Mechanical Alchemist

In front of the God Temple of Gorr, Su Lun and his companions were not surprised to hear the news of the enemy attack.

After all, it was certain that the enemy would come.

Moreover, after Saint Frank had come alone and was badly injured before, it was highly unlikely that anyone would come by themselves to seek death again.

If the enemy really wanted to send a large force, it would still take a long time.

They had enough time to slowly make preparations.

Queen Medusa had gone into the temple to accept her inheritance, and there was a specialized engineering team setting up defenses, which left the three main combatants, Su Lun, Qiantiao, and Mr. Hei, feeling somewhat idle.

Even with the great battle impending, Mr. Hei remained as calm as ever. He waited for a moment and then seemed to develop a keen interest in the history of the temple, examining the buildings all around.

They couldn't enter the temple, but looking around was no problem.

As Mr. Hei observed, he took out various professional measuring tools and began taking measurements all around the palace.

He quickly found something that interested him, muttering, "Huh... that's strange. Judging from the style of this architecture, it doesn't seem to be a product of the Dawn Era, it looks more like it belongs to an even older ancient goblin style. I've seen related archaeological records in the Ruyingt Library, only the goblins who were skilled in engineering would be so precise with architecture..."

As he spoke, he was aiming an observing glass at the buildings, as if he had discovered something else, he exclaimed, "Oh! Even after countless years, these main structures are still so precise, there's no doubt that this is an ancient goblin relic!"

Su Lun, listening, also looked over with interest.

Though he was not a professional archaeologist, he knew quite a lot about the subject.

Looking at the style of the architecture, he also felt Mr. Hei's observations were reasonable and continued the conversation, "Could it be that the Gorr clan enslaved goblins to build this temple? Or did they seize a goblin palace that already existed?"

Mr. Hei listened, gave a mysterious smile, and said, "I am more inclined to the latter."

He continued, "Look carefully, do the styles of the reliefs describing Gorr mythology differ slightly from the main architectural style? Although the craftsmen who carved these patterns have tried hard to imitate, no matter how they compensate, it's not easy to replicate goblin technology. The gap in skills has left this kind of discontinuity..."

Su Lun, upon further inspection, realized the truth, "It really is like that!"

Mr. Hei, clearly seeing more, added, "Moreover, I suspect that this temple, like the ancient Atlantis city we encountered in the Curse Space, has a dual purpose of possibly being a 'temple' or a 'mausoleum', designed in such a way that it can gather supernatural forces. That's why it became the ancestral land of the Gorr tribe."

Interested by the conversation, Su Lun chimed in, "Is that so..."

As the two were amiable in their discussion of archaeology, Qiantiao started to feel bored.

She clearly had little interest in matters that required thinking, complaining, "Ah... what's there to study about a bunch of old stones."

Instead, she seemed more intrigued by the black water pond and kicked a stone into it without much thought.

There wasn't even a "plop" as the stone fell into the water; just about ten centimeters above the surface, it was corroded by the pond's rising toxic gases into a hissing sound, instantly turning into a wisp of green smoke that disappeared.

Qiantiao raised an eyebrow and remarked, "That's a strong toxin."

Su Lun also glanced over and warned, "Sister Qiantiao, don't get too close. The vapors from this pond can paralyze the nerves, and breathing too much of it can induce powerful hallucinations."

Hearing this, Mr. Hei revealed his characteristic amiable smile and said to Qiantiao, "Archaeology is actually quite interesting. What seems like a pile of 'old stones' actually hides a lot of key information. Take this black water pond for example; it's built right on the central axis of the temple, which in ancient civilizations, especially those with divine beliefs, is a very special location. This shouldn't be just an ordinary pond but rather a special site with another purpose. I suspect there might be some kind of energy-gathering rune array underground, which is why the poisonous miasma from the forest has condensed into pond water over countless years. Perhaps there is some high-grade treasure below too..."

"Treasure?"

Qiantiao blinked her eyes, her face showing a confused yet impressed expression: How didn't I see that?

Hearing this, Su Lun too approached the pond to take a closer look.

In fact, he had felt there was something off about this black water pond before, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Now, hearing Mr. Hei's words, he also believed it was very likely.

However, no matter what secrets lay beneath, they couldn't rashly explore without the owner's permission.

The group spent their time near the temple looking here and there, occasionally cleaning the moss-covered steles to read the fragmented texts left by ancient civilizations.

Su Lun and Mr. Hei deciphered more and more useful information.

So time passed in leisurely archaeological exploration.

Three to four hours later, the enemy's ships finally appeared on the horizon of Kekeluo Xi Island.

