Mechanical Alchemist-Chapter 544 - 543: The Hero with a Legendary Destiny

The documented origin of explosives is from ancient goblin civilization’s research into alchemy formulas and is currently one of the most important branches in the modern field of mechanical alchemy.

However, for the mages from the divine realm, these things indeed pose a bit of a challenge.

The gods of the divine realm, in order to keep the faith pure, have completely eradicated any existence of different civilizations’ cultures.

It is something completely beyond the mages’ comprehension.

There are no magic fluctuations, no process of energy converging, the installation is convenient, and once the powder ignites and the chemical reaction starts, the process of energy release is utterly irreversible.

Moreover, the reaction speed is incredibly fast, tens or even hundreds of times quicker than the release of similarly powerful magic.

In dealing with positional warfare, explosives indeed have an unparalleled advantage.

The wisdom of alchemists is not inferior to the transcendent power bestowed by faith in gods.

With a "boom," another magic tower was violently blasted apart, and the city’s enormous magical barrier instantly lost a corner.

Before, when one tower was destroyed there was another to take its place, but now that another has been destroyed, only eight remain.

The crux of the matter was that they were currently engaged in a tough battle with the silver dragon, and with an important link in the army’s magic formation suddenly missing, the perfect defensive structure immediately collapsed.

This explosion gave the already weary silver dragon a glimmer of hope for survival. It suddenly fought with renewed ferocity!

With its higher intelligence, it quickly detected the flaw in the magic formation and seized the opportunity to charge through the gap. Its various dragon breath attacks greeted each one, gradually tearing the gap wider.

The mages were struggling to mount a rescue, as without the protection of the army’s magic shield, no one could withstand the dragon’s ferocity.

The silver dragon crashed through everything in its path, and with its desperate fighting style, soon another magic tower was mostly demolished.

At that moment...

An old mage with a beam of light emanating from his forehead stepped forward, none other than the legion commander, Augustus.

.....

As for the instigator Su Lun, he was already outside the city, watching the commotion from afar.

After causing destruction time and again, how could he not know that those from the divine realm were surely targeting him? If he didn’t move further away, those means used against the silver dragon might be directed at him, and that would not be so easy to endure.

Su Lun watched as that old man Augustus seemed to summon the will of the gods, bursting with vigor, the light from his vertical pupil in the forehead even able to dissolve part of the Holy Light Dragon Breath.

The old man led a group of people and forcefully blocked the silver dragon’s counterattack, the battle between them growing fiercer.

Reflected in Su Lun’s eyes, the intense battle gave him a concrete concept of the enemy’s top combat power, and he muttered to himself, "The talent of ’All-Encompassing Truth’ really seems to exist solely for battle..."

He was even more certain that he absolutely could not let these people find the "Spring of Mimir".

If it was as he suspected, that the spring water was related to the origins of the All-Seeing Eye, then paired with "All-Encompassing Truth", one with all knowledge and one with all solutions, they would fundamentally be invincible.

The battle within the city instantly turned into a brutal hand-to-hand struggle, but it seemed like it wouldn’t end anytime soon.

Su Lun dared not attempt to enter the city and cause more disruption; having come this far was already the limit under a fortunate convergence of circumstances.

Whether the silver dragon could suffer mutual destruction with the people from the divine realm was still uncertain.

But at least, he had made the mages’ plans less smooth.

Su Lun did not stay to watch the battle. He was more curious about how the internal strife between the two gorgons on the outskirts of the city was going.

With a teleport, he once again appeared in the northwestern woods outside the city.

...

It was still old man Raven flapping his wings close by to scout the situation.

Having flown over and been petrified again, he finally found the stone gaze blind spot of the gorgon.

The situation remained the same, the gorgon was absorbing the golden energy from within "Helen".

Su Lun observed the opposing sides and analyzed some possibilities in his mind, "So, this gorgon is an ally of the divine realm, but not a particularly close one. Otherwise, with a gorgon directly participating in the battle, hunting an eighth-tier giant dragon wouldn’t be so complicated..."

