with stitched-shut mouths, seeming to float as they moved.

But in the end, there were still only forty or fifty of them.

The Bone Dogs charged in much faster than the scarecrows could crawl out.

The first group of scarecrows had just gotten to their feet when a dozen Bone Dogs were already upon them. They weren’t picky, biting arms, legs, torsos—whatever they could sink their teeth into.

No matter how tough the scarecrows’ skin was, it couldn’t withstand the Bone Dogs’ teeth. A single bite tore a hole, and the straw and black powder inside spilled out.

One scarecrow was seized by three Bone Dogs at once: one bit its waist, one its leg, and one its arm.

They yanked backward in unison, and the body came apart like a dismantled toy. An arm went flying, a leg snapped in two, and the torso fell to the ground, rolling twice before stopping. The skin wrapped around it was torn to shreds, and straw scattered everywhere.

The scarecrows began to fight back.

Their method of counterattacking was strange. They didn’t punch or kick; instead, they opened their stitched mouths.

There was no sound, but you could feel something pouring out of those mouths. It wasn’t wind or a smell, but an indescribable presence that pressed down on one’s very bones, chilling and cold, like a voice whispering in your ear to run.

It was, in fact, a fear-based ability similar to the Banshee’s Wail used by Undead Mages.

A normal person hearing it would immediately turn and flee.

But the Bone Dogs didn’t run. After all, they were Undead.

When the presence bore down on them, they only faltered for a moment before continuing their assault.

One scarecrow wrapped its arms around a Bone Dog’s waist, trying to slam it to the ground, but the Bone Dog bit back at its shoulder. With a powerful wrench, half the scarecrow’s body split open, the straw inside spilling out like rotten cotton.

Another scarecrow pounced from behind, knocking a Bone Dog to the ground. The Bone Dog rolled with the impact, scrambled back up, and latched its teeth onto its attacker’s leg.

The scene devolved into chaos. White skeletons and yellowed straw tangled together, making it hard to tell the Bone Dogs from the scarecrows.

The Bone Dogs’ teeth sank into the scarecrows’ skin, and the scarecrows’ hands dug in between the Bone Dogs’ ribs.

Some Bone Dogs were pinned down by scarecrows but struggled free and got back up. Some scarecrows were torn apart by the Bone Dogs, leaving only half a torso crawling on the ground.

It was only then that the Corpse Rats made their move.

They had been waiting at the sidelines. It wasn’t that they were idle, but that it simply hadn’t been their turn.

Gray Rat crouched on a fallen log, its two front paws resting on the edge, watching the Bone Dogs and scarecrows locked in their chaotic struggle.

Gray Rat waited. It waited until the scarecrows couldn’t emerge from the dirt faster than the Bone Dogs could tear them apart, until their crooked bodies began to retreat, until a few started to shrink back toward the woods. Only then did Gray Rat raise a forepaw and point forward.

Nearly a thousand Corpse Rats swarmed out from behind the ridges.

These creatures were much smaller than the Bone Dogs, each only about the size of a palm, but their numbers were terrifying.

They poured out from under the dry grass, from behind clods of dirt, and from beneath fallen tree trunks—a single gray mass surging forward, hugging the ground.

They were much faster than the Bone Dogs, moving like a silent, rising flood. They flowed over the ridges, over the remains of the scarecrows torn apart by the Bone Dogs, and over the still-struggling half-torsos.

A scarecrow had just had its leg bitten off by a Bone Dog. Before it could even fall, the Corpse Rats were already crawling up its body.

They swarmed over it, and in the blink of an eye, the scarecrow had become a writhing gray ball from which came the faint sound of tearing.

When the Corpse Rats dispersed, all that was left on the ground was a pile of shredded skin and straw dust.

Another scarecrow retreated to the edge of the woods, but before it could slip behind a tree, the Corpse Rats caught up to it.

They didn’t bite its arms or legs, but specialized in burrowing into crevices. They squeezed through the gaps between skin and body, through the stitches of the seams, and through torn holes.

The scarecrow took two steps forward and then suddenly stopped. It deflated as if it were leaking, its leathery skin collapsing into a heap as the Corpse Rats pushed out the straw from within, scattering it across the ground.

The Bone Dogs retreated to the side, squatting on the ridges to watch.

The Corpse Rat Swarm spread out across the field like a grayish-white net, enveloping, tearing apart, and devouring the remaining scarecrows one by one. The number of scarecrows dwindled rapidly.

The last scarecrow was found in the woods. It had already made it several meters inside, hiding in the gap between two trees. Most of its skin had been torn away by branches, and the exposed straw was damp, as if soaked with dew.

A few Corpse Rats pursued it and found it quickly. There was no struggle, no sound. The pile of straw simply collapsed, deflating into a flat hide spread out on the ground.

The field fell silent.

The Bone Dogs leaped down from the ridges and moved through the scattered straw and shredded skin, their noses to the ground, sniffing.

The Corpse Rat Swarm dispersed, burrowing back under the dry grass, behind clods of dirt, and beneath fallen tree trunks, waiting to be summoned again.

Not long after, a few pickup trucks drove over from the direction of the Graveyard Demon and stopped at the edge of the field.

Bone Ash jumped down from the first truck and led the Skeletons to begin cleaning up the scattered remains of the scarecrows.