Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun's appearance suddenly improved the situation.

The coverage area of the Puppetry Theatre kept expanding, and almost all the low-tier undead monsters near Eternal Night were controlled and turned into marionettes on the ice.

The Tide of the Undead that was supposed to engulf the members of Dawn was now their protective layer. The controlled skeletons piled up on the ice surface into a thick wall-like barrier, preventing Eternal Night from being disturbed by the continuous influx of lesser creatures from behind. They could concentrate their firepower on shooting down the giant skeleton and those large creatures like bone dragons.

And Su Lun himself tangled with the Red Robe Grand Magister.

As a seventh-tier, he fearlessly matched the might of the eighth-tier.

He looked fierce and unbeatable, making the eighth-tier appear disheveled, but in reality, Su Lun's strength was far from reaching the eighth-tier. It was because both were practitioners of death-related arts; they could easily see through each other's death-related techniques. Thus, many abilities of the enemy could not take effect on him, leading to this situation.

If it were any other eighth-tier Grand Magister, with the domain activated, merely the oppressive force of a higher tier made Su Lun hesitant to engage in an extended fight.

However, Su Lun was fortunate to encounter this Red-robed Mage.

Otherwise, any member of Dawn would truly be helpless against him.

This guy's domain was of the death type, bizarre and lethal even more so than Su Lun's domain. Ordinary seventh-tier professionals had no way to counter it; any who approached would end up dead or crippled, not to mention qualify to fight.

Moreover, this guy possessed that strange Soul Fire protection and a resurrection ability, which predetermined that anyone engaging him in close combat would gain no advantage.

Even if there were attacks from multiple fronts, he feared nothing.

A cataclysm of undead fears no encirclement; the endless undead were only there to be struck down by him, no one else could suppress him.

If the ability does not counter, even an army of tens of thousands would be useless.

Fortunately, Su Lun's special Puppetry Technique just countered the undead legion.

Thread controlled the lesser creatures, and high-tier monsters along with the gargoyle legion held their ground, exchanging blows.

Although the enemy's undead reserves were vast, encompassing various extraordinary mythical undead,

in battle, Su Lun also discovered that this guy had limited control over high-tier undead.

Like Su Lun's puppets, there were many spares in the storage, but the number he could control simultaneously was limited by certain abilities of his own.

Controlling the undead depended on that soul fire. That Red Robe Grand Magister could control several dozen eighth-tier undead, illustrating his limit. Otherwise, he would definitely summon more high-tier monsters for a surround and kill.

But this was still a terrifying ability.

Although ordinary undead monsters were not much weaker than same-tier professionals in combat power, dozens of eighth-tier, countless lower-tier undead... He alone could massacre cities and annihilate nations.

And Su Lun's current gargoyle legion, due to the energy core material, had much lower combat power compared to the enemy's undead legion.

Only because the gargoyle's metallic bodies were not afraid of hammers, and they could form various military formations, did their numbers transform into a qualitative change, creating the possibility of surrounding and killing high-tiers.

Both parties thus dragged on like this.

The possibility of the Red Robe Grand Magister killing Su Lun was slim.

It even appeared that Su Lun had some upper hand, a seventh-tier chasing an eighth-tier to fight, was already commendable.

But in reality, Su Lun knew he also had no hope of killing that guy.

He was aware that the enemy was a devout follower of a deity, so the enemy would surely have an ace up his sleeve—summoning the will of a deity.

If things really went south, this guy would likely invoke some divine power.

Su Lun had been entangled for so long, only hoping that Old Sword God Bartolo could find an opportunity.

...

On Su Lun's side, the fighting was intense, and the Eternal Night fired its ammunition as if it were free, with the high-level combatants also entangling those high-ranking undead creatures...

Overall, the situation was still somewhat optimistic.

At least so far, neither side seemed intent on concluding the battle quickly.

This was the first time Dawn Group had been suppressed so thoroughly by an enemy.

