Mechanical Alchemist

The slaver group's people could never have expected that, with only one enemy, such a grand commotion could be created!

My God, one person controlling hundreds of puppets, how is that possible!

And what in the world are those all-encompassing silk threads?

What's going on with the battle mechas of Mafa?

Is this guy still a Puppet Master?

And only a third-tier one at that?

Everyone was nothing short of shocked.

But clearly, these questions were no longer important.

What was even more chilling was that everyone in the slaver group could feel the unbelievable "madness" emanating from the enemy's actions.

Having sealed this space, was that guy planning... to kill everyone here?

As the thought occurred, no one believed it.

But in the next instant, they believed.

....

The battle erupted in an instant, with gunfire thundering and wails filling the field.

The fight between humans and puppets started with a huge disparity in advantages and disadvantages.

Humans have many negative emotions, such as fear, death, the unknown, the wails of companions... All these directly affect their combat strength.

But puppets have none of these physiologiocal disadvantages.

They have no flesh and blood, so even if the firepower is fierce, it can't make them retreat half a step.

Even when faced with enemies several times their number, they are completely fearless.

Flames, fuel spraying, thick smoke covering the area, visibility obstructed...

A familiar routine.

But this is just the beginning of despair.

Puppets don't need to breathe and are not affected by perception interference; they already have a seventy percent home-field advantage before the battle even starts.

Under unified command, with tacit coordination, indifferent to life or death, can you imagine their combat strength?

Moreover, the current Puppeteer army, apart from some old ones that hadn't been updated, the new batch of runes and materials were all up to the standards of the third-tier and above...

Their combat strength had already evolved beyond comparison with the past.

The battle grew more and more fierce, but it was entirely a one-sided slaughter.

A sense of despair spread.

The people of the slaver group didn't even know where the "enemy" was.

The unknown intensified their fear.

Everyone knew how to deal with a Puppet Master; amidst the dense smoke, many were wailing and shouting, "That guy is a Puppet Master! Don't bother with the puppets, kill his real body first!"

Unfortunately,

Not to mention whether they could perceive Su Lun's location,

Even if they did perceive it,

How could Su Lun let them kill him that easily?

...

Su Lun, controlling the puppets, began the slaughter, the red light in his eyes growing ever more fervent.

The killing excited his nerves, the frenzied secretion of hormones made his body more and more agitated.

With Soul Perception and the silk thread perception, his field of vision was crystal clear.

In this puppet theater, he was the hidden hand controlling everything behind the scenes.

But he hadn't forgotten that the biggest threats to him at the scene were the two fourth-tier professionals.

One was the close-combat group leader "Spiked Bear" Selt, and the other was the magic user, "Elemental Witch" Frida.

However, Su Lun had no intention of confronting them head-on.

For that Selt to extricate himself from the entanglement of the mechanical armor was not going to be easy. Even if he could free himself for a moment, Su Lun's ability to use Void Displacement was not so easy to be caught.

And it was he who controlled the puppet army, caught the slaver group off guard with a single encounter, and finally, the woman hiding in the trees took her shot.