...

"Mr. Su Lun, Observation Post No. 7 has spotted the enemy approaching the island. They have about thirty ships coming from four directions to land…"

"There is also movement in the snake herds in the forest; it seems high-ranking gorgons have landed on the island. Be careful."

"The bombs in the target area have been installed and are ready to be detonated on command."

"The Eternal Night has taken position and is awaiting the fire command…"

"..."

A string of messages came through the communicator.

Su Lun looked at the two people beside him and said softly, "Prepare to fight."

Qiantiao was sleeping on a stone, but upon hearing the news, he jumped up, his face showing a hunger for battle, "Ah... finally, the battle begins."

Mr. Hei still had his unhurried demeanor. After hearing that the battle was about to start, he slowly put away his archaeological tools and remarked, "The enemy is slower than expected. It seems that they must have prepared something quite special."

Su Lun also smiled, "Exactly. Thirty ships are coming together, so it looks like it's a full mobilization. Next, we might be in for a fierce fight."

Qiantiao and Mr. Hei listened in silence.

They were already prepared.

The people from the Divine Realm were now aware of most of the Dawn Group's military capabilities; they knew about the presence of Old Sword God Bartolo on their ships and that Su Lun was capable of inflicting serious damage to Saint Frank. Thus, naturally, no one would come all alone to meet their death, not even an eighth-tier great Mage.

If it were a legion against a legion, the Dawn Group would have an even greater advantage.

After all, the range and precision of the cannons on those pirate ships were almost negligible; they couldn't even hit the Gorel Temple in the center of the Kokolos island.

There was only the Dawn Group hitting the enemy, not the enemy hitting them.

So, if the enemy wanted to surround and kill them, they had to land on the island.

Crows flew in the sky, and Su Lun shared their vision, but could only see a foggy expanse.

The people from the Divine Realm had used "War Fog" when they came over, blurring the actual position of their warships.

However, thanks to early detection devices and the perception abilities of Tanni and his mother, Dawn Group had already pinpointed almost all of the enemy pirate ships' locations.

Through the communicator, Tanni's report came again, "Mr. Su Lun, we have confirmed that two of the enemy's Sea King class warships landed near marker 46, and another near marker 77. A large number of people disembarked, and they have started to come ashore..."

Upon hearing this, Su Lun looked at Qiantiao and the others, "Let's follow the original plan. I'll go take care of those pirate ships to prevent future troubles. The temple here, for the time being, will trouble you two."

Qiantiao and the others nodded.

While they were speaking, they could already hear the rustling sounds from the jungle. It was a sign that the Poison Snake horde was beginning to move again.

The Gorgon women who had landed on the island were probably initiating the Sea of Snakes disaster once more.

Ordinarily, this was an unsolvable disaster for humans. However, this time, they were not completely unprepared.

At that moment, the three of them each took out a small glass bottle.

The small glass bottle contained light golden blood, which was the "Blood of Redemption" of Queen Medusa, effective at immunizing against various curses not higher than the blood itself within a certain time limit.

It was particularly effective against the "Light of Petrification Curse."

This was the vital blood from Queen Medusa's right atrium, the best counter to the petrification curse by the Gorgon women.

Drawing blood was indeed harmful to her own body, and also restrained Medusa herself. If there hadn't been a deep collaborative covenant signed with sufficient trust, she would never offer this golden blood.

The three of them smeared the blood over their eyes and immediately felt a refreshing sensation.

Su Lun checked his attribute panel and saw a new temporary buff status added, "Immunity to Petrification Curse."

That is to say, even if they looked directly at a Gorgon, it wouldn't be a big problem.

Even with the curse light from a high-order Gorgon, they wouldn't be instantly turned into stone statues anymore.

With this, they dared to agree to land on the island, as it was their most important reliance.

After getting ready, Su Lun didn't delay any further and turned to the other two, "I'm off first."

With a flick of the sorcerer's seals, he vanished from the spot.

...

At the same time as those people from the Divine Realm began to land, the skies above Kokolos Island also suddenly erupted with the sound of heavy artillery fire.

The Eternal Night took advantage of the fire range from the ship's guns in the distance, and began to cover the confirmed enemy's landing positions with firepower.

It was not to kill enemies, but to first sink their ships.

A Mage legion needed to spread out according to certain angles when deploying a Super-Order Magic Circle, and multiple ten-thousand-person Mage teams couldn't possibly crowd together.

Moreover, according to current intelligence, the enemy had divided into at least eight landing points, apparently preparing for some kind of large-scale Legion Magic formation.

Su Lun, of course, wouldn't let them have their way.

