Chapter 72 Void Colossus

　　Suren was constantly monitoring the battle activity on the western sea.

　　The fighting was still very fierce, with shock waves rising higher and higher. That "Fist of Justice" Ho Qi was still very resilient, showing no signs of defeat in the short term, and the battlefield was moving further and further away.

　　Suren was relieved.

　　Since no Tier 5 professionals were coming, he didn't need to rush to leave.

　　The slave ship was heading east at full speed, and the fog on the sea was getting thicker. As long as he stalled for a moment longer, those Daru tribesmen could completely escape the pirates' pursuit.

　　Of course, most importantly, Suren was also very interested in that Void Colossus.

　　........

　　Just as Suren was destroying the pirate ship, the dozen or so pirates who had gone to the slave ship earlier flew back.

　　He didn't hold back. The mechanical armor raised its hand, and the six-barreled Vulcan cannon "tututu" spat out blue flames.

　　This officer-level armor's exclusive firearm has high technical content in its design, material selection, and rune enchantment, and can withstand the high-intensity continuous firing of alchemical bullets.

　　But Suren dared not be so extravagant.

　　At most, he mixed a [Blast Alchemical Bullet] into every six ordinary bullets, which was enough to cause a comprehensive blow to targets within a small range.

　　The theoretical maximum rate of fire of the six-barreled Vulcan cannon reached 4,000 rounds per minute. Even to reduce recoil and barrel load, the usual rate of fire did not exceed 2,000 rounds per minute.

　　But this was purely a money-burning tactic.

　　An alchemical bullet cost nearly ten thousand Lisos to manufacture.

　　Which meant that, at full firepower, the ammunition consumed by this firearm in one minute was worth tens of millions.

　　The power was great, and even Tier 4 and 5 high-level professionals had to avoid its edge, but not everyone could afford to use it.

　　Poor people shoot accurately, rich people cover with firepower.

　　This was the true portrayal of mechanical warriors.

　　This was also the biggest reason why the Mechanical Alchemists of the Mafa Empire were constantly fighting and plundering.

　　They needed to sustain the war through war, and they needed to plunder resources to develop.

　　This armor was expensive to manufacture and expensive to use!

　　However, the effect was immediate.

　　After this round of bullets, bursts of air ripples unique to blast bullets exploded in the air.

　　The dozen or so pirates flying in the air were instantly dispersed by the firepower. Those who couldn't avoid it were immediately riddled with bullets and fell into the sea.

　　Suren's pupils trembled frequently. Seeing this scene through the helmet, he also analyzed some data in his mind: "When using void displacement, the purple energy patterns on the colossus will appear... The farther the displacement distance, the deeper the purple light concentration, and the longer the time required to accumulate energy. The displacement limit of a Tier 1 colossus should be twenty meters, and a Tier 2 colossus, seventy meters..."

　　He analyzed and recorded in his mind the data reflected when those pirates used the colossus.

　　However, no matter how you look at it, the combat ability of this "Void Colossus" was very strong.

　　In fact, it was already much more efficient than Suren's space tearing.

　　He looked at that Tier 4 guy, a faint smile in his eyes.

　　........

　　On the pirate ship with its mast cut off, the deck was already empty.

　　No pirate dared to approach Suren's mechanical armor. It couldn't be damaged, and approaching meant death. This was the terrifying dominance of mechanical armor among low-level professionals!

　　One round of gunfire from him had solved most of the low-level pirates.

　　But that Tier 4 guy was very agile, and it was difficult to kill him with the mechanical armor's methods.

　　Moreover, this guy's talent was also highly compatible with his profession.

　　[C-015-Light Absorber] This was a talent ability where the body could emit a special pigment that absorbed light.

　　It was originally a natural assassin-type talent.

　　Now, with this Void Colossus, he could reduce the movement noise of his displacement to an imperceptible level. His ability and profession were almost perfectly matched with the colossus.

　　It was almost impossible for a normal person to perceive him visually or audibly.

　　Even against some Tier 5 professionals with weak perception, he had a good chance of winning.