For humans, gorgons belong to the evil camp.

Moreover, this is a race with demigod bloodlines, streaming with evil, arrogance, and aloofness, making peaceful coexistence virtually impossible.

The situation now indicates that Helen is likely the gorgon from legend who has endured calamities to become Medusa.

Initially, the fight to the death between these two gorgons would have made no difference to Su Lun.

But now, the one actively attacking is an ally of the divine realm.

The ally of an enemy is an enemy.

Su Lun’s thoughts changed.

If there’s help from the gorgon, he believes that those from the divine realm could even pass the dangerous western seas smoothly and reach the Old Dragon Kingdom Ruins, greatly increasing their chances of finding the "Spring of Mimir".

This isn’t what Su Lun wants to see.

Moreover, he observed some details and discovered that this gorgon was probably not an eighth-tier but more likely at the peak of the seventh-tier. It’s just that with the five "Serpentine Staffs of Medusa", her battle strength has exceeded her current tier.

But absorbing Helen’s bloodline energy could change that.

It also means, if the gorgon completely drains Helen, if the Dawn Group would need to stop the people from the divine realm in the future, they would face a fearsomely strong gorgon enemy.

Thinking this, Su Lun immediately decided to do something.

The best option he could think of was to kill Helen.

Rescuing someone under the gaze of a top-tier gorgon prone to petrifying with a glance is difficult, but killing her would be much simpler.

Yet Su Lun hesitated, thought, "But if I kill Helen, she might become Medusa, which is also a problem..."

If the method to stop the enemy was to create an even more terrifying snake-haired Gorgon, the ensuing consequences could be disastrous.

Fortune is unpredictable.

Having thought of something, Su Lun still decided to give it a try.

...

And it was during Su Lun’s second visit that the Gorgon, with her keen intuition, sensed something amiss.

But after a careful look around, she found nothing out of the ordinary.

Birds and beasts that wandered into her petrification curse domain were turned into stone one after another.

The Gorgon didn’t think much of it.

After all, the sensation of Helen shedding most of her mundane bloodline power felt very good to her.

Now, she was confident that even if a stronger person came along, they could not stop her.

As she drew power and awakened Helen’s memories, she let out a mocking laugh of a victor, "Hahaha, my dear sister, as you see the success of your tribulation drawing near, only to have your bloodline power taken, doesn’t it frustrate you? Oh, don’t be delusional. Now, even if there is a human entranced by you coming to save you, they cannot let you complete your tribulation. After all, no one can kill you unless they are a legendary hero with a destined fate... that is your inevitable destiny."

Helen’s face turned paler as the sensation of her bloodline power being drawn from her body felt like her sealed soul was awakening.

Behind her, a full-headed snake-haired spirit shadow flickered, intermittently visible, with a look of dominance in its eyes that seemed to despise all beings.

But the shadow wasn’t solid enough and seemed as if it might dissipate at any moment.

At this moment.

The crow was right in the blind spot behind the Gorgon’s head, invisible to her, but Helen could see it perfectly.

It was then that the crow suddenly transformed, its body becoming lines that converged into a sentence in the common script of the Dragon Country, "Lady Helen, I know you are undergoing tribulation to shed your mortal body, I can try to help you. But you must swear that you will not bring harm to humanity in the future, and we will have an agreement of equals, nor shall we hurt each other..."

When Helen saw these words, confusion filled her pure eyes, but when she looked with another, fiercer gaze, she nodded.

She agreed!

Su Lun knew Helen could understand the text, so he thought of this method, laying out some terms in advance.

He had no other means to bind this Helen, so he had the crow change the message, "I apologize, but please swear by the Earth Mother Goddess."

The higher the entity, the more they valued oaths to deities, because they were indeed capable of wielding divine power.

This was the only binding method Su Lun could think of.

Hearing this, Helen’s eyes flashed with sharpness after a moment of confusion, and she let out a cold snort, "Humph!"

Even in such a plight, her pride as a haughty demigoddess would not allow her to be coerced by a mere human.

Her cold snort caused the Gorgon across from her to show confusion on her face as well.

