Mechanical Alchemist

"Done!"

Having finished off the two men in front of him, Su Lun's brows relaxed slightly.

Killing these two had been within his expectations.

Before he made his move, he had guessed that the action of raising the gun to fire was too obvious to conceal from high-ranking professionals.

The opposition would not just stand by and watch him kill that Control Mage, so there would definitely be someone coming to the rescue.

The scythe that he swung while lifting the gun held the true hidden killing intent. It was intended to take out a second-class professional who might come to aid the Control Mage while he was being killed.

Now, it seemed the effect was good.

....

Su Lun was well aware of his limitations.

After all, he was just one person, and as strong as he was, he was only first-class.

Even with a scythe in his hand, once discovered and the enemy on guard, it would be much harder to kill again.

A second-class professional would not just stand there and wait for him to make the kill.

So, Su Lun needed an ally.

In a situation with fewer people, how could he snatch the enemy's boss and kill an enemy several times his number?

The best approach was naturally to ambush and get rid of the enemy's controller, letting the monsters run rampant.

This was also why he chose to take out that Blue Robe Sorcerer immediately.

Just like now, the Wailing Witch, no longer covered by the "Slowing Light Beam," let out a piercing scream as if relieved, and in an instant, the speed of her hair attacks visibly surged by fifty percent!

Before, the few second-class professionals in the field could comfortably handle the siege of her hair. Now, they were suddenly overwhelmed and put in disarray.

Busy dealing with her hair, they simply had no chance to deal with Su Lun, the ambusher.

Seeing the few strands of surprised and murderous gazes turning towards him, Su Lun was not at all afraid. He did not stop the movements in his hands, again flexing his fingers to pull on the invisible zombie beside him, slashing towards another target not far away.

Seeing this, the Trickster Lloyd's face changed drastically, realizing something and hastily shouted, "Stop him quickly!"

Silver and black threads crossed, like tug-of-war contestants, he controlled the Witch with his threads, but at the same time, he was immobilized.

Lloyd knew very well in his heart that he was the key to control. If anything happened to him, the Witch in her fury would break completely free, and what awaited them was certain failure, even a desperate situation!

However, how could the few second-class professionals not guess that the spatial crack that had killed Blum was the work of the notorious banned weapon, "Xiupunos's Night Scythe"?

Knowing that, who would dare to block it with their body?

Moreover, they couldn't block it even if they wanted to!

The next instant, another spatial crack appeared, precisely at the Trickster Lloyd's neck.

Without a sound, the head fell.

Su Lun had thought his strike would definitely kill the immobile Puppet Master, but to his surprise, when the head hit the ground, he did not see the "grey mist."

"Huh... Not dead?!"

Su Lun's pupils shrank suddenly, and his instinctive reaction to danger made him dart behind the invisible zombie.

In the next moment, he heard the whistling of the wind, and several poison needles shot out from the severed head, "thud thud thud" hitting the invisible zombie in front of him, and fell to the ground.

Upon looking again, the headless corpse of Lloyd's robe split open, and out sprang an ugly dwarf about one meter tall.

"Is this Lloyd's real body?"

Su Lun had not expected that the notorious Puppet Master would actually be an ugly-faced dwarf.

....

Although the witch was strange and not highly intelligent, she knew the biggest threat was the one controlling her!

Lloyd dodged Su Lun's lethal moves but couldn't escape the omnipresent silver hair within the monastery.

After the beheading, the spell was interrupted.

Now he was forced to abandon the puppet body and also lost control over most of the black threads.

With the black threads no longer binding her, the witch's silver hair was entirely liberated, and a piercing shriek echoed throughout the cursed space.

In an instant, the sky was densely filled with silver hair spreading like a tidal wave, fast enveloping the monastery in a silver cocoon, strand by strand, clump by clump.

Previously, what they all desired from the rampaging witch—"infinite hair strands," now became their death warrant.

