Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun fled alone, six pursuers hot on his heels.

But upon seeing that he was about to escape into the extremely dangerous central area of the Dawn Relic, the chasers began to panic.

Now, seven second-tier fighters were after a first-tier, and not only had they lost one of their own, but if they let the target get away, would they have any face to return?

The curse space shattered, everyone understood that the "Wailing Witch" must have been killed by Su Lun, and her hair materials surely taken.

They had painstakingly created the opportunity and even pushed the witch into a second-phase lord, only to dress someone else for the wedding?

Would that Oliver family's young master let this go?

And at that very moment, unfortunately, the communication devices indeed transmitted Young Master Danze's furious roar, "Damn it! That guy took the witch's head, you must kill him and bring back my materials!"

The tone of command admitted no doubt.

Hearing this, the faces of several pursuers turned sour.

Apart from the Steam Faction executive "Mechanical Tyrannosaurus" Toynbee, the other five were guards and vassals of the Oliver family. Normally they were high-ranking fighters nurtured by the consortium, which also meant they absolutely had no qualifications to refuse Young Master Danze's orders.

Upon hearing the command from the communication device, the other second-tiers looked at each other, their frowns deepening.

"Trickster" Lloyd's face was so dark it looked like it could drip water.

Only he knew how much Danze was "determined" to get the witch's hair.

Although he was Danze's Puppetry Technique teacher, how could he be unaware of his student's capricious nature?

The fact that the assailant had escaped was a minor issue; if the materials were lost, the young master would surely fly into a rage.

Even his face as a teacher wouldn't work.

The little old man hesitated only for a second before urgently shouting, "Chase! That guy has already used Black Scythe three times; at most he has one more strike before the curse backlash immediately erupts. His invisibility puppet will surely die as well, and then, he'll pose no threat... otherwise, we might as well not return!"

His implication was clear; whoever took the last strike would be the unlucky one.

"Alright!"

The rest exchanged glances and, with steely resolve, charged forward.

As long as they had not awakened to betray the Oliver family, they must execute this order!

...

"Huh... They're coming again?"

Su Lun frowned deeply.

He had just killed a second-tier professional with the help of the "Voodoo Doll," and those guys had quieted down for no more than a moment, only for that feeling of being targeted to return.

Glancing back at the suddenly accelerated pursuers, Su Lun guessed, "Did they receive a death order from that young master?"

Thinking this, he, too, sensed that things were not good.

Consortium enforcers naturally had to serve the consortium.

But if those guys had no way out, neither did Su Lun himself.

Looking ahead with no hesitation, he immediately plunged into the deeper, mist-shrouded part of the relic.

That "Gun King" Geiger might be formidable, but after all, a gunner is not adept at rapid pursuit and capture.

In the mist-enveloped and complex structure-riddled Dawn Relic, as long as the distance was sufficiently extended, the threat of the gunner would lessen.

Yet, the enemy had obviously guessed this too.

They seemed to know that if they continued the chase, even if they caught up with him, their situation would be very dangerous if they ventured too deep into the relic. That was when they decided to settle the outcome in one go!

Gunshots rang out again.

"Bang!"

The sound of the gunshot was half a beat slower than the bullet.

Before the sound was heard, Su Lun distinctly felt his body being hit, stumbling once again.

And by chance, he was hit on the same "shield," which was the "Voodoo Doll" connected with the blood of that "Trickster" Lloyd.

A second after the doll burst, Su Lun caught a glimpse of the dwarf controller's figure halting.

Despite the closing lethal threats, Su Lun decided to kill this man first!

Without any hesitation, he manipulated the invisible zombie, knife flashing down towards the dwarf.

This time, however, the attack did not go as smoothly as before.

When he swung the knife, the second-tiers unleashed their skills in unison, speed suddenly increased by several folds, rushing forward recklessly, determined to take Su Lun down in one fell swoop.

...

The speed of the Octo-Spear Spider might be quick, but that doesn't mean that second-tier professionals lacked the means for short-distance bursts.

Previously, no one used such tactics because they all had their own schemes, each hoping the other would step on the metaphorical mine.

After all, Su Lun was holding a scythe that killed whoever it sliced.

But now, they had received a death command and guessed that Su Lun's scythe only had one more slash left in it.

Seeing Lloyd being the one hit solidified their relief.

One's own misfortune was preferential to the misfortune of a companion.

Since that slash had been made, melee fighters with Teleportation abilities no longer had any reservations and burst forth at full power.

The "Mechanical Tyrannosaur" Toynbee reacted the fastest.

The modified jet propulsion device had been accumulating great pressure, and now it was released all at once.

"Pff" went the sound.

The white steam, like plumes of white smoke from a rocket launch, gushed forth like a tide.

He shot forward like a speeding bullet, covering hundreds of meters in a blink.

Even as Su Lun made several abrupt stops to change direction, Toynbee also made use of pressure release to stop abruptly, followed by several long-distance jet-boosted lunges, catching up to him in an instant. Then, a mechanical arm's claw "clicked" and shot out in mid-air...

As Su Lun controlled the invisible zombie wielding the Black Scythe to attack the distant dwarf, he had to exert himself to avoid that mechanical claw.

And it was this dodge that made the Scythe's trajectory slightly off. It did not cut the dwarf's neck but only managed to sever his legs.

Su Lun had no time for a follow-up strike because at that moment, the killing intent was upon him again.

