Mechanical Alchemist

The southern city wall of the palace erupted with a deafening blast, flames soaring into the sky.

The intense flames were blindingly white as the shockwave plunged underground, causing the entire city and the mountains behind it to tremble.

"Boom" — a flood-like sound resounded. Looking up, one could see the age-old snow of Mount Loki crumbling away and rushing down the mountain.

However, the explosion, precisely directed, was confined to this section of the city wall and didn’t cause any civilian casualties.

Even the cluster of buildings behind the city walls within the palace grounds hardly collapsed.

Su Lun looked at the huge hole, dozens of meters deep, that had been blasted in front of him and raised his eyebrows — the explosion was almost as expected.

In his Soul Perception, the waves of about a thousand living souls that were previously hidden within this magic barrier instantly vanished. A dense "ash mist" floated above the debris.

As expected, the necromancer he was targeting was also killed by the blast.

Seeing the negative status of soul lock disappear from his panel, Su Lun breathed a sigh of relief.

The ruins of the city wall in front of him were charred, with blue smoke rising from everywhere. The mage group of a thousand, along with their storage rings, were annihilated. The high temperature and shockwaves had turned most of the matter into ash. Some metal objects had also melted into scorching hot streams, unrecognizable in their previous forms.

Su Lun didn’t delay and dashed into the ruins to harvest souls.

He harvested the soul of the mage controlling the "Lamp of Forbidden Souls," gaining insights into the rare death magic principles, and thought unexpectedly, "Huh… this necromancer was actually a member of the Sacred Army?"

The Sacred Army generally contains warriors around the top ten legendary powers, each having special abilities. This "Heizel Howard" necromancer was quite powerful, possessing an exceptionally high understanding of death magic principles, the highest Su Lun had ever encountered.

Even facing him directly, it wouldn’t have been easy for Su Lun to kill him.

It was a pity that he died in the explosion before he could exhibit his many methods.

Looking again at the ground, the previously vibrant "Lamp of Tartaros" was now dim and lifeless, displaying the words "Damaged and unusable."

Well, at least the enemy won’t be able to use it if they reclaim it.

With one fatal method restricting his ability to teleport now gone, Su Lun breathed another sigh of relief.

Fortunately, the higher the quality of a cursed object, the better its materials, and it was still largely intact. In his mini Void Realm, there were a group of mountain dwarves skilled in forging, including the animated corpses made by Dwarf King Iron Helm Aike.

Su Lun believed it was probably repairable.

The soul lamp seemed to have a high compatibility with his death magic abilities, and he was looking forward to what qualitative changes it would undergo if he embedded it together with the soul chain.

...

The original plan of the mages from the divine realm was to use this Lamp of Forbidden Souls to control the entire city’s population, making escape from the city impossible for anyone.

Within this defined area, their ten-thousand-strong mage group was practically invincible.

The plan initially had no issues.

Regrettably, Su Lun, using methods beyond their comprehension, killed the lamp controller in an incredibly short time, catching them off guard.

However, the explosion at the palace walls was so loud that it instantly drew the attention of everyone in the capital city of Aike.

While those from the divine realm mainly intended to kill that silver dragon and Bartholomew, with Plan A now ruined, they naturally had a backup plan.

Almost simultaneously, magical glows like lighthouse beams lit up from each direction—east, west, south, and north of the city.

There used to be a magic tower here at the city wall too. Although it was destroyed, there was clearly a backup.

As soon as Su Lun saw the setup, having witnessed several large-scale mage group actions before, how could he not know that things were about to get serious?

Previously, those mage groups had planned to hide and wait until the Silver Dragon had killed Bartholomew before taking action.

But now, without the soul mark, they could only act ahead of schedule.

The moment the large mage group revealed itself, the Silver Dragon was also aware of it.

The sudden surge of magical fluctuations within the city was so exaggerated that even a fool would know there was danger.

Not only are dragons arrogant, but they are also cunning.

It remembered that previously a human had warned it, suspecting that someone was planning an ambush against it.

The Silver Dragon immediately became alert.

But its pride prevented it from fleeing the city right away. Instead, it angrily continued to observe who dared to plot against it.

However, it was just this moment of delay.

Within the magical barrier, a beam of light rushed towards the Silver Dragon. It seemed well-prepared, making the Silver Dragon’s speed too slow to evade.

