Mechanical Alchemist-Chapter 618 - 617: Harvesting Ninth-Order Souls

"Tsk tsk, so this is the ninth tier..."

Su Lun remembered this was the eighth time he had been blasted away by a magic missile.

The magic shockwave threw him hard to the ground, his bones and muscles aching as if a glass bottle had shattered; the violent Power of Laws felt like needles trying to pierce his domain, an indescribable pain.

But as soon as he landed, Su Lun immediately teleported away from the spot, dodging the subsequent deadly strikes.

Despite looking disheveled, he remained lively and vigorous.

For someone of the eighth tier to withstand so many attacks from a ninth tier Sage of Law and still not die was enough to make anyone proud.

It was proven that the Alchemical Growth Armor "Isaac Dragon Pattern Golden Body," known to be the strongest defensive gear in the alchemy plane, had no equal.

Dragons inherently possessed high immunity against physical and magical damage, and merging with this gear was equivalent to wearing a set of portable full-body armor. Moreover, the main material Su Lun used to craft this gear was from an eighth-tier Hell Dragon of the darkness type, which inherently could withstand the impact of ninth-tier spells.

The dragon race's physical talent compensated for the defensive gap at the level of Laws, resisting most of the energy impacts and law erosion from ninth-tier magic.

Furthermore, the "Isaac Alchemy Heart" provided nearly infinite dark spiritual power, allowing the Dragon Pattern Golden Body to maintain its strongest defense state almost continuously.

During the battle, Su Lun also roughly estimated that, with the armor and his overwhelming body, even facing ninth-tier spells, the damage reduction exceeded 95%.

The remaining damage was insignificant to Su Lun's already formidable physical body. He also had the "Blood Devour" ability to continuously heal his injuries.

As long as he avoided some fatal attacks, it was almost impossible for the ninth-tier Sage of Law to kill him in a short period of time.

The two sides continued their fierce battle in the mountains.

The tactics of the Dawn team were clear, all members first concentrated their power to kill those eighth-tier great magic conductors.

Under normal circumstances, an eighth-tier magic conductor from the Heavenly God's plane standing alone against an eighth-tier alchemist had hardly any chance of winning.

Moreover, the members of the Dawn team were all elites among their ranks, possessing the most top-tier abilities and equipment of the plane.

It didn't take long before nine eighth-tier great magic conductors were all slain.

Pestoya, Pandora, Number Nineteen, Old Sword God Bartolo, "Blood Duke" Wazhuvas, Mr. Hei, and other high fighters of Dawn, along with Mr. Jing and Su Lun, began to encircle and attack the three Sages of Law.

...

The three opposing Sages of Law grew increasingly frustrated as the battle progressed.

Originally, the most powerful among them was "Time Saint" Ralph Zimmerman. His time magic posed a great threat to anyone.

Even when he had previously encountered Mr. Jing, he had gained the upper hand.

The secrets of time were not simply a matter of copying spells.

It could be said without exaggeration that as long as he was present, any number of eighth-tier attackers would be meaningless.

Under the mystery of time, all beings are equal.

This was almost a counter to all laws, yet unaffected by any.

That's why they dared to lead a group deep into the heart of Luying.

Even when they realized they were ambushed at first, Ralph Zimmerman was confident enough that he could easily kill these alchemists of the alchemical plane alone. If not, he could easily escape.

However, he never expected someone like Su Lun, completely unaffected by his Time Holy Domain, to emerge.

Moreover, not only was he unaffected, but even after being hit directly by ninth-tier spells multiple times, this eighth-tier alchemist couldn't be killed?

More importantly, the "Death God's Fire," which directly burns the soul, posed a lethal threat even to ninth-tiers, and no Sage of Law dared to confront it directly.

Ability to resist, physical body comparable to ninth-tier, attacking methods comparable to ninth-tier...

This made Ralph Zimmerman feel increasingly limited, his usual prowess in time manipulation hardly displayed at all.

The situation grew increasingly dire.

There was also Mr. Jing, whose ability to copy was extremely troublesome.

With three avatars each possessing ninth-tier combat power, copying various spells to clash, this type of attack was not particularly tricky, but it was incredibly tenacious.

Even with all the diverse methods employed by the three Sages of Law, they couldn't do anything to her in a short time.

The longer the battle dragged on, the less favorable it became for the three Sages of Law from the Heavenly God's plane.

...

"O great earth elements roaming between heaven and earth, gods sleeping in the mountains, heed my command... Summon: Emperor Rock Demon!"

"Dark Rule: Light Banishing Technique!"