The Red Robe Grand Magister on the opposing side also felt indescribably frustrated. His undead catastrophe had always been unstoppable, but just this time, he encountered a major problem.

Unable to take down Dawn Group after a long time, the mood of this holy army's high-ranking cleric darkened increasingly.

Moreover, having mastered the death-related magics, the top-tier Mage felt an intense premonition of death.

During this fight, Su Lun had a growing foreboding that death loomed near.

And that feeling was only getting stronger.

The Red-robed Mage looked at Su Lun, whom he was fighting, and thought, "Strange, do these natives also possess the ability to break my 'Undying Body'?"

He could see clearly that this guy in front of him didn't have the ability to kill him. It seemed like he was deliberately stalling or perhaps waiting for some opportunity...

The moment this thought occurred, a decisive glint flashed through the eyes of the Red-robed Mage.

He knew that even at a great cost, he must resolve this situation quickly.

...

On the other side, Su Lun was gradually getting accustomed to this combat rhythm.

The opponent had played most of his trump cards, and the high-ranking undead had all shown themselves yet still couldn't kill him. This was good news for Su Lun.

The longer he could drag out the battle, the better his chance would be.

He knew very well that necromancy involved many techniques to extract information from corpses. Su Lun guessed that this Red Robe Archmage was able to find them so accurately likely because he knew some targeted information and was already aware of many of Dawn Group's tactics.

But Bartolo was outside.

This Old Sword God had only slain the Silver Dragon after several mage groups of tens of thousands had been annihilated before.

That is to say, even if the Red-robed Mage knew some information through necromantic secrets, he probably wouldn't know about Bartolo's existence.

This was the opponent's "information blind spot."

And now, after fighting for so long, Su Lun had confirmed this point without a doubt.

This guy was now utterly focused on killing him, completely unaware of an impending threat from an eighth-tier Sword God.

However, as they continued to fight, Su Lun sensed a sudden, harsh change in the fighter's exasperated aura and immediately knew what was about to happen.

"Tsk tsk, finally resorting to Divine Power, huh..."

Su Lun watched as a trace of unusual color also surfaced in his eyes.

After collecting information from so many days from this plane, he also knew that even for a devout believer, using Divine Power was not so easy and even came at a significant cost.

Gods have countless billions of believers, if they had to descend every time at a mere call, gods would get nothing done, just wiping believers' butts all day.

But if he didn't use the power of gods, that Red-robed Mage wouldn't have had any cheaper fortunes.

Now that the atmosphere had suddenly changed, it was clear he was dead-set on settling the outcome.

Su Lun looked on without even a hint of surprise; he was already mentally prepared.

Success or failure would hinge on this moment.

Old Sword God Bartolo over there didn't need any reminding from him; he captured any slight changes in the battlefield more clearly than anyone else.

Just then, the red-robed mage suddenly drew back explosively while chanting a complex magical spell.

Almost simultaneously, the aura of the undead around him surged, and his momentum soared higher and higher.

A black crow on his shoulder cawed sharply, and Su Lun didn't dare to be careless.

Although he hadn't communicated with the enemy, just by looking into his gritted teeth and fierce eyes, he knew this person had a murderous intent.

As the red-robed mage started to chant, the sky suddenly roiled with clouds, and the clouds quickly formed a vague human face as if it were surveying the entire Earth, an indescribable aura completely dominated the sea.

This pressure was more terrifying than that of a dragon's might, even though it hadn't fully descended yet, it caused the crew of the Nightwatch belonging to low-rank professions to turn pale and sweat profusely.

Su Lun squinted at the sky, having witnessed the descent of divine will too many times; he was not at all surprised.

As his professional level grew higher, he felt he was gradually understanding what that "indescribable" truly was.

However, he had no plans to let his enemy summon a divine being so smoothly.

Just as the foe was chanting at a critical point of casting, Su Lun also suddenly teleported out from among the undead, pulling out a forbidden divine scroll Mr. Jing had given him, and shouted, "Release!"