Despite its best efforts to dodge, the beam still pierced through the left wing of the Silver Dragon, passing straight through.

Su Lun’s eyes narrowed as he watched, and even with his excellent vision, he only saw a shadow.

"Cadmos’s Dragon Hunting Spear"

Detailed Description: Once used by dwarves to repel evil dragons, this spear was forged from eternal gold; inscribed with ’Dragon Slaying Rune,’ ’Deception Rune,’ and ’Flash Rune,’ it possesses the speed of a flash, deceives the dragon’s senses, and has the ability to penetrate dragon scales.

Looking at the identified information, Su Lun felt slightly envious, "What a nice item!"

The spear was sharp enough to pierce through the wing of an eighth-tier Silver Dragon, which speaks to its sharpness.

But just piercing a hole in the wing was obviously a minor injury.

Clearly, the celestial clan had more tricks up their sleeve.

Right after the spear pierced, a magical light flashed, and what seemed to be the airflow from the previous trajectory of the spear suddenly solidified, turning into a rope.

The rope pierced through the dragon’s wing and quickly wrapped around it.

Su Lun’s own "Wailing Witch’s Hair" was this kind of energy thread; he clearly understood what had happened.

Upon further inspection, it was indeed another treasure.

"Gracie’s Entangler"

Detailed Description: Known as the most resilient rope in the world, with +999 resilience; crafted by ancient gnomes using cats’ steps, rocks’ roots, women’s whiskers, fishes’ breath, bears’ vigilance, and birds’ saliva; it is a magical device that can stretch indefinitely as long as there is sufficient magic power.

...

"The celestial plane really has no shortage of mage treasures..."

Looking at these two items, Su Lun immediately felt that the Silver Dragon was in danger today.

With the spear piercing through the dragon’s wing, the rope promptly bound its wings.

The Silver Dragon also realized it was being plotted against, struggling to fly high as the rope continued to lengthen.

But at the same time, the legion’s magic barrier, formed by nine magic towers, also exerted its power.

The magic towers acted as the anchors for the ropes; if the dragon wanted to flee, it was like dragging an entire city behind it—escape was naturally impossible.

This scene was like a fisherman who had hooked a big fish, not in a hurry to reel it in, the two were stuck in a deadlock.

The ropes, as Su Lun had identified, possessed an almost unbreakable toughness.

How terrifying was the power of the eighth-tier Silver Dragon?

But struggling, diving, and circling in the sky with various fancy flying maneuvers, there was still no sign of the ropes breaking.

Instead, the higher it flew, the tighter the ropes pulled, making it even more difficult for it.

The Silver Dragon roared in anger, turned direction and dove downward, spewing Dragon Breath towards the city below.

Unfortunately, this was a carefully planned dragon hunting battle.

The Holy Light Dragon Breath, capable of crystalling sand and stone, was helpless against the ropes. Furthermore, the Dragon Breath sprayed on the legion’s barrier was also absorbed by the magic barrier.

The Silver Dragon dove down and tried to smash into one of the magic towers with its massive dragon body, but alas, despite the great commotion, the thick layers of amber-colored magic shield completely blocked the physical shockwaves.

Although some mages died within the barrier, it remained intact.

Dragon Breath and dragon claws were useless, tied by ropes and unable to fly away...

In an instant, the Silver Dragon found itself in a situation where all its methods were futile; it crazily spewed Dragon Breath, struggling...

Like a hooked fish, waiting for exhaustion to set in—it was the fisherman’s time to harvest.

...

Su Lun was not surprised watching this.

The strength of the ten thousand mage legion was no less than that of the ninth-tier, plus so many treasures and prearranged plans, the Silver Dragon falling into the trap was inevitable.

However, it seemed the Silver Dragon’s stamina wouldn’t run out anytime soon, and those legion mages could only hide inside the barrier, unable to determine victory or defeat.

Now without "Soul Lock," Su Lun was not even a bit panicky.

He wanted to leave now, and no one could stop him.

Looking at the struggling Silver Dragon, he still prayed that this arrogant lizard would hold on a bit longer.

It being tied down meant the main force of the ten thousand mage legion wouldn’t come looking for trouble with him.