　　Suren watched the guy flicker like a firefly in the air, and then completely disappear into the dark night...

　　However, for Suren, this was completely futile.

　　No matter how clever the stealth was, the soul fire of the main body was always there. Like a candlelight in endless darkness, it could not be ignored.

　　In Suren's perception, that guy's position had never been lost.

　　"It's a pity. If you didn't meet me, you might have had a chance to grow into a highly rewarded sea pirate in the future..."

　　Suren snorted softly in his heart.

　　Now, with his high brain domain development and multitasking ability, he had already thought of a quick-kill strategy the moment he identified this guy's ability.

　　However, he didn't do so.

　　The great battle in the west was still fierce, and there was no rush to evacuate.

　　He wanted to collect more data on the Void Colossus.

　　However, Suren didn't want others to see his trump cards.

　　Just like in Old Lindon, everyone knew he had the Black Scythe, and they were all on guard, making it difficult to scheme against anyone.

　　Now, he happened to have a treasure in his hand that he used to think was useless, but it was specifically designed to counter void abilities. It might be very useful in the future, but he didn't want to expose it so early.

　　Thinking of this, he raised his hand, and a black and white checkered chessboard on his mechanical arm released a beam of light, instantly covering the guy who was completely integrated into the darkness.

　　.......

　　"Void Blade" Suleiman was startled when the scenery around him changed and turned into a black and white checkered space.

　　He didn't know how his stealth was discovered and thought it was some special ability of the Mafa mechanical armor. After all, this was a specially made officer-level armor, and it was possible that it had some special functions.

　　However, after the shock, Suleiman instantly felt relieved.

　　So, it was just space restriction.

　　Seeing this, he looked at Suren not far away, and a faint sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

　　It was more like a cat toying with a mouse.

　　Suren saw that mocking micro-expression.

　　Just like when he was first pulled into this chessboard space, he immediately knew that this closed space could not trap someone with space displacement abilities.

　　However, Suren's purpose in using the chessboard was not to trap this guy, but only to prevent outsiders from knowing how he killed people.

　　Suren pretended not to know and controlled the mechanical armor to charge towards the guy.

　　"Chirp" and "chirp," two rapid hissing sounds, the steam-powered boiler provided the armor with super-strong propulsion. Charging forward, it was like a train crashing. The mechanical arm stretched out and swung the ship-slitting blade in a horizontal slash. The speed was extremely fast, and the blade left a fan-shaped phantom in the air.

　　If this strike really hit, even a Tier 5 professional would probably be cut in two.

　　Unfortunately, Suleiman on the opposite side had a contemptuous smile on his face.

　　The ship-slitting blade slashed past, and the phantom left in place dissipated.

　　The mechanical armor's weakness was also exposed. Against those super-agile professionals, even with brute force, it couldn't be used.

　　The hit rate was too low.

　　The opponent simply wouldn't confront you head-on. If they really dragged it out, it would definitely be the mechanical armor running out of energy first, or a mechanical failure due to high-intensity combat.

　　But mechanical warriors had weaknesses and strengths. Their strong defense also allowed them to be invincible from the start of the battle.

　　Originally, when encountering this kind of opponent, the mechanical armor couldn't kill the other party, and the other party couldn't kill him either.

　　The final result was that neither could do anything to the other.

　　Suleiman saw through this. Anyway, this type of mechanical warrior couldn't kill him, so he wasn't in a hurry to escape the space. He seemed to have the same idea as Suren, wanting to figure out what combat abilities this mech had, so he kept moving and dodging.

　　The two sides clashed dozens of times in the chessboard space in the blink of an eye.

　　But the clumsy mechanical warrior didn't hit the target once.

　　Suren's mechanical warrior swung wildly, but gradually, the speed slowed down.

　　The steam boiler's valve emitted a sharp "woo woo" sound, which was a high-temperature warning from the overload combat.

　　Machines can't work indefinitely either. Like the human body, high-intensity combat will also cause fatigue. Explosive sprints and slashes will cause the power boiler, kinetic energy pipes, and pressure devices to be in an overload state. Heat will accumulate, and when it becomes hot enough, it will cause runes and enchantments to melt, and may even cause the mech to crash directly.