She had bided her time, waiting for the moment to launch a stealth attack.

```

But little did she know, Su Lun had intentionally given her that opportunity!

After drawing enough elemental power, the woman abruptly appeared. With a sorcerer's seal formed between her fingers, she softly chanted, "Wind Mystique: Thousand Whirls Strangle."

Her move was her most powerful killing technique!

In an instant, countless tiny Wind Blades began to coalesce in the air, swiftly forming into bowl-sized "wind vortexes."

Innumerable, there were easily a thousand.

As the vortexes swept towards him, even from a distance, Su Lun felt a sensation on his skin as if it had been grazed by the edge of a blade.

The tricky part of this spell was that its power would multiply in a confined space.

With area coverage and no escape, it was inevitable!

Clearly, that was exactly what the woman had in mind!

Seeing this tactic, Su Lun's eyes filled with mockery.
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He made no move to dodge or evade; instead, he flexed his fingers and a puppet appeared beside him.

The puppet raised both hands, and a black spiral appeared in the palms. A powerful suction was visibly forming two vortices, and the overwhelming Wind Blades were absorbed before they could wreak havoc.

The "Black Hole Doll," now inscribed with fourth-tier Lu Rune symbols, had vastly improved in both spatial storage and suction power compared to the old version.

Even fourth-tier mystic techniques could be effortlessly drawn in.

After absorbing them, the puppet seemed to open its mouth again, and a barrage of similar Wind Blades was sprayed back at the woman.

"What kind of puppet is this?!"

The woman with the dark face was visibly alarmed.

What was even more terrifying was that it seemed as though her opponent had anticipated her location.

Having failed her ambush, she hurriedly drew on the power of wood elements from her feet on the tree trunk, merging herself into the tree.

But in the very next moment, the Wind Blades arrived, grinding the tree trunk into powder.

"Escaped, huh..."

Su Lun sensed the fleeing fire of her soul, and his gaze narrowed slightly.

With this ability to escape, she wouldn't be an easy target to kill.

He shifted his attention to Selt, the "Spiked Bear," who was grappling with a battle Mecha.

At that moment, Selt had unleashed his fourth-tier fortified garment, the "Gang Bear Needle Coat," which featured steel-like fur that could penetrate the elemental barriers of fourth-tier professionals with its devastating effects. Capable of offensive and defensive counterattacks like a porcupine, he was troublesome for any ordinary fourth-tier opponent.

Regrettably, although formidable, it was completely ineffective against the mechanical body of the battle Mecha.

To kill, he was the prime target.

...

Close-combat professionals were resilient. They could fight and flee with high alertness and survivability.

After fighting for a while, Su Lun had yet to find a suitable opportunity to execute him.

The ideal assassination strategy was to control the threads and seal off the entire space.

In that case, no matter how tough Selt was, his survival space shrinking step by step, he would inevitably meet his death.

Unfortunately, while controlling hundreds of puppets, Su Lun's "energy" was critical.

"The dark spiritual power is far from adequate..."

Su Lun wasn't surprised; he just felt a bit of regret that he could have killed the enemy more easily.

It was only now that he appreciated what his teacher, Sereya, had mentioned about the increasing need for dark spiritual power in the later stages of a Puppeteer's development.

While his skill in controlling over two hundred puppets was barely adequate, his dark spiritual energy was severely lacking.

He thought if he could merge with the "Isaac Alchemy Heart" after reaching the fifth tier, then this problem could be resolved.

One could foresee that with infinite energy, his combat power would be astonishing.

His thoughts vanished in a flash.

In the current situation, Su Lun was not the anxious one.

In this kind of melee battle, his greatest loss would only be some replaceable puppets.

The elites of the Slave Catcher Group, on the other hand, were about to be slaughtered.

The two fourth-tiers would certainly try everything to kill him quickly!

Sure enough, as soon as the woman's ambush failed, Su Lun saw Selt charging fiercely towards him.

Seeing the bristling needles poised to fire, Su Lun immediately knew what he was intending to do, and his thought process quickly provided a countermeasure.

```

....

After dozens of exchanges, the two fourth-level members of the Sun Catcher Gang also realized that Su Lun was not easy to kill.

Being the leader and deputy leader, their years of cooperation had fostered a profound tacit understanding.

Even without communication, they knew what to do with each other.

Although the dark-skinned woman's sneak attack was fruitless, it created an opportunity for Selt to make a move. Seeing Su Lun controlling the puppets, Selt burst forth decisively, briefly shaking off the mecha's entanglement and charging fiercely towards Su Lun.

From a distance, he formed the sorcerer's seals, and the implanted metal fur on his body suddenly grew longer in the wind, shooting out like feathered arrows.

"Swoosh," "swoosh," "swoosh"...

Steel needles a foot long came raining down from the sky.

Su Lun had some impression of this signature move of his opponent.

"Secret Technique: Thousand Needle Rain," a range spell, was considered one of that guy's trump cards. The steel needles could easily penetrate the elemental barriers of fourth-level professionals, so facing it head-on was not the smart choice.

Building up power for a long time, what that guy was waiting for was this moment.

The steel needles sealed off almost all direct paths, and instinct would drive one to dodge towards the blind spots.

But Su Lun knew as well.

This was exactly what the other person had calculated.

A frontal assault was the lethal move, and similarly, there were ambushes lying in wait at the blind spots!

"Tsk tsk, so this was your plan..."

Su Lun's attention was not solely on what was in front of him.

That woman underground probably thought she was well-hidden.

Little did she know that her every move was under Su Lun's control.

Su Lun remembered that the two seemed to have some sort of coordination for a combination attack technique and together had killed many strong opponents with it.

But those were fragmented memories, somewhat vague.

To dodge according to the enemy's plan was obviously not wise.

In an instant, Su Lun analyzed and determined the best course of action.

He decided that the steel needles likely couldn't kill him, and as long as he killed one of the opponent's fourth-level members, the situation would immediately reverse from the standoff!

The opponent wasn't foolish; they would have certainly collected intelligence.

Su Lun clearly remembered that he had revealed some of his techniques.

Although the opponent didn't know what the black scythe was, after the death of a fourth-level member, they were obviously wary.

The abilities of spatial displacement had also likely been somewhat uncovered by others...

Threads and puppets were currently in use.

But what they didn't know was...

Not all puppet masters were inherently "weak".

Su Lun's close-combat abilities were not inferior in the slightest!

....