With a "crackle," he crushed it, releasing a unique divine-sealing power, and the human face formed by the clouds in the sky suddenly stalled.

The red-robed mage in the distance frowned but then let out a cold laugh.

He hadn't expected his enemy to have a way to prevent the descent of divine will. Although the scroll could seal the summonings of ordinary divine followers, he was a divine servant!

Such a scroll simply could not prevent him from communicating with the divine being.

As expected, the divine-sealing power released from the scroll burst forth like fireworks and vanished in a flash. The human face in the sky paused for a moment, then continued to condense.

The people on the deck of the Nightwatch were unaware of the situation and also tensed up.

Most of them had never witnessed a divine descent and did not know the specifics. They only knew that Su Lun had made a move but had not succeeded in stopping the horrifying divine arts summoned by the mage.

As the user of the scroll, Su Lun looked on without any panic.

He had never counted on the scroll to solve the problem from the beginning,

Whatever the magic, if disrupted, there would be a momentary pause in the aura.

Although the red-robed Grand Magister had used his powerful magic power to shorten this pause as much as possible, for top experts, this elimination of the instant could be a fatal flaw!

It was in this instant that a towering sword Qi suddenly erupted from the Nightwatch.

Even kilometers away, Su Lun felt a chilling sharpness rush over him from behind.

"So strong!"

Su Lun's gaze hardened; the moment the chilling sword intent struck, a sword Qi nearly brushed past him.

It was so fast that he felt even his own ability to teleport spatially might not necessarily avoid it.

And it wasn't just fast; it also had this eerie feeling as if it were enhanced with a "target-lock effect."

His left eye instantly caught that distortion in space caused by the sword Qi, and he faintly made out some techniques.

"It's not just physical cutting but as if it had split the very plane itself..."

Su Lun mulled over a phrase and formed a somewhat precise concept of the "Sword God" realm.

In the blink of an eye, the Sword Qi flashed by.

Su Lun couldn't dodge it, let alone the Red-robed Mage targeted by Bartolo?

With a "swoosh," the Sword Qi unimpededly sliced the man into two.

The Red-robed Mage's eyes filled with disbelief, seemingly unaware that such a formidable expert was hidden among the enemies.

Moreover, not only had he been hidden, but he had also been concealed for so long before making a move!

But the shock in his eyes hadn't yet surfaced on his face before the vitality of his body rapidly dissipated.

Differently from before, this time the corpse didn't disintegrate but instead blood gushed profusely from the smooth cut.

This strike seemed to have shattered some special rule, preventing the Red-robed Mage's resurrection ability from activating and splitting him into two parts.

Seeing this, Su Lun looked delighted, "It worked!"

This time, he was sure he had truly killed the guy in front of him.

Because he clearly saw the soul separate from the body.

Everyone from the Dawn Group witnessing this scene felt a similar joy.

However, just as Su Lun teleported over to capture the soul and eliminate future troubles, an unexpected event occurred!

"Whoosh~"

The soul on the corpse burst out at nearly the speed of light and rapidly... escaped!

This caught Su Lun off guard; he hadn't anticipated this development.

Not dead!

No, to be precise, not completely dead!

The soul of this Necromancer was very special, seemingly related to his Soul Fire Mystique.

Su Lun immediately extended his senses, but he no longer saw any fluctuations from the guy's soul.

However, because Bartolo had severed this Red-robed Mage's physical body, the Forbidden Technique of the Undead Catastrophe instantly collapsed.

The creatures that had been summoned, now without control, stood idle one by one.

Bone dragons, griffins, behemoths, skeleton giants, and other advanced monsters all ceased their activities...

Yet, there was one difference!

That was the Skeleton Sword Deity, which had been fighting Qian Tiao, suddenly turned tail and ran.

Seeing this, Su Lun knew that the Red-robed Mage had most likely "possessed" the Skeleton Sword Deity.

However, Qian Tiao's reaction was swift; as soon as the skeleton ran, she chased after it.