However, Su Lun also didn’t have the opportunity to destroy any more magic towers.

That kind of plan could only be used once; next time, knowing he had such a tactic, it would definitely not succeed.

"Wonder how Bartholo’s injuries are..."

As soon as Su Lun thought that, he always felt those beings from the divine realm must still have strategies targeting Bartholo.

Thinking about going to check on him, he teleported in the direction Bartholo had fled.

Meanwhile, the entire city was also in chaos.

This giant dragon was the kingdom’s guardian dragon, and now someone dared to ambush the Silver Dragon in the royal capital, the royal guards naturally went to help the Silver Dragon in battle.

Unfortunately, the luxurious and indulgent Gracie royal family didn’t have many supporters.

The nobles of the kingdom, led by the Garcia family, had long secretly sided with the people from the divine realm.

Those magic towers were also built with the secret support of the major nobles.

Thus, the nobles’ private soldiers and the royal knights ended up mixing in the streets, subtly encircling the royal palace.

Apart from Su Lun destroying one magic tower, everything else was part of the divine realm mages’ plan.

...

In a dense forest ten kilometers outside the city, a fierce battle was taking place.

Although Bartholo was unmatched in battle strength, having fought alone against the Silver Dragon, he was severely injured.

At this moment, his bare upper body was covered in wounds, a dent in his chest where a dragon claw had struck him, shattering his ribs. This left him unable to exert strength in his entire left arm and half of his body.

But more dreadful than the injuries was the aberration in his body.

Previously, to obtain the strength to match the ninth-tier Silver Dragon, Bartholo had exhausted all his methods in a bitter battle, barely managing to drag the Silver Dragon into restraint.

Just when he thought of escaping the royal capital, the aberration exploded.

He immediately realized he had been cursed by a sorcerer.

Once, the white-robed sorcerer Garcia Haydon had given him a formula to suppress aberrations, but it also contained a hidden catch.

Those people wanted to kill him with the aberration!

Luckily, he had a few of the "Aberration Suppressants" that Su Lun had given him; after injecting them, the signs of aberration were amazingly suppressed.

But before Bartholo could feel relieved, he was blocked by a five hundred mage legion, and the battle had been fierce ever since.

Having depleted much of his energy in the great battle with the Silver Dragon and still having to devote part of his attention to suppressing the aberration, he found his fighting capability somewhat lacking now.Moreover, this five hundred-person legion was no ordinary group.

The leader was only a seventh-tier, but they seemed to move as one; fighting one was like fighting five hundred—extremely tricky.

Bartholo knew these were the divine realm mages Su Lun had spoken of, but it was his first encounter with such an odd seventh-tier, his first encounter with a magic legion.

His sword hacking at these gilded-skinned fellows was like striking a metallic body, sparks flying everywhere.

He could inflict wounds, but they completely ignored the pain.

The more wounds they had, the more blood they spilled, the stronger they seemed to become.

Bartholo also grew concerned; if the fight dragged on, he would no longer be able to rely on his own strength to suppress the aberration, and then, no potion would work.

However, just then, the space fluctuated suddenly, and a figure appeared nearby.

Bartholo recognized him immediately and felt grateful; the one to come to his aid at this critical moment could only be Su Lun.

But his brow furrowed immediately.

Although he knew Su Lun was strong, the current situation, with just one person arriving, wouldn’t solve the problem.

...

Fortunately, the battle was noisy here, allowing Su Lun to successfully find his way over.

As soon as he arrived, he noticed that the facial features on Bartholomew’s back were already fully distinct, and the hellish aura visibly steamed out from his body. This was a sign that he was always on the verge of deformation.

Looking at the syringe on the ground, it appeared it had already been used with a deformation potion.

If not suppressed, Bartholomew would undoubtedly die.

Su Lun furrowed his brow.

Looking again, on the other side was a group of five hundred Mages.

However, this group was different from other mages; they all wore white robes resembling those of priests.

Su Lun knew, these were the Ascetic Monks of the temple.

They could be roughly understood as the reserve force of the holy church’s army.

The leader was a bald old man.

This skinny old man’s body was covered in sword scars, densely packed like fish scales.

Yet eerily, his skin seemed like a layer of copper, and the bones revealed by sword cuts looked like black metal. Even the blood flowing on the ground was a dark red, giving the impression of flowing liquid rust.