The scenery shifted around him, and he found himself on the shore side, right where one Sea King class warship and three medium-sized pirate ships were anchored.

The Legion Magic Shield had already been deployed, with Mages on board defending against the shells from the sky.

Su Lun gripped the rune-etched black umbrella in his hand and immediately sensed tens of thousands of people packed upon the ship.

There was indeed an entire ten thousand-man Mage Formation here.

Even the moment Su Lun teleported over, the spatial fluctuations were clearly detected by the enemy's sensing Mages.

Three fire pythons surged over on the surface of the sea.

This was a seventh-order arcane spell, but Su Lun watched without any change in expression. He pinched a sorcerer's seal and whispered in his heart, "Secret Technique: Puppet Theater."

The sorcerer's seal was so well-practiced it instantly conjured a massive cross in the sky.

With the enhancement of the Philosopher's Stone, Su Lun's spellcasting speed was now several times faster than before!

During the actual casting process, he raised his hand, summoned a gargoyle to shield himself, and a black spatial vortex appeared, swallowing the three fire pythons into the void in the blink of an eye.

But in that brief delay, a barrage of dozens of spells was suddenly unleashed from the four warships in the distance. Lightning, fire snakes, hail, waves, wind blades... the thousand-man legion's magic coalesced and released over the entire sea surface in a sweeping assault.

In the past, Su Lun would have avoided a ten thousand-man Mage Formation at all costs.

Especially when aggregated into a combat Formation, they were both offensive and resistant, making even ninth-order professionals helpless against them for a while.

But now...

Su Lun just sneered.

You have a ten thousand-man unit; I have one too!

Su Lun teleported in mid-air, avoiding the first round of combined spellfire.

These spells exploded on the sea surface, creating white waves dozens of meters high—a terrifying force!

However, just as those pirates were about to use their second round of spells, he suddenly tore open dozens of spatial seal scrolls.

The scrolls "boom," "boom," "boom"... burst open.

Under the sunlight, the sky suddenly sparkled with silver light.

Upon closer inspection, the sky was now filled with fierce-looking metal gargoyles with muscular bodies and wings.

Not hundreds, not the one thousand from before... there were a full ten thousand of them!

These puppets spread out, covering the sky and blotting out the sun!

Su Lun summoned the gargoyle legion, narrowed his eyes slightly, and commanded in his heart, "Puppet Secret Technique: Army of Thousand Soldiers."

The threads in the sky instantly linked the puppets together, and the gargoyles seemed to come to life as their energy cores lit up.

With Su Lun at the center, ten thousand gargoyles raised their hands together, each creating twisted spatial vortexes that met the densely incoming spells head-on.

The legion's dozens of high-order spells that had previously churned the sea were now all silenced at once.

Most of the magic was devoured by the void, and even the few spells that penetrated the defense were ineffectual against the gargoyles' highly magic-resistant metal bodies.

If the Mages are a legion, the gargoyles are, likewise, a legion in battle formation!

From the sky above, the ten thousand gargoyles also happened to form a Nonagram Alchemy Formation.

When Su Lun designed the gargoyles, he had already considered their combination functions on a massive scale, such as how to defensively distribute damage and jointly unleash higher-order spells.

The "Army of Thousand Soldiers" now was not merely ten thousand gargoyles!

With Su Lun's current divine-level spiritual power, he was nearly able to precisely control each gargoyle.

Even after being hit by the second round of spells, the Void Runes on the gargoyles were all lit up at once.

It was when the ten thousand gargoyles activated the super-large legion Alchemy Formation that intense spatial fluctuations surged in the sky.

The vast spatial distortions were like a plane on the brink of collapse, a technique so fearsome that even top-ranked professionals would blanch.

Su Lun's expression turned stern, "Forbidden Curse: Layered Space Annihilation!"

Since the Dawn Era had sufficient Void materials, these gargoyles were imbued with Void Power above all else.

Currently, the average combat power of the gargoyles was roughly equivalent to fifth-order professionals; thus, the combined attack of ten thousand fifth-order professionals, akin to a divine legion from the celestial planes, could kill a ninth-order being!

And the drawback of the celestial plane legions was that they couldn't teleport at will. If their formations were broken, the consequences would be even worse.

But the gargoyles could stand and be bombarded with spells, something that flesh and blood could not withstand!

Even though the ten thousand-man Mage Formation had fully activated their magic shields, confronting such terrifying spatial fluctuations was definitely not a good strategy.

Just in that moment, the Nonagram rune array in the sky had already brightened to its limit.

