Mechanical Alchemist

"Trickster" Lloyd could be known as "Puppet Master" for good reason.

In Puppetry Technique, possibly only one or two people in Old Lington could match him, but certainly, none were stronger than him.

Dark smoke enveloped the entire sealed space, and just when everyone was at their wits' end, black strings suddenly burst forth from the giant cross in the sky, spreading wildly.

Countless black strings touched anything they could coil around and immediately began to bind.

At that moment, someone shouted through the smoke, "Don't panic, this is Mr. Lloyd's puppetry trick, no one resist!"

The black strings, like tiny snakes, probed everywhere; they bound people upon contact and did the same to objects.

Even the corpses on the ground were manipulated like marionettes, as if they "came to life."

The black strings were innumerable, covering the entire space, making them unavoidable.

It was as if an invisible hand behind the curtain was controlling the giant cross in the sky, transforming the vast sealed space into an enormous puppet theater in an instant.

One by one, the marionettes were lifted and roamed about.

....

"The nearly unsolvable puppetry secret within this range is indeed well-deserved..."

Su Lun watched, his brows and eyes showing a slight concern.

His own puppets around him were also entwined with black strings.

He tried to control one of the tricky puppets, and it struggled momentarily, then immediately triggered a chain reaction; countless black strings rushed over and twisted the puppet into pieces. Moreover, because of the commotion, the nearby controlled "puppets" also surged over.

Seeing the black strings covering the whole space, Su Lun knew it was time to get serious.

The previous fights could be outsmarted, but now, it was time to compete based on true strength.

This was Lloyd's "theater," where the black strings restricted everyone's ability to teleport in the space, making hiding meaningless.

He had no choice but to face the challenge head-on.

As the black strings threatened to envelop him, if bound, even Spatial Teleportation wouldn't offer an escape.

Even hated undead were the same.

Su Lun had no intention of fleeing like that; he narrowed his eyes at the black strings and murmured, "Well then... let's see how impressive the true Puppet Master's skills are!"

With that thought, his gaze suddenly became sharp as a blade.

In the next instant, he no longer concealed his presence, and as he released the second-order Spell, silver threads erupted wildly from his body, surging towards the giant cross in the sky.

Black strings against silver threads!

"A Thousand Threads" against "A Thousand Threads"!

Su Lun possessed "Infinite Hair," and although his technique was somewhat lacking, he had no fear of the "Trickster" Lloyd.

It was at that moment.

The black strings identified the "resisting" target and instantly converged together.

Countless silver threads and black strings tangled in a brief moment, intertwining into a chaotic mess.

Just like the scene within the "White Monastery" back then!

Both sides were again caught in a tug-of-war.

Right then, Lloyd's voice came through the communicator once more, "Located his position, forty-five degrees to the southwest of the space!"

This notification was naturally intended to expose Su Lun's location to the other five second-orders, hoping to replay the tactic of encircling the witch as before.

Su Lun snorted softly in his heart, completely undeterred.

Now being controlled on the spot, he again pulled out a spatial scroll, and upon unsealing it, another two or three dozen tricky puppets materialized out of thin air.

He didn't only manipulate threads with his hands; he also had eight spider spears!

The spider spears pulled dozens of puppets, protecting him tightly.

....

As Su Lun was restrained by the threads, his position was just revealed, and the "puppet legion" controlled by the black strings also closed in towards his location.

Originally, after Lloyd deployed his "Puppet Theater," it was a spectacle with much to behold in combat scenes.

Whether close combat, mage, assassin, mechanic... whatever the profession, everyone was his marionette in this "theater."

Even those with methods to avoid the black strings' control still had to face countless black threads' siege and the "puppet" army.

Puppets genuinely couldn't be killed; even dismembered limbs could still kill...

In the end, those trapped in the theater could only be drained to death.

That was the tricky part of this arcane art.

But if both were Puppet Masters, especially both fused with the same alchemical implant of "Thousand Silk Threads,"

the fight would get quite dull.

Su Lun had never thought he could beat the Puppet Master in the art of puppetry.

In their first encounter, he outright abandoned puppet tactics. Instead, he released a multitude of silver strands to roughly entangle all of the opponent's "puppets."

Once entangled, they both should give up puppetry and focus on wrestling.

When it came to controlling puppets, Su Lun was nowhere near the skill of the Puppet Master.

But if it was a wrestling match, he was confident.

Moreover, Su Lun's witch hair was endless. Only after controlling all the black threads of the cross on his head could he divide his attention to manage his own puppets.

He also thought that since he was "controlled," the enemy should've also taken a gamble.

....

Sure enough, as soon as they got entangled, a roar from Lloyd came from the darkness, "Damn it, he really fused 'Infinite Hair,' you guys move fast! This kid is tricky, I won't last long!"

There was a sliver of hope before.

Thinking that even if Su Lun got the witch's head, it would be useless.

After all, the dark-gold quality "Infinite Hair" had extremely strong cursed properties, and creating an implant from it required a very high endurance value.

