Mechanical Alchemist

After Barbara went up, indeed, the frequency of the grotesque sudden deaths increased.

Su Lun reaped time and again, the Formation teetering on the brink of collapse.

But now, the closer he saw victory, the more he couldn't be careless.

He knew that it was standard for the BOSS to unleash a powerful move before death.

With the four sinister puppets posing no threat, Su Lun felt no relief; instead, his unease grew denser.

He looked at the increasingly thick ghost fog enveloping the hotel, always feeling that something unpredictable was about to occur.

Since there were no other enemies left in the cursed space, there was no need to hide. Thinking this, Su Lun removed the "Ozzy's Mummy Wrappings" from the abomination zombie and wrapped it around himself.

Though it would consume a bit of his lifespan, he always felt this would be safer.

...

However.

It turned out that Su Lun's cautiousness indeed helped him avoid a huge crisis.

After the last reaping of Soul Shards, the ghost entity "Hanging Corpse" could no longer gather enough souls to succeed, and the sacrificial Formation completely collapsed.

Almost simultaneously, a piercing scream echoed from the end of the corridor.

Like nails on a chalkboard, the sound made one's skin crawl.

On closer inspection, a two-meter-tall Sinister Nun charged down from the second floor staircase with murderous intent!

Its speed was extremely fast, almost like teleportation.

It seemed to Su Lun that the blue-faced Sinister Nun was still a hundred meters away at the staircase, but in the blink of an eye, she had already appeared before him.

Now in the large banquet hall, the only thing standing was the abomination zombie.

The old nun's target was very clear, it was to kill the "chief culprit" who had destroyed its Formation.

With a swipe of her hand, the three-meter-tall zombie was sent flying by her slap, the sounds of bones cracking and muscles tearing echoed as the massive body flew backwards.

With a "boom," it broke a load-bearing pillar and cracked a wall, heavily falling into the rubble.

"What kind of power is this!"

Su Lun quickly lowered his gaze, daring not to look further at the terrifying creature just a few meters away.

He didn't even dare to check what its rank was.

Given that terrifying strength, even the abomination zombie suffered bone-cracking impacts, Su Lun felt his body would not withstand a couple of hits.

Moreover, with that near-instantaneous speed, he couldn't even dodge.

...

Luckily, the mummy wrappings were a "Sealing Item," isolating all energy fluctuations.

Standing close to the load-bearing pillar, Su Lun thus escaped a calamity.

But the Sinister Nun seemed to know there was still someone nearby, and although she couldn't see him, she waved her hands frantically, endlessly probing through the air...

Watching the Sinister Nun getting closer, Su Lun, even in his calmness, felt a soul-chilling oppression from her, drenching his back with cold sweat. This nun had completely become demonic, not emitting a normal aura, but that of a "super-tier creature."

Su Lun's eyes were full of seriousness, quickly thinking about how to deal with the imminent danger.

His own strongest means was the dark scythe.

But with the old nun's quick speed, it was impossible for him to grab the scythe and make a swing.

He didn't even dare to move the zombie to test whether it was still alive.

Obviously, the situation was dangerous, but it hadn't reached a hopeless state yet...

Just then, more noise came from the staircase.

Su Lun looked over, two ragged figures staggered down.

One with a huge hole in the abdomen, another with an arm severed.

Only two?

The one with a big hole in the abdomen was, shockingly, the "Magician" Edward. The wound looked as if it had been gouged out, yet it was temporarily stopped from bleeding by a dark spatial power.

Barbara had a broken arm, her face completely drained of color, and she looked in very bad shape...

Su Lun surveyed their injuries...

Could these two, severely injured as they were, possibly take down the Sinister Nun?

"The BOSS has indeed gone berserk..."

Su Lun didn't dare to confirm it, but he roughly guessed as much.

If it weren't for some special factor causing the rage, the fight, which had been at a stalemate for so long, wouldn't have suddenly concluded.

At that moment, the noise below from Edward and the others caught the Sinister Nun's attention immediately.

No longer seeking Su Lun, it furiously charged over, flickering like a glitching image, teleporting every step and covering a hundred meters in a blink.

A look of determination crossed Barbara's pretty face as she surged forward with an overwhelming pink aura!