But with the Red-robed Mage's soul, the skeleton obviously had different combat capabilities. The soul fire on the skeleton's surface blazed brilliantly, making Qian Tiao wary of approaching. In that moment, it chanted a spell, and a cloud of gray mist appeared in front of it, into which it bumped and then vanished without a trace.

The whole process was so slippery that Su Lun didn't even manage to teleport before it had already escaped.

Although top experts often have several life-saving methods, it's nothing unusual.

Yet, seeing this, Su Lun still frowned, "Truly hard to kill..."

However, his mood had improved in an instant.

Having repelled the formidable enemy, the crisis the Dawn Group faced this time had also been resolved.

And although the soul of the Red Robe Grand Magister had fled, his body was still there.

Su Lun was in good spirits, feeling that gaining something was a win.

And it wasn't just a small win, but a huge triumph!

He looked at the few pieces of equipment on the body before him, his eyes sparkling.

With the necrotic aura no longer veiling them, these treasures emitted intense waves of law, shining brightly.

Using the professional terminology from Su Lun's past life in the game, the gear that this guy had dropped was all golden legend.

...

The body was draped with a cloak as thin as cicada's wings, semi-transparent and gray in color.

It had been cleaved into two halves by a strike from Bartolo just before, yet now it had miraculously restored itself.

Upon inspecting, he instantly dispelled the fatigue from the tough battle he had just fought.

[Undead Cloak (Dark Gold)]

Description: A cloak formed from pure necrotic energy. When worn, you can move unseen like a phantom, gaining the abilities of Shadow Stealth and Light Body. Wearing it grants +99 affinity towards the undead and increases the efficiency of casting death-related spells (25~46%). This is a legendary magic artifact, but it also possesses strong necrotic corrosion that affects the mental faculties of nearby living beings, continuously causing severe negative mental states; only those who have comprehended the corresponding death laws are exempt from the negative effects; damaged cloaks can be replenished by necrotic energy and automatically recovered.

"What a treasure..."

Su Lun was very satisfied with the cloak.

It's rare to find a magic artifact that an alchemist can also use, and it matched his profession very well.

Being able to turn invisible, increase affinity with the undead, boost casting efficiency... these were all highly practical abilities.

The guy had managed to board the Eternal Night silently by relying on this cloak.

Upon closer inspection, Su Lun noticed another ring on the body, jet black and gleaming.

[Ebilis's Soul-devouring Ring (Legendary)]

Explanation: The former archangel, after falling and spreading despair among humanity, became a messenger of hell; this ring possesses a demonic spirit and can devour souls to gain attributes; it harvests less than 0.01% of individual's soul; it contains a trace of divine power and can only be used by believers of that divine power.

"Huh... Harvest souls to enhance oneself? No wonder that guy's soul power was so formidable."

Su Lun identified the effects and felt his spirits lift.

It was somewhat similar to his own talent of Death Harvesting, but the efficiency of harvesting was worlds apart.

With such minuscule soul harvesting, this guy must have slaughtered countless beings to have such powerful soul fire—it seemed as routine for him as eating or drinking.

But considering he was a necromancer, it made sense.

This ring had little use for an alchemist, so he packed it up to give to the dwarf craftsmen in the mountains to see if they could reforge it.

Besides this ring, the body also wore a storage ring on its hand.

Su Lun muttered to himself and also took it off with great anticipation.

Upon opening it, it indeed did not disappoint him.

Su Lun had been distressed about spending too much ammunition on those undead monsters, but upon seeing the massive space inside the storage ring, that sense of loss instantly reversed, "I'm rich!"

In the divine realm where magical realms exist, wealth is also concentrated in the hands of top mages.

This Red-robed Mage was not only an eighth-order Grand Mage; he was also a high-ranking cleric of the Holy Army.

Both power and strength were positioned at the pinnacle of the pyramid.

Another enhancement was that this guy was a Necromancer who often liked to massacre cities and had collected countless treasures.

As a result, there were many high-tier treasures inside his storage ring!

