Chapter 232 - 231: A Larger Manor

Chapter 232: Chapter 231: A Larger Manor

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After devouring the small chapel and cemetery, the Graveyard Demon began to move again.

Stone orbs rolled beneath the ground, emitting a low rumble. Dark red slime flowed between the orbs, pushing the entire Mobile City forward.

Its destination this time was the next manor marked on the map. Judging from the point of light projected from the Map Room, this manor was much larger than the one it had previously devoured. It wasn’t far either—less than two kilometers away in a straight line.

Gu Su stood on the wall, watching the Graveyard Demon advance slowly.

This time, he didn’t have to feel the sting of regret over the crushed trees. While the small chapel was being consumed, he had already dispatched every Skeleton at his command.

The Ordinary Skeletons, carrying various tools they had received from Bone Ash, advanced along the Graveyard Demon’s intended path. They chopped down obstructing trees, cleared away bushes, dug up roots that broke the surface, and collected anything that could be used.

Five pickup trucks and two heavy trucks drove back and forth, hauling load after load of materials. Even the smallest twig, once fed to the Graveyard Demon, could be converted into corresponding Resources.

By the time the Graveyard Demon began to move, the path had already been cleared.

Gu Su hadn’t demanded a perfectly level path; he just wanted to ensure none of the Resources along the way went to waste.

And so it was. All the materials along the path had been completely collected.

The manor before him was much larger than the first.

Standing on the wall, Gu Su looked out at the manor and almost mistook it for a small village.

The manor’s surrounding wall had long since collapsed, leaving only sections of its stone base buried in waist-deep weeds.

Wrought-iron railings lay crookedly in the grass, so rusted that only their frames remained. The spikes on top were still present but had been blunted; they were no longer sharp to the touch.

Beyond the railings was once a gravel driveway. Now, the small stones had been pushed up by roots and were scattered everywhere. They crunched underfoot.

The manor was approximately nine hundred meters long and wide, leaving more than enough room for the Graveyard Demon to enter. The outline of the old wall was still discernible—a large square that had once enclosed the entire estate.

The main gate was on the southern side. The gateposts, two stone pillars, still stood. Each was topped with a Griffin statue—one was missing half its beak, the other had lost its head.

There must have once been an iron gate between the pillars, but now only a few bent, rust-red bars lay on the ground, so tangled in the grass they couldn’t be pulled free.

Beyond the main gate lay a wide, flagstone path. Grass grew thick in the crevices, and some stones had been heaved up high by tree roots.

The lawns on either side of the path could hardly be called lawns anymore. They were a chaotic jumble of waist-deep grass and wildflowers—yellow, purple, and white all crowded together.

Where flowerbeds and shrubs should have been, there was nothing. Only a few clumps of overgrown wild roses remained, their branches tangled into great knots. A few sparse blooms, pink and white, hung from the thorns like discarded rags.

The main house stood in the center of the estate. It was a two-story stone building with off-white walls and a black-tiled roof.

More than half of the roof had collapsed, exposing the rafters and beams within. In places, the second-story floorboards were visible, the wood so blackened it would surely snap under any weight.

The walls bore smoke stains, black and gray streaks that climbed from above the windows to the eaves. It looked as though a fire had occurred but hadn’t finished the job. The windows remained, but their glass was shattered and their frames were crooked, creaking whenever the wind blew.

The main door was made of thick, heavy oak reinforced with iron bands, the rust on them flaking off. The door was ajar, leaving a pitch-black gap that revealed nothing of the interior.

In front of the main house was a circular stone fountain. Its rim was overgrown with vibrant green moss. The fountain itself had long run dry, its basin filled with a layer of black sludge, a few clumps of grass, and a pile of old, dead leaves.

A stone statue that once stood in the center of the fountain had toppled over. It now lay across the rim, half in the basin and half out. It depicted a robed woman holding a jar, its mouth angled downward as if perpetually pouring water.

Beside the main house stood two smaller guesthouses. They too had stone walls, but their tiled roofs were entirely gone, leaving them exposed to the sky.

The windows were still intact, their frames hung with tattered, dusty rags that fluttered in the wind.

The stable behind the guesthouses was much larger than the one at the previous estate. It had stone walls and a wooden door which hung open, revealing a dark interior. Moldy hay covered the floor, and a few pieces of rusted tack were piled in a corner. There was also an overturned water bucket, its bottom rotted away, leaving only an Iron Ring.

The cowshed and sheep pen were adjacent to the stable. Their walls had partially collapsed, and the ground was littered with broken tiles and rotten wood.

The stone feeding trough in the cowshed was still there, half-buried in the earth with moss growing in its basin. A large section of the sheep pen’s fence had fallen over, leaving only a few posts jutting from the ground. Barbed wire was wrapped around them, snagging clumps of wool so filthy their original color was impossible to tell.

The greenhouse was to the east of the main house. Its glass roof had been completely shattered, leaving only the twisted, skeletal iron frame standing.

Vines with leaves so green they were almost black had completely engulfed the frame, obscuring whatever was inside.

The greenhouse walls were brick, with grass sprouting from the mortar. Piles of broken tiles, overgrown with moss, lay at their base.

A windmill stood in the northwest corner of the estate, its wooden frame perched on an earthen slope.

Two of the windmill’s blades were broken, and another hung on by a thread. They turned slowly in the wind, letting out a ponderous CREAK... CREAK... Next to the windmill was the mill house. It was a stone building, smaller than the main house but more solid.

Its walls hadn’t collapsed and the roof was intact, though many tiles were missing, revealing the wooden beams beneath.

The door to the mill was shut and wouldn’t budge. The iron plating on it had bubbled with rust.

The entire estate was just like the one he had devoured before: completely empty, completely collapsed, and completely consumed by grass and trees.

Even if there had once been corpses, they had long since vanished among the plants.

But none of this mattered to Gu Su. Standing atop the Graveyard Demon and gazing at the manor, he felt an unexpected urge to step out and explore it himself.

Gu Su was quite surprised by this feeling.

He didn’t consider himself to have a strong spirit of adventure.

Besides, the manor clearly radiated an intensely eerie aura; why would he impulsively rush out on a whim?

In the end, he simply waved his hand and dispatched all the troops under his command.

The first to dart out were White Crow, the Bone Dogs, and the Corpse Rat Swarm.

They were followed by the newly upgraded Skeleton Soldiers.

As for the Skeleton Warriors, they did not enter the manor. Instead, led by their respective Bosses, they fanned out into the surrounding area.

Their objective was to clear out any potential nearby enemies—and if they could complete a bounty in the process, all the better.