Mechanical Alchemist

"Roar~"

A sorrowful yet angry dragon’s cry echoed over the capital of Aiklance.

Most of the city’s inhabitants were confused.

The residents, even the royal family members within the palace, looked up at the sky with faces full of terror.

They didn’t know why the guardian silver dragon was so furious.

Su Lun had just found out that the sixth-tier young dragon, ridden by Princess Becky, was the offspring of the silver dragon from the snowy mountains.

The Mages from the divine plane had killed the young dragon, naturally provoking this adult dragon.

It was after the dragon’s cry reverberated through the city and the dragon’s presence made people’s souls tremble, that a huge silver-white silhouette dove from the sky, heading towards the west of the city.

The silver dragon, like a stream of silver light, blinked down.

"So fast!"

Su Lun’s pupils sharply constricted.

The flying speed of this eighth-tier silver dragon was even faster than that of the lightning dragon he had encountered in Atalan City!

This was not a physical level of wing flapping and riding the air currents, but a high-level light system rule, similar to the rule displacement ability of Mr. Jing.

"This is bad..."

Su Lun watched, his eyes full of concern.

With such speed, even if he wanted to save someone, the slightest carelessness would be fatal.

The Holy Light Dragon Breath, comparable to ninth-tier arcane, left almost no room for error, one would either die or be crippled upon contact.

But upon seeing this scene, Su Lun did not hesitate and followed in the direction of the diving dragon.

...

The surroundings changed in an instant, and the silver dragon landed in the city before Su Lun could arrive.

This massive creature, with a wingspan of a hundred meters, dove down like a falling meteor, the situation was incredibly dramatic. Merely the trend of its enveloping body descending was enough to crush a vast area of the southern city into dust.

His offspring being killed, this silver dragon was driven to peak rage, at this moment only his Dragon Breath could vent his anger.

It unleashed a breath of Holy Light, and those terrified residents hadn’t even realized what was happening before the hundreds of meters long scorching beam turned the civilians and buildings within the block into ash.

At the same time, snowflakes began to flutter in the sky, and a domineering Sword Intent surged to the heavens.

The temperature plummeted by tens of degrees, and a hundred-meter long Sword Qi burst forth from inside a house, slicing through that terrifying Holy Light Dragon Breath.

From the burning ruins, a figure retreated explosively for a hundred meters, landing far away on the street, it was the "Dragon Hunter" Bartolo Figaro.

Su Lun looked at the Sword Qi, slightly surprised, "Can Dragon Breath even be split?"

This level of Dragon Breath was terrifyingly high on the rule level, and breaking it with Sword Qi was not as simple as it appeared; it was definitely a competition at the level of rule understanding. He was also surprised that this Dragon Hunter faced an eighth-tier giant dragon without being at a disadvantage?

Bartolo was also clearly confused at the moment, his eyebrows deeply furrowed.

But the silver dragon did not give him a chance to understand, as it had sniffed out the murderer!

After a blast of Dragon Breath, the dragon swooped down rapidly, its wings whipping up a storm of sand and stone on the street, and in another moment, it charged again.

The silver dragon was incredibly fast, and the instant it flapped its wings, its figure dissipated on the spot.

Bartolo, who was far away, evidently anticipated this; after years of dragon hunting, he was familiar with every habit of the giant dragons.

But the silver dragon was so fast that he didn’t even have time to dodge sideways, he could only cross his sword in front of him, a visible ripple of Sword Qi enveloping his body.

"Bang!"

The silver dragon collided head-on with Bartolo.

Aside from its Dragon Breath, its robust body was also one of the most savage weapons in the world!

When the Holy Light collided with the chilling snow, the two energies exploded at the point of impact, creating a visibly huge shockwave.

At the moment of collision, a figure was sent flying backward, like a cannonball, crashing heavily onto the street.

"Bang," "Bang," "Bang"...

After crashing through more than a dozen buildings and shattering a thick city wall raising dust all over, it finally stopped moving.

How terrifying is the combat power of an eighth-tier pure-blooded giant dragon? Just two encounters had buried an eighth-tier swordsman more than ten meters underground.

Yet it was only after the collision that the shockwave slowly hit, making Su Lun’s robe flutter noisily.

Watching with tightly furrowed brows, he knew however that Bartolo was still alive, his soul fluctuations were steady.

At the moment of the collision, Bartolo had obviously not been passively hit, but had actively rebounded. This was clearly a highly skilled technique of unloading force.

"Bartolo is really strong..."

Su Lun murmured to himself.

Previously, when their Dawn Team together had killed an eighth-tier Gatekeeper "King of the Western Sea" Morlock Poppen, they hadn’t felt very impressive.

