Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun appraised the unprocessed monster corpses and saw many species he had never seen before.

There was a spectacled king snake over ten meters long with two legs, the "Golgor Blind Snake," something akin to a fusion between a mantis and a spider, the "Hell Mantis Spider," and the "Plague White Bat"...

The monster types were numerous, mostly undead creatures of the plague variety, often carrying deadly poisons and fatal diseases.

Of course, the most common were the mutated monsters with root-like tendrils, the "Toxic Wood Sprites," a vine-like creature that seemingly had to be burned to ashes to ensure its complete death.

Every type was enough to give Su Lun, a lone wanderer, a headache.

Fortunately, those wood sprites didn't show any signs of attacking Su Lun; it seemed they even regarded him as one of their own.

Su Lun guessed that this might be due to the protection of the oath.

That was good news.

The Luying Royal Army cleared the path, and Su Lun followed closely behind. They encountered a few isolated monsters, which they swiftly dispatched and quickly passed by.

As they walked, the aura of death around them grew denser, the foreign energy eroded like flame burning into flesh and bone.

Had it not been for the "Isaac Alchemy Heart" that Su Lun had sealed into his chest, providing a continuous supply of dark spiritual power to resist this wild, foreign energy, anyone else would have likely been corrupted and mutated by this aura of death long ago.

The deeper Su Lun went, the more cautious he became, guessing that they might already be nearing the core area of the seal.

The fact that the Luying army hadn't been annihilated yet meant that they had made it through.

Su Lun didn't rush forward recklessly but instead released the black crow once again.

His vision followed the crow's journey.

It didn't fly far when it indeed saw the exit to the maze.

....

Did they really make it out?

It was so easy that it was almost unbelievable.

Such a complex maze, having followed along without passing through any corridor twice, led straight to the exit.

Su Lun, looking at the exit in front of him, was even more certain that those from Luying must have had a map of this underground maze.

The black crow flew out of the exit and entered a vast space.

A glance revealed highly unstable spatial cracks everywhere, magma in view, an all-encompassing heat.

On the walls, countless shrine-like cavities appeared densely packed.

The exit through which the black crow flew was just one among thousands.

Seeing no danger, Su Lun also went to the cavity entrance, his pupils dilating to take in the entire space.

Upon appraisal, the words "Giant Race's Hall of Heroes" appeared.

This world's "Hall of Heroes" wasn't much different from the ancestral halls of Su Lun's previous life, all equipped to display ancestral plaques and provide shelter for descendants.

Put simply, this place was a tomb of the giant race, used for sealing and suppressing.

And in his field of vision, Su Lun also spotted the Luying troops.

Two elite battalions of the Sacred Judgment Army, now reduced to less than two hundred.

Even with information from unknown sources, such heavy losses highlighted the perilous nature of this space.

Looking down from where he stood, a few hundred meters away was a huge obelisk. On the ground beneath the stele, a massive nine-pointed star formation was engraved.

And most striking was the black iron coffin above the obelisk, held fast by eight chains!

The coffin was adorned with bas-reliefs of fierce evil spirits, exuding an aura of mystery, malevolence, antiquity, terror, and the indescribable.

From a distance, Su Lun observed thick black miasma wafting out from the coffin.

"Is this coffin the seal?"

Su Lun's brows furrowed deeply.

He kept looking down.

And the Luying crowd was gathered in front of the huge underground obelisk, pulling out the "Nelgale's Death Battle Flag" and sticking it beside. A thick blood fog emerged around, forming a special domain that shielded the necromantic aura of the temple from the outside.

The soldiers formed a "△" shaped defensive formation, with several people in khaki trench coats busy with something in the center.

Su Lun was just watching them in front of a thirty-six sided bronze die floating with a diameter of nearly one meter.

On every face of the die, ancient and special alchemical symbols were engraved: eagles, fire dragons, mercury, alembics, scales, sunflowers...

Below this strangely shaped die, there was also a complex machine forged from brass that resembled a differential engine.

Two people in trench coats were typing away at the machine like typists. The air was filled with the crisp and dense sounds of "click" "click".

Under the control of the two people, the floating die with thirty-four six-sided faces changed rapidly, combining into different arrangements.

It was like a slot machine, trying to get a specific combination of patterns to hit the jackpot.

"They're really here to break the seal..."

Su Lun's gaze was very solemn.

He naturally saw that these people were cracking the prohibitions here.

That strange alchemical device, although Su Lun had never seen it before, he had certainly heard about it.

It was the fabled specialty machine developed by the Luying Royal Academy of Sciences— "Babbage's Prohibition Decoder".