Upon looking, nearly a thousand cubic meters of storage space were filled with various brightly glowing treasures; there were no mundane items like gold or silver, almost all were magical items.

Magic crystals, glittering like diamonds, were piled up like gravel, along with magic devices, crystal balls, magic tomes, scrolls, healing potions... all neatly arranged on shelves.

There were many artifacts that appeared to have been excavated from ruins.

Upon appraising them, Su Lun saw that these items were all very high-grade.

An eighth-tier Grand Mage wouldn't carry a bunch of trash around with him.

At a glance, the spoils of war inside the storage ring could definitely offset the expenditure on ammunition by Dawn Group today, even by many times over.

"These ancient relics, seem like they were excavated from the ruins in Dragon Country... Did that guy discover a ruin before?"

As Su Lun looked at those ancient relics, he also thought of the escaped Skeleton Sword Saint and guessed what kind of ruins the Red-robed Mage might have excavated.

It was normal for beings from the divine realm who had been treasure-hunting in these waters for a long time to find some ruins.

Giving a casual glance, the most frequently used items were placed in the most conspicuous positions.

By coincidence, Su Lun saw a scroll sealed with golden runes.

[Spatial Turbulence Scroll]

Details: A scroll of forbidden spells drawn with divine power, sealing a ninth-order sub-divine level space magic; upon release, it disrupts the space within its range, causing targets performing spatial displacements within the area to fall into spatial turbulence.

"Indeed, he had prepared for spatial displacement techniques..."

As Su Lun looked at the information revealed from the appraisal, he grimaced slightly.

This scroll was indeed very malicious. It was likely that even ninth-order professionals would fall into spatial turbulence. Teleporting would be akin to suicide.

However, Su Lun didn't see this as a great threat.

The magical rules sealed within this scroll were far inferior to the Divine King's artifact [Urobolos' Space-Time Ring], so even if he was ambushed, it wouldn't be a big problem.

Nevertheless, Su Lun felt that taking a risk in battle was also worthwhile.

If he teleported without being controlled by the scroll, the enemy would immediately guess he might possess a divine tier treasure.

That situation could pose endless hidden dangers.

...

Su Lun was very interested in the Soul Fire Mystique of the Red Robe Grand Magister, so he took another look at the collection of tomes.

It was that glance, and he directly saw a magical casket in the most conspicuous position.

Upon opening it, it turned out to be an emanating death aura golden page.

Looking familiar to Su Lun, he appraised it, and his pupils suddenly dilated, "Hahaha... it really exists!"

[Replica of Maxim Fragment of a Great Sage]

Detailed Explanation: A Divine Necromancer deciphered part of the mythical artifact 'Great Sage's Maxim,' creating this replica. It records a Forbidden Technique called 'Death God's Fire,' a special secret technique that can directly reach the divine tier by gathering Divine Fire; only those with extraordinary talents can learn and master it.

Indeed.

This is the soul-secret technique called 'Death God's Fire,' a technique similar to gathering Divine Fire.

Capable of gathering Divine Fire, reaching the divine tier!

Looking at it, Su Lun felt overjoyed. He felt his soul was too strong but scattered, lacking a secret technique for consolidation.

This 'Death God's Fire' came just in time.

Based on the peculiar abilities manifested during the previous battle—scorching the enemies' souls at close range and controlling the undead from afar, even during the final escape, it was likely all due to this secret technique.

With such a divine-tier secret technique harvested, Su Lun felt greatly elated.

However, what intrigued him even more was that this golden scroll... wasn't it a replica of the one in his possession?

Back in Lingdun, when he killed the 'Curator' Grave Digger, he found a page of a golden scroll inside the terrifying wax museum.

But the tier of that golden scroll was too high, and Su Lun's current realm simply couldn't translate it. It's now just lying in the mini void realm, collecting dust, serving as a source of necromantic energy, feeding Mr. Crow.

But now, the source of the 'Death God's Fire' secret technique turns out to be a replica version of the golden scroll he owns?