Now watching Bartolo, this "Sword God", he understood that the gap in combat power among eighth-tier professionals was also massive.

But that silver dragon was even stronger!

This terrifying speed made Su Lun fear that even if he teleported to put Bartolo into the mini void realm, that action alone would be enough to cost him his life.

Such was the level of battle that there was simply no room for low-tier professionals to participate directly.

...

Clearly, if Su Lun could sense that Bartolo was not dead, so could the dragons with their keen sense of smell!

Even after slamming him into the ground, the Silver Dragon didn’t hold back its anger and flashed its wings again, creating a hurricane that rivaled an Eighth-Tier "Hurricane Technique," howling fiercely through the air.

In an instant, buildings on the ground were uprooted by the fierce wind, countless people were swept up into the sky like ants, and some were even torn into a mist of blood by the powerful wind.

Su Lun hadn’t expected the dragon to summon such a formidable hurricane. Even from a distance, he could feel the wind blades painfully cutting as if they were scraping bone, illuminating the horrifying power at the storm’s center!

Near the city walls where Bartolo landed, sand and stones flew chaotically. Amid the chaos, it seemed like someone faintly shouted, "Disengage armor!"

Looking again, a figure emerged unscathed from the dusty storm.

He stepped through the wind as if he were climbing an invisible staircase, walking step by step in mid-air, unaffected by the violent winds.

From a distance, seeing this scene, Su Lun wore an expression of newfound understanding and thought to himself, "Legendary secret technique—’Imperial Air Walk’!"

This was the ultimate technique of "Stepping on Air," which allowed one to manipulate air flows and float freely in the sky.

"Ancient Guma Techniques" recorded this secret technique, but it required extremely high skills, which Su Lun had not yet mastered. He hadn’t expected to see it used by Bartolo.

However, what shocked him even more was yet to come.

At that moment, the robe Bartolo was wearing had shattered from the impact and was now completely torn apart by the fierce wind, leaving his upper body fully exposed.

Holding a Snow Blade, his muscles tightly wound, it was astonishing to see his body covered with runes that glimmered with golden light, resembling dragon scales!

Su Lun’s left eye flashed, identifying the runes - it was armor, which surprised him: "Isaac’s Dragon-marked Golden Body armor! Did the Black Sam Band also know the contents of that notebook?"

He had never imagined that the runes on Bartolo’s body were actually the Dragon-marked Golden Body.

At that moment, Bartolo showed no fear, even when facing an enemy of a higher realm. This sword god was fearless.

"Domain·Frost Flower Night Snow."

Suddenly, he swung his blade, and with his domain expanded, countless frost flowers in the sky turned into blades of sword Qi.

These thin snowflakes fell on buildings, cutting into them sharply like blades, easily making deep incisions.

When they landed on dragon scales, they made a series of "clang," "clang," "clang" sounds, slicing out small white marks.

The Silver Dragon roared long and charged fiercely again.

A fierce battle between man and dragon erupted once more.

...

Su Lun watched the snowflakes land on the body surface, his thoughts myriad.

Eighth-tier "Overbody," physically resisting a giant dragon, is truly formidable!

In the field of alchemy, the difference between Seventh and Eighth tier is like two entirely different levels of combat power.

He hadn’t expected Bartolo to be so monstrously strong.

It seems that after the obliteration of the Black Sam Pirate Crew, he had his own great fortune, achieving an unimaginably high realm in swordsmanship.

The sudden turn of events made Su Lun feel less urgent about rescuing him.

However, from the moment Bartolo’s slash failed to penetrate the dragon scales, it was determined that he wouldn’t be easily defeated, but he definitely couldn’t win.

Moreover, those celestial mages lying in wait behind the scenes, waiting to kill with a borrowed knife, would definitely not let him live.

Su Lun dared not rush into the battlefield recklessly.

But he knew he had to do something.

Thinking it over, he pinched a sorcerer’s seal and sent a spiritual message towards the distant Silver Dragon: "Your Excellence the Silver Dragon, I know you can understand my words. There’s a conspiracy here, someone has plotted to ambush and kill you. Those people are in the east palace of the city..."

Su Lun used the "Language Proficiency" magic and some Beast Tamer’s communication skills, believing that high-level beings like dragons would mostly understand.

Moreover, dragons are naturally cunning. Hearing it was a conspiracy, they should be wary regardless.

Su Lun imagined the best scenario where the Silver Dragon understood his words and then led them to that ten-thousand mage group.

But... things went contrary to his wishes.

The instant the spiritual message was sent, the Silver Dragon’s gaze fiercely turned towards him.

Clearly, it had understood.