Even if Young Master Danze wanted to fuse it, he could only downgrade and choose inferior ingredients to lower the containment value of the finished implant, forcibly refining the dark-gold main material into a gold-quality implant product, to ensure that the body wouldn't mutate after fusion.

But now that they tried,

the hair's tenacity, strength, and tension... were all shockingly excessive.

Lloyd immediately realized that this was definitely not a downgraded implant!

Gold level?

No, it must be dark-gold level!

If someone knew what Lloyd was thinking at that moment, they would have deemed Su Lun a monster.

Danze Oliver was a young master from the inner city's elite, with the best breathing techniques and cultivation resources. If he had to downgrade just to be able to fuse an alchemic implant, what right did a wanted criminal from the outer city have to succeed in fusing?

Only a Puppet Master could truly appreciate the power of "Infinite Hair."

If they didn't kill him today, he would truly become a terror once he grew up!

...

In the midst of thick smoke, they could originally see nothing.

With this loud shout, it seemed like Lloyd had carelessly exposed his position due to anxiety.

While wrestling, Su Lun couldn't move, and neither could Lloyd.

Exposing his position, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for an assassination.

Just swinging the scythe seemed like it would easily kill the dwarf master.

But Su Lun didn't fall for it, instead his expression hardened, and he grew more focused, paying close attention to his surroundings.

How could he not know about that very special alchemical item in his opponent's possession that just happened to counter "Xiupunos's Night Scythe"?

The Oliver family had been secretly collecting items that counter the curse of the black scythe, managing to deceive others, but not the Umbrella Organization. Their seemingly certain treacherous move had actually been revealed by Sabrina and reached Su Lun's ears.

This loud shout was nothing more than "drawing fire"!

"Tch, old sneaky bastard..."

If Su Lun really took a swing, not only would he fail to kill the dwarf, but the moment he struck, he'd likely be ambushed by the quick actions of the other second-tier enemies.

With this in mind, a mocking smile flashed in his eyes. He pretended not to notice and controlled the abomination to raise the black scythe, as if he was about to strike in the direction of the sound.

Now, the zombie with tracer powder on it couldn't hide its movements.

The moment there was movement, the response of the enemy was also extremely fast.

Su Lun suddenly felt a sharp murderous intent from behind, thinking, "Here it comes!"

The malice approached rapidly, almost blink-of-an-eye fast, appearing behind Su Lun.

And by the time the figure arrived, his ears belatedly caught a series of explosive sounds of steps tapping the air, "Pop" "Pop" "Pop"...

With that speed, there was no doubt that the comer was "Poison Snake" Bright Jials, the one from the intelligence.

An exceptionally adept second-tier professional assassin at stealth and murder.

Had the blade truly been slashed forward, no matter how fast Su Lun reacted, he wouldn't have been able to defend in time and would have inevitably suffered an ambush from behind.

He wasn't afraid of being killed, but the enemies were more than one, and he absolutely couldn't afford to be entangled at this moment; he must kill swiftly!

What the ambusher didn't expect was that Su Lun's move was a feint to begin with, as he suddenly changed direction and slashed towards the assailant behind him.

The timing of this particular slash was just perfect, it landed squarely on Bright.

....

Watching the scythe suddenly turn its blade, Bright's gaze also darkened as he realized things had taken a turn for the worse.

He had not even had the chance to make his move before the black scythe was already chopping down on his forehead. But the momentum of his charge left him no room to turn back, making it more like he was ramming his head onto the blade of the scythe.

Without any countermeasure, he instinctively held up his dagger in defense.

Normally, close-combat professionals could defend and retreat even when their ambush was discovered.

Unfortunately, this black scythe was an exception.

A single slash passed through extremely smoothly.

The renowned dagger was cut into two pieces, and then, continuing its trajectory, a gash as wide as a palm was sliced across his neck, from which blood gushed profusely.

Bright didn't have the chance to react at all; his body was completely drained of life.

In his mind, Su Lun silently counted, "Four strikes made, one more to trigger the curse's backlash."

Having killed the assassin, he didn't take the situation lightly at all.

And reality didn't give him any chance to catch his breath.

At the same time as he made his move, "malicious intent" came from three other directions.

Straight ahead, he heard a sharp "hiss" sound.

This turned out to be the noise of a portable steam boiler erupting with intense steam jets.

Even without seeing it, he knew that a mechanical warrior was charging furiously at him!

The noise from the steam boiler powering up was loud, and the friction sound from the mechanical arm's joints couldn't deceive an expert like him; thus the enemy had been hiding until now, not daring to make any noise. Only after building up energy could he surge forward, which is why he was half a step slower than the assassin.

Moreover, not just from the front, intense elemental fluctuations came from both Su Lun's left and right sides. Within the dense black smoke, red and purple glows flickered respectively.

Then, in the blink of an eye, a scorching chain of fire and a streak of lightning appeared right before his eyes.

At this moment, Su Lun's eyes were devoid of any emotion other than a near-numb calmness.

His brain operated like a high-speed machine, steering his body to make the most correct tactical response.

With a flick of the Spider Lance, the "Black Hole Puppet" spread its arms out into a bell shape, a black vortex appeared, and as the flame chain and lightning approached, they were rapidly sucked in.