A machine that supposedly could quickly decipher any kind of prohibitive arrangement!

But usually, it was used in the military field.

For instance, to decode the spy operations of Mafa.

"This is going to be troublesome..."

Su Lun looked on with furrowed brows.

That the Luying soldiers had such detailed intelligence, they couldn't possibly be completely unaware of the situation here.

That meant, talking reason would be futile.

Telling them this place was "God Burial Ground" and that unleashing the seal would bring great disaster, they would undoubtedly ignore that.

And they might even slap you in return.

A royal legion commander who dared to venture into the unknown at the risk of a ninety percent casualty rate was definitely not acting alone.

That commander didn't have the authority to do so.

Clearly, those people were also acting on orders.

This wasn't something that could be dissuaded in a few words.

Those in the higher echelons of the Luying royal family, they were the truly tricky ones to deal with.

"Could it be that someone in the royal family covets the treasures of this burial ground?"

Su Lun thought of this.

And now in this cursed space, there was only him, an outsider.

It seemed that only Su Lun himself could stop these guys.

Mr. Jing would not arrive for another two days, and that was the most troublesome part.

Although Su Lun's level of thinking had not yet reached the point of considering the continuation of civilization, he would not hold back against those who, for some unspeakable reasons, played with nuclear weapons wishing for everyone to perish together.

There was definitely no chance in a frontal confrontation.

Seeing this, Su Lun's thoughts raced, contemplating countermeasures, thinking about what means he had to stop them.

...

One minute earlier.

Actually, just when the black crow flew out of the cave to scout the surroundings, someone in the Luying legion had already noticed the bird.

The perception-inclined adjutant sharply sensed something and said to the legion commander "Ferocious Beast" Barrett beside him, "Commander, that black crow has appeared in our field of view for the second time."

"Hmm. I've noticed as well. At first, I thought it was one of the undead creatures from this cursed space, but appearing a second time, it must mean someone has followed us."

Barrett nodded expressionlessly and glanced sideways without much concern.

Compared to the black crow, he was more interested in the Prohibition Decoder in front of him that was currently in operation.

His adjutant continued to analyze, "The scouting traps set by the service team along the way haven't been tripped, which suggests that the guy has strong anti-spy capabilities. Most likely, he is here with malicious intent."

It was as if Barrett had guessed something, agreeing with this speculation, "That black crow seems to be a mythical kind of strange bird. To control such a bird, one must be either a necromancer or at least well-versed in some Death Laws. I am thinking of someone..."

The adjutant next to him immediately understood, "Commander, are you referring to the mysterious person who attacked the reserve officers and killed Roxie?"

Barrett commented lightly, "Hmm."

The adjutant said, "According to intelligence, that guy has a set of major general's battle Mechas in his possession, and it is highly probable that he is a spy from Magepha. Now that the Human Skin Umbrella has fallen into his hands, maybe..."

Barrett's eyebrows lifted slightly, interrupting, "The Human Skin Umbrella indeed is a troublesome cursed object, but not everyone can use it. Besides... that guy hasn't shown himself, which shows he's not of a high rank. He must be a professional with some special abilities, possessing some powerful cursed objects. A force capable of cultivating such talents would not be numerous, whether it's our Luying or the Xide Empire. Once we get out, we'll have the intelligence department investigate it."

The adjutant said, "Are you suggesting that we don't need to deal with him now?"

Barrett hummed noncommittally, pondered for a moment, and then added, "That person is hiding and hasn't shown himself, which means he lacks the ability to confront us directly. He knows Space Law, so pursuing him in the maze is meaningless; the moment we move, he will surely flee. The only uncertain threat is whether he has any special cursed objects in his possession..."

Pausing, he added in a lower tone, "That, too, cannot be prevented."

As he spoke, the experienced and decisive old general had a flicker of hesitation in his eyes that had never been seen before.

Even, deep down he was hoping for some... accidents to occur.

He looked at the intelligence officers in front of him working on breaking the prohibitions and his expression shifted subtly.

The adjutant seemed to catch on to his commander's thoughts, muted his voice, and whispered, "Commander, from what we see now, this relic must involve some ancient prohibition. Do we really need to do this? If we don't handle it correctly, it could bring disaster to us, the Empire, or even the entire Alchemical civilization..."

Upon hearing this, Barrett was expressionless.

The slight twitch of his eye muscles indicated that he was not as calm as he appeared.