Not just the leader, but the skins of those five hundred people were more or less tinged with various degrees of golden lacquer.

Thanks to the memories he had harvested before, Su Lun recognized this person’s identity: "The Ascetic Leader of the holy church’s army, Ferna Fan, half-step eighth rank..."

No wonder these fellows were riddled with wounds, because they were all "stacking passives."

...

The Ascetic Monks normally practiced refining their bones and muscles, belonging to the lineage of melee Mages.

Through their own suffering, they liberated the believers.

They possessed an incredibly BUG-like passive skill called [Pain-Driven Fury].

After being injured, they’d fall into a berserk state, the more pain their flesh endured, the stronger their combat ability grew, infinitely stacking until death.

At the brink of death, they could even acquire abilities close to those of deities, chanting the names of their gods, confessing their sins, and gaining divine power.

This was a capability that sounded bizarre and looked sickening in battle, but undeniably, it was extremely powerful.

It was only then that Su Lun understood why Bartholomew hadn’t been able to defeat them yet.

These guys had extremely tenacious vitality and could also regenerate as a legion, sharing damage among the group, making it very hard to kill them.

The damage shared among five hundred people was significantly reduced.

To kill one, you almost had to wipe out the entire group of five hundred.

But their attack was like the collective punch of five hundred people.

The Ascetic Monks’ legion with such BUG-level capabilities, even ordinary eighth ranks would genuinely struggle against them for a while.

...

Just as he observed this instant, Bartholomew spewed another mouthful of old blood.

Su Lun, seeing the disordered aura of the Old Sword God, hurriedly said, "Senior Bartholomew, don’t take action anymore, leave these people to me."

"But..."

Bartholomew frowned upon hearing this.

The methods of these enemies were so tricky; definitely not something a seventh rank professional could handle.

He wanted to remind Su Lun and also felt he should help somehow.

But before he could speak, he was already a step too slow.

Su Lun didn’t explain much; with a pinch of the sorcerer’s seals, waves of empty space fluctuations appeared.

In an instant, the nearby light dimmed suddenly.

Looking again, densely packed gargoyles emerged mid-air, covering the sky.

Bartholomew looked up and was instantly dumbstruck.

Not just dozens, but more than a thousand!

"How is that possible? Even a Great Grandmaster Puppeteer couldn’t control so many puppets..."

Bartholomew’s eyes were full of disbelief.

He watched these gargoyles, glittering with silver light, and instantly thought that Su Lun was just deploying them in formation, not necessarily able to control them all simultaneously.

But in the next moment, a bizarre scene unfolded.

Bartholomew watched as Su Lun’s hands and the arachnid spears behind him trembled slightly, threads connecting them, and those thousand-plus gargoyle puppets moved in unison.

The thousand-plus puppets assembled in a formation clearly meant for legion battle, their aura connected as one.

Then, they began their charge.

On those massive iron fists, space-cracking waves buzzed simultaneously, charging towards the previously rampaging five hundred-person Ascetic Monks!

In that instant, it was as if he saw the once-great charge of the Royal Legions of Ruel.

"This..."

Bartholomew’s eyes trembled, and his heart was beyond shocked.

...

Dealing with such an Ascetic Monks’ legion was indeed too challenging for one person.

They formed a collective halo protected by divinity, even Su Lun’s Domain of Death was severely limited.

Moreover, however strong the attack, when divided among five hundred, the damage was very limited.

There was almost no countermeasure against the Ascetic Monks’ legion.

If there was one, it was only legion against legion!

Su Lun’s gargoyles each possessed the combat power of professionals of the fourth or fifth rank, not at all weaker than these Ascetic Monks.

Ascetic Monks were bodies of Vajra runes, but could they outlast true metallic bodies?

The structure of the gargoyle was immune to most physical and magical attacks, and even if its fist punched a dent, the memory metal properties of "Living Silver" immediately restored it.

The ascetics feared neither life nor death, and the puppets were equally fearless.

Besides, Su Lun was proficient in various legion formations of the Divine Plane. Could a thousand legions lose to one of five hundred?

In an instant, the gargoyle legion transformed into a steel torrent, charging forward with irresistible force.

"Thud," "Thud," "Thud"...