Aside from the mechanical arm, closely following it was a suited bodyguard from the Oliver family.

The guy charged up a massive leap, his trouser legs bursting open to reveal frog-like exaggerated muscles, and in a flash covered a hundred meters...

"Boom!"

In the split second as Su Lun sheathed his weapon, the frog-legged suited bodyguard had already charged in front of him, slamming headfirst into his chest.

How swift could a second-tier close-combat job holder be?

Su Lun had no time whatsoever to react.

He caught the opponent's movement with his eyes, but his body couldn't keep up. In this critical moment, his thoughts raced, and he could barely use the spider legs to cling onto a dark puppet and shield his chest.

With that collision, "crack," the puppet shattered into pieces.

Su Lun was hit so hard that his eyes bulged, and a mouthful of old blood spurted out.

Another "boom" echoed, the massive force from the impact spreading from the point of collision like a breached dam.

It felt like being struck in the chest by a rampaging rhino, instantly giving him the illusion that his soul remained in place while his body was sent flying.

The next instant, his soul finally caught up, returning to his body.

Only then did Su Lun feel the vertigo from his qi and blood flowing backward through his limbs.

Flying backward, he had just started to feel his bodily existence when he heavily crashed into a building, smashing through two solid walls before finally coming to a stop.

Then, another mouthful of turbid blood sprayed everywhere.

If not for the alloy breastplate on his chest, that blow might have been fatal on the spot.

However, in even more agony was another person!

The very moment the dark doll shattered, Toynbee, the mechanical warrior who was rushing to assist from over ten meters away, suddenly let out a painful scream, nearly fainting while clutching his head.

The pain from the Voodoo Doll, which was bonded with his blood as a medium and exploded at such close range, could only be imagined.

Moreover, it was this tactic that prevented Su Lun from being caught in a pincer attack and instantly killed.

....

Su Lun was hit so hard that his organs were displaced, and he felt like his whole body was falling apart, unable to muster any strength.

In this critical moment, he didn't even have time to catch his breath, his eyes suddenly flashing with intensity, his gaze fierce and detached.

In the next instant, the expression of pain on his face disappeared, and his severely injured body seemed to no longer feel any pain.

Forcing his will to rise, he displayed his sharp spider limbs like spears in front of his chest, while the other four limbs rapidly dragged several odd puppets to protect him.

After this defensive action, Su Lun's hands reached out into the void, trying to grab the distant black scythe for a desperate final struggle!

But unexpectedly, he felt a different tension on the thread.

It wasn't the anticipated scattered flesh, but a complete, animated corpse?

Su Lun instantly understood, a surprised delight in his heart: "Eh?"

...

Even though Su Lun had controlled the precision and power of each slash, four slashes in quick succession brought him to the limit of backlash.

Especially the last one, from too far a distance, one slash was equivalent to the previous two.

The curse of the black scythe triggered instantly!

Although wrapped in a shroud, Su Lun couldn't see where on the corpse the wounds appeared, but at the moment of wielding the scythe, he could distinctly feel through the trembling of the thread the animated corpse "blood exploding."

Su Lun had thought he'd have to rely on his own flesh to wield the scythe desperately, but just then...

He surprisingly discovered the abomination didn't die!

Su Lun immediately understood what happened and thought to himself, "The backlash didn't hit the abomination's vital parts?!"

The wounds didn't appear above the neck or in the heart region, which for the abomination meant they weren't fatal.

Even if a limb was severed, a human would lose combat strength, but not an animated corpse!

Its terrifying regenerative ability would quickly heal the wounds.

This also meant...

The abomination had survived a round of curse backlash and could now withstand another four or five slashes!

With this realization, Su Lun's eyes shone brightly.

Despite spitting out blood in his sorry state, a mad grin spread across his face.

....

Thoughts flashed through his mind; reality was but an instant.

On the other hand, the frog-legged bodyguard had no intention of giving Su Lun any chance to live. After slamming him into the ruins, he kicked off the ground again, charging fiercely.

The whooshing sound of the wind assaulted him, so fast that the human reaction was insufficient.

But Su Lun was prepared for this, and the bodyguard, seeing the poisonous spear tips in front of Su Lun's chest, also realized the danger.

He dared not crash into the spears; instead, he came to an abrupt stop right in front of the spider spears and, using his momentum, performed a spinning kick.

Overwhelming force allowed his foot to burst through two strange puppets, and like a whip, it continued unabated, kicking heavily into Su Lun's side.

"Bang~"

A muffled sound accompanied by the crack of bones.

Su Lun suffered another heavy blow, his body flung like a sandbag and collapsing another solid wall.

"Pu~"

More tainted blood sprayed from his mouth and nose, nearly vomiting out his heart and lungs.

However, the bodyguard clearly had no experience with rune puppets. While he was inflicting a close-range heavy blow on Su Lun, he was also affected by the Wailing Witch's screams, and for a moment he was dazed.

It was during this dazed interval that Su Lun found the chance to breathe.

He got up without hesitation and injected himself with a vial of Potion to prevent fainting from the unbearable pain.

While administering the Potion, his eight spider limbs were already controlling the abomination outside the ruins, once again swinging the black scythe!

Su Lun looked at the momentarily dazed bodyguard, cracking a smile, his bloody teeth showing: "Hehe..."

I didn't die, so now it's your turn.