"Heh, how coincidental."

Su Lun felt even greater anticipation for the golden scroll he held.

The alchemy plane indeed has many high-tier treasures.

However, because the items were too high-tier, they could only collect dust before.

Fortunately, now with a downgraded version, there is a breakthrough that mortals can learn.

He vaguely felt that this 'Death God's Fire' secret technique might play an even greater role in his hands in the future.

"However... mastering it on my own seems quite difficult."

Su Lun glanced at the text and suddenly his brows furrowed tightly.

Those descriptions of profound laws, even with his current high level of comprehension, seemed very challenging to understand.

High comprehension doesn't mean strong learning ability in every aspect, as certain talents are innate.

Just like that Red Robe Grand Magister, that guy's necromantic talent is absolutely one in a billion.

"If only I could harvest that guy's soul..."

At that moment, Su Lun suddenly felt it was too bad that the enemy's soul had escaped.

A mere glance at the secret technique told him that starting from scratch, without twenty to thirty years of devoted practice, he certainly couldn't reach the level of that red-robed mage.

Then, an odd thought suddenly popped into Su Lun's head: "That guy should still come back for revenge, right..."

For the first time, he somewhat looked forward to the enemy showing up.

Now, the teleportation array had been destroyed, and people from the divine planes couldn't leave the Dragon Country Waters any time soon.

That guy was left with only his soul; he wouldn't dare to move recklessly in these dangerous waters and would most likely look for his comrades to regroup.

Therefore, the probability of encountering the Dawn Group was great.

Moreover, Su Lun, looking at the swath of death energy in the sky, thought: "Tsk tsk, having abandoned all his possessions, that guy would surely want to retrieve them..."

His equipment exploded, and he lost even his body.

If there was any chance at all, he would definitely try to retrieve them.

But now his body and equipment had "exploded" clean, and his tactics were well known; encountering him again, that guy's threat would nearly be negligible.

....

There were too many items in the storage ring; it was impossible to inventory them all in a short time.

Su Lun tossed everything into the mini void realm without thinking, where a specially designated appraiser in the group dealt with these spoils of war.

He turned his gaze to the dark cloud in the sky.

This was the space releasing those monsters.

This was a piece of spatial fragment.

If the treasures inside the storage ring still had a price, then this spatial fragment was priceless.

[A Piece of Spatial Fragment]

Detailed Explanation: Area of 25 square kilometers, this was once a piece of a necrotic plane that shattered and left behind a spatial fragment; it retained some of the main plane's rule forces and high-level necrotic laws, thus this spatial fragment has a rich necrotic aura, suitable for nurturing undead creatures; can be integrated into the mini void realm;

Su Lun looked at it, another pleasant surprise.

This was not just an ordinary spatial fragment, but one containing the main plane's rule forces from a necrotic plane.

Who knows how much "inventory" was inside.

Others might not benefit from these, but Su Lun, who was half a necromancer himself, could make good use of them.

However, as long as the spatial fragment had been specially refined into a magical device by a secret technique and the original owner hadn't died, this space still belonged to the original owner.

That was why it floated in the sky like a dark cloud, motionless.

For others, it would really be impossible to take this thing away.

Because no matter how powerful a force, it couldn't take away a piece of spatial fragment.

But Su Lun was different.

The Urobolos Space-Time Ring could help him integrate any spatial fragment.

Su Lun didn't even think and began the integration immediately.

With a gesture of the sorcerer's seal, a light-absorbing vortex appeared in his palm.

As the vortex grew larger, the dark cloud in the sky was gradually sucked into it.

...

Meanwhile, a skull that had escaped to a deserted island a hundred miles away sensed something and cursed under its breath: "Damn, how could those natives take away my undead space!"

It had planned to wait a while longer, for those people to get desperate with the spatial fragment and leave, then he would go back again.

As long as the undead calamity persisted, the treasures would eventually return.

But unexpectedly, no sooner had he left than the magical marker he had left in the undead space vanished?!