But Su Lun had underestimated its rage and pride.

In the eyes of a giant dragon, humans are no different than ants.

Good insects and harmful insects are essentially the same!

Even though it had once harbored kind intentions towards humans, serving as a mount for a dragon knight and protecting these human kingdoms for a thousand years.

Did it now think that its offspring had been killed by humans?

It turned dark in an instant.

Whether it was being designed to be killed or actually being killed, these were unalterable facts!

Humans were the culprits.

Let everything be destroyed!

Su Lun saw a flash of chilling luster in those dragon eyes and thought to himself that this was not good.

He didn’t hesitate to use teleportation.

Just as the spatial fluctuation appeared, a blast of Holy Light Dragon Breath engulfed his afterimage, burning the entire street block to a charred black.

...

"Dragons really can’t be reasoned with!"

Su Lun cursed silently in his heart, once again experiencing the arrogance of the dragon.

Even if it really was a conspiracy, the silver dragon did not regard him as an equal being, so there was absolutely no chance of becoming "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."

As soon as Su Lun landed, Black Fang on his shoulder cawed loudly.

"???"

He was suspicious, not sensing where the danger came from, but instinctively chose to teleport away from the spot.

However, a beam of black light was faster than his teleportation, covering most of the city.

When Su Lun looked again, his attribute panel had shockingly gained a new status: "Soul Locked."

He frowned and followed the direction of the black light, catching sight of the palace’s outer arrow tower, where several black-robed mages were lighting an ancient bronze lamp.

The black light emitted by the bronze lamp was not intense, but it imprisoned all the people in the city like a cage.

On inspection, it turned out to be an alchemic curse item of a sealed level.

[Tartaros’s Soul-Binding Lamp (Fragment)]

Quality: Legendary

Description: A lamp ignited by souls, guiding the way to the underworld

Curse Traits: When using this lamp to release ’soul marker’ within range, it can lock the target’s soul, preventing souls weaker than its own from escaping the light’s range; after ritual transformation, it can collect free-floating souls to strengthen the wielder’s own soul; without understanding higher-order death magic, the soul suffers a curse of evil spirit backlash, resulting in soul dispersion; killing the holder dissolves the soul mark;

Detailed Explanation: This is not an ordinary lantern; it was once a lantern used by a deity of death to imprison souls;

"Is it actually this thing?"

Su Lun looked somewhat familiar with the effect.

Looking again at his own inventory, didn’t he just have a piece of [Tartaros’s Soul Lamp Chain]?

That chain was from when he had escaped from Old Lington, something the pirates of the Northern Sea had used in an ambush against Mr. Jing.

Kept in the inventory without much use, he never thought he would encounter another component now.

The opponents knew he had spatial displacement abilities, so having measures against spatial displacement was not surprising.

However, he had thought that with the [Urobolos Space-Time Ring], no matter how the space was restricted, he could still escape. He never expected the enemy to have side abilities like soul marking.

At that moment, Su Lun immediately thought of a phrase to describe his situation—caught in a turtle trap.

Those guys didn’t even need to come looking for him; the Soul Lamp had restricted everyone in the royal capital.

After hunting down the dragon, they could just take their time to search.

If Su Lun wanted to escape the marking, he had to kill the necromancer holding the lamp.

Either caught in a turtle trap or wait by the tree for the rabbit.

Neither was a good outcome.

...

Su Lun himself always relied on overpowering his enemies with equipment, so now being caught by a special curse item didn’t bother him much.

Instantly, his mind started working at high speed, calculating the possibility of breaking the situation: "The black light covers approximately a dozen kilometers, meaning I can only teleport within this range. Moreover, the range of the black light can be controlled and reduced by the manipulators, which is the real trouble..."

The light range can also be controlled and reduced. Making it this large now is to cover the entire royal capital. Another reason is not daring to get too close to the battlefield of Bartolo and the silver dragon, fearing to catch the attention of the evil dragon and Bartolo.

So, as long as Bartolo is not dead, the light range will not be reduced for the time being.

Su Lun quickly thought of a strategy to deal with it.

If that evil dragon does not trust humans, then stir up more commotion and pull the mages from the realm of gods into the fray.

If they can’t cooperate, then let it be a three-way chaotic battle.

There would always be an opportunity.

From the current perspective, the situation was not too bad.

At least, those from the realm of gods had not yet pinpointed his location nor paid too much attention to this mere seventh-tier.

For them, he was just a minor "side target" apart from slaying dragons and killing Bartolo.

But he had already locked onto the soul position of the necromancer controlling [the Soul-Binding Lamp].

As long as he killed this fellow, the deadlock could be broken.

Having thought this through, Su Lun notified Bartolo then his figure quietly vanished from that place.