Once the Puppet opened its mouth again, the spell of thunder and fire was spat out straight into the face of the mechanical warrior rushing towards him.

At times like this, the advantages of having multiple hands were immediately apparent.

While controlling the puppet, Su Lun's right hand swiftly drew his gun, pulling the trigger repeatedly towards the left side.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The three distinct reports of alchemical bullets burst, ringing in the ear.

On the left was Leifaer-Jiemha, and on the right was Fire Mage Nidum David.

In such a situation, attempting a "Four-Stack Shot" clearly exceeded his strength, but using a "Three-Stack Shot" to shoot at the fragile-bodied lightning Magician was still perfectly feasible.

Su Lun didn't see the locations of the two men, but he could ascertain their direction from the noises they made while casting their spells.

Three shots were fired, and a muffled grunt was heard, indicating someone was hit.

Su Lun didn't bother checking on them, with the "Black Hole Doll" at his side, the Magicians' abilities were almost seventy percent nullified.

Furthermore, there was no time to check.

Because by this time, the mechanical warrior was already upon him!
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'Iron Tiger' Ryan Rute, a retired junior Lieutenant from Old Lingdun Inner City's city defense, now head of the Oliver family's guard.

This guy had undergone extensive mechanical modifications, with high-tech content in his body. Mechanical armor covered his entire body, including advanced magic-resistant runes and enchanted plating. The two weakened spells barely tickled him, not even slightly hindering his charging momentum.

Su Lun hadn't been counting on the two spells to block the mechanical warrior in front of him, but the black scythe behind him hadn't had time to retract after the recent strike.

At this very moment, the ability to multitask was pushed to its limit.

As he fired with his right hand, his left hand simultaneously yanked fiercely, weaving the countless threads in front of him into a dense and gigantic net.

He then pulled over a heavy-duty blast-resistant puppet to shield himself.

It was just a brief moment later that the mechanical warrior Ryan, with the power of the jet propulsion device, brutally crashed into the net. After a slight delay, the mechanical body broke through numerous threads and burst out of the net. Using the accumulated momentum, it threw a punch forward, shattering the blast-resistant puppet into pieces.

After two interceptions, its strength was depleted by seventy percent.

Even so, it still managed to reach Su Lun's presence.

Ryan knew he had only one chance to throw a punch, as the steam boiler wouldn't have enough time to build up much force. He threw another fierce punch at Su Lun's chest.

He was confident that although the punch was not the strongest, it was enough to kill an ordinary second-rank professional who was not a melee combatant on the spot!

Even if he could clearly feel the presence of alloy plates under his fist!

"Pfft~"

Struck in the chest, Su Lun's figure wavered, but he wasn't sent flying due to the hair threads.

But he couldn't hold back the burning sensation in his throat, and a mouthful of turbid blood was sprayed out.

However, at this moment, a smile emerged on his blood-overflowing lips.

When he received the intelligence previously, he had precisely calculated the parameters of this guy's mechanical equipment. This injury was still within his expectations.

It must be said, in defense, speed, and strength, mechanical warriors indeed possess advantages unmatched by other professionals.

But in their reaction to sudden stops and changes of direction, the lag was also very obvious.

If this hit didn't kill him,

Then it was the other party that would die.

At this moment, the resilience of Su Lun's body was enough to survive such a punch.

He made no superfluous movements; with a hook of his spider lance, the abomination beside him had already swung its scythe.

With the irrational emergence of a spatial rift, a smooth cut appeared on Ryan's indestructible mechanical armor.

"Swoosh~"

Blood spurted wildly, and Ryan Rute was directly decapitated.

Another one dead.

And at this moment, the abomination corpse also made its fifth slash, instantly triggering the curse backlash.

...

Even through the body bag, he could feel the state of the blood burst.

Su Lun took two deep breaths, took a look, and found that the abomination hadn't turned into chunks of flesh.

It was a nice little surprise.

This meant that the abomination had once again survived the five-slash backlash, and the wounds were rapidly healing.

Narrowing his eyes, Su Lun looked in the direction of the smoke-obscured Lloyd and said with a touch of mocking smile, "Tsk tsk... it seems that today, luck is on my side..."

In the space, of the six second-rank professionals, two of the biggest threats, the melee combatants, had now been killed.

It was unknown whether Leifaer-Jiemha, who was shot, was dead or alive.

That left the "Trickster" Lloyd, the fire mage Nidum, and the Crow Gang's executive "Blood Crow" Langfero...

Of course, even if the abomination had died from the backlash just now, it wouldn't have been a big problem.

Su Lun still had two ordinary corpse puppets in his storage space.

Previously, due to the lack of storage space and the inconvenience of carrying corpses, he didn't bother with it much.

But now...

He was not lacking in corpses.

Furthermore, even without using the scythe, the remaining few magical professionals posed little threat.

Despite some minor unexpected events,

Because of the detailed intelligence he had received beforehand, almost everything had gone as anticipated.

Su Lun smiled.

Having reached this stage, he could handle the rest with ease.

Today, it seemed like he was in for a great harvest...