And as soon as the dwarf landed, a spear-like strand of silver hair stabbed at him, "clang" it pierced a fist-sized hole in the stone pavement.

The agility of the Puppet Master's flesh was limited, certainly not comparable to other professionals. Although the dwarf tried his best to dodge, he still got grazed by the sharp spear, piercing through his thigh, and blood pooled on the ground...

Moreover, to add to the despair, more than ten spears of silver hair quickly formed in the air and shot down with a "whoosh whoosh whoosh".

Lloyd's face was ashen.

In this moment of crisis, Toynbee—the "Mechanical Tyrannosaurus" closest to the dwarf—reacted swiftly. The mechanical arm, originally charging up to attack the witch's body, instantly shifted direction and launched, shattering the silver spears and thus saving the dwarf's life.

The silver hair filled the sky like a downpour, impossible to avoid.

The other second-tier professionals were struggling to take care of themselves, with injuries of varying degrees...

And the first-tier Blue Robe Sorcerer who cast "Thorn Entanglement" managed to dodge several spears but still ended up hopelessly pierced full of bloody holes...

With this, the witch was thoroughly unbound.

The previously deadlocked battlefield was suddenly broken, and the rout was like a dam burst, beyond redemption.

Seeing that the situation was untenable, the dwarf barked darkly, "Retreat! Exit the cursed space first!"

The four second-tier professionals gathered together, destroyed the silver hair above their heads, and tore a scroll before they were completely trapped.

The scroll shattered, and a magic portal appeared out of thin air. The group did not hesitate to charge through it.

....

"Thought I could kill a few more of them..."

Su Lun watched as the figures escaped through the light portal, feeling a slight tinge of regret.

Prepared to ward off falling into dreams and equipped with escape tactics, the people from the Oliver family had clearly come well-prepared.

They could escape, but Su Lun could not.

Not to mention the magic portal vanished the moment it appeared, even if it hadn't, he would not have followed them out and "delivered himself to death."

As the shrieking began, the "nutrients" in the mist were also swept clean.

In the vast cursed space, only the solitary Su Lun remained alive.

Now with no one else to draw fire, the only target for the towering blood nun was him.

"Just hope my previous deduction wasn't wrong..."

He exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Su Lun took off his gas mask and brought Mr. Brook's harmonica to his lips.

Having never learned harmonica in a previous life, this rather simple instrument had already been mastered proficiently from the Soul Shards he had collected.

Without overthinking, he started a slow folk tune, a melody he had heard hummed by NPCs in "The Legend of the Bell Tower Monster" space.

The melodious tune resonated throughout the entire monastery.

It was the moment the melody of the harmonica sounded that the ferocious, silver hair around seemed to understand the desolation within the tune. Suddenly, it softened, like the water plants in a clear pond, drifting with the breeze...

Su Lun played on, becoming more and more detached, the rhythm steady and unhurried.

In the distance, the over five-meter-tall Blood Nun also lost her ferocity, standing there dazed and listening quietly.

As if recalling something, tears slowly welled up in the corners of her eyes.

Su Lun continued to play the piece, and the scenery around him rapidly changed.

It was as though time had reversed, the broken walls and ruins instantly restored to their original state, transforming into that solemn and majestic white monastery.

Snowflakes began to drift down from the sky, and doves could once again be seen flying above the domes...

The scenery shifted in a flash, as if returning to a thousand years ago.

That young nun would often stand alone on the loft, playing that melody filled with her longing, waiting for her beloved to return safely from the battlefield.

They had promised that he would come back to her in that snowy winter.

But unthinkably, she waited until Dawn City fell into eternal darkness and he never returned.

....

After a while, the tune came to an end.

"I was entrusted by Mr. Brook to bring this harmonica back to you,"

Su Lun stopped playing, not sure if the transformed Alice could understand him. Seeing that the Witch had calmed down, he extended the harmonica toward her.