Just as the spell was about to come crashing down in a blinding flash, suddenly, a mysterious figure in a cloak appeared on the deck of the Sea King's warship.

Even when a black cloak covered the entire body, how could Su Lun not recognize that this was a high-order Gorgon?

It was one from the Sea of Snakes calamity that had besieged the Dawn group before, whose soul fluctuations he had memorized and could never mistake.

From the very beginning, Su Lun had detected the presence of a high-order Gorgon hiding on the ship, and naturally, he was well prepared. Moreover, he had applied the "Blood of Queen Medusa's Redemption" and was utterly fearless.

These creatures naturally knew that to reverse the situation, they must deal with the puppeteer.

It was in that lightning-fast moment that the person on the deck suddenly unveiled their cloak.

The myriad snake hairs glared at Su Lun in the midst of the puppets, blanketing the sky in a grey light instantly.

Su Lun was probably the first in countless years to dare directly face the Light of Petrification Curse.

His left eye's luster shifted, and he seemed to understand something, murmuring to himself, "High-tier earth laws, so this is how it is..."

The All-knowing Eye identified some special law fluctuations, understanding part of the mechanism.

But before he had time to ponder, the overwhelming radiant light was already shining on his entire body.

Su Lun distinctly felt as if his gaze had stiffened, his entire body seemed paralyzed.

But this sensation only lasted for an instant before a more potent force within his body dispelled this paralysis.

In that split second, Su Lun experienced the Gorgons' legendary petrification curse and its instantaneous nullification, finding it quite marvelous.

As for the few stone gargoyles that were petrified, Su Lun didn't pay much attention.

He had tested before that the stone gargoyles had restorative properties; even if they were temporarily petrified, they would slowly recover.

There were ten thousand stone gargoyles here simply because he could only just about control that many, but that didn't mean he had only that many.

There were plenty more finished golems in the little void pocket.

In that same instant, not even the Gorgon's release of petrifying light could prevent Su Lun from casting his spells; the Nonagram Formation in the sky had already congealed into shape.

In front of the baffled and terrified gazes of the mages on the pirate ship, the forbidden curse-level Space Wizard unleashed his spell instantly.

A distorted black light, over a dozen meters long, rushed towards the legion's magic shield.

When the legion's magic clashed with the legion's alchemy, the spear met the shield, and they only withstood each other for an instant before a loud "boom" sounded like a burst balloon, creating a violent shockwave on the sea's surface.

Space Law nearly always restrains all common magic, and Su Lun had previously estimated the endurance limit of a ten-thousand-man magic troupe, so this strike was bound to succeed!

The "Layered Space Annihilation" exploded, instantly shattering the pirate ship; the mast was broken off, and the deck was cracked widely. The magic troupe on the ship had their formation blasted apart in an instant, sending limbs flying and filling the air with screams.

Countless space fractures appeared, and those fifth and sixth-tier mages were unable to regroup the formation in a short time.

The ten-thousand-man magic formation was broken!

To Su Lun, the magic troupe now presented a huge vulnerability!

Seeing this, he didn't delay a moment longer. The shadow of Death appeared behind him, a faint green soul fire surged over his body, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished.

At the same time, the swarm of stone gargoyles also charged towards the three warships!

Su Lun teleported and appeared beside the Gorgon, who was still puzzled, and then struck her with a palm.

Even if the petrification curse was useless, Gorgons possessed nearly an eighth-tier physique that normal attacks couldn't harm!

However, the "Death God's Fire" directly scorched the soul.

The Gorgon had not yet comprehended what happened when she suddenly felt her soul burning.

She tried to flee in terror, her snake hair whirling wildly in a panic, but how could Su Lun let her get away?

Su Lun completely ignored the petrification curse, grabbed her arm, and the Death God's Fire from his body poured fiercely into the monster's body.

The Gorgon felt the terror of imminent death. It wanted to struggle, and the snakes on its head wildly spewed grey beams in all directions.

But this final act of desperation didn't forestall its death. Instead, by indiscriminately unleashing petrifying beams, it turned the surrounding mages who tried to rescue it into exquisitely lifelike stone sculptures.

In an instant, Su Lun felt its soul dissipate; with a strike from the Rune-etched black umbrella in his right hand, he ejected the Gorgon's fragmented soul from its body.

With another sweep of the Death shadow, the Gorgon lost all signs of life.

The soul had vanished, but in its place lay a complete high-order Gorgon corpse!

This was top-tier material for crafting golems!

Delighted, Su Lun quickly collected the corpse.

Turning back, he saw the ten-thousand gargoyle army had stormed the breach caused by the troupe's defeat, tearing it even wider!