Seeing this, Su Lun didn’t indulge the arrogant being, and decisively changed the message, "That’s unfortunate, farewell!"

Then the crow made to revert to its bird form, ready to fly away.

It wasn’t feigning capture to release later but truly felt that the threat of a top Gorgon enemy was great, and an uncontrollable Queen Medusa posed an even greater danger.

If she didn’t agree, he wouldn’t relent!

Watching the line of text, the anger from betrayal and the sensation of her bloodline power being drained had restored some of her original consciousness, and instinctually, she finally compromised, speaking at the last moment before the crow flew away, "I swear by the Earth Mother Goddess, as per your agreement."

When these words were uttered, the Gorgon’s expression changed drastically.

It then realized the presence of a "third party"!

It seemed to know where the enemy was and quickly turned its head; the crow had not yet managed to fly away before it was enveloped in a shining light and turned into a stone statue.

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Looking at the shattered crow statue that fell to the ground, the Gorgon noticed the anomaly of the deathly aura and frowned tightly.

In a flash, the crow had just taken shape again, not yet flying away, when it was petrified once more.

In such a petrification curse domain, once trapped, the petrification was continuous; there was no chance of escape. Even if one could revive, they couldn’t get away.

However, the crow was not only immortal but also Su Lun’s familiar.

Unable to revive on the spot, it simply disappeared through summoning.

The Gorgon, with a flash of chill in its eyes, intuited that the arrival was familiar, seemingly the same person it encountered in the city before.

Its serpentine hair searched the forest in all directions, the fat snake’s body touching the ground as it released a thick Earth power that seeped deep underground and extended for miles around.

It almost immediately sensed dozens of humans sneaking closer through the forest.

The moment they were discovered, those dozen humans charged forth.

Some wielded knives, others fired guns, with a "crackling" of gunfire.

"Humph!"

The Gorgon let out a cold laugh as a radiant glow intensified in those beautiful yet venomous blue serpentine eyes.

An eerie scene immediately unfolded.

As the humans just showed themselves, even with their eyes covered, their bodies stiffened as soon as they were touched by the gray light.

The closer they got, the slower they moved.

Not just the people, but even the alchemy bullets were affected in the same way.

The bullets that flew near the Gorgon seemed to penetrate a layer of high-density material and lost all kinetic energy, dropping to the ground meters away.

Seeing the alchemical runes exposed on the people’s bodies, the Gorgon also showed an alert expression.