"Forbidden Curse: Sun God Bird!"

"Arcane: Blazing Angel!"

"..."

In the mountains outside Clementon, it was like a cauldron gathering magic, where various high-tier forbidden spells and arcanes were unleashed freely.

Gargantuan rock giants hundreds of meters tall, sun god birds made of sunlight, endless domains of darkness, close-combat mages transformed into blazing angels...

After being encircled by members of Dawn, the three Sages of Law unleashed all kinds of methods, resembling a grand magic exhibition, with dazzling magic light waves exploding in the sky.

With Mr. Jing's ability to copy, almost all forbidden curses were summoned in double.

The terrifying aftermath of the explosions surged wave after wave.

The two sides were evenly matched.

But in fact, right after the Dawn Brigade had killed those nine eighth-level grand Magic Conductors, the scale of victory had already quietly tilted towards the Dawn Brigade.

The one who mastered the Power of Laws of time, "Saint Time" Ralph Zimmerman, was the strongest in this surprise attack squad of the Heavenly Plane, originally the main force in the offense.

But for Su Lun, this guy was actually the easiest to deal with.

With him always watching this one, the other members of the Dawn Brigade concentrated their firepower to surround and kill the other two.

Unit 19's mechanical angelic body still performed outstandingly in the ninth-level battle, charging fearlessly at the forefront;

Old Sword God Bartolo's sword energy swept through hundreds of meters, wherever it passed, it severed mountains and split the earth;

Pestoya and Pandora, one with divine technique and the other with the Death God's Fire, posed a huge threat to the ninth level;

And there were Mr. Hei, Vazhuvas...

Then Mr. Jing's clones were also giving the three Sage of Laws of the Heavenly Plane quite a headache.

However, seeing no chance of victory, they wanted to retreat, but it was simply not possible.

Whether it was Su Lun's Spatial Teleportation or Mr. Jing's mirror Teleportation, both were top-notch means of movement in the realm. How could they give their enemies a chance to escape?

If the enemy fled, they would immediately stick to them.

The two sides continued this fierce battle, the fighting unabated and lasted for nearly half a day.

The shockwave of the battle wreaked havoc over an area of a hundred miles; even the city of Klemington was affected. The buildings in the city were massively destroyed by the shockwave, and the people panicked and fled out of the city for refuge.

The governor led by Stormga assembled an army of over one hundred thousand and arrived at Klemington promptly.

But no one dared to approach the center of that terrifying battlefield.

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This level of battle left no room for practitioners below the eighth level; anyone who tried would die.

The motivation for the battle grew larger, and journalists and information traders became active; the situation in Klemington, along with various news channels, was factually relayed back to the capital, Lindon.

...

After all, being ninth-level Sages of Law, even though Su Lun and his team had thoroughly planned, this battle was very tough and fraught with danger.

Not until the evening, did a turning point arrive.

It happened during the fight when Mr. Hei suddenly found a breakthrough opportunity.

"Plan C!"

"Okay!"

The methods used by the high-level warriors of the Dawn Brigade posed a certain deadly threat to the ninth level.

But to say whose methods were the most covert and sharp, Mr. Hei was second to none!

This Scholar had now successfully transplanted the "Heavenly God's Eye" of Saint Frank, and because of this divine eye, he also possessed the ability "All-encompassing True Resolution," akin to a bug in power.

Combined with the understanding of the world gained after drinking from the Spring of Wisdom, Mr. Hei's lethality was far beyond what could be measured by a novice at the eighth level.

Clearly, the three Sages of Laws were still completely unaware.

Mr. Hei had been performing in a standard manner in the previous battles.

Not outstanding, neither appearing very weak.

Just like an ordinary eighth-level alchemist.

Mr. Hei's combat style had always been like tepid water, without sharp methods to defeat strong enemies, but capable of steady output that was hard to beat.

So even when clashing with ninth-level magic several times just now, he calmly used alchemy to resolve the crises.

His defense was more than adequate, but his offensive methods were not seen as a great threat to the ninth level.

And it was these moderate offensive methods that led the three enemy Sages of Laws to regard him as the least threatening among the Dawn Brigade, gradually coming to neglect him.

It was this impression that Mr. Hei had intentionally created for the enemy that brought a turning point in the battle.

...

This level of ninth-tier combat actually had a minimal effect when it came to strategies.

Practitioners become more alert to crises as they rise in level.

But this alertness tends to decrease the longer the battle drags on.

From the beginning, Su Lun had already considered this.

Seeing the enemy's strength, he had calculated and knew that even if the members of the Dawn Brigade used all their methods, the potential to quickly kill the three Sages of Laws was not great.