...

The streets were filled with people panicking everywhere.

The battle between Bartolo and the Silver Dragon was exaggerated to the extreme, like a constant magnitude eight earthquake, shaking the entire city continuously.

The streets were covered in web-like cracks, and buildings collapsed in large patches.

The royal dragon knights and the royal guards, too, were like headless flies, still clueless about what was happening.

They had just received orders to arrest the assassin who had killed Princess Becky at the embassy.

But before they could find the person, they witnessed the fierce battle between the "Dragon Hunter," Bartolo, and the guardian dragon of the nation.

This was not a battle that low-tier professionals could partake in.

The furious, eighth-tier, pureblood Holy Light Silver Dragon unleashed its oppressive aura indiscriminately, suppressing the entire city and causing those dragons with only a trace of dragon blood to tremble on the ground.

Not a single dragon could fly in mid-air.

Su Lun also approached the royal palace with ease.

According to the memories he had stripped away previously, Garcia, taking advantage of his position as the brother-in-law of the nation, had hidden a thousand-member magic squadron behind the palace walls.

It was originally the garrison of the imperial guards, fortified to defend the palace against attacks.

When Su Lun teleported there, the palace was already illuminated by the glow of magical restraints.

On the bricks of the city walls outside, a series of mysterious high-level magical runes flickered.

Su Lun assessed them and quickly dismissed the idea of forcing his way through.

This was a legion barrier with a magic tower hidden underground, capable of withstanding spells of the ninth level.

The enemies had also calculated well, as even an eighth-tier professional of Bartolo’s caliber would find this barrier could hold up for a considerable time before breaking.

Su Lun could teleport inside, but without needing to think about it, teleporting in would likely trigger countless pre-arranged magical restraints, leading to his control until death. Moreover, the eighth-tier Augustus of the Holy Army had yet to show up, possibly hiding inside.

However, if he didn’t enter, it seemed he couldn’t kill the necromancer.

But if people couldn’t, alchemy could.

Su Lun’s goal was to kill.

Since he couldn’t breach the barrier by force, he decided to destroy it altogether.

His own powers, even if a thousand times stronger, might not break the barrier, but he had explosives.

In the words of his bomb-genius disciple, Jike, there was no barrier in the world that couldn’t be blown open.

If there was, then there was simply not enough ammunition.

The ammunition expert’s favorite was always a stationary target.

People could run, but magical restraints could not.

The deities of the Divine Plane had calculated everything, but those who had never seen a cannon couldn’t realize the power of explosives.

Alchemy could create miracles, allowing humans to harness energy far beyond their own capabilities.

Realizing this, Su Lun took out the "Multi-layered Cascade Thermite Bomb."

This was the explosive formula that Jike had come up with to break the prohibitions at the Royal Library of RuYing.

Having tested its effectiveness at breaking through restrictions, Su Lun had the war workshop produce a pile of them for backup.

The temporary legion barrier before him was clearly not as robust as the Royal Library of RuYing.

Originally, one hundred kilograms had been sufficient to blast a large hole in the library, but Su Lun casually took out a barrel weighing a thousand kilograms.

Dora and the senior mechanics from Mafa designed an ultra-precision detonation device that even a fool could operate, ensuring the explosives were directed precisely for blasting.

The data on explosive energy was exact, detailing how many kilograms were needed to blast a barrier of any given tier.

With the enemy’s situation unclear, Su Lun didn’t skimp and thought about killing everyone inside, so he piled about a hundred barrels of explosives in a building outside the city wall.

....

The people from the Divine Plane inside might have sensed someone approaching, but no one came out.

Their orders were to defend the barrier at all costs, never falling for any "lure the enemy" tactics.

No one came to stop Su Lun, allowing him to proceed smoothly with his operations.

A few moments later, the explosives were in place.

Su Lun teleported out and, without hesitation, pressed the detonation button.

The enemies inside the walls might have noticed something was amiss, but Su Lun’s actions took only a few moments, leaving them with no time to think.

As their sense of crisis became increasingly clear, the mages still thought not of escaping but of pouring magic power into strengthening the barrier.

Seeing this, Su Lun felt relieved of any hassle.

If the people escaped, he would kill them.

If they didn’t escape, the explosives would solve the problem.

Reaction efficiency of the explosives was much faster than gathering magic power. Almost the instant he pressed the button, there was a loud "boom," and a giant mushroom cloud rose.

In the city walls, all the mages had not yet grasped what was happening when their world was enveloped by a blazing light.

Watching the blaze in front of him, Su Lun suddenly thought of his disciple Jike’s favorite motto: "Explosions are art indeed..."