There were no fancy magics, both sides excelled in hand-to-hand combat.

Fist clashed against fist, ringing out like the sound of a bell throughout the surroundings.

Bartolo, who had just been thinking of helping, was completely stupefied.

How could he have imagined a Puppet Master being this powerful!

Controlling a thousand puppets simultaneously?

Also knowledgeable in legion formations, cooperating flawlessly without any flaws, his calmness nearly numb...

And it seemed this was far from Su Lun’s limit; he clearly had many more tricks up his sleeve.

Bartolo muttered to himself, "He really is an exceptional young man..."

He had thought a "Sword Genius" who could handle a thousand was already a rare talent, yet this Su Lun was even more special.

For a moment, he thought of the former Black Sam’s Pirate Crew. Only like-minded and similarly outstanding companions could come together.

But then, unable to help himself, he spat out a mouthful of crimson blood and hastily began to meditate right there on the spot.

...

And everyone knew that the only shortcoming of a Puppet Master was his physical body.

Just kill the body, and anything else falls apart.

Unfortunately, Su Lun the Puppeteer had no shortcomings.

Without special abilities to counter him, without the suppression of ranks, being strong below the eighth tier was meaningless.

Now, Su Lun’s ability to preserve his life made it nearly impossible for those below the eighth tier to kill him.

Although the fanatical zealots’ "Suffering Frenzy" grew in power with sustained damage, intensifying as injuries worsened, the human body had its limits, and upon reaching those limits, they would perish on the spot.

The gargoyle legion feared not the loss of its members, constantly replenished at all times.

Thus, the two sides clashed head-on several times, from the initial thousand versus five hundred gradually changing to a thousand versus four hundred, three hundred, two hundred...

The number of zealots who perished explosively increased, and their combat effectiveness weakened accordingly.

However, always, the number of gargoyles remained the same.

The Ascetic Leader, Ferna, also attempted to kill Su Lun, but, alas, it was not that easy.

Su Lun’s prowess wasn’t only in his puppets; his own combat ability was not weaker than that of Ferna.

Eventually, in a very short time, Su Lun brazenly resolved the battle using his legion to suppress theirs.

The ground was strewn with corpses, not one spared.

Su Lun stood amid the pile of bodies, a shadow of Death emerging behind him, reaping the five hundred souls.

His eyes sparkled; the ascetic monks’ bodhisattva secrets were greatly beneficial to him.

The bodies along with the spoils of war were all taken into the tiny void realm, a pull of a thread, and the puppets also disappeared.

If not for the messy traces of battle, one would never know that five hundred people had just died here.

Su Lun turned his head to see Bartolo meditating in the distance.

His body’s aura of hell had become unbearably manic, his expression faintly ferocious.

Su Lun knew what this meant – a transformation was imminent.

It seemed there was also a foreign force similar to "Curse Magic" affecting his transformation.

He wasted no time throwing Bartolo into the tiny void realm.

With the void separating him, any curse magic would be ineffective.

Moreover, with Dr. Banks and others there in the tiny void realm, the transformation should be controllable.

Having done all this, Su Lun looked towards the distant capital of Aike.

At this moment, the sounds of an angry dragon’s roar could still be heard, indicating the battle was still intense.

"Where to next?"

Su Lun narrowed his eyes.

With the Silver Dragon occupying the main force of the ten-thousand mage assembly, those guys, even if they knew about the Holy Ascetic Corp’s demise, probably couldn’t spare any forces.

If Su Lun left now, indeed he would be safe.

But he felt this was a good opportunity.

They had schemed against him once; not to retaliate didn’t fit his character.

And that Silver Dragon was an eighth-tier pure-blooded dragon.

The situation had turned.

He had become a spectator, a cuckoo in the free stand, with plenty of room for maneuver.

"Why not take a look inside the Gracie royal treasury?"

The thought suddenly struck Su Lun, and his face immediately brightened.

He was a pirate, after all!

Looting was what he loved best.

Previously, as an invited guest and with restraint, it was predictable that once the Silver Dragon was killed, the Gracie royal family would be overthrown and the entire kingdom would become a divine nation of the Divine Plane with everything in the royal treasury becoming booty of the Divine Plane.

Should he take a look first?

As soon as the thought occurred to Su Lun, his figure had already disappeared from the spot.