But revealing all their cards from the start would instead likely lead to some other variables.

After the battle started, Su Lun confirmed this idea even more.

The three Sages of Laws were very strong and highly alert, making a quick kill highly unlikely.

On the contrary, pushing the enemy into desperation might lead to casualties among the Dawn Brigade.

A quick kill wasn't feasible, but a prolonged battle was easy.

As long as they couldn't lose, the more desperate the enemy became as time dragged on.

They would always find an opportunity.

This was also part of the "Plan C" they had foreseen during the previous combat sand table simulation.

Sure enough, reality matched what was anticipated.

They could neither escape nor decide the outcome of the fight, and after battling fiercely for half a day, the three Mages from the Heavenly God's plane grew increasingly desperate to break the deadlock.

Their long engagement was actually a cautious tactic.

After fighting for so long, nearly all kinds of trump cards had been played, and the trio had also figured out the strategies of the Dawn party.

They themselves were ninth-tier Mages, not so easily killed.

Moreover, the defensive formation assembled by the three was almost flawless.

But the Alchemy natives before them were of mixed strength, so the trio thought of eliminating some of the other eighth-tiers first, then breaking through one by one.

But Mr. Jing, a ninth-tier, was temporarily impossible to kill, Su Lun and the others were also helpless against him, Mechanical Warrior No. 19 might not be killable, that Sword God had a strong body, the vampire was of an undead race and not easy to kill, and as for the spirit and the demi-god, they were even more impossible to kill...

Thus, the "weakest" Mr. Hei naturally became the first choice.

...

After the fierce battle had dragged on, both sides began to show signs of fatigue, and more vulnerabilities gradually emerged.

The "weakest" Mr. Hei naturally exposed a vulnerability during the combat.

Seizing the opportunity, Elemental Mage Grelec Laman suddenly appeared right in front of Mr. Hei.

The other two also burst forth suddenly, holding back the other members of the Dawn party to create an opportunity for attack.

Grelec Laman chanted a spell instantly, raised his magic wand, and cast a ninth-tier magic: "Earth Mystery: Hundred Thousand Gravity!"

He had already seen that Mr. Hei, being an Alchemy Mage, had a relatively frail body, which this could restrict with a ninth-tier earth curse.

Upon casting it, Mr. Hei was immediately restrained on the spot.

Not only was his body bound, but even the domineering aura and domain around him were instantly pulled away from his body by that strange gravitational field, completely exposing his vulnerabilities.

This was an overpowering of tiers, such a close-range attack left Mr. Hei no chance to move.

Right after the restraint, Grelec Laman's magic wand was already gathering a spell for another instant cast: "Arcane: Thunder Punisher's Spear!"

The series of killer moves flowed smoothly, not even giving Su Lun and the others a chance to reinforce.

However, Mr. Hei was indeed restrained, hanging by a thread of life and death.

But his expression showed no hint of panic.

Exposing such a huge vulnerability was just waiting for this moment!

The spell that had restrained his limbs meant he couldn't even form his sorcerer's seals, but just then, his left eye, concealed by an eyepatch, suddenly flashed with blue light, and in his heart he quietly commanded: "All Things True Solution!"

The beam instantly dissolved the eyepatch into particles, then shot towards the enemy in front of him.

The moment Grelec Laman saw Mr. Hei's expression, he sensed big trouble.

Because he noticed that the opponent was too calm, calm to the point of not even disturbing his breath as death approached.

He also anticipated that the opponent might have some life-saving measure.

However, he never expected it to be the "All Things True Solution," considered a holy art by the Heavenly God's plane!

How could this be?

Watching the bursting blue light from the eyes, Grelec Laman's eyes trembled uncontrollably, his face filled with disbelief.

He had never expected to see the bloodline symbol of the Heavenly God's tribe on an Alchemy native!

Yet, reality didn't give him time to be shocked, as the beam of All Things True Solution shot forth, leaving him no chance to dodge at such a close range.

"biu~"

Grelec Laman could only watch as the beam directly pierced through his Body-Protecting Sanctuary, then through his robe, and made a large hole in his body without any impediment.

He felt his life rapidly draining, still unable to comprehend: "How could this be..."

The All Things True Solution was indeed powerful, but it could only dissolve what it understood.

He could not fathom how an eighth-tier Alchemy Mage managed to dissolve his own ninth-tier sanctuary.

Mr. Hei's face remained cold.

He would not explain the secrets of the "Spring of Wisdom" to his enemy; having gained "wisdom," the realm of ninth-tier laws was no longer an absolute secret to him.