Su Lun did not choose to dodge towards the blind spots of the steel needles, but with a fierce stomp on the ground, there was a "snap" sound, and his figure vanished from the spot.

As the afterimage dissipated, on a closer look, he was already charging head-on into the needle rain.

Selt's eyes narrowed as he recognized this as the exclusive skill of close-combat professionals, "Stepping on Air."

But this wasn't the moment for shock. Seeing Su Lun's figure disappear, he realized that Su Lun had used spatial displacement in his rapid movement to dodge the deadly needle rain.

However, the trajectory of spatial displacement could sometimes be predicted by certain actions just before vanishing.

"He actually chose to charge straight through?"

Selt was puzzled, how could a puppeteer opt to clash head-on with him?

As quick as a thought flashed through his mind, the figure reappeared in front of him, and without a moment's hesitation, Selt threw a powerful punch forward.

However, as he delivered this punch that should have been decisive, he immediately realized something was wrong, his expression changed dramatically: "How is this possible?!"

To his astonishment, the punch felt like it had "missed" its target.

No,

it wasn't a miss.

It was a misjudgment of distance!

It clearly seemed as though the two were only one meter apart.

But after extending an arm, it became apparent that the distance between them was actually one meter and ten centimeters!

Despite the distance being only slightly off, the optimal point for punching was different, leading to vastly different effects of the attack.

Let alone reducing its might by seventy to eighty percent, he would have been able to counterattack or follow up with ease if the punch had landed as intended.

But it was this very "miss" that disrupted all his subsequent combat responses.

Even his stance staggered, exposing a massive vulnerability.

With a "thud,"

Although Su Lun took a punch, the power behind it was neither painful nor itchy, and the steel needles on the fist didn't even pierce through his vajra protective body.

His eyes blazing with red light, the corner of his mouth curved upward, "Heh heh... it's over."

This strike was not due to the opponent's mistake, but rather, Su Lun had just formed a "Spatial Barrier" right in front of himself.

This wasn't a visual deceit, but rather a slight elongation of a segment of space.

Without understanding the Space Law, it would be tough to detect.

This was Su Lun's immediate grasp of spellcasting methods that he had once struggled with, after stripping away that tier-four Space Law fragment. Although the distortion in space wasn't vast, it was now sufficient!

Su Lun looked at the huge flaw exposed by his opponent, his eyes fierce.

That guy was extremely quick to react, his body's steel needles already standing on end as he instantly entered a defensive stance.

Unfortunately, Su Lun had no intention of colliding his flesh fist against him.

You may have a combination attack, but so do I!

You have two people, but I have countless puppets!

It was at this moment that a burst of steam explosion noises suddenly came from behind Selt, as the waiting mecha charged ferociously.

A brain capable of devising control schemes ensured a seamless natural cooperation!

In that instant, Selt was terrified within his heart, immediately realizing that while he had been laying a trap for his opponent, the opponent had already prepared the current pincer move during the earlier attack: "How is it possible... he controls so many puppets, how could he still react so fast!"

Unfortunately, a single mistake was enough to make him pay a painful price.

The mechanical explosion sound behind him was unavoidable, and he could only curl up as much as possible to shield his vitals.

"Bang!"

A loud metallic collision echoed.

The Ship-Cutter cleaved heavily onto Selt's body, its trembling blade crackling as it cut through countless steel needles. A single slash tore open flesh and revealed chilling white bones, leaving a gaping wound of several dozen centimeters from his buttocks to his waist.

Selt didn't resist fiercely; using the force to fly backwards, he avoided being cleaved in two.

After landing, he thought of fleeing immediately.

Believing that his comrades would surely come to his aid at the first opportunity.

But upon landing, an intense chill suddenly struck him.

Catching a glimpse from the corner of his eye, he saw several puppets spewing frost, wildly spraying at the spot where he was about to land.

Only then did Selt realize that a third wave of attack was coming.

His opponent had anticipated his landing spot!

Such similar tactics.

Both aimed to force the opponent to reveal a weakness, employing multilayered pincer attacks.

But they saw only one step ahead, while their opponent foresaw the next three steps.

No, four layers.

Looking at the frost-covered ground, Selt's face turned ashen.

The intense stickiness of the powerful frost, not to mention his broken leg at the moment, would have greatly constrained his movements even if it weren't broken.

He also realized that this frost served another purpose beyond hindering his escape.

It was to cut off the possibility of his comrades rescuing him.

The "Elemental Escape" ability was indeed formidable, but it wasn't impossible to counter.

Just like the vast coverage of frost before him, his comrade couldn't possibly tunnel through the ground to save him.

Upon arriving, they would immediately fall into the same freezing dilemma.

In that moment, Selt knew he was undoubtedly going to die, as the final thought crossed his mind.

With the appearance of a space rift, heads fell to the ground.