Clearly, these were not ordinary humans.

```

Its gaze searched in all directions, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, somewhere in midair, an invisible figure was watching everything that had just happened through the shared vision of a black crow.

This was none other than Su Lun wrapped in a shroud.

By now, he had gained some understanding of the methods of a high-ranking Medusa, realizing that he had almost been instantly killed in the past.

But as long as he maintained a safe distance, the danger wasn’t too great.

In the black crow’s vision, the group of zombies that had charged towards the Medusa were completely immobilized within three hundred meters of her, allowing Su Lun to gather some intelligence. He thought to himself, "Even if I don’t look directly at its eyes, within the petrification domain, objects are slowed and paralyzed. Within three hundred meters, even without seeing its eyes, it’s possible to be petrified..."

...

Su Lun drew some conclusions and didn’t dare to be careless.

He once again controlled the zombies and puppets to charge at the Medusa.

After all, the Medusa was of demigod blood, with extremely keen perception. Right after killing those zombies the first time, it immediately sensed that there was a manipulator behind them.

Although the control threads were energy-converted and invisible, they were very clear within the petrification domain.

It pretended not to notice.

Watching the second wave of puppets come to probe, the Medusa sneered inwardly, having noticed that all the puppets’ threads were converging in one particular direction.

The source was where the manipulator was located!

Almost at that instant, the Medusa’s body dissolved into the ground.

At the same time, eight hundred meters away on the ground, it materialized again. As soon as it appeared, the one hiding on the "manipulator" had no time to react and was turned into a stone statue the moment it entered the gray light domain.

However, the moment the Medusa saw the runes on the skin of the stone statue, it immediately realized: "I’ve been tricked!"

This was obviously not the true manipulator, but a decoy.

Nevertheless, even after discovering the deception, it didn’t panic at all; instead, a cold smile appeared in its eyes.

How could it not know that the others were going after Helen!

By luring it away now, they must have already taken action on the other side.

Just as expected!

The moment the Medusa appeared in the forest, one unremarkable puppet holding a black sickle charged at Helen, intending to end her with a single blow.

However, almost simultaneously, the Medusa returned!

With a sneer, the glowing light in the eyes of its snake hair intensified, and the five golden snakes on its forehead shone even brighter. The next moment, the spatial rift made by the black sickle was annihilated within the glowing domain.

Not only was the rift obliterated, but the Medusa once again employed the power of the God of Earth to teleport like lightning in front of the one with the black sickle and petrified it on the spot.

Its gaze relaxed: "Killed it!"

The aura of this individual was identical to the one who had escaped in the city before.

But to the Medusa’s utter surprise, this was still a decoy!

...

At this very moment, an invisible figure in the sky, having witnessed this scene, finally confirmed something, "Just as I expected, it can also teleport at almost instant speeds by touching the ground. And its golden snake hair emits a petrification effect at a higher level than nearly all eighth-level magic, making it almost impossible to kill with ordinary methods!"

In just two probes, he had already grasped most of the Medusa’s attack methods.

The moment the Medusa killed the zombie grown from his own body’s tissue, he made his move!

The Medusa knew its visual blind spot had been discovered, so it had always been very cautious, the snake hair on its head continuously scanning so as not to let its blind spot linger in any position for an instant.

But now, the instant it killed the black sickle decoy, its gaze was necessarily fixated on the decoy, and the blind spot behind its head was established!

This was the only chance Su Lun had calculated to safely approach the blind spot.

So he did not hesitate at all and teleported over.

He appeared within the cone of light that was the Medusa’s blind spot at the back of its head, and in his hand, the "Bow of Time Curse" was fully drawn, conjuring an Arrow of Time.

The petrification domain could almost petrify everything, but the laws of time were barely affected by any other laws.

Su Lun couldn’t guarantee success with other methods; ordinary means were unlikely to kill Helen, but he only had one chance and chose to use this bow.

The arrow of light shot out like a shuttle, hit Helen right between the eyes.

Whether he succeeded or not, Su Lun didn’t linger, immediately activating a teleportation to escape a kilometer away.

Such a plan could only be used once, regardless of success; it would be very difficult next time.

The Medusa didn’t see what happened in its blind spot but felt a sense of foreboding.

Turning around, it saw Helen’s skin instantly withering with age, and the life in the light arrow had already been taken.

"How could this be..."

The Medusa murmured to itself, its face filled with disbelief.

The issue was not the method of killing but the person who acted!

In their ordeal, not just anyone could kill a Medusa; only heroic figures with legendary fates could slay her.

Otherwise, with her beauty, she wouldn’t have survived to this day in the filthy human world!

If it wasn’t a hero, even with a Divine Artifact, they couldn’t kill her.

But why...

Why did it just so happen that a human could kill her so easily?

```

Before it could understand what was happening, the skin had completely withered, and from Helen’s corpse, a snake’s head emerged as if breaking through an eggshell, followed by several more, and then even more...

Then, Helen’s extraordinarily beautiful face appeared from the body.

Next, a naked human upper body with pale and rosy skin emerged, boasting a beauty that was almost impossible to look away from.

She seemed to grow out of the ground, slowly rising in stature, with a lower half covered in snake scales adorned with golden patterns also fully revealing itself.

She still had Helen’s appearance, but her aura was entirely different. Her head full of snake hair and her unparalleled beauty created a stark contrast, as if all that was good and evil in the world was concentrated within her.

Most importantly, her demeanor had completely changed—the newly born Gorgon before them held a royal disdain in her eyes.

This was Queen Medusa, a being that had completely shed her mortal coil.