The adjutant continued, "What I mean is, since we know the relic is here and it won't disappear, we could wait for the Empire to send more professional archaeologists to investigate before taking action. Those guys at the intelligence department might not have the best intentions..."

Upon hearing this, Barrett's eyes narrowed slightly, and he only responded in a low voice, "It is the Empress's decree. And we are the Royal Knights..."

"Understood, Commander."

After these words, the adjutant showed a hesitant look but sighed and said no more.

It was at this moment that suddenly, the beehive-like holes in the surrounding rock walls started buzzing with noise.

Everyone was shocked.

"Monsters are coming!"

"How is that possible? We've been extremely careful, shielding all our traces. How could such a massive monster revolt happen? Could it be an issue with breaking the prohibition?"

"It's not because of the prohibition breaking! There is a special toxin mixed in the air, those creatures have been deliberately lured here!"

"Damn it, a few of you, find the source..."

"..."

The Luying Royal Legion instantly entered combat mode.

Barrett and the adjutant from earlier exchanged glances, obviously guessing something.

An accident is one thing, but in their eyes, there seemed to be a sense of relief that passed.

Following that, various poisonous creatures emerged from those cavities in the rock walls.

....

Of course, the commotion was Su Lun's handiwork.

He knew he had no power to stop those people head-on.

Reflecting on his experiences in passing through the cursed space multiple times, he knew that sometimes wisdom was more useful than strength.

The one chance he had to stop them was to exploit the rules of this cursed space.

Su Lun thought of the monsters here.

The monster corpses he had seen earlier in the labyrinth were identified as predominantly plague-ridden, highly poisonous creatures.

He thought of a cursed artifact in his possession, "Anniestora's Toxic Incense Burner."

Lighting the incense burner would attract all the poisonous creatures within range.

But using this item was not without danger to Su Lun.

The labyrinth's complex terrain made the range of the poison gas uncontrollable; the number of monsters in the underground palace was unknown... All these were uncertain factors.

Perhaps upon lighting it, even he would be overwhelmed by the tide of monsters.

Moreover, if discovered by the enemy, it could also be extinguished prematurely.

Considering this was the only method he could think of, Su Lun hesitated little before deciding to give it a try.

He took out the incense burner and crafted a simple trigger mechanism.

He then placed a fan near the incense burner, hoping to blow as much of the poison gas towards the temple as possible before the fan was corroded by the gas.

The effects were better than expected.

The "Hydra's poison gland" emitted an intense poisonous gas that corroded the solid rock walls swiftly, much like a red-hot iron on ice, melting it rapidly away.

Moreover, this toxin wasn't solely a gas but also had a corrosive quality on a law level. Even the mechanical fan Su Lun had set up was instantly melted.

However, the results were excellent. Enjoy new tales from My Virtual Library Empire

As soon as the toxic fumes appeared, it was like blood had been spilled in the ocean, with sharks from dozens of leagues away smelling the blood.

In an instant, the vast underground palace came alive with activity.

All sorts of highly poisonous monsters surged out as if mad.

Su Lun fell back into the labyrinth, wrapped himself up in the "Oz Ice Man's Shroud," and hid in a corner pretending to be invisible.

Then, he watched countless monsters rush past him like moths to a flame.

And that was just one corridor.

There were countless corridors in the labyrinth.

By the time those underground realized it, it was already too late.

But the troops from the Luying Royal Army were no fools.

Almost immediately, someone located the position of the toxic incense burner.

Su Lun watched a spotted python over ten meters away rush toward the incense burner, thinking it was a creature from the underground palace. But to his surprise, after the serpent drew close, it opened its gaping maw and spat out a man in a trench coat.

"Toxic Magician?"

Su Lun, seeing the man wearing physician's gloves and the green barrier on his body, immediately guessed his profession.

The Luying fellows had clearly come well-prepared, having considered various possibilities.

That man apparently had his own ways to counteract the poison and wasn't affected by the corrosion; he walked straight over, seemingly intending to close the incense burner's air intake.

With not enough monsters having arrived, Su Lun naturally couldn't just watch the other party neutralize the incense burner so soon.

"Toxic Magician" was a rare profession, and he didn't think there were many among the Luying army.

Killing this man could at least greatly slow down the enemy's progress in solving the puzzle.

Su Lun took out a chessboard and didn't hesitate to fire a beam of light at the man in the trench coat.

He was well aware that this man was also a "bait."

When the Luying Royal Army undertook missions, they typically operated in groups of three.

If Su Lun made a move, he was sure to be exposed.

Even if he had various methods, being discovered and encircled would make it difficult to escape.

He had to kill quickly!