　　However, this was enough.

　　Suren had basically seen clearly the characteristics of this "Void Colossus."

　　.......

　　Suleiman obviously noticed that the mechanical armor's speed had slowed down.

　　He wouldn't give the enemy a chance to breathe and sneered, "Hehe, I'm done playing with you."

　　Assassin-type professionals were very fragile, especially when facing this kind of advanced mechanical armor. "Touching means death" was not an exaggeration at all.

　　He had been worried before and didn't dare to get close, fearing that there were special defensive devices like [Lightning Net] on this armor.

　　Now that he had almost tested it, he was sure that this mech was no threat to him.

　　Suleiman's combat experience was also excellent. He deftly avoided the bullets, and a feigned advance tricked out a slash from the ship-slitting blade. Both hands of the mechanical warrior were in his sight, and his back was wide open.

　　"Good opportunity!"

　　A flash of contempt flashed in Suleiman's eyes. The purple luster of the wings behind him brightened, and the figure disappeared in front of the combat mech. Looking again, the void was lifted like a curtain, and he had already moved behind the mech.

　　"It's over."

　　Suleiman's face showed a confident smile.

　　The Tier 4 silver colossus [Void Scythe] he transformed with his arms was specially designed to deal with heavily armored enemies!

　　Two void scythes surrounded by purple light thrust forward, and a bizarre scene appeared.

　　If it were other weapons, no matter how sharp, it would be almost impossible to pierce the heavy defensive armor of this [Colonel-Class Ship-Slitting Type 9 Mechanical Armor].

　　But when these two purple scythes came out, the sharp blades didn't even touch the armor. Instead, they drew a black void crack in the air and disappeared directly into it.

　　These two strikes used the property of the void to ignore obstacles, directly ignoring the armor and hitting the operator inside!

　　Such a strange trick was definitely...

　　.......

　　However, just as this "killing move" was about to succeed, an accident happened!

　　Suleiman saw that his strike had succeeded, and the relaxed expression of the battle ending had not yet fully unfolded on his face when it suddenly turned into shock!

　　As an assassin, he couldn't have failed to notice that the texture of the thrust was wrong.

　　It was definitely not flesh, but more like wood.

　　He was shocked: "Not a real body? Not good, it's a puppet!"

　　Realizing something was wrong, Suleiman felt like he had fallen into an ice cave. A sense of impending death instantly enveloped his heart. It wasn't just because he had missed, but because he couldn't understand the situation at hand.

　　How could there be a puppet inside a mechanical warrior?

　　Could it be that he had been fighting a puppet all along?

　　An absurd thought floated into his mind: Was his desperate fight just to cooperate with the person behind the scenes in a puppet show?!

　　His crisis intuition made Suleiman want to escape this space immediately.

　　The purple luster of the wings behind him flashed, and he wanted to drill into the space.

　　But... it was too late.

　　He was horrified to discover that his invincible [Void Wings] were useless!

　　His body was still in place, and he hadn't teleported away at all!

　　"Space imprisonment?"

　　Suleiman immediately understood something, his face ashen. He looked up, as if the chessboard space was a stage theater, and a mastermind with countless threads attached to his fingers was appearing in the sky above.

　　And just at this moment, he only felt a slight chill on his neck.

　　Space crack?

　　He was all too familiar with this law fluctuation.

　　However, this was his last thought.

　　......

　　The shroud fell, and Suren's figure appeared.

　　He looked at the corpse on the ground, raised his eyebrows, and thought: "The blade directly passed through the armor and pierced into the puppet. This Void Colossus is really buggy. But when using the colossus's space ability to attack, there will be a 0.7-second stiffness in the body. It should be that when using the colossus to attack, the void teleportation ability cannot be used at the same time. This can be considered one of its few 'weaknesses.'"

　　The entire battle process had no surprises. From the moment Suren thought of the [Chronos Space Gauntlet] in his hand, this result was destined.