"Swoosh!"

The old Nun reached out and pierced through Barbara's chest, spewing black blood.

However, at the same time, Edward right behind her was rapidly changing his sorcerer's seals, with an intricate Octagram Array already shining beneath his feet.

His face turned pale as it looked like he was overexerting himself with some Forbidden Technique.

It was the brief moment that Barbara fought for, his spell formation was ready, and with a clap of his hands, he uttered a solemn, deep chant, "Spatial Mastery · Pitch Night Seal!"

As the spell was cast, the surroundings turned pitch-black as if someone had turned off the lights, engulfing the corridor in darkness.

The space around where the Sinister Nun stood turned into a tar-like viscous substance.

Space transformed into a black fluid, slowly climbing and compressing against the tall Sinister Nun's body, utterly restricting its near-instantaneous speed to the spot.

Edward, managing to control the nun, couldn't help but spew out a mouthful of blood.

It seemed that the strain from the overpowering spell caused him to lose control over his injuries, and his abdominal wound suddenly burst open.

Edward attempted to form sorcerer's seals to execute a killing spell, but he clearly struggled greatly.

....

"Great opportunity!"

From a distance, Su Lun, witnessing this scene, wouldn't just stand there waiting for death.

A fierce light flashed in his eyes. Without hesitation or care for exposure, he reached out into the void and yanked fiercely.

The abominable living corpse was still breathing faintly, meaning it was not yet dead!

Su Lun didn't bother to check the state of the living corpse, tugging at his black sickle, and swung it towards the neck of the Sinister Nun.

Now that the Sinister Nun was controlled, this was his only chance to strike!

The black sickle descended, and as the blade cut through, a rift in space emerged at the end of the corridor — right at the Sinister Nun's neck.

"Clang," a head fell to the ground.

No matter how resilient the Sinister Nun's body was, it was cleanly bisected by the space rift.

Su Lun, seeing this, let out a sigh of relief.

Edward also felt a great burden lifted.

Barbara's expression relaxed too, and she slowly closed her eyes, her life force gone.

....

Since he had acted, there was no going back.

Since no mist was seen, Su Lun did not let his guard down and charged forward, pulling the "Oil-Swallowing Baby" and "Fire-Starting Baby" to start torching the Sinister Nun's corpse.

Being close enough, he also harvested the mist from Barbara's body.

"Gained 'Contaminated Barbara's' memory shard *3"

"You have stripped a soul brand, acquiring 'Advanced Succubus Ownership Compact'..."

"You have gained some memories, spiritual spell proficiency +11..."

"Spiritual Power +4.1"

Su Lun didn't have time to process which memory had just been stripped away when, as expected, the "accident" still happened.

Just then, the temperature around them suddenly dropped significantly.

Edward, sitting slumped on the ground with a pale face, seemed to sense something and murmured in despair and reluctance, "Did it still fail..."

Upon hearing this, Su Lun almost reflexively pulled out a gold card from his pocket and flicked it out.

At that moment, the surrounding "ghost fog" grew thicker and thicker.

The dark mist gradually gathered on the body of the Sinister Nun lying on the ground, extinguishing the flames.

That headless body suddenly stood up again.

Almost at the same time, it seemed as if an indescribable will had descended upon the corpse.

The force continued to rise more and more.

Merely glancing at it made Su Lun feel as if there was a mountain pressing on his brow. It was an overwhelming, indescribable... great terror that seemed to crush him into the dust!

But this pressure appeared only for a moment; the overwhelming force suddenly dissipated.

Su Lun, weighed down, appeared dazed, as if he heard someone whisper in his ear, "Is it finally out..."

He didn't know how much time had passed,

Su Lun's gaze focused again and, in an endless black abyss, he saw a dim yellow light flicker on.

The light wasn't dazzling, flickering as if it might extinguish at any moment.

But it dispelled the darkness, advancing step by step, growing brighter and brighter.

More and more real.

In Su Lun's vision, there was nothing else.

He watched a person in a Gold-Patterned Cloak, carrying an antique Hexagonal Copper Lamp, slowly walking from the depths of darkness.

The light from the Copper Lamp dispelled the darkness and also sucked in those wisps of black smoke.

The surroundings finally returned to their original appearance, that of the hotel corridor.