He continued, "He asked me to tell you that he can no longer keep the appointment and that you shouldn't wait for him anymore."

The gentle silver hair took hold of the harmonica engraved with "Brook&Alice," handing it to the young nun.

A smile slowly spread across her face as she seemed to see some beautiful vision before her, whispering softly, "Have you finally come back to see me..."

With a flash of light and shadow, the figure of a handsome man in military uniform appeared in the yard of the monastery. Smiling, he took his beloved girl's hand and said tenderly, "Yes, I have come back."

They had vowed to love each other for this lifetime.

Brook's short life had already faded atop the bell tower a thousand years ago;

And Alice...

Waiting for this one message,

Waited for a thousand years.

Su Lun quietly observed the scene before him.

He knew he was probably the sole witness to that tragic love story from a thousand years ago.

A young girl had waited a lifetime for a promise.

At that moment, the young nun placed the harmonica to her lips and tenderly began to play that familiar melody again.

As the haunting tune sounded, a sparkling tear slowly fell from the corner of her eye.

....

With no "malice" left in the nun before him, Su Lun also relaxed the steel wire he was holding.

Now that he had fulfilled Brook's commission and used the harmonica to resolve a mortal crisis, he felt accomplished.

Yet, he had not forgotten that before him stood a Lord-level apparition capable of striking down a second-tier professional on the spot.

Su Lun didn't possess the ability of the others to create a magic portal and escape.

If he wanted out, he would have to kill the source of the curse.

He had planned to find an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow.

But now, it seemed unnecessary.

As the tear fell, he also saw the "Lord-level apparition's" aura suddenly deflate, transforming from the sharpened aggression of a moment ago to an increasingly tranquil state.

And upon appraisal, the glowing tear on the ground was unmistakably a cursed object.

[Alice's Tear]

Description: A crystallization of all the magic power within the Wailing Witch, an extremely precious cursed material; it contains immense magic power and spiritual power, including the most complete spiritual matrix of the witch's lineage;

"All magic power condensed?"

Reading these words, Su Lun suddenly realized something.

Looking again at the nun, her presence was also growing weaker.

It appeared she had received the answer she'd been waiting for over a thousand years, her obsession was finally relieved, and she was about to dissipate completely from this world.

Without feeling any more hostility, Su Lun thought better of delivering the final blow.

As for the Witch's hair he needed, the monastery was strewn with it.

For the body, it would be enough to wait a moment.

The sound of the harmonica became more mournful and fainter by the moment.

As he listened, Su Lun began silently to gather the battle spoils and blood scattered around the courtyard.

.....

A second-tier professional had died, the leader of the Battle Knife Squad, Blum, yielding some battle experience.

And those two rare Mage Sorcerers gave Su Lun a little surprise.

They were graduates from the inner city's Black Tower Academy from the last two sessions, having high-quality Soul Shards, which awarded Su Lun a significant influx of spellcasting experience and alchemical knowledge.

And the headless "Alchemical Puppet" was naturally left behind by the Trickster, Lloyd.

The dwarf had fled in a panic, not even managing to strip the Storage Ring from the puppet.

A glance revealed many rare puppeteering materials that could be useful.

It was a bountiful harvest indeed.

But as he listened, the harmonica fell silent.

Su Lun turned his head.

He saw the nun lying on the ground, clutching her beloved harmonica, her lips still curled in a blissful smile, her demeanor peaceful.

"It's quite beautiful,"

he said to the body, and then walked over, dispassionately severing the glowing head of the Witch.

'You have acquired 2 memory fragments of "Witch Alice"'

'You have gained a snippet of information: "It feels like a very long time has passed, but I have finally waited for him, I am so happy..."'

'You have comprehended the [Intermediate String Control Technique]...'

'Spiritual power +7.5'

The cursed space began to collapse.

Su Lun undid his disguise, his body erupting with cold flames.

He had not forgotten that there were still people outside the cursed space waiting for him to walk into their trap.