　　This thing completely countered the Void Colossus, making it impossible to escape.

　　[Chronos Space Gauntlet]

　　Details: The gauntlet has solidified the ultra-order spell 'Titan's Grip'. It consumes energy to cast the spell, performing a space solidification on the target range, imprisoning space fluctuations within that range that are no higher than the law level of the spell itself;

　　Evaluation: This is a very useless alchemical item that consumes ten times the energy to cast a not-so-practical spell; but in reality, it is a space magic guide, with space affinity +30% and space spell power amplification of 7-16%;

　　Suren once thought it was a useless alchemical item, but it was perfect for dealing with professionals who could void teleport.

　　Without this thing, he really wouldn't have been confident in leaving this guy who could teleport away.

　　The only downside was that the consumption was a bit painful.

　　Casting "Titan's Grip" once consumed a [Cursed Source Crystal].

　　This kind of energy crystal cost one hundred million Lisos apiece in the Lindon mining area, and it was even more expensive on the surface world. They were all in the hands of the great nobles, and you couldn't buy them even if you wanted to.

　　Suren looked at the corpse and sighed: "It seems that you can't rely too much on one single ability... Otherwise, when you encounter an ability that counters you, you won't even know how you died."

　　He didn't think too much, because soul ash had already emerged from the corpse at this time.

　　Suren didn't hesitate, and the Grim Reaper's phantom immediately condensed behind him.

　　Although there were some hidden dangers in using this ability.

　　But it was rare to encounter a target who might understand the Tier 4 space laws, and it was worth taking some risks.

　　This stripping was as fruitful as expected.

　　[You have stripped the soul of 'Suleiman k. Salgado' and obtained some 'Tier 4 Space Law Fragments']

　　[You have obtained some daily information: 'Some information about the Northern Sea King's fleet']

　　[You have stripped the obsession information: 'The boss's void plan...']

　　[You have obtained some memorable thoughts: 'Some secrets in Pirate City...']

　　[You have stripped a large amount of 'practical skills in using space abilities']

　　[Spirit +3.3]

　　Suren selected a few interesting fragments to strip, and after digesting those memories in his sea of consciousness, his eyes were bright: "Tier 4 space laws..."

　　The comprehension of space laws was very difficult. Alchemists, because they had no deity beliefs, could hardly comprehend space abilities without relying on job transfer materials.

　　He himself used the [Magician's Top Hat] for the job transfer and mastered some rudimentary applications of space laws.

　　But that was just using them.

　　There was no understanding at all.

　　The difficulty of comprehending and upgrading the supreme "space law" later was n times that of other low-level laws, and the progress would be very slow.

　　This guy named Suleiman also used the shortcut of "Void Colossus" to understand some space law fragments.

　　But these fragments made Suren feel like he had found a treasure.

　　Just stripping the corpse's insights allowed him to directly comprehend things that he might have taken many years to comprehend.

　　It saved too much effort.

　　Moreover, this might just be a "good start."

　　Normally, encountering someone who understood space abilities was like finding a needle in a haystack, and you couldn't strip them even if you wanted to.

　　But now it was different.

　　From the memories of the corpse, Suren also knew that the Northern Sea King Oleg had really obtained a large amount of void plane materials from a secret channel. Now, under that Pirate King, a Void Colossus fleet had been built!

　　This news might give the Mechanical Alchemists of the Mechanical Holy Land the Mafa Empire a headache, but for Suren, it was definitely good news!

　　If there were really a large number of creatures who were born with the ability to master space, and he had the second-stage [Death Reaper] ability, he could strip them all one by one. Would he still be afraid of not understanding the high-level space laws in the future?

　　He seemed to see a flat road to comprehending the supreme "space law."

　　"Void plane..."

　　Thoughts flashed through Suren's mind, and he thought a lot: "Even the squadron leader doesn't know, the confidentiality is very good. It seems that the pirates found an unknown plane channel that was submerged in the dust of history. Well... more information should be available on the 'Pirate City' side. Could it be that I have to go there?"