She looked indifferently at the Gorgon who had almost drained her of her bloodline power, in her cold gaze lay only disregard for life.

No, she had suffered greatly in the world, and thus viewed everything with indifference.

Her expression lacked any sign of emotion, yet her head of snake hair grew fierce, and with flashes of golden light emanating from those slit pupils, the Gorgon before her was drained of life and became nothing more than a stone sculpture amidst her despair.

Looking at the uncomprehending eyes of her former sister, Medusa said softly, "I must thank you, Hertus. Your betrayal allowed me to complete the last ’Trial of Betrayal’..."

...

At that very moment, as if some binding oath had dissipated, Su Lun learned through a communication link that the battle in the capital of Aike had suddenly turned around.

The God of Earth’s power within the city had diminished significantly; the silver dragon had managed to break free from [Gleipnir’s Entangler] and, without engaging in battle, took flight.

Su Lun was relieved to know the silver dragon had flown away.

Although it was a pity that an injured eighth-level silver dragon had just flown away, since it couldn’t be obtained anyway, he let the thought go.

Moreover, a living silver dragon would become a nightmare for those beings from the celestial plane in the future.

Dragons are naturally petty and hold grudges; having provoked such a powerful eighth-level dragon, it was inevitable they would be retaliated against if they wished to operate in these waters in the future.

And to establish a realm of faith in the capital, Aike, was now impossible.

For the Dawn Group, this scenario was definitely a great advantage.

But those were matters for later.

Right now, there was something more important.

In the distance, Su Lun, through the eyes of a black crow, saw the newly reborn Queen Medusa and felt a faint sense of trepidation in his heart.

No matter whether she was an eighth or ninth level Gorgon, she was now one of the most dangerous creatures on the Alchemical Plane.

And after absorbing that other Gorgon, she now had not five, but eight golden serpentine hairs on her head!

"How strong has she become now..."

Merely looking at her made Su Lun’s scalp tingle.

He was unsure whether assisting her through her trials was a blessing or a curse, but at the moment he had no choice but to do so.

If the previous Gorgon had not perished, the trouble it could have brought to the Alchemical Plane was equally immeasurable.

And now, Medusa had finished absorbing her former close ally and turned her gaze to the black crow perched on a tree branch.

Curiously, the crow was not petrified this time.

The crow’s eyes clearly reflected that face, which simultaneously embodied supreme beauty and evil.

Medusa sneered and asked, "Human, why do you have the courage to make me vow not to trouble you yet lack the guts to come and speak with me in person?"

Su Lun knew all too well that she still harbored resentment from being taken advantage of previously.

Even with an oath in place, he naturally wouldn’t dare approach her. Speaking through the crow, he responded, "Her Majesty Queen Medusa, there’s no need for a face-to-face. If you encounter any troubles in the future, I hope you will not consider me an enemy."

To threaten such a high-level being into doing something further was downright suicidal.

It was enough not to be an enemy.

Medusa heard his words, showed no expression, but clearly tacitly accepted his proposition.

The higher the order of beings, the more they value their promises.

This human was wise not to use the prior agreement to make any foolish decisions, and she had no intention of going out of her way to cause him trouble.

Not paying further attention to Su Lun, she left indifferently.

Su Lun watched her leave and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was good that she had gone.

...

The battle at the capital, Aike, was over, and the mages from the celestial plane began their withdrawal.

Originally, they planned to slay the silver dragon, and with Dragon Country as their foundation, establish a divine realm.

But now that the silver dragon had escaped, they dared not stay in the city any longer. Even after overthrowing the Gracie royal family, it was utterly pointless.

The city was in chaos, without the royal family, without the outsiders, the surviving people also gradually returned.

Su Lun didn’t stay long in the city; he took Qiantiao with him and returned to the Eternal Night.

Now that the materials were ready, he needed to prepare the antidote to remove the petrification from Tanni’s mother.

To completely resolve the trouble brought by the celestial plane, he had to seal the source.

Only by sealing the [Well of the Rainbow] on Rainbow Island could he permanently cut off the celestial plane’s long-distance teleportation array!