"Mind Reading Technique" had already penetrated the enemy's thoughts; even just predicting the enemy's intentions 0.1 seconds in advance was enough for him.

Moreover, after battling for so long, Su Lun had clearly communicated all the details of the three Mages via spiritual transmission.

Having prepared for so long, how could he possibly not kill him!

...

"Killed him!"

The Dawn party's members all showed joy on their faces.

Su Lun reacted extremely quickly, immediately teleporting over, harvesting the ash mist from the corpse, and then collecting the body as well.

'You have stripped the soul of 'Grelec Laman''

'You have gained a wealth of ninth-tier elemental law insights from earth, wind, water, fire, light, dark, thunder... Elemental experience +331412'

'You have mastered 'Elemental Forbidden Curse Secrets' and gained control of numerous high-tier elemental magics'

'You have learned some secrets of the saint-tier.'

"Spiritual Power +33211"

"..."

In an instant, a massive influx of knowledge surged into his mind from his soul.

This fellow was a Mage Sage of the elements, almost proficient in all conventional elemental magic, comprehending each set of elemental laws to at least the level of the eighth rank, and he had a complete understanding of the ninth rank!

This was crucial for understandings of laws important to all professionals!

This was also the first complete ninth rank soul that Su Lun had harvested.

In the past, when he harvested ninth rank souls, he couldn't fully assimilate the insights due to the difference in rank and his inadequate understanding of the world's laws.

It was like trying to digest a rock with the stomach meant for bread, ultimately only gaining a tenth or twentieth of the potential insight.

However, now that he had advanced to the eighth rank and with the support of the Spring of Wisdom, Su Lun could almost completely digest the ninth rank souls he harvested.

For the first time, he saw complete ninth rank laws.

It was like standing at the highest peak of a plane for the first time, overlooking the scenery below where all mountains seemed dwarfed.

His eyes sparkled with vitality as he murmured within, "This is the realm of a ninth rank Mage Sage..."

In an instant, the world in his eyes became much clearer.

The talent "Reaper of Death" now manifested its S-class ability incredibly.

Previously, Su Lun's All-knowing Eye could understand it, but now he possessed this understanding of the ninth-rank level laws.

Although the mage system's insights were mixed with a significant part of divine power which was not perfect for Alchemy, it was still a massive gain.

Enough for Su Lun's power to obviously climb a huge step!

His understanding of various elemental laws was like a skyward leap!

However, now was not the time to ponder over his gains; the excited expression in Su Lun's eyes flickered and disappeared.

...

In the sky, the remaining two Mage Sages stared in disbelief.

They could never have imagined that in just an instant, one of their companions would be killed.

They had just realized that this black-robed alchemist had always been hiding his true capability.

But what shocked them even more was something else.

Both looked toward Mr. Hei, whose left eye radiated blue light, obviously recognizing the "True Solution of All Things."

This... how is this possible!

Even now, they could not believe that someone among these alchemists had mastered the sacred art of their Heavenly God's plane.

In the Heavenly God's plane, this was an unparalleled existence.

Seeing that Mr. Hei did not have a third unusual eye, they guessed there was something off about him.

However, before they could recover from their shock, another beam of light shot towards them.

The two Mage Sages grimaced and dodged in time.

But after this, the people of Dawn regrouped once again.

With one less Mage Sage, the three's defensive formation was immediately compromised, significantly reducing the pressure on Su Lun's group!

Previously, with three Mage Sages versus the team of Dawn, the odds could be said to be fifty-fifty.

Now, there wasn't even a ten to ninety chance!

Having tasted the sweetness of harvesting a ninth rank soul, Su Lun immediately instructed Pestoya, "Pestoya, try not to kill them with 'Death God's Fire'!"

He needed the complete souls.

Pestoya promptly replied, "Okay!"

The battle continued.

And it was even more intense than before.

The enemies could not escape.

All they could do was fight to the death!

The members of the Dawn group did not underestimate their adversaries and continued to wear them down methodically.

But the situation was increasingly in their favor.

From the start, they had opted for Plan C, choosing a war of attrition, just for this moment.

The two mages had expended most of their magic power over half a day, the Mage Sages had played their last cards, and even if it came to a do-or-die attempt, the risk was almost predictable now!

...

The battle, previously in deadlock, suddenly intensified.

Hundreds of miles away in the city of Klaymington, everyone who witnessed this battle was shocked.

The team of Dawn had actually slain a ninth rank Mage Sage?

News and photos were immediately relayed to Lington, the capital; everyone who knew this news was immediately astir!