The person in the Gold-Patterned Cloak took out a box, conjured a ball of light flame into a glove with one hand, reached out, and seemed to tear a pitch-black mass from the Sinister Nun's body, quickly stuffing it into the box.

The box snapped shut, sealing it, and the soul-shivering sensation instantly vanished completely.

....

Su Lun recognized the person and let out a breath of relief, "I knew you would come..."

The Gold-Patterned Cloak was naturally the symbol of Mr. Hei's organization.

The style of the Copper Lamp looked familiar — it was precisely the "Volgan's Furnace Lamp" they had previously slain a monster to acquire for just this moment.

What surprised Su Lun was not just that he recognized this cloaked person, but the Magician Edward, at the brink of death, seemed to recognize either the person or the cloak,

A fanatical look representing honor and loyalty appeared on his face, and then, with difficulty, he got up and knelt on one knee before the cloaked person, performing a single-handed knightly salute over his chest!

The cloaked person afforded him a glance, nodded perhaps in acknowledgment of his gesture.

A look of relief passed through Edward's eyes as his life faded away.

This made Su Lun confused.

An NPC from a thousand years ago showed such a grand gesture to someone from the modern era?

What... special significance does that cloak hold?

However, sensing no malice, he felt they were friends rather than foes.

Su Lun didn't overthink it.

Indeed, from the moment Mr. Hei gave him that card yesterday, he had guessed that today's space exploration would probably end this way.

That powerful organization was definitely after the "curse source" of this cursed space.

This great BOSS was bound to be taken down.

Without this factor, Su Lun wouldn't have dared to make his move previously.

Although it seemed perilous, all the "accidents" were expected.

With no real danger, Su Lun took a long, relieved breath.

The cloaked figure glanced at Su Lun, hesitating for a moment, apparently surprised that he could achieve so much.

His tone, unemotional, simply cautioned, "The space will collapse in a quarter of an hour, be careful. There might be trouble outside."

"Hmm, thank you."

Su Lun nodded.

The cloaked figure spoke no more, turned, and walked up the stairs.

...

Su Lun watched him leave, then casually harvested the grey mist from Edward's body nearby.

'Obtained "Contaminated Edward" memory shards*2'

'You have gained some "Spatial Spell skills"…'

'You have gained some magic skills…'

'Spiritual Power +1.6'

He did not go upstairs, nor did he go anywhere else.

He simply looked eagerly at the slowly condensing light on his corpse.

Materials had appeared, but they might not be the advanced materials he wanted; they could also be implantation tools...

Those few minutes felt incredibly long.

However, the wait finally paid off.

A glowing hat appeared above Edward's body.

[Magician's Top Hat]

Quality: Gold

Description: Who knows what might be hidden inside a magician's hat, perhaps a whole world?

Cursed Feature: You can pull an item from within a certain range near the hat, but a counterpart item of equivalent energy will also be drawn into you randomly;

Details: Can be used as a material for professional advancement, greatly enhancing skills, agility, moderate toughness, and ultra-high perception attributes, and grasping Spatial Ability; Fusion requires a high containment value, dark spiritual value of 18000+ is suggested for a high success rate;

Rating: 96% compatibility; This is a very rare high-quality spatial material;

"Oh… it finally appeared."

Su Lun gazed at the discerned attributes, his eyes quivering.

Looking at the attribute details, skills, agility, perception... and Spatial Ability.

This advancement material was a perfect fit for him, just as he expected!

And the surprises didn't stop there.

Not only had materials appeared on Edward's body,

but a sinister doll had also formed on the body of the headless Sinister Nun.

[Thanatos's Death Puppet]

Quality: Legendary

Description: A life borrowed from the Grim Reaper, dare you use it?

Cursed Feature: After a blood sacrifice, the puppet will take one fatal attack in place of the host; but after revival, you will hear whispers from the beyond for the next month, which are the enticing voices of demons; you may comprehend some high-tier demonic secret techniques, but there's a high chance of mental instability.

Details: A replica Divine Artifact, trading souls with the Grim Reaper, for a chance at rebirth;

Legendary quality, another treasure level item.

Seeing these two items, a smile slowly spread across Su Lun's face.

This trip to the space was worth it.

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